Carnival Conquest Spring Break - Part 1

[Sharobson]

Just returned from Spring Break on the Carnival Conquest. It was my husband, myself, 11 year old son and 7 year old daughter. We had cabin 7248, an Ocean Suite on the Port Side. This was perfect as it was the side the ship docked at each port and we were able to watch arriving and leaving each port from our balcony.

 

The room was great. Plenty of space. The only thing that bothered me is they left the kids bed made the whole cruise and did not make it back to a couch during the day. The coffee table that would go in front of the couch was in the hall by the door and kind of in the way. My kids didn't mind as they loved laying on the bed when we were in the cabin. The bathroom had two large sinks and a separate vanity area which was nice. The room was located in the forward portion of the ship which was great as we were close to the pool, casual dining, pizza, etc. areas. The ship looked great to me and I have been on newer ships. There were a few rusty places if you looked for them, but carpet and decorations looked wonderful. The crew were constantly cleaning too.

 

I thought the food was excellent. Great variety and quality. We had Your Time Dining. Since it was Spring Break, the ship was full with over 3400 passengers. On two separate nights we were given buzzers and had to wait 30-45 minutes for our dinner table to be ready. Service was also slow on these nights, but what do you expect when serving that many people at once? They next day we got a plate of treats in our cabin with a note apologizing for our dinner wait. Other nights we had no problems and service was great. Guys burgers are out of this world and the pizza was fantastic. We also tried the Fish & Chips upstairs on the 10th deck. We would not have known about this without reading the boards and were so glad we found it. They had fish & chips, fried oysters and calamari and ceviche. The eggs on the buffet were horrible and tasted like fish, but when we ate breakfast in the "real" sit down dining room the eggs were wonderful.

 

Grand Turk was our first port and we loved it. We are not a "sit by the pool and drink" Margaritaville family, so I booked a snorkel trip with White Sands. They were fantastic. They met us on the beach and led us to their boat. It was just the four of us with captain Brent and mate Tony. We went out to the wall and snorkeled. It was incredible with tons of fish. Then we pulled anchor and went to Gibbs Cay. They dove off the cay for conch and even found a starfish (which we returned to the ocean). As we arrived on the Cay, the "cattle" boat of 50 people from the cruise ship was just leaving. We had the whole island to ourselves. They guys made us incredible conch salad which even the kids loved. We then explored and played on the island for an hour. The sting rays came around and Brent held one for us to see and touch. Then it was time to head back as the ship was only in port until 2pm. We wished we were there longer with Brent and Tony!

[Sharobson]

The next stop was La Romana, Dominican Republic. We had not heard good things about this port, but we love to tour different countries and see the local spots and meet people, so we were game to explore. I had found a company, Universal Servicius Turisticos, operaciones@st-universal.com, that had quoted me a private van and driver all day tour to see the caves, Altos de Chavron, the River and the beach. I confirmed with them via e-mail the week before our arrival. When we arrived, we walked through the duty free shop and the line of vendors to meet our driver. He was a no-show. I tried calling them on the phone and the person I booked with was not there and no one knew anything. A tour guide that was waiting for another family overheard our problem and offered one of his drivers to take us around. Almost no one spoke English. We took the tour guide up on his offer and his van driver arrived with a van in about 5 minutes. The tour guide told his driver what we wanted to do for the day. The driver did not speak ANY English and we had a hard time communicating as my Spanish is minimal. He took us to the caves first thing, just as we had planned. They were amazing and well worth the visit. After the caves, we thought we were going to Altos de Chavron, but we drove right past the exit. The driver took us to a beach about 15 minutes farther by Bayhibe and directed us to a table on the beach and left. Someone brought us a menu. The food was outrageously priced and the beach was dismal. We had not asked to be taken to a restaurant. It was dirty and the restaurants that lined it were shacks with no floors and plastic walls. It was a combination of locals and tourists with no facilities and not a pretty beach. We really did not feel like paying $200 for lunch and eating there. We found the driver, who was ordering his lunch. He happened to be with the tour guide who had found him for us and who had taken his group there. We figured that they got their lunch for free for bringing tourists there. We asked the guide to direct our driver to take us back to the ship and told him our daughter didn't feel well so as to not make him upset. He was not happy, but did take us back to the port. We went back on the ship and relaxed. We would like to try the Dominican Republic again, but probably not La Romana.[/size]

[sanmarcosman]

Thanks for the report.

KIRK

[Sharobson]

Our next island was Curacao. This was our FAVORITE island and stop. We were in port from 1 - 11pm. I had found a local tour guide; Andy Rolfast, Around Curacao Tours Tell: (+5999) 667 7777 http://www.privatecuracaotours.com. I confirmed with Andy by e-mail a week prior to our arrival as I had with all our tour guides. He was right outside the port exit where he said he would be waiting. He sent us a map and photo of himself to help us find each other. He took us to his air conditioned SUV and asked our preferences for the day. He was born and raised on Curacao and college educated. He knows everything about the island and shared all kinds of information with us. He is wonderful! He first drove us all through the city explaining the history and all kinds of interesting facts. He drove us through the floating market. Then he took us to a fort where he grew up playing as a child. We climbed the fort and he helped my children climb the ladder inside. He drove us to the other side of the island to the National Park to see the blow hole. He then took us all around the coast and showed us all kinds of sites. We went to a really cool little dive resort on a cliff for lunch where we were the only ones there. The food was unbelievably good. Andy seemed to know everyone and everyone we saw and spoke to was friendly and happy. After lunch we toured some more and then stopped at a lagoon to snorkel. Andy supplied all the equipment and had even purchased a new smaller size snorkel set for my 7 year old. We snorkeled the lagoon and as the sun was setting along came a sea turtle. We swam with the turtle for 20 minutes and it was the most awesome experience. After our snorkel/swim, we went to the salt flats and saw a bunch or wild flamingos. Andy then drove us back to the city and port and around again so we could see the bridge lit up in the dark. We spent 6 hours with Andy and his price was more reasonable than other tours! He was amazing and felt like a friend. We didn't want to leave him and go back to the ship. I would highly recommend him to everyone.

[meatloafsfan]

Great review. Can I ask if you kids tried camp carnival? If they did, how did they like it?

 

Thanks.

[Sharobson]

Our last stop was Aruba. Four islands in four days and it did not seem like too much at all as they were all different and for different lengths of time. We once again had a tour guide in Aruba. We went with Aruba VIP Tours. We docked at the port and went to the appointed waiting place to meet our tour guide. We were 2 out of 3 on tours so far, but the 2 we had booked that showed up were so wonderful we were hoping for 3. We could not find the tour guide and asked several others. They said that they had seen him and he was probably parking. We waited and he showed up about 10 minutes later. Our guide was Jacob and our vehicle was a nice FJ Cruiser. We got in and he drove us around. Aruba is different than the other islands as it is dry and arid. It was very hot and dusty and we were glad we were in the SUV and not an open jeep/bus/atv like a lot of the tours were. We went to the rock formations first. These were interesting and fun to climb. They were a little scary as there was no fence, just a low wooden rail. Then we went to the Natural Bridge. It was amazing and we took lots of fun pictures with the kids getting soaked from behind by the waves. We then went to the Gold Mine, which is above ground and more like an abandoned fort. Our last stop was a baby beach to snorkel. The water was murky and there was not much to see, so we just swam for a little while as the beach itself was beautiful. An amazing thing on Curacao and Aruba was the people camping on the beach. We were told that lots of families camp on the beach for the Easter holiday and there were tents everywhere. I would love to be able to do that in Florida! After snorkeling Jacob dropped us off in town so we could walk around and shop a little before we got back on the ship. We decided to eat on the ship as we heard the restaurants were expensive in Aruba. Jacob dropped us of by the train (more like a double decker bus on a track) that ran through town. He told us it ran every 15 minutes and we could ride it back to port. We walked around and shopped a little and the train/bus never came. We walked back to port and the ship. The tour/tour guide was alright, but just wasn't like Andy in Curacao. We spent less time with him and didn't enjoy the island as much. When we shopped, the vendors were not as nice as other islands and one was downright rude when I unfolded a tee shirt to see what it said on it. This is just my opinion from our experience there, but our favorite islands went; Curacao first, then Grand Turk, then Aruba and lastly La Romana.

[Sharobson]

We participated in a lot of activities on the ship. We played Bingo every day (no we never won), did arts and crafts, we played the trivia contests, we played mini golf and ping pong, swam, etc. We found that the Cruise Director; Josh (Big Sexy) was incredible. The other activities guys (I don't know their titles); Ashley and Curly were also incredible. The three of them went above and beyond in being kind, patient, helpful, funny and friendly. My 7 year old wanted to be on the Hasbro Family Game Show from the minute she heard about it and the cruise six months prior to our taking the cruise. She told Josh earlier in the week that it was her dream to be on the show. The first night of the show he picked her. You had to answer a trivia question correctly to make it up on stage and no one around us knew the answer. I told her the wrong answer and she didn't make it on stage. She sobbed the rest of the night. When Josh, Curly and Ashley heard they told her to try again. The next show she did and got picked again and got on stage! She didn't win the show, but they won our hearts! She got her ship on a stick and had the time of her life. Let me say again; Josh, Curly and Ashley are the best!

 

We went to the Green Eggs and Ham Brunch which was also well done. They had elaborate decorations and ice sculptures and the food was fun and delicious. We got pictures with all the characters and had a great time. Josh, the cruise director, is also a history buff and gave some excellent talks on the Titanic and WWs. There was plenty to do onboard and I felt safe letting my kids have a little freedom and go some places on their own. I was on top of them about their behaviour as there were numerous children running amok with no parents every around. But once again, it was Spring Break and a full ship.

 

In summary, we would definitely book another Carnival Cruise. We had a great time. We were all very sad to leave the ship and spent a melancholy day after we got home. My 7 year old kept saying, "I miss my cruise." and so does her mom!

[Sharobson]

Hi Patricia,

 

My kids went to Camp 2 nights for a couple of hours each. We don't go out a lot at home and don't have baby sitters to often, so they are used to doing things with us. They didn't want to go. The first night they said they didn't like it and the kids were really wild. The second time they went my daughter said it was fun and my son asked us to come back and pick him up later! So I would say try it more than once if they don't like it the first time. We put them in after dinner to have a couple hours to ourselves and go to the casino and a show.

[cmptrwiz]

Thanks for the report

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cmptrwiz]

The next stop was La Romana, Dominican Republic. We had not heard good things about this port, but we love to tour different countries and see the local spots and meet people, so we were game to explore. I had found a company, Universal Servicius Turisticos, operaciones@st-universal.com, that had quoted me a private van and driver all day tour to see the caves, Altos de Chavron, the River and the beach. I confirmed with them via e-mail the week before our arrival. When we arrived, we walked through the duty free shop and the line of vendors to meet our driver. He was a no-show. I tried calling them on the phone and the person I booked with was not there and no one knew anything. A tour guide that was waiting for another family overheard our problem and offered one of his drivers to take us around. Almost no one spoke English. We took the tour guide up on his offer and his van driver arrived with a van in about 5 minutes. The tour guide told his driver what we wanted to do for the day. The driver did not speak ANY English and we had a hard time communicating as my Spanish is minimal. He took us to the caves first thing, just as we had planned. They were amazing and well worth the visit. After the caves, we thought we were going to Altos de Chavron, but we drove right past the exit. The driver took us to a beach about 15 minutes farther by Bayhibe and directed us to a table on the beach and left. Someone brought us a menu. The food was outrageously priced and the beach was dismal. We had not asked to be taken to a restaurant. It was dirty and the restaurants that lined it were shacks with no floors and plastic walls. It was a combination of locals and tourists with no facilities and not a pretty beach. We really did not feel like paying $200 for lunch and eating there. We found the driver, who was ordering his lunch. He happened to be with the tour guide who had found him for us and who had taken his group there. We figured that they got their lunch for free for bringing tourists there. We asked the guide to direct our driver to take us back to the ship and told him our daughter didn't feel well so as to not make him upset. He was not happy, but did take us back to the port. We went back on the ship and relaxed. We would like to try the Dominican Republic again, but probably not La Romana.[/size]

 

How much was the no show company going to charge you for the tours?

[meatloafsfan]

Hi Patricia,

 

My kids went to Camp 2 nights for a couple of hours each. We don't go out a lot at home and don't have baby sitters to often, so they are used to doing things with us. They didn't want to go. The first night they said they didn't like it and the kids were really wild. The second time they went my daughter said it was fun and my son asked us to come back and pick him up later! So I would say try it more than once if they don't like it the first time. We put them in after dinner to have a couple hours to ourselves and go to the casino and a show.

 

thanks for the information. My brother keeps saying that his kids won't want to go to the kids clubs, that they'd all rather just do "family" stuff. I, however, think that they should at least give the clubs a try because they would enjoy playing with other kids.

 

Of course, their spring vacation was renting a cabin and experiencing two weeks of nothing but "family togetherness" (i.e. board games, video games, lego, etc). I just don't think the kids have ever been anywhere where kids clubs were more than just a babysitting service.

[tonyweir]

Great to hear! We were on the Conquest last July and I'd go back in a heartbeat!

[Clarea]

Thanks for posting the review.

[Keith1010]

Great review.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[GMRPHRN]

Thanks for the review

[Star24K]

Thanks for sharing.

[JohnSpo]

Great review. I was on Conquest in November. Conquest is great. I looks like you went to some nice ports.:cool:

[lowroller]

Thanks for sharing, we will be on the Conquest in 3 days!

Did I read your daughter's shirt correctly? "Beach hair, don't care" lol

[tilliebob1919]

Thanks for sharing....will be on the Conquest in the fall for the first time.

 

 

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[CraftyJGinSC]

enjoyed your review! We're hitting 3 of those ports in July. Already have White Sands reserved for Grand Turk, so happy to see you enjoyed your trip with them! Have another excursion planned for Curacao, but Aruba is still up in the air! Thanks for sharing!