We had cruised a total of 9 times in the past, on Carnival, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean, so we had a pretty good understanding of the mid-market cruise experience. This trip on Conquest is slightly below average, not terrible, but certainly not one of the top experiences.

Transportation to FLL:

The 6 of us (my parents, my wife and I, and our 2 kids) flew to FLL and stayed at Springhill Suites on Sat. The hotel provided free shuttle pickup from FLL airport, and then free shuttle to the cruise port. (No free pickup from cruise port, so we still had to get a taxi upon return.) I used my Marriott points for the 2 rooms. This hotel was classified by Marriott as Category 7, which was very high and cost me 35,000 points per room. As a comparison, a similar Springhill Suites in a different city may be only 15,000 or 20,000 points. It’s probably due to simple supply-and-demand. I checked the price of the hotel room and it’s only $89 a night, so it might have been a better move to save my points and pay cash for the rooms, but since I earn lots of Marriott points from my business travel, I decided to stick with paying by points. Read more