Triumph solo review 3-24 to 3-28

[maxbroadway]

Fair warning: Because one of the questions I had when thinking about cruising solo was how I would spend my time, I will be pretty detailed about times in this review.

 

I really needed a vacation and when my first couple of non-cruise choices fell through, I started checking the Carnival web site regularly in hopes of snagging a bargain. The first week of March this particular 4-day itinerary out of New Orleans dropped to $269 pp, and I grabbed it. I think it may have dropped slightly lower for a day or two, but I got it pretty much at the bottom. I did an inside guarantee cabin and had my assignment, room 8298 on Verandah deck, about 4 days after booking. Even paying double to go solo, I thought this was a good rate.

 

I did this same intinerary on the Ecstasy out of Galveston back in August. That was my first cruise ever, and I really enjoyed it (Read the review). Part of me hated to repeat the same itinerary when there are so many places I haven't been, but I decided a different ship and New Orleans would make this trip different enough. Plus, the price was right.

 

I flew into New Orleans the day before and stayed at the Drury Inn. It was economical and conveniently located. It's not right near anything, but it's a short distance from both the French Quarter and Warehouse District. It turned out I was getting over a cold and really needed to rest, so I didn't do much in New Orleans. Just a short walk down Poydras to Mother's for a po-boy, and I was back in the room.

 

Thursday morning I had a leisurely breakfast, got packed, and asked the front desk person to call me a cab. I left the hotel about 10:45 and was dropped off right at 11:00. By 11:20 I had my zone 7 card and was happily waiting for boarding that was expected to start at 11:30. It turns out there was a delay emptying the ship, so boarding didn't start until about 12:40. By that time the terminal was quite full. They did weddings, then VIP, and started calling zones 2 or 3 at a time. I was called just after 1:00. The line on the gangway was long but moving steadily, and I made it to the Sail and Sign picture machine about 1:20. They stopped calling zones for about 20 minutes after mine apparently to let the ship catch up. As we were walking to the gangway, I could see that the check-in lines were much longer than when I checked-in. I don't know if they slowed down on purpose because of the late start to boarding or if they always get that long. I don't think it really took me that long to check-in, but it felt like it took about twice as long as it should considering everything is done online in advance.

 

It truly is amazing how the stress starts to melt away when you set foot on the ship. I was especially tense from having been sick, plus having to fly which is a pain, and on top of that my dryer broke Tuesday night when I was doing the laundry in order to pack.

 

Rooms were ready by the time I boarded, but I was starving so my first destination was the Lido to find some lunch. More about that and the first set of pictures coming shortly...

[LBumb]

great start

[PAPERBKWRITER]

??? that post wasted a lot of space.

[maxbroadway]

Here are some pictures from my first walk around the ship. First up is the Capitol Atrium which is where you embark on deck 3.

 

In this view the only major area of the ship behind me is the Rome Lounge which is the main area for shows and bingo. The Fun Shops, Photo Gallery, and Library surround the atrium on decks 4 and 5. Straight ahead on decks 3 and 4 is the London dining room. Straight ahead on deck 5 is the Promenade.

 

As you proceed toward the Promenade if you skirt to the right, you'll find the Olympic Bar which has multiple TVs for watching sports. It was a nice venue especially since the NCAA basketball tournament was under way, but I found it pretty smoky most of the time.

 

 

Here's the Promenade with Club Monaco casino on the right. There's a stage along the left hand side where they had live music regularly along with trivia and occasional Karaoke. This is also the location of the World Bar and Sushi.

 

 

Past the World Bar is the Vienna Cafe where they have specialty coffee and ice cream. There's another spot for music here where they would have jazz in the afternoon. Just past the Cafe is the Hollywood Disco.

 

 

At the end of the Promenade is the California Wine Bar followed by Club Rio (no picture) and Venezia (no picture).

 

 

Club Rio hosted the Punchliner Comedy Club on the second and fourth nights of the cruise with Karaoke the third night. Karaoke was in Venezia the other nights. This set up was quite different than the Ecstasy where Karaoke seemed to get much higher priority than comedy.

 

If you go down a floor from this end of the Promenade, you find the Oxford Bar. They had live music here nightly as well. Some nights latin, other nights island. The Internet Cafe is along one side of the Oxford Bar in the rear.

 

 

Facing the Oxford Bar, the top level of the Paris dining room is right behind me. You can only access it from the aft elevators/stairs.

[mom2monkiesx3]

Hey you were on my cruise, great start and nice pictures :) HAHA Nevermind I am naturally blonde...you were there after me ;)

[luv2cruzfrmtx]

Loving the review and pics.....I'll be on her in October and these are the bes pics I've seen so far.

 

Keep'em coming!!!:)

[ticka1]

great review.

[gapearl]

I just took my 3rd solo cruise a month ago. I'm looking forward to reading more about yours! Keep it coming.

[Lovharvey]

I took my first solo cruise in Feb on the Ecstasy. There is a group that is thinking about the Triumph next April. It was nice to see what the ship looks like. The pictures are great. Waiting for more to see how you enjoyed your solo cruise. I had a really good time on the one that I took. I wasn't sure about since my late husband and I always cruised together.

[Raven Days]

I cant wait to see more...I will be on her in October.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

More, More, More, Please!!!!

[whendoweleave?]

Was my first balcony and longer cruise (7 days) so she holds a special place in my heart! I totally could do a solo, but don't know if hubby would ever understand that. He's not so into cruises, so I wouldn't mind doing one with my cousin or just myself. Just love to cruise! :D

 

Loving your review! :)

[maxbroadway]

I headed to the Lido for lunch intending to hit the NY Deli, but I couldn't find it. I ended up grabbing a burger from the grill at the aft pool. The burger is my typical lunch because I find the buffet fare too heavy for lunch especially since I had the early dinner seating. Plus, the lines were always shorter when I wanted to eat, and you can bypass the main buffet line and still grab a salad. The burger can be a bit greasy, but you can always just let it drain a bit onto the plate.

 

 

Some people refer to this as the adult pool, but I don't think Carnival labels it that way. This cruise didn't have a ton of young kids anyway even though it was Spring Break. I attribute this to the Thursday-Monday timeframe which would mean kids would still miss some school even with Spring Break. This picture is taken from the side, but if you're at the back facing forward here, the grill is on the right and the pizza counter is on the left. This is the pool with the retractable roof that can be closed in case of rain. It was closed a couple of nights during my cruise. One thing that I like about this pool area is that at least some of the deck chairs are in the shade at just about every point in the day.

 

After lunch I headed to my cabin. My small bag with my breathing machine had already been delivered along with someone else's suitcase. I alerted Guest Services, and it was eventually taken away. Cabin pictures will be coming as soon as I get them edited. Stay tuned ...

[Cruisin Christi]

Nice review!

[maxbroadway]

Here's my cabin (8298). It was officially labeled as Forward, but it might as well have been mid-ship. It turned out to be a great location. I was worried about noise being right below the Lido, but I never heard a peep.

 

 

Along the right wall are the closets and the standard "desk" unit and stool. No chair or sofa, but I never needed one. One nice thing about going solo is that closet space is never a problem. I don't imagine two people in this cabin would have a problem either even on a 7-day cruise. I was glad to see the power outlet right near the bed (it's above my watch in the picture) because I guessed it would be there and didn't bring an extension cord for my breathing machine.

 

 

Around the corner on the left is this small table and storage unit. It held the life jackets but still had room for my smaller bag. The safe was in the closet nearest the door. It was the kind that requires a card with a magnetic strip. I really prefer the type that allows you to punch in a code, but dealing with the card wasn't too big an inconvenience since I anticipated this and brought an extra one along.

 

 

Here's the best picture I could get of the bathroom. The hairdryer is mounted on the wall. It never got super hot, but it was adequate. You can't see it in the picture, but on the wall opposite the hairdryer there is a nice medicine cabinet. Unless you really bring a ton of stuff, it should be fine and eliminate the need for the shoe organizer so many people talk about bringing.

 

 

There was a "meet your ship" tour at 2:30, so I headed up to the Rome Lounge. I did this same tour on the Ecstasy and liked it. Even though I had walked around and found most everything myself, I like meeting some of the staff and getting their explanation of everything. Unfortunately, I was the only one who showed up so we didn't do the tour. I imagine they would have done it just for me if I had acted like I wanted them to, but I just said upfront that I didn't. We just visited a few minutes, and I asked where the NY Deli was since I couldn't find it before. I asked what I shouldn't miss, and they recommended the stand-up comedy and the Big Easy show.

 

Muster Drill was coming up at 3:30, so I just relaxed in the room until then. It went off more or less on schedule, and I was back in the room just after 4. My suitcase had arrived, so I quickly unpacked before heading up on deck for sail-away. Those pictures coming up next...

[Securityman]

Great review.

[jchristie]

great so far - keep it coming! Your pictures are wonderful.... me and my family are going on her in May and we are soooo excited!

[maxbroadway]

Here's a shot looking aft from Deck 11 just before we sailed. Our departure was delayed until about 5:00 due to traffic on the river.

 

 

As you look aft toward the big screen, the grill is on the left hand side, and a buffet line is on the right. This buffet line had "express breakfast" every morning and a different cuisine each day at lunch. One day was Italian, another was Cajun, and the last day was American (fried chicken). I can't remember what the other day was, but the theme is listed in the Fun Times each day. Entering the South Beach Club (i.e. the buffet) on the left hand side takes you past the Asian noodle station. Entering on the right hand side takes you past the NY Deli. The NY Deli doubles as the omelet station during breakfast.

 

Here are some miscellaneous shots I took as we pulled away and headed down river.

 

The foot of Canal Street. The Riverwalk Mall is to the left and the Aquarium is to the right.

 

 

 

 

The Mississippi River portion of the cruise added a lot to the experience. In Galveston you hit the open ocean about 30 minutes after pulling away from the dock, but from New Orleans it's 7 or 8 hours, and the river is beautiful. I almost wish they could depart in the morning so that the river portion of the trip could be in daylight.

[navybaby1113]

Great review so far!

[BettyPC]

Enjoying your review so far!! Thanks for doing this.

[mama_2_boys]

Great review so far! Can't wait for the rest :)

[maxbroadway]

I had the early dinner seating (6 pm) which I definitely prefer over late, but the one thing I dislike about it is having to tear myself away from sail-away. I headed down to the Paris dining room which is at the back of the ship. Many people had difficulty finding it. The key is to go completely aft either in the corridor outside your cabin or on the Promenade before catching the elevator or taking the stairs to deck 3. It's probably obvious to most everyone on here, but it took me a day to figure out that the cabin numbers get higher as you go aft. My navigation got much easier when I learned to use them to get going in the right direction when leaving my cabin.

 

I was assigned a table for 8, and it looked like I would be the only person there until another couple turned up at 6:30. Another couple came on the 2nd night, but at least 3 of the 8 seats were empty every night. The dining room was just over half full every night except Elegant Night when it was probably about 75%. It would be nice if Carnival could combine tables, but apparently it really throws off their system.

 

The first night I had the fruit cocktail, flat iron steak, and warm chocolate melting cake. None of the starters really appealed to me so I figured the fruit would at least be healthy. I'm so glad I tried it because it turned out to be one of the best things I ate all week. It's a wonderful mix of melon, pineapple, grapes, and even a bit of kiwi and was very refreshing after the hustle and bustle of going through embarkation. The steak was just OK and about what I expected. The Triumph does not have a steakhouse, so the menu included 4 or 5 special entrees for an $18 extra charge. No one at our table tried any of them, so I can't comment.

 

After dinner I headed back up on deck to enjoy the river some more. They were playing a Ray Charles concert on the big screen which was a nice accompaniment. I then headed to the Rome Lounge for the 10:30 Welcome Aboard show. It was a short show, maybe 30 minutes or so. The opening musical number seemed quite stale, but the cruise director Tex did a great job of interacting with the crowd. The main reason I went was to get a preview of the stand-up comedians so I could decide if I should take in their shows. The two on board were Darren Sanders and Diane Ford. Both were good, and I ended up seeing their complete sets later in the cruise.

 

My night ended in the casino with slots and blackjack. I had taken cash for the casino but eventually switched to the Sign'n'Sail card in the slots. I probably won't do this again. It's convenient, but looking back it was far too easy to lose track of my spending. The casino did a steady business but never felt jam-packed. I found myself not liking the amount of smoke before noticing they have non-smoking slot areas and blackjack.

[AndrewD65]

Keep it up

[lovermonkey]

We are going in a few weeks. Thanks.

[ticka1]

waiting for more!