The Conquest was the largest ship I've been on to date. Despite it's size, I got small ship personalized service and watched the crew work tirelessly to keep it clean. Overall, I would highly recommend this cruise. Here are the details of my experiences on board the Conquest.

Pre-Cruise: Before our cruise we stayed at the Hilton Riverside hotel which is walking distance to the pier. The $99 "cruise special" included 7 days of free parking and the hotel was connected to the Riverside mall. The beignets at Cafe Dumonde in the mall were excellent. I would also highly recommend the famous "Mother's" for breakfast or a fantastic poor boy. "Mother's" is walking distance from the Hilton. So is Mulate's which has live cajun music and great food.

Embarkation: The process of boarding the ship was very quick and only took about 35 minutes from the pier to the inside of the ship. My big complaint is the terrible traffic problem at the pier where it took us an hour to only go a few blocks. Read more