Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to board the Carnival Conquest in Port Everglades (Ft Lauderdale).
While I was touring the vessel I took the opportunity to photograph the ship for CruiseInd. This review will cover the public areas. Due to a delay in boarding at Port Everglades, I was unable to photograph any cabins. All Carnival ship’s have a theme and some are more subtle than others. The Conquest’s theme is art, specifically French. In fact, there’s quite a lot of French influence all throughout and I’ll be pointing them out throughout our tour.
The ship was originally home ported in New Orleans so the French theme fits. The Conquest is the first ship built as part of the Conquest class of ship’s which is an evolution of the Destiny-class of vessel.
Obligatory elevator lobby photo
Obligatory stairway photo
Obligatory stairway landing photo
Obligatory cabin hallway photo
The bottom-most deck normally accessed by the public contains only cabins. There’s both inside and outside cabins with windows and portholes on this deck.
Deck 02 also contains only cabins.
Deck 03 is where the public areas start. It’s also where you enter the ship when first boarding.
There’s a promenade on either side of the deck, but it’s not connected in the bow or stern. It’s usually pretty quiet out here during sea days. At the very front of the deck is the ship’s main theater, the Taulouse-Loutrec main lounge.
Just past the entrance to the lounge are the guest services areas. On the port side is the shore excursion desk and on the starboard is the pursers desk. Immediately aft of those is the bottom floor of the Artists lobby. Direct above that is the Studio atrium.
This is also where you enter the ship when you first board. Hence the huge gathering of guests.
Walking through the lobby there’s a small corridor with the art gallery on the starboard side.
At the end of the hallway is one of the two main dining rooms, Renoir.
At the very aft end of deck 03 is the second dining room. Deck 03 is one of those split decks that Carnival ship’s have. That means you can’t walk all the way from the front to back, as the galley sits in between the two dining rooms. If you click on the deck plan you’ll understand what I mean.
Before entering the aft dining room, the Conquest-class of ship’s have this neat mini-atrium. On the Conquest it’s called the Sunflower.
At the end of the atrium is the second dining room called Monet.
Can you spot the Eiffel Towers?
Deck 04 is slightly narrower as this is where the lifeboats are. On this class of ship, they are recessed inboard and adjacent to it is the boarding area. During normal ops, this area is only used during the muster drill.
At the very front of Deck 04 is the start of the second level of the main theater.
Exiting the theater, you walk down stairs, and past the forward elevators, you enter the second deck of the main atrium.
At the far end of the atrium is the ship’s library.
Adjacent to the library is the photo gallery.
Adjacent to the library is the Circle C club for 12-14 year olds.
Hidden between the library and the photo gallery is the second entrance to the top level of the Renoir dining room.
On the far side of the dining room you can enter a stairwell. Through that is a narrow corridor that takes you to the conference room.
Through that is Alfred’s bar and lounge. There’s also a humidor there for cigars as well.
Through Alfred’s is the second level of the Sunflower atrium.
Walking through Sunflower you reach the second level of the Monet dining room. The windows on the far side overlook the ship’s wake.
At the very front of deck 05 is the top level of the main theater. You mainly access the top level though the stairs on Deck 04. At the very front I found the ship’s plaques. These commemorate every time she calls upon a port for the very first time.
Just past this is the start of the Fun Shops. These are the duty free boutiques onboard.
Aft of the shops is the top floor of the main atrium. Although it continues to the very top of the vessel, this is the highest floor where you can walk around it.
Surrounding the atrium on the port side is the EA Sports Bar.
On the starboard side, towards the back of the atrium, is the Cherry on Top candy store.
As you exit the atrium towards the starboard side, you immediately enter the Impressionist Boulevard. This is the ship’s main promenade. At the main entrance to it, the casino sort of spills out into it.
Heading aft on the promenade you pass a small desk that had the sign up area for Carnival’s credit card and future cruises. Adjacent to that is the onboard internet cafe.
Right next to that is Cafe Fans. The specialty coffee bar onboard.
Right next to that is the entrance to Club O2. The ship’s club room for teens.
Walking through that and to the left, is the ship’s arcade.
Exiting the arcade, you’re back on the Impressionist Boulevard. Located towards the end is the red-carpet entrance to the ship’s nightclub Henri’s.
We’re now reaching the end of the promenade. This is where the Alchemy bar is located. This is quickly becoming a staple onboard all Carnival ships.
Exiting the promenade you enter the top level of the Sunflower. On the port side is Blues piano bar.
The Conquest’s Blues bar is located on the starboard side off the Sunflower.
At the very end of the sunflower and continuing all the way to the end of the deck is the Degas aft lounge. This serves as the alternate lounge onboard the ship.
Deck 6 contains cabins. It’s the first level where the outside cabins have balconies.
Deck 7 also contains cabins. The midship ones are all suites. Deck 06 and 07 also feature a fairly quiet open deck at the front. You have a fantastic view over the bow looking straight ahead.
Deck 8 is also all cabins. At the front is the bridge and officer cabins.