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Review: Carnival Conquest 10/30/05

Sablerose

By Sablerose,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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big_duck

big_duck

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Good morning!

 

When we were in the Point they did have music. It was a duo, but they sounded like a trio, because they had a synthesizer that was playing some instruments. I think I might have seen someone dancing at the Point, but it was late when we were there (8:30) and I think we missed the "rush." I know they wouldn't have discouraged dancing, as there was a wide open space in front of the band area which is probably just for that!

 

It's also in the TV Commerical ;)

 

Mornin' Rosie. :D

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Sablerose

Sablerose

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Day 6 -- Playa Del Carmen

 

Whee! Mexico!

 

Some background: Our original Elation cruise we were booked on before Hurricane Katrina and FEMA, went to two ports in Mexico. I am in love with Mexico. My heart is in Mexico. And we are someday going to live in Mexico. So I consider every opportunity to visit Mexico a blessing. It has been my lifelong dream to climb the pyramid of Kulkulkan at Chichen Itza, and that was the primary purpose for having selected the Elation previously. When we moved over to the Conquest we were just happy to have Cozumel. Then they took Cozumel away and didn't give us a replacement port, at least we didn't find out about one, until we boarded the ship. That's when we found out we were going to Playa Del Carmen.

 

And I was thrilled!

 

I couldn't get up early enough for Playa day. We were up and about early in the a.m., had our coffee, and after talking to some fellow CC'ers onboard we went down to check out the tender situation. When we walked past the Tolouse-Latrec lounge early in the morning, there was no line but we overheard them on the loudspeaker saying, "Very soon we're going to get started with the process of getting people onto tenders." We decided that if everyone in there hadn't gotten on a tender yet, we'd be smart and just go to breakfast first and then wander back in after they cleared out the group!

 

So we went to the Monet for breakfast and were seated with a delightful group of older folks who were all traveling together. We discussed breakfast options, talked about the ship, talked about places we'd been and things we did. Hubby had an omelette in the dining room, but I had my old standby - lox and a bagel. It was about the same as I'd get in room service, but the cream cheese was cold and thicker, as opposed to soft and kind of runny. I also had a side of scrambled eggs but ended up not eating all of them.

 

We went back to the Lounge, thinking we'd just call Jimandbette and get tender tickets for all of us. At that moment, we rounded the corner in the lobby and the line came out of the lounge, from the stage in front, all the way back past the purser's desk. And it was four or five people wide. Massive.

 

I jumped in line and had Stang call our friends and tell them we'd get tender tickets, and we'd call them when we had them. So we waited in line. Nompty and Ed ended up a little ways behind us so I got tickets for them, too. I got six stickers, and Stang phoned Jimandbette and they showed up shortly after. We were tender number 20. By the time we got our tickets the line was still far past the purser's desk with people who hadn't received theirs yet.

 

We waited about 10-15 minutes and got called for the tender. The line from the lounge to the tender was quite a cattle call, but we made the most of it. And after we got on the tender, we could see why it was going the way it was going that morning. The tenders weren't "tenders" at all, they were FERRIES. The ferry boats that were previously used to carry people between Playa and Cozumel were being used to ferry people from the Conquest to Playa. These large yellow boats seated between 300 and 500 people each. They had airline seats, cash bars, a gift shop, and HDTV. After we took our seats we got quite relaxed because of the comfortable accommodations and before we knew it we were on Playa Del Carmen.

 

We exited, got our photos taken, and headed up the tender pier. Once we hit the beach we got to see some Balét Folklórico Dancers putting on a show and a huge sign that said, "Welcome to Riviera Maya." Everyone was so happy to see us.

 

We headed up the road, as Jimandbette had planned to go to Carlos & Charlie's for a while, and they kind of knew where they were going. I was sucked into all the shops, instantly. We ended up eventually getting separated because I couldn't stop ogling the handcrafts and talking to the shopkeepers, so we agreed we'd meet "up the street" at Carlos & Charlie's.

 

The next little while is a blur of me speaking Spanish to shopkeepers, bargaining for some very neat things, and filling Stang's backpack with stuff. In my conversations with the shopkeepers I did learn this: We were the first cruise to come "back" to Playa Del Carmen. The tourism had even been at an all-time low for the previous couple of weeks. Everyone who had a shop who made pottery or anything breakable had been spending those two weeks re-making everything they needed to sell, in time for the cruises to come back.

 

They were all so thrilled to see us. They told me that they hope to have one or two cruises a day from then on out, especially as long as Cozumel isn't accepting cruises like they were previous to Wilma.

 

I couldn't help but laugh as the shopkeepers tried to get us to stop in. "Honeymooners!" they would call to us, "Honeymooners, come in here! Almost free today!"

 

We met up with Jimandbette at Carlos & Charlie's, which ended up being about how I expected but was more expensive than I thought. The "shot girl" came around and asked who wanted a shot - Jim motioned to Nompty and Ed - she gave them shots -- two each -- and then made her way around the table "giving" us all kamikaze shots until her bottle was empty.

 

And then she turned to Jim and told him that would be $35.00. *blink* *blink* We all gave Jim money to cover our shots and when she walked away, we were a little flabbergasted. It's one thing to work on tips and then give shots to everyone at the table, but if there's a set price for them you should probably point that out beforehand.

 

The music was loud but fun, and the food was pretty much "just okay," to me. But the beer was cold, there was a lot of it, and we did end up having a good time. We went downstairs to the C&C shop but everything was too expensive so we didn't actually even go in - just went off Bette's assessment. We decided we'd shop more on the way back.

 

We stopped into a little Mexican drugstore/convenience store and picked up a one-liter bottle of Mexican Coca-Cola, which is the best stuff on the planet, ever, ever, ever. They still make it with real sugar, which makes it taste much better than the Coke you can get here at home. Stuffed that in the backpack.

 

Ended up coming home with a statue we thought was Onyx which is in fact Golden Obsidian, of a Mayan King figure… a statute of a Mayan pyramid (since I didn't get to climb one, now I can look at my pyramid every day), some pottery, a Mayan calendar stone replica (which is the one thing I really wanted), some jewelry, some sunglasses, Mexican coke, and T-shirts and shot glasses. Overall a great day and we were WAY under budget.

 

The highlight of my day was standing around talking to one of the artisans who was selling the pottery and talavera pottery that he made. We must have stood there for 30 minutes just talking to him and his wife. It was amazing. Stang was so kind and patient with me to let me just jabber on in Spanish with those poor folks, I talked their ears off.

 

But one good thing about speaking Spanish was, whenever I found something I thought I wanted, the shopkeepers would say something like, "Ah, you speak Spanish? You pick out what you want, and we'll have a conversation about the price." I think we got some good deals - didn't pay more than half the original quoted price for anything we bought ,except the T-shirts which were a great deal as-is and I didn't quibble.

 

The weather in Playa was fabulous. A little breezy, sunny, warm. We decided we'd go back there on a land-based vacation any day. The people were so nice, the beaches were gorgeous, and everything was just perfect. It was my favorite day of the trip.

 

We headed back to the tender (the last tender was at 4:00) at around 3:30. The line was from where the tenders tied to the pier, all the way back to where the dancers were earlier in the day. We secured a spot in the line (which was just a moving, roving mass of people the width of the entire pier) and waited our turn. We ended up in front of a group of the Carnival Conquest Dancers -- who were acting like crazy girls! -- in line. When we finally got on the tender we had another little wait, as the waters had gotten slightly rougher and they were having a hard time tying up to the Conquest, or getting everyone on and off the tender boats. We got back to the ship and spent some time looking at everyone's balconies and stuff since we were seated on the top, outside portion of the tender and could see folks watching us come back "home."

 

We got on the ship and went upstairs to drop off our "booty." It was nearly 5pm by the time everything was said and done, and the tenders were still coming. So much for the last tender being at 4:00 p.m.!

 

We went up to see our friends Jan and Boris at the Sky Bar to have a drink, and told them all about our day -- or at least I did. Then we went down to the casino and sat at a Fun 21 table and lost $20 in 5 minutes. Refusing to leave vanquished, I asked for another $10 and we played some more, won back our $20, and THEN got up and left the table. Whee! I was a dork and tried to play a $2.50 chip on the roulette table on the outside (apparently the outside limit is $5, the inside is $1) and thoroughly embarrassed myself so we didn't play any more roulette.

 

We had dinner in the dining room on Friday night, which was another fun experience. When Davis walked up to the table, one of our tablemates asked him if he was going to "boogie" again on Friday night. And Davis, with his wonderfully witty "straight man" attitude, just stood there, folded his hands, and said, "Ah, Friday is my favorite night. We do not have to dance." We all got a laugh about that, and for the rest of the cruise my husband and I would say to one another, "I do not have to dance." It was just our little wacky inside joke.

 

We saw the talent show, which was a good show for the most part. We felt bad for the girl who forgot the lyrics to her song, but she pulled it off nicely in the end. There was also a guy who solved a Rubik's cube, a husband and wife who sang (independently) and just a lot of music. We left before the big "skit" at the end of the night.

 

This was the night of the 70's-80's party, but we ended up parking ourselves at the Latour for a glass of wine after the show and just kind of relaxing and talking with the bartender there while she did her inventory and closed out for the night. We saw a great customer service story there, too. A lady came up asking for a glass of the house white (but didn't specify what that was). The bartender told her there was no house white left, and suggested she try another bar. The lady did, poked around on the promenade and then came back. She asked us what white we were drinking, and said she was on a budget and that's why she had been drinking the house white (which she really liked). The dessert white we were drinking, while affordable, was about $0.50 more than the house white would have been. She was ready to settle on it and have a glass, when the bartender asked her to wait for just a moment. The bartender popped behind the bar and went into Blue's Piano Bar, and came back with about half a bottle of the house white that they had on hand. She poured the lady her glass of House White, completed the transaction, and that lady walked away a very happy camper. That little bit of extra effort probably made that lady feel like a rockstar. Stang and I just clinked glasses and told the bartender how great it was that she did that for the lady.

 

About the time Latour was closing for good, the 70's/80's party had moved into the Henri's Disco right across the way so we walked over and peeked in through the windows just in time to see Todd the cruise director dressed in a blonde wig, dancing with Kevin the social host, doing a mélange and medley of dance moves from Dirty Dancing to kick off the party. Todd made a great Jennifer Grey. It was a sight to behold! But alas, we were feeling tired and dragged out, and did not feel in the mood to go in and shake our groove thangs, so instead we headed upstairs and hit the sack in preparation for our final day at sea.

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Mysticks1

Mysticks1

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Day 5 -- Grand Cayman

 

 

 

 

Aunt Crazy was with her swimming, but sometime during the trip came up with a large LIVE conch that she put on the deck, announcing that it was for Child Crazy.

 

The crew of the boat realized they had brought the conch up and pointed out to Aunt Crazy that the conch was alive and they couldn't take it, and would have to throw it back in. Aunt Crazy agreed, and tried to explain it to Child Crazy, who seemed okay with it. That is, until Mom Crazy came out of the water and asked where the conch was. She insisted that she wanted to take pictures with the shell and that she wanted pictures of her son with the shell, and that they had to either find another shell or just go get that one long enough to take pictures with. Fortunately by then we were done with our stop and were on our way to Stingray City.

 

 

Rose, I am so glad that someone other than me wanted to throw that family overboard. :D You missed what happened inside the cabin with the conch shell though. They brought it inside so that they could take their photos. The photographer chased her inside where they had a small game of keep away with him telling her that it was alive and had to go back and her saying over and over that she wanted a photo while holding the shell behind her back. He finally grabbed it from her and tossed it overboard. She was also the one who didn't have her swimsuit top tied up tight enough.

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Sablerose

Sablerose

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Rose, I am so glad that someone other than me wanted to throw that family overboard. :D You missed what happened inside the cabin with the conch shell though. They brought it inside so that they could take their photos. The photographer chased her inside where they had a small game of keep away with him telling her that it was alive and had to go back and her saying over and over that she wanted a photo while holding the shell behind her back. He finally grabbed it from her and tossed it overboard. She was also the one who didn't have her swimsuit top tied up tight enough.

 

 

Urgh. Not an image I wanted this time of the morning! :D :D

 

Criminy. Some people. I didn't see the conch make it from the deck to inside, but I'm glad I didn't. I might have just "accidentally" pulled the woman's swimsuit top down or something, just to get them to shut up.

 

Zoinks! At least we had each other! :D

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Mysticks1

Mysticks1

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Day four -- Jamaica

 

 

 

We all got back on the catamaran and headed over to Margaritaville. Because we were late getting started that day our time at Margaritaville was cut short, but it was enough time to buy some souvenirs and run into the other CC'ers who had also ended up there from alternate tours. We talked with them for a while, some of the catamaran group had margaritas, but no one ate (I think the cruise ship folks just figured we'd all eat when we got back onboard). We looked like quite the VIP's wandering off this beautiful catamaran at the dock at Margaritaville! Seemed like everyone was stopping to look at the boat. It was pretty fun.

 

 

I thought you might like a visual of this one! This is the CC'ers as seen from the deck of Margaritaville just before they left.

 

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Sablerose

Sablerose

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Donna, I don't think your attachment took! I'd love to see it, Stang would too -- if you have a sec could you try to attach it again? Can't wait!

 

We have a picture of Margaritaville from the boat, but we don't have one that shows you guys up there on the patio very clearly. We were taking pics with our disposable camera that day and it doesn't have a zoom! :D

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Mysticks1

Mysticks1

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Donna, I don't think your attachment took! I'd love to see it, Stang would too -- if you have a sec could you try to attach it again? Can't wait!

 

We have a picture of Margaritaville from the boat, but we don't have one that shows you guys up there on the patio very clearly. We were taking pics with our disposable camera that day and it doesn't have a zoom! :D

 

I can see it within the post and another comment about the photo so it must be there. Here is the link to the few that I have uploaded to webshots. The photos are there. I don't have zoom on my camera either so it is not up close.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/501512593uJCaqO

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caprcorn28

caprcorn28

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Great review - I am still chuckling over the Crazy family, just cuz of the visual I get (Don't pare down any wording! Your descriptiveness is GREAT!!!) Thank goodness you didn't have them in the next cabin or at the dinner table!!! I hope you didn't have to suffer with them any more during the cruise than you already did!!

 

Once you're done being responsible adult and doing your work, we'll all be watching for the next installment!!!

 

p.s. didn't know if you saw - but there is another thread of Welcoming you home: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=252300

 

:D

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Sablerose

Sablerose

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LOL

 

SableRose I kept watching the news the last few days between election reports I was half expecting to see a SWAT team dispatched to a cruise ship to handle a USAF wife that had barricaded herself in a stateroom refusing to disembark.

 

Princesskiki and I were working out a whole plan about how we could actually stow away on the ship - we could live on the lido deck aft, since they close the roof when it rains... we could eat 24 hour pizza and there would be no dress code...

 

Ah, the best laid plans of cruisers.

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Catrin

Catrin

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Sablerose,

 

This has been one of the most enjoyable reviews I have read in my many years here on CC.

Thank you so much for sharing..... now just waiting for the final installements!!

 

What a week!

Catrin

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Astronomer

Astronomer

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Another thing Sable.

Never ever apologize for a long worded review. Most of the people on these forums are at work, we are bored, we want to read a long review.

My favorite review is by Mark Wilkinson and printed out it is 47 pages long. ( I will send it to you e-mail if you like )

I have every intention of posting a very very long winded review for people that like such things myself on my return.

In fact I have already written half of part 1

Prelude to a Cruise - the introduction part about my wife and I, my experiences finding and booking a cruise and on cruisecritics.com so far.

Many on these boards have never been on a cruise, and want to hear everything, others have cruised before and love reading the experiences.

By all means... we want to hear everything, if they don’t want to read it, then they wont. No one is forcing anyone to read a long review.

But by all means, make it a long and wordy one... we love it!

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caprcorn28

caprcorn28

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Never ever apologize for a long worded review.

 

 

I have every intention of posting a very very long winded review for people that like such things myself on my return.

 

In fact I have already written half of part 1

 

Prelude to a Cruise - the introduction part about my wife and I, my experiences finding and booking a cruise and on cruisecritics.com so far.

 

Many on these boards have never been on a cruise, and want to hear everything, others have cruised before and love reading the experiences.

 

By all means... we want to hear everything, if they don’t want to read it, then they wont. No one is forcing anyone to read a long review.

 

But by all means, make it a long and wordy one... we love it!

 

YEAH!!! I love DETAILS - even if that isn't the cruise/ship/itinerary that I am going to be on! I am just a detail girl!! I wish MORE people would do details! (I wish that I could find one of detail about the Victory ship!! I have put in my request though with some cruisers that are going to be gone over Thanksgiving!! ;) )

 

(note to self:) I love the idea about the pre-cruise stuff in the review!! Good idea!!

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Sablerose

Sablerose

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That's a really good idea, Astronomer. Seriously. I've already been going over in my head after I get done with the "day to day" that I can make a post or two about the "nitty gritty." Our room. The bed. The balcony. Stuff I remember from the ship. Things that I can glean from looking back at our photographs of the ship. Hints and tricks that I can think of as a result of our experiences.

 

I think that's a great idea, with the pre-cruise "get to know the author" type section, and I might just write that after I'm all done, too! :D

 

Look at me! Stealing ideas!

 

And not working! Again! Aurgh!

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Astronomer

Astronomer

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Hey if you really want to rip me off, send me your e-mail address and I will show you what I have written so far.

It includes a link to our on-line photo albums which I am not ready to post yet.

I love it!

Have you read that Review by Mark W on the Pride in 2004? Great and funny stuff!

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texas greeneyes

texas greeneyes

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Hey if you really want to rip me off, send me your e-mail address and I will show you what I have written so far.

 

It includes a link to our on-line photo albums which I am not ready to post yet.

 

I love it!

 

Have you read that Review by Mark W on the Pride in 2004? Great and funny stuff!

 

I looked for it in the Review section under the Pride reviews, but did not see it. Can you post a link?

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