This is my husband's and my second Carnival Cruise and our 2 kids, age 9 and 16, first cruise. Our first cruise was in 2004 aboard the Ecstasy. That was fun and the Conquest definitely kicked it up a notch. This cruise was sold out and we booked last minute so got expensive and bottom of the boat (literally) cabins. I was definitely concerned about this prior to boarding but luckily my worries melted away as we sailed away; the lower interior cabins weren't any different from the upper decks and as a matter of fact are now my fav as not any traffic down there. The ship's architechs get two enthusiastic thumbs up for designing a ship that didn't feel crowded even while holding 3k plus people.

EMBARKATION: It can be a breeze, as it was for us (arrive between 10am-11am, drop off ALL luggage and everyone in party except a driver to go park car, park car and driver take shuttle back to drop off point, give luggage to porters and make sure they're tagged, have ALL of your documents ready to board and then go to the Lido Deck and start the 1st of many rounds of too much eating!): OR, arrive late, be disorganized, get mad at everyone else because you're disorganized and finally get on the ship with a sour attitude and start off your trip on the wrong foot. **take a carry on bag with you of all your med's, swimsuit, maybe reading material and your clothes/shoes for the first nights dinner as your luggage may not arrive prior to your seating**

We checked our floor and our room was cleaned and ready by about 1:30pm. We settled in there, met our Steward Igor (he was great), read our Carnival Capers and began exploring. The mandatory muster to learn how we can save ourselves and others in the event of an emergency wasn't too long and the staff was more than patient with some of the folk that weren't taking it seriously enough. Read more