Just returned from Carnival Triumph Cruise!

[dapembroidery]

Hey gang,

 

I found this website shortly before we cruised on the Triumph. We left on May 21st and came home May 26th. Our stops were Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk.

 

Overall, we had a BLAST. Our oceanview cabin was HUGE. We also had the very best room stewart possible. His name was Rodel and he rocked. He made the best towel animals and was extremely attentive.

 

The best ports were St. Thomas and San Juan. I guess Carnival just acquired Half Moon Cay this year, and well...there wasn't much there. Didn't help that we got completely rained out of that port.

 

Grand Turk was ok, but St. Thomas and San Juan blew everything else out of the water. I highly recommend the SNUBA excursion on St. Thomas and the Old San Juan shopping trip.

 

I have a question for experienced cruisers. Have you ever complained to Carnival about your cruise experience? We had several issues that I feel should be shared with them. Doubting that Carnival would respond...but I still feel they should know about our trip with them.

 

Highlights of our complaints:

Ship was not clean, horrible procedures upon check-in, Broken elevators throughout the week, Closed decks most of the trip, terrible attitude of most of the wait staff, bad food at dinner, poor selection of foods all week, outragious photo prices, TV not working, bad attitudes from servers when using the Coke card, sewage smell on last day, extremely HOT shower water that could not be modified, all ports experienced bad weather, Half Moon Cay had nothing to offer, Baggage guy ran over my husbands foot and didn't apologize, Bellman dropping luggage from 10 foot +, the water slide closed for all but the first day, almost everything closed on the last full day at Sea.

 

So now I sound like a total fuddy duddy. But, I don't think we'll sail Carnival again due to our experience. Anyone ever have any good results from sharing your experience directly with Carnival?

 

Thanks,

 

Danielle

[islahopper]

2 of my employees cruised on the Truimp in April, thier experience was the same as yours, and they will not cruise again because of it. On return they sent letters to CCL and E-mails to Bob D.. Just this week they got a letter with $100.00 OBC for a another cruise cruise. Seeing that they will never cruise again this was worthless. Good luck.

[DqALEX]

Hey gang,

 

I found this website shortly before we cruised on the Triumph. We left on May 21st and came home May 26th. Our stops were Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk.

 

Overall, we had a BLAST. Our oceanview cabin was HUGE. We also had the very best room stewart possible. His name was Rodel and he rocked. He made the best towel animals and was extremely attentive.

 

The best ports were St. Thomas and San Juan. I guess Carnival just acquired Half Moon Cay this year, and well...there wasn't much there. Didn't help that we got completely rained out of that port.

 

Grand Turk was ok, but St. Thomas and San Juan blew everything else out of the water. I highly recommend the SNUBA excursion on St. Thomas and the Old San Juan shopping trip.

 

I have a question for experienced cruisers. Have you ever complained to Carnival about your cruise experience? We had several issues that I feel should be shared with them. Doubting that Carnival would respond...but I still feel they should know about our trip with them.

 

Highlights of our complaints:

Ship was not clean, horrible procedures upon check-in, Broken elevators throughout the week, Closed decks most of the trip, terrible attitude of most of the wait staff, bad food at dinner, poor selection of foods all week, outragious photo prices, TV not working, bad attitudes from servers when using the Coke card, sewage smell on last day, extremely HOT shower water that could not be modified, all ports experienced bad weather, Half Moon Cay had nothing to offer, Baggage guy ran over my husbands foot and didn't apologize, Bellman dropping luggage from 10 foot +, the water slide closed for all but the first day, almost everything closed on the last full day at Sea.

 

So now I sound like a total fuddy duddy. But, I don't think we'll sail Carnival again due to our experience. Anyone ever have any good results from sharing your experience directly with Carnival?

 

Thanks,

 

Danielle

My cruise on the Triumph was much like yours. I had a cat 12 suite that the TV diden't work. Rust comming out of the hot tub in the room, Dried Blood on both bath robes, The ship had a very bad smell down where the pictures were sold, the shower in our room took 15 to 20 min to drain between showers. I went up to the sun deck at 10PM at night and there were still dirty cups and dishes from the afternoon. I felt out of all the Carnival ships I have been on the Triumph was in the worst shape. IMO Carnival should keep the Holiday and the Celebration, and sell the Triumph. I would try a different Carnival ship if I were you.

[DG2004]

are things really that bad on the triumph?

[gypsyrose]

I took the same cruise in April and had absolutely no complaints. We just made a great beach day and snorkled w/ the stingrays in HMC. Fortunately, we had perfect weather. We never encountered any smells, dirty areas or rude employees. Sorry you had such a bad experience. Some of it is not Carnivals fault of course since they can't control the weather. Hope you brought other things to their attention, such as the tv and hot water, while you were on the ship.

[m steve]

Couldn't resist it as there are dozens of threads about steward v. stewart.

We sailed the Triumph in 2002 and noticed a lot of problems and when we sailed Legend this past week we got 4 drink tickets as a response to our 5 yr. old complaint. Carnival makes you appreciate spending a few hundred more to sail on HAL or Princess. No ship is perfect and there are many areas for improvement and hopefully the cruise line reads these threads and takes action.

[dapembroidery]

LOL...

 

Sorry about that. Our Stewards name was Rodel.

[momofzeke]

all ports experienced bad weather

 

Are you kidding?? You don't actually think Carnival (or any other cruiseline for that matter) has any control over the weather in the ports do you?? :rolleyes:

[J Free 203]

I'll take that OBC if they won't use it!

[dapembroidery]

I never said that I thought Carnival could control the weather...But they can and do (at least on other cruiselines) alter course when able to avoid poor weather conditions.

[MamaParrotHead]

I had some cosmetic issues with the Triumph, but the staff and crew were outstanding for us.

I also beg to differ on the statement you make about cruiselines avoiding poor weather. I'm fairly sure the only time they alter a course is to avoid DANGEROUS weather (hurricanes, etc.). I've never, ever heard of a ship switching ports to avoid a little rain or cloudy skies.

[Procruizer]

Sorry you had a terrible cruise. But Carnival cannot be responsible for the weather. When you choose the caribbean you should realize that their is a possibilty of rain. After all, it is the tropics. As for photo prices they are basically the same on all lines. Finally, porters are independent contractors and are not employed by Carnival.

[nothomeonacruise]

We had a good time on the Triumph. No complaints from us. We had a cat 11 suite.

[funcpl30]

i am on the triumph in 3 weeks and this thread has me very nervous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hedocple]

i am on the triumph in 3 weeks and this thread has me very nervous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Us too!

We certainly don’t expect our upcoming Triumph cruise to match the awesome experience we enjoyed on our first cruise aboard Celebrity’s Constellation but many of the annoyances you describe are unacceptable. Hopefully we won’t encounter many of them. There is no excuse for lack of cleanliness. And weather barring we expect the majority of the ships features (pools, hottubs, etc) that we paid for to be in fine working order.

[gypsyrose]

Don't be worried about going on the Triumph. If you go looking for bad things, you will surely find them. But if you go with a positive attitude looking to have a great time then you surely will. Honestly, we saw people cleaning all the time. There was 1 elevator broke the whole week (big deal). There just was not anything for us to complain about. Go on your cruise and have a wonderful time. And IF you see some dirt, or something is broke, don't let it ruin your cruise. You paid too much money to let the little things get to you.

[jpg1747]

I won't be on this ship until November 17, so I would appreciate it if all you current cruisers would make sure to point out all the problems so that they're taken care of by then. Thanks and happy cruising.

[Cruzman]

I tended to sympathize with you until the part about the weather. That's just a little over the top! Then the comments about HMC ... Having been there many times, and with the knowledge that this private island (actually owned by Holland America Cruise Lines) has won numerous awards for being the highest rated private island in the Caribbean, I'm at a loss as to what your complaint is. The island offers horseback riding, fishing, wave runners, great snorkeling, and a wonderful tropical atmosphere. And did I mention the BBQ; YUM! By th way, we are leaving this Saturday on the Triumph, identical itinerary; will report back soon!

[Procruizer]

Cruzman,

 

Can't wait to hear from you!! Have a nice vacation.

[jean212]

Cruzman - I look forward to your review. Me and my family are booked on the Triumph in December. I know that Triumph is one of the older ships, but we chose that ship for the exact itinerary that dapembroidery didn't like. So everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise, and Cruzman have a great time!

[Wiseone24]

I leave for the Triumph in 3 days. Hope my experience is better than yours.

[fletch6919]

I leave in 3 days too. I am going to go into it with a positive attitude and enjoy the heck out of it! Will report back.

[MARRIEDATSEA]

We got married on the Triumph (Oxford lounge) on 12-16-06 and then honeymooned on her...NO problems at all except that the hot tubs were not working the entire trip.

[KtBarker]

I leave for the Triumph in 3 days. Hope my experience is better than yours.

 

All cruises are just what you make them out to be. If you are looking for negatives (long lines, bad meal in the dining room etc) you will find them. Just go on the cruise with a positive outlook and you will be fine!

 

If you are going on the cruise and feel something like a 'tough' lobster may ruin your week, fly up to Maine instead! :p

 

We actually overheard someone complaining about what a rip-off our cruise was because it only stopped at 3 ports instead of 4, and if they had just run the ship a full speed we could have gone to 4 ports. He actually commented that he would never cruise Carnival again because of this... We just laughed because we specially booked that cruise because we enjoy sea days.

[MamaParrotHead]

All cruises are just what you make them out to be. If you are looking for negatives (long lines, bad meal in the dining room etc) you will find them. Just go on the cruise with a positive outlook and you will be fine!

 

If you are going on the cruise and feel something like a 'tough' lobster may ruin your week, fly up to Maine instead! :p

 

And as I have stated many time, it's nothing that ruined my trip or prevents me from cruising Carnival again. But there are things that were literally staring me in the face. From the neon bulbs burned out in the dining room, to the "water effects" in the dance club (of which 75% of them were all dried up and non-functional), to the rust around the aft pool I noticed while sitting on the side of the pool, to the sinkholes in the carpet along the hallways outside our cabin. Little things that I think would be easy enough to fix, that I wish Carnival would atleast make the effort to fix. As far as the tough lobster goes...again, doesn't ruin my trip, but it's part of what I expected when I paid for the trip is good food (the rest of it was good to excellent). Do people send back or refuse to pay for a poor dish in a restaurant? I do.

 

The staff and crew were super friendly and efficient, can't complain there.

 

Again, we had a blast. But it's nothing like the Valor, when I was on her. Yes, I think we may have gotten spoiled, but it's kind of silly to think of being "spoiled" by things being clean and in working order on the ship.