Carnival Triumph Review - Jan 22-27 2011

Before I start, a little about us, this was the first cruise for both my husband (Andrew, 26) and myself (Cassie, 25). We both really enjoyed it! Our cruise was on the Triumph out of New Orleans and sailed to Progreso and Cozumel.

Day 1, January 21 – Travel Day

Let the long drive begin! We drove down to New Orleans from central Illinois. They were calling for bad weather, but it didn’t end up being too bad. The biggest issue we had was when we ran into a huge traffic jam due to a semi accident in Arkansas. We only went about 4 miles within 2 hours. But other than that, the drive actually wasn’t too bad, we'd do it again.

We caught the end of the sunset right over Lake Pontchartrain, just outside of New Orleans.

This was also our first time to New Orleans. We had a vacation planned there a few years back, but had to cancel at the last minute because of hurricane warnings. So I already had a bunch of research on restaurants in the area.

I noticed Mother’s Restaurant was just a block from our hotel and had great reviews, so that’s where we went for dinner.

I went with the roast beef po-boy. It was really good!

We were pretty exhausted from the long drive, so we just went back to the hotel for the night.

We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites both before and after the cruise and we really recommend it. It was in the perfect spot. Easy walk down to the river front and not too far from the French Quarter. I loved the way it was renovated. The lobby was really nice and the rooms had the exposed bricks.

They had the standard breakfast buffet. Waffle maker, some warm food (eggs, sausage, biscuit), oatmeal, fruit, cereal, etc.

(sorry this is kinda blurry)

Our first night the room was fairly small, but was fine for us. Here’s the pics of this room.

And this room faced the pool. There was someone in there first thing in the morning, so I’m guessing it was heated. Hope so at least!

The night after the cruise, I’m guessing since it was during the week and fairly empty, we were upgraded to a suite. It had a front room with a couch and an extra tv. Then another tv in the back bedroom.

Day 2, January 22 – Embarkation

The next morning we were up early to get some breakfast in the hotel before packing up and heading to the port. We actually had some extra time, so we decided to walk down to the River Walk and see if the Triumph was there and she was!

Our first view of the Triumph!

After a quick pic together, we headed back to the hotel. Andrew was getting antsy to get on board.

We decided to just make things easy and park at the port parking garage. It was pretty easy to find and super convenient. I believe we got there a little after 11:00. We decided to take our chances and save the extra money and travel with just our birth certificates. I’m so glad we did! They asked to see them while checking in, but never had to see them again the whole trip. No issues at all. We got through security and check in a little after 12:00. Then we were given our zone card and just had to wait in the seating area for maybe 15 minutes or so.

Then our zone was called and off we go!

Lots of luggage! Thankfully we had no issues with our luggage and nothing was lost.

I love reading your review! We are going on our first cruise on the 12th. Same ship and ports

i hoped you guys loved NOLA i love that city! keep the review coming id be interested to take a cruise out of there just go to NO again ;)

It was my first (and only!) balcony 7 day cruise! Great memories! It's leaving New Orleans this summer. Maybe I can sneak in a cruise on her before she's gone!

Can't wait to read more~!

We headed straight up to the Lido deck for lunch. The buffet area was completed crowded, so I just grabbed a cheeseburger & fries from the grill. The burger was just okay and the fries were eh, but I was hungry and it hit the spot. And the ice cream after made up for it!

We had to wait until 1:30 for our room to be ready, so we found an empty chair until then and enjoyed the New Orleans skyline.

I think we actually headed down to our room slightly before and it was ready. We just had an indoor room, but it was fine for us. We did the early saver and about a month before sailing the price cut almost in half for the guaranteed inside room, so we took it and got $180 on board credit back. Can’t beat that!

The bathroom, in my husband’s word, “very pink”, haha! The door never locked, but otherwise it was fine. No issues with the shower flooding or anything like that.

love the review so far, keep it coming

brings back memories

Our luggage hadn’t arrived yet, so we went to explore the ship.

The lobby:

They almost always had a piano player or guitar player here.

The Rome Lounge

The London Dining Room

The Casino

Out on the Lido deck:

The buffet area

The back deck with the retractable roof open

The muster drill was at 3:30. It wasn’t too bad, kinda cold though. As soon as that was over, we headed back up to the Lido deck for sail away!

It was soooo cold! They had these wind barrier glass walls towards the back, so we tried to stand behind that. It helped, but was still super windy. But it was worth it.

The sail away party had started, so we went to see what was going on. They had the usual cha cha slide, cupid shuffle, etc. songs playing.

One last look at New Orleans before heading to our room to get ready for dinner.

We chose to do the Your Time dining and it worked perfectly for us. I took pics of my dinners because I always liked seeing what they had in other reviews. I think this first dinner was my favorite the whole week. So good!

I started with the fresh fruit platter. I’m a huge fruit fan, so I loved having unlimited fruit all week. Delish!

Then I had the flat iron steak with mac & cheese and veggies. This was really good! I also had the flat iron later in the week, and my husband as well, but it was slightly different than what I got this first night. We both agreed this first one was the best, not sure why.

Then we both had to try the famous warm chocolate melting cake for dessert. I was kind of undecided on this. It was good, but very very rich. You definitely need the ice cream with it. Andrew got it the 2nd night and asked for 2 ice creams and really liked that.

After dinner we explored the ship some more and sat and listened to some music. Oh, one cool thing we found, they had this map between the casino and the special café that showed our path we were sailing and the colors would change to show where we had traveled, so we could always check where we were. They also had a map you could see on tv, but this was neat to check if we were ever over in this area.

Then we headed back to our room and saw our first towel animal had arrived!

The Welcome Aboard show wasn’t until 10:30, so we finished unpacking and just relaxed in the room until then. I was excited to see how the shows would be. We both enjoyed them all. The Triumph dancers did a great job!

After the show we called it a night. So I was kind of surprised at how much movement we felt in our room. I guess I wasn’t really expecting that. Andrew was really worried about getting sea sick, so we had stocked up on Dramamine. Even though I could feel the ship moving all the time, neither of us ever got sick thankfully.

What a great review, you showed just what people going on that ship want to see (the rooms, lido deck, buffet. etc). Great angles on the photos also:)

Great review so far. Can't wait to read more!

Great review and photos! We will be on the Triumph Feb. 21.

I am from central Illinois too...Champaign. Are you close by?

Thanks for the great review & pics Cassie! We'll be sailing on her again next month, taking a newbie. I almost forgot what she looked like. Well, except for the pink bathrooms.

Thanks everyone!

Great review and photos! We will be on the Triumph Feb. 21.

 

I am from central Illinois too...Champaign. Are you close by?

haha yes, we're in Bloomington! Are you guys driving or flying?

Day 3, January 23 – Day at Sea

After waking up and getting ready, we went up to the Lido deck for breakfast. We went through the buffet and tried to find a spot. It was really crowded and took us awhile to find a table. We finally found an open table out by the pool area.

I thought the breakfast buffet was usually pretty good. Some things were just okay, but they had more than the standard hotel breakfast. I thought the pancakes were really good. And they had little bowls of cream cheese and different flavored butter and strawberry topping, so that was fun to mix it up a bit.

Then we went up to the top deck to check out the water. The ocean is so pretty! We spent a lot of time just watching the water go by, I miss that part.

But it was pretty chilly in the morning, we both needed jackets, and windy on the top deck, so we headed back to our room shortly after.

I had wanted to use some of our OBC to play bingo at some point, but it was a little pricey, usually $20 for a sheet of 3. We saw at 10:00 that morning they were having half price bingo, so we decided that was the time to do it. We didn’t win though, unfortunately, but it was still fun!

After that we tried out the mini golf. We had walked all the way over there and then found out they want you to pick up your club and ball over at the front of the deck for some reason. That seems really strange to me. But anyway there was a worker there with a kids group, who had some extras since they had just finished, and he let us use those.

I thought it was still pretty chilly most of the day, but it didn’t stop people from using the water slide, pools, or lying out in their bikini. Not me! I did catch this pic of someone going down the slide though! haha

We went through the buffet again for lunch. The line was huge! I had picked up a plate of chicken lo mein at the Hong Kong spot, which the buffet line was backed up through that line, so by the time we made it through the buffet and found a seat, the noodles were getting cold, but oh well. They were just okay. I picked up a few other things on the buffet which were also just okay. I think the buffet lunches were my least favorite. There were a few good items here and there, but most days it was just okay.

We cruise in July. Thanks for the review and your pictures are good. Gosh I can't wait.

At 1:00 they had the Master Mixologist Competition on the Lido. I’m thinking they had 5 or 6 people competing. The winning drink was called “Captain Feelgood”. Not sure what was all in it though.

Then following that at 1:30 was the hairy man contest. This was too funny! I didn’t see how they picked the girls for the judges, but definitely glad it wasn’t me, haha! I think it’s clear to see who our winner was.

There was a digital scavenger hunt at 2:00 that we thought sounded fun and wanted to find out what it was, but we forgot about it, so guess we missed out.

This was formal night, so after taking a little nap back in our cabin, we started getting ready for that. The photographers were everywhere! I was shocked at how many they had. One after another after another. We avoided them all, but I kind of wish we would have gotten a nice pic of us all dressed up. We did have someone take a pic for us, but my camera is stupid and turns out blurry most of the time, so it didn’t turn out very well, oh well.

For dinner, I started with the strawberry bisque. I was really curious to see how this would be, and it was just okay. There wasn’t a whole lot of flavor to it.

Then I had the prime rib. This was really good. I think it was my 3rd favorite dinner. It came with a baked potato and onion rings. They walked around with a dish for sour cream, bacon bits, and something else. But that made the potato really yummy!

For dessert I had the caramelized apple puff. Neither me or the hubby liked this at all. I’m not sure what it was exactly that I didn’t like, but I didn’t finish it. It looked pretty at least! The servers were so nice though and asked if I wanted something else. They did such a great job the whole trip!

Tonight was the Wonderful World show in the Rome Lounge. We chose the early seating at 8:30. They also showed it again at 10:30. I thought they did a great job! Some of the songs were a little on the cheesy side, but it was still fun to watch.

We had an early excursion the next morning in Progreso, so we made sure to get to bed shortly after that.

Here was our towel animal that night, my favorite!

Cassie great reveiw and photos we will be sailing on her in April, and your reveiw just gets me more excited about our upcoming trip. Any chance you could post a couple of the Capers to get an idea of whats happening onboard the ship.

Thanks Paul

I love your review keep it coming!!

loving your review :) we are sail this same itinerary in March... looks like you had a great time.... can't wait to see/hear more :)

Cassie great reveiw and photos we will be sailing on her in April, and your reveiw just gets me more excited about our upcoming trip. Any chance you could post a couple of the Capers to get an idea of whats happening onboard the ship.

 

Thanks Paul

Sure, I kept them all, I'll just have to get pics of them. I'll do that tomorrow when we have some better light. And I have a feeling work will be cancelled due to this crazy blizzard we're having right now! So that should be no problem.