Review: Carnival Cruise Lines - Conquest - [October 31 , 2004]

[Net Reviews]

Review By:

Reviewer Comments:

New Orleans is the best place to meet with friends for a couple of days
before going on a cruise! You board relaxed (huh?) and are in the right
spirit to begin the ship adventure! Wish we had come in three days early as
there is so much to do in New Orleans. As early as the 29th, there were
many Halloween costumes on the street. people really go all out for
Halloween in New Orleans! There were Halloween decorations everywhere. We
took the street car all the way as far as it would take us and back and
really enjoyed all the beautiful homes in the Garden District. If you take
the street car, always read the rates and take your time boarding. We found
that out after we had paid full price, that you could go on it for 40 cents
if you had a Medicare card. It was unseasonably warm in NOLA for
November. The swamp tour I wanted to take went by the wayside because it
was just too hot and humid to do it this time. The weather when we got off
the ship was perfect to do New Orleans properly. If you have never been to
Mulate's, it is a must. The wonderful Cajun and Zydeco music is absolutely
delightful and there were some great Cajun dancers out there really doing it
right! The food was very good. George really picked a good place to meet
and eat!

The road to embarkation was horrific because of the road construction going
on near the cruise terminal. Carnival Conquest was berthed the furthest
from Julia St. We left Grenoble House at 10:30AM. Grenoble House is an
absolutely charming suite hotel. We had a lovely red brick sided living
room with a fireplace, a spacious kitchen with all new appliances and
microwave that we did not use, a large bedroom with fireplace and a good
sized bathroom with an outside vanity. We faced the courtyard and there
was a pool and whirlpool, a covered barbequing area, several little
courtyards with tables and chairs. Chantel, our pleasant innkeeper and owner,
was a jewel just as our son had said she would be. I told her that I
could get very used to living there if there were more closets! She
got us a cab and went outside to bid us goodbye with hugs and promises to
return.

Because of the road construction, the cab stood in a long line of cars which
did not move for 15 minutes. so the cab driver made a u-turn at the first
chance and dropped us off at Julia Street, where we schlepped our bags over
the railroad tracks and all the way along a very long cruise dock front
until we got to the Conquest pier. There is a set price for cabs to the pier
at $7.00 a person and the cab driver wanted to give us some money back as he
did not deliver to the door as he was hired to do, but we declined, knowing
he was not to blame. Once there, we were second in line to turn over our
bags and proceed into the terminal to check in. that was fast. about a
total of five minutes and then we went on into a waiting room. After the
wedding party, Mary & Art and their entourage, we were the first group to
board. must have been about 1/2 hour waiting period or so.

We went straight to our cabin which was ready and met Putri, our very
pleasant and hard working cabin stewardess, who always seemed to get
everything accomplished in her calm and efficient way. She is an attractive
young lady from Indonesia who knew a few words of other languages. even
some in Polish that she had picked up. Our cabin was the typical Carnival
peach/orange sherbet colors. It had a leather sofa that had two large
drawers for lots of storage space. This was the first balcony on a Carnival
ship for us and it was smaller than the balconies that we have had before,
but we did not spend very much time on it so it was not all that important
to us. it was quite windy at times and we enjoyed pulling back the drapes
all the way back, giving us a lovely view of the ocean as we sailed.
Because of the bright sun early in the morning or wind other times, we did
not eat out on the balcony. We put away our carry-on things and went to the
Lido deck to eat lunch. There we started running into fellow Sleazy3ers! We
all met on the very aft pool deck @ 2:30 PM for a sail away party with
bubbles, good luck rings, and trick or treat bags of candies and
goodies. Thanks to George and all who contributed. This was a well
organized and fun group to cruise with!

When we returned to the cabin, we found one of our bags had arrived and it
happened to be Ed's. so after hanging his stuff all up, we went for the
safety drill. Went smoothly considering the amount of people onboard this
humongous vessel.

No sight of the other bag when we returned, so we went to the dining room
dressed in what we had arrived in, as many others did. We had first
seating. 5:45 PM. had hoped for the 6:15 PM, but all worked out very
nicely.

We had an excellent waiter, Rodolpho and assistant whose name escapes me!
But they were very efficient and always remembered our favorite drinks and
when we wanted them. They brought us extras of many things~ just to try or
if they overheard us mention things that we liked. Rodolpho substituted
asparagus for green beans for me when he learned how much I love them. You
could not have asked for better service. The con in the dining room. the
crew dancing and singing. they did it every night but one and it was too
much! I can take one night without complaint, so I made sure that was a
comment card complaint.

I was surprised about the amount of children on this cruise. School
aged. The Halloween Night Haunted House was a hoot! Many of the passengers
wore costumes and we were paid a visit by Martha Stewart, orange jailhouse
coveralls and all! It was very well organized by the CD and a lot of fun. We
had a few good scares going through all the spider webs! The children really
had a wonderfully exciting time with all the squeals and screams. although
some grown persons were even more vocal that way!. After the first day,
the children pretty much disappeared to Camp Carnival. I cannot say one
derogatory word about behavior of any of them because we never saw any
misbehave. There was a table across from us with four youngsters who were
very well behaved and it looked as if the Mom & Dad were having a time of
their lives! What a nice family! Next to them was another family table with
a little one. all enjoying the cruise to the fullest. the wait people really
dote on the wee people!

In Montego Bay, Jamaica, we went with a bunch of others to Doctor's Beach
and found it as clean and beautiful as when we had visited it last in
January! The red licensed cabs charged $4.pp. to get us there and Doctor's
Beach still charges $5.pp. admission.

Afterwards, we walked down a few blocks to Margaritaville while popping in
and out some shops and picking up gifts to bring back. In Margaritaville,
we had Red Stripe Beer and a humongous plate of very tasty nachos! While
there, a trade wind brought in a storm and it poured very hard for about 20
minutes and ended as they always do with bright sunshine! A cab took us all
back to the shopping area near the pier which has grown a little in size
since out last visit.

In Grand Cayman, we decided to take the tender in and just do a little
shopping. Now that we have spoiled the grandchildren with gifts after every
cruise we aren't able to stop!! Talked with some of the sales people in the
stores and one person mentioned that the Caymans would be much further on
the mend had they accepted outside help. It seems they did not want the
outside knowing how bad the devastation was. They thanked us for coming
regardless. The trees or what was left of them, were very sad looking, but
Mother Nature has a way of rebuilding herself and hopefully things will look
much better soon. Grand Cayman is still a very beautiful island.

In Cozumel, a bunch of us hired a van and went to Mr. Sanchos. What a
blast! Very nice and clean and no charge! It was our first time there. We
scouted out some places in the shade on the beach where some of the more
adventurous went into the water while the rest of us spent some time in the
pool there. We ordered margaritas and all kinds of Mexican food. nachos,
quesadillas, and tacos. The nachos were not as tasty as those in Montego
Bay's Margaritaville, but nothing was left over when we left! We stayed
longer than we had planned, so what shopping I had left was done walking
through the shops back to the ship. There are a lot of nice shops near the pier.

Summary:

The Carnival Conquest is way overkill in its decor. Eiffel towers all
over the place, large Easter egg lighting surrounded by fuchsia pink lighting
with a wide copper colored hammered rosette border. Some areas had an African
motif border print. There were large flowers with petals on each
deck level in the atrium that were carried over into table tops, guest
relations desk and bar tops. There they looked pretty inlaid, but it was
carried to an extreme. Flowers as much as I love them, seem to be a Farcus
fetish. The huge sunflower atrium, lots of sunflowers in Vincent's Bar.
Weird greenery and colors in Henri's Disco. though the floor changed in
pretty colorful squares of a sort. The calmest ambiance seemed to be in
Alfred's Lounge. A peek in the Piano Bar was enough to know I did not belong
there. Weird and not at all conducive to relaxing. But after the initial
shock was over, I found that I could just ignore and enjoy the good points.
And yes, you CAN do that if you concentrate!

The food. Outstanding. of all 27 cruises, the Conquest won the best food
award from me! What a variety! Dishes that I have never even heard of!
Lots of fresh and cooked veggies of all kinds,. ever heard of roasted
turnips strips with peas?
Salads galore! Many meats, steamship round, and sea food.

Breakfast had omelet’s of all sorts, pancakes, French toast, white, wheat
and rye toast, bagels, scrambled (usually a bit too dry for me as I like
soft scrambled) or made to order eggs, sausage, the best tasting bacon,
oatmeal, fresh pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pink and yellow
grapefruit, peaches and prunes. Orange juice was not fresh squeezed as on
the HAL ships, which have me spoiled. There were scrumptious lemon poppy
seed and orange muffins with the orange rind in them. The pastries were
apple filled ones and Kolache type with the fruit preserves in the
center. RCI and HAL do much better pastries and bread variety. Although the
bread in the dining room was always nice and warm and very good. One thing
Carnival did right was to keep the butter at spreadable temperatures.

Lunch had too many options. Oriental food, Paul's Deli, 24 hour Pizza (the
*best*pizza with at least six different kinds) and Caesar Salad, Sky BBQ,
plus the regular buffet which had so many different salads and entrees it
made it too hard to choose! Saturday, I had a hot pastrami on rye sandwich
with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut stacked more than two inches high! YUM! Ed
had a Reuben and we decided to check out the dessert table in case there was
something better than the frozen yogurt we had planned on. well, there
just happened to be a chocolate buffet that day. . . It did me in! You
name a chocolate dessert they didn't have! The fudge slices with pistachio
nuts were out of this world! Needless to say, we did NOT go to the dining
room that night nor eat any more the rest of the day. How I escaped with
just a 5 pound gain is a wonder to me!

Evening meals. There is a pre- dinner Sushi Bar for sushi lovers. The
lobster that I had on the Conquest was the best that I have ever had on any
of our cruises. Firm yet tender and so succulent--absolutely delicious and
it was not an isolated incident as I heard the same from many others.
Entrees were of a good variety from filet mignon, New Zealand lamb, prime
rib, veal tenderloin, shrimp, red snapper, Cornish hen, Long Island
duckling, chateau briand, sirloin steak, Alaskan salmon, Beef
Wellington. The appetizers and soups were so delicious that one night I had
all but one! The cream of mushroom soup was to die for! I had more hot soups
this time around because they were so well prepared.

Besides the decor, I did not care for:

1. The configuration of the ship. It was difficult to get around because
of the galley between the two dining rooms which forced one to take the
elevator down to a certain point, walk and then take the elevator to
wherever you needed to get to. The ship was a bit too large for me. I
needed more than seven days to really explore it to my satisfaction.

2. Too many smokers, especially in the casino. I didn't realize that many
people still smoked!

3. Announcements made by the CD after 8:30-9 PM. Although daytime
announcements seemed to decrease, we had a large Bingo group onboard and a
lot of the announcements concerned them.

4. Dancing and singing wait staff in the dining room.

5. The coffee--yuck! Drank hot chocolate as a substitute which was very
good.

Things I really liked:

1. The food

2. The comradery and friendliness of the Sleazy3 Group. this is one bunch of
fun loving and caring people! Hats off to George, Dawn, the judges and
anyone who had a part organizing this affair! The participation and
competition was great!

3. A somewhat paying casino that requires that you stop when ahead as they
give you several chances to do that. WHY didn't I listen? Oh well, it was
not THAT bad and a great deal of fun!

4. The drink prices were very reasonable compared to other cruises. The
special of the day was only $2.95.

5. On going cleaning at all times of the day, in all areas, including
ceilings. and there is an obsessive amount of *curly cues* of metal
ornamentation to bring dust cloths through on this ship. felt sorry for the
cleaning staff.

6. Easy disembarkation. Since we had a 6:40 PM flight, we were nearly last
to disembark. Easy to find our luggage and get a cab. After arriving at the
airport, we lucked out when we were asked if we would like to leave on an
earlier flight at 1:45 PM which brought us home to San Antonio at 4:40 PM
instead of the 9:58 PM that we previously held. We were home before we were
supposed to leave New Orleans with the flight change.

7. Did I mention food?