Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Conquest Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

Glenda Wene
Age: 55
Occupation: Unknown
Number of Cruises:4
Sailing Date: June 11th, 2006

My husband and I just returned from our fourth cruise. Our third with Carnival. We sailed out of Galveston on June 11 on the Conquest. A beautiful ship. Embarkation went smoothly and didn't take long at all. We drove to the port, which was easy to find. We got there about 10:30 a.m. or so and we were on the ship just past noon.

Debarkation, however, was not so easy. It was slow, slow, slow! All I can say is that if it is possible at all to do the self-assist, do it. We have always been off any ship we ever went on by 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. We did not leave the port until after 12:30. We were on Upper Deck, which is deck 6. Our deck was not called until after 10:30 a.m. They were calling decks approximately every 30 minutes. This is unacceptable. Self-assist, however, were the first ones off. They started allowing them off at about 7:30 a.m. From now on we will always do the self-assist.

We were welcomed aboard by being asked every 10 steps if we wanted a drink. They are way too pushy with the drinks. Carnival needs to tone it down. I have never noticed being so harassed with drink vendors on any other cruise. But, I guess at $7.25 a drink there's a lot of profit to be made. This drink push was only upon boarding. It was never a problem after that. We made our way to Lido Deck where they had food waiting for all the passengers. As always, the food on Carnival was very good. At about 1:00 we were in our room, a balcony, and we were loving it! This was our first balcony and we will never have anything else. It was our own private space to shut out the world. As we left the port we watched the dolphins, sea gulls and pelicans. Quite a sight and starting our cruise out just right.

Two days at sea. We were in the casino some, went to some shows. The ventriloquist was only so-so. The best entertainment was going to the karaoke each night. No, we didn't join in, only spectators.

The food was very good, as expected. We went to The Point on Wednesday. Both the food and the service were fabulous. Way too much food. I think that since you have to pay they think they have to offer very large portions. My husband got the filet mignon and I got the surf and turf. When it came to dessert we picked the chocolate one.... I say one, we thought only one, but when served we each got three big desserts! Way too much, but absolutely delicious. All of them. We rolled out of there. You sure couldn't do The Point every night! lol We ordered a bottle of wine and did not drink it all so they saved it for us and we drank it the next night at our table in the main dining room. We had wonderful tablemates! A good time every night! Every other cruise our server knew after being told once what we wanted to drink with our meal. Ours never remembered until the last night, aka, tip night! Just a small thing, and certainly didn't spoil anything. Just an observance.

Montego Bay, Jamaica was our first stop. We did the Mountain Valley Rafting tour. It was fun and relaxing. We would recommend it. Went shopping in City Center after that. Had to get some of the wonderful Blue Mountain coffee. Folks, when they say don't buy drugs, they mean it! We heard that a group of 3-5 young men were caught. People told us a lot of cussing and 'it was planted' (yeah, right) being yelled. Also, a young kid, about 16, was caught. He was bawling his head off and Dad had him by the back of the neck and was not happy. Poor choices ruined their vacations. Don't let a poor choice ruin yours!

Grand Cayman was next and we did not do a tour there. Just shopped around a bit. We did Stingray Swim last time. This is a must for everyone. An experience you will never forget. We were back on the boat early this trip. We should have booked a tour. Oh, well, we know for next time.

Last port, Cozumel. We did the Sub-Ocean View tour. It was neat. Saw lots of things, including the dock under water that was destroyed by the hurricane. After that we went shopping. Cozumel is our favorite port. We do most of our shopping there. Best bargains and friendly people.

We had a wonderful, relaxing vacation. Met a lot of nice people. Can't wait to go again!

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