Review of Conquest 7/25 Cruise (Long)

[IlliniRam]

I enjoyed the personal reviews of the Conquest in this forum before our cruise that I thought I would return the favor and write my review.

 

We set sail on the Conquest on July 25th. My wife and I are approx 40 and kids are 11 and 8. Embarkation went very smoothly. We got there at approx 10:45 and waited for the last few passengers to get off the ship. The porters were very friendly and we had no problem getting them to take our luggage. We went to check in in the funpass line and the wait was only about 5 minutes. Very smooth. We then got to sit in the yellow chairs for about a half hour. By the time we got called to board the ship, the line was very long at check in.

 

Once on the ship we went up to deck 9 and had lunch. Everything is open just like any other day on the ship. I had the chinese and it was delicious. (I tried the chinese every day and the Sunday entree was by the best so I highly recommend it on Sunday as they will not offer it again the rest of the week). We also bought our soda fountain cards. I recommend buying them as I am sure our family got its money worth. Also, my kids didn't have to ask if they could have a soda and I didn't have to worry about them taking 1 drink and wasting the rest of it. After eating we went to our room for the first time. We were on deck 6 with a balcony. The room steward was in our room at the time. She was very impersonal and not outgoing at all. I expected just the opposite after reading all of the reviews about the positive experiences with room stewards. Even though she was not miss personality I cannot complain about her service. She cleaned our room daily and gave us clean towels and removed any dirty glasses etc...Also every night she made animals out of the towels and put them on the bed. She also had cookies for the kids a couple of nights.

 

We also booked all of our shore excursions for the week on the TV in the room on Sunday afternoon before they sold out. We elected to book all of our excursions through the ship for safety reasons with our kids and to make sure we would not get left behind if something went wrong on our excursion. We paid more but the peace of mind was worth not penny pinching. We booked the river tubing in Jamaica. Swimming with the stingrays and snorkeling in Grand Cayman. The dolphin encounter in Cozumel. Total cost of these 3 excursions for 2 adults and 2 kids was $938. The dolphin encounter was the most expensive at about $95 each if I remember correctly. The cost of swimming with the dolphins would have been $175 each.

 

Ship Tip #1 - Do not put your sail and sign card next to a magnet as all of its information will be erased and you will have to get new ones. I have a money clip that has a magnet and had to get my cards redone twice. (Each card in the family had to be redone) The pursers desk was courteous and straightened it out each time in about 5 minutes. I asked for a free deck of cards while I was there and she gave me one. She said she wasn't supposed to and waited until her supervisor left. Also, you can ask for free postcards of the ship. They are twice the size of a regular postcard but they are very nice. They will give you as many as you want.

 

We ate at 6:15 in the Renoir. I have to compliment our waiter and his assistant. They treated us like royalty. The kids would order off the main menu if it was something they thought they would like. They also ordered chicken nuggets I think at every meal. They loved them. I ordered two entrees almost every night as they try not to serve the same entree twice. Make sure to tell your waiter which entree you want first if you order two. On the night of the lobster and prime rib, I wanted the lobster first but received it after I ate the prime rib and was not as hungry when the lobster came.

 

I highly recommend that you attend the Welcome Aboard Show on Sunday night with the cruise director Steve Cassel. I really enjoyed listening to him. He is very funny and kind of corny. He tries to get the audience involved. They also had a ventriliquist comedian. Make sure you stay for the end and his last skit is fantastic. On Monday night, we enjoyed the vegas style show "Point and Click". I did not think it was too riske for our kids and they enjoyed the dancing and singing. I went back to the R-Rated show at 11:45 and the comedian was Mark Rubben. He was great. I would highly recommend staying up for the adult entertainment. They were very funny and got the crowd involved.

 

One bad thing is they push Bingo before all of the entertainment shows. The Tuesday night show was also very entertaining with the cruise director doing his juggling act and a very good tribute to motown with Ron Joseph. Also, I recommend staying up for the Hawaiin party on deck 9 at midnight. The band was very good.

 

In my opinion, the worst show was the magician on Wednesday. It is very Vegas style and choreographed. I don't think she could do a magic trick but had all of the props for performing illusions. I like more of a carnival magic show where the magician is interacting with the crowd. However do stay up for the Rated R comedian at 11:45 "Ronnie Bullard". He is by far the funniest guy I have ever seen. I laughed for 45 minutes straight and I usually don't enjoy comedians too much.

 

The only other entertainment I will talk about is the talent show. I highly recommend it. The talent of the passengers on our cruise was top notch and could almost be considered professional. However the end of the talent show where they get audience participation was spectacular. When the man that had been married for 57 years came out in a speedo and cumberbun I about lost it. It was so funny.

 

One thing I wanted to touch on was how safe I felt the environment was for our kids. We allowed them to do things by themselves and they were very responsible. We are not normally like that but on this cruise, we felt comfort and confidence in the ship and its staff.

 

Also, in regards to Camp Carnival, our kids tried it a couple of times but did not enjoy it that much. My son only liked being able to play the playstation 2. The major disappointment for them were the swimming pools. Even though there are 3 pools, they are only about 10 by 10 and only 3 feet deep so you cannot really swim. Also, the water is salt water in the pools. However they did enjoy the water slide but the line was so long. One other note is that the whirlpools are not hot. The only hot whirlpool I could find was in the exercise room. I also enjoyed the steam room. That place is hot!!!! Just leave your sign and sail card with the spa people and they will give you a locker to use when using the exercise equipment, whirlpool etc....

 

We laid out on deck9 and 10 each day at see in a place where we could see the stage. You may want to place towels or a book on a chair in the morning to save it. However do not leave your beach towel unattended as somebody will swipe it. Carnival will charge you $22 bucks if you lose your beach towel that is provided in your room.

 

Another tip. Be very careful with your camcorder. We had our camcorder in our air conditioned room and when we took it out on the area by the pools etc.. it locked up due to condensation. Before using them after taking them out of the a/c, be sure to let them get accustomed to the outside humidity and temperature.

 

My wife signed up for a massage on the very first day and got the one with the stones for $175. She loved it. She had never had a massage before and this one lasted about 2 hours I believe. They try to hard sell you on lotions at the same time.

 

Misc. Overall the food was pretty good. I enjoyed the chinese every day. My wife loved the made to order sub sandwiches. They pile on the meat. The cheeseburgers, fries and pizza are also very good. Pizza is mostly cheese or pepperoni. Also, there always seemed to be a line. Ice cream was good.

 

Overall, I would rate this cruise as a positive experience. I will wait a few years before we cruise again until the kids are older. There is not much on the ship for kids if they do not do Camp Carnival and do not like to sit in the sun. Kids are not into the elegant eating at night like the adults.

 

If anyone has any specific questions I would be glad to try and answer them for you.

[rayswoman]

Saving deck chairs is a BIG no- no.

[sgriff17]

I love your name!! I'm from Illinois and love the Fightin' Illini and the RAMS! Now I live in VA and go to VCU (The Rams)...my license plate is IlliniRam

[cali-croozer]

Thanx for the review; we sail the Conquest next summer. I'm surprised the purser said she wasn't supposed to give out the playing cards. We always get a pack each for souveniers; and my kids use them throughout the cruise. My husband wants to know if they have salami sandwiches at the deli. Oh, and any pre or post cruise hotel information you'd like to share?

[Runner Girl]

Thanks for the review. I don't see enough about the Conquest on these boards. We sail on 2/27!

[vermonter16]

....the saving of the pool chairs in the morning.... I think that they should be first come first serve as they are supposed to be....they can be saved for hours at a time with no use and that doesn't seem fair to those who are looking around trying to use them at the moment... Not trying to be critical...just a gentle reminder especially for those that might be reading this who haven't cruised before.