A fun short cruise
Carnival Conquest Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 9
4 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 29, 2022
Ship: Carnival Conquest
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 7245
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
This cruise was fantastic. 4 nights is too short for a cruise, but if you can only do a short cruise and are looking for a fun one to enjoy, I recommend the Carnival Conquest, especially if John from Trinidad and Tobago is the Cruise Director. He made sure the passengers had a good time at the deck parties and was hilarious at the Love and Marriage show. We sailed out on Monday, August 28 and had a short stop in Key West, Florida and another stop in Cozumel, Mexico, followed by a sea day before returning to Miami on Friday, May 2. Usually, it's just me and my husband cruising, but we invited my mother and sister to join us this time. This was their second cruise but their first time on a Carnival ship, so they compared their experience to the MSC Bellissima, which we all went on three years ago in the Mediterranean. I will say upfront that both are very different cruising styles with very different types of passengers. The Bellissima was brand new when we sailed on her back in 2019, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison and depends on what you prefer. And we all preferred sailing on the Carnival Conquest, and I recommend this cruise to those looking to enjoy themselves.Embarkation
It was a little bumpy as we only had two of the four printed boarding passes with us. The Staff was able to help us out relatively quickly, though, and print out passes for us. Afterwards, there was slight confusion when we were at the vaccine verification step because I had the Verifly info, but my mom and sister were ahead of me in line. I didn't hear if the Staff member had asked if we had used Verifly, and my mom had said no or not. It was no big deal just took a little longer as he had to verify all of our documents. After that, we passed through security quickly and were at the Check-In desk. Now, this took some time as the system was having issues processing my sister's passport (it's a Cayman Islands passport with a US Visa); we ran into this problem too at the airport (it wouldn't scan at the kiosk). Eventually, the staff member (who was also from the Cayman Islands) could process all of us and check us in. After that, we went up the elevator, walked the gangplank and boarded the ship! As you board, you are instructed to go to your muster station to do your muster drill, but we dropped our bags off in our room first, so we didn't have to carry them up and down stairs to our muster station. We then found our muster station, got our cards scanned and watched the instructions on how to put on a life jacket, and that was it. It took less than 5 minutes. I hope we never return to the old method of doing the muster drill.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Compared to the Carnival Panorama, the dining experience was so much better. Unlike the Panorama, the Conquest was maybe at half capacity on our sailing, so the Staff didn't look haggard and overwhelmed and could handle the number of people they had to serve. Food was served on time, and lines didn't take too long at the buffet or Guy's Burger. The BBQ place was upstairs, separated from the rest of the buffet, and basically out of sight, so there was never a line there. The bars weren't packed; you could reach the counters. The buffet was decent, nothing spectacular, but there was a good variety of food and lots to find. Sushi at Sea was disappointing and not worth the added cost. The dining room food was either hit or miss depending on what you got (though overall, it was pretty good, and I was satisfied with the meals). I wish the Staff gave recommendations as they do on Royal Caribbean. The portion sizes were bigger than I expected, so I learned after the first night not to order too much food or I wasn't going to be able to finish it. My husband has tree-nut allergies, so he was able to preorder his dinner for the following evening. However, we weren't always seated in the same area (even though we could see empty tables in that area), so our new servers weren't always aware of his preorder. And on the last dinner in the main dining room, my husband did have a mild allergic reaction. Since it was mild, it was most likely due to cross-contamination.
Onboard Activities
We attended the Art Auction for some free sparkling wine (they had diluted it with juice), and my husband won a painting! It went longer than expected, though, and I think my mom and sister got bored. We also participated in an art scavenger hunt, which was fun. I hope there are similar activities like that on other ships. We also tried trivia, which we were terrible at and on the last sea day, we were going to try mini golf, but it was unfortunately too windy to be on the upper decks.
Entertainment
The Deck Parties were a blast, John knew how to get the crowd going, and I loved watching them dance (I wanted to join them but chickened out). I can't remember the show's name in the theatre, but the lead singers were fantastic, and if you like 80s rock, you will enjoy the music selection. The costuming didn't fit the theme, but I loved the show overall. The Love and Marriage show is always a good time; if you want a laugh, watch it. My husband tried to see the comedy show, but the room was packed and standing room only when he tried to attend. I don't know why Carnival has such small venues for the comedy club it's always FULL.
Service and Staff
The Staff were great, always friendly and smiling, but there needs to be better communication between them regarding passengers with allergies.
Ship Quality
The theme was over the top and I loved it, they said French Renaissance and leaned all the way in. The ship was clean; however, some areas in the stairwells and hallways had a faint sewage smell.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin had so much storage we could unpack our bags and put everything away. The room was clean and in a good location, as our deck wasn't too far from the lido or the panorama. The bed was very comfortable. The only complaint was that there was a constant gurgling sound from the walls behind the toilet, and first thing in the morning, there would always be a long delay after you pressed the flush button. Another time I flushed it, it repeatedly flushed until I pressed the button again. Luckily, it functioned the whole time, and there was no dreaded flooding.
Ship tip
Go to Sea Day Brunch early, we went near opening time and had a less than a 10-minute wait, but when we left the dining room, there were crowds of people waiting at the entrance and on the stairs for their table to be ready.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We were only here for Embarkation and Debarkation as we stayed in Fort Lauderdale for most of our time. If you are picking up a rental car do not use the Avis or Budget location in the downtown area. They were OK for dropping off our car there on Embarkation day but on Debarkation day it took over 2 hours after checking in for a car to become available. Just go straight to the airport location after you get off the ship (and use Alamo or someone else instead).
We were only here for a few hours but it's a great port and we want to return. We did the hop-on-hop-off trolley tour and because of the short time in port we only got off at one stop. The driver and guide were very knowledgeable though and funny and the stop we chose was also wonderful. We got off at the popular Southernmost point and after taking a picture in front of the concrete buoy we went to the Butterfly and Nature Conservancy and saw lots of beautiful and unique butterflies and birds including a pair of flamingos. The gift shop had a lot of cute on-theme items and the prices were reasonable.
I loved it. We booked a third-party semi-private that became a private tour as it was only our group on tour. The ship was in Puerta Maya, and after following the lines of shore excursions to the taxi area, we found someone that directed us to the Taxi line. It cost $8 for the 4 of us to be taken to town. We then walked to Senor Frogs to meet our tour guide Fredy, and he took us on a customized tour around the island. It was raining on and off in some areas of the island, so it was great that we had a bus as we only got rained on once when we were at a Tequila tour and tasting. We also went to a Mayan Bee Sanctuary (added cost) and stopped for lunch in town, and saw Mayan ruin replicas.
Disembarkation
Customs and Immigration processes were quick. I loved the facial recognition. There were no signs for rental car shuttle pick up, and Staff weren't confident with where it was. They sent us to the wrong location at first and then to the almost right location after. We just kept a lookout for the shuttle and luckily spotted it. They need to put signs and shade in the pick-up area because it is HOT and HUMID standing in the sun.