| Overview
Carnival Conquest is the first in a new series of mega-ships. At 110,000 tons, it's actually not all that much larger than the Destiny Class (which weighs in at 101,000 tons) but it is every bit as much -- and the folks that work here will tell you this -- a "city at sea." Mostly that's a definite plus because the more space -- the more options. Carnival's put the extra
space to good use, mainly toward expanding its kids' facilities and dining choices. There were few lines (though if you plan to embark during peak times plan to wait in various lines for 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours; later arrivals -- after 3 p.m. -- swanned on through the boarding process with no waits at all). Security, by the way, was extremely vigilant. The promenade deck gets a little clogged during formal night (combination of captain's cocktail party and loads of photo stations). Otherwise, you'd never know
there were 3,000-plus other travelers sharing the ship.
The ship is decorated in an Impressionist theme but don't let that most gracious of art eras confuse you into thinking Carnival's-going-PBS. Think instead of elegant Impressionism crossed with Paris' psychedelic
Moulin-Rouge -- lots of crazy colors and patterns and shapes -- with some nutty post Impressionism thrown in for good measure. Many of the public rooms evoke art masters (and are named for them) such as Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Manet and others. The murals copying the works of the great masters are wonderfully fun and scattered all over the ship, everywhere from elevator ceilings to the atrium.
Carnival Conquest is a great match with New Orleans, one of America's heartiest-party cities. The onboard atmosphere, with its large ship feeling, lots of playful passengers in all age groups, excellent entertainment and really aims to celebrate playtime. For adults as well as kids.
Cabins
Carnival Conquest has the usual range of staterooms. It's got a 60 percent outside rate and the decor inside is rather calm and somewhat upscale. They
range from inside (windowless) to penthouse suites. There's a balcony category that's called "extended balcony" -- we couldn't discern a difference between that and the regular verandah staterooms. There is a
"new" type of cabin on this ship, a "family stateroom" and what's interesting is that these, located on the spa deck, feature floor-to-ceiling windows (no balcony) offering fabulous views.
Verandahs in the balcony staterooms are outfitted with wood-colored plastic furniture (table, straight chair, adjustable chair) and have an interesting "privacy guard" that extends just over the railing on each side.
The bathrooms are comfortable enough, certainly functional. Only suites have tubs. Carnivalhas introduced an amenity basket in its bathrooms, filled with disposable razors, deodorant, breath mints, toothpaste and soap. These are not refilled through the course of the cruise. Showers are outfitted with shampoo and shower gel dispensers -- bring your own.
Storage space is more than generous. There are three full-length closets -- one has fold down shelves -- plus a number of drawers and cabinet spaces.
All cabins have an interactive television with pay per view movies ($8.99) and an otherwise desultory selection of "free" movies and way-too-many infomercial-style "featurettes" on Carnival. Occasionally the satellite pulled in the regular television networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC. There was no CNN
or other news channel. Cabins are outfitted with mini-bars; ours was stocked with everything from splits of Korbel brut to Stolichnaya vodka to m&ms. All
cabins also have bathrobes.
Two notes: Sounds travel quite easily through cabin doors so light sleepers may want to position themselves as far away as possible from elevator banks.
And a number of passengers on deck 8, under the main pool area, complained that late-night and early-morning scrapings of chairs and tables overhead
was very disturbing.
Family
New for the Conquest-class is an expanded game room and teen area on Deck 12 that serves as a second promenade for teenagers. Decorated to resemble the back alleys of the infamous Montmartre district of 19th-century Paris, the room sports brick walls with peeling stucco decorated with rock concert posters and graffiti, building facades and wood fences. The facilities for teens include a dance floor, video wall, lounge, soft-drink bar and the latest state-of-the-art video games.
Camp Carnival continues to evolve and the Conquest is introducing new elements to the line's EduCruise program. In particular, there are science and geography educational components that focus on the cultures of the islands the ship visits.
Camp Carnival has daily activities for several age groups. Two-to-five year olds can spend "a day at the
farm," make magnets, build sundaes and make sand art pictures. Particular afternoons during the itinerary are devoted to "family fun" and encourage
parental involvement. Same goes for the six-to-eight year old group which participates in similar activities though geared to their particular
demographic (for instance, there's even a "homework help" activity). Nine-to-12 year old kids have their own club and have group dinners and talent shows and family-oriented events.
This facility, beyond its multiplex of video screens, computer center and PlayStation 2 area, also has an outdoor wading pool and jungle jim. There is, of course, the traditional Carnival water slide.
Probably the most exciting addition is the "Action Alley" teen recreation area. Part is a huge video arcade and, adjacent, is the Montmartre club, where a bar dispenses smoothies and sodas and a jukebox cranks out tunes for dancing.
Babysitting is available from 10 p.m. - 3 a.m.. and costs $6 per hour for the first child in a family and $4 per hour for any additional siblings. Strollers can be rented for $6 per day or $25 for the cruise's duration. Conquest offers a "Fountain Fun Card." Dining
One of Carnival Conquest's greatest strengths is the sheer variety of dining options. Starting with the "usual" main dining room scenario, Conquest has
two double-tiered rooms (Monet and Renoir) to handle formal dinner duty. Of the two, Monet, which lies aft and has windows with views on three sides, is the more appealing (especially during daytime). Renoir, right off the atrium, is more centrally located. Conquest staggers dining times for dinner; choices are 5:45 p.m., 6:15 p.m., 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. That system
works really well -- and ties in fairly seamlessly with each evening's main entertainment "event." Breakfast and dinner are open seating and are held in
the Monet dining room.
Carnival has not traditionally been noted for its food but there's been a vast improvement. The menus in the dining rooms were interesting -- quail was one surprise -- and the cuisine was very well prepared. Meat orderers should be sure to specify "doneness" level if they don't want beef, lamb, etc. well-done. Service was top-notch, very "what can we do?" and waitstaff didn't bat an eyelash if you wanted to order an extra lobster or substitute lamb chops for the salad course. The maitre'd in the Monet dining room
seemed more present than most; toward the end of one evening he sang 'O Sole Mio," congratulated, by name, all the room's anniversary celebrants, and was generally quite eager-to-please.
Beyond the dining room is where even more choices come in and here's where you need a cruise of at least a week to try them all out. Lunchtime there are a myriad of options on the pool deck. There's a lido buffet, naturally, which here is called Restaurant Cezanne. There are numerous coffee, iced tea and lemonade stations as well as self-serve ice cream and frozen yogurt machines. Cezanne is two decks high and there were, on our trip, plenty of stations and empty tables even at "rush hour." There's also a grill station
with everything from hamburgers to garden burgers (and fabulous fries) and an Asian station, where the offerings changed daily. One "hidden" treasure
was Sur Mer, a seafood station, tucked away on the
otherwise-off-the-beaten-track second tier of Restaurant Cezanne. While fried seafood like fish-n-chips and calamari fritters are staples (the
oysters are delicious; also try the housemade potato chips), there are also much lighter seafood options; the bouillabaisse was divine as was the cerviche and the raw tuna. Rounding out the pool deck options is a 24-hour pizza station with a variety of types and styles and a deli.
Evenings, most of the grill stations close down (save for the deli and the pizza stand) but the Restaurant Cezanne transforms itself into a casual dinner eatery called Seaview Bistro.
Conquest borrows the alternative restaurant concept from its Spirit-class siblings. Here, and this another too-well-kept secret, it's called The Point and it's a fabulous experience. The cover charge is $25 per person and, in return, passengers get a Carnival take on Ruth's Chris -- with incredible service, delicious food and a sommelier who manages a genuinely intriguing
Point-only wine list with a great selection of by-the-glass as well as bottles. The Point's manager told us that its offering of a Chateau Lafite Rothschild on the by-the-glass list -- priced at $50 and that's per glass -- was offered in response to a customer comment card but he admitted no one has ordered it yet. There are more, ahem, value-priced options as well. There's a chanteuse-type singer and live pianist, and candle-like torches on the tables. The menu is simple but awesome, from a misnamed "New England" style crabcake (that was pretty darn close to the classic Maryland fare) to South African lobster tail. The Point, like the other Carnival "supper clubs," features stone crabs from the famous Miami haunt Joe's Stone Crab but other choices include a 24 oz. porterhouse steak, lamb chops and filet mignon. At the end, passengers are presented with a complimentary after-dinner drink -- Absolut citron, champagne, lime sorbet and milk -- that's almost a dessert in itself. The experience is worth every penny.
A couple of miscellaneous notes. On the promenade deck, all day and into late evening, is Cafe Patisserie, which serves specialty coffees and sweets
ranging from banana splits to chocolate covered strawberries. There's a charge. At night, a Japanese sushi bar opens on the promenade deck; there's
no charge to sample the offerings. The ship offers 24-hour room service, ranging from basic continental-style breakfast fare to a variety of sandwiches and desserts. All dining room menus and stations feature at least one vegetarian entree per menu. It is recommended that passengers tip a buck-or-two for room service.
Dress Code
Suggested attire for a one week cruise is two "formal" evenings. Most men opt for jackets and ties but a large number wear tuxedos. "Resort casual" is suggested for the rest of the evenings.
Fellow Passengers
A broad crisscross of (mostly) middle America; according to Carnival, 30% of its passengers are under 35, 40% are between 35-55 and 30% are over 55.
Entertainment
Always a Carnival strength, Conquest's offerings, from the Vegas-style revue in Toulouse-Lautrec to the classical pianist in the lobby's "Artist Bar" aim
toward the "something for everyone" menu. It seems as if there's always something happening -- whether it's a country musician outside the casino to the Caribbean band on pool deck to big band sounds in the Degas lounge.
Activities tend toward the usual: art auctions, karaoke, "game show mania," ballroom dancing, comedians, bingo, bingo, bingo. The cruise director
offered, on sea days, daily talks, and he was so funny he even managed to make "sponsored shopping" entertaining.
This is a ship that definitely gets revved-up as the night wears on. Highlights include midnight buffets (one of the few cruise lines to still offer them), R-rated comedy acts, and frenetic dancing at Henri's disco.
The Polynesian world of post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin is re-created in the Tahiti Casino. Beams and columns of bamboo and wood, and cast thatch ceiling panels impart the feeling of a Tahitian village with colorful jungle-motif fabrics and rich wood tones add to the ambiance.
Gauguin's Bar, the Conquest's sports bar, carries on the Tahitian theme from the adjacent casino, but incorporates more wall murals of Gauguin's paintings. Henri's Dance Club takes its theme from the exotic jungle paintings of Henri Rousseau. Muted reds, golds and greens dominate the fabrics and window treatments, while the carpet is a colorful, cartoon-like pattern of animals peeking from behind bright-green leaves of grass.
Fitness and Recreation
For a ship this contemporary -- and this large -- the spa and fitness facility is a conundrum. It has all the atmosphere of a 1970s YMCA: low ceilings and thinner-than-tissue walls between treatment rooms. New here is a stand-alone boutique selling all manner of Steiner beauty and fitness products.
The fitness facility is, oddly enough, accessible only via mens' and womens' locker rooms so you must wend your way through narrow corridors, then a locker room filled with people, then another narrow corridor, to come out into the fitness part of the operation. There seemed at most times to be plenty of weight machines, a whole area devoted to spin cycling(extra fee for classes), and a workout area for aerobics and yoga. Men and women share access to the in-spa whirlpool -- which is actually kind of neat, set into a glassed-in nook that overlooks the workout room with a sort of Tahiti-theme with a rock wall that's supposed to have a waterfall (it was broken on our cruise). There are
two whirlpools -- one's huge and one's normal sized.
Men and women have their own dedicated sauna and steam rooms. A notable newcomer to this spa is a couples' massage room, the first in the Carnival fleet. Also unusual to Carnival is a dry float bed which is used in body wraps.
The Steiner-operated spa offers the usual treatments. Interesting note: at this facility there is a day-of-embarkation special that results in a 15 percent discount if you book your treatment for the cruise's first night. Also, beware: there were quite long lines of people waiting to make appointments the first two days. Our advice is to head to the spa as soon as possible after embarkation and make your choices then.
As with most Steiner spas, some fitness classes are free of charge while others, notably yoga and spin classes, have a $10 fee attached.
The pool deck is pretty expansive and it seems as if there's room for everyone. Multi-tiered, there was some chair-saving but not too much; partly, because you have to sign out your towels and are responsible for returning them or are charged $22, people weren't too cavalier about leaving them around. There are two pools and three larger-than-usual whirlpools.
Just beyond the Cezanne Restaurant is the ship's covered pool, plus another two expansive whirlpools.
Above, there's a jogging track, a half-sized basketball court and a volleyball net. There's also a golf center where an onboard pro will help analyze your swing and, when in port, sets up golf outings to island courses.
Gratuity
Conquest guidelines suggest $9.75 per guest per day, which breaks down to $3.50 for cabin steward, $5.50 for dining team and .75 for "alternate dining
service."
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