My Triumph 7/3/04 Review. Please Take a look!

[geofg]

Greetings, just returned from a nice long deserved vacation aboard the Carnival Triumph, Eastern Caribbean Cruise. This was my 4th cruise and my first on Carnival. I am 27 year old male, a teacher and bartender. My girlfriend is a teacher as well. Ok enough of the formalities, let me get to work. I will talk about various aspects of the cruise, the ship, what I did and WHAT I DID NOT LIKE!!!

 

Embarkation. For me it wasn't that tough, I was in Florida the day before visiting family so I was at the port quite early. I was in line and on the ship by 12:30ish. I arrived at the port around 11:45 so who can complain about wating 45 minutes. I heard horror stories from others who waited nearly 3 hours to get on board. My advice...GET THERE EARLY!!!

 

After getting onboard I headed straight up to my room. I had booked a category 8A balcony guranteed upper deck. Well to my great surprise I was upgraded to the a deluxe balcony Deck 10 Panorama Forward. The room(1009), the balcony and the view were simply amazing. A great place to have drinks, talk, and just relax. The only problem with a balcony is that once you go balcony....you'll never do anything less than that. LOL!!

 

The ship is nice. Not great but nice. It is showing some signs of wear and tear. The ship is 5 years old and most times filled to capacity. I wasn't looking for perfection but I was in no way blown away either.

 

Some of the public rooms are great. I really enjoyed the California Wine Bar. The bartender Omar there is simpy amazing. The Big Easy Piano Bar, The World Bar, and the Oxford lounge are other places where adults my age seemed to hang out. One thing I really did not like about some of the bars were children sitting there right next to me. The other places listed didn't really have that many children milling around.

 

Food- I was shocked! I thought the food was great, dinner offered great variety, quality of presentation, tast, and everything came out right. Hot foods hot, cold foods cold. The buffets were your typical fare, very good, again it is a buffet so I am not expecting 5 star cuisine. People often complained about the lines. I never ran into any problems. If your up for breakfast before 10 then you won't experience any problems. Lunch is a different story. I would go to sit down lunch, then come up after for lunch buffet. That's probably the reason I put on a little weight! :) I never did dinner buffet.

 

The service on the ship was awesome. Out waiter Arnell and his assistant Marjia were so wonderful to me and my girlfriend. Each night they called us by our first name, and went above and beyond what was expected of them. Our room steward kept the room nice and tidy. Each received extra money on top of the automatic tip.

 

I wasn't too impressed with the shows, accept for the juggler. Very good! The magic show BORING!! saw all the tricks explained on the discovery channel, plus what's with all the dancing in between acts. And the comic after the juggler.....TERRIBLE!!! Walked out and I never walk out on shows.

 

I always felt like there was something to do, even when there was nothing to do. The ship kept me very entertained. Ok so nice ship, great food, great service, Ports of call......All I can say is KON TIKI in St. Thomas. Other than that I just chilled and walked around the other ports. I did go into Orient Beach in St. Martin. Did not know you could go nude, and was a little culture shocked. Days at sea were nice. Great weather and just got some sun. Never had a problem finding a chair. I suggest going in the pool early and not later. Tons of kids+pool= tons of piss in the pool. Add all the grime, dirt and suntan lotions and oils and it makes for a nasty pool. I usually hit the pool around 9 in the morning and got out as soon as things picked up on deck.

 

My complaints........Way too many kids! That's my own fault though. Holiday weekend, summer vacation. I love kids, I'm a teacher, but some of the parents need to do a much better job of knowing what there kids are doing. Playing on the elevator all day, running around on deck, using foul laguage at the pool, being rude to the staff, jumping from the hot tub into the pool, and landing and splashing other people is just plain inappropriate.

 

RUDE GUESTS!!! I could write my whole review about how rude some of the people were on this ship. I heard it from at least 10 crew members that this was the rudest group of people they have taken care of in their histroy of working with carnival. I watched peopl scream at wait staff, the maitre dee, someone made the Wine Steward cry because it took too long to get their

I could go on and on about the rudeness. They can really make or break your experience on board a cruise. I had so many people cut me off in line, not hold the door for me, not say thanks for holding the door, not hold the elevator, not just me but other cruisers I met said the same thing. Also as were leaving St. Martin, some bafoon starts screaming stuff across our ship at the princess ship. HUH!!!

 

The thing that really bothered me was the lack of respect shown to the staff. I have been bartending and waiting tables for a long time. It is not an easy job and very difficult at this level. It would be nice if people could actually say please, thank you, smile at the person, acknowledge them by name. And talk to them, not at them. Don't make fun of their nationality or there accent. They are people just like us, and they work their asses off so that we can have a good time. I saw way too much of it and after a few drinks I let some woman know how I felt. she just kept saying gimme, gimme, gimme, not a please in there at all. Ok so anyway my point is this. How many of us would work 70 plus hours a week, 7 days a week, eight months at a time and leave our families. Right, none of us. So show these folks the respect they deserve.

 

Overall I enjoyed my vacation, but I won't be back on Carnival. Sometimes a few bad apples spoil the bunch. I did meet some great people, but for the most part I felt like I was surrounded by a-holes. Each rude or crude deed was outdone by the next. Princess Cruise line next for me. Please e-mail me with any stuff I didn't cover or other things you want to know!

[Cruising89143]

Great review. Like I stated in your earlier post, you can find rude people on any cruise line. They are not limited to Carnival. I have had my share of them on other lines as well. Some people just do not know how to act in public. I do feel for the crew by the way they are treated by some passengers. Some think that they are their personal servants for the week. I witnessed this first hand several years ago on RCI's Majesty of the Seas. I would suggest that you do try another line to see what the differences are between them. Carnival may not be your fit.

 

 

Thanks again for the review.

[yarlenna]

Then again, Carnival on a non-school-vacation week may be just wonderful. I would imagine that it's not only Carnival cruisers whose children make donations to the pool fliud supply. At least Carnival drains all their pools every evening and gets fresh water every morning. I do know what you are saying about rude folks. I ran into quite a few on a Celebrity cruise a few years ago. I was amazed. However, the reason I don't use Celebrity isn't because of my fellow shipmates. (I figure you can run into jerks anywhere.) It was the front desk staff that was rude to me. THAT they can do something about!

[geofg]

Your right Carnival may not be my fit, but hey I tried it, I liked it, but It's not a line that I would go on again.

[islackmore]

nice review, thanks for taking the time to write it. I just have one question for you... I am 22 and going on the triumph in a few weeks, I was wondering if you noticed if there were many people my age (college) on the ship. I hope it is not all "kids" like you had mentioned. thanks again

[robbyxoxo]

Geofg pretty much nailed his review.....my past reviews have been very similar sounding.....although, i remember enjoying the magic show on the triumph......hard to go wrong with near nakie girlies helping with the act:).....Halos....i agree with u also:)..........and for a 2 fingered typist u do a helluva job of never missing a beat when slammin me....lol....happy monday:)

[geofg]

If the show is bad, then why stay? Would you sit through an entire movie that you disliked? I was sitting up in the balcony, and simply excused myself and left. Is it rude to leave and go to the bathroom?

[geofg]

islackmore Let me know if you have any questions.

[hstrybuf]

Why would anyone want to waste time on a cruise sitting through a show they don't enjoy? I'd walk out too! It isn't rude, just common sense.

[peanutprincess1977]

I totally liked your review. You enjoyed some things, you did not enjoy others. I don't think you were rude. I understand your comments about rude people because I hate that. Anytime you go out of your way to be nice and someone just blows it off is distasteful. I cruise Carnival when there are less kids. And parents do need to help keep their kids in line and not let them run all over the ship acting like hooligans. My parents NEVER let me act like that out in public. Rude parents breed rude children.

 

I hope that you might give Carnival a second go round. We really loved them when we went last year. Try not to let one bad experience turn you off completely.

[Host Caroline]

I usually sit toward the back of the theatre or at the end of a row in case I do want/need to leave.. but always do it discreetly (and don't make a practice of leaving). There are many reasons why someone might have to leave that have nothing to do with whether they are enjoying the show or not. In most cases, folks that have a pretty good idea a show isn't for them just won't go, but if you do and simply don't like it, why would you sit there if you can leave without disrupting the show or a bunch of other people????? :confused: :confused:

[emerald777]

Good review Geof! Glad you enjoyed the cruise despite the drawbacks! But I have to tell you, rude people aren't exclusive to Carnival. The whole not saying thanks thing when you hold the door open for someone is definitely one of my pet peeves. And especially if they just walk right through without lifting their arm to take the door from you or even acknowledge you're standing there holding the D@MN thing! OK...OK...Let me calm down......

 

On my Celebrity cruise in March, I had lunch everyday in the buffet area and since I was solo and like to read while eating my lunch, I would sit in the outside table area so I could listen to the sound of the waves rushing by and revel in the glorious tranquility of it all! Two days in a row, 2 tables of diners sitting at opposite ends of this area decided they wanted to carry on a conversation. They did this by yelling at the top of their lungs across a 30 ft space for a minimum of 45 minutes. I wanted to throw them all overboard (and based on the looks everyone else was giving them I was not alone!)..... So I moved to the Aft seating area the next day and when I walked out through the front area, guess who was still yelling (and this also included several cuss words). And I can't tell you how many times I had to move quickly to keep from getting stomped on getting on or off the elevators.... I think it's just human nature that when you get such a large group of people together in a confined space, it will either illuminate their good qualities or cast a glaring spotlight on the bad ones......

 

As for your typos, I worked as a Scientific Technical Writer/Editor for many years, but if I had a nickel for every typo I made while posting on the internet, I could become the professional vacationer I was born to be! Thanks for the great review!