The Conquest was just OK

My family and I were on the Carnival Conquest going out of the port of New Orleans to points in the Caribbean.  There were 6 of us ranging in age from 5-70 years old. It was a 7-day cruise that left port on October 13, 2013.  We have been on several cruises before, some with Carnival, some with other cruise lines.  This cruise did not live up to my expectations.  The ship was not as well maintained as others I have sailed on.  Role was not taken at muster so it was possible to stay in your cabin and miss it completely such is not the case on other cruise lines where the ship does not sail until each passenger is present at muster. The sail away party was nothing. The decor on the pool deck was not to my liking.  The tables around the hamburger station on the pool deck were picnic tables with benches.  They were uncomfortable and not attractive.  I felt like I was eating in a stable.  I had to clean my own table on a couple of occasions. Also, one of the two lines for ordering hamburgers ran right next to the men's bathroom.  The smell was not good. The food was not terrific either.  The dinners in the dining room were not on par with other cruise ships and the service was often slow and spotty.  The waiters were great, however, with my grandson. Some of the food in the Lido cafeteria was just terrible.  The scrambled eggs were from a carton and just awful.  There was no turkey bacon and no variety from day to day.  Some of the food was great, such as the grilled cheese sandwiches. The music was all loud and mostly rock and roll or Latin.  Smoking was allowed in the casino which made it really awful for non-smokers.  The shows were just OK.  One night the show was a repeat of one earlier in the week.  Playing Bingo required purchasing "dabbers" at $2 a pop.  You didn't have to buy them but if you didn't you needed a pen or pencil on you to mark the bingo sheets.  Bring your own highlighters. The giant screen by the pool was good for watching football games and movies but the shows on during the mornings were annoying.  One of the female crew members ran a trivia game in the main lobby where the question involved the word "Navajo". She pronounced it "Nava-joe" and admitted that she had no idea what it was.  I was taken aback by her ignorance.  The Navajo Indians helped us defeat the Japanese in WWII because they used their spoken language to form the only codes the Japanese could not break. If you are going to run a game, you need to know your stuff.  As for the rooms, we had two inside cabins.  They were good.  The bunk beds folded down from the ceiling over the queen-size bed. We continuously bumped our heads on them.  There were enough closets for 4 of us to unpack our suitcases.  The bathroom was fine and the room was kept up very nicely by the room steward--he always gave us extra towels.  We appreciated having a coin laundry down the hall.  Some areas of the ship were beautiful, though not used--the lounge across from the upper floor of the main dining room.  The hallway that ran along the inside of that lounge was gorgeous.The photography was great.  There were many backdrops from which to choose and the photographers took their time setting up the takes.  I liked having the softserve ice cream open 24 hours.  Many families were in the Lido restaurant late at night playing cards or dominoes--including us, and pizza and sandwiches were available round the clock.  The kids' club was fun for our 5-year old though he did not participate in the talent show because the staff asked each child at the beginning of the cruise whether or not he or she wanted to be in it.  My grandson didn't even know what a talent show was and he was told at the end that he could not participate because he didn't sign up earlier.  Our family did enjoy the water slide and the pool. All in all it was a decent cruise but not the best.