First Time Cruisers
Carnival Conquest Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
8 Night Southern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 21, 2015
Ship: Carnival Conquest
Cabin type: Oceanview
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
My husband and I enjoyed our first cruise, for the most part. Our cruise was on Carnival Conquest, Feb 21, 2015. Our room, 1385, was awesome. It had a large view of the ocean, nearly at the water level, although we didn't spend a lot of time in the room. Lots of room to put our clothes and cruising stuff. The bed was perfect. I think it was a combination of the softness of the bed and the gentle rocking of the ship. I think I was able to go into a blissful sleep each night. Our room steward 'Putu' was awesome. He was very intuitive, often knowing what we wanted or needed, even before we thought about asking. The shower was small, but had plenty of hot water and pressure.
All the food was great, especially Guy's Burger joint, the endless pizza and the Blue Iguana Cantina. Dinner at 6pm was entertaining, the food plentiful and very tasty. We ate at 'The Point Steakhouse' the first night, an experience I'd recommend for anyone wanting the finest of meals on board the ship. I had an 18oz porterhouse and lobster tail, which we couldn't finish. We also received a free bottle of wine with dinner, as we went the first night of the cruise. All the restaurant staff were terrific, especially the staff in the steakhouse.
The cruise staff, including the CS Director Mike and the Assistant CS Director Stephanie made everyone feel welcome and were not short on giving hugs and 'selfies'. I really enjoyed the Vegas style shows at night, but my husband did not. He would have liked the shows to be more like individual bands or entertainers. The comic's were awesome, especially Dean. I guess my disappointments came from the excursions. Three out of four, were not to my expectations. In Grand Turk, the 'Segway' tour was awesome once we got everyone trained on how to use the machines, but the headsets we were given by the guide didn't work. They cut in and out or were staticky and because of that, they weren't able to tell us anything about the island, the people or their culture. Eventually, I just turned my headset off. Then my husband got very ill and they didn't have a speedy way of getting someone sick back to the ship, so they cut the tour short.
At our next stop in La Romada in the Dominic Republic, the tour guide barely spoke English and again the speaker system they used on the bus we were on cut in and out. We had to tell the guide to speak louder and louder. The tour in the caves was awesome, but after leaving the caves, the guide took us to a shopping center in the middle of a park, where there were flea market type tents, where the people on the island were selling their goods. I didn't care for this shopping center, as I found the people attempting to obtain money, some by begging and others by not leaving us alone.
The third tour in Caracas, involved a bus with no real sound system (again) and it wasn't running right, so the fumes from the exhaust came right into the bus that didn't have windows or air conditioning. Once at the beach, they dropped us off and didn't tell us we had to pay to sit on the lounge chairs and when it was time to leave, the bus had broken down, so we had to walk to where the mini-jeeps were (about 1/2 mile). To be honest, the company did give us a longer ride in the dunes, to make up for the inconvenience though.
We didn't take a Carnival tour in Aruba, but we did take a local tour bus, which had an awesome guide, the bus ran great and the sound system worked!!! I'd go back to Aruba. That was a great Island!! Finally, I would totally recommend 'Faster to the Fun', which we purchased through the excursions. It made getting on and off the ship so much faster and easier. All in all, we enjoyed our first cruise and will be going again. We already booked two cruises on Carnival's newest ship Vista, B2B - Mediterranean & TA, for October 2016. Can't wait for those ports of call!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
I forgot one last tour we took. It was the 'Behind the Scene's' tour. Awesome, awesome, awesome! This was worth the price we paid. We got to see where the crew goes & how they live, how the ship runs, where the food is prepared and met the Captain. This is a must do tour!
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Traveler Photos
