Caribbean Cruise Review: The Carnival Conquest

The Carnival Conquest is one of many ships owned by the Carnival line. The cruise in particular I am advising is the 7-day Caribbean cruise; sailing to Montego Bay, Jamaica; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Cozumel, Mexico.

The initial planning and preparation of the cruise did not take long at all- I was going somewhere for graduation and didn't know anything about cruise lines. I did not do much research into them at all. I picked the cruise, booked it and paid my deposit.

After I picked the cruise, I did a little internet searching for some message boards dedicated to cruises. After finding these, I got a few suggestions.

1.) Cruisecritic.com message boards are a wealth of information
2.) Booking excursions through private companies saves tons of money
3.) You can eat a lot of food on a cruise

In all seriousness, the Carnival ship was mediocre from my standpoint. Getting checked in and on the ship was a nightmare, and we ended up standing in line for hours.

I booked a balcony stateroom, but did so with a balcony guarantee. This means that I will get a balcony room, just maybe not where I wanted it. However, it also comes with a cheaper price. Once I arrived in my stateroom, I noticed it was nice and tidy but small. For almost $800US per person, I expected it to be a little larger. We ended up being right next to the door that led to the forward deck of the ship; so at all hours of the night got to hear that door opening and slamming.

Cleanliness left much to be desired on the Conquest. On multiple occasions, I would enter a bar or dining area and the floor would be sticky. This included the very first day we boarded the vessel and I walked into the bar (with luggage) in hte lobby after checking in.