Carnival Conquest
by mlt
Western Caribbean
March 7, 2004
My husband and I sailed on the Conquest during the March 7-14, 2004 cruise. This was our 2nd cruise and 2nd on Carnival. We are both 28 years old. I am a pharmacist and my husband is a physician.
We arrived in New Orleans on March 6 and enjoyed the city. There was a cardiology convention in town and the city was booked solid. We stayed at the Embassy Suites. This was a perfect location for my husband to watch the 4am arrival of the Conquest since we were just across the street.
We headed to port around noon. There were no huge lines but there were tons of people in separate sections of chairs waiting. The embarkation process took around 1 ½ hrs. Finally, we were on the ship. It was beautiful. We were on the 6th floor with a balcony. You could definitely tell this was a new ship. I will add that our room attendant was terrible. I'm not sure if she ever actually did anything. She also made the same towel animal over and over. I expected better.
We had the 2nd seating of Main dinner. Our waiter was wonderful. Only random couples showed up at dinner each night at our 10-person table. The food was good. The choices were adequate. Portions were small. The seafood selection each night was good.
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The shopping talk was a big sales talk, which was quite annoying. My husband won a $100 gift certificate to a jewelry store in Cozumel. The sales clerk quoted us a price on a piece of jewelry of $250 without knowledge of the gift certificate. Once shown this he expected the $250 payment plus the $100 gift certificate. What a rip-off. Also, Carnival has a new vacation club, which they harped on over the PA all the time.
Ports of call:
Jamaica-Very beautiful land. I don't feel this is a very safe port. We took a taxi to Margaritaville. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. Then we stepped back out onto the street to wait for our taxi driver. We found ourselves in the midst of some very threatening drivers who were mad because we would not ride with them. Once our taxi arrived we were whisked back to the ship and hopefully never to return to Jamaica. Very scary.
Grand Cayman-Amazing and beautiful. I would move here if it weren't so expensive. We took a private tour with Dexter's Undersea Adventures. We took a catamaran with 10 other total passengers to the Stingrays. Wonderful. Dexter fed us fresh fruit and juice. This was probably some of the best tasting fruit we had ever eaten. He also told us of growing up on the island and how it has changed with tourism. I would highly recommend.
Cozumel-This is probably one of our favorite places to visit. We took a taxi into town and ate at Panchos Backyard. The food is always excellent. We spent the remainder of the afternoon shopping. When we returned to the ship we hung out at the port in the hammocks alongside the dock. We left around sunset. Picturesque view.
The entertainment on the ships was wonderful. We really enjoyed both shows. We were amazed how the dancers could perform on a rocking ship.
The thing we enjoyed the least was the spring breakers. I was truly concerned for the safety of some of these kids. One girl passed out in the elevator from alcohol poisoning and had to be taken to the infirmary. The rowdiness of these spring breakers made the trip hard to enjoy at times.
This was a fun trip. The boat was beautiful. Service was lacking. We would go on Carnival again but not at spring break. We look forward to cruising again and trying to find a better fit with other cruise lines.
