Most of this review was written while I was on the cruise. There were problems with my laptop when I returned home, so it's taken a while to share. But here it is!
Airport Shuttle from MSY to Doubletree Hotel. This is the cheapest way for a solo traveler to make the trip. For two or more people there are better options (i.e., taxi or limo) There was a 30 minute wait for the the shuttle. The fumes in the covered waiting area were extremely strong. Probably wouldn't be willing to wait that long again because of the smells. I was told by other shuttle passengers that wait wasn't usually that long.
Doubletree Hotel. It's a pretty hotel with very nice staff. The only meal I ate there was breakfast on Saturday morning. I had the "high fiber platter" which had a generous amount of wonderful fruit, nuts, and a warm bran muffin. The hotel has a breakfast buffet ($12 or $13) which includes coffee, juice and an omelet bar. My only complaint about this hotel is the noise. The soundproofing in the room is the worst I've experienced in a hotel of this class. Most of the noise in the Doubletree came from people in other rooms who weren't speaking loudly and from water running in other rooms. If you're not bothered by noise, then I recommend considering this hotel! I got it for $60 a night on Priceline, and I know others have gotten it for less.
Internet Access at the Doubletree. I couldn't get the free wireless access to work. Since it was new, hotel employees were unable to help. I tried taking the laptop to Starbucks, but there was no internet access there. On Sunday morning, I walked up Royal Street to an internet cafe. The cost was $3 for 15 minutes or $5 for 30 minutes.
Haunted History Tour Company - Ghost Tour. A group of us went on this tour Friday night. The tour guide (Ernie) was very entertaining. The stories were quite gruesome. I enjoyed the tour but wouldn't repeat it. Be prepared for about two hours of standing and walking.
New Orleans School of Cooking. I highly recommend the school! Kevin was entertaining and informative. The food was fantastic, and there were even seconds available of the gumbo and jambalaya. Kevin made the dishes look easy to make. The menu changes periodically, so check the school's website. Kevin made gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding, and pralines for us. This was the first time I've ever really enjoyed gumbo. It was fantastic! All the food was terrific. Iced tea, water, coffee, and beer were served.
Mulate's. Our group had a bon voyage party at the restaurant, which was walking distance from the hotel. I had the catfish, which was wonderful. It was served with a stuffed baked potato and jambalaya. The side dishes were OK, but not spectacular. But, the fish was so good, it more than made up for it. Bread pudding was served for dessert. It wasn't nearly as good as the bread pudding at the cooking school. Drinks at the restaurant were about $9 by the time tip and tax were added in. The music was great, but very loud. Made conversation difficult.
Drive to the Port. Although the Doubletree is within easy walking distance to the port, I had too much luggage to hoof it, so I grabbed a cab. As we approached the port, it was obvious that traffic was really backed up. The cab driver started cursing under his breath and tried finding alternative routes. All the other routes were blocked. The driver became very frustrated. We saw others walking with their bags and he suggested that I could do the same. Yeah, right. I had three pieces of luggage plus my laptop bag. No way I could have managed to get all that luggage to the port! I was worried that he might put me out of the cab, because he started saying things like "I guess I can't just kick you out with all that luggage." I did my best to placate him. What should have taken less than 10 minutes took 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turns out they were doing construction around the port building. The previous weekend there had been eight lines for traffic. This weekend there were just two, and those two eventually narrowed down to just one!
Embarkation was a breeze. So few people had managed to make it to the port. I was moving the entire time and didn't wait at all. Felt weird seeing all those empty yellow chairs.
Conquest Is Beautiful!! I've been on Sensation, Celebration, and Paradise and really enjoyed all my Carnival cruises. But, I never felt the Carnival ships could begin to compare to Royal Caribbean's. Conquest would not be mistaken for an RCI ship, and I'm sure Carnival wouldn't want it to be. But, she's a very attractive ship. I won't go into details describing the Conquest's rooms; you can check out the photos if you're interested.
Halloween Decorations. The staff obviously went to a lot of work to decorate the ship for Halloween! They even made a haunted house. Bravo!
My Cabin. I had a 1A cabin with a porthole. It
was located far forward on the Main Deck. I really felt the motion
of the ocean in this cabin, and it was wonderful! On the
first night and the 1'st full day, my cabin was very loud. It was a
clanking sound, like metal bashing against metal. On Monday
afternoon I reported the noise at the Purser's Desk, and it stopped a few hours
later. Someone from the Purser's Office called the next day to
make sure everything was alright. I thought that was great customer
service! My cabin was pretty, and that's the first time I
could even consider saying that about a Carnival cabinip. The closets and
drawers were wood instead of that hideous orange stuff that was in all my other
Carnival cabins. There was even an attractive picture in the cabin.
In case anyone's interested in particular food items, I listed what I ate below. Bottom line -- dinner was good/very good. Calling breakfast in the dining room mediocre would be giving it too much credit. Didn't eat lunch in the dining room because the Lido deck options were terrific. The most improved area is definitely the desserts!! Conquest served the best desserts I've had on a Carnival cruise!
Sunday Dinner -- I had smoked salmon (lox) as an appetizer, and rack of lamb as the main course. The lamb was delicious, but we were only served one tiny (really, really tiny!) lamb chop. One of the guys took pity on me and gave me a hunk of his steak. Otherwise, I'd have been hitting the buffet line after dinner.
Monday Dinner -- This was the 1'st formal night. I started off with some tasty prawns and the pumpkin soup, which was as good as ever. For the main course, I ordered both lobster & prime rib. The prime rib was excellent! No complaints about the lobster, but it wasn't great. I'd have been happy with just the prime rib. Have to remember that next time. Dessert was the flourless chocolate cake served with a coffee-flavored sauce. The sauce is on the side. So, if you don't like coffee, don't worry about it. The "cake" was in a little soufflé-style container. As always it was delicious, and even better served with vanilla ice cream on the side!
Tuesday Breakfast -- Ordered one of my favorite foods, eggs benedict. It was pretty bad. Cold and dry. The muffin tasted like it hadn't been near the toaster. Had the misfortune of sitting next to a very rude young woman who thought nothing of grabbing my cup to pour some of her coffee into (to make room for cream). She neither asked permission nor apologized, just placed the used cup in front of me where it had originally sat.
Tuesday Dinner -- Started with some wonderful escargot. The lobster bisque was OK. The waiter recommended the chicken which turned out to be dry and boring. Had raspberry crème Brule for dessert, and it was great.
Wednesday Dinner -- Had the sweet cream & lychee soup. It was delicious and wonderfully sweet. For an appetizer, I had the smoked duck. I always enjoy it, and it was very good. My main course was leg of lamb. I love lamb. Tonight the lamb was just OK and served lukewarm. Others at the table had beef Wellington. Some loved it, and some thought it wasn't very good. It wasn't served very hot either. For dessert I had a banana ragout. The sauce was very sweet.
Thursday Breakfast -- Cold French toast isn't nearly as bad as cold eggs benedict, but it's still not very appealing. This morning the French toast was accompanied by a clump of equally cold bacon. I don't know what they dipped the bread in to make the French toast, but there was very little egg in the mixture because it couldn't be tasted and the bread was still white. This was my last breakfast in the dining room.
Friday Dinner -- Started with beef consume which tasted like canned beef broth. My appetizer was some wonderful tiger shrimp followed by Caesar salad. There were three main courses that sounded great. They were an Indian sampler, chateaubriand, and duck. I got the duck and was not disappointed. It was delicious! Several people at our table had the chateaubriand and they said it was good but not fantastic. For dessert I had a Napoleon. WOW!! Another great dessert!
Saturday Dinner -- Started with mango soup which was terrific. Then, I had gravalox - small portion but very good. For the main course, I had prime rib, which was fantastic! The meat was cooked to perfection (rare). For dessert, I had the soufflé. This was probably the best dessert on the entire cruise (even though it wasn't chocolate). Don't pass it up!
Monet Restaurant - Breakfast. In a word the service sucked. Servers were grumpy and obviously didn't want to be there. Between the grumpy servers and the cold food, neither did I!
Monet Restaurant - Dinner. We decided that our waiter intimidated the assistant waiter didn't get along. I think the assistant waiter was new and the waiter was extremely demanding. One of the women at our table was very intimidated by him. Our waiter rarely smiled and he was always rushing us to order. The assistant waiter was a bit clueless, but he was very pleasant. I don't think he really knew what to do and he was probably scared of the waiter (a BIG stern guy). The waiter made dinner awkward and somewhat stressful. We were patient with the assistant waiter. At least HE was nice! The lady in charge of our section of the dining room was wonderful! I wonder if she'd been a waitress herself at one time. If so, I'm sure she was fantastic. No one else in our large group had any complaints about the service at dinner. I don't believe the problems at our table represent the dining room staff.
The first thing I noticed -- trays!! It makes such a difference. Bottom line -- this is a very improved area for Carnival! Lunch was terrific with many options. Didn't notice any changes to the :Lido Deck breakfast. If you liked it before, you'll still like it now. Except for the eggs made to order, the food was cold. Most mornings I had cereal and fruit because I can't stand bacon, French toast, or sausage cold.
Deli. Huge and delicious sandwiches made to order.
Chinese. Had different types of duck twice, and it was excellent both times.
Seafood. The seafood restaurant is upstairs (one flight up from the Lido Deck). The fish was excellent. The "chips" were just shoestring fries - nothing special. They also served small appetizers and soup.
Sushi. They served a different type of sushi each day. I really enjoyed it!
Chocolate Buffet - Lunch on Saturday. WOW! A chocaholic's dream come true! This buffet was the only time I stood in line for any length of time, but it was definitely worth it!
Breakfast. I ordered room service for breakfast twice. Each time my meal was a bagel with lox & cream cheese and a small pot of tea. The toasted bagel & hot water could have been warmer, but it was convenient to eat in the cabin. Because room service portion sizes are sometimes small, I ordered double lox and double cream cheese. Definitely needed the double cream cheese, but the lox portion was generous, and one would have been enough. I used the little cards that you put outside your door at night, and both times the food came right on time. I tipped $2 each time.
Where to put the trays. There was a recent discussion on Cruise Critic about whether passengers should put room service trays out in the hallway or leave them in the cabin. So, I asked my cabin steward what was the best thing to do with the tray. If the tray would be smelly in the room, he said to put it out in the hall. Otherwise, he said to do whatever I wanted. Basically, I think he was saying it didn't matter!
Welcome Aboard Party. It's held on Monday night (1'st formal night). It's in several of the lounges on the 5th floor, aft. The food was mediocre and hard to come by. It was difficult to get served drinks too. After waiting about 15 minutes, I got up and followed a waiter with a tray till I got a glass of wine.
The Repeaters Party. It's held on Tuesday afternoon. Although I know the food & drinks are better than at the Welcome Party, I didn't attend. I was up on deck reading a book and just didn't feel like going inside and showering/changing in the middle of the afternoon.
Sleazy Party. Our TA had a party on Thursday afternoon. Drinks at this party were terrific -- much better than those served at the Welcome Aboard Party. Of course, our travel agent was paying for it (not Carnival).
This was my 2'nd visit to Jamaica. I knew what to expect, and the pushiness of Jamaicans doesn't really bother me. Started off with a shuttle ride to Doctor's Cave Beach. The beach is lovely and uncrowded. It cost $5 to get in plus an additional $4 for a chair. The water was that beautiful Caribbean blue color you see you photos. There are showers and changing facilities at the beach.
Margaritaville. It was less than a 10 minute walk from the beach. We were coaxed into a couple of shops along the way. The food at Margaritaville was good. I had jerk chicken and a margarita. The service was friendly, and the music was great.
City Center Shopping. If you've ever been to Jamaica, you already know what the shopping was like. A woman followed us around and tried to convince us to go across the street to her friend's shop. (I'm pretty sure she was stoned. She had that look in her eyes.) I bought t-shirts and coffee. Made sure to buy the coffee at a ship's recommended shop because I've talked to people who were victims of switches by the stores. These folks got home and found they had coffee that was undrinkable. I was offered drugs at the shopping building across the street from City Center. Not a big deal. Just say no without looking at the person and keep walking. We grabbed another shuttle to the ship after shopping. Lord knows there were enough drivers. They pestered us the entire time we shopped. Security at the port was more intense than it was during my last visit to Jamaica. Even my beach towel was unrolled. I assume they were looking for drugs.
Impact of Ivan. Even if you didn't know about Ivan, you'd realize something had happened in Grand Cayman just by looking at the palm trees stripped of their leaves. You could see that much from the ship, and it was a sad sight. Georgetown was open for business and there weren't many signs of Ivan in the downtown area. As I rode the shuttle to 7 Mile Beach, the damage became much more evident. Some in our group toured the other side of the island and said that the damage there was awful to see. The citizens of Grand Cayman are recovering. I guess they want tourists back because they accepted cruise ships as soon as they were able. As a tourist, the damage didn't effect my visit. Wish I could have done something to help, but really all you can do is do what tourists do best -- spend money.
7 Mile Beach. The beach is wonderful! It is within walking distance of the ship if you want to walk about 40 minutes. I didn't! (To me, that's a long walk under a very hot sun.) A shuttle ride to the beach is just $3 pp. I spent the morning on the beach and shopped in the afternoon. For some reason Columbia Emerald was closed. There was no sign on the door. From the outside, it didn't appear that the building had been damaged. There were a few other stores closed, but almost all were open for business and things seemed normal in the downtown area. I bought a bunch of rum cakes. Don't know why I continue to do this because the ones you bring home are never as good as those available for sampling at all the stores.
Paradise Beach. Paradise Beach received such wonderful recommendations on Cruise Critic that I knew I had to go there! The cab was $12 per cab (up to four people). The beach was almost empty when we arrived, and never became crowded. I was led to a chair on the beach and an umbrella was put up for me. Visitors can purchase a wristband that lets them use all the toys for a day (iceberg, snorkel equipment, floats) for just $5. It's a great deal, but I wasn't interested in the toys and opted out. I enjoyed a couple of drinks, a Caesar salad with blacked salmon, and an enormous portion of guacamole & chips (easily enough for four adults). The service was excellent, and the beach was wonderful. Cozumel doesn't have the same sort of soft sand beaches that you find in Grand Cayman & Jamaica. Paradise Beach is as good as it gets on the island. I highly recommend it.
Shopping. On this cruise Cozumel was my shopping port, and I saved most of my spending money for this stop. I purchased lots of silver jewelry. Shopping in Cozumel is exhausting because I'm not used to bargaining. I bought some beautiful jewelry at very reasonable prices. I also bought myself a gold necklace. Cozumel's not the best place to purchase gold, but I found a necklace I really liked that was reasonably priced. I like to buy myself one piece of nice jewelry on each cruise. Most of my shopping was done down town. As expected, the stores at the pier were much less inclined to bargain.
I did nothing! It was wonderful! Except for a slots tournament, I didn't participate in any of the planned events. Instead, I visited with friends and sat out on deck and read. The days were perfect, and they just flew by.
Heard they were terrific. I usually make it to most of the shows. But, I kept waking up at 6:00 a.m. By 10:30 at night, I was too sleepy to attend the shows. I prefer to eat late, but I think I'm going to change to early seating next time. Getting done with dinner after 10:00 is just a little too late for me. (Guess I'm getting old.)
I bought wireless access. Still had to go to the internet or the bar right outside. At night the bar was too smoky. The internet wasn't very dependable, and it was down several times during the cruise. When it was up, the speed via my laptop was reasonably fast. One thing that's not documented is there's no way to if you gain wireless access. This was only a inconvenient when I wanted to print the boarding pass for my flights.
As good as it gets! Debarkation was well organized and took place without a hitch. It took a while to get a porter, but that's not Carnival's fault. Because traffic was so bad on embarkation day, I purchased shuttle service from Carnival. As usual, the shuttle took too darn long. Traffic didn't look bad at all, and I wished I'd grabbed a cab. No complaints, though! I was able to get to the airport in time to change to earlier flights, and got home more 2 1/2 hours earlier than planned. Continental customer service was terrific, and I was not charged for changing the flights.
Terrific Cruise! Conquest is the nicest Carnival ship I've been on. My 1A porthole cabin was large with lots of storage space. My cabin steward isn't mentioned elsewhere in the review because there's nothing much to say. In general, he did a good job. But, one day the bathroom didn't get cleaned, and the bed was always thrown together and never really looked made. The ship's decor is interesting and appealing. With few exceptions (notably in the dining room), the staff was excellent. Except for breakfast in the dining the room, the food was usually very good and sometimes wonderful. I had the good fortune to travel with more than 80 fantastic people (Sleazy 3 Group). This was my second group cruise, and I don't envision cruising on my own again. I'd love to cruise on Conquest again!