We never book shore excursions through a cruise line, but because the complexity of the Belize tender situation, we made an exception.  The tender ride to shore is 15+ minutes and we knew that there would be a long wait to get space on a tender.  We had planned to scuba dive independently but abandoned that idea once I saw the logistics required to get to the better dive sites (tender to shore, taxi to airport, fly to barrier quay, get to dive shop, dive, and repeat in reverse, hoping to catch the last tender back to the ship).  We ended up booking the 8:00 a.m. Land Rover tour online at the suggestion of a friend who had done it.  After we got on board, the tour desk notified us that they moved us to the 10:00 tour, which ran late to boot.  After the excursion, which was OK sans the 45+ minute bus ride, we arrived back at port from our tour at 4 p.m., which was the scheduled time for the last tender. There were literally 1,000 people still in line waiting to get back to the Conquest, and we had to wait 1.25 hours to get on a tender.  Bottom line, Belize was VERY dirty (trash everywhere), run down and Carnival totally botched the logistics of using tenders. Not worth getting off the ship in my opinion.

Belize City

We did an independent scuba diving and beach day at Bananarama.  Even though the beach was small and crowded, the dive master, Mal, was excellent, as was the diving.

Roatan

Scuba diving with Careyitos Advanced Divers.  We've used them many times in the past 15+ years.  Also stopped at Paradise Beach, less than 10 minutes and a $7 cab ride from the Carnival port.  Private pool, private beach and a restaurant (all very clean) for $2/person.  Very nice facility run by nice people.  Would not have wanted to go into town when we were there...6 ships in port that day, including the Oasis and the Crown Princess.  I figured 25,000 passengers and crew descended on Cozumel that day.

Cozumel

On a par with Belize...dirty and run down and another Carnival logistical failure. The ship docks on a pier that's several miles from shore.  Carnival provides free bus service, but we were in port that day with the Magic.  That's about 6,500 passengers, many of whom wanted to go into town.  Do the math: a few 30-40 passenger buses doing 15+ minute round trips and several thousand passengers to ferry.  The result, another long, slow line.  After waiting 1/2 hour with a way to go before getting on a bus, we booked a 3-hour taxi tour for $100 cash for 4 to the Dzibilchaltun ruins (taxis at the docking area would only book tours, not just take you into town).  That gave us 2 hours at the site after the 1/2 hour ride each way (entirely skipping the Carnival bus in both directions).  We booked a private guide for an hour for $30, and the guide did a nice job of explaining the site and the Mayan history to our kids.  Dzibilchaltun is a good site for kids because they allow climbing on/in the ruins.  We also enjoyed swimming in the Cenote.  Wear your suit under your clothes because there's nowhere to change next to the Cenote, and take a towel.

Progreso

On the Conquest, you have a choice of 220 sqft in the cabin with no balcony, or if you want a balcony, they carve the space out of the 220 sqft box.  Unless you really use the balcony, you'll enjoy the extra space in the cabin, especially with four passengers sharing the space.  Being on Deck 1 midship was nice.  Close to gangways, so no waiting for elevators or climbing stairs to get on/off the ship at ports, and close to the main lobby areas.  No noise from above or below, but plenty from the hallway and some from the adjoining room (through connecting door).

However, even they recognized that Carnival is sub-par.The food was sometimes cold when it finally got to our table, and even when it was hot, it was usually sub-par.

Carnival Conquest Review

Carnival Conquest = Roadside Holiday Inn +Denny's Restaurant

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