ksromack

Following along. Missouri here and if you are watching the news we, along with Texas and Florida have increased cases.  It is shameful and clearly people are going maskless without benefit of vaccination.  To be clear, it is the southern portion of our state where the bulk of the cases are originating.  Hubby and I work in medical labs and we perform Covid testing in addition to all other laboratory tests. I work at a cancer care center so I wear masks indoors because I would never want to be carrying the delta variant and give it to our patients who as you can imagine are quite immuno-compromised.  St Louis is back to mask mandates indoors with some legal debate over that.

The reason I am following so closely is we are anticipating a cruise this December out of Long Beach. First day of cruise will be our 20th anniversary at the end of the month. I feel the rules are in a constant flux. We are completely vaccinated since mid January so as of now no Covid testing required, right? What about the return? If required will sites for testing be open upon return Mexico?

I really enjoy reading about the food :) We are seriously thinking about the Sunshine (literally and figuratively).....I have heard great things about the Sunshine since it's been re-done. Is there a serenity deck?

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Hello there, fellow St Louisian! I remember Friday the 13th well! We actually just got back yesterday from a 4 night on the Triumph and we only had ONE day of sun and that was in port in Cozumel. I suppose that is the risk of traveling this time of year. Sadly I'm just as pale as I was a week ago ;)

Enjoying your review.

I'm so glad I found this detailed review of the Triumph. We set sail in less than a week and I feel so much more comfortable with the layout of the ship now. Thank you again for such a great review.

The prime rib sure looked good (on your last dinner in the dining room)....was it good? I will find it very difficult to request more than one entree (namely because there is NO way I could eat more than one) but I worry if I really don't like one if it would take too long to prepare another? I'm guessing that is why people order more than one to start with.....and I also have a difficult time not cleaning my plate. These things are permanently etched in my head, I'm afraid....wasting food. I'd probably be thinner if I did, though!

Day 4/Progreso

 

I failed to mentioned that I discovered the Blue Iguana on day 2 (don't eat here, the burritos and Arepas are fully responsible for my weight gain, they are fabulous!)

Duly noted! I guess it was a blessing in disguise that I had a nasty 3 week cold virus....I lost about 5 pounds with that virus....and I'm saving the bounce-back for the Blue Iguana!

We had planned to attend the late comedy show but hubby got a little nauseous so we headed to the lido for some fresh air and then headed on to bed. I've never felt this much motion on a ship, pretty much in all locations. It was quite interesting at times.

Ugh! I'm very concerned about this motion for my hubby! Of course, I will be bringing Dramamine, it's his first cruise!

How was the weather in Cozumel? It looks like the whole hemisphere had a cool down while you were on your trip.....right now it looks to be rebounding so I hope it isn't as cold while we are there, esp in NOLA. And I desperately want to enjoy our balcony on the ship!

You need a digital copy of the photo, that shows the date and ship, embarkation was what I was told is the best.

 

Any how, go to Carnival Website, log in. then click on manage, then VIFP.

 

From there on the left hand side look for Claim Past Cruises. click on that.

 

Scroll down in the list if you dont see it, and pick Request past cruise.

 

fill in the info then hit submit. From there I send an email to customer care with the photo, pretty sure they sent me an email first requesting it.. been a few years since I added one though.

Thank you! I'm working on getting a few of my old pictures now!

Where did you send it? Did you do it under your VIFP and report it as a missing credit or do you have an email? I emailed them a while back and they told me I could get credit with a photo. Finally found the 36 year old photo and don't know where to send it.

 

Thank you

I would be interested in this info too! This was fun reading through this thread. My first cruise was on the Mardi Gras (or gosh, it could have been the Carnivale). End of May, 1986....it was a three or four night cruise and I'm pretty sure it wasn't sailing out of Port Everglades......it was either Ft Lauderdale or Miami and it was definitely to Freeport and Nassau. I just messaged my old college roommate, whom I'm sure has photos!

I will do my best to get pics and fun times posted by then!

We sail out on the 26th so I'm very excited to read your report. This is hubby's first cruise but my 4th...it's been 35 years for me, though, so it feels like my first 😎

Hey guys! I'm going to make my first attempt at a review. If anyone can tell me how to post photos, I'll attempt to post those at the end.

 

A little backstory...my hubby gave me this cruise as our late honeymoon in 2015, and we originally booked the Fascination out of Jacksonville. He had never cruised, I have been on 2 previously. We had to cancel and lost the $50/person but our travel insurance reimbursed us for that. I now strongly suggest everyone get insurance. It was worth it for us! We ended up rebooking the Triumph room 9232, our first Lido room and our first interior. I did receive an upsell call the day before to take a deck 10 balcony for $150 total, but we didn't take it. I know it was a good deal but previously I just didn't use the balcony so it just wasnt for us.

 

We left the day before and drove through icy roads for about half of the 6 hour drive. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Metarie. It was a pretty nice hotel with breakfast included at a decent price. We ate dinner at Copelands in Kenner and it was delicious! Next up, day 1...

Day 1/All aboard!

 

We had planned to explore the French Quarter pre cruise but it was still FREEZING so we picked up some pralines and went to Cafe du Monde and just went on to the terminal. We had chosen a 10:30 check in time. We were about 10 minutes early but they let us on through with no problem. Check in was super quick and simple. The staggered check in seems to be working well. We were given boarding zone 4. We waited about 45 minutes and were onboard by 11:45. For those looking at FTTF, they boarded about 15 minutes ahead of us. For us, it really wouldn't have been worth it just to go straight to the room, but I can see where it may be worth it if you have little ones or can't get an early check in. We went straight to Guys and got a burger. It was good, but not great. Maybe this was because it was so cold and they had premade a lot of the burgers to keep up with demand on this day. DH went back during the week, I did not. We explored a bit and our rooms were ready. We were in 9232 and our steward, I Wayan, was great. Let me say I was a bit anxious after reading many reviews of stewards on the Triumph refusing the twice a day service. We don't really require twice a day, but I wouldn't like being told they can't when they are still supposed to. Turns out I worried for nothing! I Wayan brought over the card, introduced himself and showed us the card while he filled it out for us. It definitely still gives the option of both and he did tell us this. We chose evening only and he refilled our ice bucket each night. We saw him several times each day and really liked him. Then, of course, was the safety briefing. It actually went fairly quick, and would've been even quicker had one "gentleman" not loudly complained the entire time (there's always one I guess). We saw him multiple times through the week and he was ALWAYS complaining. I guess it's really what you make it

 

We got our luggage around 5:45, unpacked, and headed to anytime dining. We were sat quickly at a table for 2 with Jonathan (also Anthony and Ed). We ended up requesting them each night. We always went between 6-6:30 and never waited at all. We will definitely do anytime dining from now on. We had Jess from the US as a cruise director and really liked her as well. I've only been on 2 cruises previously but I never saw or remembered our cruise directors. Jess was very visible, we saw her all over the ship, and always smiling and energetic. That was pretty much it for day 1. Next up...day 2 Sea Day

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I was able to get 5-$100 from Verizon and 3-$100 from AARP! Thanks for posting!!

http://www.aarp.org/rewards-for-good/

If you don't have a log in, start at step 1. Step 3 is where you'll find the cards. I think it's got cards, then travel

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I was lucky enough to get some from both sites. I don't know how long AARP takes because this is the first time I've ordered from them. The last time I got Verizon ones, it only took about 4 or 5 days at most.

I hope the AARP site delivers that quick....I'd like to have it for our cruise in 2 weeks. If not, we'll, we'll just have to book another!

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Thanks for the heads up....does anyone know how fast the AARP site delivers?

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What a wonderful anniversary celebration for you! We are sailing on the Triumph in 15 days! I will enjoy reading any reports you may post!

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2 weeks from tomorrow!!! I haven't enjoyed a cruise for 25 years and this will be my hubby's first.....a 50th birthday surprise!

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I do not see a current thread showing when Carnival gift cards are available on Verizon. I keep checking Verizon and keep missing them and I have a cruise to pay for haha :D. Can we start a current thread and have people post when they see them available? I am not a member of AARP and wonder if it's worth the fee to join to get gift cards there? If you don't start out being able to get them, does anyone know how long it takes to build up enough points to purchase them?

 

Thanks for any help!

Where on the AARP website can you purchase gift cards? I'm not seeing it...also. are the cards discounted at all? I've been throwing away all of my AARP applications because I'm in denial but if I can save some money.....

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Would be helpful to share a link to your bag. Others may also like to know about a good lite weight bag also.

 

 

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http://www.ebags.com/product/delsey/helium-titanium-25-spinner-trolley/283247?lastSearchTerm=delsey+helium+titanium+25"+spinner+trolley&pl=hdr_srch_as_l1

The description at the eBags website says it's 10 lb but I just weighed my almost empty bag and it was 8 lb. We literally used two fingers pushing it through the streets of Strasbourg.

We recently purchased an extremely light suitcase with amazing spinner wheels and it is 27 " high but only 18" wide and 11" deep. It will easily fit through the scanner at the cruise port.. We are usually carryon people only but are seriously considering bringing just this suitcase and a tote bag. If we have FTTF on our Carnival ship would the elevators be less busy? We've never had FTTF before so I'm not familiar with crowd levels and honestly it has been 25 years since I've cruised!

Yes, but you will need to call Carnival if you booked direct or your TA if you used one. There's no option online once you've already booked.

Thank you! I booked online so I will be calling Carnival.

My husband and I are embarking on the Triumph as a surpise for his birthday at the end of this month. I did not prepay gratuities but regret that decision now. I have looked all over the Carnival website and haven't been able to find an answer to my question.

Can I prepay gratuities now, before we set sail?

Thanks for any insight!

I am happy to see your trip report here because I'm about ready to book a cruise on the Triumph for the end of the month..... as a surprise for my hubby's 50th b-day. Hubby has never been on a cruise before and while this will be my 4th cruise, I haven't saimed in over 25 years!

My first post and it seemed appropriate that this is the thread I post in! I did some research and tried to figure out what ship my first cruise was on. I'm stumped! It was Memorial weeked, May 1986, I think. Carnival cruise line, 4 night cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas. Festivale? Help!

Did it get me hooked on cruising? Yes! I did my second cruise in Nov 1988 on Chandris cruise line aboard the Galileo. 7 night cruise out of Miami to Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel.

Sadly my last cruise was April 1990 on Carnival's Tropicale? Or maybe Jubilee? Cruised out of San Juan Puerto Rico for 7 nights to the southern Caribbean. That was a great cruise which resulted in my first child ;)

Fast forward 24 years later and I'm finally planning my 4th cruise (and my present husband's FIRST). Kids are grown and I can afford nice vacations again. We are planning on a spring 2015 European cruise!