My Carnival TRIUMPH from NEW ORLEANS 2016 Cruise Review!!!

When I sailed on the Carnival Triumph in 2013 after the ship's engine room fire, one of the new features was a lounge called the EA Sports Bar. However, after the ship's April 2016 dry-dock the EA Sports Bar has been converted to the Skybox Sports Bar. The Skybox Sports Bar is located on Deck 5 (Promenade). This area has one long bar and some chairs. During the evenings, it looked like the Skybox Sports Bar was crowded.

Morning Walk On the Outside Decks:

After walking around the ship's insides I wanted to take a look outside. Based on weather forecasts I saw prior to the cruise, I was a little worried about the weather for our day at sea. Thankfully, we had great weather and a nice blue ocean! My walk around the outside decks started on Deck 12 by the mini golf course and then I proceeded up to Deck 14 to look at the waterslide entrance.

Love the review! Can't wait to be back on the Triumph. She's a great ship!

Great review! Looking forward to more

Walking Around The Ship's Outside Decks:

 

As we continued our walk around the ship, we walked outside to see the view from the front of the ship. One of my favorite outside deck spaces on the Carnival Triumph was the Deck 9 (Lido) front observation deck.

 

Besides for the wooden bench, is there any other seating, such as lounge chairs out there? I will be staying in 9201 and would love to use that area as my "private" balcony, if possible.

Was Guy's Burger Joint open when you first boarded?

Enjoying your review. I was on Triumph in 2011 and will be taking my 10th cruise on her next week, leaving July 4th. Back in 2011 I didn't really like Triumph because I felt things didn't flow well, particularly the lido buffet. Seemed awfully crowded. My other cruises have been on Elation and Fantasy which I prefer. I know there have been upgrades since I was on Triumph. Did you think it was crowded, or at least more crowded than other ships?

Love the review! Can't wait to be back on the Triumph. She's a great ship!

Thank you!

Great review! Looking forward to more

Thank you!

Besides for the wooden bench, is there any other seating, such as lounge chairs out there? I will be staying in 9201 and would love to use that area as my "private" balcony, if possible.

I am sorry, but I do not think there were any lounge chairs located on this front area. I really liked this deck and think some lounge chairs would be a great addition!

Was Guy's Burger Joint open when you first boarded?

Yes, Guy's Burger Joint was open when I first boarded. On the Fun-Times it said none of the lido buffet places were opening until 12pm on the first day, but everything was open when we first got to board around 11:40am.

Enjoying your review. I was on Triumph in 2011 and will be taking my 10th cruise on her next week, leaving July 4th. Back in 2011 I didn't really like Triumph because I felt things didn't flow well, particularly the lido buffet. Seemed awfully crowded. My other cruises have been on Elation and Fantasy which I prefer. I know there have been upgrades since I was on Triumph. Did you think it was crowded, or at least more crowded than other ships?

I understand exactly how you feel. I sailed on the Triumph in 2010 and the ship was my least favorite at the time. The lido buffet's layout is still not perfect, but it has improved since 2010. The line for hamburgers at Guy's Burger Joint moves much faster than the line for the old style hamburgers. The Blue Iguana Cantina's line for tacos moved fast, but the line for burritos did not. The general buffet lines also moved decently fast, but on the sea days it did take time to get through.

The main crowding throughout the cruise was on sea days in the buffet and pool areas. The ship's promenade was not as crowded on this cruise because many of the trivia games took place in the atrium. However, the atrium bar and surrounding chairs were limited & crowded due to this.

Compared to the Elation and Fantasy Class ships, the Triumph only felt slightly more crowded in regards to the buffet. However, when it comes to the pool areas it felt like the Elation & Fantasy class pools were more crowded than the Triumph's pools.

I am sorry, but I do not think there were any lounge chairs located on this front area. I really liked this deck and think some lounge chairs would be a great addition!

Thank you! Hate to hear that though.

First Breakfast Onboard:

Today was my first breakfast on the Carnival Triumph. The Carnival Triumph offers cruisers multiple breakfast options to choose from. For cruisers that wanted to eat in the South Beach Club breakfast was scheduled to begin at 7:30am and end at 10:30am. Continental breakfast (pastries, juices, and fruits) opened at 6:30am. The breakfast buffet lines opened two or three minutes prior to 7:30am. Each cruise, I have an omelet everyday at breakfast because this is something I normally do not get to eat on land. The Carnival Triumph had an omelet station located in the Deli area and Chopsticks area. Both of these omelet stations had a few items from the main breakfast lines such as bacon, hash browns, and sausages. These items were served from behind the counter for both omelet stations.

For the general breakfast buffet lines, the crew members were very good about restocking food that was running low. The bacon was served from behind the buffet counter in order to prevent food waste. The server will give you as much bacon as you would like, but they start by giving you two pieces and you must then request more.

For cruisers not interested in eating breakfast at the South Beach Club, there were other options available too. The Blue Iguana Cantina was serving breakfast tacos and breakfast burritos from 7:30am - 10:30am. The Paris Dining Room was serving Sea Day Brunch from 8:30am - 1:00pm. For late risers, the South Beach Club was going to open an additional buffet line by the aft pool from 9am - 12pm.

Morning Activities For The First Sea Day:

There were a variety of activities taking place on the ship throughout the day. The Fun Ashore & Fun Aboard presentation was taking place in the Rome Lounge at 10:30am. This presentation gave information about Cozumel & the shore excursions offered for this port of call. I did not attend this presentation because we had already picked out our shore excursion for Cozumel. Also, the Caribbean Shopping Show was taking place at 11:45am in the Rome Lounge. This show was designed to present Cozumel shopping information to cruisers. I did not attend this show either.

My morning was filled with trivia. At 10:30am was "Morning Trivia" in the atrium lobby. This trivia covered a variety of topics and was fun. At 11:00am in the atrium lobby was "Food & Drinks Trivia". I did not do well on this trivia, but it was still fun. Each of these trivia games lasted about 25 minutes.

Looking Around The Outside Decks:

Before eating lunch I wanted to walk around the outside decks. My first stop was the ship's observation deck on Deck 9 (Lido). Since the weather was sunny, the water was a nice shade of blue.

After looking at the view from the front of the ship, I decided to walk up a few decks. My walk took me on Decks 11, 12, and 14.

Below you will find pictures of Deck 3's outside area. I stopped here quickly as I headed back to my stateroom.

Lunch #2 In The South Beach Club Lido Buffet:

For my 2nd lunch onboard, I decided to eat 1 taco from the Blue Iguana Cantina and try the Triumph's pizzeria. The tacos were once again excellent and the red salsa was tasty. The pizza from the pizzeria was good, but it took the pizzeria a long time to make pizza. The Pizzeria's crew members were being reprimanded for some reason by a higher up chef. For dessert, I had a cookie and key lime pie. I always look forward to Carnival's key lime pie in the buffet. Here are some food pictures from the 2nd day's lunch:

Afternoon Activities On The Ship:

The daily activity newsletter, Fun-Times, had a variety of activities listed for the afternoon. For families with younger kids was the Dr. Seuss Parade at 1pm and the Dr. Seuss Storytime at 1:30pm. I walked into the Rome Lounge before the Dr. Seuss Storytime and saw the stage being setup.

Trivia was being held throughout the afternoon. I attended the United States trivia and One Hit Wonder trivia that was held in the middle of the afternoon. Both were fun, but I did not win.

Throughout the afternoon I tried to get some good pictures of the ship. However, it is hard to get photos of most places on the ship during sea days because lounges & decks are crowded with people. Here are some pictures I took throughout the afternoon:

At one point in the afternoon I walked into the Deck 4 level of the London Dining Room. When I first sailed the Carnival Triumph in 2010 this was the dining room & floor that I had dinner. In the middle picture below, I took a picture of my old table. Personally, I like the Deck 3 level of the London Dining Room much more than the Deck 4 level.

On Deck 4, cruisers can find a tucked away bar & lounge called the Oxford Bar. When I walked by the area, it was closed for a private function, but the hallway leading up to the space was open. This area used to be the internet cafe's location, but all of the computers have been moved to Deck 5.

Formal Night - "American Feast" Dining Experience:

Tonight was our cruise's only formal night. The dresscode for the dining room was "Cruise Elegant". This means cruisers were expected to dress nice for dinner. The daily Fun-Times did not give specific information about the definition of "Cruise Elegant". It appeared cruisers were allowed in the dining room as long as they were not wearing shorts, flip-flops, or bathing suits. However, most people made an effort to dress formal or semi-formal.

We lined up for dinner around 5:20pm outside of the London Dining Room. Around 5:35pm, the dining room opened early. We requested the same waitstaff from the night before and were seated at the exact same table. Since this was formal night and the dining experience was "American Feast" our tables had tablecloths. This was the only night of the cruise our dining room tables had tablecloths. Once again, our food was tasty and the service was excellent. Our waiters remembered our names and drink preferences from the night before.

Here are my food pictures: