May 10 cruise on Carnival Conquest

[tkportersat]

Please do not generalize passengers......I assure you the same clientele on Carnival is the same as Royal Caribbean. It is luck or in your case (no luck) of the draw on who you travel with. I wouldn't have taken my 80yr old Grandma on a 4 day Carnival cruise or my two children if I was worried about excessive/obnoxious partying. Most of my cruises have been very tame. The most excessive partying I ever saw was on my 2005 RC Rhapsody cruise. It can happen anywhere.

 

Also, I don't get the rudeness of the staff comment. Sometimes things get lost in translation and maybe something was missunderstood?? For most English is not their first language (at least they are trying to speak it unlike some folks moving to the US). I realize we pay a good amount of money to travel but consider the fact that most of these folks come from very poor countries, are away from their wife/husband/children 8 months at a time, work in excess of 15 hour days (read Cruise Confidential) or have shifts so close together that they may get 3-4 hours sleep in between them.

 

Sorry your trip didn't live up to your expectations, good luck in the future.

 

A note about the passengers: I certainly had heard that the clientele on Carnival had the reputation of being "partiers" but I had not really expected what I observed on this cruise. Honestly, many passengers were exceedingly drunk not only at night, but during the day as well (probably one explanation for the rudeness of the staff)! As you can imagine, this lead to alot of people cursing loudly, stumbling around and apparently passed out on deck chairs. There was alot of noise in the hallway and adjoining rooms until well after 1-2am. This is definitely a younger party crowd. If you are considering a Carnival cruise with children, you might want to reconsider (especially if you don't want your children exposed to alot of rowdy drunk people acting in a pretty raunchy manner). If you are traveling as a couple and want to party - this is your cruise line. For me personally, it will be my one and only Carnival cruise.

[Georgiagolfer]

sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise, but i almost excepted you to add something about (TEXANS) since we are nothing but rednecks and hillbillies. Go back to RCCL and pay almost twice the price.

 

No one mentioned Texans, but you. If this is their opinion, why is it a "fact to anyone" that their opinion is wrong. My opinion of CCL is different than theirs, as I haven't experienced what they say happened, but let them have their opinion. No need to make nonsense comments.

 

BTW, we are Platinum on CCL, but still sail RCI when we find the right itinerary and price. Never paid twice the fare of CCL.

[firefly333]

I think service is hit or miss. I was on the week before you and had the opposite, the cabin steward not getting it done, but loved my waiter who was excellent and the food. We never went hungry and if I had extra room to eat more, I would have been getting that chicken ceasar salad at the pizza place.

 

We didnt notice people being unusually drunk, any more so than on RCL, just the one issue with housekeeping all week.

 

I really dont think you can judge a whole cruiseline over a few incidents, as they vary from cruise to cruise. RCL is still my favorite, but Id do Carnival again.

[figs]

This is not comparing apples to apples, figs. The car shop is finite and never changing. The mechanics are (essentially) the same week after week. A cruise has a different set of passengers each and every week. If you notice, the things that ARE finite on a cruise (the stewards and wait staff) were positives in the OP's eyes. To say he is not going to cruise an entire line simply because ONE set of passengers irritated him is utterly ridiculous for the reasons I pointed out in my above post.

 

You're over-analyzing my point. Hmm, let's try again. The simple fact remains that a cruise vacation is not, for example, a ice cream cone. You get one bad ice cream*, you're only out a buck or two - you'll probably go back, hoping for a better experience. You get a bad cruise, you're out a couple thousand dollars and a week of your precious vacation time. For your ice cream, it doesn't matter that you MIGHT get a different employee the next time, or that your ice cream might have been made by a different supplier. You're still only out a buck or two. It's a lot different when it's an entire year's savings.

 

Why would someone who truly disliked their cruise experience risk another couple grand on CCL, when they could just try another line, or return to one that has already proven safe? It may be a bit of an over-reaction, but I would think it would be perfectly understandable.

 

*note: there is no such thing as bad ice cream:D

[SuzyQ50]

I was somewhat surprised by the observations of the original poster. I was on the Conquest last week with a group of 12 ranging in age from 21-60. Each of us had a fantastic time and enjoyed all of the cruise activities. I am a RCCL platinum member and have been on several other Carnival cruises. Each line has it's pros and cons. Our group enjoyed the food in the dining room;although, I did think the dining room service could be improved- but that is luck of the draw. We especially liked the table magician who came around the dining room- he was great. Compared to our Voyager cruise in Jan, there were a lot more activities and live music venues for us to enjoy. As far as the drunks- there's one on every cruise. I felt the Carnival security did a good job handling the one that we encountered. We did hear noise in the hallways from time to time- but we have on every cruise we've been on. The hallways are long and there are 3000 people on these ships. For me, each cruise I've been on has been great.

[islahopper]

Glad someone else mentioned the Texas factor, it may be the reason, it may not.

[firefly333]

Glad someone else mentioned the Texas factor, it may be the reason, it may not.

 

Say what??? :eek: What is the Texas factor?

[figs]

Say what??? :eek: What is the Texas factor?

 

It's a blood-borne condition that predisposes one to the wearing of cowboy boots and the enjoyment of country music.

 

Stereooooooootypes!

[firefly333]

It's a blood-borne condition that predisposes one to the wearing of cowboy boots and the enjoyment of country music.

 

Stereooooooootypes!

 

Oh oh!!! I own cowboy boots. :eek:

[pearlandmom]

I was on the same cruise with our group of 10. I can honestly say we didn't experience any of the problems that the OP mentioned. We enjoyed the food, the staff and the entertainment. The only negative for the whole week was the woman in the Formalities Shop who insisted on renting my son the wrong size tuxedo pants. He had to argue with her to get her to change them.

 

As for the The Point supper club - the food was fantastic but I found the waitstaff to be very cold. My husband and I turned it into a game, trying to get a smile out of them. Pretty funny. :p

[Kurbanfan]

Oh oh!!! I own cowboy boots. :eek:

 

Me too....and a hat.......and I'm a big country music fan.........oh but I'm

from So Cal:D:p

[Vanessa L]

You're over-analyzing my point. Hmm, let's try again. The simple fact remains that a cruise vacation is not, for example, a ice cream cone. You get one bad ice cream*, you're only out a buck or two - you'll probably go back, hoping for a better experience. You get a bad cruise, you're out a couple thousand dollars and a week of your precious vacation time. For your ice cream, it doesn't matter that you MIGHT get a different employee the next time, or that your ice cream might have been made by a different supplier. You're still only out a buck or two. It's a lot different when it's an entire year's savings.

 

Why would someone who truly disliked their cruise experience risk another couple grand on CCL, when they could just try another line, or return to one that has already proven safe? It may be a bit of an over-reaction, but I would think it would be perfectly understandable.

 

*note: there is no such thing as bad ice cream:D

 

I suppose you're right, figs. And I agree 100% with your reasoning (you're out a year's savings, etc.) But the OP sails REGENT for heaven's sake!! I'm thinking he could take another $1000 risk (what is that, about 2 days worth on Regent?) to find out that being that ridiculous about leaving any business over one bad experience is you know, out there. OTOH, if he is used to Regent's clientèle (there is NO WAY in Hades that either Carnival nor RCI's clientèle can "compare" to those that sail Regent), then you are absolutely correct that he is best to stick there. I guess what boggled my mind is he is going to stop sailing Carnival over one cruise but is KEEPING RCI open as a choice? I've sailed with some pretty heavy-duty partiers on RCI and from what I've been reading in the last 3 years as a member of CC, that hasn't changed much.

[Stircrzy]

Oh oh!!! I own cowboy boots. :eek:

 

I've got to have a conversation with my parents...I MUST BE ADOPTED!

 

I have no cowboy boots, have never had cowboy boots, and don't listen to country music, although I did for a short time during high school while dating a cowboy...30 years ago.

 

...and I've sailed both Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

 

I've sailed Carnival 13 times since 1996, and have only had one cruise that was inundated with drunks and bad behavior. That was a 4 nighter over a Memorial Day holiday and I've chosen not to book over holiday weekends since. Problem solved!

 

Sorry the OP had a bad trip.

[sappygirl]

I'm sorry it was a bad experience.

 

(emphasis added)

 

This is the only criticism I can't comprehend. A lack of variety of food?

What I think the OP was refering to was the lack of variety on the buffet, which I tend to agree with him on that. I was not that pleased with the buffet on our last cruise on Conquest. What little choices I found they had did not even look appetizing to me. That is JMO. I try to eat in the dining room or at the deli. That is the great thing about Carnival, you have options. Some people just prefer to complain about something rather than explore their options or they are just too darn picky.:D

[halos]

What I think the OP was refering to was the lack of variety on the buffet, which I tend to agree with him on that. I was not that pleased with the buffet on our last cruise on Conquest. What little choices I found they had did not even look appetizing to me. That is JMO. I try to eat in the dining room or at the deli. That is the great thing about Carnival, you have options. Some people just prefer to complain about something rather than explore their options or they are just too darn picky.:D

 

Am I the only person who found Royal's buffet to be 'boring' as well as tasteless???????

I'm not big on buffet food on any ship, but my experience on the EOS was that ship had the lousiest buffet food I had ever tried.

That wouldn't keep me from sailing them again (their prices keep me from sailing them again though :()

[EastTexans2]

Well I need to jump in here and add my two cents worth......no flaming please!

I was on the May 10 Conquest cruise with my husband and we feel it was the best cruise we have been on so far (#7).

I never at any time saw all the "drunks" that the OP indicated were on the ship. We participated in many of the activities and had a wonderful time.

The food was wonderful. We had 4 table mates in the dining room and all commented on the wonderful food each night. We ate at the buffet at lunch a couple of the days and also had the fish & chips.

This was the smoothest cruise we have been on.......the water was like glass the entire week.

I visited with many "new" people all week long and everyone I ran into said they had "fallen in love" with the Conquest and were hooked on cruising. I came home with many e-mail addresses of people who want info on the "Dreamin' with the Crazies" cruise in 2010.

I really don't understand many/any of the OP comments. The waiters in the buffet area were continually cleaning tables.

[Vanessa L]

Well I need to jump in here and add my two cents worth......no flaming please!

 

I was on the May 10 Conquest cruise with my husband and we feel it was the best cruise we have been on so far (#7).

 

I never at any time saw all the "drunks" that the OP indicated were on the ship. We participated in many of the activities and had a wonderful time.

 

The food was wonderful. We had 4 table mates in the dining room and all commented on the wonderful food each night. We ate at the buffet at lunch a couple of the days and also had the fish & chips.

 

This was the smoothest cruise we have been on.......the water was like glass the entire week.

 

I visited with many "new" people all week long and everyone I ran into said they had "fallen in love" with the Conquest and were hooked on cruising. I came home with many e-mail addresses of people who want info on the "Dreamin' with the Crazies" cruise in 2010.

 

I really don't understand many/any of the OP comments. The waiters in the buffet area were continually cleaning tables.

 

This is exactly what we found on our Fantasy cruise this week too. I don't think the OP is consciously aware of it, but based on what I'm reading I get the idea that he was comparing Carnival more so to Regent than RCI.

[skidrue]

So this is just the OP's opinion. Everyone has different experiences with each cruise line and sometimes with the same line.

 

My husband and I both thought that the Splendor's food was not very good.

But yet on the Spirit we had great food.

 

We normally never eat breakfast in the dining room but decided to on the Splendor. Rotten service. We were paired with another couple from New Mexico. We only received 1 refill of coffee in the hour. I politely asked if we could just have the carafe and was told it was not allowed. This has never been a problem for us before. Our tablemates toast arrived after his meal, after asking several more times.

 

The next day we tried it again and had great service. Had we not tried again it would have left a bad impression. Everyone is intitled to an off day.

 

On all our cruises we have never had any problems with drunks. Just call us lucky or always in the right spot.

[Luv2CtheMouse]

You and I were on the same cruise. It will be my first and last Carnival cruise.

 

Here are my overall comments on the cruise - in short:

 

Embarkation & Debarkation:

These were both very simple processes. It was easy checking in, getting on the ship and getting off the ship.

On embarkation, the reps at the desk did not look like they were happy to see any of us, but I was the one going on vacation, not them - - so that is okay.

 

Public Rooms:

If you smoke and you like smelling smoke, you will love this cruise. Every room was filled with smoke. People smoking in the hallways to their cabin, people smoking in the elevators, people smoked everywhere without care or regard for the other guests. As an ex-smoker, I feel guilty for all I subjected people to in my younger days.

 

Cabin:

The cabins were small, the bathrooms were tiny, the beds were uncomfortable, the hallways were very noisy and the smell in the bathroom was pretty yuck at times. There is A LOT of closet space, space under the bed and 4 drawers for storing your items. The room also has a safe for your valuables. We had an inside stateroom. It was about half the size of an inside stateroom on Disney.

 

Fitness:

The fitness room was nice and clean.

 

Rates:

We recieved a military disount and found that for 7 nights, this cruise was not worth the $1800 we paid for 2 adults, pre-paid mandatory tips and insurance. I am not cheap in any way - my vacations are always over 4K for 6 nights, but this was not a good value.

 

Dining:

The food in the main dining rooms left a lot to be desired. The servers were fantastic and the entertainment, while not really that great, was funny for sure. The options and quality of the food was not that impressive.

 

The buffets were pretty good. In most cases, they were better than the main dining rooms. And they had a chocolate buffet - YUM!!!

The pizzas were creative. The burgers were all dried out and not good. A hot dog is a hot dog.

 

The Supper Club was phenominal and worth the $30 per person fee as well as the extra tip we gave them. I recommend the supper club to every adult visiting a Carnival ship that offfers this.

 

Entertainment:

The entertainment was terrible. The only thing good we saw was the motown singer. That was a lot of fun. The stage shows were very risque, especially for showing them at 8 PM. The showgirls are nothing I would want my kids to see. I would have been mortified had my daughter been in there and looked up to see so much booty and skin revealed. There was no warning - I saw parents walking out with their kids. Putting that aside, the shows were not that great in quality. The vocals were so-so, the content was silly and the whole purpose in the show was for the showgirls to show their bottoms. haha!

 

The entertainment on the Lido was not that great either. They had team competitions one night which were fun (lots of dancing) - - - aside from all of that the rest of the entertainment was lame. The breakdancers were terrible, the lounge singers were okay, the onboard fun was not fun really and the pools were so tiny for as many cruisers as they have aboard this ship.

 

Room Steward & Dining Server:

The room steward and dining waiters were wonderful. They deserved the tip (good thing since it is mandatory). We gave them something extra before we left as well. We were very impressed with the service from them, as well as the Supper Club. The rest of the service on the ship was middle ground.

 

One other thing we really did not like is that everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, comes with a sales pitch. You could not enjoy your vacation without somebody trying to sell you something extra. Also a big push for tips. In some cases, they are pushing for tips for people behind the scenes that you have no idea what they supposedly did for you.

 

The Casino was small, but somewhat enjoyable. It was so smoky it was ridiculous, but there are tons of slots as well as card tables. We played blackjack. The dealers were not very friendly in most cases, but some are. Different than Vegas.

 

I know Carnival calls their ships the "Fun Ship Cruise" but we realized it was the "Drunk Ship Cruise" in about 2 days. Everybody is drunk around the clock. People were sitting by the pool aleady drunk at 9 AM. Ridiculous. I know it is vacation, but after 7 days of this, we had enough.

 

The cruise itself was very smooth. The captain did an amazing job. It was very relaxing.

 

I am sorry to insult anybody, but my overall assessment was that they stopped by the trashiest K-Mart in Texas, picked up all of the people there named Bubba, Betty Sue and Gomer dressed in their stinky yard-work clothes, drove them down to Galveston and placed them all on the Carnival Cruise. We met some really sweet people with morals on the cruise and some awesome elderly couples, but most of the people fit my description. It is not what we expected for $1800. Next time I will pay $4K to go on a Celebrity Cruise.

 

However - I want to add, I went on this cruise with my husband and 2 couples from church. My husband and I had a wonderful time with one another and fell in love all over again. For that reason, this vacation was priceless. It was not anything Carnival did, but what we chose to make of it. I would not trade that for ANYTHING on this earth.

[happy cruzer]

Well I need to jump in here and add my two cents worth......no flaming please!

 

I was on the May 10 Conquest cruise with my husband and we feel it was the best cruise we have been on so far (#7).

 

I never at any time saw all the "drunks" that the OP indicated were on the ship. We participated in many of the activities and had a wonderful time.

 

The food was wonderful. We had 4 table mates in the dining room and all commented on the wonderful food each night. We ate at the buffet at lunch a couple of the days and also had the fish & chips.

 

This was the smoothest cruise we have been on.......the water was like glass the entire week.

 

I visited with many "new" people all week long and everyone I ran into said they had "fallen in love" with the Conquest and were hooked on cruising. I came home with many e-mail addresses of people who want info on the "Dreamin' with the Crazies" cruise in 2010.

 

I really don't understand many/any of the OP comments. The waiters in the buffet area were continually cleaning tables.

 

Thanks for posting. More details can help many who are booked or that may book find ways to avoid a reoccurence of the OP's bad experience. My guess is Carnival is just not a good match for them, that's why there are so many cruise lines.

[Luv2CtheMouse]

This is what happens when folks "steal" booze aboard. ;-)

 

 

It must be that, bc Carnival sure does not put any liquor in their overpriced drinks. ;)

[cks]

 

Rates:

We recieved a military disount and found that for 7 nights, this cruise was not worth the $1800 we paid for 2 adults, pre-paid mandatory tips and insurance. I am not cheap in any way - my vacations are always over 4K for 6 nights, but this was not a good value.

 

 

You paid $1800 for 2 ppl in an inside stateroom?? That seems a bit much to me. I probably would have been a bit cranky too. And as pointed out many times on these boards, tips are not mandatory. You can adjust them as you see fit. I'm glad you had good service and tipped them extra accordingly.

[spleenstomper]

I wonder if you had some kind of "spring break" group on your cruise. Our Fantasy cruise was wonderful-- full of families and lots of kids. No stumbling, bumbling drunks day or night. I mean, sure I say people imbibing, but not to the extent you describe. I felt it was such a good atmosphere for kids that we booked the Triumph for next year.

 

Sorry you had such a disappointing crowd and cruise!

[GlendaleCruiser]

Mach....I think it is the Conquest that has a food problem. I read reviews on here forever and could never understand folks fussing about food until my most recent trip on the Conquest - my 8th Carnival cruise. I never went hungry because you can always rely on pizza/salads/sandwiches/omelettes etc. but overall I was not pleased with the food on this trip. I hate wasting food and will not order something as a replacement if I don't like something but I had a few dishes that I could not stomach this time around. I just filled up the difference with chocolate melting cake or beer :) On the Celebration, Ecstasy and first Conquest trip I was MORE than happy....

 

I was on the Conquest a year and 1/2 ago and the food was great. What was it like when you went? What were the problems? Temp? Variety? I am just curious.

 

I am also eagerly awaiting the menu on the Dream..........

[Luv2CtheMouse]

I was on the Conquest a year and 1/2 ago and the food was great. What was it like when you went? What were the problems? Temp? Variety? I am just curious.

 

I am also eagerly awaiting the menu on the Dream..........

 

 

From our perspective, in the dining room - our disappointment in the food was that it was always luke warm (except the chocolate melting cake which was very very warm - alsmost hot), the options were not that great, items listed as spicy were sweet actually and the meats were generally tough. I found the portions to be perfect.