Carnival Cruise Lines
Carnival Conquest Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

Connie Frantz
Age: 47
Occupation: Administrative Manager
Number of Cruises: 2
Sailing Date: December 31st, 2006

This was our second cruise. Our group consisted of myself and my husband, my best friend and her fiancée, and my best friend’s brother and his wife. My husband and I hadn’t gotten around to taking a honeymoon when we married in September 2005 so this was our honeymoon, along with the occasion of my best friend getting married on the Cayman Islands.

We flew into Galveston from Dallas on Saturday night and stayed at the San Luis Resort. Very beautiful hotel – we were a little frustrated because it took them three tries to get our room right. I do commend the hotel management for trying so hard. We’re really not picky – we just wanted what we had asked for when we booked the room. We used Galveston Limousine for transportation from Hobby to the hotel – great service.

On Sunday morning, we arrived at the pier at 10:00 a.m. Our bags were immediately taken by a very friendly porter and we were led upstairs within a few minutes. By 12:30, we were on the Lido Deck, sipping the drink of the day and enjoying the lunch buffet. It was quite chilly upstairs and we were ready to get going and get closer to the Caribbean. We were in our stateroom by 2:30, and unpacked by 3:00. We were in Empress #7445, corner aft stateroom with a large balcony. Great room – loved the balcony.

We had second seating (8:00 p.m.) in the Monet dining room. Dinner was very nice each night. The food was good – not phenomenal, but good. I will have to say that the service was a little different from what we experienced on our first cruise. Conversation with our server was almost nonexistent. I saw that he was very busy with other tables. I was just disappointed because we had really built up this part for our friends who had never cruised before. Each night, we had to wait 10-15 minutes for our drink orders to be taken. I missed the fun conversation we had with our server last time.

Our group participated in a lot of the onboard activities (Hairy Chest Contest, Mardi Gras celebration) and we went to the evening shows. We really enjoyed all of it. The cruise director (Mark Price) was great – I wish I had his energy. He really knows how to work a crowd.

Our shore excursions were fun. We did the Sandals resort in Montego Bay and the Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel. We did not book a shore excursion in Cayman because of our friend’s wedding so our day was planned our by the wedding coordinator (who did a great job).

As I said, this is our second cruise and we’re already planning another one for May, probably back to the Eastern Caribbean. I’ve read hundreds of cruise reviews over the last few months because I wanted to be prepared for everything this time. I have to say that as I’ve read some of the reviews, I laughed out loud at some, and I was horrified at others.

We are not complainers and we’re very easy to please. We work hard and just enjoy any time off – we make our own good time no matter where we go. But of course this review would not be complete without at least one complaint. I’m not even sure where it should be directed. We knew going during the holidays that there would be a lot of children. Well, there were over 1,000 kids. I’ve already raised my two daughters and they’re adults now. But if my daughters ever behaved the way I saw some of these children behave on this ship, I would have been humiliated. I was shocked at the apathy that some of these parents showed as their children ran all over the ship and consistently disobeyed and ignored their parents and any other adults. I was also shocked at the young teenagers I saw in Henri’s Disco smoking and drinking and the young children I saw running through the casino sticking their fingers in the slot machines trying to find coins. Who’s to blame – Carnival? The parents? I cast much of the blame on the parents – where were they as their children were behaving so obnoxiously? And I do feel that Carnival has a duty to enforce the drinking age and the gambling age on the ship. We did learn our lesson – our next cruise will be in early May, when all those sweet angels are still in school.

All in all, we love Carnival Cruises and will continue to sail with them.

 

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