Carnival Triumph 7/31 Review!

I have never tried a review before so here it goes!

Background Information:

My fiance and I have been on three Carnival cruises. We love cruising! After being on three ships of all different sizes, I have found things I love about each ship. Every cruise we go on is “the best cruise ever!” This cruise was no different. We both love Carnival and find the workers to be amazing! Every vacation has things that go wrong, but it is better than being at home working! We are both elementary-school teachers, go to graduate school at night/summers, and are planning a wedding. Needless to say, we count down to our cruises for the entire year beforehand. It is the one thing that gets us through the long days!

I hope this review helps anyone going on the Triumph or deciding whether to go..

Pre-cruise/ New Orleans:

We made the 8-hour trek to New Orleans two days before our cruise. We stayed at the Prytania Park Hotel in the Garden District. We chose this hotel because it was cheap (about $80 a night). It was the perfect location. There were restaurants around us and the trolley was a block away. We took the trolley to and from Bourbon Street. It was super easy! We also took a ghost tour through Witches Brew Tour the night before the cruise. It was a great tour and I highly recommend it. Although my favorite part was seeing the Dream sail away during the ghost tour ;)

Embarkation/Cruise Port

We left the hotel around 10:15 and arrived at the Fulton Parking Garage 10 minutes later. We parked up on the 6th floor and waited only 5 minutes before a shuttle came to pick us up. The drive to the port took a couple of minutes. A port worker must be assigned to each shuttle. As soon as we got off the shuttle, a port worker was there and told us he was in charge of all of our bags. We had a check-in time of 11-11:30. It was only 10:45 so I went over to ask the guy where to wait. Instead, he told us to come right in. We literally walked through security and got our sail and sign cards in 5 minutes. We sat in a special “FTTF” section. Around 11:15, they started calling platinum and diamond guests. Faster to the Fun was next at 11:30. The entire process took less than 45 minutes. It was literally record time!

Once on the ship, we went to our room to drop off our bags. We prefer balcony rooms, but my fiance got a casino offer for this cruise (I’ll explain more on this later). The interior room for two was so cheap, we couldn’t turn it down. We set our bags down and headed to the Lido for some food. I got a burrito from the BlueIguana (my favorite!!)

Then, I got the Fun Ship drink and we hung out by the aft pool. One of the only times I get into the pools is on embarkation day. We love hanging in the pool on the first day. We had the pool to ourselves until 1 PM.

Muster Drill

I have to say I was definitely dreading the Muster Drill. It was hot out! Last year during the muster, I felt so light headed since I was stuck in the middle and it lasted over 45 minutes. As soon as they mentioned the muster over the announcements, I headed to the location. We were some of the first people there and I stood at the back wall. I leaned against it the entire time and it was not that bad! Definitely try to get there early if you are like me and feel like you will faint in between a million people. They scanned all of our cards and we were on our way in less than 20 minutes!

Embarkation Night

We always do YTD because we like to go early every night and request a table for two. I like to sit by the window and request the same table number every night. The food was delicious as always! We love the MDR food, so no complaints there. If you are ever sailing out of New Orleans, request a table by the starboard side of the ship. You can see the coastline during dinner the first night and it is awesome! Also, you have cell service for the first few hours of the cruise. I was not used to this, since typically I lose service right away. I believe I had service until 6 or 7 PM.

We went to the comedy show the first night at 10:15. On this cruise, there were two comedians. I will go into detail about the shows and my reviews in that section. But here is a picture of the show schedule in the theatre plus the comedian schedule (the picture is blurry so I typed it out for you):

New Orleans:

Welcome Aboard Show 7:00 and 9:00 PM

Comedian show (rated R) 10:15 PM

Fun Day at Sea:

Wonderful World 7:00 and 9:00 PM

Comedy show (rated PG) 8:15 PM and 9:00 PM

Comedy show (rated R) 10:15 PM and 11:00 PM

Cozumel:

Viva Variety with Mark Bennick 7:00 and 9:00 PM

No comedy shows

Progreso:

Gender Showdown 7:30 PM

Love & Marriage 9:00 PM

Comedy show 11:00 PM

Fun Day at Sea 2:

The Big Easy 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM

Comedy show (rated PG) 8:15 PM and 9:00 PM-- repeat shows from the second day

Comedy show (rated R) 10:15 PM and 11:00 PM

Ports

Cozumel: We went online and reserved Mr. Sanchos a few months ago. All I can say is WOW!! We literally had the most amazing time ever. It may have been due to the fact that we were the only ship in port. Our servers Armando and Julio were incredible. Julio, at the pool bar, knew our drinks and names after the first time and had them ready for us when he saw us coming. My fiance had two beers in his hand one time, so the servers insisted he “double fist” the entire rest of the day. They would bring drinks without even asking. The $55 per person is more than worth it if you plan on drinking and eating. The food was delicious and the drinks were good. I felt safe the entire time. There has been a lot in the news lately about Mexico, so I was definitely a little hesitant. Mr. Sanchos is a must and I highly recommend it. The workers were amazing at their jobs and anyone who has said on here that they do that for the tips is wrong. They told us in the beginning to not tip until we were leaving if we wanted to. Of course we were going to tip! When you get that incredible of service, you have to! It’s very easy to get to, come through the port and get in a taxi ($17 one way). It is only a 10 minute drive.

Progreso: We did not have any excursion booked for this port. I know I know..what were we thinking? We never book excursions. We just like to sit by an ocean and enjoy cold drinks. That is what vacation is all about for us. I have read so many negative things on Cruise Critic about so many things that are completely false in my opinion. People have said such bad things about Progreso, but just like anything else I figured they were wrong. But y’all...those people weren’t all that wrong. I am not negative in any way and always try to find the best in every situation, but wow is all I can say. We got off the ship and walked for about 7 minutes to the bus stop. Since we got a massage on board that morning (more on the massage later) we got off around 11. After the initial morning time, the buses only come every 30 minutes. We waited 15 minutes in 100+ degree weather. When the bus came, it could only hold about 30-40 people. I asked if we could stand since there were hand rails and we were the only two to not make that bus. I did not want to wait another 30 minutes. The ride took a lot longer than I imagined and it was not air conditioned. I think everyone was soaked when we there. We arrived in a small bus looking terminal. As soon as we got there, the Autoprogreso people came on to give a 10 minute sales pitch. I had already been standing for 20 minutes in 100+ degree weather, so I was more than ready to get off. You get off and there’s a market with people shouting at you to buy things. I thought, “well okay..let’s get through here and people will stop”. Our plan was to go to the beach. It was about a 15 minute walk. The entire time people were coming up and asking if we wanted drinks or a massage or to buy things. I am originally from outside New York City. I grew up walking down those streets ignoring people shouting at you. This was completely different. You couldn’t get away from it. We got to the beach and this guy came up and asked us to come to his restaurant. We declined. I was putting on sunscreen and he stood there for 5 minutes while I applied sunscreen asking if we could come to his restaurant. Then, we saw so many people walking around the beach trying to buy things. I had brought off my passport and thought about how there was no where to put my bag. With only two people, you can’t go in the water together. Someone has to stand to watch the bag. We actually ended up turning around buying beers for the walk back and going back to the ship. We talked to a couple of people on the ship who did excursions. They said the ruins were good, but the bus ride was long and hot. Basically, my advice would be to do an excursion or just get off if you want to shop a bit.

Activities on board:

Massage: Like I said earlier, we got a massage on the morning of Progreso. We had a regular couples Swedish massage booked, but got upgraded to hot stone. The crew was having emergency drills that morning and the alarms and announcements would be heard in the massage room. It wasn’t all that bad to hear the announcements and the hot stone was a fair trade off! The massage was AMAZING!! I know people say it’s overpriced and get one off the ship, but I disagree. Why would I want a massage in my bathing suit while I’m all greasy from sunscreen?! They started with dry brushing and did a full body massage. It was incredible. Easily better than massages I have gotten at spas. I would highly recommend it for a special occasion!

Gym: The gym is pretty comparable to all other Carnival ships. I did notice that they had a cable machine (which Conquest does not). Other than that, they have the usual cardio set-up, free weights sections, and machine. I did not take any classes, but while I was in the spa I looked at the options. The spinning and yoga classes were $12.

Q & A: This is my favorite day-time activity to go to! Typically it has been on the last sea day of any cruise I am on. It is a question and answer activity with the cruise director. It is where people ask about crazy stories or things that have happened on the ships. I love going to these! I learned a lot on this cruise since Leigh is AWESOME!!

Casino: As I mentioned earlier, my fiance is a frequent gambler. He was invited to the premier cruises but couldn’t go. We got this cruise for more than half off the price. I should have had him write this section but he said it was the BEST casino experience he has ever had. He does not gamble a ton. He maybe plays the same $200-300 at BlackJack the entire time. He spends about 10-15 hours per cruise at the casino. He loved the casino hosts and the fellow players. They all became friends and we would see them around the ship and talk. I felt like we knew so many people from the casino. They LOVED my fiance and everyone in the casino knew him by name. They sent us cookies, $50 to the spa, and a free upgraded steak and lobster dinner the last night! It was delicious!! One of the casino hosts even emailed him after we got off to thank him for playing so much. It is NOT about the money you gamble. You could gamble 100 times what he gambled, but it is about the relationship you make with the hosts and dealers. He always tipped them during BlackJack and made conversation. I am hoping we get another casino offer since we are planning our honeymoon for next July!!

Random Ramblings (CHEERS!, Hub App, Cruise Director, Show Reviews, Workers that were INCREDIBLE!)

Cheers: My fiance and I ALWAYS cruise with Cheers! I may not drink 15 drinks a day, but my fiance does. Plus, we want to be carefree on vacation and not worry about money. We each only spent $20 on our sail and sign (besides tips). This is because everything is included in Cheers. I get iced lattes or hot lattes with Baileys every day and like to drink Powerade Zero after a night of drinking. All of this is free with Cheers. I still tip about $1 per drink. I alternate between cash and sail & sign card. My bar service was incredible, but always is. I can’t say it is because of the tips but maybe it is. Our favorite activity is counting the amount of drinks we had on the way home. They print out your sail and sign transactions and slide it under your door on the last day. He drank 65 and I had 35. So we had 100 total. Each drink ranges between $7-10. So we would have spent between $700-1,000 and paid $587 for the package. That amount doesn’t even include all of our coffee drinks! I think Cheers is worth it.

Hub App: This was my first cruise with the app. I loved it! You can check your balance the entire time and chat with anyone onboard for $5. I got the middle $16 package one day (lasts 24 hours). I forget the name. I was able to iMessage and go on all social media. The internet worked great!! For the people that say it doesn’t...they are probably in their rooms lol. The interior rooms have horrible cell service.

Cruise Director: We love Leigh! He was hilarious!! He would say mildly dirty jokes before every show and I loved it. He is so personable and clearly loves what he does. His comments are extremely witty and sarcastic. I love his personality. He made the shows awesome. You will love him!

Show Reviews:

Comedians: They were both good. I wouldn’t say incredible, but funny. I laughed out loud a few time. I don’t really have much more to say. They were good, not amazing and not bad.

Wonderful World: This was the only show I wasn’t crazy about. On the Conquest last year I was absolutely obsessed with Latin Nights and Divas. I love dancing and singing. Wonderful World was more dancing, talking, and scenery than singing. I didn’t really know the songs so I didn’t get too into it. I heard other people LOVED it, so it may just be me personally.

Viva Variety: This was an awesome Vegas-style show. It was magic and music. Not much talking or interaction with the crowd. It was one magic trick after the other. He did get one volunteer up for a card trick. Overall, I was very impressed. I really don’t know how he did some of those tricks.

Big Easy: Great New Orleans style show. The sets were incredible! Man I wish I took pictures. It was so fun and a great show!

Gender Showdown: This was rated PG and for everyone. However, it was definitely geared more towards adults which I liked. There were activities only adults could do, like guess where a girl or boy took a shot of vodka or water. I loved the “family feud” style questions. It was a very interactive show.

Love and Marriage: My FAVORITE show of all time on every cruise. This one did not disappoint. The couple that had been married the longest was hilarious. I was literally laughing out loud I was crying. A lady next to me fell out of her seat laughing. The responses were incredible. You cannot miss this show.

Workers that are incredible as always:

-If you are going on the Triumph soon go to the Lobby bar and see Theresa. She is the best bartender I have ever seen. I would sit there and watch her make 10 drinks in 2 minutes. She is unbelievable at her job. Ask for her special drink called “Adios Mother Father”. She named it herself LOL. It has about 6 liquors in it. She is hilarious and so fun to talk to.

-Allan and Peter at the aft pool: Peter will walk around and make sure you have a drink in your hand. Allan works at the back bar and also has a special drink of his own. Both were top notch servers.

-Minda, Marciela, and Muchtar (they work as a team) in the London dining room. Request them if you have YTD. They were incredible! Yes, service tends to be slower on sea days. It is not their fault. Everyone is there at the same time so be patient and enjoy vacation!

Passenger in trouble: On the second night of the cruise, there were security officers on my deck. I didn’t think too much of it. The next morning, we saw a security officer sitting in the hallway. He was there 24/7 the entire cruise outside the same room!! I was really curious and a little nervous at first. I asked guest services if he had a contagious virus or something, they said no it was a personal issue. I wonder what happened? On the last morning at 6:15 I set my alarm and watched him get escorted down the hallway with his stuff. We were delayed for 20 minutes on debarkation because they had to check out a room. I bet it was his!! He was in an interior room for 5 days locked in there and couldn’t come out. I am so curious about what he did…

Debarkation:

Super easy and we were at our car at 7:45 even with the hold-up. FTTF and diamond/platinum meet at the London Dining room at 7:00 AM. I always carry off my luggage and never check it.

Overall, we had an amazing cruise!! My hand is hurting from typing all of this, so I am going to end it here. But if you have any questions let me know!

This was a very entertaining review but you didn't mention the piano bar. I would like to know how it was. I'm also interested in who was the casino host and pit bosses....

This was a very entertaining review but you didn't mention the piano bar. I would like to know how it was. I'm also interested in who was the casino host and pit bosses....

Thanks!

There were 2 Casino Hosts, Anna and Leanne. The Casino Supervisors he talked to the most were Prakash, Reo and Sallian, but there were a couple other ones looking over the other table games (besides BlackJack).

The Piano Bar was very crowded and lively on days where there wasn't a comedy show. I noticed that when there were comedy shows, it was not as crowded. I did not spend time there, but it is right next to the comedy lounge so I passed by it nightly. It looked like a lot of fun!

Thank you for the organized and well-written review. Wish I could be with your fiancee in the casino.

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Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

Thanks for the review.

There was a guy in the casino named Jari. Pronounced Jerry. Do you remember if he was there?

There was a guy in the casino named Jari. Pronounced Jerry. Do you remember if he was there?

We never met him. He may have been there, but no we didn't see him.

I'm curious if you saw Liz and Lucas play? We were on the Triumph in May just to see them play.

enjoyed the revied.thanks

I'm curious if you saw Liz and Lucas play? We were on the Triumph in May just to see them play.

Yes I saw them in the lobby play before dinner one night. They were great! I loved listening to their covers. They said they'll be on there for a few more months.

Great review!! I'm on the Triumph in 50 days. [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

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Awesome review! I love the Triumph. I've been on her 3 times and plan for more! I love the staff and ports. Progreso is a bit harsh, but I was used to it by my 3rd time visiting. I go with a plan to buy a $15 massage, and go sit on someone's beach chairs while I buy their drinks. Anyways glad you enjoyed the cruise! I don't have one planned on her as of yet. 45 days til the Dream!

Thanks for a great review.

We sailed on the Triumph 7/22 and I second your comments about Leigh! I LOVED him! He was an awesome cruise director!

Great review!

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Triumph in January 2018 so this was helpful.

Awesome review...Question, How did you get your PIC so big on this site? What am I doing wrong...HELP

Thank you for the review! 👍👍

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Awesome review...Question, How did you get your PIC so big on this site? What am I doing wrong...HELP

I typed the review up in a Word document and then copy and pasted the pictures and text all at once. It made them big, but I didn't do it on purpose! Hope this helps..

Thanks for taking the time to do your review. Sounds like yall had a great time.

Awesome review. We have the same itinerary next month out of Galveston. I truly appreciate your comments about Progresso.

I was too going to do Mr Sancho's and was unsure about what to do in Progreso I guess we may look into excursions or enjoy the empty ship. I do not like being hassled by ppl constantly and that sounds like whats going on.