Triumph review: Dec 3-8, 2012

With some of the talks about cutbacks and many many other issues around these boards, I decided to write a review. I will preface this by clarifying that I am not a Carnival basher. I am not a Carnival cheerleader. I am also not someone who is stuck in my ways, who wants everything done the exact same way forever and ever. I feel like I can offer up a fair and honest opinion.

This turned out to be a great cruise! It was definitely the best short cruise that I've ever been on. The staff was amazing, the weather was beautiful, the shows were great, the fellow passengers were considerate and friendly, etc.

Background: There were 6 people in my group that went. 4 of us took our first cruise together back in 2003. The other 2 are newbies, two 18-year old brothers who had never been on any kind of vacation before. They are both graduating in May and will both be going into the military. They are the nephews of 2 of my best friends that were on this cruise. We tried so hard to keep the cruise a secret from them, but they are pretty smart. They were able to figure it out months ahead of time, but they didn't want to spoil it for their aunt & uncle, so they kind of played dumb. One of them, the younger one (they are 11 months apart), was trying to get us to confirm it the night before, but we wouldn't. It was fun to play the game, even though we all pretty much knew.

Pre-cruise: We drove from Oklahoma down to Houston the day before the cruise, and stayed at the Drury Inn by the Hobby Airport. This would allow us to play off to the boys that we could be getting on a plane the next day. The traffic was about as light as I've ever seen it in Houston. It was early afternoon. We had a nice time at the hotel, my 3rd time using that hotel for a pre-cruise. In the morning, we headed down to Galveston and stopped just east of the port to take a look at the ship, which pretty much removed any slight doubt from the boys' minds as to what we were doing. We dropped off people and luggage at the port, then parked the 2 cars at the Park N Cruise lot across the street. Great deal! $35 per car, and it was a very short walk across the street, right in front of where you go in. It was nice not messing with a shuttle.

Check-in: The ship didn't come in until 8:30, and we were quite early, so we had to wait before they let us in the building. We got checked in by 10:00, but they didn't start boarding the ship until a little after 11:00. The Triumph is doing the Faster to the Fun program, so since I was platinum, I was able to go straight to the room upon boarding. The checked bags for the room were already there. Very nice! I met the room steward right away, who would turn out to be, by far in a way, the best room steward I've had on any of my 12 cruises! The 6 of us had 3 porthole rooms on deck 2, port side. My friends, the couple stayed in a category PT, with the 2 twin beds that could push together. The other 4 of us stayed in the two category 1As with portholes next to it. I roomed with the younger 18-year old. The boys got the sofa beds in their respecitve rooms.

Buffet Lines. First, a little more of my background. I've cruised the Triumph before, out of New Orleans 2 years ago. There were almost no kids or teens on the ship, and all food lines had insanely long lines all the time. This time, out of Galveston, the food lines were never too terribly long. This ship is not conducive for shorter food lines, so they were still longer than other, bigger ships I've been on. But they were not too bad at all. A person would have to pretty picky to complain about it. Plus, there were plenty of teens & kids on the ship, despite the time of year it was. Many people will disagree with me on this, but I feel that teens & kids bring more enthusiasm and life to a group. And adults tend to behave more appropriately when there are kids around, which I see as a huge positive.

Jenn Baxter, the cruise director. Ok, here it goes. This is where I may lose many of you. She was fantastic! No cruise director draws more wrath on cruisecritic than Jenn Baxter. Now, I don't understand why. Maybe she has improved, maybe it's just my personality. I enjoy a CD who is enthusiastic and interacts with the people. I like that she was always around the ship, and always had such an upbeat attitude. Could I nitpick a couple tiny things? Sure, but I don't see any reason to. And those would certainly not be any reason to say that she's anything less than a great CD. Big Tex & Jorge have been my favorite CDs. Jenn would be #3.

Chair hogs. Completely nonexistent! Thank you, Texans! If people were getting up to do something, they took their stuff with them. When they were ready to come back to lay out again, they knew there would be plenty of available chairs. And there always was, even on our sunny sea days. My Magic cruise out of Galveston earlier this year was the worst "chair hog experience" I could ever imagine. That sailing had very few Texans; this was almost all Texans. As an Oklahoman, I hesitate to compliment Texans on anything :p, but I have to on this.

Thanks for the review. My DS11 and I are on the 12/22 sailing. Hope you will be posting your review of the ports as I'm still deciding how to spend the day in Progresso.

Here we go. This is where there are tons of changes going on fleetwide, and on other cruiselines as well. There are cuts (in costs) in entertainment. Whether the cuts are also in quality is subjective. Many people experiencing the new style do not like it at all. And a few do like it. Some people don't like it, but they're willing to put up with it to keep costs down.

Lido deck entertainment. Yes, the calypso bands/duos/whatevers are gone. It's just DJs playing music. I experienced this on the Magic in March, and it was pretty bad. They did not foster a fun atmosphere or a feeling of being on a cruise. It was just annoying. On the Triumph, it was the exact opposite. These DJs in particular did a great job. So this can really work, as long as you've got good DJs. They really wanted people to enjoy themselves, and would play music that helped foster that. They played plenty of the songs that get people up and dancing, such as Cupid Shuffle & Cha Cha Slide. They would even teach some new ones at different times. It was a lot of fun. Even those that don't get up and dance along still enjoyed watching it. There were a few teenagers that would always appear down there in the open space below the hot tubs anytime songs like that would get played. That really helped to set the tone. When those few people start dancing, others join in. This is not the filthy night-club style dancing. This is not technical or freestyle dancing. This is dancing that anybody who has mobility can do. You learn a few steps, and then repeat. Absolutely zero creativity required! That makes it more inclusive, which is what I like.

Shows in the main theater. There was no dark night for the theater on this 5-day cruise. There was something every night. I was so happy that we still had full hour-long production shows here. This is the way that I prefer it to be. One of the shows was about New Orleans, and it is a great show! I don't care what people say about these shows. The dancing and singing is good, the choice of songs are great, and the theme of this one is definitely a great one. Jenn, the CD, was even in this show, which was pretty cool, and had quite a payoff after the curtain closed. The other one focused on different cultures from all over the world. I especially enjoyed that one. Music, styles of dance, and sets from different countries. On another night, there was a magic show. I have seen this magician do this show before, and he does a great job. Of course, I never know how any magician does any trick, so I am pretty easy to please there. I have seen better magic shows, but it was still very good. The other 2 nights were the Welcome Aboard Show & the Talent Show. The Welcome Aboard Show was done at 7:30, which I thought was a terrible idea. We were late getting there, because of early dining. Late diners were late to their dinner. The Talent Show relies on guests quite a bit, but Jenn also did a great job between the acts. One of the acts was a 22-year old female singer who was absolutely amazing! Another act was a 12-year old female singer who also did amazing!

Comedy. I made it to a couple comedy shows in the aft lounge. There is a decent amount of seating back there, more than they have on the bigger ships, where the comedy club is extremely over-crowded. I'm not that much into stand-up comedy, so I can't be the best judge, but I thought the comedians did a good job. The magician leads an adult-only burlesque show the same night that he does his magic shows. It was interesting and definitely had some funny & creative moments.

I surprisingly never really took advantage of the piano bar. That's usually one of my favorite places to hang out. But there was plenty to do and enjoy on the ship. Just passing by, this one didn't sound too incredible. Music Society was playing by the casino. They sounded decent when I would pass by, but I never sat down to listen.

Per your request, Beachlover. :)

For awhile, my friends planned to take the boys to Uxmal Mayan ruins. I have done that one before, so I wouldn't be going with them to do it again. But I did enjoy it quite a bit. You can still climb on most of the ruins there, and it is nice and quite interesting. We went through Autoprogreso to do that excursion, which saved money. I was thinking of doing another excursion through Autoprogreso, that takes you to a nice resort on a beach a little ways away, and includes lunch and an open bar. Carnival offers that same thing for twice the price. Autoprogreso is the company that runs the free shuttles from the ship into town. The ship ports at the end of a very very very long pier, so they have that free shuttle taking you into town, and the company will promote their excursions at the end of the ride. They are very safe & reliable.

I had decided that I would just stay in the town, as the beach is only a couple blocks away from the shuttle drop-off. My friends decided that they couldn't really afford to pay for 4 excursions to the ruins, so they decided to do the same thing as me, so we all hung out together on the beach near the drop-off point. The first spot that we came to, there was a guy who was saying that we could have a table under an umbrella for $15, nachos included. We kept on walking down, and found a better deal. FREE! Free table, free umbrellas, free beach chairs. We did order 2 or 3 drinks a piece while we were there, which is what they are counting on. So we just hung out on the beach for a few hours, and did some walking along the beach. The sand and the water is not great here, just in case someone didn't know. It's not much better than Galveston. But overall, it was still pretty, and we enjoyed the day.

That sailing had very few Texans; this was almost all Texans. As an Oklahoman, I hesitate to compliment Texans on anything :p, but I have to on this.

As a Texan, let me say that we are proud that an Okie has learned to use the "fancy typewriter"! Thanks for the review, and I can't wait to sail on her in February

Well, I can't compete with the Texan above (even though I'm a quarter Texan) but I will say: Thanks for your review! The Triumph was my first Carnival ship and I loved her. I did notice the long buffet lines, and we had well over a thousand kids on board, so it is nice to hear that there are fewer lines in the non-kid season.

5 of us all went on a Carnival excursion here: the Deluxe Sail, Snorkel, and Beach excursion (the name of it was something like that). It seemed a bit overpriced, until I started figuring up how much it would be to do it on our own. When throwing in a cab to downtown and back, we really wouldn't save any money. So we went with the Carnival excursion.

We had a great time. The catamaran was definitely full. They pack you in with Carnival excursions, but it is what it is. But it was still nice. I spent some time up at the top just taking in the views. The water was a bit rough on the first leg, heading to our snorkel spot, and a few people got a little sick. Take your seasickness medication ahead of time, like we did. The snorkeling spot was not too far away from the ship. We could still see it quite easily. But it was a very nice spot. There was plenty of coral and fish down there. Roatan has better snorkeling off the west end of their island, but in all fairness, I don't know if anything can beat Roatan. I would say that this spot in Cozumel even had Grand Cayman beat, in my experience.

After the snorkeling, they opened the bar. Margarita & Pepsi is mainly what I drank. My roommate, who had just turned 18 two weeks prior, enjoyed a few margaritas. The drinking age in Mexico is 18. On the ship, it's 21. But even though this was a Carnival excursion, it was Mexico's rules. So the age is 18. But parents, be aware that they are not strict with enforcement. If you have a 12-year old who looks a little older and is over 5' tall, they will likely be served alcohol. We didn't mind this young man having a couple margaritas. He is very responsible and mature. And we were not breaking any laws or rules.

We had about an hour to enjoy the beach that they took us to. We all went on one of the water toys, an inflated slide that you climb up then slide down. There was another one, but adults were not allowed on it. Fail! At Paradise Beach, adults are allowed on all of them. So if you are looking for this type of a beach experience, do not do this excursion. Go to Paradise Beach. But we still had a nice time at the beach.

On the way back to the ship, they played some of our favorite "line-dancing" kind of songs, like Cupid Shuffle and such. The workers even joined us in the dancing. It made it a lot of fun. They did a great job, and it was definitely a fun excursion, even though it's over early. Maybe a bit overpriced, but hey, we're on vacation.

For anyone looking for a combination of an open bar, snorkeling, beach, and water toys, this is the best and maybe only option for you. If you want to leave out the beach part, look elsewhere, as there would be other, cheaper options. If you just want the beach & water toys, go to Paradise Beach.

Thanks for the info. I was considering a beach day over the ruins so this is helpful. The reviews on the beach excursions were mainly negative so I was leaning to just heading to the beach by the port. Were there kids on the beach or was this an adult party atmosphere? Thanks again!

As a Texan, let me say that we are proud that an Okie has learned to use the "fancy typewriter"! Thanks for the review, and I can't wait to sail on her in February

Yeah, yeah, yeah! I hope you have a great time!

Well, I can't compete with the Texan above (even though I'm a quarter Texan) but I will say: Thanks for your review! The Triumph was my first Carnival ship and I loved her. I did notice the long buffet lines, and we had well over a thousand kids on board, so it is nice to hear that there are fewer lines in the non-kid season.

I'm not sure if this cruise had shorter lines than yours or not. We actually did have quite a few kids & teens on this cruise, a whole lot more than I would've thought. But my first time on the Triumph, out of New Orleans, was literally about 99% adults (only around 30 kids/teens), and the food lines were horribly long. It would seem, based on this, that more adults lengthen the food lines. I came in expecting it to be the same as my first time on the ship, but it was nowhere near as bad. But it was still longer than Conquest or Dream class ships.

It was announced that we had 3250 guests on board, 500 over double occupancy (aka, 500 above "sailing full"). There was room for about 300 more on the ship, so it could get more crowded.

Thanks for the info. I was considering a beach day over the ruins so this is helpful. The reviews on the beach excursions were mainly negative so I was leaning to just heading to the beach by the port. Were there kids on the beach or was this an adult party atmosphere? Thanks again!

It was not a party atmosphere. Pretty laid back. Right next to us was a family with 3 children around 10 & under. People will be enjoying their alcoholic beverages, but I didn't see any crazy people. You will get plenty of people coming up to you, trying to sell you stuff or play music for a tip. You will get very used to saying "No thank you". It is not intimidating at all, like in Jamaica. Nothing to worry about, but some people may get annoyed by it. The kids were playing in the sand & water, and looked to be having a great time. Our boys were picking up shells. It wasn't a shell paradise, but there were some. It was nice for a cheap beach day. They made good strawberry margaritas.

My first 2 times in Progreso, I did the beach break through Carnival, before I knew better. Although I enjoyed it, it was a bit of a waste of money. I don't drink enough to justify the expense. Buying individual drinks as I go is the better way for me. Plus, on that Carnival beach break, there were some people getting drunk, and they would do some games that were definitely not geared for kids or for kids to be watching. The beach that we went to is a little ways down from where that Carnival beach break goes. Keep in mind that this beach is close to the shuttle drop-off point, but the ship is about 5 miles out on the very long pier. But once again, that shuttle is free.

We did go to the main dining room every night for dinner. The dining service isn't as good as it used to be, but I don't blame the waiters at all for that. They are having to wait on too many tables now, with the 3-person team. Our head waitress was nice, but we didn't see her as much as one of her assistants. They did the singing or dancing 3 of the 5 nights. It's still enjoyable to see it. I didn't join in with them this time, since nobody else was, and they weren't doing it anywhere close to our table. We were given not the greatest table location, but that seems to be the norm once you become platinum. The best tables are given to the newbies.

Our room steward, Nur, as I mentioned, was the best room steward that any of us have ever had. He took such great care of us. For the first time on any of my 12 cruises, we actually consistently got ice!!! I didn't think that was possible. Not only did we get ice every day, we got it twice a day. Not only that. We got ice both in our small cooler and the ice bucket twice a day. That seems to be the thing that is never taken care of, but he took care of it. He took care of everything quite well. We saw him quite often, several times a day, while we were coming & going. He always greeted us by name and had a smile on his face. We were able to talk with him for a little bit to ask about life back at home and on the ship. In case someone was wondering, we did not tip extra at the beginning of the cruise to get such great service. He gave the great service anyway. But we did tip extra at the end because of it.

Past guest party, or whatever it's called now. 3 of us had enough credits to get into the past guest party. They did not take up the invitations at the door. It is not anywhere near as crowded as it used to be, when all repeat guests got in. It's a much much smaller group. The waiters had one kind of drink on their trays. I asked if there was anything else that we could get, and was pretty much told no. I guess we could have given him a few bucks and ordered something else, like people suggest on these boards. But none of us are drinkers, so we don't really have any commitment to any drinks in particular. Whatever was on the trays was good. I had a couple. Later, they came out with another drink, which was also good. As always, I enjoyed getting to cheer for all the ships I've been on. That's the best part for me. Then, they invited people to come up on stage and learn a line dance. I went up there and joined in on the fun. My friends enjoyed sitting in their seat and videotaping me.

We got our coupon for a free drink, up to $9 in value, in the dining room for breakfast or lunch. The last day, I figured that I might as well use it, so I went there for breakfast, and there was a line to get in. The bartender was outside the dining room, saw my coupon, and asked what I wanted. He brought me the drink before I was through the line, so I headed upstairs and ate at the buffet. During the daytime, I don't like eating in the dining room, because I enjoy being outside in the sun. I just want to get the eating over with, so that I can enjoy the sun, the pools, & the waterslide, which I did plenty of throughout the cruise.

5 days of sunshine, and I've got the only December tan I've ever had in my life. It's the first time that I've actually gotten a tan on a short cruise, as we usually have a few days of rain and/or clouds. This time, the weather was magnificent!

Glad to hear you had a good cruise, we are doing a back to back starting on 1-28. Really looking forward to it.

Is the K2 mountain in Colorado? I know one that is nicknamed K2 at Cuchara.

Doug

Glad to hear you had a good cruise, we are doing a back to back starting on 1-28. Really looking forward to it.

 

Is the K2 mountain in Colorado? I know one that is nicknamed K2 at Cuchara.

 

Doug

K2 is located along the border of Pakistan & China. It's the 2nd tallest mountain in the world (at 28,250 feet) and considered the most dangerous. I have never and will never attempt to climb it, but one can fantasize. It's a very beautiful mountain, and is the setting for many movies, including Vertical Limit with Bill Paxton. It is perhaps the most revered mountain in the world among hikers & climbers, far more revered than Everest or anything in the U.S.

I hope you have a great time on your B2B. I think that the Triumph has become my 2nd favorite ship. She may not be perfect, but she's got a lot going for her.

Wow! A lot of useful information, thank you!

Thank you! I enjoy a few drinks on the beach too. I was hoping it was a place families go so there would be other kids his age to play with. He is an only child but very social and loves to make new friends.

We were on the Triumph the 13th-17th and our experience was pretty much the same as yours. We had our 3 boys (12,13,14) and they all actually had a great time at the Circle C Club.

The only big negative was that the ship was having some sort of mechanical issues. This caused us to be late leaving on Thursday (I think it was around 8:00 pm or so, but honestly I can’t remember exactly), and the itinerary was changed from Cozumel to Progresso only. I’m not a big fan of Progresso, but we had already checked our bags by the time we found out and I wasn’t willing to cancel at that point. We actually used it as a learning experience. Instead of taking a right and heading to the beach when the shuttle dropped us off we took a left and headed into town. The boys were enlightened by the open meat markets, etc..

We all still had a good time. I thought the food lines were short compared to what they have been in the past. I also enjoy the shows and the show band and will be sad to see them go. I do think you only had the second best steward on the ship. :) Katut on deck 6 forward port side is far and away the best we have ever had or heard of. Not only does he do a great job with everything related to our room, but he has been awesome with the boys. On this last cruise he and my middle son had a towel animal competition going. He is great and I hope he is still there next time.

K2 is located along the border of Pakistan & China. It's the 2nd tallest mountain in the world (at 28,250 feet) and considered the most dangerous. I have never and will never attempt to climb it, but one can fantasize. It's a very beautiful mountain, and is the setting for many movies, including Vertical Limit with Bill Paxton. It is perhaps the most revered mountain in the world among hikers & climbers, far more revered than Everest or anything in the U.S.

 

I hope you have a great time on your B2B. I think that the Triumph has become my 2nd favorite ship. She may not be perfect, but she's got a lot going for her.

Thanks, I was curious to know if we were thinking about the same mountain.

Doug

We were on the Triumph the 13th-17th and our experience was pretty much the same as yours. We had our 3 boys (12,13,14) and they all actually had a great time at the Circle C Club.

 

The only big negative was that the ship was having some sort of mechanical issues. This caused us to be late leaving on Thursday (I think it was around 8:00 pm or so, but honestly I can’t remember exactly), and the itinerary was changed from Cozumel to Progresso only. I’m not a big fan of Progresso, but we had already checked our bags by the time we found out and I wasn’t willing to cancel at that point. We actually used it as a learning experience. Instead of taking a right and heading to the beach when the shuttle dropped us off we took a left and headed into town. The boys were enlightened by the open meat markets, etc..

 

We all still had a good time. I thought the food lines were short compared to what they have been in the past. I also enjoy the shows and the show band and will be sad to see them go. I do think you only had the second best steward on the ship. :) Katut on deck 6 forward port side is far and away the best we have ever had or heard of. Not only does he do a great job with everything related to our room, but he has been awesome with the boys. On this last cruise he and my middle son had a towel animal competition going. He is great and I hope he is still there next time.

Thank you for your report. It sounds like the Triumph really has got a good thing going. I've been reading some other great reports about this ship. That does stink about the mechanical issues and the switch to Progreso, but at least you were still able to enjoy the trip. Our boys wouldn't have been interested in the Club O2. I've heard that they sometimes allow 18-yr old high school seniors in, but our guys aren't into those teen club things. I wouldn't have been either at that age. This ship seems to really know how to train their stewards. I cannot imagine anyone being better than Nur. Maybe we can call it a tie. :)

We were told that the show band director was leaving on vacation after our sailing. Did you hear anything about the Triumph's show band going away anytime soon? Or are you just referring to Carnival's move to get rid of show bands that has happened on some ships but not yet to the Triumph?

I was on my first Carnival cruise on the Triumph in September and had a wonderful time! Came home and immediately booked on the Magic. I figured that if the short Triumph cruise was good the longer cruise and the bigger Magic must be better (or at least as good).

The more I read the more I believe that I may be wrong. Sounds like the Triumph still includes some of the old school Carnival amenities like hour long shows and the show band that we won't get to enjoy in the Magic.

We will still have a fantastic time I am sure but I can't help thinking we will be a tad dissapointed when comparing the experience on the Magic to (as some one put it) the hidden gem of Carnival.

Oh well ... guess another cruise on the Triumph is order. lol

Great review :) I loved my cruise on Triumph and hope to sail on her again in the future.

Thanks for the review!

I was on my first Carnival cruise on the Triumph in September and had a wonderful time! Came home and immediately booked on the Magic. I figured that if the short Triumph cruise was good the longer cruise and the bigger Magic must be better (or at least as good).

 

The more I read the more I believe that I may be wrong. Sounds like the Triumph still includes some of the old school Carnival amenities like hour long shows and the show band that we won't get to enjoy in the Magic.

 

We will still have a fantastic time I am sure but I can't help thinking we will be a tad dissapointed when comparing the experience on the Magic to (as some one put it) the hidden gem of Carnival.

 

Oh well ... guess another cruise on the Triumph is order. lol

The best thing would be to not compare the ships to each other. The Magic does still have some nice things to it, such as an improved waterpark & ropes course. I think some things have changed since I sailed Magic in March. Maybe not now, but they were doing the hour long shows then. They weren't very good though (very poor themes & executions), not nearly as good as Triumph's. But their magic show was good.

Thanks for the great review! We are going to be on the Triumph in a couple of weeks. :)

We were told that the show band director was leaving on vacation after our sailing. Did you hear anything about the Triumph's show band going away anytime soon? Or are you just referring to Carnival's move to get rid of show bands that has happened on some ships but not yet to the Triumph?

The drummer was the bandleader on our cruise, and I was just referring to the Carnival trend of getting rid of the bands.

Now that Christmas is over I am ready to go again!

Lido deck entertainment. Yes, the calypso bands/duos/whatevers are gone. It's just DJs playing music.

Thanks for your review!

This bums me out a bit -- is this true across the board as far as you know? We recently sailed on the Magic (a year after being on the Triumph) & we loved the music on the Lido deck of the Triumph. It was sad that the Magic Lido deck was just an iPod plugged in playing tunes (not really, but no DJ most of the time). It was pretty dull for the most part without the live music.