Conquest Review 5/29/2005

[mamiled]

First of all, what a wonderful vacation!!! And our first cruise!

 

Embarkation:

We took a Limo from our house to the Port and arrived about 1:00pm. We live about 90 minutes away, and the Limo was worth it! They dropped us off right at the front door, and our baggage was whisked away. We walked in and the firs thing we saw was those Yellow Chairs and a line that seemed to snake on forever. As we had booked a suite, we were taken to an area called Skippers Club. We were on board in less than 15 minutes. I also learned a valuable lesson. IF you don't want your picture taken before you board, you only need to ask one of the Port people standing by, and they will take you past the picture line. For us, that saved about 45 minutes. From what I Heard, it took most people (VERY busy time) about 2.5 hours to get on board. As with most of the advice on this board, try to aim for an earlier or later hour to board.

 

Forst impressions were awesome!!! Beautiful ship, immaculate. I can't believe that in less than 2 hours from the previous cruise departing, they had it looking shiny and new.

 

Room:

We walked right to our room. It was on the Empress Deck. And it was wonderful!!! A little smaller than led to believe on the website, but still it was quite roomy. We were towards the front of the ship. And was easy to take the stairs to Deck 9 (pool and buffet deck) or Deck 5 (casino and Cappicino Bar). The bed was already made into a King and not hard at all, like some people have commented. But maybe they are working on changing mattress;s out! Our Room Steward was Flo. She was great!!! Very personable....took care of all our needs.

Before I forget!!! They have a special on thusday. They will do all your laundry for $15. Its a small bad, but usually goes for $45. We stuffed (rolled) 4 pairs of shorts and about 8 T-Shirts into one bad. I guess we were lazy, we could have used the machines....but this was vacation!!!

 

Dining:

We had booked the early seating, however on our S&S cards it said 8:30pm. We went to the dining room to attempt to change this. The Matrie D stated the ship was booked, but he would see what he could do. All our bags arrived before 5, except for one. My DH bag! He was quite upset and understandably so. Around 8pm we were getting a little nervous, so while he popped open a beer from the Mini-Bar, I went down to the Pursers desk. As it turned out, there was his bag with about 30 others. The tag had come off and they didn't know where to deliver it. So all was not lost! If you have a heavy bag, my advice is to put another ticket on it in case one is pulled off.

 

I digress from dining.....on Monday we received our change to the Early Seating and to top if off...we got a table for two! It was wonderful. I am a little shy, so for me, this worked out great. I have to say the Dining Room food (Renoir) was excellent!! Everything was warm if not hot. The one day I ordered beef, it was a little tough. But considering I even have a hard time cooking beef...I wasn't going to complain. And my husband ordered a Capacino every night and was not charged for them. The buffets were okay. If you are hungry and lazy, go ahead...but don't expect the same quality you would get in the Dining Room itself.

 

As I am at work...I will write later on the ports etc. This site helped me so much!!! Thank god for Bungee Cords and a travel mug!! Please let me know any questions you may have.....I really don't mind answering them.

Oh, we also joined the Vacation Club...we liked the cruise so much!

[tigermaroon2]

I'm cruising on her on September 25th....I can't wait to read more about your trip and the ports.

[tigereye]

I'll be on her Oct. 9th, so hurry and continue the review. Please?!?!

[csquared]

Thank you so much for your review. I am cruising in a few days on Conquest. This will also be my first cruise. I am so excited.

 

Couple question! Did you over pack? I just know I am going to take way to many things. Did you bring an over-the-door shoe thing? Did it come in handy? I have been getting things that I want to take or wear in order for a week now.

 

Do you have any pictures?

 

Thanks! :D

[mamiled]

Honestly, we didn't overpack. I came home with about 5 clean shirts and a couple shorts. We had 2 large bags, one garment bag and a carryon for souvenoirs. I did bring 2 bathing suits, I highly recommend that for both women and men! Did not bring the overdoor thing. We had 3 closets in our room, so I don't think there was a need. However, I don't know if that was special for the suites (the closet space).

I think we spent about $500 on clothes before we left!! My DH almost lost his mind!

Heres more review:(working on this slowly!):eek:

 

Casino:

 

Hubby loved blackjack and won about $300. He also won at Wheel of Fortune…yup $600 in our pockets!! Of course we wound up giving back about $300 though. The slots are tighter than at a regular casino. But for some reason, later at night they seemed to be looser, or are luck was better.

 

Shows:

 

We loved Phat Kat! Mind you, he is a little raunchy but had us rolling in out seats. DH loved Deja, the magician. But I wasn’t overly impressed. It also was about 90 degrees in the Lounge that evening, so that may have had something to do with it. We caught one Vegas show, was pretty good. You MUST see the Newlywed./Not so Newlywed game. I literally had to use the restroom I was laughing so hard.

 

Art Auctions:

 

Almost every day they have art auctions put on by Park West Gallery. They are fun, but the host can get a little annoying!!! I actually bought a Kincaid Original. My sister, the one with the Art Degree informed me that I should have bought a Dali or Kempf. However, I didn’t have the 5-80K to purchase those. Mind you there was one gentleman who bought over $200K in art while we were there!! I heard he was a gallery owner.

Room Service:

Every night we put our sign on the door and our breakfast was delivered promptly! Nothing better than a pot of coffee and danigh...eating at your lesuire on the balcony watching the gorgeous water go by. We also ordered some sandwhiches and snacks a couple of times. The wait was anywhere for 20-40 minutes. The port days, the wait was longer. Probably because everyone was waiting to get back to eat for free!!!

[karessamom]

We're sailing on her in Aug! Thanks so much for your reviews and look forward to hearing the rest. Very excited!

[mamiled]

Jamaica:

 

We did the ATV tour. I thought it was pretty good. Although we did want to do the Canopy Tour, it was sold out. I heard more raves from passengers about that one that I thought possible. For those of you that ride ATV’s, you may not like this tour. It is more for the inexperienced folks ( like me!). They tend to go a little slow. There are about 12 of you in a group following a dirt/rocky path. The company that runs this (through Carnival) is talking about getting 2 separate tours. One for those experienced riders that want to go a little faster and then the one we were on. The views were breath taking!! Absolutely gorgeous. I have a few pictures if you want me to email them to you.

 

 

Grand Cayman:

 

We booked the Stingray tour through Captain Marvin’s. Tendering off the ship is no problem. This was our worst day though!! It was raining a little as we tendered off the ship. We took the very quick walk to Captain Marvin’s (highly recommend this Company). We got on their boat about 40 minutes later (you take a 5 minute bus ride to the dock) and headed out to sea. The seas were a little rough. We got in the water and it started to POUR. I mean, hurt your skin, waves crashing over us and everything. A lot of people stayed in the water, but we chose to get out after 5 minutes. I kept getting hit by waves and just choking on the salt water. The Captain of the boat called everyone in after about 20 minutes because it was just getting to rough and windy. The skies were black. Pretty awesome sight if you weren’t on a boat shivering in a wet towel! The Captain then said we would NOT be snorkeling at the Reef because it would be too dangerous. I think he made a good decision, most of the passengers agreed. We did make one more stop at the Coral Gardens, the weather calmed down a bit. It was beautiful! However, pouring rain on the ride back.

 

Now here’s a heads up. There were FIVE ships in port. It took us 2 and a half hours to catch a tender back. The line was unbelievable. People were pushing and shoving…it was a mad house. I have to say DH and I were cursing Carnival out at this point. Though in retrospect, it wasn’t truly their fault. We were now in a tropical Storm and everyone wanted back on the ship at the same time. They estimated that there were over 500 passengers trying to get back at one time. Looking back, I can laugh at the whole thing. But during this time, I just felt bad for all the families with small children and also the older folks. They wouldn’t even let them go to the beginning of the line. Once we did get back to the ship, we took a hot shower for about 10 minutes. The air wasn’t that cold, but after 3 hours in a wet swim suit and soaking towel, it just froze you to the bones.

 

We did find out later than Carnival cancelled their Stingray tours because of the weather. ** The one thing I wish is that there was a daily weather report on the ship. Because we may not have gone on the tour; had we known it was going to be so bad.

 

Cozumel:

 

THE best port!! We did the Carnival Swim with the Dolphin Tour. It just doesn’t get any better than this. I am not sure I can put into words how wonderful it was to actually be up close and personal with a dolphin. We did buy the DVD for an additional $35. Expensive but worth it for the memories. They do a good job with it too. Its ready in about 30 minutes. All the shops on the pier were great too…they do ask you at least 3 times to come in and look. But we learned just to say No Thank you and walk on. The water was crystal clear and you could see the fish swimming around right there by the ship.

 

 

Sorry this was so long. There is so much more I could say. You can party with the crowds or do your own thing..which is what we did. There is more than enough going on during the day to keep anyone occupied! I found that the crew was always hard at work keeping everything spic and span. I was truly impressed with the condition of the ship and the crews attitude. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Make sure you try the drink of the day! Good prices and usually highly potent!!!

[BamaAngel]

I am going this month for the first time! What was the travel mug for?

[Ronath]

We just got off the Conquest on May 29th. We've scheduled an impromptu cruise in July on her as well as another one in November.

 

csquared - below is a link to pictures of our two previous cruises on the Conquest. I may put some more up later.

 

BamaAngel - you will love the Conquest.

[phinfan63]

Travel mugs are great to use on deck. They are larger than what Carnival provides so it keeps you from running back and forth for water, etc... and it will also keep it cold longer.

[modnar]

mamiled: Did you sit in the balcony during the Deja performance?

 

We noticed on the Conquest last July that the one night we sat in the balcony, we were very warm; however, whenever we sat on the lower level, it was very cold. No big deal, though; it's just something we noticed.

[bluejeans]

We did the Royal Dolphin Swim in March, and our video cost $50.00. Lots of complaints from others, and I thought a bit too high, as I had read they were $35.00, but we paid it anyway. Too priceless to pass up.

[mamiled]

Blue Jeans

 

WOW! The price came down, but I think the picture price went up. I bought 3 pictures and that came to $46. I thought it was outrageous...but like you said, it was something I couldn't pass up. And I have no idea how 3 divides into $46!

 

And yes, the travel mugs are great...it makes taking drinks around the ship much easier.

[tigermaroon2]

When you swim with the dolphins at Cozumel, how long are you in the water with them? Details on this excursion please?

[mamiled]

Lets see.....I think we were in the water for a total of 30-40 minutes. It's like a big lagoon that has been sectioned. Each group of about 10 people gets one dolphin. You stand in line to get your life vest (yes you must wear one) take the usual pictures and then its off to walk out on the docks to the little lagoon. The for us (as we were in the bigger section of the lagoon) we stood on a platform up to our waists in water. Each person gets to kiss and pet the dolphin, then shake hands or flippers as the case may be. After that, you swim out, perhaps 50 feet and wait for your dolphin to come to you. You then grab their flippers and then take you for a ride back to the platform. It seems like alot of waiting with 10 people. However, you are so thrilled being that close to a dolphin that it doesn't seem to matter any! After everyone gets their ride, you all swim out as a group and get to snorkel a little as the dolphin swims around you.

Hope this helps!

My DH got lucky....as we were swimming out a dolphin from another group came over to him and literally rubbed against his belly! Of course, he brags about it now!

[dlb1357]

We didn't even buy the video of ours...just pictures and ended up spending about $80 dollars on them...but as you said...priceless experience.

[Trae]

You said you live about 90 min away from the port and took a limo. Which limo company did you use and did the price include picking you up at the end of your cruise. We are booked on the Conquest 7/17/05 and are thinking of taking a limo to the port.

 

Thanks

[mamiled]

Trae

We live in Gautier MS and used Lincoln on Demand, you can get roundtrip for about $250-275. Though I did have a few minor complaints; they were 1 hour late in picking us up from our house. In their defense, we were having a severe thunderstorm.

[blackwing]

I sat in the balcony for every show and never noticed it being too warm. I'm glad to hear that your DH liked Deja, the "Diva of Deception". When I saw her I felt like I was the only one in the room who liked her. I think generally it seems the guests respond very poorly to her. I feel very bad for her. If she were in Vegas I think she would do a lot better. As it is, the guests seem to have that cruise ship attitude where they expect her to literally transmographify into an elephant or shoot lightning from her fingertips. People go to her show with very closed minds and poor attitudes and end up walking out disgruntled.

 

I honestly think that magic is perhaps too sophisticated for a Carnival crowd. It's supposed to be fun, and people don't even have the courtesy to clap after she does a trick. The one where she gets into a box, a dancer stands on top of the box, raises a curtain, and she immediately pulls it down and reveals that she has switched places with the dancer was deftly done. This is a classic magic trick. She did it well and practically NO ONE even bothered clapping. Magicians on Vegas would get roars of applause for that one.

[AIMS312]

Thanks so much for the review. We leave on her in September and every time I read a review, I get more excited. :D

This may sound like a strange question, but do you remember if the main door on the cabin was metal? I picked up a tip to print out some magnetic signs for our doors, but read elsewhere that someone was unsure if the doors were metal.

 

TIA,

Aims

[csquared]

We just got off the Conquest on May 29th. We've scheduled an impromptu cruise in July on her as well as another one in November.

 

csquared - below is a link to pictures of our two previous cruises on the Conquest. I may put some more up later.

 

BamaAngel - you will love the Conquest.

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing your pictures. They are great. I cannot wait for my turn. I will post the link when I get my pics on webshots. :D

[sdwilson]

Trae- We are on your Conquest sailing the 17th. You should join our roll call thread. We don't have too many folks signed up.

 

Happy Sails,

[swatts1]

Mamiled,

Were there 2 of you for the Limo? We'll have either 6 or 8 people going over to NOLA from Gulfport in late November. Instead of taking 2 cars, we were thinking of a limo or van.

[Flip2cruise]

Great Review!!

[mamiled]

Doors: You know, I am not sure if they were metal or not. I want to say there were. However, they were definately covered with laminate or something so you wouldn't think you were on a Navy Ship!

 

Limo: Yes, just two of us in the Limo going. However, we had 5 luggage bags and they wouldn't exactly fit in my small car! Plus, the Limo company picked up my sister, her finacee and my son at our home and brought them along to pick us up at the end of the trip! Just make sure you go wiht a 10 passenger or more limo. We very comfortably sat 5 in here, with room for one more. But i would hate to see 10 people in there.

 

PS: I know all about Post Cruise Syndrome now!