Triumph 4/4 review

SUMMARY:

This was a last-minute decision, my first Carnival cruise. I was hoping to read a book, have fun activities for my DD 13, and basically hide for a few days out on the water. That was the extent of my expectations and I am happy with our trip overall. But for a ship fresh off 2 weeks in dry dock it felt like they weren't ready for us, like 3000 people showed up early for a party and the crew was trying to catch up. Nothing was terribly wrong, just lots of things that seemed...off.

DETAILS:

We had an interior cabin on Deck 1, which was roomier and nicer than I expected. Near the elevators and service areas but no noise problems at all. One night we came back to a happy birthday message on the mirror, written for a person unknown to us and signed "Your Stud, <cabin steward's name>". We liked our steward but weren't THAT close to him! Apparently he was given the wrong room number. I hope you got your birthday gift card, Cody, whoever you are! The towel animals were always fun. Although the room was cleaned daily, dirty bar glasses were left for 3 days.

The food was all very good and some was excellent, but it took an hour and a half to eat at seated dinner. My DD ordered the lobster (extra fee) the first night and 20 minutes later was told there was no lobster tonight. Same thing the second night, ordered and then later told it wasn't available. Then, on the 4th night, our server told her that lobster was being served, for real this time. I'm not sure why they were not serving it earlier (its not like they picked it up in Cozumel off season) but they should have taken it off the menu, or at least told the servers it's been 86'd so passengers don't order it. Throughout the trip several of the beverage, and most of the ice cream, stations were not working.

The public areas were kept clean, but the plumbing was exposed where ceiling tiles were moved out of place *only above the toilet stalls* in the ladies room on the Lido deck by the pool. Creepy! Food service crew were continually wiping, mopping, paying attention to messes and cleaning up. It was hard to keep up during the lunch and breakfast rushes.

The kids programming was super, despite a couple last minute location changes for activities. I practically never saw my DD. The mini golf is very worn and always busy, and two hot tubs and the slide were shut down for at least part of the trip. On a side note, PARENTS, wth? Pay attention to your kids if they aren't in the supervised programs. I have video of kids doing flips and dives from the ledge of the raised hot tub (next to the slide) into the shallow 4' pool below (where other kids were swimming). Some were jumping from on top of the plexiglass railing. Stupid. Other parents finally told them to stop because there were no crew members monitoring the Lido pool area, although one of the teenage kids doing it was later busted by a crew member when he jumped over a railing from the 11th deck to the 10th.

Crew were all very friendly and worked to please, but we thought many were new, or at least new to this ship. They often didn't have answers to basic questions, or gave conflicting answers. IE, the first morning we asked where the open seating breakfast was and were told there was only buffet, then asked another food service worker who directed us to the proper place. The shopping director didn't show up to distribute VIP cards for port shopping and also didn't show up for the last night shopping raffle. The girl at the desk said he wasn't available. We all had our receipts (as directed in the advertisement for the free cruise drawing) but she said she didn't know how the raffle worked. So she just had everyone write their name and cabin number on separate sheets of paper and told us they'd call us at home if we won. That sounds totally legit! One thing that I felt was just plain wrong: several people didn't get their luggage. One person whose luggage was missing was given a 20% off coupon for the gift shop to purchase things, including a toothbrush. Really? Give them a darn toothbrush. Give them a Carnival promo t-shirt to change into. Her luggage was eventually found, but some didn't get it for the entire cruise. How does that happen?

The entertainment by the pool included a talented guitar singer and a DJ who literally did not speak. At all. She just played songs. When another passenger asked her about it, the DJ told her she was having personal problems and knew she shouldn't bring it to work. Ok, sorry to hear, hope it all works out for you before the next cruise! Some live presentations from the theater were broadcast on the big screen. It was a low-energy vibe all around. Fine for my reading but anyone expecting a fun, energetic scene at the pool bars during the day was disappointed. The liveliest, most fun time the entire cruise was when the New Orleans Saints fan club -- passengers on the ship, not Carnival crew -- paraded through the pool area and tossed beads to everyone.

The evening movies at the pool kept having technical difficulties. "The Revenant" was shown while the kids clubs were still operating, which surprised (but didn't bother) me. The casino was busy, the entertainers talented, comedy was meh, the art auction interesting, I went to a few presentations and the speakers were engaging. The Silent DJ hosted the 80s nightclub party, which didn't induce people to dance when I was there. Embark/debark went very smoothly. Fellow passengers were friendly and I was happily surprised to find chaises available, if not conveniently located, throughout the day.

I did read my book and my DD loved the teen club, so in the end the cruise was fine and I got what I paid for. Nothing fabulous but nothing awful, only that feeling that the crew and/or facilities weren't quite ready for the cruise.

Will I cruise Carnival again? Maybe, if I'm looking for another cheap, low-key, weekender-type getaway. I wouldn't risk Carnival on a longer vacation where my expectations would be higher.

**This is not an accusation about Carnival because there could be other plausible reasons for it, but in the week since returning home I've had 5 attempts to log in to the email address I used for raffles, drawings, and sign ups on the ship (none in port). The first three were from an IP address registered in Bosnia Herzegovina, the last two from Bakersfield, CA. My next cruise I will set up a specific email, IE carnivaltriumph040416@whatever.com to use onboard so if hackers try to get in to my account I will know where they got the email address.

Thanks for the review. For the most part looks like you enjoyed yourself. One thing I learned from this site is not to book the 1st cruise after dry dock. Hopefully the kinks are worked out since I'll be getting on the Triumph in a few days. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write this.

Thank you for your review.

Pretty good, objective review, thanks.

Can't believe Carnival didn't accommodate the people a little better that didn't have their luggage. If I was there, I would've offered them some of my clothes....except my SpongeBob socks of course..

Appreciate the feedback.

Good review. I'll be back on the Triumph this July after 5 years.

Thanks for the review. For the most part looks like you enjoyed yourself. One thing I learned from this site is not to book the 1st cruise after dry dock. Hopefully the kinks are worked out since I'll be getting on the Triumph in a few days. Anyway' date=' thanks for taking the time to write this.[/quote']

 

What did you think of your cruise?

Thanks for taking the time to let us know about your cruise. I have read not to go on a ship to soon after dry-dock. I was thinking about the Dream until I saw it was right before a dry-dock, so I decided against that one.