Conquest / 8 days of awesome!!

Quick review of Conquest....returned yesterday with my DH on an 8 day

Embarkation: Flew into Miami and took Carnival transfer to port (could not find any good taxi service from Miami to Ft Lauderdale). Now here's the kicker for anyone flying into Miami. The Carnival reps completely checked us in at the airport so when we got to the port we went strait on the ship. It was amazing. I asked them at Miami airport if this is new and she said only Miami does it and have been for 3 yrs. We prob waited 1/2 an hr max in a line at the airport. If you have FTTF you are wasting your money because everyone that came from Miami airport was already checked in. We are platinum and we got on no earlier than everyone else on our bus transfer. Something to think about! One final embarkation note.....I had 2 bottles of champagne in my carryon and they didn't bat an eye???? I did not need to take out and show them. I heard many people say they brought liquor on board with no problem. Again, I don't know why. I only bring the allowed 2 bottles of wine or champagne.

Disembarkation: From the time we walked off the ship (self assist) till we were through customs and on the bus transfer was a total of 30 minutes max. :)

Things I don't care about: Chocolates on the bed at turndown..... American table menu (The only diff I noticed was when you have a port day they offer food from that island)....tablecloths on the tables....pouring my own water from a carafe on the table.....captains cocktail reception....the cruise director (I don't cruise for the director at all. It was Wee Jimmy and I honestly have no opinion).

Things I like: Alchemy Bar (I could write an entire new thread about how awesome this bar is. Kat and Myja were amazing and the drinks were beyond amazing. If you don't like sweet fru fru drinks or beer this is the bar for you. My husband had more Grey Goose dirty martini's than I could count).....Blue Iguana(I finally talked my DH to go on the last sea day, wow, the huevos rancheros were amazing and we had burritos for lunch)....Guys Burgers(I don't LOVE Guys but my DH does and they are ok...couple little pieces of hard meat balls in my burger, yuck).

Don't bother taking.........over door hanger(more bother than worth for me), Starbucks instant coffee(every time I wanted coffee I didn't have one with me. The ship coffee grew on me).

Misc......I always take wire hangers and then just leave them since I never have enough hangers and hate to bug them......If your a smoker you will love Conquest. The smoking side on deck 9 they turned into a lenai with lovely chairs and tables and lounges. If you are not a smoker I would avoid this area as many people were getting very drunk(drinking pitchers of margarita's and beer buckets) and using incredible language. If I would have had my kids with me I would have said something to them. If I was a new Carnival cruiser this would have really turned me off with Carnival but since I know that you can go to MANY other areas of the ship and have a lovely time I dealt with it......the Platinum gift is a Journal with pen.

Ports: St Marten....took a tour of the island with a lovely local tour company that included tour, Orient Beach(been there done that now...way overcrowded and the locals would not leave you alone), and Maho beach. Was only 50.00 so worth it. St. Kitts....my fav island. We originally booked with Javin but we went by ship time and he went by island time so we missed him. That was kinda annoying since every other excursion went by ship time. So we went with a lovely man by the name of Austin who took us on an awesome tour of the island and then ended at a beach. The beach was really nice and the views of the island were amazing. It was like 25.00 pp. Good deal! San Juan...Booked with UNO Beach Club...beach break. Very nice. It was 100.00 total and included 6 alcohol drinks EACH, lunch, 2 chairs and an umbrella. The only issue was the cab driver from the port did not know where it was but he eventually figured it out. Grand Turk....Finally decided to try something different and not just camp out at the port. Especially since another ship was with us in port. We took a cab to Pillary Beach .... great choice! Very relaxing and nice water. Was 10.00 to rent a chair. They had a bar on the beach and we both got one drink...it was expensive! But I would still recommend.

One final port comment....please don't ask how much we paid for cabs in all the ports because I honestly don't remember. I do know they were all set fees so I didn't feel like anyone was ripping us off.

In closing (this got long) would I cruise Conquest again. In a heartbeat! I noticed none of the issues about wear and tear and being an old ship. Looked great to me! I LOVE the Conquest ships. So much that we booked Glory for next November. Early to mid November is a great time to cruise...not a lot of kids and the weather was beautiful. Not super hot....in the low 80's.

I will be heading over to NCL threads for awhile since my girlfriends and I are taking a Bermuda cruise out of NYC in May. This will be a whole new adventure and I will be a newbie on NCL but if they are as informative as Carnival threads I will learn lots till May:)

I was on this same 8 day cruise and I had a great time. When at sea, the waves were rougher than usual but it was not a problem. The weather at sea and at port was warm and a bit humid. Once we got to Grand Turk, it did get cooler and less humid. This was a good groups of ports.

I thought Conquest was in good shape, clean and it had a really good staff and crew. The cruise director Wee Jimmy was very nice, funny and did not have too many announcements. I thought he was a very good cruise director. The cabin stewards and the dining room staff were all very good.

The Playlist shows were very good and different with the animations from the screens. The Playlist Players were all very good and talented and worked very hard.

The on board singers and music entertainment were very good. The couple in the Take 2 group were very talented and did a great job.

I did enjoy the new American Table MDR menu. It had a good selection of old and new items. I dined in the Your Time Dining MDR. The serving staff did a very good job and none of the meals took too long. It is good to see the Conquest transitioned into the new menu nicely. I did not miss the table cloths.

I experienced no major issues with lines on Lido. Guys Burgers and the Blue Iguana almost never had a line. There were small waits for the Pizza Pirate but no large lines occurred. The only areas I experienced any type of line were at the Deli and the Fish & Chips.

I am now Platinum. There were a large amount of Platinums on this Cruises. The Past Guest Party was well attended. It had the new appetizers and plenty of drinks were offered.

Debarkation was quick about 30 minutes for Zone 1 from exiting the ship to passing through Customs.

Overall this was a very good cruise. I certainly would cruise on Conquest again.:cool:

thanks to both of you for posting! I will be on the Conquest next spring and am so looking forward to it! :)

Thank you for posting! I believe the smoking area is likely on deck 10, since Carnival banned smoking in the Lido some years back.

I'm concerned about your St. Kitts vendor getting the times confused. I think I will write mine to confirm the times. Glad you brought this up :)

By any chance, did you keep the Funtimes? Would love to see them, and share them with the roll call. TIA.

Thx for your review n posts

Were on the Conquest next March 2016 and can't wait.....Were weird smokers and only smoke when were gambling or on a cruise 🙈 I know that may sound crazy but it works for us so I'm happy to hear on Deck 10 it's set up nice with loungers n tables n chairs where we can smoke.....to bad you had the people getting plastered there...

Do you know what time Blue Iguana opens for breakfast in the morning?? We generally stay up late gambling but I always still wake up super early to have breakfast n then go lay back down

Also did you play in the casino?? Any luck? What types of slot machines did they have?

Love Alchemy bar as well....Did they have the martini class for $15?

We did it before and it was lots of fun and you get a Mixologist certificate 😜🍹🍹🍹

When checking in at Miami airport if your there the day before the cruise can you still pré check in??

Thx

Your right, it's deck 10, not 9...smoking area:D

I did not keep the FunTimes but I read them cover to cover every day so probably could answer questions?

Iguana opens at 7:30 in the morning. It was never busy....the fresh watermelon was great and went so well with the burrito.

We do not gamble so I can't answer casino questions....we passed through a lot though and people sure looked like they were having fun!

We did martini tasting at Alchemy the first night and I think it was around 17.00....Our bar bill for 8 days was around 800.00 and 98% of that was Alchemy....we loved Alchemy!

As far as checking in at Miami airport the day before I doubt very much if anyone is at the Carnival Desk till the day of the cruise....just saying?

I also did not mention anything about the entertainment in my first post. We went to the comedy club and it was good. You need to go at least 15/20 minutes before it starts to get a seat. We did not go to any other shows. I wish we would have seen Epic Rock but it just didn't work out with dinner. We had YTD which was just ok. This was the first time since we switched to YTD'ing that we had to wait almost every night. Between 15 and 30 minutes. We ended up going around 7:30 each night so I think we will just switch back to late dining. I didn't feel any connection with the wait staff this cruise.

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Glad to hear that you had a great cruise. Lately it seems that all the reviews posted are pretty negative. We were on the Conquest last June and will be back on board this January.

We had a fabulous cruise!! But with so many negative reviews I keep thinking I

maybe missed something. Or maybe I wasn't paying attention because we had the best time and not one serious complaint. Your cruise review reflects our experience so was very happy to read your positive comments. I am looking forward to our B2B even more now!:D

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. Glad to hear that you had a great cruise. Lately it seems that all the reviews posted are pretty negative. We were on the Conquest last June and will be back on board this January.

We had a fabulous cruise!! But with so many negative reviews I keep thinking I

maybe missed something. Or maybe I wasn't paying attention because we had the best time and not one serious complaint. Your cruise review reflects our experience so was very happy to read your positive comments. I am looking forward to our B2B even more now!:D

I'm with you lol. I've been on so many cruises and had a excellent fun time but then read people complaining about the same cruise or the food or this or that. I shake my head and wonder if we were on the same cruise

Some people will complain if it's to Sunny or to windy 😆.

Thank you OP & johnspo for your mini Conquest reviews!

I too keep hearing so much negative static about the Conquest that I was wondering if our booking on her was an error.

Glad to hear it's just not true and the Conquest is fine & dandy :D

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Conquest. We were on the six day ( Nov 8 ) sailing and had a great time. Agree with your comment about the group (

Take 2 ) They were very good. Enjoyed Wee Jimmy also. He really was entertaining. Did he do " Let's ROCK the promenade " after the welcome aboard show on the first night ? Never saw that done before on any ship. The people were really having a great time. :)

So happy to hear people are enjoying the Conquest.

We are so looking forward to our March cruise on her.

The worst day on a cruise ship is still better than the best day at work.

My husband and I were also on that sailing. We had a great time! We were on it last November also and I think we enjoyed it more this time around (maybe because it was 8 days vs 7 :)). We drove to Ft. Lauderdale from the Tampa Bay area Friday night and stayed at a Marriott in Weston. We had FTTF, arrived at the port by 11:00 and were on the ship by 11:30.

It was extremely rough the first couple of days. This was my 11th cruise and while in the past I’ve experienced some dizziness on the first night, this was the first time I actually felt nauseous and had to go back to my cabin. Luckily I brought some meds just in case. I took it, laid still on the bed for about 45 minutes, and all nausea disappeared. I did take one more pill the morning of the second day just to be on the safe side. The wind was so strong we avoided our balcony for the first 2 days.

We did MTD. We went down around 7 and had about a 30 minute wait each night. We’ve never asked for a specific server, we just taken first available. Last year the service in the dining room was not great. Dinner took forever. This year we were seated in Dalmacio’s section with Jonathan and Bianca on the 3rd night and requested him for the rest of our trip. All three of them were wonderful and the only long wait we had was when I ordered from the steakhouse menu. I think that takes longer than the regular menu.

We did a tour of St. Maarten with Bernard’s. Great tour and only $45pp. We didn’t have anything planned for St. Kitts but they have taxis at the port and we did an island tour for $25pp. We also booked the beach break through Island Marketing in San Juan and it was great! It’s an early morning and there was no way we could each do the 6 drinks.

I was on this as well! Agree that the conquest is a great ship, good food and entertainment. I would go on it again in s heartbeat. My only complaint would be that casino area is very smokey.

Anyone been in suite 7270 or right around there??

Any noise with the elevators being so close?

How was the suite?

Thanks for the review. We are on the Conquest on the December 12th, 2015 sailing and are looking forward to it. Your review answered the questions we had. Glad to see American Table is there. We loved it on the Breeze and the Glory earlier this year and fail to understand how all the complainers can make the claim that they could not find anything on it that they could eat. We also love the Alchemy Bar. Great place for pre-dinner cocktails. NOTE: we have also booked B2B cruises on the Glory on November 5th and 12th of 2016. Maybe we will see you on one of those two.

Regards, John

LaCal - we had suite 7273, on the other side of the elevator banks but near 7270, in August and it was noisy in the afternoons and evenings from the all the trivia and music in the lobby.

Thankfully we'd go to bed really late so it wasn't an issue, but it was pretty loud and clear in the afternoons and early evenings that we were in the cabin.

Several times we'd run up to the cabin after dinner to change or make a drink and it was still pretty loud at 10-11 pm. We commented all week how frustrating it must be for those trying to sleep.

It must have something to do with the glass elevators, and I believe it's just that area as our neighbors is 7275 didn't hear a thing.

We also love the Alchemy Bar. Great place for pre-dinner cocktails. NOTE: we have also booked B2B cruises on the Glory on November 5th and 12th of 2016. Maybe we will see you on one of those two.

You will for sure us if you go to Alchemy....we will be on the November 12th cruise......I booked it waaaaaay early to get one of the floor to ceiling ocean view window rooms:)

LaCal - we had suite 7273, on the other side of the elevator banks but near 7270, in August and it was noisy in the afternoons and evenings from the all the trivia and music in the lobby.

 

Thankfully we'd go to bed really late so it wasn't an issue, but it was pretty loud and clear in the afternoons and early evenings that we were in the cabin.

 

Several times we'd run up to the cabin after dinner to change or make a drink and it was still pretty loud at 10-11 pm. We commented all week how frustrating it must be for those trying to sleep.

 

It must have something to do with the glass elevators, and I believe it's just that area as our neighbors is 7275 didn't hear a thing.

Thx Beach Gal

I hope it's not to noisy but we also stay up very late usually In the casino and most things are closed by the time we finally sleep 🙈

Thx Beach Gal

 

I hope it's not to noisy but we also stay up very late usually In the casino and most things are closed by the time we finally sleep 🙈

It's not that big of a deal - it didn't bother us at all, but it might other people.

Being in a suite totally makes you forget you heard anything! lol

OP, did you go to the casino, have any luck? Can you suggest any slots to play or not play? Any one who has been on the Conquest lately have any luck in the Casino? Thanks:confused: ;) :o

Thanks for the review. We are on the Conquest on the December 12th, 2015 sailing and are looking forward to it. Your review answered the questions we had. Glad to see American Table is there. We loved it on the Breeze and the Glory earlier this year and fail to understand how all the complainers can make the claim that they could not find anything on it that they could eat. We also love the Alchemy Bar. Great place for pre-dinner cocktails. NOTE: we have also booked B2B cruises on the Glory on November 5th and 12th of 2016. Maybe we will see you on one of those two.

 

Regards, John

John, I am on the same sailing and simply cannot wait! Gonna be great to head south!

Great review! Thanks so much for all of the information!

Thank you for the reviews of the Conquest! I have not seen to many lately and I always to love to read any and all info I can find on a ship I am getting ready and excited to sail!

The Conquest Class is my favorite class of ship and I am looking forward to sailing the namesake of this class in January :) Any and all comment - and photos - are greatly appreciated!!

As far as Wee Jimmy....I remember that I sailed with him when he was asst cruise director on the Glory many years ago....he ran many of the events as it was announced that it was his final cruise as an asst and that he was heading off for a new ship and his new job as cruise director at the end of our sailing. This was in '06 so he has certainly been with Carnival for a while!

OP, did you go to the casino, have any luck? Can you suggest any slots to play or not play? Any one who has been on the Conquest lately have any luck in the Casino? Thanks:confused: ;) :o

Not the OP but did spend a LOT of time in the casino during our June cruise.

I don't remember the specific names of all the slots but there were tons of penny slots. I tend to play Quick Hit machines and the 5x / 9x slot machines or Video poker. Video poker on the ship has terrible pay tables BUT I would play them from time to time as my money would last a bit longer than at regular slots. Did see several people win small jackpots. Largest was $7000. And there certainly could have been other wins that I wasn't aware of. The band playing right outside the casino was great (probably the best band I've heard on any ship) so that really added to the casino atmosphere. And now for my only complaint about the Conquest.....the casino hosts were not were not great. They seemed detached. They tended to hang around the cage area and not circulate and talk to people. My point of comparison would be the Glory hosts. They were everywhere, talking to everyone, stopping to chat and seemed to know everyone by name. The Glory hosts were so engaging that when I came home I sent an email to Michael telling him how great they were. (First time in all our cruises I ever did that but that's how much they impressed me). So maybe comparing the Conquest hosts to the Glory hosts is not really fair. I am expecting a different experience on our upcoming Jan. cruise as the first leg of our b2b is a Premier cruise so that will be fun but the 2nd leg will be just a regular little cruise so will see how that goes. Bottom line..............the casino was fun, no big wins for me that time, lots of slot machines to pick from and whether or not the hosts are friendly does not make or break the cruise / casino experience for me. I am just fine and dandy plopped at a machine playing without socializing.:D

Thanks everyone for your reviews. On the Conquest in March with a group of friends and cannot wait!

Thanks for the Casino comments, does anyone have any current pictures of the lido deck, dinning areas, shops etc. We sail Jan 9 2016

:D:D:p:):)

Thanks