Review of Carnival Conquest 12/17/06-12/24/06

[MonkeySea]

Hi all, we are just back from our first cruise on the Carnival Conquest 12/17/07 to 12/24/07

Brief Overview of cruisers:

Husband: 34

Me: 30

Daughter #1: 12

Daughter#2: 8

This cruise was a graduation present to me. We also celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on the ship.

Here is my Review:

Saturday 12/16/07

We drove to Galveston and stayed at the Best Western Beachfront Inn. They let us park there all week for the price of the stay which was about $85.00. The room was basic and the beds were very hard. I woke up with my back hurting the next morning. Wouldn’t stay there for a long vacation, but it served its purpose for the night.

Embarkation

In the morning, we went down to the beach to pick up sea shells. There was very heavy fog. You couldn't see very much. We caught a cab to the ship at about 11a.m. Cab ride was about $12.00. Because my husband had sprained his ankle two days before the cruise, they let us go in front of the line and we were one of the first to check in, so that went really smooth. Then we went to a waiting area. Because of the heavy fog, the ship was delayed coming in for about 2 hours. We did not get on the ship until about 3:15. We were 2 hours late leaving the port. We headed up to the Lido for a late lunch because we were starving. The ship did not sail until about 6pm.

Muster Drill:

The muster drill took place during the time that the ship took off. So when we got back to our rooms, we had already left the port. The drill went really smooth. It didn't seem to take but 20 minutes or so. I had expected it to be worse from all of the threads here, but it was really a breeze. I guess everyone did what they were supposed to.

 

The Ship:

The ship was beautiful. It was very big and very clean. I couldn't believe the measures that the staff went through to keep this ship clean.

Our room:

We stayed in 2 Upper deck balcony rooms. We asked the room steward to open the balcony doors between the two rooms. Our rooms happened to fall where the partition blocked the door going from our daughter’s room. That was kind of good for us, I liked the fact that they could not go out on the balcony unless they came from our room, but I can see how that would be disappointing for others with older children or friends that you wanted to share a balcony with. The room was very clean. The room stewards came and cleaned the room twice a day, once in the morning, and once during dinner where they would leave a towel animal and chocolates. There was plenty of storage and space. Your luggage will fit just fine under the beads and there is plenty of closet space and drawers.

Casino:

Fun, but I lost my money L

The sea:

The sea was kind of rough while we were in the Gulf. The first night, my daughter got sea sick, but they have free medicine for sea sickness at the infirmary. The next day she was fine. Once you got into the Caribbean, the seas were really smooth.

Activities/Entertainment:

There was so much to do. There was never a dull moment. Kids loved camp carnival. There were lots of activities for them. The only problem I had was that my kids were in two different age groups and one of the groups activities revolved around early seating and the others activities fell around late seating. So we spent a lot of time trying to coordinate when and where to meet around all of the activities. Don’t miss survivor or the Men’s hairy chest contest or the Newlywed, not so newlywed show. They were great. Our cruise director was Mark Price. He was the best. SOOOOO funny and very friendly. There is no way that you can do it all, but there were plenty of things to do on this cruise. There is something for everyone. I will be posting the capers for the week shortly so you can see what all there was to do.

 

Dining:

Food…… I gained weight on this cruise. There is so much food to eat. The hamburgers and hotdogs from the grill were great. My children loved the pizza. Dinner at the Monet Restaurant was excellent. Our waiter was Oscar. He was the best. He took care of us. I loved him. I swear, I don’t see how they make any money off of the cruise because they are constantly feeding you. Don’t miss the chocolate buffet and get in line early because the line wrapped around the corner. There was food everywhere.

Ports:

Jamaica:

We booked a private tour through A-Z planners. Our driver was Clive and he was waiting there for us when we arrived with a sign. He was very friendly and told us about Jamaica on our drive up the mountain where we went to Mayfield Falls. Out of all the ports, I would have to say that the people of Jamaica were the friendliest. We were never hassled by the locals and Clive took really good care of us. Mayfield falls was beautiful. We were the first ones there and Dennis was our guide through Mayfield falls. He was the BEST! The falls were beautiful and we had a really good time. After we walked through the falls, he showed us the local fruit trees and plants. I asked him if that was a coconut tree. Then he asked me if I wanted a cocoanut. I told him” no, I don’t want you to go through all of that trouble” He ran down to the tree and got me two coconuts and when we got back and were changing he opened them up with a machete. We drank the juice and he cut it up and we ate the meat. It was really good. Clive waited for us the whole 3-4 hours we were there. When we got back, he asked us if we were hungry. He took us to a local jerk joint called the Pork Pit. The food there was EXCELLENT!!! It was the best meal our entire trip. You cannot miss out on the jerk chicken. It was great. Then we briefly went to Margaritaville. I really didn’t care to go, but my mom is a huge Parrot head (jimmy buffet fan) and I promised her I would get her a t-shirt. We were back port in plenty of time; we did a little shopping and headed back to the ship. I really enjoyed Jamaica. I thought it was beautiful. The weather: 90 degrees.

Grand Cayman Islands:

There is one word to describe the Caymans; Beautiful. We arraigned to rent a car and go to Rum Point Beach. We booked our car rental through Coconut Car rental and he told us when we got off the tender to look straight ahead and we would see a church. To the left of the church, there was a Tortuga Rum Cake Shop, and to go in there and tell them to call him. So, we got off the tender, saw the church, to the left was the Tortuga Rum Cake Shop, Cool!

We go inside and ask them to call the car company. They looked at us like, WHO? I didn’t bring the company’s number…. SO…. We took a cab to 7 mile beach. We were one of the first ones there. The water was really clear and beautiful. Within an hour the beach was packed. It was very expensive. It was $70.00 for 2 chairs, snorkel equipment and one life jacket. You had to snorkel way out because once everyone got there and in the water, it was really mucky. The kids had a really good time, but I was disappointed because we were really looking forward to going to Rum point. Oh well. The Cayman Islands were very expensive. We didn’t buy anything at the port. They did have the bluest water though.

Cozumel:

We took a taxi, $30 round trip to Paradise Beach. There were lots of things for the kids to do. You pay $9.00 per person and that gets you a wrist band that allows you to use all of their equipment. There was a rock climbing ice burg in the water and a trampoline. We snorkeled and again, the beach was very packed and you had to snorkel out quite a ways for the water to clear up. There were not many fish or coral where we went. We kayaked for a little while. The kids loved it. There were two macaws under this tikki umbrella hut. We have raised two parrots so any time we ran into parrots we were thrilled. One of the Macaws came to my husband and let him play with her. The other one just slept. So I assume that they are quite accustomed to people coming and going by them.

The Good:

We had a really good time on this cruise. This was our first cruise and I was really impressed…

Would I do it again????

 

Absolutely NOT!!!

The Bad:

All four of us contracted the Norovirus. Two days before I got off of the ship, I would have told you that I was going straight home and planning my next cruise. The last night, we ended up in the infirmary. We have been miserable since. It made all of the fun that we had null and void. I do not wish this on anyone. I know it is just one of those things, but at the buffet, I saw one child, about 5 years old, cough all over the breakfast Danishes while serving himself. I don’t know where his mother was. I told a waiter and he switched out the food. But, how many times does it go unnoticed? I think the buffett lines are a main concern for passing around illnesses.

Well, I hope this review helped out and if anyone has any questions or if I left out anything, feel free to ask!

[Sandi149]

I am really sorry that all of you contracted the Norovirus. Did they have hand sanitizers on board and did you constantly wash your hands? Everyone on here says to constantly wash your hands with soap and water? Buffets are a sure target to catch anything. I'm not a big buffet person on land.

 

Are you saying you wouldn't go on Carnival again or you wouldn't cruise again?

 

Why don't you give it another try but maybe stay away from the buffets.

 

Hope you feel better real soon. :)

 

Happy Holidays!

[vacruizer]

I'm so sorry you were sick on your cruise. Don't let that stop you from cruising again since you seemed to have an otherwise great time. Getting Norovirus can happen anywhere and often has nothing to do with being on a cruise ship. There was an article in our local paper recently about the Norovirus outbreak here in our city - going through schools, offices, etc. I knew several with it so I understand your misery. You can just as easily pick up Noro at your local shopping mall, grocery store, church or any other public place - most people don't know to call it that and just think they had a "stomach bug."

 

Hope you don't let this keep you away from another great vacation - I just hate to see you say you won't cruise again because of something that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with cruising!

[MonkeySea]

We washed our hands constantly and I brought hand sanitizer. It is obviously a big problem because the TV on carnival has different channels that tell you about the boat, show what has gone on if you miss something and there was one channel that replayed a clip on the norovirus over and over again. It showed you how to wash your hands and told about how the norovirus is not affected by hand sanitizers. We took every precaution necessary, except staying away from the buffet. The only time we ate the buffet was during breakfast. That is because it was more convenient when you were trying to get off the boat on port days. On our way home, we ran into a lady in a gas station who said that she was just of the Conquest and all 6 people in her party were sick with the same symptoms as well. I don't know if they had the norovirus, but same symptoms. We knew we had it because of our trip to the infirmary.

When I say that I will not cruise again, I will not cruise with carnival or any other cruise line. I have only been off of the boat one day, and feel really bad, so maybe that will change, but as of right now, I would say that I would never cruise any cruise line again.

:(

[firefly333]

I'm sorry too that getting sick ruined you hard earned vacation. That has to be such a huge dissapointment.

 

I was interested in this cruise as we live in Texas and of course love going out of Galveston and I had not been on this cruise. We did the Carnival Ectasy and stepping up into the bathrooms drove us crazy. My sister has balance problems and ANY steps are a problem. We had a view, but that plastic floor you step up into made the whole trip less fun.

 

Can you tell me if that ship had the same bathrooms in the rooms that you had to step up on that plastic bathroom floor?

 

I did like a lot of things better about Carnival than other cruise lines and absolutely loved the pizza and getting that low fat chocolate yogurt 24 hours a day. I gained a lot of weight too!!! yikes. We thought the entertainment on Carnival was great too.

[MonkeySea]

 

Can you tell me if that ship had the same bathrooms in the rooms that you had to step up on that plastic bathroom floor?

 

 

Yes, it had the plastic bathroom floors where you had to step up. It never bothered me so I had to ask my husband to answer your question. He stated that it is a little higher than a one step bathroom and he understood how that could bother someone because it bothered him a little too (due to his ankle hurting)

[Sandi149]

We washed our hands constantly and I brought hand sanitizer. It is obviously a big problem because the TV on carnival has different channels that tell you about the boat, show what has gone on if you miss something and there was one channel that replayed a clip on the norovirus over and over again. It showed you how to wash your hands and told about how the norovirus is not affected by hand sanitizers. We took every precaution necessary, except staying away from the buffet. The only time we ate the buffet was during breakfast. That is because it was more convenient when you were trying to get off the boat on port days. On our way home, we ran into a lady in a gas station who said that she was just of the Conquest and all 6 people in her party were sick with the same symptoms as well. I don't know if they had the norovirus, but same symptoms. We knew we had it because of our trip to the infirmary.

When I say that I will not cruise again, I will not cruise with carnival or any other cruise line. I have only been off of the boat one day, and feel really bad, so maybe that will change, but as of right now, I would say that I would never cruise any cruise line again.

:(

Please don't let that stop you from cruising again. Do you know that you can catch the norovirus in schools, hospitals, work places, hotels, etc. There was an outbreak of the norovirus a few weeks ago at a college in Washington, DC.

 

My recommendation is just to not eat at the buffets. If you are in a rush, order room service.

 

Give it a try again. :)

[JoeTx]

If your concerned about Norovirus, stay away from the buffets. Your touching the same spoons and tongs that 100's of other passengers are touching. If they are not washing their hands before the buffet, then your touching whatever they touched, EEEWWW!!!!

[MonkeySea]

Maybe I will. We did have a great time. It is just hard to think of taking another one right now. I guess we will see. Thanks for all of your resposes.

[movienut]

First of all, there are 4 of us that are sick. We are ages 51, 50, 26 and 20 and had 2 cabins. This was our 7th cruise all with Carnival except one. We did not get what I would say was norovirus ... it was coughing and flu like for my husband and just coughing for the other 3. Several crew members also were coughing and we met people who had companions sick in their cabins some with the vomiting etc. We used antibacterial cleanser the whole time. I do not blame the ship for this as I know that any closed environment would be the same. I had taken cough medicine/tylenol etc so we were reasonable comfortable.

I did not eat at the buffet much. In fact there is an absence of buffets on this ship. There wasn't nightly buffets except for special ones like the sailing for mexico party( 2 in all ). The Grill (hamburger/hot dog), pizza place and Paul's deli were open. But if you wanted something sweet, it was ice cream. The gala buffet was pitifully small(half of the buffet and repeated on the other side) and unimpressive compared to other Carnival ships. I usually eat lunch in the dining room and this was closed on port days. The dinner in dining room was excellent. The chocolate buffet was listed on the back of the Capers under Food and drink showcase where the hours are listed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was the choice of Taste of Nations in the Lido area. A lot of people saw the line and then found out it was the chocolate buffet. I had lunch 3 times. In past cruises I ate each day in the dining room. I liked the open seating and meeting other people. One buffet the Sur Mer was not discovered by most till last day. It is located in the back of the Lido up the stairs. It has been almost 1 and 1/2 years since my last cruise (Elation) so maybe this is going to be the trend. The intercom system is not broadcast in the rooms ( I found out Coast guard regulation does not permit turning it off so therefore they opted to not have it in rooms). So you could miss announcements saying to change clocks forward (there was a small notice at bottom of front page of Capers...I went straight to activities,and went to to a closed dining room for lunch the next day. Also I would go to a deck activity and it was not there...guess it was cancelled. Past ships (6) were always on "ship time". I had wondered if that helped make up time for leaving late.

The entertainment was so-so. The big Vegas act in the Lounge was cancelled due to technical difficulties (?) and was never re-scheduled. A lot of the social activity/ dancers were seen the night before drinking/ dancing in the clubs. We were told by some of the staff that the cruise director was really American. Sure enough he was overheard NOT speaking English during all this partying. There were a lot of hung over people the next day....technical difficulties (?). The female magician was very disappointing..did only a few tricks involving paper, rings, boxes and amateur acts. Depended on dancers to fill in the void. I enjoyed both late night comedians. But as usual someone brought in a minor. The activity director announced that all under 18 would have to leave and even said "yeah I mean him". But the adult did not care and it was not enforced so another comedian had to feel uncomfortable and their act was compromised. one of my pet peeves is how carnival does not enforce their rules such as kids in the back adult only hot tub. At any given time there could be about 8 kids in the hot tubs. The rock group "Blood Power" was very good and had a range from ballroom dancing stuff to Pink Floyd.

My husband went to a rum tasting the first night and was offered a deal of 4 bottles of flavored rum for $28. He had also bought some coffee liqueur.We found out later by the super shopper that Texas only allows 1 liter per adult. And they do not tax you on the extra, they take it away. We had to wait till night before embarkation to return it. As it turned out the customs barely checked but still we think it is something that the shop should tell you and not sell that quantity to a mostly Texan ship.

There was something about this ship that made you feel rushed. The time of the shows were not like the other ships. If you had late seating the shows were at 7pm.. the main seating show was at 8:45. If you do the mardi gras lounge hop you'll find that not only has the deck party started without you but you are the entertainment while people sit and eat nachos.

I know this is long and seems like that all i wanted was midnight buffets but i love cruising and this ship was such a disappointment. It is all french decor and even the 1 semi-Vegas show was French. This ship was in New Orleans and out to see during hurricane. It is disappointing that this ship remains in Galveston for 2007 and New Orleans gets Triumph Sept 07. I have never given a negative review and usually "go with the flow" but I did not have fun on this ship. The steward did not make up our room if we slept late and never talked with us. I got "chewed" out by housekeeping for not getting my bag out at midnight. He asked if I had heard the cruise director and that I made extra work for him. Anyway not to discourage anyone going on this ship soon but I feel if I would have known about the no midnight buffets, the time change,the liqueur allowance and the dining room closing, it might have made the adjustment more tolerable.

[JSCruiser]

MonkeySea,

I hope you don't avoid cruising in the future because of getting sick on this cruise. I have been on 4 cruises and have never "caught" anything on a cruise. You can come across Norovirus anywhere. Some 300 people recently contracted the virus after eating at an Indianapolis Olive Garden.

I hope you base your future decision on the overall value (both in fun and money) of your family's experience. It sounds like you had a great time before you got sick.

If you do decide to go again, take the OPs advice and wash your hands often. I have even read about other cruisers taking gloves to wear while they are in the buffet line and then disposing of them after they are through the line.

Most importantly, I hope you are feeling better soon. I hear most otherwise healthy people start feeling better after about 36-48 hours.

[FeliciaLee]

Maybe I will. We did have a great time. It is just hard to think of taking another one right now. I guess we will see. Thanks for all of your resposes.

I agree that over time your stance may change on the idea of taking a cruise again. You will begin to remember all of the good times, and research noro to guard yourself from it happening again on a ship, or anywhere else you may frequent.

 

We boarded the Oosterdam on December 2nd. They had just offloaded a lot of passengers with noro (about sixty, according to the hotel manager). We were not able to get onboard until almost 3pm due to the cleaning, and we were told we could decline to take the cruise and receive a full refund.

 

Although my immune system is very low from having cancer and chemo last year, we decided to cruise. I knew about noro, and how to protect myself. The elementary school across the highway from us just had about 300 cases altogether, so I was realistic (it's not just cruise ships, it's not the "ship of death" virus, it just gets more publicity because it is reported and because the media loves to make it melodramatic).

 

I ate almost every meal in the dining room. I didn't touch my food, I used the Purell at every opportunity, I washed my hands in near scalding hot water with lots of soap, I used wet wipes in the bathroom, I didn't touch elevator buttons or ship railing. We were on code red, so the crew was very careful as well.

 

No one I knew onboard got noro (we were with a group of over 600). I heard that about six or so got noro on our cruise, but I didn't know any of them. By the fourth day, I believe, code red was removed and we were able to serve ourselves again. Still, I kept vigilant care and never got sick.

 

Do I believe that I couldn't get noro because I was cautious? No. But I do believe it probably helped.

 

Gastrointestinal illness is everywhere. It is not exclusive to cruise ships. I won't let it keep me from having a dream vacation, or make it scare me to the point of ruining a dream vacation.

 

Naturally the choice is yours, and I feel horrible that you got this illness (having been so ill with cancer over the past two years; I can heartily empathize), but I dearly hope your stance will soften in the future and you can enjoy cruising again, like the fond memories you have of the first days of your cruise.

 

Happy holidays and well wishes!

[FeliciaLee]

Duplicate Post :(

[MonkeySea]

My family and I are feeling much, much better today. We did have a fantastic time and I in no way intended to blame this on CCL. As I stated in my previous post, I could not believe the measures they went through to keep the ship clean. I saw them cleaning around the Lido deck with what looked like a tooth brush. I still think that the bufetts are an area for concern. Now that I feel better, I may decide to cruise again, but stay away from the buffett. ;)

[Sandi149]

My family and I are feeling much, much better today. We did have a fantastic time and I in no way intended to blame this on CCL. As I stated in my previous post, I could not believe the measures they went through to keep the ship clean. I saw them cleaning around the Lido deck with what looked like a tooth brush. I still think that the bufetts are an area for concern. Now that I feel better, I may decide to cruise again, but stay away from the buffett. ;)

Glad to hear that you and your family are feeling better. :D I think you should definitely cruise again. Like you said, just stay away from the buffets. Hey, I don't even like land based buffets.

 

Happy New Year!!!