This was our first time ever to cruise. We chose the Conquest because it docked out of Galveston, TX (just a 9 hour drive from our home in Oklahoma City, OK) and because of when it sailed (my husband is a teacher and we'd gotten married just a week after school was out for the summer) and where it sailed to. We've both always wanted to visit Jamaica, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel, Mexico. The ship was huge....but since this was the first time we cruised we didn't have any bases for comparision and soon found it easy to navigate around.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We both loved the food,no complaints even about the buffett food (which I've heard other people complain about or just call average). I've also heard some people complain about the cost of alcoholic beverages....I didn't drink much on the ship, but I did find the prices of the drinks I had to be comparable to any other bar I've been to.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
What I really loved about this cruise was that we were able to be as active or inactive as we wanted. We went to all but one show (the last one, only because we were really tired and wanted to get an early start the next day). We really enjoyed the Vegas-style show which was very high energy, all the comedians were great, Kevin King (hilarious), Phat Cat (Super funny), and the Ventriloquist (his above 18 show being better, in my opinion). The only show we didn't care for was Deja the Diva of Deception (absolutely no stage presence) more Diva then anything else.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
We didn't use any of the children's facilities but from what I observed the kids who were on the ship and in the camp carnival programs all seemed to be having fun and enjoying themselves.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
We always found the staff to be helpful and attentive. Our waiters were excellent (Decho and Sarapee), and Alexia (I'm not even going to try to spell her last name...it's really long) was great at suggesting a glass of wine for me one evening for dinner.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
We loved the theme throughout the ship (impressionalist, parisian/new orlean's inspired, very artsy, etc) . I was shocked when I saw that people would leave trash just about everywhere. I know there weren't a lot of trash cans around the ship, but personally I would have waded up my M&M package in my pocket and disposed of it in my stateroom. But when there was a mess, there was always a custodian to clean it up, promptly.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I liked that our stateroom didn't have a lot of decor to it...I think I would have felt overwhelmed if there was more to it, but it was basic decor which I found more relaxing to the senses. We were on the Empress deck (7th level midship) right next to the self-laundry and pretty close to some of the elevators but other then a few people who had too much to drink or a few loud kids here and there we didn't hear anything else. I'm not a very big or tall person so the size of the bathroom was fine to me (nothing seemed too small or cramped). Even my husband (who is much taller then me) didn't feel cramped in the bathroom area. While we didn't have the biggest room we didn't notice it much because we were hardly in it (other then to sleep, shower, and change clothes). I loved the comforter....felt like I was sleeping under a cloud!
Jamaica was really interesting....I honestly had no idea what to expect when we were there. We went to City Center and did some shopping though the shop keepers were very agressive at times we just learned to say "no" nicely but firmely. We took a cab to The Hip Strip and ate the The Jamaican Bobsled Cafe (just a short walk from Margarittaville, much less expensive and a lot less noisey if you ask me. Then we hoofed it a short walk to Doctor's Cave beach and had a wonderful time lounging and swimming (my huband loved the big floating trampolines!). I'm sure at some point we'll go back to Jamaica, but I'd love to visit maybe Ochos Rios next time :)
Grand Caymen to me was a the best. We got up early and had a light breakfast at the buffett before getting on a tender and got to the island 1 hour before we had to meet up for our excursion so we took in some shopping across the street, this was an interesting market place with birds and iguanas in cages. The shop keepers were awesome....no hassling us at all. At 10 we went to meet up with our excursion mates, we did the Stingray Sandbar Tour provided by Kirk Sea Tours, it was absolutely exhilarating!! I'd recommend it to anyone in a heart beat we got to feed, pet, and even hold stingrays! After our stingray adventure we went to Breezers and had drinks. My husband had a virgin Mango Daquri and I had (a very boozy) Mango Martini....it was wonderful, we sat outside and got to have flavorful drinks in absolute paradise! Then we did just a little more shopping and then it was off to catch a tender and get back on the ship.
Cozumel for me fell pretty much in between Jamaica and Grand Caymen....so I'd rate it the 2nd of my favorites out of the three islands. The shop keepers weren't as agressive as the ones in Jamaica but they were still fairly pushy (though kudos to them for taking "No" for an answer sooner). It was fun to convert US dollars into Pesos. We ate at Senor Frogs (only because I love Frogs and we just had to do one big touristy spot on our vacation) decent food, decent prices, great entertainment (especially when other people got shots!!). Mostly in Cozumel we shoped and ate.....but we spent a lot of time on the island and had a great time. We found a terrific coffee shop called The Coffee Bean (prices in pesos and they don't take credit cards as a warning) we both had iced mochas that were awesome. It was a quiet place and a nice change of pace to the hussle and bussle of the downtown area.
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