Carnival Triumph Review 10-02-10!

[*jess*]

While watching the sunset I saw this bird in the sky and figured we must be getting close to land, even though we weren't supposed to dock until 7am

 

 

Headed back inside and had some ice cream, I forgot to mention that Ramsey stopped for sushi before we ate dinner and he said it was pretty good, but nothing to write home about.

 

 

We changed into pants, it was kind of chilly outside on deck, and we grabbed some chairs to watch the Bears game. On the fun times it was printed that they weren't going to be able to play the Saints game. There were several unhappy people on board, but what can you do?

 

 

The bartender at the bar mid lido was the best and made us some really great drinks

 

 

I don't remember who won..... I had collected several umbrellas that night. We hung out at the bar for a little bit and then headed to the room where we got....

 

Sandwiches and a fajita wrap!

 

 

For whatever reason I woke up in the middle of the night, looked out the window and saw lights waaaay in the distance, I'm assuming it was Progreso

 

[*jess*]

We were scheduled to dock in Progreso at 7am, did we make it on time? Not a clue.... because we slept in way too late to even get breakfast. Or so we thought..... The main dining room serves breakfast until 9:30 and the main lido until 10:00 I think. So we assumed breakfast was just over completely and grabbed some pizza

 

 

Yes, he puts ketchup on his pizza. He's a weirdo. I thought the pizza was ok, no better than a frozen one but it wasn't bad. But when we were walking back through the lido we noticed that there's a small outside section of buffet area on the lido that serves breakfast until 11:30! I could have had my waffles after all.... darn.... Oh well, onto Progreso!

 

You have to get off the boat on the pier, walk through a shopping area, and at the end of the shopping area you get on a bus and it takes you into the town. They drop you off at a flea market and you make your way from there! We were on a mission today to find Buddy's!

 

View from the boat of the pier and Progreso in the distance

 

 

Shopping area at the pier

 

 

We were docked next to Ecstacy

 

 

Ok so we've made it through the shops and have taken note of things we want to get on the way back (Tequila!) and we're on the street in Progreso! Turn right out of the flea market, left on the first street and we see people from our CC Meet and greet! We stand around and talk for a while, Ramsey gets tips on how to tell if cuban cigars are real so he knows what to buy later and we make plans to meet up for the deck party that night. Everyone says goodbye after a while of talking and pictures and we continue in our search. Turn right at the statue and walk a few minutes and there it is!

 

 

We pretty much hung out here for the day. $1.00 beers with a free shot (I didn't partake in the shots though) and the margaritas were either $2.00 or $3.00. The margaritas might look watered down in this pic, but trust me, they are not

 

[*jess*]

Our awesome bartender

 

 

The staff here were great, everyone was friendly and loud and we loved it. On the way out I introduced myself to Buddy and snapped a pic!

 

 

What to do now? I know! Shop! Tequila!

 

 

We walked down the beach back to the flea market, Ramsey bought cuban cigars, we both picked up some souvenirs, and I got some tequila to bring home.

 

 

 

On the bus ride back, it was standing room only. It was ridiculously crowded...

 

[WISH84]

Jess, quick question... was there something special about Buddy's? We've only been to Progresso once and obviously will be there for the 2nd time on November 1st. Might have to check Buddy's out but I'm curious how you learned about it and what made it an attraction for you.

 

Thanks.

[*jess*]

I read about it on here, he's just a nice guy in a pretty good location with really cheap drinks. You can get service out on the beach or inside the bar.

[cruzelovr]

Fun review, Jess. Was on the Triumph out of New York last September. Cruised up to Boston, Portland, ME, Saint John, NB, and Halifax, NS. Was fun and a beauty of a ship. Your pics bring back memories.

[LHP]

Jess, quick question... was there something special about Buddy's? We've only been to Progresso once and obviously will be there for the 2nd time on November 1st. Might have to check Buddy's out but I'm curious how you learned about it and what made it an attraction for you.

 

Thanks.

 

Buddy's is usually known for their food as well...but several people came back onboard complaining that it was overpriced and not very good.

 

May have just been a bad day....they did not comment on the drinks...just the food.

[Grits53]

Great review, Jess!! I'm glad you found a fun place in Progreso. We missed that. What about those waves in Cozumel?! In 10 visits to Cozumel, I have NEVER seen waves that high there! :eek:

[WISH84]

Buddy's is usually known for their food as well...but several people came back onboard complaining that it was overpriced and not very good.

 

May have just been a bad day....they did not comment on the drinks...just the food.

 

We have found that Le Saint Bonnet is a great place but I had not heard anyone talk about Buddy's until Jess's review. Le Saint Bonnet will give you a free Marg with this coupon: http://www.lesaintbonnet.com/ however I did find that their prices seemed a little "up there" as well but they did get great food reviews.

 

We may try both places just to have a comparison.

 

Thanks for the info

[Tazwella]

I love it! I'll be on the Triumph for the first time Jan. 11, 2011 and I love all the pics and hints. Keep 'em coming!!!!

[SMSACE6]

Loving the review, and thanks for posting the photos. It brings back memories from my cruise on the Triumph. :)

[sanmarcosman]

I've been looking forward to a slice of the white chocolate layer cake on the Spirit in January, what didn't you like about it? Was there another cake at the cafe you preferred?

Thanks!

[MustardMan]

Good review so far! Please continue.....:D

[*jess*]

I've been looking forward to a slice of the white chocolate layer cake on the Spirit in January, what didn't you like about it? Was there another cake at the cafe you preferred?

Thanks!

 

Well it wasn't a layer cake, it was a white chocolate cake with some kind of berry filling and it was put inside a cylinder looking thing that was made of white chocolate. It had kind of a weird texture and I didn't like the taste of the berry filling. Ramsey said it was good, and it was beautiful looking though.

[*jess*]

**Backtracking a little.....**

I remembered what I ordered the first night lol.

For an appetizer we split a fruit cocktail, pretty simple but it was all very fresh. I also had a ceasar salad, which was ok but it did have a little bit of a fishy taste to it. Ramsey liked it, and I didn't hate it but for the rest of the week other things seemed much more appealing to me.

For dinner I ordered the flat iron steak, it came with the most awesome mac n cheese and carrots. But the steak itself was a little tough.

Dessert was chocolate melting cake which was of course awesome.

 

Ok continued!!

 

We got back on board the ship, and we showered and changed and went to the fun shops. They were having a watch sale, but we didn't see anything that really turned our heads so we passed on buying anything. When we were in Progreso and had agreed to meet up for the deck party we agreed on 9pm, it was around 5 so we decided to lay down and relax and we watched some tv and eventually I got around to getting ready for dinner. I said in a previous post but this was our 2 year anniversary (technically the 11th was our anniversary but we were celebrating the entire cruise) and I bought Ramsey a chocolate cake to be delivered to our table at dinner. I got one last year too for our 1 year anniversary and it was delicious! So I figured I couldn't go wrong with that. This is also the night where I got my anniversary present, Diamond earrings! They're beautiful!

 

Ok so while walking around we noticed that it was really choppy and windy. I don't know how well this pic shows it, but we were trying to watch the ocean go by from the deck outside our room and couldn't stand it out there

 

 

We were being blown away.... now granted that is on the very front of the ship, and it was better on the sides and aft of the ship, but still very windy. We started to feel a little motion sickness coming on so we took the wonderful medicine. Ramsey said he felt way better after taking it, for me it made me not nauseous or anything, but didn't help a bit with the motion. I found that standing still made it worse because you noticed just how much you were swaying and for some reason that just made it really bad for me. This is the night where the shampoo bottle kept falling on me while inside the shower, I eventually just left it on the floor. But I thought it was really funny because when we cruised last year the night I was having the cake delivered the water was rough, and this year the night I had the cake delivered the water was rough. Ramsey told me the cake is cursed, but that it's worth it lol.

 

For dinner I had fruit cocktail as an appetizer, and the free range spring chicken sicilian style for dinner. It had green beans and eggplant with it. I don't normally even like eggplant and I cleared my plate, it was awesome.

 

 

by the way, almost all of my food pictures, have bites taken out of them. They would bring it to the table and I'd be so excited and would start eating it before remembering to take a picture.... sometimes I forgot to take pictures at all.... oops!

 

Penne mariscos

 

 

and dessert!

 

 

They brought it out with a candle and sang to us!

[*jess*]

Got back to the room after being totally stuffed at dinner and we had an elephant!

 

 

I took a picture as soon as we walked in the room and I'm really glad I did because right after taking the picture I sat down on the bed to take my shoes off and his head fell off and unraveled..... oops....lol

 

We changed and walked to the deck where they were having the deck party. This is the main reason we LOVED staying on Lido deck, we were so close to EVERYTHING. It never was loud in our room either.

 

YMCA on deck

 

 

It didn't seem like the party lasted long, but there was a band that played for a little while and then the "fun crew" came out and led some dances and then the DJ played some songs. They had the Mexican buffet tonight and we were still stuffed from dinner, but we made room for nachos and a few beers. There were a lot less people than I expected and I assume that it was because the water was so rough. We hung out for a while, and headed back to the room around 11 I think. Honestly, sleeping was kind of hard that night. I kept feeling like I was rolling back and forth on the bed andwhen I got up to walk around I would feel totally off balance. It certainly wasn't great but it won't stop me from booking the same room again in the future. The location and price of it was totally worth it.

 

We were docking in Cozumel at 9am the next morning and with that big open deck right next to our rooms, we wanted to watch. We stuck that room service slip outside our door, we did that every morning actually (except our morning in Progreso) and it was a great wake up call. Being woken up by a soft knock and food is much better than the BONG BONG BONG of a normal alarm clock. But we ate our room service, and got ready, walked out onto the deck just in time! We were docking next to Ecstacy again.

 

Zoomed

 

 

Actual distance

 

 

Getting closer....

 

[*jess*]

 

 

 

Seriously, this deck offered the best view of this docking. It overhangs a little where the bridge is so we were really able to see everything, I enjoyed this so much.

 

 

 

REALLY close....

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs810.snc4/69076_166925763323113_100000170718089_618764_1276105_n.jpg/img]

[*jess*]

This is what I mean by an overhang, I was able to stand here and look straight down the entire side of the ship

 

 

We seemed to tower over Ecstacy

 

 

Almost there....

 

 

tada!

 

 

 

After watching us dock we went to the main dining room for breakfast and made it just in time for this too, we were one of the last tables seated.

[Sargent_Schultz]

This is what I mean by an overhang, I was able to stand here and look straight down the entire side of the ship

 

 

 

I call those wings. You are over the bridge.

[*jess*]

Shot of the London dining room, the Paris dining room is where the breakfast is held. Getting there required a lot of walking up and down stairs and seemed to walk in circles. We only ate there once, it was much easier to walk to the Lido deck and grab food. There was a map showing you how to get to the Paris dining room, but we still wandered around. But the London and Paris dining rooms I think look the same.

 

 

I have to say we did not enjoy breakfast this morning. The food was good, but some of our table mates not so much. For dinner we enjoy it being just the two of us, but for breakfast the hostess asked if we'd like to sit with other people. We said sure so we were sat at a large table with another couple. These 2 people were really nice, we chatted for a little bit but we were still pretty quiet. Then 2 other couples came and sat down that we described as the MTV kids. They were loud and obnoxious and just reminded me of all the high school kids that I want to go slap on the side of the head. They made breakfast absolutely horrible. Once they sat down we were unable to have any kind of a conversation either with eachother or with our other table mates. They were getting mad because their chocolate milk wasn't being refilled when they thought it should be. Seriously people, look around and actually realize how busy these servers are. They have several tables with tons of people to wait on, so if service is a tad slow, so what? It is not THAT big of a deal and that server is not your slave. It just made me SO angry. The food was great, and I thought the service was great. But I just really really didn't enjoy sitting next to them.

 

anyway.... onto Cozumel.

 

The temperature was great, but it was pretty windy, and the water was fairly choppy, but still beautiful!

 

 

 

port area

 

 

We had no plans for today, pretty much just planned on walking around and shopping, maybe grabbing some food. 2 of the people from our meet and greet, which we actually ended up hanging out with a lot, were going to Mr. Sanchos and had invited us to go too, and after walking around for a little bit we decided to go there and try and find them. We're walking around.....

[*jess*]

We really couldn't figure out how to get out of the port area. Last year we did an excursion through the ship and got on a boat right off the pier and headed to a private beach, I knew there were taxis, but didn't know where they were. Maybe we're just directionally stupid..... but we're walking and taking lots of pictures....

 

 

We saw a little alley way looking area and we went that way, there were bathrooms and a dental office (weird!)

 

 

And Ramsey can see that there is stuff beyond the wall....

 

 

and we finally realize that we just haven't been walking far enough. This really only took about 10 minutes, but it seemed like longer. We finally found the taxis.

 

 

There was a big sign saying how much each cab ride was and the price was different depending on how many people were going. There was a guy who spoke very good English that was directing people to cabs and making sure everyone knew the fees. He told us a ride to Mr. Sanchos took around 15 minutes, the cab driver said 9 minutes tops. I asked a hundred times if he was sure we'd be able to get back to the ship on time and he kept saying yes, it was almost 12 by the time we decided to go so I was a little worried! But we got in the cab..... and it was scary. The cab driver was right, it took around 10 minutes. Because he drove 100 miles an hour lol. We passed these people on mopeds/scooters and I thought we were going to run them over, this is the best pic I could get, they're just blurs.

 

 

It was scary, but it was an experience and the cab driver made it fun. Plus the seat belts worked so I figured we were ok.

 

[Name Of The Game]

Love your review and photos!

 

Sounds like you had as much fun on the Triumph as we did!

[*jess*]

We have arrived!

 

 

Free entry into Mr. Sanchos, and the food and drinks weren't bad priced, and all the staff was great. Our friends that had come purchased an all inclusive for $49 or $39 and it included all you could eat and drink, snorkeling, and access to the loungers. If you don't have the all inclusive then you can't use the loungers, next time we'll do the all inclusive because it would definitely be worth it.

 

$9.00 and well worth it....

 

 

It looks calm in this pic.... but the waves were huge.

 

 

We waded into the water for a picture

 

 

And that's all the time I spent in the water lol. I layed out the rest of the day, Ramsey wandered off walking around and playing in the water for a little bit, and we grabbed some nachos a little bit later.

 

 

Once again.... We ate half the plate before I remembered a picture. But they were delicious!

 

[*jess*]

We headed back to the taxi spot outside Mr. Sanchos where there were plenty of taxis waiting, and there was another couple that was waiting for some people to walk by so we could split a cab. It's cheaper per person if you have 4 people than it is if you have 2 people so we shared a cab back. They were on Ecstacy and we just talked about cruising and our kids on the way back. The drive back was a lot more calm and we didn't go near as fast. We walked around the port area some more, looked at dum dum dum!! Engagement rings! However nothing was purchased..... But it was fun anyway. Then headed back to the ship.

 

 

The waves really were crashing into the shore, it was so pretty

 

 

 

After changing we grabbed food (we shared this by the way lol)

 

 

While eating dinner we met up with our friends that we went to Mr. Sanchos to see and we made a plan to meet up for the burlesque show that night (if we were able to stay awake anyway). We watched sail away from our table on Lido deck.

 

We went to the tanzanite jewelry sale in the shops, but we really just went for fun. They had a lot of really pretty things there, and most of it was really well priced too but we weren't really shopping for anything. I liked that no one in the shops was pushy or made you feel like you had to buy something too. We went to the shop where they sell the little souvenirs and the liquor after leaving the jewelry shop and struck up a conversation with the sales guy there. He was telling us about his life and how he enjoys working on the ship, and we were telling him about our lives at home. He gave us a lot of neat little tips about different kinds of alcohol and tips on how to not get seasick. I think we stayed for almost half an hour in there with him. I kept saying over and over the entire cruise about just how friendly everyone was and it kept ringing true over and over. Not one staff member was ever not smiling and being over all friendly, except the one bartender towards the kids the first night. But like I said, I don't blame him for that because of how they were acting lol.

 

We had a really really late dinner. We were trying to do everything we could to not just be sitting down because it made us feel the movement so much, this was another rough night. But we finally decided to get dressed and head to dinner.

 

We split another fruit cocktail and I got the California spring mix with cherry tomatoes with the balsamic dressing. It was tasty, the balsamic was sweet with just a touch of tang. Ramsey ordered the penne tossed in a vodka cream sauce and I ended up wishing I had ordered that, it was delicious. For dinner I had filet mignon and short rib. The filet mignon was a little tough, but still good and the short rib was awesome. For dessert we had melting cake.....

 

Penne

 

 

Filet and short ribs

 

[Name Of The Game]

How was the hotdog? Are they bad now like people are saying?