Carnival Conquest 12/11 Review (long)

[princessdi01]

Oh really? Did you book the cruise AFTER it was moved to Galveston? We were booked out of NO and ended up in Galveston. Don't you think most people probably were?

 

No we knew it was Galveston and planned accordingly.

[Kittybork]

Enough history. I am slowing leading up to my question! They'd heard about these inclusive day resorts in Jamaica but had no names or prices. I thought I'd tell them about the one you mentioned...Sunset Beach Resort. Do you just take a cab to the resort and buy the day pass there? Any details you can recall will be appreciated and passed along to them.

 

Thanks and congratulations on your wedding. Good luck to both of you!

 

I just returned today on the Conquest. We did Sunset Beach and were very disappointed. I suppose that it depends on what you want (expect).

 

We chose Sunset Beach because we had heard so many stories about the safety issue in Jamaica. We wanted to be safe but didn't really care to be with a huge crowd.

 

The beach was beautiful. Everything was very clean. There was a bar and a restaraunt with a buffet. We used the bar frequently, but not the buffet. The drinks from the bar were good. The bartender was friendly, and everything appeared to be clean (the nude beach was 50 ft from us). The beer was warm stale draft.

 

My problem with them was the lack of equipment for the number of people who were there. There weren't enough paddle boats. We wanted to snorkle, but we could only get one snorkle and mask. It had to be returned after 30 minutes. For $80. I wanted to use the snorkels longer than that. It didn't matter what we said; there weren't enough.

[Kittybork]

That is a major problem in this country, everyone wants to look the other way, people using FEMA/Salvation Army cards to pay for a vacation are stealing money from tax payers, and good hearted people that gave the money to help them recover from a disaster, not to go party like it's 1999. Personally I think people using these funds in this manner should be prosecuted as should the people taking them for vacations, plasma TV's and Lap Dances.

 

 

Swampy,

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think she meant that literally (paying for the cruise with FEMA money). Honestly, how could she know? When you cruise, do other passengers know if you paid with a credit card, bank card, or cash?

 

I think it was a statement about their behavior, not that they literally paid with taxpayer's money.

 

I actually made the same comment about some people on our cruise. I wouldn't be surprised, but I have no way of knowing if it is true.

[princessdi01]

I just returned today on the Conquest. We did Sunset Beach and were very disappointed. I suppose that it depends on what you want (expect).

 

We chose Sunset Beach because we had heard so many stories about the safety issue in Jamaica. We wanted to be safe but didn't really care to be with a huge crowd.

 

The beach was beautiful. Everything was very clean. There was a bar and a restaraunt with a buffet. We used the bar frequently, but not the buffet. The drinks from the bar were good. The bartender was friendly, and everything appeared to be clean (the nude beach was 50 ft from us). The beer was warm stale draft.

 

My problem with them was the lack of equipment for the number of people who were there. There weren't enough paddle boats. We wanted to snorkle, but we could only get one snorkle and mask. It had to be returned after 30 minutes. For $80. I wanted to use the snorkels longer than that. It didn't matter what we said; there weren't enough.

 

What a bummer! I hate to hear that and will pass it along to the woman who has been in contact with us from there. We didn't go there to use any of the equipment, but it sounds just like what happened to us at the beach in Cozumel. So a day pass at that one is for drinking bar drinks and laying on the beach...we tried the food and it was really good. We are thinking of taking a 5 day vaca to that resort or the sister resort in Ocho Rios. I appreciate your post as we will bring our own snorkel gear:)

[princessdi01]

WE were also on this cruise and took advantage of the self assist. This was our 6th cruise (3rd with carnival) and was by far the easiest disembarkation we have ever done. We woke up at 6:45 and off the ship by 7:30, no problems or delays at all.

 

Apparently you made it off before the people screwed up the escalator with their luggage. We were so backed up people were just sitting in the elevators on the lobby floor.

[Luanne21]

We just got off the Conquest today, and I am happy to report that all the staff are back to being very friendly. WE had a great time.

 

Luanne

[Mgetta]

Your reference to Rednecks and people using their FMA cards was IMO unnecessary and insulting.

 

I'm sure it was meant to be insulting. But it was very clear and descriptive to this southerner so that I knew exactly what kind of behaviour was being described.

 

I appreciated your review and thought you described both the good and bad points in a fair manner. It will certainly save us money as I won't be making reservations at the supper club. We'll be going with a group of 20, so the lack of activities during the day won't be a problem, as we'll be making our own. We'll be going 2/5 on Conquest and hope we have a better overall bunch of cruisers than you had.

[princessdi01]

I'm sure it was meant to be insulting. But it was very clear and descriptive to this southerner so that I knew exactly what kind of behaviour was being described.

 

I appreciated your review and thought you described both the good and bad points in a fair manner. It will certainly save us money as I won't be making reservations at the supper club. We'll be going with a group of 20, so the lack of activities during the day won't be a problem, as we'll be making our own. We'll be going 2/5 on Conquest and hope we have a better overall bunch of cruisers than you had.

 

 

Thank you so much for letting me know you understand. I am glad my post provided you some help and with a group that large I bet you will have a blast!! You guys can just take over. Have fun:)

[greatful]

I'm sure it was meant to be insulting. But it was very clear and descriptive to this southerner so that I knew exactly what kind of behaviour was being described.

 

I appreciated your review and thought you described both the good and bad points in a fair manner. It will certainly save us money as I won't be making reservations at the supper club. We'll be going with a group of 20, so the lack of activities during the day won't be a problem, as we'll be making our own. We'll be going 2/5 on Conquest and hope we have a better overall bunch of cruisers than you had.

 

Mgetta said "It will certainly save us money as I won't be making reservations at the supper club."

Please don't let one person's negativity about the supper club stop you from considering it. Many people have had great dinners there. Have a great cruise !

[Mgetta]

Well, I was already wondering why I would pay that much extra to eat in the supper club, when I already really enjoy the food in the dining room and the Lido deck. It would have to be a really special gourmet treat. Haven't seen too many people who thought that it was.

[Kittybork]

I don't have much good to say about any of the food on the boat, but there was a lot of it.

[wannacruisemore]

WOW!!!! You are a prime example of everyone sees things differently. Did you do much research on the Conquest before booking? Did you read many reviews? I don't think I have read so many negative comments before. Hopefully your review doesn't effect someone's decision to go or not. We sailed on Conquest in April, beautiful ship, large but easy to learn our way around. As many have stated "A vacation is what you make of it". Too bad you and new spouse couldn't have found a way to make it more enjoyable!!!!!!:)

[b8tzm]

WOW!!!! You are a prime example of everyone sees things differently. Did you do much research on the Conquest before booking? Did you read many reviews? I don't think I have read so many negative comments before. Hopefully your review doesn't effect someone's decision to go or not. We sailed on Conquest in April, beautiful ship, large but easy to learn our way around. As many have stated "A vacation is what you make of it". Too bad you and new spouse couldn't have found a way to make it more enjoyable!!!!!!:)

 

Well said normally at the least a princess would have one of her staff check things out ahead of time to make sure things are up to snuff

[Soft&SexyFefe]

Wow. I was planning on booking this one (a Conquest cruise) for about a year from now to get a good deal. I would hate to have a bad time or get terrible service. How can other passengers guard against this type of experience?

 

Does anybody working for Carnival Cruise Lines know about this website? If so, maybe they are taking notes on the level of service and the complaints. I am a fat woman with a great sense of humor but, I don't care to hear fat jokes all day. Although Jorge was funny on the Elation 12/12/05. I also thought somebody may have cracked on me on the sly by playing the Fat Albert theme song when I walked into bar area. I hope not but, I still had a great time. Maybe I was mistaken. I give up to 3 strikes, then they are out. :)

 

Maybe next time will be better.

 

Soft&SexyFefe

[Iowa cruisers]

My husband and two teenage kids were also on that sailing and we had a great time. Even though the weather on Friday and Saturday were not that great we made the best of our cruise. We arrived at terminal around 11:30AM and only had a short wait for embarktion and we were off the ship at 7:15AM because we did the self assist debarkation which is a breeze as long as you do not pack heavily. This was our 7th cruise and Carnival is our cruise line of choice. I absolutely believe that cruises are what you make of them. Sunset Beach was absolutley fabulous and one cannot go wrong with snorkeling with Captain Marvin in Cayman. I was slightly dissapointed with the Cozumel experience and I know that Carnival had no control over the tendering problems encountered that day. I wish that Carnival would have scheduled a different port of call until the island had more to offer but I think they were trying to give Cozumel a chance. Actually considering the pictures that I seen of the hurricane destruction they have recovered quite well.

[Kittybork]

Perhaprs because of problems with tendering on your cruise, they had the boats that are normally used to go from the island to the mainland for our tender- 12/18 ceuise. It seemed to be painless, to me.

[princessdi01]

WOW!!!! You are a prime example of everyone sees things differently. Did you do much research on the Conquest before booking? Did you read many reviews? I don't think I have read so many negative comments before. Hopefully your review doesn't effect someone's decision to go or not. We sailed on Conquest in April, beautiful ship, large but easy to learn our way around. As many have stated "A vacation is what you make of it". Too bad you and new spouse couldn't have found a way to make it more enjoyable!!!!!!:)

 

Yes we did a good amount of research before trying Carnival. It is very true that people see things differently. We did see a couple really bad reveiws but discarded them quickly as it seemed they were pissed about everything. The entire reason I posted (the good AND the bad) was to help others and to show that I was able to see the positive things along with the not so great things. Apparently some people who read these messages are unable to read all of it? Maybe you can only read the negative parts? So just because we did not care for Carnival you have decided to insult me by saying that i couldn't have "made it fun?" Too bad you couldn't get the entirety of my review. Thanks for your opinion.

[princessdi01]

Perhaprs because of problems with tendering on your cruise, they had the boats that are normally used to go from the island to the mainland for our tender- 12/18 ceuise. It seemed to be painless, to me.

 

 

Glad they fixed it for yours. I figured they would have to do something as they got plenty of complaints!

[cewlmom]

I feel your pain.. Went on Conquest in Sept. when I put in my review I was flamed so bad, they removed it. I agree with you 100%..I know people have different opinions etc. and if people read our honest reviews maybe just maybe we could save someone from having a really bad experience. I like you will remain with Celebrity, I know this kind of experience can happen on any cruise ship but it has not happened on 3 Celebrity cruises and once on Carnival that's enough for me.

[Kittybork]

Yes we did a good amount of research before trying Carnival. It is very true that people see things differently. We did see a couple really bad reveiws but discarded them quickly as it seemed they were pissed about everything. The entire reason I posted (the good AND the bad) was to help others and to show that I was able to see the positive things along with the not so great things. Apparently some people who read these messages are unable to read all of it? Maybe you can only read the negative parts? So just because we did not care for Carnival you have decided to insult me by saying that i couldn't have "made it fun?" Too bad you couldn't get the entirety of my review. Thanks for your opinion.

 

Princess,

 

You're right about people not seeing the entire picture. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. You posted your opinion. Let people take it as they may.

 

Many on here are overly defensive of Carnival. I'm not sure, but that's what theydo.

[cheshyrkat]

Perhaprs because of problems with tendering on your cruise, they had the boats that are normally used to go from the island to the mainland for our tender- 12/18 ceuise. It seemed to be painless, to me.

 

Were they not using the boats that go from Coz to the mainland on Conquest before? Just curious. What did they use? When I was on Elation they used the ones that go from Coz to Playa del Carmen to tender us. It worked fairly well.

[Cruising89143]

Wow, I just read through this entire thread and am surprised that it is still here.

 

To the OP, I think that you could have had a nice review if you had left out some of the remarks like "rednecks". To me that is no different than what you were complaining about with the comedian. Hopefully your next vacation will be better for you.

[EKELLEY]

We went to Sunset beach last November while we were on the Conquest & renewed our wedding vows for our 25th anniversary. They did an amazing job & only charged us 300.00. The other 2 couples with us did not have to pay for a day pass. They gave us a room to use for the day, a beautiful bouquet, champagne & a cake. We wrote our own vows & made a cd of the music we wanted played. We could not have asked for a better place to renew our vows.

We did have a great cruise on the Conquest, but I know that doesn't mean all cruises on the Conquest will be the same. We just returned from the Grand a few weeks ago & it wasn't as good as the time we cruised on it in 2001. Is a bar waiter named Deep still on the Conquest? He was the greatest.

I hope your next cruise is better.

[princessdi01]

Yes we did a good amount of research before trying Carnival. It is very true that people see things differently. We did see a couple really bad reveiws but discarded them quickly as it seemed they were pissed about everything. The entire reason I posted (the good AND the bad) was to help others and to show that I was able to see the positive things along with the not so great things. Apparently some people who read these messages are unable to read all of it? Maybe you can only read the negative parts? So just because we did not care for Carnival you have decided to insult me by saying that i couldn't have "made it fun?" Too bad you couldn't get the entirety of my review. Thanks for your opinion.

 

Princess,

 

You're right about people not seeing the entire picture. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. You posted your opinion. Let people take it as they may.

 

Many on here are overly defensive of Carnival. I'm not sure, but that's what theydo.

 

Thank you so much

[princessdi01]

I feel your pain.. Went on Conquest in Sept. when I put in my review I was flamed so bad, they removed it. I agree with you 100%..I know people have different opinions etc. and if people read our honest reviews maybe just maybe we could save someone from having a really bad experience. I like you will remain with Celebrity, I know this kind of experience can happen on any cruise ship but it has not happened on 3 Celebrity cruises and once on Carnival that's enough for me.

 

 

Thank you so much for your post. We did give a minute to think about whether or not it was "just us" and even thought that while we were on the ship. Just like the beach day, we kept saying to each other "we can still have a good day, this won't get us down." I am amazed that one word that has never offended anyone before could raise such a stir here but I am beginning to think it's not worth it. I thought this would be a fun site to take part in but geeze, I've just never seen so many people get so hung up. We are thinking of another Celebrity cruise in 06...maybe I can email you directly any thoughts/questions?