Triumph Review - 11/12/05 - 11/19/05

[BSweets]

Okay, here’s a rundown of our cruise experience. I tried to include as much as possible. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff though. There were a lot of little things that were sucky but overall we still had a good trip. Sorry if I’m a little bit all over the place with this review. It was hard to try and separate all my thoughts and I’ve been pretty tired since we’ve gotten back.

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We had a reservation with Florida Limo when we got off the plane in Fort Lauderdale to take us to our hotel in Miami. We had to wait over a half hour and then they packed us in like sardines. After loading everyone in, it took us over two hours to get to our hotel so we got in at almost 1 a.m. We’ll pay more next time to have our own taxi. You definitely get what you pay for here.

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn near the Port of Miami. The hotel was pretty good. The front desk people were less than helpful but the security guard that was there that night was super nice and helped us find a place where we could get some food at that hour since we had been on a plane for several hours and then it took us two hours to get there. It was close to the port, in a good area compared to where a lot of others were dropped off and a decent price so I would definitely stay there again.

 

After the cruise we stayed at Extended Stay America in Fort Lauderdale. The front desk guy was nice and the hotel was okay but some of the other people staying there were pretty scary. Right by the front desk when we were checking in there was a gangster guy using the phone saying f*** this and f*** that and what not. Not the hotel’s fault and it was a good price. The hotel was just okay and once in our room I made a joke about finding a dead hooker under our bed. Their toilet was also pretty scary. When you would flush, a big bubble would come up and make a little splash. Would not stay there again if we could avoid it.

 

Before we got back to Fort Lauderdale we ate at a little Cuban restaurant in Miami that I had read on here that was good. Nobody spoke English and the service was pretty bad. They never brought my salad and they never brought us tea after we asked. They never once came back to refill our drinks and at the end when the lady brought us the bill she stood there and waited until we handed her our tip. We still tipped her though because she was an older lady and works on her feet all day. We had black bean soup, which was pretty good but their Cuban sandwiches were just okay. We’ve had better here in San Antonio. The place was called Rio Crystal.

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We liked Cozumel. It was very very sad to see the amount of damage it’s suffered. Almost all the trees were destroyed and when my husband was snorkeling he found pieces of walls and houses. We went to Paradise Beach and had a great time though. It was the first day we actually felt relaxed. Our waiter was great and always coming by to check on us. Tom came by to ask how things were going as well and he was great. The beach was beautiful and the food was good. DH and I even got massages so we were in heaven. We snorkeled (even though it’s really too murky there), kayaked and jumped on the water trampolines. We found some really nice shells there. The bathrooms weren’t in very good shape but it was their first day back and there’s always bound to be some setbacks. We had a great time here and would go back in a heartbeat. We didn’t have a problem with the tendering on the way there. We were on and off the boat pretty quickly. On the way back however we had to wait on the boat for over a half hour since the tender in front of us seemed to have broken down. There were plenty of drunk people on our boat from the Party Boat excursion to keep us entertained though so it was actually pretty fun. I heard other people had problems with the tendering though so I think it just depended on your timing.

 

Grand Cayman ended up getting 6 – 9 ships in on the day we were there so it was a nightmare. We had to walk in the street the sidewalks were so crowded. We did the Reef and Wreck Snorkeling Tour first thing in the morning and it was great. When we jumped into the reef area it was like jumping into an aquarium. Blue and yellow striped fish all around and the water temperature was just perfect. We could have done without snorkeling the wreck though because it was nothing compared to the reef. We loved this excursion overall and definitely want to snorkel again since this was our real first time. Next we were supposed to do the Stingray City tour and after having us wait with our group for almost an hour they told us it was cancelled so we set out for a restaurant and some shops. We were pretty bummed about not seeing the stingrays but they said the water was too rough so it’s better safe than sorry. We ate at a restaurant called Paradise something (it had a bright green roof and was right on the coast). The food was really good but the service was bad. We sat there and talked to two Italian guys for sometime. They were really funny and the second highlight of our trip (after snorkeling). We really didn’t get to see much of the Cayman Islands but from the little we did see it wasn’t that great. I’m sure we just needed to venture off from the area we were at but we didn’t have much time there. I don’t recall the tendering being a problem for us here as well.

 

Jamaica was absolutely beautiful, definitely the most beautiful place of the three. We did the Ocean Kayak to the Dunn Falls. It was the excursion’s first time running in about a week because the waters had been too rough and they definitely shouldn’t have started it back up that day. The waters and wind were very hard on us. I got pretty scared at a couple points kayaking out there. Everything was gorgeous though and we are glad we gained the experience. After kayaking we climbed the Dunn’s River Falls, which was tougher than I thought as well but still fun. I’m glad we experienced both but probably won’t be kayaking at places again where I’m not sure how the water will be. It was pretty tough for me but I am a weakling, lol. Before our tour guide drove us back to the pier we got to go to a few shops in this little straw village. Be very very careful in places like this. The people were nice but kind of tried to trick you into getting stuff. At first saying things were free little gifts and whatnot. We are not very forceful people and were like deer in headlights so they loved us. It’s very hard for us to say no so we need to stay clear of places like that or go out with stronger people. After we got back to the pier we met up with my sister and her family at Margaritaville and had a blast. The food was all right but it was a fun place. Everyone went down the water slide into the pool and tilted their heads back for free shots. It was lots of fun. We were sad to go but our time was pretty limited at all of the places.

 

We didn’t feel that there were very many good bargains at any of the places except on alcohol. I mostly wanted some t-shirts and souvenirs for friends and family but they were way overpriced. The cheapest shirt I could find for a toddler was $15 so that was out of the question. We would love to go back to all three places again though and do more exploring. We are very thankful we got to go.

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We got to the port around 10 a.m. We didn’t have to wait too long which was nice. I think we were on the ship just after 12:30. I brought some soda and water in my carry on and they let it on fine. I also had some liquor in my checked luggage and it made it on just fine as well. We barely drank half of what we brought though and still spent plenty on alcohol there.

 

Debarkation was a bit of a problem and we didn’t get off until close to noon. They kept announcing that they hadn’t unloaded our bags yet for customs to check so we would be delayed. At least they kept us updated. Once we were allowed to get in line to disembark though the line was fairly quick. We waited back to let others go because we weren’t in a hurry but felt bad for those that were.

 

When we walked onto the ship it was very beautiful and we were impressed.

 

This was our first cruise but we loved having a balcony room. DH was out there all the time with his binoculars. I left the room steward a note to put ice in our little cooler on the first day along with $5 and he did. I left another note two days later and he did it again but after that I stopped asking and he never did it again. I read that a lot of people got gift baskets in their room but we never got one, we never had soap in our shower but I brought our own, two of our towels had nasty yellow and pink stains on them and one had a nasty hairy wad of gum on it. We also ran out of toilet paper and had to leave a note to be left some. I still tipped him again in the end though because I know they work hard. I loved the towel animals.

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Pros

 

Dave, the karaoke guy, was very fun and charming. We went in there about 3 nights. I just felt a little bad for him because there wasn’t many people in there but it was still fun. He’s a cutie and you could tell that when he messed with people it was all in good fun. Our top three in there was a tall guy who did Elvis’ Suspicious Minds, a woman name Charlize who did Stroke It and Dave doing Twist and Shout. There was also a party band that played in Club Rio a few times called Red Ball Jets. They were pretty fun!

 

My husband is from Romania so he really liked being able to talk to all the Romanians on board.

 

The magic show was really good.

 

We only heard the band out on the deck once or twice but they sounded good.

 

My niece and nephew swam in the pools and used the slide a couple of days and loved it.

 

The cheeseburgers, ice cream, danishes and pumpkin soup were great.

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Cons

 

Saw a roach crawling around on the floor in the South Beach Club on the last day.

 

Water in shower would go really cold or really hot and we could not get it to stabilize to what we wanted.

 

Do NOT get cabin 6427. It is right above the piano bar and you could hear everything every night, the music and the hollering. It usually stopped around 1 a.m. but didn’t until around 2 a.m. on the last night so we didn’t get much sleep on many nights. A couple times we were fooling around and it felt like we were being cheered on, lol. We would just have to stop and laugh. We don’t go to bed very early so this wasn’t too bad but I’m sure it would be for others. He sounded pretty good but it sucked hearing the same songs every night. My sister had a room on deck seven and they didn’t hear any noise so I would recommend getting that floor if possible.

 

$5 for a beer and $7 for a mixed drink is too much.

 

Also, Bingo was really a rip off. You paid $20 for a triple sheet of cards and most of the pots were a little over $100 with tons of people playing. They really made a killing off of those. I’ve played at casinos and other places and this was definitely the worst value.

 

Casino seemed very tight.

 

Room service got our order wrong 2 or 3 times. We didn’t complain or anything but it seemed like most of the servers really didn’t care.

 

Most of the food in the dining room and in the buffets was good but not great.

 

There must have been a sewage accident of some sort down our hall day because about mid ship on deck 6 one day it smelled sooo bad. Later that day they had taken care of it though because when we walked back down there I barely smelled it again.

 

The washers and dryers were not very good. I was very lucky to use the washer before we left port at Grand Cayman but once the ship started back up the washers filled with water and stayed that way. There was a girl in there that had to pull out all of her clothes and had to wring them out by hand. The dryers aren’t strong enough to dry the clothes in one round so prepare to use two. It’s $2.00 to wash and dry so one load cost us $6.

 

Matt Ross was nice but it really seemed like a lot of his laughter was fake.

 

The elevators were often crowded or took forever to come so we used the stairs a lot.

 

We could hear kids running and yelling in the halls often from our room.

 

There were a couple of a**holes on the ship but you’re going to get that anywhere.

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I know it seems like I wrote a lot of cons but overall our trip was actually fun and pretty good. Not great but good. I think it’s easier to remember the bad stuff. I think I had built it up a lot in my head from reading the boards the last year. This was our first cruise or vacation for that matter and we would go again. We are definitely willing to try other types of vacations too though. Even though the service was just okay we tipped our steward, waiter and asst waitress extra at the end along with the Maitre D. We had seen some servers being talked down to during the week and know they are not treated very well so we felt bad for them.

 

Sorry this turned out to be so long. If anyone has any questions I'll try to answer them!

[BettyB2]

Thanks again for posting your review. Did you try anything at the Hong Kong Noodle Co? Wondering if they had sushi.

[BettyB2]

Thanks again for the review. Did you eat at the Asian restaurant on board (Hong Kong Noodle Co)? Wondering if they had sushi available.

thanks

[cathyoo]

BSweets, thank you for the very good review. I like to hear both the good and not so good. I agree that reading this board can make you have extremely high expectations.

 

I'm glad the roach wasn't in your room.. LOL.. You both sound like me and my DH, we are not forceful people either and we feel lucky to get to see places such as Cozumel, Grand Cayman, etc.

 

Thanks again. Glad you had a good time... hopefully, you will try again and have a great time.

[BSweets]

Your welcome Cathy. We will definitely try it again. We're thinking about doing a little 5 day cruise with some friends in April. It should be a good time.

 

Betty, we could never find the Asian place. Other people on the ship couldn't find it as well because people kept asking us if we had seen it, lol. Maybe we just couldn't find it or it wasn't ready in time and hopefully it will be for you guys. Hope you have a great trip!

[cruisingal0810]

Thanks for the great review. I, too, like to hear the good and the not so good. My husband and I have been on this ship in 2001 for a fam tour when I was a travel agent and thought it was more elegant looking then some of the older Carnival ships. He was very excited when we booked this for our 10 yr anniversary with 2 other couples in March. :) Can you tell me if you know where the new movie theatre is located since I heard they put one in...Also if you kept the capers I would love to see it, so that I can give them to our friends that have never cruised before. my email is dgcruiseone@hotmail.com. Thanks again...Cruising is great and addictive...

[BettyB2]

Where did you hear about the movie theatre? That would be nice, but all I heard was that they updated the teen center drastically and put the Lido band under cover, new carpeting upholstery etc (although all the rooms did not get new carpeting) Let me know where you heard this, it would be some good news for our roll-call with a lot of teens....and adults!!

[cruisingal0810]

Where did you hear about the movie theatre? That would be nice, but all I heard was that they updated the teen center drastically and put the Lido band under cover, new carpeting upholstery etc (although all the rooms did not get new carpeting) Let me know where you heard this, it would be some good news for our roll-call with a lot of teens....and adults!!

 

BettyB2, I saw it on one of the other reviews from the 11/12 sailing. The poster heard they put one in, but not sure where since he was just going by what he heard. Someone else posted that they were showing movies in the Rome lounge on somedays. So I am not too sure. I was hoping for MUTS, but oh well can't have everything I guess. We leave in March and can not wait. Have a great time on your cruise:)

[BettyB2]

A bunch of us were hoping for MUTS also - football on the big screen, drinks, pizza, bathing suits and the Caribbean....what could be better.:rolleyes:

 

I will look for that thread - but I personally wouldnt care for a movie while cruising, - UNLESS it was on the Lido deck!!!!!

I plan to let everyone know all I can about the ship, cabins, menus, ports etc when I come home on Dec 12th!!

[SUZIQZE]

I plan to let everyone know all I can about the ship, cabins, menus, ports etc when I come home on Dec 12th!!

 

I'm so jealous....I still have 3 more weeks of anticipation. I can't wait to read your review....I want to know everything!! :-)

[barbemm]

Your welcome Cathy. We will definitely try it again. We're thinking about doing a little 5 day cruise with some friends in April. It should be a good time.

 

Betty, we could never find the Asian place. Other people on the ship couldn't find it as well because people kept asking us if we had seen it, lol. Maybe we just couldn't find it or it wasn't ready in time and hopefully it will be for you guys. Hope you have a great trip!

 

HI,

I am sorry you couldn't find the Asian food. The food is great there. I don't know how you missed it unless you always enterered he south seas restaurant on the port side. You know how the NY deli is a window on the port side, well in the same spot on the starboard side is the Asian food. If you don't know starboard from port let me make it easier...if you are walking toward the back of the ship past the main pool, the asian food will be to the left side entrance. An easy way for those of you who could never remember port from starboard like me, a bartender taught me an easy way to remember. Port has four letters in the word as does left...to facing the front of the ship, port is the left side...facing the front then starboard would be the right side...it's always helped me, lol.

 

As far as suishi served there, it's mostly chinese food there, the suishi was served on the lido buffett in south seas restaurant...if it was served elsewhere I never saw it, but then again when I saw the pools they were always empty with netting on them yet people swear they were open, so maybe I am wrong on the suishi. As far as this rumor about a movie theater, lol...unless that was an invisible theater I have never seen it..but they did show movies (as they always do) on port days for those who don't get off the ship in the Rome lounge...they used to do it in the Reo lounge so there still is a screen in there as well...but no movie theater..who goes on a ship to watch movies? They are in your cabin to watch as well.

Barb

[BSweets]

Sorry guys, I can't seem to find my capers. I don't know anything about a new movie theatre. The movies they played in our rooms were Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Fantastic Four. We only caught bits of each but they both seemed pretty bad to us.

 

Barb, we did walk in on the other side of the NY Deli but it was probably during the Noodle Co's closed hours. We were never on schedule. Oh well, hopefully next time.

[cruisingal0810]

Barbemm - That is true about the movies, but just thougt they added something worth really mentioning after drydock. It is a shame that you needed to see what you did on your trip!!! I would have hated to see that, too:rolleyes: . We sail on her in March and can not wait!!! Did you happen to keep your capers barbemm???? If you did and have a way to email them to me that would be FANTASTIC!! I would also like to see the video that you took, if you don't mind...my email is dgcruiseone@hotmail.com. Thanks again