Triumph - A Quick Review!

We are just back from our 4-day June 16-20 cruise. We had a ball! I would book this ship again in a heart beat. This cruise was the most fun we have had on Carnival in a long time and we are so glad we went. There was some great things going on, and a very few not so great things happening.

Our Cabin: 8433 (aft wrap). I read the reviews and instead of upgrading to a suite we kept this, our originally booked cabin. Wow! Aft-wrap for me from now on! It was (as another CC poster stated) like having your own personal Serenity Deck. Yes, we did hear some chair scraping which was in the morning but no big deal. The only issue was that the cabin is showing wear and tear. The plexiglass looking out to the sea was so nasty dirty (it looked like former cabin guests use that area for a "dip" can). A "balcony cleaning" was scheduled for all starboard side balconies but they did nothing to clean the glass. Only the flooring. Sorry but the glass was gross. From my research on this board I expected the possibility of some soot but did not experience it. The only thing we did experience was each morning we would find a treasure waiting for us on the balcony. The 2nd day we found broken glass, the 3rd day water (or some other liquid) poured onto the balcony from above and on the last day a half smoked cigar butt. Oh well. Some people...

Our cabin steward for this trip was Arjana. What a nice guy and he is very happy to make sure you are happy and taken care of. We were given a card to choose when we wanted service and we choose the evening. You have your choice of AM or PM service or both. We choose PM and the late service worked great for us. We found towel animals along with a clean cabin waiting for us each night.

Dining: We did anytime dining and loved it. Out dining room team consisted of Head Waitress Miraslava and Team Waiter Myo. All I can say about them both is they were TERRIFIC!!! Miraslava and Myo both went out of the way to make sure all were enjoying themselves. They are so hard working and always kept a smile on their faces. And the food? The food on Carnival as of late has been blahh. But on the Triumph? The food was just grand! Everything was great. The only complaint we had was there was no Chef's Table on this voyage. We had booked it and were confirmed way before we sailed but it was cancelled due to "lack of interest".

That was a bit disappointing but frankly our dining team was so great and the food so good that we didn't really miss the Chef's Table all that much. These wonderful folks will take good care of you and Myo knows a few cool table tricks and he is a great dancer as well! "It's Show Time"

Shows and Music: The only show that my wife and I went to was "Towel Animal Theater". It was cute and we bought the "how to make a towel animal book". Fun. We did walk into the Rome Theater and watched 5 minutes of one of the production shows. We did not stay but the music was not canned. It was live. There was also a great band with horns playing on Deck 5 by the casino during the early evening.

Bars: Ah, the bars. This voyage we found ours early and it was the Alchemy Bar! We found it and there we stayed. The team working the bar - Olga, Diana and the great Alex were nothing short of spectacular!! If you want great drinks, good conversation with fellow passengers and a bar team that know how to make a drink - this will be your watering hole for the trip. We did some "time traveling" there and did not even realize that the ship had turned around and headed back to Cozumel due to a medical emergency. Yup, the drinks were that good and that potent. If you are a wine drinker you will be out of luck there but you can visit another bar for that. For a custom martini of all different types - this is the place to go!

We ate at Guy's and the Blue Iguana, as well as the buffet. Had pizza, hot dogs and other junk food delights. We watched Dive-In Movies at the pool. The movies shown consisted of The Intern, Creed, The Martian and one night at Midnight, Deadpool among others. However for Deadpool the weather was kicking up a bit and the sound was a bit hard to hear so it was shown with subtitles.

We did the La Casa en La Playa shore excursion in Cozumel. A very relaxing day with lot's of food and drink. Only wish the weather could have held. Back at the port we went to our beloved Pancho's Backyard for our 18th visit, had a few margaritas and all was right with the world (even if the weather wasn't).

We did FTTF and we started boarding around 11:40 AM. Back in NOLA we left the ship and were out of the port and on I-10 by 8:10 AM - the fastest debark ever!

All in all (and except for 1 or 2 things) a great cruise. This particular cruise had a lot of newbies on board and as you know, a cruise is what you make of it. Go, have fun and leave your troubles for awhile back at home.

So in closing here it is fast - The ships public areas all look great. The pool area is nice but can get a bit crowded. As on any cruise, some of the food is OK and some is great. The cabins realy have a lot of wear and tear on them but the overall ship is very clean. The hard working staff on board are simply grand and really do try hard to please you! IF you want a short getaway out of NOLA this cruise cannot be beat.

If I can answer any questions for anyone - feel free to ask and I will do my best

Mike

Thanks for your review of the Triumph. It is a ship that I have a soft spot for. Sailed on her way way back in 2004, and had a blast, wonderful cruise, and met some friends then, who I am still in contact with.

I do hope some day to do the Casa en la Playa. sounds like my kind of way to pass a port day.:)

Nice report, thanks.

Great review! So glad that you had a great time!

Thanks for the review. The Triumph is a favorite of ours also. Will be back on her in August.

Thanks for writing!

Your the first person who has given me info about what time I might be off the ship with FTTF.

It's also great to have a rec for Anytime Dining staff!

We used a rec on the Conquest last October and she was just great!! Not sure she'll still be on in December but we shall see!

in may we had the extended aft right next to the ops aft wrap.

the glass was not clean.

the 'cleaning' did nothing that I could tell as it was like squirting with a garden hose...

dh found the steward and paid him extra to clean the glass.

we also got gifts from above...ciggy butts, a toenail, and someone managed to hit the balcony with an ice cream cone that spattered mess everywhere and left a big puddle.

some people suck.

whoever got that cabin after us got it much nicer than we did...

Regarding the balcony - At least on this trip there was no up-chuck or other special treats found other then what I mentioned. The thing that really bothered me however was the cigar butt. How many times are guests told NOT to throw anything over as it can fly back into the ship. But I guess that request does not apply to some - especially to the individual smoking his cigar. Hasn't this ship had enough of an issue?

And as long as I am on my soapbox, the other gripe I have regarding some people is during the Muster Drill - And I am just going to say - PAY ATTENTION! Many of us have been on a number of cruises - but still - we really do pay attention to the drill and where to go and what we need to do "just in case". So, please, PUT YOUR %$#& cell phone away as the crew asks you to do. On a recent Elation crews they really put it to the passengers that were acting like jerks at the muster station drill and they MADE them listen or as we were told - we were going to be there for awhile longer then normal. Props to that!

Anyway, it was still a great cruise! In fact, one of the best ever. So I'll get off my soapbox now.

Leaving July 4th for my 10th cruise, 2nd on Triumph

Thanks for the review.

Thank you for taking time to write your review.

Pleased that you had a good cruise.

New to cruising. On the Triumph end of this month. How much would a person spend on avarage on board. Not big drinkers.

Was the aft pool an adult only pool? Thanks.

glad you had a good time

I'm leaving on a Nov. 7th cruise and all ive read are poor reviews of the Triumph. This has me looking forward again.

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Thanks for the review.