June 7th - First Triumph Cruise out of NY - Review

[sapper1]

Oh I LOVED the fog! We didn't have it on our Port Day, we had it on our Sea days. But it was so neat to be in fog, seriously. It's something that we don't see everyday, so it was interesting to us. :D

 

When we arrived in Saint John, our guides kept saying over and over "Look there's Newfoundland" and after like the 10th time I said "You don't usually see it over there? lol And they responded "Noooo, we don't, that's 40 miles away, the fog usually covers it" ;)

Actually I think you mean Nova Scotia as Newfoundland is hundreds of miles from here. But you are right in saying that it is a rare day that you can see it from St. Martins.

[sab490]

Thanks Michele for the great review and pictures. I booked a Carnival cruise for this coming December with much trepidation :eek: to try to save a few bucks. As time went by my anxiety got worse and worse so I cancelled and booked Explorer instead and felt great liberation! :) Yep...no flying, no hotel....just drive to the port and get on the ship. Then seeing your pics of the drawers that don't close and the rags on the balcony and reading about the muster drill problem and the non-functioning drink machines, I felt vindication :D for switching back to RCCL despite the slightly higher cost. Your review and pictures brought back some very bad memories of a horrible cruise on Carnival Ecstasy with our two sons many years ago. Now I know I made the right decision.

[bmazzo]

Your review is spot on. I've sailed Triumph and that was my LAST Carnival cruise. They are simply awful! Diamond Plus RCCL, Elite on Celebrity. Princess is good also. That' it for me.

[RoofingPrincess]

I could be wrong, but after reading the comments in the RCI thread, the OP seems a little snobbish to me.

Was this name-calling comment really necessary???

[marci22]

Your daughter's bunny face/costume was adorable.

[Karkarfl]

We are on the 7/4/09 cruise and I was reading the reviews and trying to ascertain what time you were allowed to board. The cruise docs from Carnival says earliest 1PM, but we are being dropped off somewhere between 11-11:30AM. This seems to be OK. Anyone think it's too early? I figured if the weather was nice in New York we'd at least have the afternoon to enjoy the decks/pools before heading up to cooler parts.

[Wilda]

Great perspective Michele! Sounds like you took the high road with the comments from the counselor about your 5-year old during the duck/duck/goose game; I would have had a hard time biting my tongue on that one;)

 

Love the pictures and the updated signature pics!

[crischickie]

Two suggestions for making the start and end of your cruise a little more pleasant:

We head back to our state room shortly before the scheduled time for the muster drill to get our life jackets, but, then we wait a short time after the alarm sounds. We usually end up being among the last to arrive. And that also means we are usually among the first to get away after the drill ends.

Secondly, on the last day, we never take our bags to breakfast. We just leave them locked in our rooms. After a nice breakfast we come back, clean up, get our bags and leave. There are plenty of empty rooms for the stewards to focus on without bothering any that are still locked.

 

I agree with your assessment of Carnival food. I think they are among the best. I think the Triumph is where Carnival introduced the NY deli and the Chinese buffet which are some things DH enjoys about the newer Carnival ships.

 

Thanks for the nice post. I hope my hints help you enjoy your future cruises a little more without being affected by poor scheduling.

[alexkrn46]

Nice review, sorry that the cruise didn't meet your expectations. Great Pictures. As a Picture is worth 1000 words.

[quickrate]

Thanks Michele for the great review and pictures. I booked a Carnival cruise for this coming December with much trepidation :eek: to try to save a few bucks. As time went by my anxiety got worse and worse so I cancelled and booked Explorer instead and felt great liberation! :) Yep...no flying, no hotel....just drive to the port and get on the ship. Then seeing your pics of the drawers that don't close and the rags on the balcony and reading about the muster drill problem and the non-functioning drink machines, I felt vindication :D for switching back to RCCL despite the slightly higher cost. Your review and pictures brought back some very bad memories of a horrible cruise on Carnival Ecstasy with our two sons many years ago. Now I know I made the right decision.

14 cruises on Carnival and never had any of this happen so please don't feel this is the norm! All ships have their own hotel manager and the ship is as good as the manager running the show. It's kind of like loving Hilton Hotels and then having one bad experience at a Hilton and judging the whole corporation by that one experience. I'm sorry things didn't go well- I surely would have said something about Camp Carnival- that is just plain wrong!

Pat

[quickrate]

As poster mentioned above, we also wait until the alarm has sounded for the drill and then go to our appointed station. Learned this after a couple of cruises.

Pat

[caribbeanboy]

Without getting into a racist issue, it does seem that non-Americans don't like to tip. My mom has noticed in Las Vegas that "they" do not leave tips on the table when leaving the buffet even after the hardworking women have been bustling around replenishing their drinks and removing dishes.

 

It depends where you come from. Most people in europe are not used to tip(or tip very little) b/c most of the time it's included in the bill already.

 

I always tip the recommeded amount and if I'm happy I'l put some extra cash.

 

But in my eyes americans tip way too much, and most of the time I find the service in restaurants just ok, they are awlays like in a hurry to get you out of the restaurant. In europe and here in Curacao too (very european in that aspect) people go out for dinner to socialize and most of the time once a table is occupied it's for the rest of the evening..not just to eat and take off

 

A very good friend who lives in NY and is married with an american girl always have "trouble" b/c she always tip 25%! of the bill and sometimes it can be a huge amount I can tell you.

[Naomi John]

I really enjoyed your review as well as your CC roll call friend's. I do not think you are turned off from Carnival from just one bad cruise as you have several previous ones. I am surprized at Camp Carnival, and I do hope the staff on the Triumph improves before next April out of New Orleans. Some things I found about Camp Carnival on your cruise upsetting:

 

Attending the orientation: The first time I cruised with my DD (age 6 at the time 2008), I went to the orientation,(Conquest, Galveston). Her second cruise, I went to the camp carnival area during embarkation, (this was Fantasy out of NOLA), obtained the forms and the next day turned them in. No questions asked.

 

Calling about a beating a shark on a poll: um, I have no response to this. I guess the Adult staff did not know how to tell her to stop.:confused:

 

Lack of Interaction and falling off schedule with the staff: It was a short cruise, but I would of said something. I do hope you put this on your comment card. If the staff is poorly trained, as it sounds like, someone needs to know this so it can be fixed.

 

Question: Did you notice anything about the 6-8 group?

 

Again, I do hope the staff gets training before the Triumph comes to NOLA. Will be checking reviews up until April.

 

Your blog and comments give great advise and I really enjoy your reviews.

[brmoqueen]

Love the review!

 

Making me wish I hadn't booked my next cruise on Carnival!!! YIKES....another RCL person changed over (only for one cruise tho!!) My bff wanted us to go with him out of LA for 4 nights and RCL doesn't do them so Carnival we had to book......

 

Although I have much lower expectations with them so we'll see!!!

 

jul :)

[bplazo]

What a great review and pictures. I have to add that I also would never leave my daughter at home if I was going on a cruise. That is something that her and I love to do together.

 

It is such a shame about so many people taking their tips off their accounts. The crew work so hard and to wait on someone and clean up after them for days and not to receive compensation is sad. All cruiselines need to make tipping mandatory and just call it a service chage.

[lady_cruiser]

I could be wrong, but after reading the comments in the RCI thread, the OP seems a little snobbish to me.

 

I am bitting my tongue here. I noticed you are new here so please go to the top of the page and click on the link called "guidelines". And no I do not know Michelle.

 

Thank you Michelle for taking time to write this review and especially for uploading and posting all your photographs. Your daughters are beautiful and your little one does look like an innocent angel that can probably be a handful at times - and I mean this in the fondest of ways - LOL

[Swimware27]

At least you start off knowing that you probably are in the wrong, which if you knew the OP you wouldnt say could be you would say you were wrong. The OP has contributed so much to CC especially in regards to giving of her time to post capers for the parents of children and information for families. If being so giving and helpfull is your definition of snobby, then we all should be snobby, but my dictionary seems to define it a little differently.

Which is why I started the way I did. I don't know her enough to make that judgement, however (and this should probably be attributed to the pilers-on, and not to the OP) the RCI thread about this cruise seemed like a "cool, let's slam Carnival thread" I apologize if I read you wrong. ::hands OP a rose::

[Kurbanfan]

Love the review!

 

Making me wish I hadn't booked my next cruise on Carnival!!! YIKES....another RCL person changed over (only for one cruise tho!!) My bff wanted us to go with him out of LA for 4 nights and RCL doesn't do them so Carnival we had to book......

 

Although I have much lower expectations with them so we'll see!!!

 

jul :)

 

Because of someone else's experience on a completely different ship:confused: Anyone who has experienced several cruises knows that every ship is a completely different experience.....regardless of cruiselines......

[Kurbanfan]

Which is why I started the way I did. I don't know her enough to make that judgement, however (and this should probably be attributed to the pilers-on, and not to the OP) the RCI thread about this cruise seemed like a "cool, let's slam Carnival thread" I apologize if I read you wrong. ::hands OP a rose::

 

I think that's a pretty good assesment;)

[malittlefoot971]

I could be wrong, but after reading the comments in the RCI thread, the OP seems a little snobbish to me.

 

Yup you have that right! I thought she "sounded" like a pro or atleast someone that's been around the block a few times on the roll call. After meeting her I can honestly say she seams like a VERY down to earth type of person that knows what the "norm" should be. If she didn't get the norm on ANY line then she has the right to say so.

 

PFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT (sound of coffee spitting out of my mouth on to the monitor).

 

Yes, you are definitely wrong.

 

LOL couldn't have said it better myself!

 

We are on the 7/4/09 cruise and I was reading the reviews and trying to ascertain what time you were allowed to board. The cruise docs from Carnival says earliest 1PM, but we are being dropped off somewhere between 11-11:30AM. This seems to be OK. Anyone think it's too early? I figured if the weather was nice in New York we'd at least have the afternoon to enjoy the decks/pools before heading up to cooler parts.

 

crusinmama arrived a little before we did and we were there at around 11 and were boarding #6 so 11-1130 should be about perfect. We boarded in enough time to eat, view stateroom and explore for 4+ hours before the muster drill.

[malittlefoot971]

I think that's a pretty good assesment;)

 

your opinion is your opinion but as a person that has taken 2 cruises so far and both with carnival I can tell you she isn't bashing carnival just because she's been on other lines.....

 

she's bashing carnival because THEY SCREWED UP BIGTIME on this cruise. I've only sailed carnival and even I am looking at other lines and not sure if I want to go back!

[patseacruiser]

SAB490 - i have done the explorer out of bayonne 4 times and love it.

 

SAPPER1 - i loved your city and the people. all were so friendly to us.

 

KARKARFL - arrived at 11 and check-in and boarding were great. rooms open when we got on. in fact, i read on one of these threads that someone who arrived later had long lines getting in.

 

i gave carnival another chance after my last time and i can honestly say - great main dining room food. the rest they can keep - i'm going back to royal caribbean.

[patseacruiser]

p.s. - i met michele (crusinmama06) on this trip and big and little feet there (brian and sherry) and all of them were so down to earth and friendly so snobbish does not apply. knowledgeable? definitely.

[WoodyWindy]

Great Review, and wonderful pictures!

 

Great! ...I hope they improve this ship before it heads to New Orleans. We will be sailing in January with family. My neice will be getting married on the ship....and there will be lots of us....some with little kids. Those cabin pics were scary......the Fantasy is nicer from what I see here!

 

My cousin got married on the Triumph a few years ago, before the updates (e.g. lido movie screen). Was it a perfect trip? No. But we still had a great time! Ours was a late-fall Western Caribbean itin out of Miami.

 

And, please people .....don't remove tips.....if you want to keep your money that bad.....stay home and clean up after yourselves.

 

Amen! These folks work their tails off (harder and longer hours than just about any other job you can think of), and last time I checked they don't get paid very well on normal salary. Unless someone really does you wrong, they deserve every cent and more.

[wtallen24]

thanks for the pics and the story sorry you had a bad time, i cruised on the conquest in jan 08 and had a blast and my next cruise in on the triumph in jan 10 so i hope i dont get the same crew you did, i would rate camp carnival 110% so i dont think you can pin it totally on carnival since everyship has a differnt crew,, if you posted any other reviews could you send me the link your a good story teller and take many pics,, thanks again tim