Review: Triumph - Galveston - 5/17/12 (w/ pics)

[vivavegas]

Really enjoyed your review and photos! Thanks for taking the time to write a review and share with us!:)

[tk22]

Thanks for sharing - nice pics!!! Brings back good memories of our first cruise on the Triumph out of Miami with John Heald as our cruise director.

[AgVball]

...Continued

 

Carnival Triumph - Thursday May 17, 2012 - Galveston - 4 nights (stop in Cozumel)

Pictures can be found at: http://carnivaltriumph051712.shutterfly.com

 

Day 4 - Sunday 20th:

Another lazy day at sea. I think we just missed the cutoff for breakfast in the Paris Dining Room and decided to do breakfast at the Buffet. We went to the main buffet line and had scrambled eggs, fruit, etc. Somehow I didn't see the syrup when going through the line. Boy, I thought I was never going to be able to get back in there to get some syrup for my pancakes based on how tight everyone was and moving (I hate to interrupt lines). Wished they had some extra syrup with some other condiments or something so you could get more without breaking in to the line. We were easily able to find a table since we were at the tail end of the breakfast. I saw an omelet go by (from the separate Omelet station) and it looked pretty good!

 

They were supposed to have a 70% off sale on "Pandora like" bracelets. I think their "retail" price listed was $95. Those type of bracelets are really expensive. These were really cute. If you needed a gift, these would be really nice - even at $30 each. I walked by the store, and it was absolutely nutty! It was packed and coming out the doors. I heard something about buying 4 for $100 or some kind of multiples deal. Sorry, I just can't handle those kinds of crowds ;) I'm sure they do some of that to build some of the excitement, but sometimes I wonder if they would sell more if they did it in a slightly bigger area.

 

I went out to the 10th deck again to read my book - VERY windy out there. I think I skipped lunch, and ended up picking up some (lunch) food from the buffet near the pool in the very late afternoon. They carry hot dogs, hamburgers, some type of grilled chicken (although I didn't see it), pita chips, sauteed onions, mushrooms, chili, fries, can't think what else. It took me 20-30 minutes to get through that line. I didn't see any mustard or ketchup nearby and had to stop at someone's table - since I was going back to my room/balcony.

 

I was pretty excited because FINALLY I was going to make it to a trivia - Sports Trivia this time. It was 4pm in the Olympic bar - which is the sports bar on the ship. Deck 5 adjacent (on the forward port side) of the Casino. I walked in @ 3.50, and quite a few people were in there, but it was hard to tell who was there for Trivia. I could see some people coming in with the same look as me. It was 4pm, and not a sign of a Carnival trivia person. Finally, she showed up late (even the bar tenders didn't know the scoop). Once it was known trivia was going to be in the room, the NBA watchers were pretty boisterous - they didn't want trivia taking over - they were watching a game! Dude - the TVs were not being turned off - just the sound. If you are a true sports fan - then you've been in plenty of bars with plenty of games on that don't have sound. I was pretty pissed - and would be more pissed if they canceled trivia for the 5 or so jerks in the room. Trivia carried on, and even had some of those same jerks piping up with potential answers to the questions. Our trivia ran long since she started late. We then tried to go to the Progressive Trivia that was scheduled for 4.30 at the World Bar in the casino. By the time we got there, we had missed several questions - and there's no going back. We didn't fret, wasn't like we were going to win anyway.

 

Before dinner, we went to our final show in the Rome Lounge - The Big Easy at 7pm. Again, this show started a little slow for me, but wow, they did a great job, it was fun and vibrant and ended great. Yes, its about New Orleans and Mardi Gras. We then went to dinner in the Paris Dining Room. I didn't get a picture of the menu - sorry. But, I do remember one of our dinner mates ordering the steak - maybe it was the one on the every day dinner. She ordered it medium well or well - I think medium well. She cut in to it, and it was slightly pink. The server offered to take it back, but her husband ate it (without any complaint). The next one, same thing, maybe even MORE undercooked. I swear, they brought out probably 4-5 steaks to her, and to her defense, they were NOT medium well. The server said he was taking the steak to the manager or someone to show him. Afterwards, my DH and I said to each other that the server should have sent a Maitre D over to the table AT LEAST after the second one and got to the bottom of it. I just mention this for those of you who like your food cooked longer - you might want to reach out to the Maitre D so the whole dinner won't be over by the time they can get a steak (or whatever) cooked right.

 

We stopped by the Adults Only Comedy - but it was packed out the door (for 10pm). I didn't realize there was also one at 11pm - we didn't bother to go back, so I have no idea how packed that was. We instead went to - yes - you guessed it - The Big Easy piano bar ;) We hung out there with Russell and some of the "usuals" - shooting our $1 tips in to the bucket and singing until he closed @ 1.30pm

 

Side note:

Wow - a nice surprise that they have billiards tables in the casino. Go to the bar to check out the balls. I have no idea the cost, nor how hard/easy it is to get a table.

 

Can't remember if I said this, but, you have an opportunity to buy in to Future Cruises. For Carnival, you just say how many "certificates" you want, put a $100 deposit down for each "certificate" and for each certificate, you'll be eligible for on board credit when you book (depending on the length of the cruise). I actually called to find out when the Future Cruise guy would be available because I had a question. The Future Cruise desk is just a small little desk/kiosk - and he was actually open different than what his sign said - glad I called! I wanted two certificates, but I didn't know if it would be in my best interest to get one in my name and one in my husbands. They only left one sheet in our room, so I wasn't sure how I could do it on the sheet and them get it right. Sure enough, down at the desk, he said it WAS in my best interest to get one in each of our names (if we planned on using the certificate on the same cruise). I like this compared to the way RCCL does their future cruises. Although RCCL has a nice room available, and two associates there to help, you actually have to go through a lengthy process to actually pick a cruise AND a room....which I will probably change when I get home anyway!!! Its such a waste of time for everyone! So, kudos to Carnival for making Future Cruise bookings easy.

[AgVball]

...Continued

 

Carnival Triumph - Thursday May 17, 2012 - Galveston - 4 nights (stop in Cozumel)

Pictures can be found at: http://carnivaltriumph051712.shutterfly.com

 

Day 5 - Monday 21st:

Boo-hoo - we are retuning back to Galveston to debark. The night/evening before, it was pretty easy to pack - when going home - we don't care about wrinkles - we just throw it all in there. Plus, we were electing with self assist (or whatever it was called) - where you carry your own luggage off the ship. So, we didn't have to worry about getting our luggage out in the hallway in time for the luggage elves to come by. We've done self-assist before (on RCCL), so we kinda knew what it was about.

 

We got up @ 7am, and went to breakfast @ 7.30am in the Paris Dining Room. It was bustling, but we had no problem getting seated right away (at a round table for 8-10). The menu was the same as the previous days. Around 7.50 or 8am, there was an intercom call for those Self Assist for those on decks 1 and 2. Some of our table mates excused themselves. We even saw some people in the dining room who had carried some luggage down with them to the dining room (I don't recommend that - just too much crap to lug through there). We took our time and finished. I think our "scheduled" Self Assist time was 8.20 I think?

 

Walking back to our room, we could see the lines and what things looked like trying to leave the ship. As I suspected, quite a few people were trying to do self assist. Doesn't surprise with with a 4 night cruise, a lot of people can pack light. My DH wondered if "everyone" doing self assist went at one time, even though they only called 2 decks. We never heard them call our deck. Hmmm. We got our stuff and came on down around our scheduled time (on an elevator - thought they would be too full).

 

Carnival was very organized and even had you coming off the elevators a certain way. The line of people had died down some when we got there. I noticed one or two people had NO luggage. So, I was thinking "hmmm....they had the luggage fairies take the luggage, AND they are getting off early...will their luggage be downstairs???" We got down there - yes - luggage was already out there AND it was so neatly laid out. It seems like RCCL would STILL be bringing out luggage at that point. We were in what seemed like a long line, and on the right side line, people walked ahead of us. We saw that was for Birth Certificates and non-US passports. At first I was pissed thinking "hey, i have a US passport - shouldn't this be a little faster?!?!". They must have heard my thoughts and opened another lane or two, because our line started clearing - and the birth certificate people stood still ;) In fact, some of our breakfast table mates who left early, were in the birth cert line, and we passed them up. Oh, and if you are in a super hurry, grab a porter, those guys take you to the front of the line. Granted, you'll need to tip them, but it might be worth it if you are in a super hurry. We didn't use one, but that's what it looked like to us. Our Immigration officer I think just asked us about food and alcohol - and we were outta there. I noticed back in December coming off of RCCL, Immigration is like 1/10th of what it used to be (yeah - for a time savings). I'm pretty sure we were off the ship by 8.45 (and I think we left our room @ 8.20). We walked down the sidewalk to find the EZ Cruise Parking and he was right where they said they would be - we all got on there with our luggage - and I think we pulled out of the parking lot around 9am. The line for the "official cruise terminal parking" shuttle seemed really long - and I even saw people walking and pulling luggage - not sure where they were going. We were pretty dang pleased with our exit from the ship that day. We have had some very hectic and crazy debarkations (granted, we had more people, and elderly people previously), but still, it went very smooth this time. We were somewhat in a hurry, so we went with Self Assist, but, if you are not in a hurry, you may just want to wait until the later part of debarkation and just take it easy - gotta figure out what you need. I would be interested to hear how debarkation went for those non-self-assist getting off @ 9-9.30.

[jennkmr]

Thank you every so much for this review! We are going in just a month with our two kiddos and your summary is awesome. My husband and I went on a carnival cruise once YEARS before but I feel like a newbie b/c it's been so long. I'm looking forward to this!