Carnival Conquest
by Shawn
Western Caribbean
January 26, 2003
Well this was our 2nd cruise, first was Pride so
that is what I compare it to. We took our 10yr old
(her first) and my brother in law (first also).
Boarding:
We got to the port around 10:45 and they wouldnt
take our luggage because people were still getting
off the ship. We went inside and a Carnival rep
told us to bring our stuff in and go register so
we did. There was no line and we checked in, went
to another area got our S&S cards and then went
back to the front and the porter took our bags and
we went to the waiting area. There were about 50-
100 people already in there, dont know why they
took there bags and not ours. Well we said there
for a few minutes then moved to another waiting
area for 10-15 minutes and then got in the line to
have our Welcome picture made, then to the place
you put your S&S cards in and take a picture. This
is where it got messy. There were 3 lines and the
line we got in and the one next to us the machines
broke. We stood there for about 10 minutes and
they finally started to let us filter into the 1
line that worked. When it was our turn, well we
put the card in and it sounded that it was
invalid. Out of 4 of us, 3 cards didnt work. Go
figure the 10 yr olds card is the only one that
work. They let us go on and told us to go to the
purser desk as soon as we boarded. This happened
to more than just us. We were on the ship by 12:15
and then went to our room. It was clean and ready.
Dropped off our stuff and went to Lido deck to
eat.
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Room: We had room #2266 category 6B main deck 2.
This was a quad room with the bed that comes out
of the ceiling. The room was fine for the 4 of us.
The guys would go to the spa and get ready while
the girls used the room. The first couple of
nights we heard this banging like something was
hitting the railing above us. When we were in
Montego Bay we saw them take down two of the life
boats, well that must have been it because we
never heard the sound again. The room was right
off the front elevators and above us was the
hallway into the Toulouse lounge and we never
heard anything from there. We had a balcony room
on the Pride and the window room on the Conquest
was just fine. Wish we could have been higher up.
Service:
Room: Dee our room steward was overly nice the
first day but then we never really saw her again.
She brought my daughter a special life vest and
was a little confused when we asked her to take
the stuff out of the fridge. She did it but then
brought the stuff back on Thursday?? That was ok
since we used up all we had in there.
Dinner:
We had table #523 upstairs Monet late seting. Next
time we will do early. First night was Super Bowl
so not many people in there. Second night our
other 5 table mates showed up - family of 5. They
never came back. We had this big table and it was
only the 3 and sometimes 4 of us. We did see them
later on and found the kids didnt like to eat in
there and the waiter was to pushy for them. We
were in the back and one side of the table was in
the dark so to see the menu you had to tilt it
toward the light. Our server was from Indonesia
and was very nice but also pushy. He always wanted
you to get everything and one time brought me two
different dinners because he saw me taste my
hubbys. You could tell the wait staff must still
be new because they would forget stuff and hard
time keeping water and tea glasses full.
Everything at dinner was GREAT, never had a bad
meal. I think they broke something every night. In
the Cezanne restaurant I heard something break
every morning at breakfast.
Point Restaurant:
We went here on Wednesday night and had a table
for 4 at 7pm. We didnt make reservations till
Monday night. It was $25pp and it was money well
spent. I wish we could have ate there more than
once. Hubby had the sushi, cezar salad, filet and
the flourless choc cake (tasted like hot fudge
sunday). I had the shrimp cocktail, regular salad,
filet and the symphony of mouse. The desert I had
was the same on the Pride. But the flourless cake
was different than what they had on the Pride.
Just remember to get the regular water, they
charge for the bottle stuff. My hubby was so happy
with the service and little extras we got that he
gave an extra $10 tip.
This was the SUPER BOWL cruise and my hubby and
brother in law went to watch the game after the 15
minute life boat drill. This was alot different
from what they did at Port Canaveral on the Pride.
My daughter and I looked around and went to the
Lido deck to watch the ship pull away at 6pm, well
we stood there for about 1 hour and watched 4
taxis pull up with late arrivals. I am glad we
bought hats while we spent the day in New Orleans.
It was COLD.... At 7:30 had to take my daughter to
camp carnival orientation and then to dinner.
Day 1 & 2 at Sea were cold. I did make it out for
a few ours of sun. Never got in the pool but did
get into the hot tub.
1st Port - Montego Bay:
Well remember the trouble we had with our S&S
cards when we boarded?? Well it happened again. We
put in the cards and beep- invalid. Had to go to
another line and get them to correct it. It took
us about 15 minutes to get off at this port. We
took a taxi bus - loaded with people going to
different places. It was $4 each and we went to
Margaritaville and spent the day. The cab driver
asked what time to we wanted to go back and to
wait for him and he will come back for us. We
stayed till 3pm. We sat on the balcony and watched
the people go down the slide and play on the water
trampoline. My daughter and hubby really enjoyed
the slide, I didnt go down. I did join in sitting
on the trampoline. We ate the nachos and they were
really good. Had a few drinks and just relaxed.
2nd Port - Grand Cayman:
This was our favorite stop. We had to tender here
and it only took about 5 minutes to tender over.
We booked the 1/2 day stingray tour with Captn
Marvin and were to be there about 9:15. We got off
the boat about 8:30 so we walked around a little
and then went to his store. We paid, got on the
bus and off we went. We forgot our snorkle stuff
so we had to use theirs. The water was a little
rough so my daughter and hubby only lasted a few
minutes at the first snorkle stop. I stayed out as
long as they let us. We went closer to the barrier
reef and it was a little calmer (not much) and I
got back in. I got to see an eel and alot of coral
and fish. Then we went to sting ray city. There
were alot of boats but they were leaving and it
was perfect. We got our pictures made, saw a male
sting ray and we all touched them. They were a
little scarry at first when they all came swimming
around you. Just dont get close to the person with
the food.... We got back to Captn Marvins store
and walked back to the pier, went to a couple of
the shops and then got back on the tender to the
boat. Again about a 5 minute ride. Oh, we had
started to leave and we were turning and all the
sudden a tender came flying to the ship and there
was a boat full of people that had to get on. We
stopped long enough for them to get on and we
returned to turning before the tender even got out
of the way.
3rd Port - Cozumel:
Well we really didnt do much here. We got off the
ship, walked around the ships there at the port
and then walked down the road to where the other
two Royal Caribbean ships were docked. We walked
passed a few nice hotels and then came back. We
just sat and watched the people and the boat. We
saw our waitress from the Point out shopping. They
were doing alot of work at the pier. But it was
nice to just sit and watch. When it was time to
pull away from port we went to the front and
watched the long line of people that had gone to
Carlos and Charlies ?? People running to get to
the boat. That was so funny.
Last sea day was just COLD. The sun tried to stay
out but the clouds won. I tried to lay out from 9-
12 and it was 64 degrees and wind was at 17 mph.
Well at 12 I gave up and went to eat with hubby
and daughter in the restaurant. This was nice to
have other people to talk to since we didnt have
dinner mates. Food was good and I enjoyed the
change from the lunch buffet.
Sushi: Well we did have the sushi when it was on
the buffet in the Cezanne restaurant but the Sushi
bar that was open from 5:30-8:30 we only made it
there twice and they didnt have what I wanted but
my hubby had serveral things and it was very good.
Sur Mer : went up there a few time but never got
anything from there. It was hard to remember it.
You have to go upstairs from the Cezanne
restaurant in the back so it was easy to forget
about.
Interet Cafe:
Well they had this hidden out of the way. You had
to go into Alfreds and then around the bar to a
door (someone must have slammed the glass door
because it was broken). We signed up for the 100
minutes $55. The first day we used it was so slow
and couldnt even get to the email. The guy in
there was really nice and gave us back out minutes
and told to come back later. The rest of the time
it was fine. I think we even left with about 10
minutes left to use.
Camp Carnival:
Our 10yr old had a GREAT time. I was a little
nervous that she could check her self in and out
but it worked out great. We had those two way
radios but only used them the frist two days. My
daughter knew her way around better than me
almost. Some days she couldnt decide if she wanted
to go with us or go to camp. She was in the talent
show and we won the family scavenger hunt. She did
go to one formal night with us and to one other
dinner but otherwise she was at camp. They were
open from 9-12 then 2-5 and then 6-10. She never
stayed in the after hours from 10-3.
The last night we had a little scare. When we were
turning into the Mississippi River we tilted hard.
We were Vincents doing karaoke and the monitor
slid to the other side of the room. Our waiter
said that it never happened that bad before. They
were in the middle of change over in the Monet and
they had plates and glasses break. People I talked
to that were in the gift shop said the book case
fell and glass broke. We went to the Lido deck to
look and there were plates from the pizza station
all over the floor and the water had come out of
the pool.
I didnt care for the restaurant in the middle of
the ship. If you got off on deck 3 or 4 you had to
walk thru the restaurant to get to the other side.
I think they should have a walk around this.
On the Pride when they made announcements you
heard them in your room. Not so on the Conquest.
When (if) you hear the bell ring you had to go
into the hallway to hear what they are saying.
Also when we were on the deck by the pool outside
you couldnt hear the announcements either. People
were talking so loud and they had music playing of
ther speakers. They also didnt have a band playing
the cool caribbean music like they did on the
Pride. There are things we liked about this ship
better than the Pride but the overall experience
is I like the Pride better. The ship is nice
though.
I will also never go on a January cruise again. I
like to sit out by the pool and soak up the sun.
Here is the link to our pictures. They are the
ones that say Carnival Conquest 2003. If you have
any questions I will try and answer.
