Carnival Conquest Thanksgiving 2014 review

[@joetolley]

Yeah, it's a little late, and the Conquest has a new home at Port Everglades, but I thought I'd go ahead and throw out my experience anyway...

 

Over the week of Thanksgiving, my family and I had the opportunity to go on the Carnival Conquest for an Eastern Caribbean cruise and ended up having one of our most enjoyable cruises to date.

 

 

We selected this cruise solely on itinerary and budget. Knowing that the Conquest was introduced more than 20 years ago and having seen some mediocre at best passenger photos and video clips of the ship, we weren’t expecting to be blown away by its design or amenities. We were pleasantly surprised.

 

Overall Theme

 

Like all other ships in Carnival’s fleet, designer Joe Farcus created the Conquest’s interiors based on a theme. The theme for this ship is Impressionist art. As an art director in advertising, I was very intrigued in how this would be pulled off, and admittedly a little nervous it would be flat-out gaudy. It was not.

 

The entry point of the ship, as well as it’s central location, is The Studio Atrium. You are immediately introduced to Farcus’ design them with a mural paying homage to impressionist artists blanketing the entire ceiling. Gold balconies and stairways hint at intricate framework. My fears were instantly put to rest. It was not at all gaudy. A little loud? Yes. But very tastefully done.

 

All of the public spaces had names reflecting these artists. The Toulouse-Lautrec Main Lounge, The Degas Aft Lounge, The Restaurants Monet and Renoir and Henri’s Dance Club… you get the idea. Replica paintings, sculptures and furniture embellishments consistently reflected the artists for who these spaces were named.

 

The main dining rooms, The Monet and The Renoir, were probably the most impressive areas of design on the ship. The lighting accentuated the bold colors. French architecture was brought indoors with hidden Eiffel Towers in the woodwork as well as the ironwork. I think it was Farcus’ attempt at Disney’s “hidden Mickeys”.

 

 

 

 

Public Spaces

 

The public spaces on the ship are very typical of any cruise ship, and include everything you’d expect. No real surprises here. It is a 110,000 ton ship with room for nearly 3,000 passengers.

 

The pool deck is designed almost like stadium seating so that all lounges and chairs have a decent view towards towards Dive-In movie screen and the main pool, where all top deck activities take place. That’s right, they made it really difficult to NOT see the hairy man competition. However, like practically all cruise ship pool areas, forget about it on sea day. It’s packed.

 

There’s also a water slide for the kiddies. It’s actually for everyone, but if you’re, say, my size, it may take you a little while to slide through all the turns.

 

If you don’t like the crowds, there’s an adult’s pool and set of hot tubs on the other side of the lido buffet. This area also sports a retractible glass roof which is engaged nightly and during inclement weather. Alongside the Sky Bar, this is a very quiet and relaxing outdoor space.

 

The inside space offers pretty much everything you’d expect so no need to discuss. The one that thing that struck me as out of the ordinary, though, were the locker rooms in the spa area. Segregated my gender, they both offer both saunas and steam rooms capable of holding over 20 people each (though I never saw more than 3) as well as 5 large private showers. I’ve been on larger Carnival ships which offer far less.

 

Fun Ship 2.0 Upgrades

 

Even though it was christened in 2002, the Conquest went into dry dock for it’s Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades in 2012 and received almost the entire suite, including:

 

Guy’s Burger Joint (the best burger I’ve ever had)

BlueIguana Cantina

BlueIguana Tequila Bar

Redfrog Rum Bar (though NOT the Pub, so no where on the ship to get wings)

Alchemy Bar (Wow! More on this later)

EA Sports Bar

Playlist Productions (4 spectacular live shows)

Hasbro Family Gameshow

 

These upgrades are really what made this ship feel younger than she really is.

 

Conclusion

 

Not expecting much from the ship itself, we experienced and enjoyed almost every aspect she offered. I think the piano bar was the only area we didn’t frequent. Other places, like the Alchemy Bar, we frequented maybe a little too much. The design was beautiful, classy and diverse. It wasn’t exactly my taste, but the art director in me really appreciated how it all seamlessly tied together.

[@joetolley]

I'll post 2 additional parts, talking entertainment and food and beverage over the next couple of days.

[PurdueChefAmber]

Thanks for the review! We are sailing her in January and April of 2016!

[babys mom]

I can't wait for the rest . Beautiful pictures nice review.

[modernscarlett]

Great review so far, and better late then never!

[@joetolley]

Main Dining Room

I hate starting off a review with a negative, but we were surprisingly disappointed with the food in the main dining room. Having done Carnival cruises in the past, we were looking forward to the great food and service. The service, as always, was impeccable, but the food fell way short. Lobster was okay. Prime Rib was good. Pretty much everything else was just meh. Carnival introduced a crossover menu this year. For only $20/person you can order certain items each night from The Steakhouse (Carnival’s premium additional fee restaurant) and enjoy it in the main hall. I fear there is a move towards promoting their premium items by subtle neglect in their complementary offerings. Hopefully, that’s a conspiracy theory and they just had an off week.

 

The main dining room also serves breakfast and on all sea days, hosts their Sea Day Brunch. This was a win. The Eggs Benedict were delicious and our girls shoveled through their waffles. But the best part was the Bloody Mary bar. I mean, come on. A freshly made Bloody Mary… at 10:30 am… on a Tuesday? Life doesn’t get much better than that.

 

 

Lido Buffet and Eats

What can I say about the lido buffet? It’s a buffet and it’s on the lido deck. Unfortunately, that’s about it. The breakfast bar was decent, pretty much the exact same as on every other ship, but the evening buffet appeared less than desirable. And it was probably one of the least substantial buffets I’ve seen, offering only about 5 hot item choices and essentially the same each night. I don’t think they were trying to win any awards that week. Full disclaimer: we didn’t partake in the evening buffet because of the lido area’s secondary options.

 

Pizza Pirate – with a name like that, it’s just a place to keep kids happy, right? Wrong. They serve really good pizza and, though simple, a decent variety of pies. One night instead of piling up on your plate at the buffet, make a salad, head to the back and grab a couple of slices. You’ll thank me later. Did I mention it’s open 24 hours?

 

The Deli – You can also do yourself a favor and order a reuben or any deli-ght from one of my new best friends. And help-yourself-pickles in the window? Not a good idea. Sorry Carnival. I’M the one who ate them all.

 

Fish and Chips – This is the third winning alternative to the lido buffet. It’s on the second floor above the aft buffet and very easy to miss. I didn’t even find it until mid week. Unfortunately, we missed our opportunity to give it a try. But, it looked delicious and I always saw some of the crew eating up there. That’s got to be a good sign, right?

 

Guy’s Burger Joint

Ever since the Fun Ship 2.0 features have been introduced, all I’ve hear about is how awesome Guy’s Burger Joint burgers are. Really? A cruise ship burger? Not buying it. So, we got on the ship at 11:30 and had a Guy’s burger in hand by 11:34. I’ve GOT to see what the big deal is… That was the best freakin’ burger I’ve ever eaten. Is that possible? First bite bias? Not a chance. The fourth Guy’s burger was just as savory. In fact, on day 5 I had my first official Guy’s Burger Joint dream… I’ll spare you the details.

 

 

BlueIguana Cantina

While my wife and I were making a mess with our burgers, our daughters were devouring their “build-a-burritos” from BlueIguana. They looked okay, but Mexican food and the lido deck have never been a great combo in my opinion. But, being the human garbage disposal that I am, I gladly claimed their leftovers, you know, for research purposes. Dang,… they nailed this one, as well. And much like Guy’s burgers, a few more found their way into my stomach that week.

 

The Steakhouse

 

We did not take the opportunity to dine at The Steakhouse. But I did talk with some fellow passengers I knew from our Facebook Roll Call who did. They almost unanimously agreed it was one of the best meals they have ever had. At only $35/person, and entrées like the 18 oz. Grilled Prime Cowboy Steak, I soon realized we chose poorly. Sorry Carnival, forgive me.

 

Taste Bar

 

This is one of my favorite places on the Conquest. It sits along the corridor of the Promenade deck in place of the sushi bar prior to her 2.0 upgrade. Opened four nights of this seven night cruise, the three chefs behind the bar offered a small sample (usually a soup and a meat) of 4 different restaurants across Carnival’s fleet: BlueIguana, The Steakhouse, Red Frog Pub and Cucina del Capitano. Soooo good and never crowded. Serving 30 minutes earlier than the early dinner seating time, The Taste Bar is a great way to start the evening.

 

 

Thirsty Frog Red

 

As part of the Fun Ship 2.0 upgrade, the Conquest received it’s custom brew from Anheuser Busch, Thirsty Frog Red. It’s an amber ale with a red color, pulling through the red of the Carnival brand. It’s basically a good party beer. It’s smooth and has a decent flavor. However, there is no complexity at all. If you want to get tanked, you can easily drink it like water, but if you want a great tasting beer defer to what Cigar City Brewery has to offer.

 

Cigar City Brewery

 

Earlier in the year, Carnival partnered with Cigar City Brewing, a major craft beer player based in Tampa. Carnival offers two of their beers on all of their ships that home port in Florida.

 

Florida Cracker – A very smooth white ale combining flavors of citrus, vanilla and coriander.

 

Invasion Pale Ale – This American pale ale that was an instant hit for me, packing a punch of pine, caramel and citrus.

 

 

The Alchemy Bar

 

Restorative Basil drop. Cucumber Sunrise. Martini Seduction. These are just a few of my favorite drinks on the menu of this premium martini bar. And they were all… ridiculous. My wife went all plain-Jane on everyone and just ordered a dirty martini. “Oh… my… gosh,… that’s the best dirty martini I’ve ever had…” was the result. Not surprising though as we soon realized that Inga and Kat were two of the best mixologists we’ve ever had the privilege to sit in front of. Case in point, Inga was never satisfied just serving drinks off the menu. She insisted on tailoring them to what we liked and didn’t like. One of the hybrids she concocted for me, with Grey Goose, lime, basil and cucumber, ended up being the special the following night.

 

 

Well that’s enough of that. Now I’m just hungry and very thirsty.

[smrn]

Hurry and eat; get something to drink and tell us more! :)