Conquest after Dry Dock trip report....kinda long

A little about us, it was two older couples and one youngercouple, all bought the cheers program, three wouldn’t do it again threewould. One couple did a destination wedding in FortLauderdale prior to sailing so there was some stress up to the lastminute.

The day before our departure we received an email telling usthat the Conquest was on its way to Ft. Lauderdale late from dry dock and tomove back our original boarding time by 3 hours. Myfirst thought was “shoot how am I going to enjoy my cheers package if I don’teven get to board before 4”. Then wetried to figure out what to do when we couldn’t get a late checkout of ourhotel and had to return the rental car before 1 since their shuttles only rununtil 1:30. Not the end of the worldbut people did feel a little cheated.

Embarkation:

Our first time sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, I’m sure itwould have gone smoother if everything had not been pushed back, but by noweveryone is just trying to get on the boat, some people swearing they never gotthe message about the delay others just had nowhere else to go after theshuttle dropped them off. The line waswrapped through the building out the side, and around a bit. But once the line started moving it wentsurprisingly fast. I didn’t check mywatch but it took at least an hour total. Of course we were able to go directly to our rooms. But no one could say when we would muster andwe had dinner reservations at the Steakhouse at 6. Normally you get on and relax this day seemedmore rushed.

Muster took places about 5:30 and we did a quick change of clothesand off we went to the steakhouse. Theywere a little behind as they all have duties at the muster station drills too,so no rush. Everyone enjoyed theirdinner.

Only two shops were open after departing Effy Jewelry andthe gift shop. Pandora, a watch shopand a higher end shop were all still closed and windows were papered up.

Because of all of this we did not see our room stewardSuparman until the next morning, which was no biggie to us.

First day was a day at sea, things seemed normal as weexplored the boat, they were finishing up laying carpet on my floor and thephoto area had a lot more goodies for sale for your camera/phone/scuba divingand very little space for pictures. They were converting that to digital and it was supposed to work withfacial recognition after setting up and account with your folio number. Ittook a few days to get the facial recognition to work and a few times we hadother people’s photos, but there was a search function and you could lookthrough the photos on the ipad instead of paper copies that were in this tinylittle area with no real display room. Timeconsuming and a pain, but when they fix the glitches it will be a greatalternative. By the end of the cruiseif you had your photo taken they would enter your room number in the system andit would show up in your folio on the ipad. It was easy to place your order and pick up later.

We were all lounging by the pool when we heard a thud andturned around to see that a man had tripped over a piece of the steps at thepool that were broken. The little metalpiece they put on them to help you from slipping was sticking up. A crew member was flagged down and he put acone on it and the next day it was fixed.

Dinner was in the main dining room and was elegantnight. This is when we started eachnight with a drink at the Alchemy bar before dinner. Kind of a dessert first thing as it was adrink with ghiridelli chocolate, kalua, shaved chocolate. The bartender Dusan was awesome.

I think I walked through the cruise critic meet and greet location just priorto the meeting. Wish I would haverealized, I would have stopped.

Day 2 Amber Cove – we had no excursion planned here but whenwe got off the boat and looked around and took some pictures we decided to joinan island tour that was starting in 30 minutes. All the shops were up and running when theboat got out into international waters that evening.

Day 3 La Romana – we visited Monkeyland and had ablast. This by far was one of the bestexcursions I have done.

Day 4 was Curacao – Beautiful Island, but wish the hourshere would have been different they were 1 pm to 11 pm but I would say mostpeople were back on the boat well before dark.

Day 5 was Aruba – a personal favorite I love thisisland.

Somewhere either on the way to Curacao or between it andAruba the seas got very rough. We saycrew members having difficulty and at breakfast our plate and coffee cups slideacross the table. The next day when wewere talking to a crew member we noticed had difficulty the day before he saidhe had been on the boat 6 months and it had never been like that before. It was also like this a day or so on thereturn route.

After Aruba was two full days at sea, the first is rained agood portion of the day and when the boat was rocking so hard they actuallyclosed off the top deck. The first onewas the second elegant night and that night the captain offered everyone acomplimentary glass of wine and came into the dining room to apologize for theongoing repairs and things not working or being open. It was a very nice gesture but it wasinteresting that people complained about the wine choice….it was a free glassof wine for gosh sakes.

Disembarkation:

Was relatively smooth and quick. Surprisingly so. Although one couple in our group had leftour car at the Hampton Inn in plantation and had shuttled to the port, butapparently the hotel can’t pick up at the port. No one was told this, so the couple caught a cab.

As always, there were some issues, but Carnival took care ofthem right away and went over and above, we had a great time, we thought theentertainment was great, although they are using a screen for a lot of the showand the screen cannot been seen by all seats making the theaters seatless. Meet a lot of great people and the food was anywhere from good to greatdepending on what it was.

I have the fun times from the cruise and will scan them inand post them as soon as I can. If youhave any questions, fire away.

How was the new Serenity Deck? Was your cabin re-furbished?

Thank you for the review. Can you tell me about the singer in the piano bar?

Serenity Deck was very nice the beds were comfy. It was closed on the windy rough day! The only thing in the cabin that looked replaced was carpet everything else was older or showed wear. Maybe new wallpaper.

I also noticed some padded couches in the shady area of deck 10 under the tail that I didn't notice on my 2016 cruise. Nice comfy reading area.

Only went once to the piano bar, the singer was great, the other night we tried to go he was sick. The other days we didn't make it, but I heard people praising him through the whole cruise.

We did Oct 14th through the 28th B2B. I confirm with some of your comments. Talking with the staff, they admitted the whole Dry Dock was rushed.I could smell paint and cleaners a lot bot weeks. Our Aft Balcony needed cleaning a lot - paint chips abound. Chloe Liddo was a great cruise director. Saw her many times and we did have some great chats. The comedians were fun . I drink quite a bit of coffee and made a buddy - Rita the barista at the coffee bar. A cruise is definitely what you make of it. The second week did go smoother