Carnival has cut back

Wife and I boarded the carnival Conquest at Port Everglades on April 18th, 2015. The ship was clean but we could tell right away she had lots of miles on her hull. The carpeting in our cabin was very worn, the bed mattresses' were contoured toward the middle obviously the result of their age and the number of people that have slept on them since the last renovation to the ship. Our cabin steward (Putu) was excellent and kept our cabin as clean as a whistle. His daily towel creations were fun to see. Carnival has eliminated the chocolate candy placed on the bed at turn down. It was a nice touch, sorry to see it gone.

Entertainment by the four different comedians at the adult shows were hilarious, everyone of them. There was also an Asian juggler/comedian (cannot remember his name) in the main theater that was the best entertainment on the cruise. The nightly themed shows with the singers/dancers were mediocre at best. Costumes were blah, singing was off-key, and selection of songs were geared towards teens, not toward the baby boomers that made up the majority of the guests on the cruise.

Dining was another area where we felt Carnival has cut corners. We are not buffet aficionados' so we did not partake of it but did notice the mainstay of the buffet was titled "comfort food". Sort of like a Cracker Barrel at sea. I am sure guests did not pay for a cruise expecting to eat meatloaf, hot dogs, and mac-n-cheese. They did have a theme buffet each night as well. Not sure what types of food were offered there. The main dining room was nicely appointed with our table set-up for eight diners, but there were only four of us each night. Turns out our cabin neighbors were assigned our table so we got to know them over dinner each night. We enjoyed ourselves having such a nice couple to dine with. The food offered nightly was a good variety, but only a flank steak was on the menu. For another $20 you could order a good cut of steak there, or for $35 you could dine at "The point" steakhouse. We paid enough for our cruise already so we ordered from the normal menu each night. The variety was OK, beef, chicken, pork, and vegetarian. Appetizers and soups were varied by night as well. All of the food was good, but nothing to make you feel that the meals were terrific.The servers at dinner were the best, especially Anak. He took great care of us every meal. They did have a brunch on the at sea days so we took advantage of that three times. Limited menu but good food. Fruit was fresh, coffee fresh and hot, and the service was good. Guy's hamburgers were excellent but was only opened a few hours each day, as was the deli, and the fish and chips. There was not any Sushi station on the ship. There was a Pizza bar which was open 24 hours along with the self serve ice cream.

We had a good time, did not go hungry, were treated very well, and enjoyed all of the ports. The ship docked in Grand Turks for @7 hours, but stayed in the other three ports longer. No tender rides as each port had a pier. We would recommend this cruise for relaxation, and rejuvenation.