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Carnival Cruise Line

MS Carnival Conquest

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Dana Ness
# previous cruises: 5
Date of Trip: November 21, 2002
Itinerary: Caribbean

Our cruise was 7 days 6 nights to the Western Caribbean. The staff, activities, shows, food, recreation, and shore excursions were all wonderful. If you want to be pampered with lavish surroundings, gourmet dining, and lots of top notch entertainment every night than I'd highly recommend the Conquest to you. This was our family's first cruise and we all loved it.

The ship is beautiful as you can imagine. The main sitting lounge in the lobby is quite comfortable and quiet. usually a piano is playing and people relax by the bar or in the nice sized chairs. The two glass elevators are a nice scenic ride. Everything is decorated with a touch of French influence. Monet and Renoir art works are displayed everywhere (even the two dining rooms are named after the french painters). Absolutely beautiful!

The shopping on board is top notch. With jewelery, perfume, clothing, and small gift shop nearby if you are in the mood to shop till you drop.. you can.

The casino is large with many slot machines and tables for poker such. My luck did not help me any on the slots but I broke even. Some people on board did quite well though.

The clubs on board are nice sized and never really too crowded. The one bad thing I found about the clubs were that they were just to cold to stay in and dance. I think they forget that some people are in shorts or wearing short sleeves. Anyway, the selection of music played was good. I think I would have liked to have swimg dancing one night, but all in all the clubs were okay.

The arcade was great! Wonderful selection of games and interactive games. Attached to the arcade was the kid disco, which was the only club I found that wasn't freezing (but it was LOUD!) The bad thing about the games were that most cost a dollar to play. I did not mind that too much, but be prepared to spend, spend, spend for some big fun.

The lido deck was awesome. Swimming pools, hot tubs, a water slide, and food galore. Lots of chairs for sunbathing, and even some special rocking chairs. Lots of space to eat and clean.

The next deck up they have two ping-pong tables (which were so much fun), a basketball area, a net for volleyball, a jogging track, and so much more.

The walk-around promenade was never crowded and although you did not travel by the casino you in no way had to weave your way through it. It was a very pleasant walk to dinner every night, as we were in the Monet dining room and had to travel towards the front of the ship. We passed photographers, people lounging (on VERY comfortable chairs by the windows), a wall chart of the course the ship was on, and many of the clubs.

Ship Cleanliness-A+, Atmosphere-A

Food and Dining Service was EXCELLENT!! *****5 stars all the way. There were so many choices for every meal of the day, there is no way to describe how wonderful they were. Breakfast-eggs, bacon, sausage, bagels, cereal, pastry, french toast, anything you want they'll make you.

Lunch-Hamburgers, french fries, ribs, roast beef, asian wok, pizza, deli, etc.. (if you're hungry for it.. you can find it).

Dinner-(My Favorite) Excellent choices every night. Duck, steak, prime rib, lobster, shrimp, pasta, veggie meals. Desserts were so wonderful I think I gained 10 pounds reading the menu.

Service-A+ (Waiters and assistants were on hand to grant your every wish. The Maitre'd sang to us every night during desserts.. he sounded just like Frank Sinatra. Then the dining staff would put on a little song and dance that they'd prepared just for that night. Awesome!)

Choices-A+ (Finding the food you want on board is no problem. Especially with the 24 hour pizzaria.. Which was excellent as well).

Dining Areas-A+ (Breathtaking decor and super clean. The two main dining areas were equally beautiful.)

We had four(adult)people in our cabin. It was just about the right size I'd say. Our Steward was named Dee, and she was lovely. Every time we returned to the room we had fresh towels, and clean sheets. At night she would turn down our beds, leave a mint on our pillows, and twist a few towels into a cute towel animal.

We had twin sized beds that were bunked. This suited us just fine as we did not spend all that much time in the cabin during the day and mostly just need it to shower, change, and sleep.

Closet Space was Ample.. Three very large closets were MORE than enough room. The bathroom was small as expected, but did the job. The showers were nice, and the water was always hot enough.

The TV did not get many channels (correction the TV did not get many Carnival unrelated channels). I would have liked to have at least one national news station available at all times. Not knowing what was happening in the world outside the ship got to me. They did show movies and had a pretty good selection, but I'd of liked a little more (especially late at night).

Our cabin was very quiet, we only heard a few noises one morning when our neighbor was shaving. I wish they would have provided more than one plug-in for your hair dryer, and other appliances... but we made due.

Cabin Steward-A++
Cleanliness-A+

I attended most of the shows. Our cruise director Corey Schimdt was so friendly and humorous he had us rolling in the aisles. Two nights they had comedians (one was a little better than the other), Corey had a bird show, there was a juggle act (he was excellent and very funny, bring the kids), two dance and singing shows (Vegas style shows) the scenery and music was awesome and the singing talent was great. The dancers were good too, I imagine it's very difficult to dance on a ship at times) The entertainment was highly enjoyable.

Bingo, and quiz shows were held about every day, and were a lot of fun to attend. An on board game of Survivor was funny, as was the Hairy Chest contest, and the Not so newlywed game. I strongly urge you to attend as many activities as possible.

Staff- A+
Entertainers- A

on board there is so much to do I can't possibly list everything. There is Camp Carnival for children if parents would like to sneak away some alone time. Most kids from what I could tell Loved the camp.

Ports- Grand Cayman & Cozumel

In Grand Cayman the seas were very high and most of the activities were cancelled. We were taxied to the pier by boat (which was okay but took longer). We were supposed to go swim with the sting rays, but because of the high seas were were forced to change plans. Instead we shopped.. I was a little disappointed with Grand Cayman as I think many other passengers were as well. Although I hear the sea life in Cayman is more brilliant.

Cozumel was AWESOME!!! I loved it. So much more shopping then in Cayman. We signed up for Snuba and had a wonderful time.. The instructors where wonderful and gave good instructions (well worth the money). Then we returned to the boat (docked so you could just walk on and walk off which is nice) got some money for shopping and then decided to go off on our own and go to Chankaanuba Park (costs $10.00 to get in per person) there we swam with the dolphins which was expensive! But it was a once in a lifetime thing so we did it and it was Wonderful. The dolphins are well cared for and love to perform,, very sweet and tame. Then we hurried back to the boat and shopped along the pier (good bargains). Then it was time to get back on board and get ready for dinner.

I wish we would spend more time in the ports of call. I could have used another day or half a day in Cozumel.

The activity choices are vast and you can do just about anything you want. They recommend arranging your excursion through Carnival, but if you do your research then you should be okay. We did the Snuba through Carnival and enjoyed it very much as it was a small group of only 12 people. We did the dolphin swim on our own and though it cost a lot we got more for our money than if we had arranged the "dolphin encounter" though Carnival. The "Swim" is much more interactive you get to kiss the dolphin, swim with them, have them jump over you, have them punch you out of the water, hold their dorsal fins and have them drag you. It's a lot of fun. and only a few buck s more (why not pay the extra $40 or $50 dollars?

PLEASE... Be sure to know the name of the port you are docked in Don't tell a Mexican cab driver to take you to the ship.. He won't know which one. Some people in line ahead of us did this and the taxi had no idea what to do. Say Puerta Maya or the name of the port itself or even the ships name.

According to my mom the shopping in Cozumel is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better than Cayman. So save your money folks. Go downtown and tell your taxi driver to take you to a certain store or else you'll be dropped off downtown in the middle of no here. Have FUN!

Excursion Choices- A+
Grand Cayman- C+ maybe a B
Cozumel- A+

Our fellow passengers were all very friendly. Many people travelled with their children. Most were from the New Orleans area so it was easy to relate to one another. Of course Southern hospitality was echoing from every corner, because everyone was having such a good time. People of all ages attended the cruise and if you are celebrating something special then this is the cruise for you. You'll be a STAR!