This was our 3rd cruise with Carnival. Our 1st was in 2006 on the Fantasy, 4 nights, Bahamas, which we loved. Our 2nd was in 2010 on the Spirit, 12 nights, Hawaii, also had a great time overall. So, we like Carnival and had high expectations based on our previous experiences. We were somewhat disappointed with The Conquest, but we still had a good time, and we will sail with Carnival again (hoping for a better time on the next ship we try).

Entertainment/activities: mostly good. We liked the adult comedy, and we enjoyed some of the other shows - Marcus Monroe, a juggling comedian, was excellent. The crowd interactive games, like the love game and Hasbro game show, were very entertaining. The "Playlist Productions" shows- Divas & Latin Nights (we didn't see The Brits) were just okay, but not terrible. There was always something we wanted to do--a show, trivia, a movie on lido. No shortage of interesting things to do.

Food: average to disappointing, with a few gems. Dining room food was mostly disappointing, especially the seafood. The shrimp cocktail was the biggest letdown--tasted like the frozen shrimp cocktail I buy from my local grocery...you know the kind that comes in a ring with the frozen sauce in the center? It was awful. Salmon was awful, I was expecting at least "chain restaurant" quality but it didn't live up to that. Highlight was a vegetable lasagna that was surprisingly tasty. Desserts were just OK. Lido buffet food was bad compared to previous cruises. The scrambled eggs looks so bad each day that we didn't even want to try them! Fish and Chips was just OK. Guy's Burgers was very good, Pizza was better than we remembered on previous cruises. Room service and deli sandwiches were good. Read more