Carnival Conquest Caribbean Cruise

I went on a Carnival Conquest cruise from February 1st thru the 9th. It was fun! Cruises are the cheapest, least stressful way of traveling. For around $100/per person per day, you get a room, transportation, food, entertainment, and the use of all the facilities on the ship. On today's ships, that includes all the amenities of a resort. It's great if you want to visit a bunch of places in a short amount of time. It isn't good if you want to spend multiple days at a single location. I like it because I love wandering around to different places, never spending too much time in one place.

This cruise left from Galveston and we went to Monterrey Bay, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico. I did not enjoy Monterrey that much. It was pretty, but very underdeveloped and the people there were very aggressive in trying to get you to buy something. Cayman was much nicer and more developed. The weather there was surprisingly cool for being so far south. I needed a light jacket most of the time. If it was warmer, I would have gone snorkeling.

Cozumel was by far the best port. It's the most beautiful as the clarity of the water is amazing. The city is clean, people are friendly, and everyone speaks English unlike Monterrey. There are plenty of things to do and see and US dollars are readily accepted.

Carnival is the most budget of all the cruise lines. Everything was decent, the entertainment was good, but I felt the food on the Norwegian Dawn I went on was much better. They had more choices of restaurants and more flexible dining hours. But Carnival does know how to run a great deck party. Check out the video below:

Overall, it was a good deal for the money. Leaving from Galveston meant that I didn't have to fly and it was easy to go on a whim. I got a balcony cabin for $800 per person. You can get this cruise for as low as $500 or $600 if you get an interior cabin in the off season. It's a great, relatively inexpensive way to spend a week.