We just arrived home from what was suppose to be our first and most memorible cruise, Carnival Conquest To Jamacia that left 8/31/08. We had the worst time ever. Most of the staff we not friendly, with the exception of our Stewart who did our cabin everyday. Our itinerery got change once we got there, so there was no Jamacia for us, and that was the whole reason we went. Instead we got to go to Progresso Mexico, a very poor and smelly town, it was horrible. Our ports were changed as far as the order and days, so that was a real mess. We went to Grand Cayman Islands arrived a different day than we were suppose to and a different time, so Carnival and Royal Carribean pulled in at the same time, they (Royal Carribean) were expected, we were not, so they were not ready for us and boats to taxi us over to the land. Getting off our ship was horrible too, they shut down the elvators, so you had to take the stairs. I saw people who were in wheel chairs get out of them and we tried to help them down the 6 flights of stairs, that took us well over a hour to go down. I could go on and on. The food was horrible too. I met a couple on there that said this was their 13 cruise and 11th with Carnival and she said it was the worst she had ever been on. She had another one already booked with Carnival for March, but cancelled and was going to see about going with Royal Carribean. If you have never been sea sick, hold on to your hats too, as I missed the first 36 hours of the trip as I was in bed and throwing up the whole time. The medicine you buy does not help, I did not have the patches, as I did not know they were perscription, maybe they would have helped. But to me it was a total waste of about $3000. If you are booked on a cruise right now, I hope you have a balcony room, as if not you have a very tiny room, no window or air if you need it, and trust me when I say, you will need it. Entertainment was corny, food was bad, Soda Fountain Cards that you purchase for $47.50 a card, they do not honor everywhere they tell you they will, real waste of money. Also their Great Vacation Guarantee, what a joke. Because we were both so extremely ill, we asked them if we could disembark in Progresso, our first stop and fly home and they told us NO, not unless we could show them an itinerery. Now why would we have tickets already, when it said on their web site that if at anytime you are not satisfied with your trip, you can disembark at the next port, Carnival will fly you home and refund you any money for the unused portion of your trip. What a Joke, the whole Carnival thing is a jole, don't waste your money, like I am wasting my time telling you all this. It is a complete waste of your time and money, unless you are an alcoholic with a gambling problem, then you might enjoy it.

Just wanted to send a message to let you know that I am sorry that your trip was not what you had anticipated - I know that due to weather your whole trip would have been better and what was planned for you - I have gone on cruises and have and them cancel change the ports but due to this time of the year is not a good time to travel due to the different types of weathr conditions - The one thing I did get out of your comment is that you will cruise again - Once again sorry for your trip that was a week you will remember for a long time.

Nanacruiser

 Sorry about your trip but that's the risk you take when you book during the height of hurricane season. Im sure you would not have enjoyed being shipboard in the midst of the store so Carnival make every attempt to take you into safe waters and changed your port for safety reasons  As for the fountain card, I've never seen $47.50 worth of softdrinks. I can live a week without a carbonated drink.

Next time you cruise....be sure to do it before of after Hurricane season, you have a much better chance of arriving at each port without ducking and dodging storms.

I'm no gambler and even less of a drinker so I suppose I've been fortunate cuz I've never met a cruise I didn't like LOL. For me..the worst cruise beats the best day at work.

Also, you seem to be sensitive to motion so..for you I suggest the "SeaBands" instead of the over the counter products. I've used them each time I've cruised and never once suffered the misery of sea sickness.

Hope you guys enjoy your next cruise. Remember, try the SeaBands, check with your local Pharmacist and they can tell you if they store carries them. I've gotten mine in either Walmart or Walgreens and they run about $7 per pair.  They are wrist bands that use accupressure to prevent motion sickness and they should be worn 24/7 or until you no longer need them.

 Thanks, I appreciate your comments, but unless I miswrote something, I will not ever cruise again, that is how bad my experience was. Maybe it would have been better with another cruise line, I will never know, as I will never chance it again! Good Luck To You!

 Thanks, I apprecaite your advice for the next time, but there will not be a next time for us. We would rather fly to wherever we are going and not be so confined without that much to do. As far as the soft drinks go, if you did not purchase a soft drinks card, each can of soft drink was $2.30 a can, so we thought that the card would be the way to go with that. We did drink probably enough ginger ale to keep the company in business, with as sick as we were. It was a live and learn lesson, one that will not be that quickly forgotten. Good Luck To You!

survivor,

 We have been on two Carnival cruises that encountered weather problems, which we kind of expected, when we booked at the height of the hurricane season in order to save a little money--that's why they are quite a bit cheaper.  A cruise is what you try to make of it.  We are neither alcoholics or people with gambling problems, and we enjoyed both of them, and are already going again in September of 2009.  If we have problems, sobeit, we made the choice to do it. 

Sorry you didn't have the time of your life that you seem to have expected, but perhaps cruising just isn't your bag!

I too just arrived home from this same cruise.  I have to agree with some here.  It is what you make of it.  This was my first cruise so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I had a great time.  I was on vacation!  The entire staff was very friendly with one exception, our room steward.  And really I cannot complain.  Our room was taken care of, my bed was made, and I had fresh towels every day.  And I didn't have to do any of that!  We just never saw hime around.  We also had a free upgrade for some reason and ended up with an oceanview room instead of the interior we had booked - for money reasons.  I knew I wanted to go on vacation and have fun, not sit in my room anyhow.  My girlfriend was sick on day two also from the rocking but we went up and bought her the wrist bands and about ten mins. later all was well again.  And unless I am crazy, Carvinal didn't order up the hurricane.  When we booked in January for this trip we choose to gamble by going during hurrican season, but again, we did it for money reasons.  So as the time got closer we just kept reminding ourselves that we had picked the time.  The food was pretty good really, of course better in the dining room than in the buffet, but isn't it always?  Our waiter was wonderful.  Friendly, funny, and very helpful with the menu.  I don't know how you could cook dinner for 3,000 people and ever make every single person happy.  And I didn't have to cook it!  There were a few hang ups.  Getting off in Grand Cayman was a pain, but I did make it off and had a blast.  Cozumel was great too.  We had picked the  ATV excursion and got to ride 4 wheelers like crazy idiots.  It did rain some, guess I should blame Carnival?  Progresso wasn't so great.  But we headed down to the beach and had a good time.  And I had never been to Progresso before, but now I have!  I would rather they changed our itinerary and kept us safe then headed into Jamaica anyway.  They had just been hit by gustavo...why would we even want to go there?  I had a blast.  I got to hang with family and new friends and laugh.  All of my daily needs were taken care of.  I was not getting up and going to work everyday.  And I neither a gambler or alcoholic, but I came home with good memories.  I will sail again, with Carnival-- Bahamas here I come!!!

I have to agree with Oklahoma Doug, " Carnival is better off without you" As for Jamaica nothing really missed there, however we will be there again in October but just plan on either staying on the ship or maybe going to the Sunset Beach Resort. As for the food it has always been wonderful and exciting to try different items, but I guess it isn't Micky D's. If you got sea sick maybe that is something you should of considered before cruising and ben prepared for it just in case.

We visited Progresso in 2006 and although it was not Cozumel we did an excursion to the Mayan ruins and had a great time. It may not be my first pick but will go back and will enjoy it again.

So glad that you said you will never cruise again that way I know that I will never have you trying to ruin mine or anybody elses cruise.

Conquest here we come again October 5, 2008.

Woo Hoo! Carnival Crazie!! We need to make t-shirts that say that!!

I don't agree with you, all our staff went above and beyond, especially in the dining room

The shows were not corny, I also talked to a lot of people and they were not disappointed.  You can't go to Jamica when its been hit by a Hurricane and all ships change their itenary if its going to be dangrous for passengers.  I had an inside cabin and it was fine. Don't know what elevators you were looking for.  Only the glass elevators were down, it only took us 30 minutes to get thru customs.

I suggest next time you do not go during Hurricane season

Rooms on the Conquest-we have been on there twice and had an Oceanview and Balcony and the rooms were the same size.  For now on we are doing interior rooms to have more money to spend elsewhere and we were hardly ever in the room anyways.

I have read a lot of the blogs about closing Galveston's port, changing itineraries and the weather and it is amazing to me the people who blame Carnival.  Like they have the authority to handle it.  If you look on Royal Carribbean's site (since everyone thinks they are so great) they have the same issues.  And it wasn't that Cayman didn't expect you (because we have been there with several other boats), they might have not been up to speed as Gustav hit them too.  Give me a break, I really think people are just looking for someone else to blame for mistakes they make.

I am sorry you feel this way Survivor.

Carnival changed the ports for your safety. I am not sure if you have had been in the path of a hurricane. Being a South Florida native; I assure you this is something you do not want to do. I am the process of going to sailing on the Triumph next week. Grand Turks have been demaged by Ike; I would understand if we do not make that port.

If I am not mistaken, the reason you wanted to fly home in mexico was because you were sick. Why would Carnival pay for you to fly home? If you did not feel that the infermary could help and that you would be safer home. You should've left on your own expenses.

I do not drink soda; but last cruise my boyfriend got the soda card. He used it everywhere; once in the bar. We were shocked. He ordered rum and coke and when he went to pay; the soda card was attached with the sailing card. The server adjusted the bill to charge him only the rum.  I am not sure if this the norm; he will try next week :)

I am really sorry you have had this kind of experience. I have tried one more company and by far carnival is better. The rooms are the same size; interior, ocean view and balcony. The difference is the view. I have been in all rooms. I have had the same service in all room. EXCELENT!!

Good Luck on your next vacation and I am sorry you had a horrible time. But unfortunately is NOT ALL carnival's fault.

 I am very sorry you had a bad experience. It was our first cruise, and I think you guys were in a different boat. 

We got a  little sick on the first day, but took our medicine and were having a good time very soon.

The staff were friendly and very helpfull.

And the food was great. Like I heard someone said, It beats working!!!

I agree about Progreso and the debarkation problem in Grand Cayman, but besides that we had a great time and we are going again.

We too just took our first cruise on the Conquest 8/31/08.  We understand the hurricane interfered with the itinerary and we lost Jamaica, and I understand the rough waters caused seasickness the first couple of days even with patches and wristbands, that's ok.  But, I agree with Survivor about being dissappointed with the entire cruise for a multitude of reasons.  We already had our expectations of a cruise based on many friends and family members cruising on other Carnival boats as well as Celebrity, Princess, NWC, etc...  Nothing on this cruise ship even compared to the experiences of our friends/family on other rides.  For example, the delicious food was not there, food was on par with a Furr's cafeteria, except for the Point restaurant (30.00 charge) which was outstanding.  Iced tea at the fountains was horrible, pizza was worse than grocery store frozen pizza's, etc...  Waiters and stewards were very friendly, but not up to normal cruise standards, as was stressed to us by several different dissatisfied travelers on our cruise ship, and friends on our arrival back home.  Room service was extremely limited and was just handed to us at the door, no setup in the room, like other cruises.  Every single couple we talked to, told us the same thing, that they've been on many cruises and had never such a bad cruise.  Most recommended Royal Carribean, which seemed to get the Royal treatment at each stop.  Our stops were too short to enjoy.  The Cayman stop was the worst, we had an 11:30 stingray excursion and we were concerned that we weren't arriving until 11:00,  so we asked the Purser and was told do not go down to deboard until 11:00, and that we would have plenty of time,  WRONG  everyone on the boat was wanting off the boat first, extreme safety issue with the crowds, and again a carnival rep told us at 11:45 (still standing in line) that the excursion will not leave without us.  Finally got to shore about 12:15, and was told the excursion was already gone, so a carnival excursion rep changed us to a cheaper alternative excursion.  The excursion was nice, but then had no time to shop at Cayman, because the last tender to the ship was supposed to leave at 5:00.  As far as the entertainment goes, we were prepared for Las Vegas quality shows every night, wrong again, the first show we attended was cranked up so loud, that my wife had to plug her ears through the whole show, to ease the pain, several people got up and left.  The decibel level was so high that it was distorted and overdriven.  The next show we attended was at a better volume, however, quality was not even close to a Las Vegas show or even Branson, Mo.   Another thing, I paid for a balcony stateroom to make the trip a little more special for our anniversary trip, however, every time we went out to use the balcony, our neighbors came out to their balcony to smoke.  Completely ruined having paid double for the balcony,  why not no smoking floors like any hotel???  The clubs and casino are also smokey, so you can't enjoy these.  One couple on the boat told us that Carnival is the Kmart of the cruise world, and that's kinda how we were feeling at the time.  Midway through our trip, we had decided we would never cruise again, but at least 6 different couples on the boat convinced us not to base our opinion of cruising on this particular boat, they were all very dissappointed with this cruise but promised us other cruise lines as well as other older boats within Carnival line was so much better.  I guess if I would've stayed drunk the entire time, the food, and shows, and such might have been a little better.  Anyway, we're gonna try once more to have a great cruise on some Cruise line.