Triumph Canada 7 day review

[Milaandra]

Hello everyone! As background, I have only been on one other cruise, which was the Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda. We decided to try other lines to find the best fit. I have to say that based on this cruise, Carnival was not the best fit, but we did enjoy ourselves.

I'm going to go into excruciating detail and I am going to compare. Please keep in mind that both positives and negatives are a reflection of my personal taste.

I liked our cabin. We were midships on Deck 1 inside, Cabin 1301. The hallways are very art nouveau and quite attractive and the decor inside the cabin was understated. Our beds were pushed together, and there is a storage cube holding the lifejackets at the foot, which means the sleeper nearest the wall needs to crawl in a bit...no big deal for us as I'm the light sleeper and I slept at the non-wall side. The storage cube also acts as the TV stand. The TV was bigger and better than the Dawn, and on our cruise got several regular channels plus the three free movie channels and the cruise TV. "Captain TV" was not as updated or informative as it is on the Dawn. We found the bed a bit hard. The lighting was better, and the layout was quite good. There was a little adjustable oval table, two coat hooks and the long desk/vanity with three deep drawers and two narrow shelves. If you have many folded items, you might want to bring a hanging sweater holder. There are three closets, one very tall for evening gowns, one regular and one short for jackets. The hangers weren't very good, being lightweight plastic without skirt clips. We couldn't get the safe to work, but we didn't feel the need to lock anything up, so no big deal. The cabin was kept beautifully clean. The bathroom rocked! The little shower was plenty big enough and nicely tiled in mosaics. The water pressure was excellent, there was shampoo and shower gel in a dispenser plus bar soap. There is a big, big counter and a great corner medicine cabinet that held all my make-up and toiletries plus. Unless you're travelling with a room full of teen-aged girls, you likely won't need the ol' shoe holder. The towels were scratchy, but made nice animals. There was a little shell-shaped container with toothpaste samples and some shampoo and conditioner packets. I used some toothpaste just for the novelty of the available flavours. Yes, I'm that much of a kid. The toilet was standard...why do cruise companies use toilet seats that discolour and scratch? Surely there is a better material available! It always makes the bathroom look a little dirty, which isn't fair to the room stewarts who work so hard!

The ship's decor isn't quite as startling as it appears in photos. The Rome Lounge is actually quite phenomenal, with tons of leg and butt room and little marble tables for cocktails. We were seated for early dining near the entrance of the Paris, which was rather noisy. The Paris is the main dining room, so that's where we went for most breakfasts and one lunch. For other lunches we went to the Lido "food court."

Yes, the layout is annoying. Flame me if you will. Passengers spend inordinate amounts of time waiting for elevators and asking other passengers for directions. This was an older crowd and there were many with mobility issues, so they didn't have any choice, either. This was particularly bad on the first night, as they closed off many of the elevators for luggage transportation. Often the elevators seem to skip past the floor you are waiting on for no good reason.

By the way, this ship shuts down the elevators for muster drill. If you don't want to schlep up two flights of stairs with hundreds of your new closest friends, try to get there before they call for the drill. Drill was really long. I was hot and sweaty, shoved against a wall, agoraphobic and out of breath from taking stairs during ragweed season. The Dawn's drill was much easier.

A huge amount of space is wasted on the photo area, and when it's closed, you can't even see the photos. Big waste of precious space. Deck 9 Lido is glass enclosed, and there is no lower promenade that goes around the ship. From the lobby you can sometimes go out on one of the decks, but since the only coffee is on Deck 9, that just wasn't as enjoyable as lounging around on the Dawn's promenade. Sometimes we felt we weren't really on a ship, just a shaky hotel. By the way, it may have been our imagination, but I'm pretty certain we could feel movement far more than on the Dawn. In addition to the ocean movement, the engines really rumbled and you could feel them all the way up to the Lido.

I have no problem at all with the service. Friendly, efficient and the ship was very clean.

Our weather was wonderful. Smooth seas until the last night. It rained at sailaway, but since we had sailed from NYC last spring, we just skipped it. I'm sure Liberty looked the same. The ports were warm and sunny. There were some showers in Saint John...I forgot to warn people that my excellent weather luck only holds while I am in port. The first shower hit 10 minutes after we came back onboard. We wore jean jackets over tee-shirts part of the day in Halifax. Nice, nice weather.

Now, day to day:

We took the train from Buffalo to NYC and it was a fabulous way to travel! Everything was on-time (or pretty close), it was comfortable, you could walk around and go for a coffee in the snack bar, and our luggage was on the same car right in front of us. They don't have wifi, but there are electrical outlets at every seat and trays. Next time we'll bring a couple of DVDs. The parking was free in Buffalo, and we both travelled for $175 with a promotional code. There are two long stops for a smoke...just ask the workers. Amtrak...keep up the good work! We grabbed a cab from Penn Station and it was about $6.50...we paid him $10...we didn't have much luggage. The schedule was perfect. We pulled into Penn around 12:30 or so. Our departing train left at 10:30 a.m. the next Saturday and unfortunately we were rather early because of a very efficient self-disembark. (Deck 1 gets to disembark first) Next time I'll find out if we have to leave when we're called or if we can hang out a bit on the ship.

We carried our luggage on. Two carry-ons and a small rolling garment bag. It was great. Our cabin was ready when we arrived and we just dropped off the luggage and got a sandwich at the NY Deli. The pastrami was very good and better than the corned beef. They grill the sandwiches.

There was muster, then sailaway. The secret decks were open, but like I said, it was raining, so we just met one of our CruiseCritic buddies and then took ourselves off to unpack.

We met a lovely couple at our dining assignment. Unfortunately, the rest of our table was only there one night, because they were fun, too. In fact, we met more people this cruise and enjoyed some entertaining conversation over meals. In a strange diconomy, there was more anonymous rude behaviour. Personally, I put it down to the layout of the ship. All those people ended up congregating in only a few areas and that leads to congestion and irritability. Plus it's loud.

The elegant nights were Monday and Thursday. People dressed quite elegantly. This may be because it was an older crowd, but long dresses were pretty common. It was lovely. I saw a few tuxedos. It was certainly more dressy than my other cruise.

I didn't make notes about what we ate, so I'll just make general comments about the food. The entrees were quite good, with interesting combinations and nice vegetable choices. They could be a little more generous with the sauces. The quantities were good, and in some cases huge. A tablemate had the spare ribs the final night and the portion was enormous! The dining room salads I had were limp, except for the iceberg lettuce. They don't have the lettuce storage thing down they way they do on the Dawn. The desserts were sometimes very good...any type of bread pudding was excellent, the apple pie was extraordinary and the black forest cake very nice. I don't think the souffle was actually a souffle, but it was very tasty none-the-less. I found the dessert choices a little limited. I discovered, to my dismay, that I don't like chocolate melting cake! I was shocked! But it had only a thin crust of cake on top and it had dates...eeeww! I even tried it twice to see if I had it on a bad day. Nope. Just don't like the stuff. Breakfast was fine and the dining room oatmeal better than the wallpaper paste on the Dawn. The french toast is raisin bread...just a heads up for anyone like me who really detests dried fruit.

One night, I swear I had food poisoning. The only thing I had that was different than my husband was a spinach salad. Maybe I was unlucky in the dressing lottery? I'm sure it was an anomaly. As soon as my stomach was empty (unfortunately with an awe-inspiring violence) it stopped and I had no problem holding down water and flat coke. This was on the third night and I was fine for the rest of the cruise, which is why I think it was food, rather than any sort of bug.

I liked our waiters, but the food service was a little uneven. I don't think it was the waiter's fault though, I think it was the galley.

I can live without the dancing waiters. I found myself feeling sorry for the ones who obviously didn't want to do it, and it's a bit...vigorous...between entree and dessert. I didn't have an objection to the singing numbers, but I still found it all unnecessary.

I didn't eat at the noodle place, but it smelled wonderful. The buffet was a bit boring and the desserts weren't as good as the dining room. The little buffet with the day's ethnic choice was well worth the visit...I tried caribbean and indian We never had the pizza but my husband enjoyed the burgers at the grill.

The karaoke host, Leanne, was a wonderful person. Very fun and sweet and friendly...and a great voice. There was a big selection of songs, but no DK's. I had a really bad karaoke week (that nasty ol' ragweed!) so I didn't get to enjoy the small rotation as much as I would if I had better breath control. There was karaoke every night and two extra afternoons! If you're a karaoke person, Carnival buries Norwegian!

I have to admit, the Legends show was FUN! My husband was Frank Sinatra, it was his first experience being on a stage and it was wonderful. It puts together a group of people in a lovely comaraderie...I was so proud of them all! Some had more natural talent than others, of course...our Gloria Estafan kicked butt and was actually better than the song. Others worked so hard and turned out a fabulous performance! I wish they had more "legends" to choose from so they could tailor the show to the people available. There was a young man on our cruise who did a fabulous Michael Jackson...he would have brought down the house if given the chance.

I had been looking forward to the piano bar, but I was disappointed. We used to have a sing-along piano bar locally, and it was lovely to have people sit around singing old war songs and show tunes. It wasn't like that. Because the piano bar is a smoking establishment, we would go in for a break and hope that something like that would happen. Instead we got a talking-to about coming in to smoke, which wasn't fair because there were ashtrays all over the bar! I didn't go in again.

Ports:

Boston
We had fog coming in to Boston, so we were an hour late. It's a late port to begin with, particularly for a Sunday. We just took the bus/subway to the Commons, then walked the Freedom Trail for an hour or so.

Portland
Very nice port! It's a lovely town, and they greet you when you get off the ship. There was a hop-on-hop-off available for $5, so we did that and got an overview. We walked along the prettiest street snapping photos of great buildings, then toured the Victoria Mansion. This was well worth the admission price! It's virtually untouched, with 95% of the original furnishings. It's filled with faux finishes, trompe d'oeille and murals, all original and fantastic. Only one room was repainted during the life of the house. When they need a reproduction, such as the hall carpeting, they take great pains to reproduce according to extant photos.

Saint John
We had arranged a car rental so we could travel to St. Andrews, but we were sadly misinformed by the national office and that fell through. After a brief crying jag (this was the day after I was up late being ill, so I have an excuse for being sucky) we decided to make the best of it. Across from the Avis office there is a local bus tour at a great rate...3 hours for $16 US/$18 Cdn. Our guide was great and Saint John is a town with a very strong historical preservation society, so the architecture is wonderful. Once off the tour, we were even stopped by locals who told us all about some local features. Very friendly and down-to-earth people. Yes, I got a rose and my husband got a pin. I gave my rose to the Avis clerk as an apology for my earlier dramatics.

Halifax
We took the Peggy's Cove excursion and it was a bargain! Peggy's Cove is quaint and starkly beautiful. The area was swept clean from glaciers, which deposited huge granite boulders from Quebec. Fascinating landscape. The bus was clean and comfortable, with big clean windows. Another great guide...so friendly she hugged me just because I was another Canadian! She sang to us all! She also showed us how to tell a female lobster from a male lobster while a seagull waited patiently behind her, hoping she would drop one. Nice experience! The tour also included hop-on-hop-off on double decker buses around Halifax. Nice town and the wharf area is great for strolling and checking out local artistry and jewellery. There is great shopping right at the pier, including hand-painted silk scarves and Jennifer's of Nova Scotia, which only carries local crafts. There were bagpipers everywhere. One at Peggy's Cove on the big rounded rocks near the lighthouse...a street muscian along the wharf. Wonderful!

I'm having a hard time remembering the sea days...we must have just lazed about. We did watch the production themed for New Orleans. If you've been on Norwegian, you won't be impressed by the show on the Triumph. It's just a totally different snack bracket. The Triumph show seemed to rely on flashy production, and I found the bangs and flashes instrusive and unnecessary. I remember on the Dawn the sheer spectacle of Bollywood that had me exclaiming aloud (although I was sitting by myself) or the moments that caught you up completely like the South Beach "Roxanne" number full of torture and longing and heat. Nope. This was rather more like good amateur theatre. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it though, so maybe we just have extraordinarily good amateur theatre in this area and I'm jaded!

Disembarking was quick and easy. As non-Americans the customs line-up was rather long, but we were off the ship in excellent time. Too early, in fact, and we had to wait around Penn Station for over an hour!

Since this has already turned into War and Peace, I'll stop here. I'd be happy to answer any questions. (If there's anything I haven't already discussed to death!)

[Milaandra]

Oh, here's something I didn't know. You are supposed to tip the maitre d' separately. I didn't know that and had no idea what was appropriate so...um...I just didn't.

[jenng1976]

Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it was a detailed review!

Thanks so much for taking the time to tell us about your trip, it sounds like you had a great time for the most part, minus the inevitable hickups that happen on any trip. I enjoyed reading about it - I leave next Saturday so I'm starting to get pretty excited!!

One question - how was dinner handled in the Boston port since you're in port late afternoon. I'm just wondering if we'll have to skip dinner in the main dining room since we have early seating and I'm not sure if we'll be back in time (especially if we dock late!).

Jenn

[Milaandra]

They did it as anytime dining for that one evening.

[jenng1976]

Thanks - I was hoping it would be Anytime Dining that night.

I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will still be nice for our cruise, it's been such a beautiful September, hopefully that will carry into October.

[Maraprince]

It doesn't seem like you took any of the ship's excursions -- correct?

The first formal was on Monday -- Portland?

Dinner in Boston was open seating?

What time did you board in NY?

Who was your Cruise Director? Good? Bad?

Thanks for providing such a detailed report! I will be sailing in October and anxiously waiting to hear from someone on the 7-day sailing.

MARAPRINCE

[Milaandra]

Originally Posted by Maraprince

It doesn't seem like you took any of the ship's excursions -- correct?

Just the Peggy's Cove excursion.

The first formal was on Monday -- Portland?

Yes.

Dinner in Boston was open seating?

Yup.

What time did you board in NY?

I think we got there around 1 p.m. and were on board by 2 p.m.

Who was your Cruise Director? Good? Bad?

Brad. Truthfully, I didn't have contact with him until we watched the reruns of the disembarkation talk. He was actually pretty funny!

Thanks for providing such a detailed report! I will be sailing in October and anxiously waiting to hear from someone on the 7-day sailing.

MARAPRINCE

I hope you have a wonderful time. The foliage should be wonderful.

[Maraprince]

Originally Posted by Milaandra

I hope you have a wonderful time. The foliage should be wonderful.

Thanks again for all the information. I posted some of it on my roll call. Starting to panic that I will not have everything done by the time I leave. Also, starting to get excited as well!


MARAPRINCE

[littlesnit]

Hi Maraprince,
I was on the Triumph Sept 7-12. I enjoyed Brad the CD, but I believe he is only temporary. I've read that Jorge is the regular CD and he may be back by the time you cruise. His reviews are great. Enjoy your cruise. We had a great time. That was my second trip on the Triumph.

[RedbirdFL]

Thanks for your review from someone else who's on the October 3 sailing. I can't wait!

I added some things from your review to my notes for the trip, especially your good info about the ports.

[Maraprince]

Originally Posted by littlesnit

Hi Maraprince,
I was on the Triumph Sept 7-12. I enjoyed Brad the CD, but I believe he is only temporary. I've read that Jorge is the regular CD and he may be back by the time you cruise. His reviews are great. Enjoy your cruise. We had a great time. That was my second trip on the Triumph.

This will be my second time on the Triumph as well -- doing the same ports!

Just found out we will miss the Halloween celebrations by one day! Boo Hoo!

The one thing that the Triumph needs is to put mini refrigerators in ALL cabins!


MARAPRINCE