Spent 7 nights on the Carnival Conquest out of New Orleans. It was not my first Carnival Cruise. Conquest was a nice ship, but also not my favorite Carnival ship. I have a soft spot for the Holiday (retired) but I liked the Carnival Triumph (also taken out of New Orleans in 2011) better than the Conquest.
The embarkation and debarkation from Port of New Orleans is terrific. No problems there! No problems with the Conquest either...not really. We found some really friendly cruise employees--and we found those who were not so friendly. Our cabin steward (all cabin stewards on Carnival are great) was very friendly. Edward, bartender at the Sun Pool bar, was VERY friendly.
We bought into the "CHEERS" program (which on the website makes it sound like drinks are unlimited but they are NOT---they are limited to 15 per day--sounds like a lot but they WILL cut you off after 15!) Overall, we did OK with the program, though I would normally drink beer but in the program drank a lot of Grey Goose vodka and other higher-end drinks.. The worst part was that soft drinks were purported to be unlimited with the Cheers program but a casino bartender acted like he was doing me a favor when, after hitting 15, I asked for a Diet Coke. I got it but he acted like I should know better. The aforementioned Edward told me that casino bartender-guy was wrong. I heard someone else grumble about the casino bartenders not wanting to give him a Diet Coke after he hit his 15.
8418--room size was good--love the balcony.. BUT the room was NOT quiet. Very near the elevator "bing bing bing" and across the hall from the stewards closet? Lots of early vacuuming, doors slamming, etc...not my most restful cruise for sure!