Triumph Info Thread - Let's start one!

[OSUcruiser]

Other ships have "tell all" or "question" threads...can we start one about Triumph? Share what you love and what shouldn't be missed! What tips or hints do you have? Thanks!

[enjoyinglife]

Other ships have "tell all" or "question" threads...can we start one about Triumph? Share what you love and what shouldn't be missed! What tips or hints do you have? Thanks!

 

Well, I dont really have anything to share as of yet, but I am eager to read what everyone else is saying as I will be on her in 30 days!!!! Yeah!

[shortyy2k00]

I will be on her in 15 days and will be leaving a very detailed review when i get back. I too am interstested in anything Triumph so i know all there is to know before I go.

[hockeyluver]

Been on the Triumph once before and looking forward to another trip in March. Happy to answer any questions if i can. :D

[kalley79]

We sail the Triumph in 113 days. I would love to hear more about her.

 

Kellie

[SCFCRUISER]

Leaving on the Triumph on the 26th.in 3 weeks. Looking forward to it. Let's hear it folks...the good,bad or ugly.

 

Steve.

[mgades]

I am also sailing her on the 26th. See you there SCFCRUISER!

[mgades]

My first cruise so I can not tell you much myself but heard she was nice!

[dst]

OSU: nice thread - lets see I have sailed the Triumph once before and will be sailing her again on the 26th....

 

First: Triumph gets a lot of bad info on the threads and I think often too much. Its a great ship and although is a bit older IMO still in great shape

 

The 5th floor goes all the way from one end to the other. Thats the hardest part of navigating around the ship. Other decks you must go up/down in order to get from one end to the other.

 

The rooms are a nice size

 

Staff was one of the best when I sailed her last January! Staff was always working on things, cleaning, saying hello and the wait staff in the dining room was wonderful

 

Dining room, there are two, four different dining times and from what I have been told they alternate the dining room times from sailing to sailing.

 

As on any Carnival ship; don't miss the Chocolate melting cake - it's the best!

 

The martini bar made the best martini's I have had at sea

 

Ok that is my input so far, if anyone else has questions; just let me know.

 

 

mgades - sailing along with you my friend - and looking forward to it:D

 

SCFcruiser - you should come over and meet us on the roll call, we are a fun bunch!

[dovie_6]

Thank you DST I was laughing about how all of the people posting here were people who have nto been on the ship before and then came your post. I am another one of the unexperienced Triumph cruisers. I am going June 15, 2008 and look forward to hearing what everyone else has to say!

[dst]

Thank you DST I was laughing about how all of the people posting here were people who have nto been on the ship before and then came your post. I am another one of the unexperienced Triumph cruisers. I am going June 15, 2008 and look forward to hearing what everyone else has to say!

 

Your are very welcome -

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions. I'll try to do a review also when we return. I think I did one last year.

[waiting4acruise]

Here is my review of my December 8 Triumph cruise. I will answere as many questions as I can.

 

Triumph Cruise-December 8, 2007.

I went on this cruise with my DW 41 and DD 17. This was the third cruise for all of us. I was on a business trip in Tampa the week before the cruise. On Friday My DW and DD flew from Dallas to Tampa. I met them at the airport and we flew together to Miami.

Hotel: We stayed at the Homewood Suites by the airport. The hotel provided a free shuttle from the airport and within a 3-mile radius from the hotel. We took the shuttle to a strip mall that had a grocery store and liquor store. The mall also had a nice little Cuban restaurant where we ate dinner. The hotel was going under renovations and had a paint smell in the hallways. The suite rooms were very nice.

Embarking: We took a cab from the hotel to the terminal. The fare was $30 with tip. We arrived at the terminal around10:45am. We were able to start the check in process immediately. We had a short wait before we boarded. We boarded the ship at 11:45am. We went straight to our aft balcony room 8434 to drop off our carryon luggage. We were having lunch on the Lido deck by noon.

Room Stewards: Our room stewards did a very good job in cleaning our room. We had a small cooler that they keep full of ice. My main complaint about them was the timing of the turn down service. On our previous cruises the turn down service done during our dinner dining times. I signed a form the room steward provided verifying our dinner time. Except for one night the turn down service was well after we got back from dinner. This was annoying because on several nights we wanted to watch our TV shows before we headed to the lounge shows at 10:30pm. Also the night we were in San Juan the was no turn down service at all.

Dining Room Staff: Our dining room waiters, Arifuddin and Dewa were excellent. After the first night when we ordered iced tea, they had the sweeteners and lemon already on our table when we arrived. They were very helpful in explaining some of the items on the menu, asking on how our day went, and giving our DD an extra scoop of ice cream for her warm chocolate melting cake through out the week. They even went the extra mile on the second formal night when my wife did not join us for dinner after our day in Half Moon Cay. Without even asking they gave us warm melting chocolate cake dessert to bring back to my wife.

Saturday:The Muster Drill was at 3:45pm. We headed down early to the Oxford Lounge on deck 4. We were allowed to stay there with other pax for the muster drill. As soon as the drill was over we went back to our room for sail away. At 5:30pm we went to our Cruise Critic meet and greet by the rear Lido deck pool. It was nice to finally meet our fellow CC roll callers. Our dining time was 6:15pm in the London Dining Room. The food was very good. We went to the Welcome Aboard Show. The CD, Brad was not very entertaining onstage throughout the cruise.

Sunday: Was a lazy day for us. After breakfast I went out on our balcony to read a newspaper I brought with me. I laid down on the bed to watch the football games. Due to the gentle rocking of the ship I fell asleep and missed most of the game. Today was the first formal night. I went to the r rated comedy show, which was very good.

Monday: The weather took a turn for the worse as tropical storm Olga formed south of us. The seas were rough. The main Lido deck pool was closed as was all outside decks except for the Lido deck. I was in the Big Easy Lounge participating in a trivia contest when an 80mph wind gust hit the ship. This caused the ship to list. Everything that was on the vanity shelf in our room fell to the floor. It broke our digital recorder in the process. The rough weather caused us to arrive 1 ½ hours late to San Juan. About 30 minutes after we got off the ship, it started raining. As we did not anything planned we took a taxi back to the ship. After eating dinner at the buffet I watched the football game in the sports bar.

Tuesday: St Thomas The weather cleared up. It was still windy. We did a tour with Godfrey. This was an excellent tour. They picked you at your ship and brought you downtown for shopping. Then they brought you up to Mountain Top. The view from there was breathtaking. The banana daiquiris were very good also. The tour proceeded to a hotel resort for a two hour swim. Along the tour they made frequent stops so you can take pictures. It was well worth the $25pp price.

Wednesday: Today was a sea day. It was raining in the morning. I decided to some laundry. Apparently many people had the same idea. The self serve laundry room were very crowded. It took about 4 hours to get 2 loads of laundry done. After we put our clothes up my wife and I went up to Lido deck for some ice cream. The rough seas caused a nice wave action in the rear pool. The kids in the pool enjoyed this. We went to past guest party. After the past guest party we found the sushi bar by the casino. It was very good.

Thursday-Half Moon Cay: What can I say? This is the closest as you can get to Paradise. This being December the temperature was in the upper 70s. The sand was very powdery. We rented a clam shell covering for our beach chairs so we would not get sun burnt. There were no rocks in the water. The BBQ lunch Carnival provided was very good. Some people brought some bread and cookies back to the beach to feed the fish in the water. Many schools of fish arrived. I can not wait for the pictures to come back.

Friday-Nassau: When we got off ship we found a local tour bus for an excursion. It took us to a fort and then to the hotel Atlantis. The Aquarium there is amazing. Afterwards our tour bus dropped us off by the straw market. That evening we went to the Carnival Legends show. It was very good.

Debarking; We had a 4:40pm return flight. We thought about getting a Carnival excursion for Miami. That meant we would have to be in the Rome Lounge at 7:30am. After the excursion we would be at airport at noon. We decided when we got off the ship we would try to find a taxi to hire for a tour. Our debarking number was 14.We heard our number called while at breakfast. We proceed back to our cabin to get our carryon. We headed to the Rome Lounge. After a short wait our number was called again and we debarked the ship. Once we got to the terminal we easily found our luggage on the carousel. I got a porter. who led us straight to customs. We could not find a taxi to take us on a tour. We headed straight to the airport. The fare from the seaport to the airport is $24. We were at the by 10:45am. The Miami airport was a zoo. It took us over an hour to check in at American Airlines. We were put on standby for a 1:40pm flight. We could not get on that flight. Our scheduled 4:40pm was delayed over an hour due to bad weather at DFW. We finally arrived back to our house at 9:30pm.

My DD enjoyed the Teen O2 club. She said it had a WII system. The Teen O2 director said there were about 45 15-18 year olds on the cruise. She met many new friends. My DW loved our balcony. She loved sitting out there watching waves go by when it was not raining. She said we can never cruise without a balcony. She noticed a lot more staff on this cruise. They were very friendly and helpful. Overall we had a great time despite the bad weather.

[TaraBeara]

i was wondering whats the drinking age on the Triumph? 21? it's kinda weird me asking but i think i want to know.

[sparkscruiser]

Drinking age on all the ships - 21. If you arr planning on going on a cruise for your 21st - be sure you book a cruise after you turn 21 - otherwise the whole cruise will be alcohol free.

[sparkscruiser]

We booked on the Carnival Triumph for the week after Thanksgiving-- Saturday to Saturday on their Eastern Caribbean itinerary. Just my DH and I - 50 and 49 respectively. Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary a little early. Our cabin was 9275 on the Lido deck with the king size bed arrangement. Seemed a little smaller that the cabins on the Spirit class, but overall was just the right size. This was our sixth cruise together - fifth on Carnival. I cruised many years ago on the Tropicale so it was my sixth with Carnival. Got a really good deal on this cruise - got guaranty price but when we booked got the automatic upgrade.

 

We flew from Reno to Miami via Atlanta on Delta Airlines on Thanksgiving day- all flights coming and going were on time. We had lunch at the Atlanta airport - my Thanksgiving dinner was chicken fingers! We booked the Holiday Inn Port of Miami back in March - room was very small but adequate - although a little pricey. We were not very impressed with this hotel as the "bar" consisted of four small tables and the only thing they were serving for dinner on Thanksgiving was a buffet of standard Thanksgiving items. We opted to get a few beers and ordered a pizza through room service that wasn't that great. We got up early and explored Miami using the small people mover type elevated cars. Went to Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant for an appetizer and sampler - in the afternoon. Dinner was Bubba Gumps at Bayside - great food and not too bad pricewise.

 

Got up early on Saturday morning and checked our bags in with the valet so we could check out more efficiently. Met a fellow CC'r while we were in line. Took a cab over to the Cruise Terminal - warning for all of you out there - Miami really needs to rethink the way they move traffic through here - before we got stuck in traffic the meter read $8 by the time we got to the terminal it was $18 - should have gotten out when traffic stalled and walked the very short distance to the terminal.

We arrived at the Port at around 10:30am. The new Carnival terminal was very beautiful. At the entrance, we tried to walk directly to the VIP area (we are Carnival Vacation Club members) but got stopped - explained who we were and they kindly directed us to the escalator. Once at the top of the stairs, started to head to VIP check-in and got stopped there as well - explained we were CVC and we were taken to check-in. After checking in and receiving our Sail and Sign cards, we were told to take a seat and that they would board VIP first. I went to use the facilities and noticed they were already boarding the ship - so much for VIP - very disappointed - told by staff that they forgot about the ten of us waiting in the VIP lounge.

We had our meet and greet just after the muster drill at the New World Pool - pretty good turnout - but we missed a few of you! We were there for so long that they started to close up the area around us. What a great group of people, we would see each other on the ship and shout out hello

The Triumph is a little older ship than we have sailed on before, but in general was in very good shape - at all ports of call I can honestly say that staff was doing maintenance on a regular basis. A bit of rust here and there - but after all, this ship is made of metal and it is in a salt water environment. Very pretty inside - new carpeting has been installed in many hallways - I think they are still working on this. No plumbing problems to report - as far as the "sewer" smell - not sure that it genuinely is a sewer smell - something unpleasant, but to me it smelled more like lubricating grease than sewer.

Something new added to the ship while in Miami - a two car set up of mini Nascar's that took up part of the Lido deck - but seemed pretty popular. From what we were told by the bar staff, if it goes over well, they will be adding these cars to the whole fleet - this is just the testing period - so those of you going next week will be the last of the guinea pigs.

Our steward Roderick was wonderful! Makes great towel animals and did everything we asked.

Our dining room staff was also great. We were seated in the London Dining Room for the late (8:30pm seating) at table number 175. Our main server was Kiishore and his assistant was Norman (actually something other than Norman, but I called him Norman). Service was excellent. We did not have this table originally - when we boarded we saw the previous CC'r we'd met at the hotel and another couple from our roll call and so we decided to dine together. What a great group of folks!

Overall, the food on this cruise was very good. The warm chocolate melting cake was ok, but not as good as I remember from the last cruise. The lobster was smaller to be sure, but still quite tasty. We had breakfast in the dining room a few times, lunch in the dining room only once. Had the buffet for breakfast a few times, of course the deli, pizza and the grille - never did get to the noodle joint. Had sushi at least once - we are used to more exotic sushi, but what we had was good.

Entertainment - shows were pretty good - enjoyed Asad the hypnotist the most.

Pool areas were always crowded - plenty of chair savers out there as well. But huge KUDOS to security for removing children from hot tubs that they were not supposed to be in! Never got to the slide - but we've done the slide before, so no big deal,

Casino - no big thing for us, we live in Nevada after all.

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas This is a beautiful little island! Did not rush to get off the ship but when we got to the Rome lounge it was done in a very orderly fashion. As far as some of the comments that I have read regarding the addition of more tenders, that's not really feasible with the docking situation. You just need to be patient. We did not have lunch on the island - only stayed a short while and went back to the ship. Sand was a mixture of flour and sugar - wonderful between your toes!

St. Thomas, USVI We booked the Castaway Snorkel trip through Carnival at this port. As soon as we cleared customs, we got off the ship and boarded the Castaway Girl. We were taken to the Buck Island protected area and got into the water. Somewhat crowded, but a pretty good excursion - water was a bit deep for snorkeling. Snorkeled for quite a while, crew gave us background on the wreck and the island with a bit of history as well. Sailed back and went through the small shopping area looking to get a brew at the VI Brewing Company, but alas they were closed. Started to rain so we went back to the ship to change clothes and take the sky ride up to the top of the mountain and had a spot of lunch and a Bushwhacker. Very yummy! Shopped a bit and got a nice eco drive Citizen watch.

San Juan, Puerto Rico We decided to do the Frommers walking tour with some our new found cruise critic friends. Walked along the old City wall and went to El Morro and San Cristobel. Before going back to the ship we stopped at the Old Harbor Brewing Company and had a few tasty brews and snacks. Did some shopping and back to the ship. San Juan is beautiful - not to be missed. We walked 5 miles according to our GPS.

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos This port we took the Ultimate Snorkel trip through Carnival - got off the ship signed our releases and away we went. This snorkel trip was better than the St. Thomas trip as the water was much shallower and you could get up close to the reef. Stopped in two locations and one our guides fed a large barracuda so we could take a few pictures. The investment in the waterproof case for our camera was definitely worth the money here. The crew on board tried to sell us some T-shirts - but they wanted $28 each - cute, but not that cute. The crew did not want to bargain either. We went into the village after changing our clothes and did some shopping - then on to Margaritaville. Picked up a few items in the gift shop then paid entirely too much for a few beers.

Debarkation Since we were VIP, we were given tag #1 for our luggage. We took our time and did not get off the ship until we were ready. With the set up they have at this port, I don't know why anyone would want to lug their bags off the ship - but to each his own. Finding our luggage was a breeze and we met up with our table mates and shared a cab to the airport. That worked out pretty well. This trip was well worth the price that we paid. Not sure I would sail on this ship again as it felt crowded all the time - but loved the itinerary.

[caribbeanchickie]

Here is my review of my December 8 Triumph cruise. I will answere as many questions as I can.

 

Triumph Cruise-December 8, 2007.

 

I went on this cruise with my DW 41 and DD 17. This was the third cruise for all of us. I was on a business trip in Tampa the week before the cruise. On Friday My DW and DD flew from Dallas to Tampa. I met them at the airport and we flew together to Miami.

 

Hotel: We stayed at the Homewood Suites by the airport. The hotel provided a free shuttle from the airport and within a 3-mile radius from the hotel. We took the shuttle to a strip mall that had a grocery store and liquor store. The mall also had a nice little Cuban restaurant where we ate dinner. The hotel was going under renovations and had a paint smell in the hallways. The suite rooms were very nice.

Embarking: We took a cab from the hotel to the terminal. The fare was $30 with tip. We arrived at the terminal around10:45am. We were able to start the check in process immediately. We had a short wait before we boarded. We boarded the ship at 11:45am. We went straight to our aft balcony room 8434 to drop off our carryon luggage. We were having lunch on the Lido deck by noon.

Room Stewards: Our room stewards did a very good job in cleaning our room. We had a small cooler that they keep full of ice. My main complaint about them was the timing of the turn down service. On our previous cruises the turn down service done during our dinner dining times. I signed a form the room steward provided verifying our dinner time. Except for one night the turn down service was well after we got back from dinner. This was annoying because on several nights we wanted to watch our TV shows before we headed to the lounge shows at 10:30pm. Also the night we were in San Juan the was no turn down service at all.

Dining Room Staff: Our dining room waiters, Arifuddin and Dewa were excellent. After the first night when we ordered iced tea, they had the sweeteners and lemon already on our table when we arrived. They were very helpful in explaining some of the items on the menu, asking on how our day went, and giving our DD an extra scoop of ice cream for her warm chocolate melting cake through out the week. They even went the extra mile on the second formal night when my wife did not join us for dinner after our day in Half Moon Cay. Without even asking they gave us warm melting chocolate cake dessert to bring back to my wife.

Saturday:The Muster Drill was at 3:45pm. We headed down early to the Oxford Lounge on deck 4. We were allowed to stay there with other pax for the muster drill. As soon as the drill was over we went back to our room for sail away. At 5:30pm we went to our Cruise Critic meet and greet by the rear Lido deck pool. It was nice to finally meet our fellow CC roll callers. Our dining time was 6:15pm in the London Dining Room. The food was very good. We went to the Welcome Aboard Show. The CD, Brad was not very entertaining onstage throughout the cruise.

Sunday: Was a lazy day for us. After breakfast I went out on our balcony to read a newspaper I brought with me. I laid down on the bed to watch the football games. Due to the gentle rocking of the ship I fell asleep and missed most of the game. Today was the first formal night. I went to the r rated comedy show, which was very good.

Monday: The weather took a turn for the worse as tropical storm Olga formed south of us. The seas were rough. The main Lido deck pool was closed as was all outside decks except for the Lido deck. I was in the Big Easy Lounge participating in a trivia contest when an 80mph wind gust hit the ship. This caused the ship to list. Everything that was on the vanity shelf in our room fell to the floor. It broke our digital recorder in the process. The rough weather caused us to arrive 1 ½ hours late to San Juan. About 30 minutes after we got off the ship, it started raining. As we did not anything planned we took a taxi back to the ship. After eating dinner at the buffet I watched the football game in the sports bar.

Tuesday: St Thomas The weather cleared up. It was still windy. We did a tour with Godfrey. This was an excellent tour. They picked you at your ship and brought you downtown for shopping. Then they brought you up to Mountain Top. The view from there was breathtaking. The banana daiquiris were very good also. The tour proceeded to a hotel resort for a two hour swim. Along the tour they made frequent stops so you can take pictures. It was well worth the $25pp price.

Wednesday: Today was a sea day. It was raining in the morning. I decided to some laundry. Apparently many people had the same idea. The self serve laundry room were very crowded. It took about 4 hours to get 2 loads of laundry done. After we put our clothes up my wife and I went up to Lido deck for some ice cream. The rough seas caused a nice wave action in the rear pool. The kids in the pool enjoyed this. We went to past guest party. After the past guest party we found the sushi bar by the casino. It was very good.

Thursday-Half Moon Cay: What can I say? This is the closest as you can get to Paradise. This being December the temperature was in the upper 70s. The sand was very powdery. We rented a clam shell covering for our beach chairs so we would not get sun burnt. There were no rocks in the water. The BBQ lunch Carnival provided was very good. Some people brought some bread and cookies back to the beach to feed the fish in the water. Many schools of fish arrived. I can not wait for the pictures to come back.

Friday-Nassau: When we got off ship we found a local tour bus for an excursion. It took us to a fort and then to the hotel Atlantis. The Aquarium there is amazing. Afterwards our tour bus dropped us off by the straw market. That evening we went to the Carnival Legends show. It was very good.

Debarking; We had a 4:40pm return flight. We thought about getting a Carnival excursion for Miami. That meant we would have to be in the Rome Lounge at 7:30am. After the excursion we would be at airport at noon. We decided when we got off the ship we would try to find a taxi to hire for a tour. Our debarking number was 14.We heard our number called while at breakfast. We proceed back to our cabin to get our carryon. We headed to the Rome Lounge. After a short wait our number was called again and we debarked the ship. Once we got to the terminal we easily found our luggage on the carousel. I got a porter. who led us straight to customs. We could not find a taxi to take us on a tour. We headed straight to the airport. The fare from the seaport to the airport is $24. We were at the by 10:45am. The Miami airport was a zoo. It took us over an hour to check in at American Airlines. We were put on standby for a 1:40pm flight. We could not get on that flight. Our scheduled 4:40pm was delayed over an hour due to bad weather at DFW. We finally arrived back to our house at 9:30pm.

 

My DD enjoyed the Teen O2 club. She said it had a WII system. The Teen O2 director said there were about 45 15-18 year olds on the cruise. She met many new friends. My DW loved our balcony. She loved sitting out there watching waves go by when it was not raining. She said we can never cruise without a balcony. She noticed a lot more staff on this cruise. They were very friendly and helpful. Overall we had a great time despite the bad weather.

 

Hey waiting4acruise, thanks for the review. I will be on the Triumph in 15 more sleeps. :D

 

Question for ya if you don't mind, How much was the clam shell? And how did you reserve it?

 

When we were on HAL in Oct 2006 I was able to reserve this online and they were only 10 bucks. The carnival excursion for HMC does not show this as an option. Your reply would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Michelle

[dst]

The drinking age on any Carnival ship is 21 however, I have seen many under age drinkers having a few too many! I don't think they enforce it (IMHO)

[dst]

Purr: I believe the clam shells are 5.00 to rent.

 

I also have sailed on HAL and I am upset that you can not pre-book anything for HMC on Carnival. Seems to make things more difficult

[caribbeanchickie]

Purr: I believe the clam shells are 5.00 to rent.

 

I also have sailed on HAL and I am upset that you can not pre-book anything for HMC on Carnival. Seems to make things more difficult

 

WOW, That is cheaper than HAL charged us. I think it was $10 bucks when we were there.

 

Hmmm, guess they want everyone to have a fair share at booking the Cabana's/clamshells???? I know when I was on HAL , they sold out within hours after opening up the cabanas. :cool:

Guess I will have to book it as soon as we board. If I can that is. :(

[waiting4acruise]

The Clamshell covers at Half Moon Cay were $19. You put it on your S & S card when they bring you the pole to hold it up.

[caribbeanchickie]

The Clamshell covers at Half Moon Cay were $19. You put it on your S & S card when they bring you the pole to hold it up.

 

WOW, That price sure went up. Thanks for the info!!

[dst]

The Clamshell covers at Half Moon Cay were $19. You put it on your S & S card when they bring you the pole to hold it up.

 

 

Ok so I rented my clam shell a long time ago :)

 

Purr - last time I was on HAl and we stopped in HMC we splurged and did the Butler. It was wonderful and well worth any money spent. I wonder if Carnival offers the same service? We are going to do the large Cabana as a group for this trip but the small cabanas are a lot of fun as well.

 

Have a great cruise

[caribbeanchickie]

Ok so I rented my clam shell a long time ago :)

 

Purr - last time I was on HAl and we stopped in HMC we splurged and did the Butler. It was wonderful and well worth any money spent. I wonder if Carnival offers the same service? We are going to do the large Cabana as a group for this trip but the small cabanas are a lot of fun as well.

 

Have a great cruise

 

I sent Carnival a message asking about prices for the Clamshell and the Cabana prices. Once I hear back from them, I will post it here.

I would LOVE to have the butler as this is a "special" cruise for us. ( Our 5th Anniversary) HMC is my fav island and I can barely wait to get back there. :D

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

Subscribing as I am on the 10/12/08 Triumph Cruise....

[waiting4acruise]

Some people on our roll call me the cabanas at HMC were around $220 for the day.