Carnival Conquest Cruise Review - Page 2
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We were very pleased with the comedy, magic, and unpredictable personality of our cruise director. The two "broadway" type shows were great as was the passenger game and talent shows. The Midnight Lido Deck party was fantastic even for the kids Ship Décor The ship is beautiful in every way. Too bad some inconsiderate people have already scratched the walls and gouged the ceilings of the elevator. Four glass elevators give you a bird's eye view of decks 3-10 (decks 1,2,11 are enclosed, and a separate elevator is required to access Camp Carnival from deck 11 to deck 12.
Ship
Rocking all day and all night in slight to moderate sea conditions.
Unusual for us as on RCCL we only "felt" the ship rock once on any cruise, and that was in some pretty rough seas one evening. The elevators malfunctioned several times. Never got "stuck" on one but did have to get off and grab another one three or four times. They are still working out the bugs in the ship's information system available on the TV. The ship's heading was never displayed. The winds across the deck and pool temperatures were always the same. The maps and humidity sometimes displayed grossly inaccurate information. But I am sure that these minor things will be worked out soon.
Shore Excursions
This literary (6-day) only stopped at Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Being able to order your short excursion tickets from your room TV is definitely the way to go. That is one convenience that I wish all cruise lines would take to heart. Some red-headed female at the shore excursion desk really has an attitude that doesn't belong on a cruise ship. Gave us misinformation causing us problems, and we even witnessed her refusing to help someone onshore.
Grand Cayman: We tried the Stingray City tour but we were unable to tender into Georgetown and had to go around to Spott's Point instead. Shorter ride to Stingray City landing but when we got there the tour was cancelled for unsafe sea conditions. We ended up on an unimpressive island tour (turtle farm, Tortugas rum factory, Hell, photo-op at 7m beach) that I guess everyone has to do once. But we will skip it next time (Stingray tour however we will try again next time, last trip it was fantastic!)
Cozumel: The Dolphin Encounter at the Chankanaab National Park was great! The park was beautiful and you can spend your whole day there. The actual encounter takes about 45 minutes and the video is worth the $25 price tag. We interacted more with the dolphin here than in Lagoon Island at Nassau. Elsewhere in the park you can see the sea lions, ruins replicas, exotic birds, iguanas roaming around freely, snorkeling, helmet dives, snuba, or just laying around on the beach. We would do this again.
Camp Carnival
Good activities for all ages (2-15). Cramped and disorganized sign in/out procedures. I don't like it that my ten year olds can sign themselves out regardless of our wishes (9-11 y/o sign themselves in and out and there is nothing provided to require parental sign in/out options). Good security on 8 and under as I watched someone try to get a child out that was not on the list and no matter how much he argued, they didn't budge. Counselors were very energetic and seemed to interact very well with the kids. If you are taking kids, and your kids like soft drinks, buy the drink cards. They are about $18 for the entire cruise and most likely worth your money. We didn't this trip, but would on the next one.
Photo Shop
Pictures pictures everywhere. A lot of good backgrounds and poses including black and white and "costume dress up" as well. Prices were not outrageous starting at $8 (4x6) topping out at $20 for the 8x10s. The staff was very good at picking, in our opinion, which we would want smaller or larger photos of. One set was whitewashed out and they were able to reprint it overnight. Reprints, Christmas cards, etc. are available on board. A couple of shots were off center, but these guys know their stuff and are doing a great job!
Debarkation
We expected a long wait to get off the ship, especially since we were not flying. Our "color" was called right about 8:45 and we were in a disorganized mob (isn't it always?) about 9:00 and were off and outside probably around 9:30. Customs never even collected the forms this trip. Had my car been closer than three states away, we would have been gone in a flash. Thank you Carnival for working out a discounted rate ($10/day) at the Hilton garage though. It is much appreciated!
In Summary
Beautiful ship, dining experience in the formal dining room was not as good as RCCL's in our opinion but the variety and quality of food on the Lido deck was excellent. We felt that there were too many days at sea, we like the private island that RCCL has, and we like to see the ports. The New Orleans port saved us ~$2000 in airfare but I sure would like to see better parking facilities. There were young and old alike and all those in between and Carnival is not just a "Party Boat" like I assumed it was.
We were very pleased with the comedy, magic, and unpredictable personality of our cruise director. The two "broadway" type shows were great as was the passenger game and talent shows. The Midnight Lido Deck party was fantastic even for the kids Ship Décor The ship is beautiful in every way. Too bad some inconsiderate people have already scratched the walls and gouged the ceilings of the elevator. Four glass elevators give you a bird's eye view of decks 3-10 (decks 1,2,11 are enclosed, and a separate elevator is required to access Camp Carnival from deck 11 to deck 12.
Ship
Rocking all day and all night in slight to moderate sea conditions.
Unusual for us as on RCCL we only "felt" the ship rock once on any cruise, and that was in some pretty rough seas one evening. The elevators malfunctioned several times. Never got "stuck" on one but did have to get off and grab another one three or four times. They are still working out the bugs in the ship's information system available on the TV. The ship's heading was never displayed. The winds across the deck and pool temperatures were always the same. The maps and humidity sometimes displayed grossly inaccurate information. But I am sure that these minor things will be worked out soon.
Shore Excursions
This literary (6-day) only stopped at Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Being able to order your short excursion tickets from your room TV is definitely the way to go. That is one convenience that I wish all cruise lines would take to heart. Some red-headed female at the shore excursion desk really has an attitude that doesn't belong on a cruise ship. Gave us misinformation causing us problems, and we even witnessed her refusing to help someone onshore.
Grand Cayman: We tried the Stingray City tour but we were unable to tender into Georgetown and had to go around to Spott's Point instead. Shorter ride to Stingray City landing but when we got there the tour was cancelled for unsafe sea conditions. We ended up on an unimpressive island tour (turtle farm, Tortugas rum factory, Hell, photo-op at 7m beach) that I guess everyone has to do once. But we will skip it next time (Stingray tour however we will try again next time, last trip it was fantastic!)
Cozumel: The Dolphin Encounter at the Chankanaab National Park was great! The park was beautiful and you can spend your whole day there. The actual encounter takes about 45 minutes and the video is worth the $25 price tag. We interacted more with the dolphin here than in Lagoon Island at Nassau. Elsewhere in the park you can see the sea lions, ruins replicas, exotic birds, iguanas roaming around freely, snorkeling, helmet dives, snuba, or just laying around on the beach. We would do this again.
Camp Carnival
Good activities for all ages (2-15). Cramped and disorganized sign in/out procedures. I don't like it that my ten year olds can sign themselves out regardless of our wishes (9-11 y/o sign themselves in and out and there is nothing provided to require parental sign in/out options). Good security on 8 and under as I watched someone try to get a child out that was not on the list and no matter how much he argued, they didn't budge. Counselors were very energetic and seemed to interact very well with the kids. If you are taking kids, and your kids like soft drinks, buy the drink cards. They are about $18 for the entire cruise and most likely worth your money. We didn't this trip, but would on the next one.
Photo Shop
Pictures pictures everywhere. A lot of good backgrounds and poses including black and white and "costume dress up" as well. Prices were not outrageous starting at $8 (4x6) topping out at $20 for the 8x10s. The staff was very good at picking, in our opinion, which we would want smaller or larger photos of. One set was whitewashed out and they were able to reprint it overnight. Reprints, Christmas cards, etc. are available on board. A couple of shots were off center, but these guys know their stuff and are doing a great job!
Debarkation
We expected a long wait to get off the ship, especially since we were not flying. Our "color" was called right about 8:45 and we were in a disorganized mob (isn't it always?) about 9:00 and were off and outside probably around 9:30. Customs never even collected the forms this trip. Had my car been closer than three states away, we would have been gone in a flash. Thank you Carnival for working out a discounted rate ($10/day) at the Hilton garage though. It is much appreciated!
In Summary
Beautiful ship, dining experience in the formal dining room was not as good as RCCL's in our opinion but the variety and quality of food on the Lido deck was excellent. We felt that there were too many days at sea, we like the private island that RCCL has, and we like to see the ports. The New Orleans port saved us ~$2000 in airfare but I sure would like to see better parking facilities. There were young and old alike and all those in between and Carnival is not just a "Party Boat" like I assumed it was.
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