First time cruiser - Carnival Conquest March 2nd-9th

[oozie]

I've been looking so forward to posting a review! My first time cruising, and being sea-sensitive I was terrified of being sick the entire time. Traveled with my wonderful boyfriend, his 3rd cruise. We're both in our mid-20's.

 

Day 1 - Embarkation

We had taken a big chance in booking a flight the morning of our cruise. Flight options were pretty bad and very expensive, so we wing'ed it. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we made it there nice and early. Not sure I'd take that risk again...it was a pretty stressful couple of weeks leading up to the cruise, which involved me checking the flight status every single morning! :)

 

We had pre-arranged transfer from FLL to the Port of Miami. It was very easy to find, and although the bus seemed somewhat shoddy, we got to the port just after 12pm.

 

I was afraid we'd be in line for a while, but we cleared security and the initial check-in within 10 minutes. We were in Zone 30 of embarkation and they started loading the first zones as we sat down in the waiting area. Again, I was surprised at how fast the lineups went for it being in prime embarkation time and March break. We probably sat there for 15 minutes before Zone 30 was called. We waited in another fast-moving line up to the boat and then we were in:

 

 

Being my first cruise, I was very excited to step into the boat. We had a drink at the bar as more people boarded. My boyfriend actually knew our first bartender from a previous cruise. Small world! He bought his Bottomless Bubbles sticker here too, which proved to be useful for us both.

 

Thankfully we had swimsuits in our carry-on and headed straight for the lido deck. It was pretty busy when we got there, we immediately got in line for some burgers because we were starving! I'd seen photos of the burgers here and I wasn't overly impressed...but man were these good burgers! Reminded me of Five Guys. I had a Straight Up, my boyfriend had a Plain Jane. Both were fantastic and the toppings were great. We walked around the top decks of the boat, lounged around until the muster drill.

 

 

Muster was okay. I had no idea what to expect, but it didn't seem too crazy or unorganized as I've heard they can be. It was over after about 20-25 minutes.

 

After the muster we headed up to the 10th deck for our big departure. And then we headed back to our room to unpack our suitcase. Our cabin had way more storage than I expected. We followed everyone's advice and limited the amount of clothing we brought...by some miracle it all fit in one suitcase! We unpacked and walked around the ship until our late dinner.

 

We had a balcony room on the 6th deck. The location was perfect seeing as we were near the middle, close to the stairs and elevators. We were one floor from the casino, MDR and other stuff, and just 3 decks below the lido deck. We never had to take the elevators unless we were going down to the gangway.

 

 

 

When it came time for dinner in Monet, we were seated with two lovely couples. We were thankful that they were close to our age and there was always stuff to talk about. Our waiters were very kind - all the staff was! They made our trip such a pleasure, even when the seas got the best of me. This night I had the gazpacho to start (which was terrific) and the braised beef as a main, this was good for the most part but I found some parts really dry. I couldn't wait to have the WCM for dessert...and it was delicious!

 

We did a bit of gambling after dinner, caught some of the Oscars on the lido deck, and then headed back inside of the 11:45 Punchliner show. It was pretty good!

 

After being awake for way too long, we got straight into bed.

 

Next up: Nassau.

Edited March 11, 2014 by oozie

[heidio313]

Loving your review so far....its great to hear your perspective as a first time cruiser. Keep it up!

 

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[AnnaBeth]

So excited to see a new Conquest review, we will be sailing on her next month! :)

 

 

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[calisilent]

Hi Oozie!

My husband and I are booked on the Conquest for October. I reserved an aft cabin on the 6th deck and wondered if you heard alot of noise at night? I understand that the lounge is below this section.