Triumph August 4-11th ~Review~

[UpstateCruizer]

We sailed this ship 2 months ago for the Eastern Itinerary and enjoyed it so much we booked this cruise. It was my husband (43) and myself (40) on this sailing. Having sailed the same ship so recent I was already familiar with the ship and several of the staff. With that being said things on this cruise were different than what we had experienced on the previous cruise. I’ll point out what seems to have changed and what we enjoyed etc.

 

Embarkation – For those who do not want to wait in the heat or the elements I suggest arriving at the port somewhere between 9:45-10:15. We arrived a little after 9am and sat on the steps until they let us into the building. Going through the check in was quick and from there we stood in the first line waiting for the security area to start screening. We then went to another line next to the Vip check in area. This was different than our previous experience. This section was called early check in and we all had our sail and sign cards in hand. They started to fill a second section with people that would have to wait until the regular check in began which was sometime after 11am. These people did not have their sail and sign cards and would have to wait to check in. We waited in this line until customs cleared the ship. During this time we chatted with one of the Carnival embarking employees. She said that Carnival was changing the times for embarkation in a couple of weeks. It’s supposed to change to 11:30 instead of the 1:30 that is now on our documents. This is part of the new system they are putting into place. Anyhow we were on board around 12 and waiting for the grill to open on the Lido deck. Very smooth process. I had the Funship Special drink and watched as many people took the drink not expecting to be charged for it.

 

Roll Call Meet & Greet- This was one thing we had looked forward to since our last cruise didn’t have anything set up. We were supposed to meet fellow cruise critic members in the Lido bar area after embarking. Unfortunately there were many people in this area making it difficult to identify who might be a fellow cruise critic member. We did meet Jan who was as friendly and pleasant in person as she is on here. She was wearing her purple parrot dress with her mardi gras beads. We walked around the Lido deck several times hoping to find fellow Cruise Critic members but had no luck.

 

Cabin – For this cruise we were limited as to what cabins were available since we booked so late. We chose cabin 7334 on the Empress deck. This cabin is located right near the elevators. The ice machine is close by as well but we never heard any noise from that. We also did not hear any elevator noise. What we did hear alot was people noise. It seems to be the one area people tend to make their meeting plans or just in general chit chat. This made cat naps impossible. We heard people at various points during the night but were able to go right back to sleep. Our cabin was situated differently on this floor as opposed to our cabin 6348. The couch and bed were parallel to each other and there was less cabinet space in the cabin. Cabin 6348 was longer and the couch was against the wall facing the vanity. A much quieter cabin location and the overall layout made cabin 6348 a better choice for us. I would not book a cabin in the elevator area again. Our cabin Steward was Win and he was excellent~! I had ordered beer from Just Because of You for my husband and it had been delivered to our cabin right before the muster drill. We had brought 12 bottles of water with our checked luggage to take off in the ports. Win offered to supply us with a large cooler and kept it filled with ice for the entire week.

 

Entertainment- This was an area we were happy to see they had different acts scheduled for this sailing. The dancer’s routine and welcome show were the same so we opted to skip these shows. The family rated comedy shows with Jr McCollom and Phat Kat were good on both nights. We found that the adult shows were more crude than funny this time. We had enjoyed the adult shows on the previous sailing. The country music singer Trent Webb was good. Kevin & Caruso packed the lounge on this sailing as well and provided something for everyone to enjoy. By skipping the dancer shows we had more time to explore the piano bar and karaoke. Garth played in the piano bar and hosted the Name that Tune games. We enjoyed him and the games. Karaoke gave us a sneak peak at the fellow guests that would be in the Legends show at the end of the cruise.

 

Dining & Food – We did not order room service this time so nothing to comment on there. Pizza was much better this time and it seemed that either a lot more people were eating it or our timing was perfect since all of our pizza was hot and fresh. Burgers, reubens, and ice cream were good. We did not eat at the buffet other than to sample some of the deserts here and there. This is an area Carnival could improve on by covering the area that deserts are served in. They are exposed to the sun making them warm and in some cases melted. Dining room service was excellent and we enjoyed our waiters. We sat at a table with 4 other couples main seating in the Paris dining room. We couldn’t have picked better table mates and ended up spending a lot of time with the various couples during the cruise. Breakfast in the dining room was excellent each morning. The dining room was the one area that I was most disappointed with on this cruise. The Maitre d’s switch dining rooms monthly so we had a different Maitre d this time. I only mention this because we did not experience the same issues last cruise and wonder if it’s because the new Maitre d chose not to enforce any etiquette this time. One of the couples at our table not only arrived late (the table had already ordered dessert) but wore shorts and the husband was barefooted. Several nights people were late and seated during dessert. A woman stood outside the dining room waiting to go in wearing her dorm pants and Mickey Mouse slippers and had no trouble getting seated. In the past my feelings were more focused on the people and not the attire worn. However it quickly became apparent that the dining experience became less about fine dining and more casual or just a step above the Lido dining experience. At the end of the cruise we opted to not tip the Maire d and did include our reasons on the comment cards.

 

Ports – We enjoyed Paradise beach and shopping in Cozumel as well as seeing the ship all lit up before leaving port. In Grand Cayman we headed to Sea Grape beach where we spent the most relaxing gorgeous day of the entire cruise. Tendering went quickly and there were no issues. We’d go back just for this beach in a heart beat! When we got to Ocho Rios we headed to the taxi area. This was one area we’d do differently in the future. We were quoted a round trip price and ushered onto a small bus where we waited for it to fill. When we arrived at Dunn’s Falls we were told we had to return on that same bus only and we were given a meeting time. Since we opted to walk up the side of the falls we were ready to leave much earlier. Cab drivers know this so they walked up to us frequently offering to give us a ride back into town for $10 flat fare. When declined they got angry on several occasions. The falls was beautiful but the beach area that is talked about at the bottom of the falls isn’t a typical beach area that you can swim or lay on the sand in. We did some shopping at the stores near the pier.

 

Captain’s Party & Past Guest Party- both were enjoyable with complimentary beverages and hors derves served through out the party. We enjoyed the movie shown during the past guest party. Invites arrived in our room the night before the party along with Triumph pins.

 

Kids- Those that have a handle on their kids and ensure that they don’t disrupt other passengers you have my gratitude. However there was an abundance of school aged kids running the halls (as in we had to step aside several times while they ran the length of the halls), lido deck and many of the public areas. Ice cream stations were targets at all hours of the day with over flowing drip containers that had been filled with ice cream and topped with as many cones as possible. After a few days we noticed the cones weren’t filled and we had to ask for one. Many times we got our own from the storage cabinet. One night the elevator area near the Lido deck looked like a food fight had occurred there. During our June cruise there were quite a few kids on board but most of them were younger and under their parents care. This will influence my choice of dates for future cruises but it wouldn’t keep me from sailing during the summer.

 

Disembarking or Debarking (as some call it)- This process has been changed since our last cruise. We were given a number 6 tag for our bags and set them out the night before. We had breakfast in the dining room and headed up to the Lido deck around 8am. Our number was called and we made our way to deck 3 as instructed. We were in line to clear customs in the same area we embarked in. This was MUCH better than our previous cruise where we were in line and led to the luggage area and another long line to clear customs while dragging our luggage along. After handing in our customs declaration forms we were in area 6 to grab our luggage and out the doors into a cab. We were checking into our hotel by 9:15am!

 

We would sail the Triumph again (although we are looking forward to sailing other ships) and enjoyed this cruise immensely. We preferred the Western Itinerary and would sail these ports again. Sorry this was so long. If you have any questions please ask and I’ll try to answer them.

[travmagic]

Good review.

I sailed this ship and itinerary in July and had some of the same complaints.

We must have had the same Maitre de (sp sorry!) as you since there was virtually no dress code for our sailing either. Although, no one came in in bare feet:eek: !! And the shorts were really fine IMHO, that people chose to wear. Nothing sloppy. We sat right by the door so I did tend to check everyone out. I knew many folks from CC would be shaking their heads in disapproval;) .

As much as I loved the ship and crew, I will never sail over the summer out of Miami, that's for sure.

[HookedOnCruisin'2]

Thank you for the review. DH and I will be doing the Eastern Itinerary on the 25th and are really looking forward to it. Fortunately, I think that most teens will be back in school by this time, our high schooler will be (and she's not cruising with us). The rest of our kids are grown. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise...

[UpstateCruizer]

Just keep in mind some schools don't start until after Labor day but since the 25th is so close you may not have any issues :) There were several well behaved kids but it's the rowdy obnoxous ones that stand out most :) Enjoy your cruise.

[rwombough]

Thank you for the review. DH and I will be doing the Eastern Itinerary on the 25th and are really looking forward to it. Fortunately' date=' I think that most teens will be back in school by this time, our high schooler will be (and she's not cruising with us). The rest of our kids are grown. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise...[/quote']

 

Hey Rebecca - we'll be right there with you! As you know we will have all three of our kids - (17,16 & 12) - IF I ever find out that my kids are running amuck on the ship - they will have to answer to me! Respect is expected!! My kids know I have eyes in the back of my head - they can't get away with anything with me around:)

Can't wait to sail - 11 days to go! Yahoo:p

[UpstateCruizer]

Hey Rebecca - we'll be right there with you! As you know we will have all three of our kids - (17,16 & 12) - IF I ever find out that my kids are running amuck on the ship - they will have to answer to me! Respect is expected!! My kids know I have eyes in the back of my head - they can't get away with anything with me around:)

Can't wait to sail - 11 days to go! Yahoo:p

 

Your post reminded me of a group of kids we encountered in the hall on our way back to our cabin. They were looking for their parents and complaining about being told that they had to be back in their cabins at midnight to meet their parents. The parents weren't there and the kids weren't happy to have ended their fun while waiting for their late parents. They decided to go "find" their parents. The look on their faces was priceless as they rounded the corner at the elevator and ran into the missing parents. We could hear the kids scolding them for being late just as we entered our cabin lol.

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review.............

The wife likes the Western........and I like the Eastern........so we alternate our cruise destinations...........

Thanks for posting the review..............

[travmagic]

Thank you for the review. DH and I will be doing the Eastern Itinerary on the 25th and are really looking forward to it. Fortunately' date=' I think that most teens will be back in school by this time, our high schooler will be (and she's not cruising with us). The rest of our kids are grown. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise...[/quote']

Fortunately for you, the Florida schools will be back in session. You should be fine.

Have a good time.

[Hawaii697]

I enjoyed your reivew. I sailed the Triumph a few years back and it was one of my better cruises. Glad to see you had a good time on her.

[McDebbie]

Can you tell me about the Just Because of You service? Is that through Carnival or another company? And if another company, Carnival doesn't care that you have beer delivered to your room? You can have it delivered but not take it on yourself? :confused: We are taking the Eastern cruise 10/13 and are hoping there are very few kids aboard. Thanks for the review.

[GettingOutOfIndy]

Hey Rebecca - we'll be right there with you! As you know we will have all three of our kids - (17,16 & 12) - IF I ever find out that my kids are running amuck on the ship - they will have to answer to me! Respect is expected!! My kids know I have eyes in the back of my head - they can't get away with anything with me around:)

Can't wait to sail - 11 days to go! Yahoo:p

 

I'll be there too!

Anyone else getting nervous about Dean? I know people say not to worry, but I've never cruised around hurricane season, so...

[GettingOutOfIndy]

Hey Rebecca - we'll be right there with you! As you know we will have all three of our kids - (17,16 & 12) - IF I ever find out that my kids are running amuck on the ship - they will have to answer to me! Respect is expected!! My kids know I have eyes in the back of my head - they can't get away with anything with me around:)

Can't wait to sail - 11 days to go! Yahoo:p

 

I'll be there with you guys too!

Anyone else a little nervous about the timing of Dean? I know people say not to worry, but I've never cruised during hurricane season, so...

[enjoyinglife]

It is hard to believe that someone would show up in the dinning room without shoes. I wouldn't even go to McDonald's without shoes! And, I wouldn't even claim my husband if he went without shoes.