Carnival Triumph 5 Day Review with PICS - May 17-22, Spring Break 2012

The title should read MARCH 17-22, 2012. I can't figure out how to change it! Again, this review is for March 17-22 on the Carnival Triumph.

Carnival Triumph Review---March 17-22, 2012

Ports of Call: Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico & Cozumel, Quinta Roo, Mexico

Sailing From: Galveston, Texas

This is my first review - so please feel free to ask questions if I don't include what you're looking for! This was our first time to Progreso, but fourth cruise to Cozumel.

Day 1 - March 17

We stayed in Southwest Arkansas the night of the 16th and got up at 2 am. We were on the road to Galveston by 2:30 am. We drove for two hours, then stopped in Texarkana to eat breakfast at IHOP. The service wasn't that great, but the food was excellent. Back on the road and stopped twice for gas. The drive took 9 hours and 45 minutes total. We arrived in Galveston at 12:15 pm. This was a little later than we had wanted to arrive, but it turned out well in the long run as we didn't have to lug around our carry-on bags and drinks for long.

We had pre-arranged parking online through Galveston Park n Cruise for $35 uncovered. The lot was really easy to find and the company had parking attendants guiding you to your spot. The lot was also literally across the street from the cruise terminal. We rolled our bags over and checked them in ($3 per pag--our choice--they didn't ask for any certain amount). By 12:30 pm, we were in line to board the ship.

We were on the ship by 12:45 pm. We walked around and got to know the ship until 1:30 when our room was ready. Our room was 8-418 (aft, port side).

There are several pros/cons to this room. One pro is that it is literally steps away from the Lido deck (24 hour pizza and ice cream, as well as the various buffets throughout the day). We never ordered Room Service as it was always faster and easier to just run up a flight of stairs, grab the food, and bring it back down to the room to eat. Another pro is that the gentle vibrations made it very easy to sleep at night. Oh, another thing I loved about the location of this room was that no one could see down to your balcony from above. As you can see in the picture, our room had the Lido deck above it, which juts out quite a few feet more than the other levels of the ship. This provides privacy AND constant shade!

A con of this room is that it is slightly loud above. There are lounge chairs directly above the balcony, so you could always hear chairs moving. In my opinion, that's just the price you pay for such awesome proximity to the food. Can you tell I love food? ;) Another con of the room was that there were no electrical outlets in the bathroom. There were only two (excluding the TV outlet) in the actual room. An easy fix for this would be to simply bring a power strip/extension cord. The last con would be the room's TV. It was OLD. The picture pretty much depicts the coloring exactly as it is in real life. Thank goodness we weren't there to sit in front of the TV four hours!

In this picture (bottom right), you will see a blue basket. We wrote a nice letter to our room steward thanking them for working so hard for us and for making our vacation enjoyable. We also included a $20 bill (in addition to prepaid gratuities) and lots of candy. We gave it to him the first day (left it on the bed while we went to supper). He LOVED it and was amazing for us the entire week. A little appreciation goes a long way! :)

We attended the Safety Meeting around 4pm and the ship set sail at 4:30. I was impressed with the attention the guests gave. For the most part, all were absolutely silent and giving their undivided attention. We did not have to bring our life vests to the meeting. The staff lined everyone up in straight lines and walked the rows of people looking for food/drink (which is not allowed at the safety meeting).

We then went to our balcony (which we LOVE!!!!) and watched the Triumph leave Galveston.

After that, it was time to get ready for supper as we were signed up for early seating in the Paris Dining Room. Our food was delicious! I tried to take pictures every night, but I occasionally forgot. After the first night, I forgot to take pictures of the menu all-together. By the way, I ordered a side of their famous mac n cheese without any complaints from the wait staff. They wanted us to order what would make us happy. We were nervous that we would have to sit at a table with other people, and yes, we did. However, we LOVED our table mates! It really made for interesting evenings, especially as we got to know each other better. A topic of conversation later in the week was whether Carnival does their research and finds people with several things in common with you. I would believe it! :)

We then went to Karaoke for a while, then Game Show Mania. Both were interesting and entertaining, as usual. The Welcome Aboard Show was great, too. I highly recommend all shows/activities in the Rome Lounge. I never leave disappointed!

Next was pizza for me, ice cream for my husband, and then BED! We were exhausted.

More to come...tomorrow!

I am so excited for your Triumph review!! Thank you for taking the time to post it. My family is booked on this cruise in October & I love reading about all the details!

I am especially interested in hearing about all the food. I would love to know what you and/or your tablemates thought was exceptional in the mdr each night.

Great Start.:D

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I was on the Triumph a couple years ago and loved her.

I loved the Triumph when we were on her last summer. I can't wait to hear more!

Day 2 - March 18, 2012 - Fun Day at Sea/Elegant Evening

We woke up around 7:40 am and sat on our balcony for a while, watching the ocean get bluer and prettier. We went and ate breakfast on the Lido deck - YUM!

After breakfast, we decided to go lay out on the Lido deck. I didn't get a picture of this at the time, but the wind was blowing SO HARD. We walked around until we found a spot with very little wind blowing. In the pic below, the furthest spot on the right (as close to the wall as possible) shows where we were. It was about the 4th row of lounge chairs from the top. By the way, this ship had more lounge chairs than any ship we've been on! There was never an issue with finding a seat. :D

Also, there are more pools and hot tubs than any other ship we've been on. There were three pools that we saw and six hot tubs (excluding whatever was in the Spa--we didn't go in there!).

We then went to daytime Karaoke near the Casino on the Promenade deck. It was quite entertaining! We sat there for quite some time sipping milkshakes from the cafe (Cafe Vienna, I believe) and people watching. It was a very laid back day. :D

This night required Elegant attire in the dining room. We had elegant photos taken before going to dinner--we ended up purchasing one of them for $21.50. Just in case you didn't know, to order more copies of photos, you have to first purchase the original for $21.50 and then order copies on top of that. Anyway, the recommendation on the menu was the lobster. I had read many stories on Cruise Critic about people ordering 10+ of these lobsters...so I had warned the hubby that the portions may be small. However, we were pleasantly surprised. You have to remember that this is a 3-course meal...by the end, if you are a normal eater and ate your food, you are full.

My husband had some type of shrimp concoction for an appetizer and the lobster for the entree. I had the fruit plate as an appetizer every night (see previous photos). For the entree this night, I had the sirloin tip steak with a baked potato and a side of mac n cheese. I can't remember exactly what we had for dessert each night, but some of the items included New York Cheesecake(yum!), Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (yum!), Orange Sherbet, and Strawberry Ice Cream. There were way fancier options as well, but we're easy to please. ;)

We got back to our room after supper to find our covers turned down and invitations to the Past Guest Party. We were so excited, as we've never received these invitations before (even though this is our fourth cruise with Carnival :confused:).

We then went to "The Game of Love". I thought this was the Newlywed-not-so-Newlywed Game, but it turned out to be something completely different. They picked the participants by which man went the craziest for his wife, fiance, or girlfriend (by standing and screaming, clapping, etc.). The couples had to perform various tasks and were timed. The couple who finished the most tasks the quickest won. The only example I can think of was where the women had to stick medals (the kind you win for various competitions on the ship) in their man's butt cracks through their shorts and the men had to walk across the stage with their butt cheeks squeezed together to keep the medal from falling too soon. Once they got to the end, they had to drop the medal from their butt into a bucket. Whoever got the most medals in the bucket in a certain amount of time won that round.

Later in the evening we went to one of the vegas-style shows in the Rome Lounge (Wonderful World). It is freezing in the Rome Lounge at all times, so it would be smart to bring a jacket or blanket. The show was excellent, with dancers and singers. I'm a big dance fan, so I absolutely loved it.

We then went to bed (by this time it was 11 pm). We knew we had to be ready to leave the ship the next morning for Progreso by 7:30 am (or so we thought). I regretted not watching the late comedy shows this evening, but they had four more later in the week.

Looking forward to the rest of the review. I'm sailing on Triumph in November and am trying to absorb as much info as I can before then :)

Day 3 - March 19, 2012 - Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico

We woke up at 6 am due to feeling the ship slow down as we came into Progreso. We got up, watched the sun rise from the balcony, and watched the boat dock in Progreso.

We got a light breakfast on the Lido deck and were heading to the pier by 7:30 am. We had already prepaid/pre-booked our excursion through the AutoProgreso website. You can easily find their website by Googling the name of the company. I was very leery of AutoProgreso at first because I've never booked excursions with anyone but Carnival. However, I had done tons of research online and on Cruise Critic and found nothing but positive reviews of AutoProgreso. So we booked the tour to the Dzibilchaltun ruins and I am glad we did! It was a great experience. :D

FYI: Mexico doesn't switch to Daylight Savings Time until April 1, so they were an hour behind us. They were great in that everything was by our time. Every time the guide told us to be somewhere, he would say, "Your time! Not mine."

The AutoProgreso bus was in the exact location as described on their website when I ordered the tickets. I showed them our receipt for the excursion and they let us on one of their buses. They had two sections of buses--one for AutoProgreso buses and the other for buses through Carnival (I'm guessing?). The pictures below help explain.

The ride to the city of Progreso took 8 minutes (the pier in Progreso is the longest in the world). The bus dropped us off in a flea market and told us the tour would start at 11 am. It was 8 am! Honestly, we were scared to death at that point because when you get off that bus, you are all alone to fend for yourself and we had no clue where we were! The tent for AutoProgreso was right where they dropped us off, and the man standing at the bus door when we got off told us to go talk to Sheila and pointed under the tent. Sheila! That name sounded familiar...it was in our printed instructions. So we went to Sheila and she gave us our wristbands for the tour and told us to be back there at 10:30 to leave for the tour.

We got our bearings a little and shopped in the flea market for a while -- GREAT prices and they were willing to negotiate. A little pushy to get you to look, but once we looked, we were happy we did. :)

The flea market was also the location of the Double-Decker Tour Bus that I had read so much about on Cruise Critic. Thank goodness, or we may have never found it! The drivers/guides were holding signs around their necks reading "$3.00 per person". We immediately got on to escape the pushy flea market personnel. They didn't take our money until the bus was full of people. They drove us around on a 25 minute tour around Progreso and it really helped us to see where exactly we were in relation to the ocean and our ship. We were actually only a block or two away from the ocean when we had been in the flea market. During the tour, we found that Progreso is a very poor area and quite dirty compared to America. However, the tour was great. I love learning about other cultures and our tour guide had plenty of information to go with what we were seeing. When the tour was over, we finally got the courage to leave the flea market and walk down to the ocean which was BEAUTIFUL! But...not as pretty as Cozumel water, which will come later in my review. :p

Our cruise ship is WAYYY back there at the end of the pier. It was so long!

We decided to go into a local restaurant that I had (again) read about on Cruise Critic called Buddy's. It is owned by Americans. I really wish we had went somewhere else now, but at the time it felt safe. The food was excellent!

It was then time to head back to the flea market to catch our tour bus to Dzibilchaltun. Our tour guide was Diego. He was very passionate about the Mayan culture and possessed tons of excellent information. Both AutoProgreso buses we rode on were difficult to hear the guide speak into the microphone from the back. I would suggest moving closer to the front so that it is less muffled. The ruins were interesting to see--huge!!--and they let you climb on them and take as many pictures as you want. Large bags had to stay on the bus. They had to hold a few people's bags that were slightly too big. Diego tried to haggle them into letting the tourists keep their bags, but they said no. Our sunscreen was in our "big bag" on the bus (my fault). :( By the time we left, we were about this red.

The cenote, which was also included in the tour, was closed. This was a little disappointing as it's what I was most looking forward to. We were able to see it, but not go near it or swim/stick our feet in.

Diego made it clear to us at this point that we were free to roam the ruins, that the guided part of the tour was over and that if we wanted to come back to the bus at any time, we were welcome to do so. He knew we were HOT and the bus had air conditioning. We went back to the bus a little early simply for that reason. We left Dzibilchaltun at 1:45 and were brought directly back to the ship at 2:30 pm. We were not required to be back onboard until 3:30, so there was plenty of time.

We got a second lunch (pizza!) and came out to our balcony to watch the pier runners. The last people were so rude...it was 4:03 (ship was set to leave at 4) and they were stopping to take pictures on the pier. Grr!

We went to the Past Guest Party in the Rome Lounge at 5 pm (invitation only) and then back to the room to rest. This was the only night of the cruise that we chose not to eat in the dining room. We ate supper on the Lido deck and--eww. It paled in comparison to the Paris Dining Room!

We then went to the 60 Seconds or Less game show. Contestants had 60 seconds to complete a task, such as balancing a can of club soda on its corner. It was fun to watch, as is anything in there!

Next was Liars Club, which is a vocabulary game starring Carnival staff (2 comedians and 2 entertainment staff). It was hilarious! The host gives a word, such as "Erecterine". Next, the four players each give a definition of the word. Only one player gives the correct definition, then the audience chooses who they think gave the correct answer. Finally, the person who gave the correct definition stands. It may not sound that fun, but it was!

Next on the schedule was Showcase of the Stars, a guest talent show. They picked 5 acts--all excellent! My favorite was the teen boy who played piano and sang. :)

Wow, now that I'm reading all of this, this day was packed full of adventure!

At 11 pm we went to the Lido Deck Party where they had various dance songs playing, such as Cha Cha Slide and Hey, Macarena. At 11:30, we moseyed over to the Mexican Buffet. The chimichangas were AMAZING!

Finally....bed!

I am really enjoying your review!

I will be sailing on the Triumph on 21 July. Thank you for your wonderful review.

above: Cruise Director Tex singing at the Showcase of the Stars

Above: Lido Deck Party as mentioned in previous post

Above: The beginning of the huge Mexican buffet :D:D:D

Day 4 - March 20, 2012 - Cozumel, Quinta Roo, Mexico

We woke up around 7:15 am and docked at Cozumel at 8 am. This was our fourth time to Cozumel, yet every time I see that blue water, I instantly fall in love.

For this day, we had made a $10 deposit online for Mr. Sanchos through Shore Excursioneer. The remaining $80 was due upon our arrival. We decided at the last minute that we really didn't want to spend that kind of money on something very similar to what we've already done there before (we went to Playa Mia last time), so we decided to shop, eat, and relax until we were ready to go back on the ship. We were ready to leave the ship by 8:30 am, but I had lost the card we used to lock our safe (which had our money for the day in it)! So...30 minutes later, at 9 am, we found the card and left the ship for Cozumel.

They have built a new 53 million dollar Duty-Free Shop on the pier that all must walk through to enter the city. It was nice, but HIGHLY Americanized. I honestly was wishing I was back in Progreso as I was walking through that store.

We walked the strip of shopping areas and then made our way back up to Three Amigos. We originally had planned on Wet Wendy's, but we had never eaten at Three Amigos before and it was so close. Although slightly Americanized, we LOVED the food! My husband had enchiladas verdes and I had cheese quesadillas with black beans. Mmmm!!!! Oh, and the VIEW! The view was amazing. We sat right at the edge of the ocean in the open air. Overall, Three Amigos had great service, view, food, and fun. They were very energetic. :D

We shopped at the stores for a while and then laid out in front of the beach in front of Pancho's Backyard for quite a while. I could have sat there all day. No joke. :) This area had big palm trees, a gentle breeze, and was right on the ocean overlooking the cruise ships in port. By the way, there were four ships in port in our immediate area!

We shopped some more and then decided eat dessert/chips & salsa at Pancho's Backyard. Compared to Three Amigos, the service was AWFUL. They never refilled my drink which was empty within 5 minutes of me sitting down. Then they took about 25 minutes after we finished our food to get our check. Overall, bad service and okay food. This is nothing new...every time we go to Cozumel, we eat there. For some reason, I keep thinking the service will get better but it never does!

We headed back to the ship around 2 pm. The water was too beautiful to not post a pic:

We took showers to get all the sunscreen off of our bodies (didn't forget it this time!) and get dolled up for the rest of the day. Of course, we went out to the balcony to watch the Triumph set sail for Galveston. We were directly across from the Carnival Glory, so we could see people out on their balconies on that ship as well. There are some interesting activities that occur on balconies. My husband and I had some good laughs.

We went to have casual portraits made at 5:30 pm, then headed to supper in the Paris Dining Room. The ship was rocking pretty bad at this point due to a storm in the distance. We could see lightening far off, but nothing close to us. However, it was enough to make me sick. The food, once again, was delicious! I only got a pic of my husband's appetizer this evening, and I'm not exactly sure what it was called. :eek:

Our waiters were very peppy this evening. :D

After supper, we went to New Wave Magic, a magic show starring Anders and the Triumph dancers. Our seats were bad because we didn't get there early enough, but it was still entertaining. We were up in the balcony of the Rome Lounge right near the stage. Being able to see backstage certainly made for a different type of entertainment. We were able to see how they did a few of the tricks. However, for the majority of the tricks we were still stumped. Very impressive!

We then went to Karaoke from 9:30 pm to midnight in the Club Rio Lounge. The college kids were out in full force that night. Drunk as skunks, but it kept things entertaining until midnight when the Magic Show/Burlesque Show started. The show has an "R" rating but was very classy. It was in no way inappropriate and the costumes were just like we've seen in other shows on other cruise ships that we've been on.

At 12:30, we headed to bed!

Love your pictures and your review. I was on the Triumph in 2009 and thought it was a beautiful ship.

Fantastic review! I'll be on her in May and I appreciate your insights.

We shopped some more and then decided eat dessert/chips & salsa at Pancho's Backyard. Compared to Three Amigos, the service was AWFUL. They never refilled my drink which was empty within 5 minutes of me sitting down. Then they took about 25 minutes after we finished our food to get our check. Overall, bad service and okay food. This is nothing new...every time we go to Cozumel, we eat there. For some reason, I keep thinking the service will get better but it never does!

When we were there last month it was exactly the same for us. I really enjoyed the food and the experience but found the service lacking and slow. I thought they were just having an off day. Going to try somewhere else on our next Coz visit.