Conquest (shortened 5 day) review

[Patdmoose]

Our Elation review - 9/25/05 - Oops! Canceled by the Katrina/FEMA debacle

Our Conquest review - 9/25/05 - Oops! Shortened by Rita

Our Conquest review - 9/27/05

 

EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE CRUISE

Our annual group cruise - 'Our Friends and Family Cruise V', was originally booked on the 7 day Elation cruise out of Galveston. We had 8 persons booked. To make a long story short, no one rebooked on the Conquest except for my wife and I. And, it was looking like that cruise would not sail either because of Hurricane Rita. But she swerved east and Galveston only had minor damage. We were booked in an IS/Guarantee for the same amount that we had paid for a 6C on the Elation. And then the email came on Monday morning. Carnival was having a sale to try and fill the ship. I called our on-line TA - (they had not seen the email yet) I faxed it to them and the owner got on the phone with CCL and asked for the same deal for us. At first, CCL said no. 'It was for new bookings only', Our TA reminded them that we had the right to cancel without penalty, and it was in everyone’s best interest to allow us to sail at the better prices. They agreed, and about three hours later, our TA called with the room number and the new pricing info. + We were allowed to keep our $100/person shipboard credit for the cancellation of the Elation cruise. So bottom line, we had a Conquest 8C balcony room for $349 + tax - $100 credit WOW!!

 

On Sunday and Monday I was checking websites for Houston area traffic and gas availability. We did not want to drive down from dFW and get stuck without fuel or find the same traffic jams that plagued those who had evacuated only a few days before. I decided that the TxDOT signs that were informing people that there were massive traffic jams and no fuel availability around Houston were just hype designed to get people to not return to the area quickly. I booked a room in Waco for Monday night, and chose to drive down to Galveston via Hwy 6, Hwy 290, and Loop 610. It turned out to be a good choice. While we did see some stations without fuel, there were many more that had it. There were NO traffic problems.

 

EMBARKATION- Tuesday

We used EZ Park instead of the Port of Galveston parking. I had emailed them about our reservation and asked if it would still be good for the 5 day vs. the 7day we had originally reserved. They emailed back on Monday that they would be there on Tuesday and that our reservation was intact. We arrived at EZ Park at 11:30; they quickly bussed us and our luggage to the terminal. There were lines waiting to board and there were still people getting off the Conquest. I commented to my wife and several others in line that there were not as many people there as I thought there should be. (more on that later) The lines started moving at 1:30 (the published embarkation time) We quickly went through all of the stations. When it came time to pick up our S&S card, we were informed that it was not ready and we would have to see the Purser's desk once on board. Once we boarded, we found out that this line was for everyone who had changed their reservation on Monday. or who had booked on Monday or Tuesday at the new lower rates. In short, it was for nearly everyone getting on. The line went on forever! We decided to go up to the Lido deck and get some lunch and come back later to stand in line. After a great lunch, we went back down to find the line even longer (that was OK, we had eaten, and most of the people in line had not) After about 2 hours in line, the pursers came out and started writing down names and booking numbers and telling us to return at 5:15. The line to the Purser's desk was blocking others from even boarding the ship. The Hotel Director came by and apologized for the wait. He told us that only 4 senior members of Galveston CCL management were there and that the huge number of last minute changes and bookings had overwhelmed the smaller than usual staff. There were Conquest staff manning many of the tables that were usually staffed by Galveston based employees. (The same hype from the TxDOT had scared many of the CCL employees from making the return drive back to Galveston). After the hotel manager left, I commented that he should send down waiters with water or soft drinks and sandwiches for those who had been in line so long. In just a minute, the waiters appeared with glasses of Sprite (no sandwiches), but it was a great move! We had decided to stay in line, since at its current pace, we anticipated arriving at the Purser's desk at around 5:30 anyway. In just a few minutes, they started bringing out envelopes with names and cabin numbers on them. Ours was the first one that they called out and we were actually still there. We went up to the Verandah deck to our balcony, # 8350. This was our first balcony in five cruises! It will be hard to go back to anything else! Our luggage actually beat us to the cabin. The cabin was spacious and had plenty of storage. We unpacked and then sat on the balcony till time to get ready for dinner. We had the Early seating in the Monet. We went upstairs and met our wait team, Jerry and Dante, both from the Philippines. They worked well together and made dinnertime a joy! We found out that all early diners had been assigned to the Monet, and that all late diners were assigned to the Renoir. This meant that dinner could be served with no time restraints since there were no second seating to get ready for. That was nice! (We found out at the Welcome Aboard show that there were only 1500 + guests on this sailing. With a crew of 1200, that was nearly a 1:1 ratio. There were always deck chairs available - there were always good show seats available. We even took the elevator from the Verandah (deck 8) all the way to Deck 0 in Cozumel without the elevator having to stop. This was at 9AM when the decks to get off are usually packed!

 

FIRST DAY at SEA-Wednesday

had room service breakfast on our balcony - explored the ship - first formal night - Captains Cocktail party (not crowded)

- saw the first production show - "Formidable' - the dancers and singers were some of the best we have seen on a CCL ship, but this show was horrible! Way - way below the talent levels of the performers. I had to fight to stay awake. It was boring

 

PROGRESSO- Thursday

We never take ship's tours, but because of the last minute changes to the ports, I did not have time to arrange anything in advance. So we booked the Merida City Overview and Shopping Tour - too much shopping and not enough overview. We left the second shopping area near the Plaza in Merida and sat in a park and watched the locals. (We knew the time and place that our tour bus would return) Thanks to HOST hdawson for his pics and recommendations.

 

COZUMEL-Friday

Chankanaab & shopping

BTW, the Rhapsody (changed to a 4 day leaving Galveston on Wednesday) caught up with us and a cruiser onboard told us that they sailed with only 870 onboard. There were 4 ships in port. The underbooked Conquest and Rhapsody, along with the CCL Miracle and the RCI Mariner (I think). Cozumel was not crowded at all. We had Chankanaab almost to ourselves for the first hour or so.

funny sight - as the Conquest started pulling away from the dock, they sounded the horn several times. The Miracle (at the same dock) responded by sounding their horn and pretty soon, both ships were sounding away. The gift shops at the end of the pier started emptying out. Hundreds of people started pouring out of the shops and running to the Miracle. They thought they were being left behind. They still had an hour onshore!

Funny event – folks from both the Conquest and the Miracle were calling out to each other from their balconies. Someone asked them what time it was over there. They responded 6:30, we told them it was only 5:30 over here. They were out of Tampa and on EDT. The Conquest is on CDT.

second formal night

second production show - 'Point & Click' -better than 'Formidable', but not as good as it should have been. The onboard talent was outstanding, just poor material.

 

SECOND DAY at SEA- Saturday

lazy day, VERY enjoyable

I played 'Free cruise bingo' there were so few people in the lounge that the odds were better that ever. I still lost

We went to the art auction. My wife won one of the free $500 pieces. She chose a Belle, since she had already collected his work on a previous cruise.

 

DEBARKATION

We did not do the self assist. and since we were on deck 8, we had to wait for a while for our color to be called. No problem, after having breakfast on our balcony, we waited on the Promenade deck and met some new friends.

Our bags were not under the color coded signs in the warehouse. That caused some confusion. The Customs checkout took a while, but it was not bad.

On the trip back to dFW, the roads were not crowed and gasoline was plentiful.

 

Since this was not a standard 7 day cruise, I may not be able to answer specific questions. I will try to answer any/all, but since I am returning to work tomorrow, it may take me a day or two. (or 3) to get back to you.

[TxStacey]

PadMoose,

How much was the parking for 5 days? We are also driving down from Grapevine in March and debating on whether to go down the night before and do a stay and park deal at one of the hotels or just go down the morning of and park at the cruise terminal. This will be my third cruise out of Galveston, but I have always gone down the night before.

I sailed the Conquest in June and she is a beautiful ship. What a great deal you got!! Was Todd Witmer back on board yet? How about Malcolm, the assistant CD and Bubbles (aka Sara)? Just curious! They were a great social staff when we sailed in June.

[Patdmoose]

TxStacey

We live in NRH, just down the road from you.

 

go to EZcruiseparking.com. We paid $45 for 7 nights. Of course the cruise was shortened to 5 nights which would have been $40. I did not argue over the $5 difference. They will take you from their lot to the terminal WITH your luggage. You do not have to drop off your luggage and then park.

 

Todd was the CD, the Assistant CD was Peter (on loan from the Destiny while she is drydocked) Sara (Bubbles) was there as well as Zoe (Also from England). There was a male social host, but I cannot remember his name.

[Landlocked1]

Patdmoose,

 

Did you notice or hear anything about what the Conquest had done during its drydock at the end of August?

 

Kevin

[Patdmoose]

Landlocked1

 

This was our first time on the Conquest, so I have nothing to compare it to. Everything looked very new and the crew worked very hard to it clean. The only stain I saw was on the carpet just outside our cabin. No complaints from me. It made it easier to spot the room from down the hall. LOL

They did have the new bedding. It was very soft and has a good feel to it. However, it is a little too much for me to sleep under. I had to just use the sheet.

[raynvic]

We had Jerry and Dante the week before and had excellent service also. We sailed the week of Rita and were getting off as you were getting on. I had heard that we could stay on for quite a deal, but work called. Glad you had a great time. I would like to address the dry dock work. I thought there were many areas that could have been fixed in dry dock but were ignored. Some of those were just minor details, but I expected more. I have finally figured out why the hall ways on all Carnival ships look dirty and that is because the cabin steward's staff are constantly spilling dirty water. Just my guess.

[Landlocked1]

Thanks for the info, Patdmoose and raynvic.

[BettyB2]

thanks for taking the time to write your review for us!! I love that ship!!! and congrats to wife for winning the art work!!!!:D

[Snoozeman]

We were also on this one. Good review by Pat. I'll only add--

 

EZ park is $35 if you pay online for a 5-day. I agree they were good.

 

We did have the new bedding following drydock. Not sure about the duvets. It was warm in our stateroom and seemed too much. Looked great though.

 

I thought the shows were great, BUT they were too long. Dancers were top notch. Probably two too many numbers in each set.

 

Embarkation was a mess, but probably not CCL's fault. Almost saw two scenes of fisticuffs due to frustrations. The cruise did have problems, including our cabin flooding one night as the ship made a quick course adjustment. Pool on deck 9 overflowed into stairwell and into 2-3 aft cabins on deck 8. Also we never got a credit we were entitled to receive.

 

CONQUEST has had a run of bad luck--hurricanes, new ports, staff changes, etc. The ship looks beautiful and the staff really worked very hard. We enjoyed ourselves and would do it again hopefully all the bugs will be worked out soon.

[Patdmoose]

Snoozeman

WOW I had not heard about the flooding. We were on deck 8 - mid ship.

 

Carnival also owes us $50 in promised credit. We were given the $100 each for the Elation cancellation, and then the $50 each for the shortening from 7 days to 5. Then when we rebooked at Monday's new low rates, they took back the $50 each. But when we recieved our final bill, we had a $200 credit and a $50 debit. Guest Relations is working on it, but said that it usually takes 2 weeks to resolve. I had our on-line TA make the call with me included to find out why the $50 was taken back. We will see.

 

Embarkation did get nasty. I saw one old blow hard demanding to see the captain. As I stated earlier, the enormous amount of changed and new bookings + the fact that they were very shorthanded caused a lot of the delay.

 

BettyB2

I will tell her. BTW, I mispelled the artist. It was Emile Bellet. He paints the faceless women, who are supposed to represent all women.

 

raynvic

Jerry and Dante were great. I just wish they had not changed all of the breakfast and lunch seatings to open seating. We always enjoy getting to know the wait staff and find out about their families. However, the 2 hour dinners in the evening were very nice. The wait staff seemed in no hurry to get us out of there since they were going to get off early regardless.

[Snoozeman]

Patdmoose

 

Same with us on credits, we were on 9/5 Sensation, I see you were on Elation. We never got those credits at all, but did get a $50 which I don't know the reason for. They are welcome to take that back if we get our $200. Haven't even tried to get that worked out yet.

 

I was at Artist bar (my favorite) after we had already eaten and been to our cabin and the lines were still long and getting longer. I felt sorry for one couple on their 1st cruise and bought them a drink on my s&s card while they were in line. Then thought better about being anywhere near reception and changed bars.

 

We lucked out on an aft balcony. The water was quite a surprise, we were in the cabin when it happened. We at least had the carpets cleaned very well. It was a lot of water too.

 

I feel so lucky that I had my card on check-in. The initial wait was bad enough, but I would have been very unhappy to be in that follow-up mess.

 

At least it was a memorable cruise.

[Patdmoose]

Snoozeman

I checked my CC online statement, and our S/S card charges came through. They were $100 less than the statement that they gave us on Sunday. So at this time, we have recieved $250 credit. $100 x 2 for the Elation + $50 for who knows what??? I hope your credits get worked out soon.

The funny thing is I still have not been charged for the cruise, nor do I have an invoice from the TA.

[raynvic]

Landelocked, I had forgotten about the new linens until Snoozeman mentioned them. I thought they were by far the best I have ever had on any cruise line. I very much agree that our cabin was warm, we were on Deck 8, but DH always travels with a portable fan which made all the difference. I did manage to pull up the duvet way into the night. I just hope all my future cruises have these linens, made the bed much more comfortable.

[Snoozeman]

patdmoose

 

That's very encouraging. I'll check my credit card online. Glad you got yours. Thanks for letting me know.

[mbarker10]

We are booked on the Conquest out of NOLA for a 7 day, and I stumbled upon your review when looking for information about our room, #8350. Were you happy with this room? My husband gets seasick occasionally and we upgraded from an aft oceanview because we were concerned about the noise. So I guess my question is, did you notice noise or any sea motion? Thanks for any help you can provide. We're super excited to be in a balcony.

[LUPY48]

did you notice that the original post is from 2005??