Conquest Review 11/21 (Thanksgiving)

[Jason26]

Just to give a little background, my wife and I are in our mid 30s and were took our daughter (2) on her first cruise. We have previously travelled on RCL and Celebrity, but tried Carnival as they are one of the few lines that offer kids programs starting at age 2. We travelled with another couple and their 5 year old daughter.

 

We decided to stay at the Hilton Riverside and took advantage of their $99 cruise special. This was a room the night before and parking for the week. This ended up being a good choice.

 

As the walk to the cruise port was too far, we drove to the terminal and dropped our luggage off. I then re-parked the car in the Hilton-WTC parking garage. It took about 1 1/2 hours to drop off the luggage, re-park the car and walk back to the port. Not too bad.

 

Embarkation - We arrived around 1:30 as the Carnival reps mentioned this was the biggest crowd they had ever seen. It only took about 45 mins to get on the ship which was great. The only problem was Carnival messed up our cross reference with the other couple we travelled with so we were not assigned at the same table for dinner. However, after one night of eating at the buffet, the dinning staff was able to get a table of 6 together.

 

Camp Carnival - we dropped our daughter off at Camp Carnival the first day at sea and she was very uncomfortable. Were were hoping that our friend's 5 year old would go with her, however, she did not want to stay either. After about an hour, we picked her up and would try another day. We did drop her off the next day and she screamed bloody murder. After waiting about 10 minutes, we decided to get her and not try again. I will say that the staff at Camp Carnival was very nice.

 

Jamaica - I am not sure why Carnival stops in Montego Bay. This stop was horrible. We did do the Rose Hall excursion and it was interesting, however, when we returned to Montego Bay, we decided to return to the ship. Constant harrassment, dirty port and the lack of any sort of privacy led to us doing this. We couldn't even sit down and drink a beer without someone trying to sell us everything from cheap handmade goods to pot. I think Carnival would do much better if they either stopped in Ocho Rios or drop Jamaica all together and stop in Costa Maya or Belize.

 

Grand Cayman - It was great, as usual. We decided to do the 7 mile beach break. Nice beach with some snorkeling, clear water, bar and grill. We did some shopping and headed back to the ship. I sure do wish they would build a dock.

 

Cozumel - It rained when we were getting off the ship, however, it soon cleared as we headed downtown for some shopping. They were doing a lot of construction downtown so we decided to head back to the port for some shopping. There was not as much to offer, but it was nicer. We later went to the playa mia beach deluxe which was a nice excursion. They had an open bar, lunch buffet, changing rooms, lockers, nice beach with snorkeling and friendly people.

 

Carnival vs RCL/Celebrity- I will first start by discussing the things Carnival offered that was better. The laundry/iron room was great. Having a 2 year old, it was nice being able wash and dry clothes when we needed to. The casino was very nice as well (I won money every day playing black jack). Our dinning room waiter/waitress were very good, our bar waiter brought free sprites to the kids everynight and our room attendant was always on the move. They were wonderful.

What was not as good - First, the prepaid tips are a horrible idea. I am not sure if Carnival has had problems in the past with customers not tipping or if their staff was not worthy of a tip, but this is a bad idea. I prefer to offer our gratuities ourselves the last night of the trip and reward those who go above and beyond. In this case we did tip extra, however, I have a problem knowing that the tips I paid were split among the staff as we had some horrible waitresses for breakfast. Also, there is alomst no incentive by the crew to do anything but the bare minimum as they will receive their tip money regardless.

Second, I just felt a lack of formality on the cruise. Jeans in the main dinning room for dinner (on formal night), loud and obnoxious people, even someone wearing what looked to be a tie-die shirt, in the jacket required dinner club are just a few examples. This may be Carnival's customer base, however, if it is, Carnival is not for me.

Third, the food was not as good and it seemed to be missing a course as dinner lasted about an hour. It was like they wanted to rush the passengers through dinner.

Fourth, the lines waiting for anything was terrible. I guess this goes with any ship where there are 3000 passangers. You would think they would open 4 lines getting back on the ship when it was raining, however, at best, they had 2 in Cozumel. Debarkation was terrible, however, undestandable, or at least we thought. They kept calling multiple color tags while people were stacked up in the elevator lobby. It was by far the worst debarkation we have ever seen. Customs didn't even check our IDs when we got off the ship. That is scary.

Last, the buffet was absolutely terrible. They coffee was decent. Nothing else to say about that.

 

 

To sum it up, if you want a cruise where there are many bars, no sense of a dress code, decent food, party atmosphere, friendly staff (for the most part), supper club that was fair and advertisement in your face everywhere you go, sail Carnival.

If you want a cruise line that offers better food, better service, less crowded ships, more formal, a little more quiet, great coffee bar and a lot more class, sail Celebrity.

 

Jason

[MarDav]

Jason, we agree with you on just about every point you mentioned. We were on the 11/14 sailing. Although we were pleased with the many entertainment options available (karaoke bar, late-night comedy, etc), we encountered many loud, obnoxious drunks while onboard, and were disappointed in the degree of service that was provided. Crew members were in no way rude, but we rarely saw any smiles during the whole cruise. We could not believe how many people we saw in the dining room that were dressed inappropriately! Except for the wonderful dinner we had in the Point Supper Club one evening, food quality was average at best.

All our previous cruises have been with Celebrity and we most likely will not be sailing with Carnival again.

[chieft26]

Good review. I'm sorry you had a less than desirable experience on the Conquest. Maybe it was an off week or something. I've sailed her before and didn't experience a lot of the things that you did. I'm going back on her again on the 12th of December....hope things haven't changed that dramatically.

[irishgirl]

I was on the 10/31 sailing of the Conquest and I will agree with you on the happiness of the crew. We found that when we were on RCCL, the crew seemed truly happy to see you and assist you in any way. On Carnival, they never smile much any more.

 

As for gratuities, RCCL also prepays them. Same as Carnival, if you want to you can take them off your card and give cash.

 

I'm sorry you didn't like Jamaica, I've never had a problem there and I always go downtown shopping, then to a beach. But then, maybe I'm used to the way they treat customers. I have been there several times.

[KandMGIn]

We are going on the Conquest in almost a month. We also previously sailed on RCI and have chosen this cruise due to our two year old. Hopefully we will have a better experiance. We are expecting a different type of cruise based on what we have read about the differences between Carnival and RCI. We also enjoyed the upper class feel (maybe more reserved is a better chioce of words?) on RCI and every time we saw a staff member, they were all smiles with a big "HI! How are you today"

 

Hopefully being prepared for and understanding the differences will not lead to the type of dissatisfaction you found on the cruise. And hey, soon you will be able to travel on RCI or Celebrity with your child!

[tarbashchaputi]

I have never liked the auto tipping policy either. NCL also does this. I prefer the cash give away at the end so I can reward good service and ignore poor service. I did not notice a compromise in service on NCL do to the automatic tipping however.

We are sailing 12/12 and will in all probability, remove the tips from the credit cards and ask for the old fashion envelopes.

Brian

[pnjkeith]

Wow I just got off the above mentioned cruise myself. Some points I agree with. Our main dining room food was great as was our wait staff. The dining room for lunch and breakfast was good, but service was lacking. The lido buffet was horrible, but hamburgers, hotdogs, and pizza were good.

 

I removed all tips on last night of cruise and paid the people I thought did a superb job, night wait staff in dining room, orlando in cigar bar, and hostess. I did not give cabin boy anything, he was horrible, did not clean room one night and lied about it, no animal towels except one night. I think he was just very lazy.

 

We thought the dining room food was the best we have ever had on Carnival. Also I did not notice people dressed in blue jeans etc, why do people care so much about that anyway, except on Formal night. Get over it, if you want to dress up all the time go cruise another line. Carnival is laid back style cruising, its not for everyone. Overall I had a GREAT cruise, as soon as i got home I booked another for next Thanksgiving week. Elation here we come in 05........