Conquest 11/13/05 Review

[deertic991]

Here it is: The good and the bad. If you don't like it too bad. If you like it good. I cruised it, it's my opinion...

 

Booked an extra day a long time ago for NO. We decided to keep the extra day to avoid any travel issues. We arrived in Houston and had to pay $70 for a shuttle to Galveston since that transportation was not included in the extra day. It took us three hours to get from the aiport to Galveston, mostly an issue with the shuttle agency; waiting for them to free a shuttle and several stops along the way with a driver he didn't know his routes. In hindsite, I would have stayed in Houston, and jumped the Carnival bus from the airport the next day!

 

The extra day in Galveston was alright; there's not alot of interesting things to do there, the beaches aren't very nice(locals advised us not to swim in the water). We stayed at the Hotel Galvez which was nice; the staff was helpful and the facilities were nice. The staff at the Galvez recommended we board after 2 P.M. So we did. They were right.

 

Embarkation: Arrived about 2:05 P.M. Onboard and processed by 2:15 P.M. Arrived at out stateroom, which was ready, placed our carry-on in the staeroom and made the rounds. Hit the spa for the girls, checked the gym(more on this later), made Point reservations and tried to check our dining arrangements in the Monet(table for four) but it was closed.

 

Returned to our stateroom and met our cabin steward and asked him to open the gate between our balconies(traveling with another couple) which he promptly did. He was a great steward all week, met all my requests/expectations and was tipped well throughout the week.

Lift boat drill was painless. Interestingly, the cabin stweard now comes around and has you sign a paper indicating that you are awhere of the drill and will attend. When did they start that? No matter, it was quickly over.

 

We later went to dinner. On our way we stopped and had some sushi which we enjoyed. They changed the selctions everynight. I would call this "safe sushi" since i don't recall any of the fish actually being served raw. All the seafood was either cooked or smoked in some manner. Don't expect the real deal; but an appetizing runner-up nonetheless. We arrived at the Monet and, you guessed it, our sitting was messed up. With the reservations 9 months earlier we had asked for a table of four. Of course we arrived at at our table of 10 and politiley declined dinner. We're not anti-social, we were traveling with good friends and wanted a private experience. We waited to see the M'aitreD. In front of us were a group of people who had too much to drink (already) and were getting to the angry drunk stage. They finally were out of the way and the M'aitreD found us a table for four which we gracously accepted. Unfortunelaty it was for the late seating so we had to change the approach to our nightly plans. As it turns out, the issue was a result of the Smooth Jazz Group who had been re-assigned to sail on the Conquest after their cruise ship was used for kATRINA relief. This would become a recurring theme...

 

Sea days were spent excersizing, relaxing and doing whatever struck us.

 

About the gym/spa: There doesn't seem to be alot of information about this topic and now I know why; the majority of the passengers didn't appear to be too interested in the gym/spa and problably more interested in the buffet lines than the treadmill. This is not meant to be sarcastic, just a realistic observation.

 

The running loop around the funnel is 1/10 mile. Ten dizzy loops therefore equal a mile; If you are in the habit of running for several miles you can see the boredom that this creates. There were also alot of people walking/standing/talking/shuffling on the track. Some passengers couldn't even travel in the conspicuosly posted proper direction! So off to the gym to do the even more boring aerobic machines.

 

The equipment in the gym was surprisingly very nice, in good repair and very usefull. There are about 10 treadmills, 5 elipticals, about 5 stationary bikes and about 20 spinning cycles lined up and unused. I know they offered a spin class but don't know if it occurred or not. I felt that was wasted space. I shortly waited to get on machine only a few times. Mostly I was able to get on and stay on since no one else was waiting; I did this in AM and afternnoon. The afternoon was busier than the AM. I tried running on a treadmill, but it's not the same, so i eventually succombed to longer hilly walks which got the heart rate high enough. I have a new found respect for the elliptical machines- got a fantistic workout...even though the music in the gym tended to be very repetitive and not my type. Bring your Ipod! There is a small free weight section and some air machines:confused: for those of you who prefer nautalis equipment. Not a lot of selection, your plan should be to maintain for the week. Runners, same thing, plan to mainatin and suffer through a few hours on the aerobic machines. You can run in port in Caymen or Cozumel; but don't do it in Jamiaca. This would be a dangerous mistake.

 

I heavily used the steam and suana rooms, often more than once a day. We would start our moring with a steam and or suana. They were mostly empty. On several occasions i observed towells piling up on shower floors and in the steam room; this was more of an issue created by rude passengers too lazy to put their towels in the large conspicuously marked used towell bin. There was an ttendant on duty so he needed to do a better job as well. Soap dispensers also seemed to run out and remain empty in the showers. The gym showers were nice though, I only used the room shower twice.

 

There is a nice whirlpool area in the gym, but the Jazz group found it more convenient to occupy them and drink beers. I saw this several times.

 

The girls did a variety of spa services and enjoyed them all. prices were reasonale with stateside prices.

 

Shows: Show schedules/activities were messed up because Jazz group had the longe for scheduled activities almost evry night. The other passengers had to fit into small lounges to watch movies, the comedian, partake of other nightly activities. We did get to see the big Carnival what-ever-it-was-show. I thought i had seen better high school musicals. Others raved about it. You can decide. It's not Vegas or Broadway, so don't get your hopes up.

 

FOOD: Breakfast: We ate breakfast on the lido. It was good, short and to the point so we could then satrt out day. In the AM I would go up get a couple cups of coffee and a few treats for my wife and return to the room. Coffee was better from the machines up there than from room service.

 

LUNCH: For lunch we usually ate at SUR MER, the sandwhich place or had an indulgance of a hamburger or some pizza. You can always find something you like.

 

DINNER: We absolutely enjoyed the Point and had a great dinner. The dinners in the Monet were a mixed bag of good, enjoyable, and just okay. There's numerous choices so you find something you like, If not, go get a burger or some pizza on the back of the boat. If your still not happy, see your doctor, there's something wrong with you. The wait staff in the dining room and the point were both excellent. There was several shows in the dining rooms. They were fun for most part but consisted of the same wait staff dancing on the same tables, using different music.

 

The Fans Cafe has great coffees and milkshakes(extra charge) My wife and I split a choc. milkshake and it was heaven. They also have very nice desserts there for an extra charge. Looked good but we didn't sample.

 

Angry Food People: While I'm talking about food, I feel the need to strike back at all the pushy and sometimes angry grazers who just can't seem to eat enough. What's wrong with you? On several occasions I observed people becoming confrontational about places in line, having to wait in a food line and just plain old being inconsiderate. I saw people removing plastic covers off of closed buffet lines so could they start grazing. People heaping food onto plates, absolutely shameful.

 

PORTS:

 

Jamaica: Not very nice. We knew that getting off the boat, but had to go buy some Jamiacan Blue Mountain coffee($18 pound). In the process we were bothered by everyone to buy something or visit their store in town. Annoying, must would stop bothering us but some were persistant. After that we had the cab take us back near port where we walked onto a nearby rocky jetty and tried to flyfish. We were soon harrassed by about five ganga smoking locals who wanted to be our "fishing guides". They were a real pain in the a$$, complaining about their politics, weed and miserable lives. We soonafter had to pack up and leave because they wouldn't leave us alone. Carnival should take that port off the intinerary. Coffee is excellent though!

 

Caymen: Caymen has changed since I was there last about seven years ago. It still looks hurricane damaged and is such a snarl of tourists from the five ships in port that it was not that fun. To get off the beaten path is a good idea here, the little center of town had thousands of people in it. I still like Caymen though and regretted not signing up for some dives-I do miss the diving there.

 

Cozumel: Cancelled-seas too rough. Bummer, or maybe not a bummber. I saw one lady crying when the port was cancelled. I couldn't understand this especially after watching our arrivial into port. Put a pair of binoculars on the coast and you'll see absolute devastation. Very few windows remain intact, piers and buildings are destroyed and only about 10 shops where going to be open anyway. Two large cruise ships in port for ten shops. I did think it's time to go there yet; there's still people without homes, electricity and phones. I realize this was the port everyone wanted to really go to-but it's literally destroyed.

 

Back to sea days:

An extra day at sea was fine, we all had fun, ate food , did what we felt like doing and did some people watching.

 

I'm a previous CCL passenger, recieved an invitation to the thank-you party to receive my free drink but got busy doing other activities. I did get a 99 cent pin though! CCL needs a better way to reward their returning/loyal customers. A free drink and pin are cheesy.

 

Overall we enjoyed ourselves, but would not recommend the itinery. The ship was fine and service was acceptable, but this experience was diminished by the large Jazz Group that influenced many aspects of the cruise shows, dining assignments, an abundance of jazz music played during the entire cruise(there are other types of music), etc...avoid cruising with large groups! unless you're part of them.

[CordovaMom]

Thanks for the review -- we were on the Conquest the week before you, I agree with you on the production numbers, the costumes were gorgeous though, but the dancing and singing was not of the professional caliber, we actually compared it to an amusement park show. Still that was one of the few off things about our cruise, the rest was wonderful.

[MikeM]

Grand Cayman and 5 ships. Boy what a bummer! When we sail in March there will be 9 ships in port.

MikeM

AP