BACKGROUND - This is my third cruise in as many years. My previous cruises were Carnival Liberty (September 2013) and Carnival Valor (September 2014). In general, I've been very pleased with Carnival and the previous two ships.

SHIP INFO: Carnival Conquest - After sailing on a Fun 2.0 ship (Liberty) in 2013 and then Valor in 2014 (not a Fun 2.0 ship), I was very excited about getting back on an updated ship. The ship seems to be very well maintained. There are always people tackling painting and cleaning projects while we were in port. I'm not a fan of the decor on any of these ships, they just try to hard and go to far. They could benefit from a bit of editing. Less is more.

A huge disappointment was the lack of a "Serenity" area on the Conquest. Since Valor had one, we assumed the 2.0 Conquest would as well. The area where "Serenity" exists on other ships was largely unadorned. Just deck chairs. The space was begging for some TLC. The lesson here is when reviewing cruise destinations and ships, be sure to double-check your "must have" and "would like to have" list. Read more