My review of the Triumph.....very long, sorry

[Aero247]

We just got home today from our Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Triumph. We had a wonderful time! We booked last August for an 6A Ocean View cabin and just days before we sailed we dicovered we had been upgraded to a 8C Balcony cabin. We were traveling with our 2 children ages 11 & 8 and some friends of ours were there as well with their 2 children (same ages). Our friends got upgraded as well and although our cabins were no longer right next door to each other we were on the same floor.

 

Embarkation: We live about an hour north of Miami, we drove down and parked ($84 in advance for the week) in the parking garage. It took us about an hour or so to complete all the check in processes and we were on board by about 1:30.

Stateroom: We were in 8414 and it was great to have the balcony. The room was plenty big enough for the four of us. The bathroom was significantly larger than the one on the NCL Sun was. There were three closets (one was half filled with life jackets though), three drawers and a couple of other cabinets. The one under the TV was pretty deep and it made a great place to keep the kids clothes. I took the over the door shoe thingy and it came in very handy to help keep things off the counter. I also took a package of "snap hooks", you know those suction cup backed things. They were really great. They are very strong. I had my whole make up bag hanging on one all week and it never fell. I had about 5 of them in the package and I put them all up in the room so we had plenty of places to hang hats, bags, swimsuits, etc.

Food: Great! We were all in the London dining room 6:15 seating. The first night somehow our request to eat together was missed but they fixed it by the second night. Our servers were Monica from Romania and Joseph from Haiti. We could not say enough good things about them. My 8 yr old son said our next cruise must have Monica on board. We ate most of our breakfasts in the Paris dining room as it was far less crowded than the buffet on the Lido Deck. There was less variety, but hey, they brought the food to me. My husband raved about the pastrami from the deli. We only had ate room service once and the woman on the phone was very rude. Our room service menu was missing from our room so I didn't know exactly what was available and she was very quick to tell me I couldn't get what and told me to "open my eyes" and look in the book in my room to whick I informed her I would be happy to look at it if it WAS THERE! She lightened up (a bit) and themn told me there were many orders ahead of mine and it would be about an hour, did I still want it? I told her yes, it was there in 15 minutes.

Camp Carnival: My kids and our friend's kids did not like it. They were much happier hanging out in the room watching cartoons (they loved watching Garfield in spanish for some reason).

Excursions: We booked our own snorkeling tour in Cozumel and it was great. My daughter wasn't thrilled with the barracuda we saw though. We did the stingray sandbar tour in Grand Cayman and it was beautiful but my son was terrified and was back on the boat within five minutes of hitting the water.

In Jamaica My daughter and I went on the Chukka Cove Horseback ride where we got to ride horses in the surf. That was amazing! Everyone else in our group climbed the falls and that was great as usual.

Shows: I didn't go to any, sorry. My husband and son went to a magic show and said it was really good though. I kept going to bed early because my early rising family kept waking me up.

Portraits: Dropped a bundle there!

Casino: My husband is grateful I didn't drop a bundle there.

Disembarkation: No self assist for us, we packed way too much stuff for that! Set our luggage out Friday night. We could stay in our room until about 9:30 but we didn't. After one last breakfast in the dining room we gathered our things and went to Club Rio to wait for them to call for everyone to leave. We got to Club Rio about 8:45. It has nice big couches and was completely empty except for us. We waited there until about 9:15 then made our way to the lobby. We were off the ship by 9:30 and driving home on I95 by 10:15. No problems with customs, they never checked anyones carryon baggage that I could see.

Cons: Other than that rude room service operator the only downside I saw was the price of the Fountain Fun card for sodas. That thing was like $44! I drink diet coke constantly and even I had trouble getting my money's worth out of that thing. Won't do that again, I'll just use the coke machine (there are some with the ice dispensers on each floor) or take my own on board. I'm sure I left out a lot. We had a really great time!

[Chucksta63]

Thank You for your review! Good info about the soda card, was that for an adult or child?:) I can't wait to get on board!:D

[cbreit]

We won't be on the Triumph until 36 weeks from today, but who's counting!!! Thanks for the review! I always love to read whatever's out there about my "next" ship!

[tinna2000]

nice review, i will be on the triumpn in june.

[sugar n spice]

Thank you Aero247, for your review of the Triumph. We are sailing on her for the first time in May.

 

Do you mind telling me how much the cokes from the coke machines were? I had heard that some of the ships had coke machines now and was wondering if the Triumph did. We sailed on the Glory last May and did not see a coke machine on her.

 

As for the rude room service person, I've found a way to avoid most rude telephone service people. The first words out of my mouth after they answer the phone is, "With whom am I speaking, please?". I write down their name and continue the conversation. If they know that you know who they are, they are less likely to be rude since you could easily report them to their manager. If they are reluctant to give their name when I first ask, I rephrase the question until I get their name. It is rare to have to go that far though. So far, this has worked for me.

[Aero247]

The cokes in the coke machine were $1.50 per can. There were also 20 oz bottles in the stateroom that were $2.50 each. The soda card I mentioned in my earlier post was for an adult.

[bankofdad]

Thanks for the review! We leave for our pre-cruise stay in 11 days, and the info you've provided is very helpful.

 

Can you tell me what it was that your kids did not like about Camp Carnival on this ship? I'm traveling with my 12 and 3 y.o. sons and 8 y.o. daughter. They've really enjoyed CC on our previous cruises.

 

Also, thanks for the info on the soda card/machines. That's the first I've heard about the machines. I'd rather bring some soda on board and use the machine than shell our $44 :eek: for soda cards!

[KarenConley]

Thanks for a wonderful review. I will be on the Triumph in June to the Bahamas--can't wait. I plan to bring on drinks as I can only drink caffeine free drinks and prefer Pepsi to Coke products. 70 days before we cruise.:)

[Aero247]

I'm not really sure what it was that my kids didn't like, probably just the fact that I was enjoying myself without them. My 11 year old daughter said one of the counselors was "mean". We only made her go once and told her that she was under no circumstances to sign herself out (9yrs and up can sign themselves out of the camp), she told us that during the course of the evening one of the counselors got mad and threatened to make all of the 9-11 yr olds sign out and leave. I would have been very angry (if true but both my kids said they heard it) had that occured. Anyway, my kids were happier in the pools during the day and hanging out in our stateroom at night.

 

We took a collapsable cooler to keep sodas we had taken with us cold. Our room steward was great about keeping it full of ice for us. It was a great cooler, it didn't leak at all and it made a great extra suitcase because it had a retractable handle and wheels.

[sugar n spice]

The cokes in the coke machine were $1.50 per can. There were also 20 oz bottles in the stateroom that were $2.50 each. The soda card I mentioned in my earlier post was for an adult.

 

Thank you, Aero247, for the information on the cokes.

 

Someone else mentioned caffeine free cokes. I should have thought to ask about that. My daughter and I are not suppose to have caffeine. Do the machines offer caffeine free Coke or Pepsi? We don't like Sprite or 7-Up.

[Runner Girl]

I have to agree with the cost of the soda cards. RCI only charges about $35 and it's much easier to get a big class of pop from them too. Much more worth it!

[LizaMM]

Thanks for the review! We leave for our pre-cruise stay in 11 days, and the info you've provided is very helpful.

 

Can you tell me what it was that your kids did not like about Camp Carnival on this ship? I'm traveling with my 12 and 3 y.o. sons and 8 y.o. daughter. They've really enjoyed CC on our previous cruises.

 

Also, thanks for the info on the soda card/machines. That's the first I've heard about the machines. I'd rather bring some soda on board and use the machine than shell our $44 :eek: for soda cards!

 

 

Thanks for the Review!! I was craving some new Triumph tidbits!

 

BankOfDad.....Hope that you get a review posted when you get back too!!

[Aero247]

Thank you, Aero247, for the information on the cokes.

 

Someone else mentioned caffeine free cokes. I should have thought to ask about that. My daughter and I are not suppose to have caffeine. Do the machines offer caffeine free Coke or Pepsi? We don't like Sprite or 7-Up.

 

I didn't see any Pepsi products on board and I honestly didn't notice if there was caffeine free cokes in the machine or not. As to the price of the soda cards, last year on our NCL cruise we got their soda card, it was only about $26 and they gave you an insulated cup. You didn't have to use just that cup though, they placed a sticker on your sail & sign card to show you had purchased their soda plan.

[JoeSmooga]

I can attest there is no caffeine free Coke/Diet Coke on board. I went in search of that for my wife with no success on our Triumph cruise in Jan. No Pepsi products to be found anywhere either (I am a Mt. Dew addict and went thru withdrawl all week). :)

[sugar n spice]

Aero247 & JoeSmooga, thank you. I'm not a fan of Pepsi but if it is the only caffeine free cola, I'll drink it. I'm going to call my PVP and ask his suggestions. I really don't want to take my own colas onboard. We took a ton of things on our last cruise, half of which we never used and I want to pack lighter this time around.

[cruzin w chris]

great review, we buy 1 soda card for the 4 of us, there are enough bars nearby that it is no problem hitting a different one for all of us even though it is not allowed.:rolleyes:

[Aero247]

Wow, this thread is a blast from the past. I actually started reading it before I realized it was mine.