Triumph Review, 11/8/10, "Best Vacation Ever"

[wantocruisemore]

Just got off the Triumph this morning. Wished we could have stayed. I think my daughter alternated between saying "this is the best vacation ever" to "my bestbirthday ever". As a little background, we were celebrating my DD's 21st bday. She is disabled and is also diabetic and requires a gluten-free diet. We had a lot of special needs and we went through CCL's special needs ahead of time.

 

I've literally just gotten home so I will write more tomorrow, but I wanted to say how pleased we were with the ship, the very hardworking staff, the food, the service, just everything. Everyone went out of their way to make it special and it was.

 

We also enjoyed meeting fellow CC members at the meet and greet. It was also nice talking to them periodically throughout and getting their views as well.

 

I want to thank everyone for their advice and suggestions. We used them and they helped.

 

Although tired, I'm going to attempt to write some tonight.

 

PRE-CRUISE -

We flew into NOLA on Sat. so we could spend a couple of days seeing New Orleans. We were very pleased with the Quality Suites on St. Charles. The layout was like several different buildings, townhouses etc. The only downside is it has outside entrances. We were pleased with the room. Nice furniture, very clean and well arranged. Breakfast was better than anticipated, they had a waffle machine as well as cheese omelets and little sausages, cereal and juice. One thing really outstanding was the staff. They kept our luggage when we got their early and we caught the St. Charles streetcar right in front of the hotel to go to Canal Street. During our time in New Orleans we went to the Aquarium (nice but I'm also used to NC's at Pineknoll Shores which is very good), did a carriage tour around the city, went shopping at Riverwalk, had coffee and beignets at Cafe du'Monde, lunched at Hard Rock and another day at a seafood place by the water where I had some great Jambalaya. Great Hurricanes too! Walked around and toured. Definitely want to come back went we have more time.

EMBARKATION -

We got to the pier around 11am. It was crowded with long lines. The Special Needs dept. had recommended that we have priority boarding for DD since she does not always react well to large, noisy crowds in echoing places. We were literally handwalked though and only stood in line about 15 min. Once we had our cards we were handwalked again and given Zone 1 boarding but by that time they had just called Zone 2 so we headed to the ship. A few minutes more in line and we were on the ship and on the way to the buffet.

We found the buffet to have good variety and the lines moved quickly. I asked for the head of the area so we could find out what DD could eat. After a few minutes of trying to explain her diet to them, they pointed out what she could have. She was able to eat plenty even with her diet restrictions and her very picky tastes.

We walked around a little and I checked in at the dining room to make sure we had a table for ourselves for early dining. They had us a table just for us over in a perimeter corner just as we requested. I spoke with someone who checked and they did have her diet down and they showed me what would be suitable for her dinner. It was easy since she likes basic meat and vegetables, nothing with alot of sauce or too fancy.

 

More later....

[starstruck05]

looking forward to hearing more!

[goodml]

looking forward to hearing more!

 

Same here! We sale Dec 11. Anxiously waiting for the rest of your review!

[wantocruisemore]

Our room was ready at 1:30pm on schedule. We had rm. 8437, an aft balcony. When we opened the door to the room my DD gasped. We had arranged through bon voyage to have the room decorated for her birthday. It was alot more than we expected. There was a "Happy Birthday" streamer across the window, a large cascade coming from the center of the room, a streamer to each corner on the ceiling and a 2 ft. cascade tree on the vanity with a card and a CCL pen. My husband's bon vaoyage gin was there, a full liter which was larger than we expected. They had put in a small refrigerator for DD's insulin. We went out on the balcony and it was also larger than anticipated. There were 2 chairs and a lounger and a table. The room had the beds pushed together and a sofa. We had ice in the bucket, some goodies in the bathroom. Our steward knocked and said to call him "Superdooper" and he lived up to his name. He asked our names and who had the birthday. From then on he always addressed us by name when he saw us. He promptly produced an ashtray for my husband and went to get a sharps container for DD.

[wantocruisemore]

(I'm sorry but I'm having to break up the posts. My computer keeps deleting parts if I write too much so I will make several posts).

 

We left NOLA about 4:30pm and our luggage arrived as we were pulling out. I missed the sailaway because I was busy putting happy birthday and streamers on the door. We were trying every way possible to make DD's first cruise special.

 

We went to our scheduled meet & greet at the aft pool at 5pm. We wore Mardi Gras beads to identify ourselves. It was great meeting the ones from our roll call. We had around 12, I think. It was also fun seeing everyone throughout the cruise and hearing about their day.

 

We had early dinner at 6pm in the London Dining Rm. I found out later we had the mid dining room because that was Nicoletta's home in the evening. She was in charge of all the special diets and seemed to be right under the Matre 'd in charge. We could not have asked for anything better. She came to our table each evening to plan out DD's menu for the next day. We had our meals in the dining room so we could do this. She explained that with notice the chef could make any dish gluten-free for DD.

[wantocruisemore]

Dinner the first night was very good. Our waitress was very good as well as our other server. She and he were from Indonesia. My husband really liked the Greque Chicken and my Tilapia was very good too. DD got grilled chicken and baked potato which made her very happy. We saw a little of the Welcome Aboard show but we were tired and wanted to go unpack and get settled. When we went back to our room Super had already made it for us. The sofa was made into a single bed which was the perfect size for her. She's only 5 ft. Super had asked if we wanted the sofa made up or a rollaway, but she really liked the sofa. I can see where someone over 5'3" or so might not have enough room. We also had our first towel animal, two swans in the form of a heart. How to Train Your Dragon was showing on the big screen so we watched it for a little while but it was so cold we did not see all. DD loved the big screen and had some popcorn while I went for coffee.

 

Our next day was our first sea day. We ordered coffee, danish, croissants from room service with hot chocolate and a banana for DD. It arrived promptly at our scheduled time. It was really great to stand out on the balcony watching the sunrise, the wake and enjoying coffee.

[wantocruisemore]

We went later and had breakfast in the Paris Dining Room since that was the only one open other than the buffets. Thanks to Nicolleta we simply told the hostess our table number and she had DD's special order written out and it was passed to our waiter. DD's gluten-free pancakes were larger and a little fluffier than what I had heard about. I tried a bite and they were good, along with bacon, hashbrowns and more hot chocolate. I had a good ham and cheese omelet while DH had over easy eggs and bacon. Coffee and juice was good and we could barely waddle out we were so full.

 

On our first sea day it was really too cool and windy to get into bathing suits although I saw that many did. We walked around the ship some more. The layout is a little tough getting used to but would certainly not be a killer deal in the future.

 

We played putt putt and went to the casino and played some slots. By that time it was lunch and everything was set as well for DD. This time they had her a gulten-free pepperoni pizza. It was not the best but I've tasted worse and she seemed to like it. It was so big she couldn't finish it.

[wantocruisemore]

After lunch we walked around some more to try to walk off all our food. Then we headed to a cabin for a nap. After all, it is vacation.

 

We woke up in time to wander around some more and look in all the shops. The prices were not that bad and the Marlboro Ultra Lights were 5 cartons for $117. DH grabbed that and we noticed the liquor prices were really good too.

 

It was Formal Night so we dressed up and had photos done. DD loves to dress up and really enjoyed the people watching. Dinner went smoothly again. We had a glass of wine with our meal each night and the bar hostess would always come over to check what wine we wanted for the night. I found the wine prices to be comparable to any restaurant back home. I think we paid about $6.50 per glass. Meal was good. We all had the prime rib. I'm not that much of a lobster fan but the ones at the table near us said it was very good. The waiters put on a song and dance show every night which DD really got into watching. After dinner we went to the show, this time a tribute to places around the world in keeping with the Cities of the World theme for the ship. We really liked it and I tried my first Chocolate Mocha Getaway and DH tried a Hurricane Wave. Boy were they good. We had brought diet, caffeine free sodas onboard for DD and sometimes we remembered them and sometimes just bought her a diet coke rather than walk back to the room. I had already had a few Funships while DH during the day had concentrated on getting lemonade from the Lido deck just one floor up from our room to mix with his gin. It was really convenient to run up there for anything you needed.

 

Back to our room to another towel animal and Super had once again taken care of everything. It was a really great day but we didn't want to be up too late since we would need to leave early for our excursion to Uxmal the next morning.

[wantocruisemore]

Just a few random observations, some people have mentioned they do not like the glitzy, over the top decor of CCL's ships. I found that the Triumph had some lights everywhere, like the atrium lobby, but for the most part the decorations were more subtle. I liked the artwork in the stairwells which focused on an important landmark in different cities around the world, for example, the Taj Mahal in India etc. The casino was flashy of course, but the rest of the ship had some nice details, such as the metal globes on the ends of the stairway handrails. The Rome theatre had some column details and throughout the ship you could notice little things. DD really liked the mermaid fountains on the Lido. We were always noticing something each day and it was a nice surprise just to see what we could find.

 

I never saw any of the tiredness on the part of the staff that another poster on an earlier cruise had mentioned. Everyone was very hard working, they always smiled and spoke and the ones that served us every day greeted us by name. The entertainment was decent and you could wander around and always find a band or singer you liked. We especially like the pianist Eva who plaed the Grand piano at the World bar. The acoustics up the atrium were really good and there were several times we would go there to check who was playing at the World bar. If it was Eva we would go down, have a drink and enjoy her playing. I think she started to recognize us because she would speak and smile when we saw her a few times.

 

We were never hounded to buy drinks. They would offer but we never found them pushy. The same with the photos. They had various stations set up around the ship where you could get your photos done with different backgrounds. A couple of times if they were free they would offer if you walked by but were never pushy. The photographer in the main dining room came around once each night. We did not have a problem and considered it a great offer for you to get a professional portrait from so many with no sitting fee. We did not end up buying any photos because there was always one of us that did not look our best. But if we had seen one we liked, we would have not hesitated to purchase. The prices did not seem bad compared to what we're used to paying at horse shows.

[tyger]

Enjoying your review. We are going in a couple of weeks. How was the weather in Mexico? Was it smooth sailing?

[bluesjack]

Thanks for the review. I'm taking my first cruise ever and it's on the Triumph in January and you've made it sound like a dream ship. I love the fact that you have said that the crew is so hard working.

 

Quick question about leaving at the end of the trip. I may have cut things too close with my flight home. The ship is supposed to dock at 8 AM. Was it on time? How long did it take to get off? I have a 12:30 flight and I know I'm going to be sweating it but from your review I know the trip itself will be wonderful.

 

Thanks again for posting !

[wantocruisemore]

We awoke to the sunrise and more coffee for our balcony. I got our first view of the duty free shops at Progresso and the extremely long pier you hear about. Our ship arrived just before 7am and we went down to disembark. The Ectasy was just pulling in too. We easily got off and made our way through the duty free shop and as soon as we got out a man was directing to the side for the Carnival excursions.

 

We had booked Uxmal through the ship for several reasons. The cost was a little more than doing it on our own through Autoprogresso but to us it was well worth the difference. We were directed to our line and by 7:15am were sitting on the Uxmal #1 bus. Our guide was Carlos and he was excellent. We pulled away from the port at 7:30am. We saw the busses lined up to take people into town but I think we were one of the first out of there. I had arranged through special needs dept. for them to have a special gluten-free lunch for DD. This did not get conveyed to the guides, but it's as much my fault as anyones. As soon as I told them Carlos came over and the ship had given him one name of someone needing a special diet but it was not DD. I should have reconfirmed with Nicoletta before hand but forgot. But it was all good. I came prepared with rice bars, pre-packaged peanut butter and crackers and she got fruit and banana. It worked out fine. From experience I always travel with extras for her.

 

Carlos gave a great tour. He told us about places we were passing. He also said for $20 we could get our special date made for us in Mayan on a calendar with a booklet. DD wanted this so we pre-ordered. It was ready after the tour just as he promised and we were pleased with this special souvineer.

 

We arrived at the site at about 9:10am and were the second bus there. After a short bathroom break, (the bus did have a restroom), we went on our tour. Uxmal was amazing. DH and I have been to Chichen Itza years ago when you could still climb. Both of us liked Uxmal better. It was not crowded, there were plenty of shaded areas and the ruins were just as good. Carlos showed us around the site. It was interesting to see the excavations still under way. We saw several ignaunas and even a tarantula on one of the steps. We just steered away from them although we did take a several photos of everything. After the tour Carlos gave us an hour and a half free time to either climb, explore on our own or go to the restaurant where we could see a totilla making demonstration. We decided to climb both pyramids that were available for that. We were tired and it was getting hot but we made it up. The view was unbelievable. The climb was also a lot easier than Chichen years ago. My favorite lines that I heard from many people were "you mean we have to walk down?"

[joshchristine100700]

Great review so far! We are sailing on the Triumph for Christmas for the first time with our kids and it's great to hear accounts from other people close to our sailing. Glad you had an amazing vacation

[Dixie24]

Thanks for the review. I hope I will get lucky in December with some warm weather for sea days.

[wantocruisemore]

Thanks for the review. I'm taking my first cruise ever and it's on the Triumph in January and you've made it sound like a dream ship. I love the fact that you have said that the crew is so hard working.

 

Quick question about leaving at the end of the trip. I may have cut things too close with my flight home. The ship is supposed to dock at 8 AM. Was it on time? How long did it take to get off? I have a 12:30 flight and I know I'm going to be sweating it but from your review I know the trip itself will be wonderful.

 

Thanks again for posting !

 

We had docked by the time I got up at 6:30am. They started self-assist at a little early before 7am. They did the self assist by floors from bottom up, calling out several floors at a time. We had some heavy luggage and our flight was at 1:15pm so we did the Zones. We were in Zone 15 and it was called as scheduled at 9am. The line getting into the terminal was a little long. DEFINITELY get a porter at the luggage claim area. The porter short cuts you around the lines and once we got the porter we were through customs and in our cab in 15 min. We got to the airport by 11:15am. Check in was easy. We flew Southwest and as soon as we got into the Mississippi the night before had called our daughter for her to reserve our boarding number online. We ended up in the B group.

 

We had plenty of time to spare. I think you will be fine with a 12:30 flight. If you are worried you can do self assist off or go to guest services and get an earlier zone due to your flight. It was about 40 min. cab ride to the airport and cost $42 for the three of us.

 

Have a great time!!! Wish we were going back!

 

ABSOLUTELY the best vacation ever!!!

[wantocruisemore]

Enjoying your review. We are going in a couple of weeks. How was the weather in Mexico? Was it smooth sailing?

 

Weather in Mexico was great, not too hot. It did get warm at Progresso but we wore shorts and t-shirts. If you do the ruins wear comfortable shoes. We brought extra water but they also gave one on bus too. We didn't use all we had. We did not put on sunscreen or bugspray although I had both with us. I had a little bit of a base tan left but we are really pale and did not burn at all.

 

For Cozumel it was a little overcast, a few sprinkles about 5 min. while at Dolphin Discovery, but mainly sunny and warm. Not too hot. The water in the dolphin enclosure was a little cold but by the time we got to the manatees and then later the sea lions, it seemed warmer. Really seemed like a good time to go. Those that did beach stuff said it was warm enough to swim without being too hot. Again we had sunscreen with us but did not use it. No burns the entire trip.

 

The ride was a little rougher going out of the Miss. river and early in the gulf. We had some minor rocking and we took ginger pills after the first day. I had some minor nausea but I think that may be more to the DOD's than the sea.

[wantocruisemore]

While at Uxmal we ran into a couple from our roll call that had taken the Autoprogresso tour. They said they had not been there long (it was about 11:15am) and they were not with the tour. We had a great time walking around and then headed back to go through a couple of shops, bought a t-shirt and ate our lunch on the ship. By 12:20pm we pulled out and were back at the port where they picked us up by 2pm. We got DD's Mayan calendar with her birthday, tipped Carlos and our driver and went and did some shopping before boarding the ship for our 3:30pm deadline.

 

It was a great day! I'm glad we went with the ship's tour for those little extra conveniences that made traveling with DD easier.

 

We got back on board and DD wanted to relax in the room and watch a movie. She seemed tired so my DH and I went off for a drink and to check out the buffets. I tried the Hong Kong grill and liked by chicken and noodles. DH was going to try the New York deli but the line was too long so he went through the buffet. Our opinion is if you went hungry on this cruise, it was your own fault. There was always plentiful food available and it tasted fine for buffets.

[wantocruisemore]

Dinner the 3rd night was smooth as usual. At one point, may have been the night before, someone came around with bread and was going to give DD a piece of regular bread. Before I could say anything our waitress who was taking orders at another table, pretty much jumped over and said something sharp to him in their native language. He apologized and quickly brought her special gluten-free bread. I was VERY impressed with the wait staff's memory, their efforts to make sure you liked everything and to please you. I think it was this night that my husband did not like his chicken dish very much. Our waitress asked several times if she could bring him something different but he was full. He said his appetizer and dessert was really enough. All my food ranged from good to extremely good. I did not have a bad dish the entire trip. The only time DH did not care for his was that chicken dish. I mainly ordered mahi, or salmon, or shrimp except for the one night with the prime rib. DD loved her flat iron steak and it was juicy and tender. We only had room for one of each and were stuffed when we left. I always had cappuccino and DH coffee after and after the first night they just brought it to us. Service was wonderful.

And for those with diet concerns on the Triumph, Nicoletta is perfect and will take good care of you.

 

They made a special gluten-free dessert for DD every night. She did not like the cherries jubilee one night (does not like cherries) so they brought her some ice cream instead.

 

After walking around some more, playing a little more in the casino (at this point I was still money ahead) and checking out the movie on the big screen and then hanging on the balcony for awhile, we turned in. Another towel animal and looking forward to DD's birthday the next day.

[wantocruisemore]

I did my traditional coffee and croissant/danish on the balcony at sunrise. BTW, thanks for the recommendations for the guava jelly, it was really good. DD had her hot chocolate and banana to get moving and we headed down to breakfast for her pancakes, bacon & hash browns. DH & I tired the eggs benedict and really liked it. We followed the suggestions and got the sauce on the side. It was smoking when it came to us.

 

Afterward we headed back to the cabin to get ready for Cozumel. We docked before 9am on schedule. Super sang happy birthday to DD. We had easy off the ship and headed through the port shops to catch a cab to Chankanaab. We had made our first reservation for 11am for the Royal Swim so as to give us time if the ship was a little late. We easily caught a cab and I looked at my watch and from the time I was in line to get off the ship to the time I arrived at Dolphin Discovery it was only 30 min. Easy as pie! The cab was only $10 for the three of us.

[AWorldCruise4Me]

Enjoying your review! I too have to eat gluten free so it is good to hear some specifics as to what was good. I've never been able to get gluten free pancakes on a cruise so that would be nice. Say Happy Birthday to your DD from me and tell her that I also said "Best Vacation Ever" after my first cruise. :-)

 

Thanks!

Michelle

[wantocruisemore]

Enjoying your review! I too have to eat gluten free so it is good to hear some specifics as to what was good. I've never been able to get gluten free pancakes on a cruise so that would be nice. Say Happy Birthday to your DD from me and tell her that I also said "Best Vacation Ever" after my first cruise. :-)

 

Thanks!

Michelle

 

She has very basic tastes. For breakfast every day she had the gluten-free pancakes, bacon and hash browns. The pancakes were good for gluten-free, better than the frozen we get. Her bacon was like mine and her hash brown rounds tasted the same too. For lunch the gluten-free pizza was a really deep dish pepperoni pizza. It almost looked like a faccocia bread. She liked it but I like a thinner crust anyway. For her other lunch at sea she had a burger with cheese, no bun and fries. She loved the vanilla ice cream with a little chocolate syrup on it.

 

They brought her 2 slices of gluten-free bread every night. It was very crumbly but had a wonderful flavor. I had to always prevent her from gobbling the whole thing at once since it tasted very good. For dinner she mainly liked the basic meat and veggies, such as the prime rib, the flat iron steak and the chicken. She had broccoli but it's not her favorite thing to eat. She loved the baked potatoes and also the red skin potatoes. Nicoletta told us the chef could make any dish on the menu gluten-free. The chef also made a special gluten-free dessert every night. DD's favorite was the gluten-free warm chocolate melting cake.

 

I could not have asked for anything better. At the lunch buffet on the day we got on the chef pointed to the basic chicken, fish and roast beef and the veggies on the salad bar. DD does not like dressing anyway but they always brought her a gluten-free balsamic just in case. For an appetizer DD usually just got salad since she is so picky. I had heard the gluten-free pasta is very good but I could not get her to order it.

 

This cruise has sold me that this is the best way for DD to vacation outside the country. We could not have been more pleased at the way they handled everything. I really wish our upcoming Med cruise was with Carnival but the others in the party (3 families cruise) want to go out of Rome and Carnival does not.

[AWorldCruise4Me]

Thanks for all the details! I would also have loved to try the gluten free pizza since I've not gotten that on a cruise ship either and I love a thick crust. It sounds like Carnival has alot of gluten free options.

 

Sounds like you have a 'trip of a lifetime' coming up with your med. cruise out of Rome. Take alot of prepackaged gluten free foods. I had heard Italy was pretty easy for gluten free but found that wasn't really the case. If you can locate a few restaurants ahead of time you will be better off than trying to find something while there. Also if you pick a gluten free friendly hotel they can often direct you. You will also need the prepackaged food for your European shore excursions. The options while on the ships tours are either non-existent or very limited.

 

Cheers!

Michelle

[Naomi John]

 

If so she is a wonderful person. She was our tour guide for the "Behind the Fun" in April on Triumph. Sounds like she has moved up on the ship.

[wantocruisemore]

Thanks for all the details! I would also have loved to try the gluten free pizza since I've not gotten that on a cruise ship either and I love a thick crust. It sounds like Carnival has alot of gluten free options.

 

Sounds like you have a 'trip of a lifetime' coming up with your med. cruise out of Rome. Take alot of prepackaged gluten free foods. I had heard Italy was pretty easy for gluten free but found that wasn't really the case. If you can locate a few restaurants ahead of time you will be better off than trying to find something while there. Also if you pick a gluten free friendly hotel they can often direct you. You will also need the prepackaged food for your European shore excursions. The options while on the ships tours are either non-existent or very limited.

 

Cheers!

Michelle

 

Thanks for the Med advice Michelle! We are actually leaning to renting an apartment in Rome for the pre-cruise. That should make it easier for breakfast and pre-packing lunches for DD. We travel alot East coast and down to Florida but this was DD's first trip out of the country. We're going to arrange private tours, likely Rome in Limo or similar for any of our all day things. They told me they have a list of restaurants and groceries with gluten-free options. I will likely have to have one suitcase dedicated to her gluten-free and diabetic needs.

 

The Med cruise/trip is something we have been trying to put together for awhile. DH's mom has never been to Europe. All of us have except my two DD's. I traveled alot as a teen and young adult. I want my daughters to do the same, although my college DD has been to South America a couple of time. But for this trip, I am the only one that has been to the majority of the places. We just didn't want to wait til we retire to take DD places.

 

For my recent cruise, I did a lot of planning ahead and talked several times with Special Needs. They were always great. My only additional advice is to make sure you double check and touch base with your gluten-free hostess and the shore excursion desk to make sure any ship excursions will have something for you if you go that route. I did not double check but had taken enough pre-packaged with me. I do know that our guide had one name given to him and he had a salad and fruit for him.

 

Oh, one other thing, I found a great site that is titled about gluten-free in Italy. I can't find the link right now but it has phrases in every language you may need that you can run off and give to someone at a restaurant. We did that in Cozumel and it worked. If I can find the link I will post it. I've already run off my cards for Italy, Greece and Turkey and have them in my trip folder. We're also letting the private shore excursion providers we're using about the gluten-free as well.

[wantocruisemore]

 

If so she is a wonderful person. She was our tour guide for the "Behind the Fun" in April on Triumph. Sounds like she has moved up on the ship.

 

That does look alot like her. She wore her hair up and she is from Romania. Very bubbly and efficient, an absolute gem.