About us - This was our 11th cruise, all on Carnival. Second time on Conquest - first was in 2005 out of New Orleans, two months before Katrina arrived and Conquest left for Galveston. Sailing were DH and I, both late 40's (last time I'll be able to say that in a review) and our two younger sons, 13 (almost 14) and 10. Our oldest son is at the US Merchant Marine Academy and no longer cruises with us, but given his chosen profession he cruises with us in spirit. This was our fourth President's Week cruise; our kids get the entire week off from school. One year our school district tried to get rid of the President's Week vacation and was met with unbelievable backlash from parents. In upstate New York, we need a week's break from winter!
Preface: The awesome aft balcony - that wasn't
We booked this cruise for the cabin. That's right - not the ship (although we love Conquest), not the ports (been to all of them already) - the cabin. Cabin 8448, to be specific. One of the two deck 8 aft wrap cabins with the largest balconies on the ship. We love balconies and had the comparable cabin on Victory on a Canada cruise in 2008, and we decided we wanted to get that balcony again. When we called our PVP to book a cruise for February 2010, DH asked which ships had that aft wrap cabin available for the week we wanted; Conquest was the only ship with an aft wrap cabin available that fit our schedule. Since we sail with two of our sons, and since 8448 takes only two pax, we also booked 8450 for the boys. The divider doesn't open between the two cabins, but we were fine with that.
7315 is a great location - but being a grand suite, it should be! The suites are very nice - good size, nice balcony, full bathroom.