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Carnival Triumph review - 5/14/05


Arcanlaw

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Phew! We got back today and I'm happy to report that weather forecast I saw before we left (rain X 7 days) was about as accurate as a WMD report. We had, for the most part, beautiful weather all week with the exception of a little storm on the last day.

 

That said, there was a little problem - my wife got a cold on day 2

and was under the weather the whole trip. She was a trooper though and

it only slowed us down first thing in the morning and late at night

when she felt particularly crappy. The infirmary gave us some cough

drops (which I found out ended up costing us about $1 each. Ouch!)

that helped when her throat flared up. She had good days on all of our

excursions and we were able to do everything we wanted.

 

Some thoughts from a newbie:

 

We flew in the night before and spent the night in the Sofitel hotel

(4 * for $79, Priceline). Pretty decent hotel especially after they

upgraded our room. I highly recommend flying in the night before if

possible! Breakfast was slow and leisurely and we made our way to the

ship on a lazy vacation timetable.

 

I remember my first thought when we approached the Triumph. "Holy

****" ... I couldn't believe how big it is. I don't get awestruck

often and man, I just had no idea they were that massive.

 

Embarkation was all about lines. Go to this line, go to that line ...

boring and tiring, but we were in no hurry so no big deal. Went to our

room on the first floor (Riviera) and my wife was pleasantly surprised

- she had cruised once before with her family on Royal C and

apparently her room then was about 1/2 the size of the one on Carnival

and the window was 1/8 the size. Personally I felt like the room and

bathroom were comically tiny; I'm 6'2 so I like my space - but wifey

and I are still in the newlywed stage (2 yrs this July) so I didn't

mind *too* much being so cozy. Everything else was ok - room style

seemed a little dated but it was clean with the exception of a couple

faded stains on the comforter that didn't really bother us.

 

We were fairly nervous all day as our luggage wasn't delivered to our

room until moments before dinner. Speaking of dinner, we requested the

late sitting and were given early. Called the Purser's desk and the

attendant advised us to go early the first day and request a switch,

which is what we did. Dinner was great - we had a private table for 2

in a quiet spot, *very* nice waiters (the staff is unreal!) and the

food was great - too exotic for wifey but I love trying new things so

I was in 7th heaven.

 

The next day we got our new table - seated at a table of eight, which

we initially were a little sad about; we missed our romantic table at

the early sitting. After about 20 minutes we forgot all about that -

we bonded with two other couples right away and looked forward to

chatting with our new friends every night thereafter.

 

The days at sea were spent laying around sunning ourselves and

enjoying cocktails.

 

Cozumel - had a pretty good time shopping and exploring the island a

little. No planned excursions since wifey had just discovered she was

sick. I did get her to have a corona with me on a pier close to port,

and we had the most amazing corona commercial moment - you know, the

"miles away from ordinary" ones? Sun setting, lime fizzing, it was

great fun. I haggled like a bastard that day and got some pieces of

jewelry, blankets, and t-shirts for next to nuthin'.

 

Grand Cayman - My favorite excursion. We did an island tour by bus

that went to the Turtle farm, Hell, some of the nicer homes, and

finally Stingray City. The latter I'll never forget - my only regret

is only having a few pictures left in our waterproof camera! Those

animals are just amazing - we went through Carnival and at $59/person

I felt the value was just great.

 

Jamaica - The climb up Dunns River Falls was a rush - my wife's

favorite activity of the week. I held hands with a large elderly woman

and my right shoulder is, as I type this, still throbbing with

soreness from lugging her up basically the entire waterfall. That just

added to the experience though, we were all smiles for that whole

hour. Then we did the dolphin touch, which I thought was a letdown. My

wife went to touch & kiss a dolphin and when I went to snap a picture

I was told this wasn't allowed - that irritated me as I knew I'd be

forced to buy an overpriced pic from them instead. The entire

"encounter" lasted less than 10 minutes and left us feeling as though

we just didn't get enough out of that excursion to warrant the $119x2

(especially when compared to the Stingray City experience for half the

price!). As expected, they tried to get us to buy their 5x7 picture

for $16 a pop. I really wanted it but couldn't bring myself to pay for

pseudo-extortion on principle so we passed. Did some shopping and

picked up a few trinkets. At the end of the day we had a good time

thanks to the waterfall climb, but felt a little ripped off due to the

price. If we could have done it again we would've just skipped the

dolphin thing and done the climb through the locals.

 

I think it was day 6 before we knew how to get to most parts of the

ship without getting lost. Triumph is truly huge and the layout is a

little ... artistic? I had a little bit of a problem with another

guest on the ship - around 1am I was headed down from Lido with a

little pizza and some guy in the elevator turned to his young son and

said something like "can you tell this guy we feel sorry for him

having to go all the way to the first floor to go to his room?" before

stumbling off on the 6th floor, laughing. I was so caught off guard by

that, and I let it bother me for the rest of the night. :T

 

Oh, I loved the pizza. I must've had 20 pies last week .. haven't

weighed myself yet, I'm technically still on vacation until 8am

Monday.

 

Hmmm, what else - our cruise director was funny in a ryan seacrest

fruity kind of way. All the shows except for the last one were great,

and we caught every one. That last one was guest talent show which was

basically a karaoke night gone bad. Oh well. The comic (Percy Crews)

was so funny my wife and I thought we were going to hurt ourselves

from laughing too hard. We tried to go to the Rio Lounge on the other

end of the ship to catch his midnight adult show, but when we got

there every seat was taken and there was literally not enough floor

space left to stand comfortably. That's the second time we couldn't go

to a midnight show due to lack of space and I have to admit that was

pretty upsetting as we were really looking forward seeing more of his

act. That's the one complaint we left on our comment cards - hopefully

they can do something about it in the future. Another quibble we had was the interior temperature of the boat - it was freezing! We packed very little in the way of heavier clothing and weren't prepared for just how cold they kept places such as the lounges and dining rooms.

 

Our cruise ended with lots of group hugs from our dinner mates. : ) Debarkation was fast and painless, surprising after I read a couple horror stories on here. We stayed at Sofitel again (got an upgrade again) and flew back to gloomy Buffalo early today.

 

Conclusion - we had fun! I wish wifey was healthier but that only

slowed us down a little bit. Carnival Triumph was astounding, but I

don't have a reference for comparison. Would we cruise again? Probably

- but we would definitely experiment with another line. I've got my

eye on Princess.: )

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Arcanlaw - Glad you had a great time. I'll be on the same ship in 6 days!!!

 

 

Some thoughts from a newbie:

 

We flew in the night before. Breakfast was slow and leisurely and we made our way to the ship on a lazy vacation timetable.

This is the BEST way to start out a trip low stress!

 

I'm 6'2 so I like my space - but wifey

and I are still in the newlywed stage (2 yrs this July) so I didn't

mind *too* much being so cozy.

Ah..see, thats the problem. I'm 6 ft and DW is 2 ft...ah...OK She CLAIMS to be 5 ft tall. We can sleep in a twin bed together and be very happy. I hate getting a nice hotel and only having a King or Queen bed available. I always lose her in the sheets!

 

My wife went to touch & kiss a dolphin and when I went to snap a picture I was told this wasn't allowed - that irritated me as I knew I'd be

forced to buy an overpriced pic from them instead.

You should have been with us. Not alowed. Do they OWN the dolfins??? I would have snapped anyway and would wait to see if anyone would be nutz enough to do anything about it!

 

Hmmm, what else - our cruise director was funny in a ryan seacrest

fruity kind of way. All the shows except for the last one were great,

and we caught every one.

Thanks, I was wondering who the CD would be.

 

Our cruise ended with lots of group hugs from our dinner mates. : ) Debarkation was fast and painless, surprising after I read a couple horror stories on here. We stayed at Sofitel again (got an upgrade again) and flew back to gloomy Buffalo early today.
gloomy yes, BUT, you have Leonardi's Pizza! Life has it's little trade offs. DW grew up in Buffalo on Genese Street.
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Hi

 

Thanks for a wonderful review. I leave in 13 days to go to the Bahamas on the Triumph. I have packed some light weight sweaters and a light jacket to take with me--have heard it could be cool in the rooms. I've been studying the deck plans so I hope this will help me find my way around. I can't wait.

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Mmmmm, Leonardi's. Guess where I'll be going for dinner today? :)

 

The dolphin camera thing was uncomfortable - the instructor stopped what he was doing with the dolphin and told me I had to put mine away. It was clear he wasn't proceeding until I complied. I'm usually the type of person that would put up a fight but decided this guy would probably be too much of a pain so I grudgingly tossed the camera aside. It would be nice if the ship included these important details; I would not have done that excursion if I had known pictures weren't allowed!

 

KarenConley, definitely take a good sweater with you, something you can wrap around your waist and use if needed at a show, etc. Here's a tip - you control your room temp via a dial on vent on the ceiling! We had no idea until I called information when our room was beginning to frost over. :D

 

I studied the ship cross-section for a while as well, but still got lost. If you're on the fourth floor near the Rome lounge and want to get to dinner in the Paris dining room, you have to go up one floor (or is it two?), walk over, then back down. Yikes!

 

You'll have a great time - pack light and save room for souvenirs.

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Thanks for the great review...sorry about the wife not feeling well, but sounds like you made the best of it. Did you eat at the Asian Noodle Co at all? Also did you go to the piano bar? I am very anxious to know if Damian is still there..and if ANYONE is sailing the Triumph soon, please ask him if he will be there in December...if not..please ask where he is going next!!!! (we became friends with him on the ship and in ports when we sailed the Conquest) thanks again for the review...we will be sailing this December....cannot wait:D

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Don't let it bother you- be glad you weren't staying anywhere near *him*!!!

 

My parents are treating us (my sister and I and our 4 teens!!!) to a cruise with them (Triumph- Canada 5 day on June 27) We're all on the Rivera deck- They got a great deal- and we're planning to have a great time.

 

My parents are seasoned cruisers. In finding this deal- it was affordable to take us with them. A longer trip on an elevator to save some money and make the cruise affordable? Sounds good to me!!!

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Arcanlaw,

 

We were also on this cruise with you. We also had a great time. We felt the same way on alot of issue. My husband stood in the back of the Rio Lounge

He said it was hysterical. I was too tired to make the show.

My husband loved the food, but I am like your wife, the dining room was a little to fancy for me. Although I did enjoy the food that was my type.

This was our second cruise, the first was rccl. when we stepped into our room, we thought we were in heaven. It was so much bigger than rccl.

We group consisted of 4 adults and 3 adults. Everyone had a wonderful time.

My only complaint worth mentioning was camp carnival. We were extremely disapointed in it. The kids still had a great time, but spent less time in camp than we would have thought. The kids loved the waterslide and used it constantly. They also loved the pools.

I couldn't agree more about the layout of the ship. I had a hard time getting around but my 11 year old thought it was easy. It didn't bother me any that I had to explore to get around.

Glad you also had a great time.

oh one more comment, you mentioned the guest talent show and how boring it was, WHAT ABOUT ROBBY? that was anything but boring.

MIchele

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