Triumph Review 9-19/9-26, New England & Canada

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

First, let me start out by saying this will be long and unfortunately without pictures. I'm not a picture taker....I try to be...I have a camera...but I never remember to use it. And when I do, often the pictures are not that good, so this is a review without pictures. Sorry : (

 

First for some background. I’m 50 years old and this is my second Carnival cruise and third cruise overall. My DH is 48 and his cruise stats are the same since we’ve only begun cruising since we married 9 years ago. The first cruise was our honeymoon on Royal Caribbean, Explorer of the Seas and then we cruised on the Carnival Valor for Christmas 2007 with my entire family. This cruise was just for the two of us and I was really looking forward to it. We picked this cruise for the time of year it was and we were interested in doing something other than the Caribbean, which we’d done twice before. When I booked the cruise I figured at the end of the summer I’d be sick of the hot weather and would welcome some cooler temperatures, but little did I know we’d have the crappiest summer I can remember in NE Pennsylvania and we had very few of what I would call HOT days. At any rate, after I booked the cruise I stumbled onto this website and instantly became addicted. DH was starting to get annoyed as I spent many nights reading on the laptop in bed, while he was trying to sleep. I kept saying “listen to this”….or “look at these pictures”. I was on information overload and meeting some great people on our roll call. I even ended up organizing our meet and greet – more on that later.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Since we were leaving from NYC, we figured we’d be driving to the port. After trying to find someone to take us and pick us up, and looking into staying overnight somewhere and leaving our car, we ended up driving and parking at the port. Our youngest daughter could have taken us, but I was too worried about having her drive home through the city alone, so that was out. Then we figured the hassle of staying in New Jersey and leaving our car there, then taking some other kind of transportation and lugging our suitcases around to get to the ship was too much trouble and wouldn’t end up saving much money in the end – so we just drove and parked. I of course, always like to be early. My DH says that if I’m on time – that’s late in my mind and this was no exception. Mapquest estimated the drive time from our house to the port as 2 ¾ hours, but I wanted to have a buffer time for any traffic accidents or breakdowns, so we left at 6:30 AM !! We didn’t run into any traffic and cruised (haha) into the terminal before 9:00 AM. The parking garage wasn’t even open yet !!! The very nice terminal employee directed us to an alternate lot and told us to wait until 9:00 AM then drive to the other pier’s lot and park there. We waited and talked to another group of cruisers that had driven in from Western PA and at 9:00 AM we drove to the correct lot. OH…the Triumph was already docked when we got there and we could watch the crew busily getting her cleaned up and ready for our cruise. Woohooo. We pulled into the lot and the drug doggies hopped in our car to sniff our luggage and we grabbed one of the front parking spots, right next to the ship. There weren’t even any porters there yet, so we ended up taking our suitcases into the terminal ourselves….no big deal there. We sat in a holding area for a few minutes and then some Carnival employees came over and told us we could check our bags with the porters inside, so we did that and came back to our seating area. At about 10:00 AM, the lines were going to open and we would be the first ones checking in. We got through the line rather quickly and were given a boarding zone 3 ticket. Zone 1 is for VIP and Zone 2 is for Handicapped or those that need assistance, so we were in the first general boarding group. We sat in the terminal for about an hour and watched passengers walking past with their luggage and sad looks on their faces…but everyone in the terminal was excited and happy to finally be boarding the ship!! When they called our group, we wound through the maze and finally boarded the ship. We slipped our S&S cards in the machine and heard that first “DONG” that signaled we were finally onboard !!! BTW ..we bypassed the embarkation picture but there were so many people filing in that where the photographer was set up in the terminal would have created a huge log jam, so we just skipped it. We had plenty of pictures taken throughout the cruise, so I didn’t care that we missed that one.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

We went right to the desk and put some additional money into our S&S account, just so the credit card wouldn’t be billed as much at the end and tried to check our table reservation for dinner, but the dining room wasn’t open until 1:30 PM, so we headed up to Lido for some lunch. Since we were onboard relatively early, there were no lines yet and I went right to the deli for the delicious mozzarella sandwiches I had tried on the Valor in 2007. They were still offered and just as great as I remembered. DH got some things from the buffet and then we strolled around the ship getting acquainted with the layout. (Oh BTW….I asked about the DOD cards at two different bars on embarkation day and was told this ship didn’t have them….bummer.) We were in the Paris dining room and what others have said about the location of the dining rooms is true in that it’s kind of confusing. There are two dining rooms (Paris and London) and lunch and breakfast are usually in the London. You can’t just go down to Deck 3 and walk in…you have to go up one deck and walk over….it’s confusing and even after 7 days I still couldn’t get it right the first time. DH always laughed when I turned the wrong way or came down a set of stair to find we weren’t where I thought we were. Plus I’m really bad with the front and back of the ship, luckily DH seemed much better at this, so I let him lead most of the time. Around 1:30 I went back to the Paris dining room to check out our table assignment and found out we were seated at a table for 4. I really wanted a bigger table, but didn’t ask to be changed and figured we’d see who our tablemates were first. This turned out to be a weeklong saga but worked out in the end. The muster drill started at 4:00 and went pretty quickly. We ran back to our rooms to deposit the life jackets and ran up to the secret deck on 9 for the sail away. Just a note…this deck is not so secret anymore and there were probably 50 people out there…but that was ok and there was still plenty of room for everyone at the railings to watch as we sailed by the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and under the bridge. It was a beautiful, sunny day and NYC looked so picturesque as we sailed out down the Hudson River. It was soon time for us to get ready for dinner and meet our table mates !!! We had table 144 on the lower level of the Paris dining room which was WAY in the back by the doors. It was a booth along the side wall and we liked the comfy bench seats. Our assistant waiter was Pablo from Honduras and Ronald (I didn’t catch where he was from) was our head-waiter. They were both great and very personable and friendly. The first night, our table mates didn’t show up, so we ate alone. I won’t be giving you an exact menu of what we had every night, but suffice it to say we always found something we liked. I did have shrimp cocktail every night though…mmmmm. After dinner we went to the welcome aboard show and met our cruise director Jorge (George) and he was fabulous !!! He was very funny and we tend to like his style of sarcastic humor and how he singles out people in the audience. There was a comedian that night…Leighann Lord..who was pretty funny. All in all it was a great first day and we were exhausted and headed back to our cabin for a good nights sleep.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Before going to bed, I put out a breakfast room service menu for coffee and juice for 7:15AM and it arrived right on time. Since we had a late port that day in Boston, there was no rush to get to breakfast, so we had coffee and mimosas in our room. (We brought a bottle of Asti along with us). We decided to try the main dining room for breakfast since we had time and were a little disappointed to be seated at a table for two again. We were beginning to think there must be something wrong with us !!! Anyway…we saw our dinner wait team of Pablo and Ronald (although they weren’t our servers) and they smiled and waved and called us by name. We were surprised they remembered our names after only one night. We ordered our breakfasts and in literally 3 minutes, they were being set in front of us. What we anticipated to be a “longer than buffet” wait, was in fact MUCH shorter than going up to Lido. We loved the fact that everything came at once and was hot and we didn’t have to keep going back for something we forgot. We decided that the MDR would be the way to go for breakfast from then on !!

After breakfast we had planned a Meet and Greet of our roll call and I had written to John Heald via his blog and he told me it would be listed in the “Day at a Glance” section but for whatever reason, it wasn’t, so I’m glad we had also made back-up plans. We met in the Atrium Bar at 10:00 AM and almost everyone showed up !!! It was so great putting faces and names together and we sat around and chatted for about an hour before everyone took off to get ready for the rest of the day.

 

We were scheduled to dock in Boston at 2:00 PM and my DH and I had made arrangements to meet my sister who lives outside of Boston for a day at Quincy Market and a nice dinner at Legal Seafood. We got off the ship close to 2:30 and caught a bus to the Market. They sell tickets in the terminal and if you ask, they will sell you one way tickets for $5.00 ($10.00 round trip) My sister was planning on dropping us back off, so we only needed transportation one way. We did see some people walking back to the ship later that night, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that, as the area was pretty dark and deserted until you got right to the pier…unless you were in a large group. The shuttle dropped us off at Quincy Market and we met my sister and her family and the guys took off to have a beer at Cheers and we went exploring the market and watching the street entertainers. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time exploring all the shops and kiosks there. For dinner, we had reservations at Legal Seafood, very close to the Market and if you have the chance, I highly recommend this restaurant!! I had been thinking about lobster for weeks and I knew exactly what I was ordering. I had the lobster roll and it was fantastic. I think it was the best lobster roll I had on this cruise, and I got them at almost every port we were in. Their lobster roll was huge and had a generous amount of lobster, mixed with mayonnaise. DH got the sea scallops and he said they were great as well. They also had really good warm bread and rolls with the meal and we asked for seconds on those. After more drinks and visiting we finished up and headed back to the ship around 7:30 PM. For some reason the line to re-board the ship was very long and not moving, so we stood outside for about 30 minutes before boarding. When we finally boarded we saw that only one S&S machine was working, so I guess that’s what slowed things up. Once we got back onboard we headed to the Rome lounge for some trivia won a SOLID GOLD PLASTIC SHIP ON A STICK !! I was so excited. It was 80’s Famous Faces trivia and I have to give all the credit to DH, who knew who “Kid and Play” were. I still don’t know who they are!!! We also played the Family Feud game and my team won, so we got a medal for that too. It was turning into a good night.

We played bingo…I didn’t win….and then stayed for the Hypnotists show. Pete Mamos was the hypnotist and he was very good. I always love those shows and secretly wish I could be a participant but I didn’t go up onstage. After the show, we headed off to the cabin to bed…..early port tomorrow in Portland.

[jimbo5544]

Nice detailed review so far. Love to hear your thoughts on going north compared to a carib. cruise.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Oops..I made a mistake that I can't change now. The post above should have been titled Sunday, not Monday.

 

If it’s Monday….this must be Portland

We docked in Portland right at 8:00 AM and were off the ship by 8:30. We did breakfast in the MDR again and had the usual fast service again. This would definitely be our routine for the rest of the cruise. We had made arrangements to rent a car with Enterprise and I called them as soon as we disembarked the ship. They directed us to the “rusty globe” on Commercial Street and they sent a van to come pick us up. Two other couples were also waiting and they arrived within 15 minutes to take us back to their office, which was only 2 miles away, to pick up our cars. DH and I had reserved a small pick-up truck, mostly because it was cheaper than the economy car price and DH has been considering buying a small pick-up and thought renting one for the day would be a good test to see how comfortable it was and if he liked it…..we got a brand new Sierra and we both liked it, so one may be in our future. After we picked up the truck, we got directions to Freeport, which was quite easy to find. It took us about 20 minutes to get there and we spent a few hours wondering around the shops. We drove back into town and parked and met up with a group that had booked the Old Port Culinary Tour through Maine Foodie Tours. This was a great tour and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a nice sunny day so walking through town was not a problem. It was, for the most part, level but if you have mobility issues, this might not be the tour for you as we walked for about 2 ½ hours. We got to sample lobster, gourmet Whoopi pies, blueberry jam, chocolate truffles, locally brewed beer and cheeses. John, our tour guide, was quite entertaining and provided us with a lot of local history and funny stories about Portland. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who is interested. After the tour was over, we went back to one of the local fishermen’s hangout for another lobster roll. The lobster had been swimming that morning and was in my lobster roll at 3:00 PM….you can’t get much fresher than that. It was YUMMY !!! We took our car back to Enterprise and they dropped us back off so we could board the ship. This was elegant night, so we didn’t want to get back too late, as we had early seating. Once back onboard, we got ready for dinner and went down to have some pictures taken. Since this was Elegant Night…there was lobster and prime rib on the menu. DH had one of each and I ordered two lobsters right up front, so they didn’t have to run back to the kitchen later to get me another one. Even though I’d had lobster that afternoon, you can never have too much lobster as far as I’m concerned. After I ate both, Ronald looked at me and held up 3 fingers but there was no way I could do a third. I was pushing just to eat the second one and didn’t touch the side dishes at all !!! I did however, find some room for another WCMC and a cappuccino for dessert. Ugghh…we were both stuffed. Again, no table mates showed up, so we ate dinner alone. I mean I love my DH and all….but I can eat dinner with him at home….we really wanted to meet some new people. We did see some of our Meet and Greet group at nearby tables and considered asking to move to their table but wanted to keep Ronald and Pablo as our servers so we didn’t. We kept hoping someone else would request a change from their table and get seated with us. After dinner we went to the show. Tonight it was Wonderful World and we both enjoyed it. After the show we played in the Casino for a short time….DH won about $100.00 on the slots and then we headed to Club Rio to listen to some karaoke before the Adult comedy show started. The comedian was again, Leighann Lord and she was OK. After the show, it was off to bed.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Tuesday was Saint John and probably my least favorite port. We had no plans here so we slept in a little later and again had breakfast in the MDR. DH was really getting addicted to the Eggs Benedict !! I always opted for the ham and cheese omelet, bacon, hash browns and a bagel. We got off the ship around 10:00 and I got a pretty long stemmed rose and DH got a lapel pin….a nice touch. We walked down towards the open area where we saw some craft stands and browsed around for awhile before going into the enclosed pedway that connects many of the downtown buildings. Saint John is all uphill so it makes it easier to get around. It was pretty overcast and windy that day, so walking inside was nice. We went to the market there and I got some Christmas ornaments for my collection. We walked the streets for a bit and went into the old general store. By this time it was lunch time and we had pretty much exhausted our options in town. We had wanted to go to the Reversing Rapids but thought we’d go get lunch on the ship and come back out in the afternoon, closer to high tide to do that. That was the plan anyway. We hit the Lido for lunch and I got the second of those yummy mozzarella sandwiches from the Deli. DH got a burger from the grill. Since we still had some time to kill, DH suggested a nap…….surprise, surprise LOL. Now I’m NOT a nap taker but DH lives for his weekend naps on Sunday while he “watches” football or golf. We had a few hours until high tide….and it was too cold for the pool, so we went back to the cabin. He made himself comfy on the bed and I switched on the TV and started watching a movie. The next thing I knew it was 4:30 and we’d BOTH fallen asleep !!! I guess those naps aren’t so bad after all, except that we never got to see the reversing rapids….oh well….maybe the next time. We decided to get ready for dinner and go check our pictures from the night before. We were just looking for one good picture of the two of us and once we got one, we’d stop doing the “picture circuit” before dinner. No such luck tonight, as all our elegant night pictures looked terrible. Eyes closed….What was I looking at?.....stupid pose….hair looked bad…..you get the picture. My biggest complaint about those photographers is they all use the same weird poses and put you in positions that feel so unnatural. One guy wanted me to put my hand along side of my DH’s cheek. OH COME ON….I don’t care how good that picture would have turned out, we weren’t buying that one ….so we refused to do it. Finally I spoke up and told them we didn’t want such formal poses, that we wanted something more casual and fun and they finally started posing us in more realistic ways. But since we hadn’t found that “one good picture” yet, we did the circuit yet another night before dinner. Right before dinner, we walked out onto the Promenade deck to hear the bagpiper playing as we pulled away from the dock. It was very haunting and as we stood and listened one of the port security guys motioned to us that it was a 13 year old girl that was playing. She got a big ovation when she was done. Tonight at dinner, we got to our table and still no tablemates….hmmmmm did we smell or something? One of the couples from our cruise critic meet and greet stopped to talk to us and mentioned that they felt out of place at their table for 8 because everyone was so much old than they were, so we invited them to sit with us. At first Ronald didn’t look too pleased with that, because he was worried that the original people assigned to that table would show up, but we assured him, that if they did, the couple would move and he seemed ok with that. It was nice to have people to eat with and talk about our day. Tom and Gay are a great couple from Nashville and we hit it off pretty well. After dinner we tried more bingo….still didn’t win… then stayed for the New Wave Magic show starring Kevin and Caruso. What magic they did was good, but there was a lot of dancing and theatrics in between….but overall we enjoyed it. After the show we lost some money in the casino and then hit the karaoke bar again to watch the auditions for the Legends show. Some really good singers and some that were ehhhhh,…but everyone gets a good round of applause just for getting up there and singing….it’s more than I’d do….sober anyway. LOL. We skipped the R rated Burlesque show at midnight because we were just too tired and headed off to bed.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

As a side note….DH and I normally get up at 4:00 AM for work and we’re typically in bed pretty early so staying up past 8:00 PM is a big deal for us. Most nights on the cruise we looked at each other around 10:00 PM and said “look at us…..up at 10:00 PM…..just like real grown-ups !!” LOL.

Wednesday was our first Sea Day and we slept in. Now sleeping in to us may not be sleeping in to most people, but when you’re used to 4:00 AM, 8:00 AM seems like you’re wasting the entire morning !!! We again had breakfast in the MDR and spent the rest of the day doing the typical “sea day” activities - played some trivia, bingo, Scattegories, Win, Lose or Draw, watched the hairy chest contest and played some miniature golf. We had intended to go to Tea Time, and I’m not sure what we were doing at that time, but we never got there. The Past Guest party was at 5:00 PM, so we got ready for dinner early and went to the Rome Lounge. There were free drinks and a few appetizers and they were pretty quick to come around with refills…..however we sat pretty far towards the back, right along the row that is used to get from one side of the theatre to the other, so we had lots of waiters going right by us and they would often offer us another drink as they walked by if they saw our glasses empty. I recommend that row if you go to the party. I’m not sure everyone in the lounge had such good service…especially not those in the very front, since the servers were coming from the back. After the party, we headed to dinner and ate with Tom and Gay again…..still no sign of the original couple that was supposed to be sitting at our table. This may have been the night I ordered only appetizers for dinner and Ronald seemed worried that I wasn’t getting an entrée. I ordered 3 different appetizers and that was plenty….I wasn’t really that hungry to begin with, but still had room for the WCMC again and cappuccino.

After dinner we went to check out the last round of photographs we had taken and FINALLY found one of the less formal pictures that we both liked so that ended the picture taking before and after dinner for the rest of the cruise….woohooo. After dinner we went to the Rome Lounge to see Marvin Bell…another comedian, who we liked a lot. After the show we hit the casino again….didn’t win anything and I think DH lost some at the blackjack table…..then headed to Club Rio to listen to karaoke. I think this was the first night I tried one of the big cookies you can get from the specialty coffee shop. They had Chocolate Chunk, White Macadamian and an Oatmeal Raisin. They’re only $1.25 and REALLY good. I had the White Macadamian and knew it wouldn’t be my last. Then it was off to bed since we had another early port the next day.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Thursday was Halifax and we had no excursions booked here but I had done a lot of research on the Cruise Critic boards and knew where we wanted to go. The weather was overcast and cool and it looked like rain, but never did. We again had our breakfast in the MDR with wonderfully fast service and headed off the ship around 9:00 AM. We decided to walk on the boardwalk down to the Maritime museum. It was a nice walk, lined with decorated dolphins, little shops and lots of boats and ships to look at. I was surprised that there were no railings or anything to keep you from falling or jumping into the water !! I’m used to the Jersey boardwalk and there are railings the entire way, even if there is just sand underneath. You just know there have been kids fooling around on there and ended up in the water…I guess that’s why we saw life preservers every so often along the walk. We toured the Maritime museum and I especially liked the Titanic exhibits. We also went to the 3D Titanic movie they offered there and it explains Halifax’s role in the Titanic disaster. After we left the museum we walked around town for a bit and decided to hike up the hill to the Citadel. You could see it right up the hill….how hard could it be to walk up there LOL. DH and I are both around 50 and he has a pretty physical job and I work out 3 – 4 times a week and we were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top of that hill. If you have any trouble walking…don’t try to walk it….they have a free bus that we’d planned on taking, but when we got there, we found out there is actually only ONE bus that’s free and there were 3 cruise ships there that day, so we didn’t even try to catch it, knowing it would be packed. You can also by tickets for a HOHO bus, but they were $35.00 each and we figured we could walk it for $70.00. The Citadel was really something to see. We walked all along the upper perimeter and saw the beautiful views from the cannon stations. You could just imagine the guards standing there watching the water for any incoming ships. After touring the Citadel it was all downhill and I couldn’t help wondering how they navigated these streets in the snowy, icy winter months? How many cars ended up sliding down those hills into the water ?? By now it was almost lunch time and we decided to eat at McKelvy’s, which was highly recommended on the boards here. We were not disappointed. Can you guess what I ordered?? YEP….another lobster roll !! DH got potato crusted haddock and said it was very good. One interesting observation I made while we were sitting and eating lunch at McKelvy’s, which has big beautiful windows looking out onto the street. I already mentioned how the streets in Halifax go up a hill once you leave the port area and walking up to the Citadel could be a problem for people with mobility issues…well as we sat eating lunch I saw a young high school or college age boy RUNNING up the hill…pulling a rickshaw….with two, shall we say “fluffy” women inside !!!! OMG was this some kind of torture the local track coach dreamed up for his runners? WOW…I was in awe as this kid appeared to be running, without stopping, right to the top of the hill as the women were holding onto each other because of the tilt of the rickshaw on the steep hill. On the way back to the ship I stopped in a little shop of a local jewelry artist and picked up a pretty silver and beaded bracelet for just $8.00. Her prices were incredibly cheap and the shop was pretty crowded. I guess everyone else thought her prices were great too. She was actually making the jewelry behind the counter as we shopped.

[Guest Crazeecat5]

Hi Ellen,

I will be doing this cruise on the Carnival Glory next September so I am very interested in your review. Actually, I am the group leader for the soon to be "official" CC group cruise on 9/25/2010.

Keep it coming!:D

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

We walked back to the ship, did a little shopping in the terminal and were back onboard around 4:00 PM. It was kind of sad realizing that the next time we got off the ship, we wouldn’t be getting back on….sniff sniff. This would be our second Elegant night of the cruise so we went back to the room to start getting ready. This is when we discovered my DH’s tie fiasco. Apparently, he’d managed to drip something (probably melted butter) all down the front of his tie at the first elegant night. Now let me say this is not unusual for DH and at almost every holiday and gift giving occasion he receives multiple T shirts and sweatshirts and throws out another crop of food stained shirts. This is why I ALWAYS carry a Tide Stain Stick in my purse and had even packed one for the cruise. But even after multiple tries to clean the tie, it was still too stained to wear so we had to resort to plan B. Since he’d only brought one suit and one tie (after being told that there was only 1 Elegant night on this cruise) he had no choice but to wear a nice pair of pants and a golf shirt. I was a little uneasy about it, since there is always so much talk about dressing appropriately for elegant nights, but we had no other choices. As we walked down to dinner, I was relieved to see many other men dressed similarly and it was obvious that most people dressed much more elegantly for the first night than for the second – so plan accordingly if this helps you. I didn’t see any gowns on this second night, with the women wearing mostly nice dresses or pants. DH fit right in and there was no problem.

There was also a bagpiper and drummer playing as we left Halifax but by the time we got out onto the Promenade to see them, they were finishing up.

Again we ate with Tom and Gay and our original tablemates were still nowhere to be found. After dinner we did the usual bingo, Farwell Show in the Rome Lounge, then hit the casino and karaoke bar. Tonight may have been the night that the second comedian did his Adult Show in Club Rio and it was packed. This was definitely an “Adult Show” and we thought he was very funny. After a drink or two and another big cookie…we headed to bed.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

When we woke up on Friday morning, I was excited for a sea day, as they’re much more relaxing, but I knew today was the day I’d have to start packing up and that was depressing. Now I’m not a last minute person. I am always early and I like to get things done early….so after looking at the daily capers and realizing that there was a lot of activities at night that I wanted to attend, I decided to start packing before we even went to breakfast so I didn’t have to miss anything to come back and pack to get our suitcases in the hall at the appointed time. Sometimes this upsets DH because he’s more of a last minute kind of guy and doesn’t understand my need to just “get it done”, but he was cooperative and we packed everything we knew we wouldn’t be needing for the day. Again, we spent the day participating in trivia, where DH won another Solid Gold Plastic Ship on a Stick for winning one of the contests……he always amazes me when he comes up with the answers to things I’ve never even heard of!! We played bingo three times today and didn’t even come close to winning. I should just give up, but I keep trying…oh well. We spent some time in the casino and managed to lose the rest of the initial $100.00 that DH had won earlier in the week, but it lasted long enough to give us some significant time playing. I hit the coffee bar for another one of those delicious Macadamian nut cookies too. Again we did breakfast in the MDR and had lunch on Lido. We had planned on trying the MDR for lunch, but I think we ate breakfast late so we weren’t hungry when the times for MDR seatings were scheduled, so we did a later lunch up on Lido. This was the last time I could get that great toasted mozzarella sandwich from the deli. Today was also the chocolate buffet on the Lido but one thing I’d like to say here is that as far as desserts go on the Lido buffet for lunch, we thought they were just ok…nothing spectacular. We tended to stick to the frozen yogurt and ice cream that you could get 24 hours a day. The desserts in the MDR at dinner were always really good, but there again, I tend to stick with the WCMC but one night I did have apple pie that was excellent. Oh…I also signed up for and had every intention of participating in the “On Deck For the Cure” breast cancer walk. I did this back in 2007 when our entire family cruised over Christmas, because that cruise was actually a celebration of the completion of treatment for my breast cancer and my sister-in-laws lymphoma. I had given my $10.00 donation at the Formalities shop and had gotten my T shirt and bracelet to wear….I was ready to go. BUT….on Friday, we ended up in some rougher than normal water and though I wasn’t getting sick, we were definitely off balance a lot and looked like we were drunk. The winds were howling and it was pretty cold up on the deck…people were even wearing gloves and I’d wished I brought mine. I decided not to walk, but we did sit by the window on the upper level of the South Beach Grill as we ate lunch and watched those brave few trying to walk straight as the waves and winds battered them. Hopefully the weather will cooperate when I’m on the Fascination in November.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

In the afternoon we went to the Rome Lounge and watched the Love and Marriage Game – very funny and played Battle of the Sexes – of course the women won !!!! Then we stayed for Liars Club and bingo (still no winning for me). By that time it was time to change for our last dinner in the MDR. We had a nice meal with Tom and Gay again and after dinner I made sure to give our waiters Ronald and Pablo an extra tip and thanked them for allowing Tom and Gay to sit with us, since they hadn’t officially changed their table. I thought this might screw up the tipping since their automatic tips would go to their original waiter. In hindsight, we should have had them change their table assignment so that the correct waiters got their tips, but hopefully my extra tip made up for that. After dinner we headed to the Rome Lounge to play bingo one last time and watch the Legends show. This is always pretty entertaining and one of the girls from our cruise critic meet and greet was singing as Gloria Estefan – GO TAMRA !!!!! Jorge the cruise director dressed up like Dolly Parton, which was pretty funny and two of the social hosts came out as Sonny and Cher !! There was only one show tonight so it was packed. Luckily, we had been there earlier for bingo so we just kept our seats, but I always felt sorry for the late seating people, because by the time they were out of dinner, most of the lounge was full. I didn’t see too much seat saving on this cruise….at least not entire rows. I did see people saving one or two seats for their spouses, but I have no problem with that. One night an older couple did come into our row where there was obviously not enough room for two more people and basically squeezed themselves in between DH and the man he was sitting next to. It practically pushed me off the couch and into the isle !! How RUDE. Poor DH was squished but it was minutes before the show started and there was no place for us to move to.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

After all of the prior evenings festivities we went back to the room and discussed our options for debarkation. I hadn’t even considered doing the self assist, because we had two large bags, two carry-on bags and a garment bag….but DH thought he could carry his suitcases plus the garment bag, if I could handle mine…so we were gonna give the self debarkation a try. We went to bed around midnight and set the alarm for 5:30 so we could get our showers and have one last MDR breakfast before being called off the ship. Everything went so smoothly in the morning. They started doing self assist debarkation around 7:30 with deck 1. We were on deck 6, but they called us within 15 minutes and we had no trouble getting an elevator down to the gangway (deck 3). With one last swipe of our Sail and Sign card, we were off the ship and into the terminal. There was literally no line at the Customs area and after presenting our forms and passports, we were ushered on our way….no stop and search…woohooo. We walked the length of the terminal and caught the elevator up to the parking garage, loaded our bags and were pulling out of the pier by 8:15 !!! Wow….I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I would definitely do the self assist again. Our goal was to get out of the city early, before the traffic started getting heavy and we accomplished that. We did see major tie-ups coming into the city, so we were glad that hadn’t happened the last weekend when we were on the other side of the road, just coming into the city to embark. We had an uneventful trip home and were back in Bloomsburg PA by 11:00 AM.

All in all we had a great time on this cruise. The weather was good, for the most part, and we liked the ports we stopped at. The food was wonderful and we had great company at dinner for the last 4 nights. The service was excellent in the dining room. Although we never formally met our room steward, he did a great job and always kept our cooler filled with ice. He even brought me extra hangers on the first day when I asked for them. I think they may have been his personal hangers as they weren’t the same ones that were in the cabin closets….how sweet of him !! He got an extra tip as well. One thing that we missed was the webcam they usually have on the ship that overlooks the water. We had an inside cabin and I like to leave that channel on the TV so you could see when the sun was coming up in the morning, but this ship did not have that. We made due, but that’s always something I appreciate. I also want to note that we got to know Sally, one of the social hosts who ran a lot of the trivia and bingo games. What a sweetie she was - a cute little brunette with an adorable British accent who has worked for Carnival for 5 years but is leaving in November to get married to one of the ships officers who was on the Triumph also. They were going to live in Italy….DH and I wished her well.

I know this has gotten kind of long, and I probably forgot a lot of things but if anyone has any specific questions about this itinerary or the Triumph in general, I’ll do my best to answer them. It may also spur my memory for some other informational facts I can provide.

I’m looking forward to my next cruise in 30 days on the Fascination. That will be a “girls cruise” with my best friend Debbie from high school. We’re celebrating our 50th birthdays this year. WOOHOOO !!

[kokopops]

hello, from nanticoke. i was looking at this cruise for my wife and I. did you enjoy this cruise more than the caribbean? would you do this cruise again? p.s. did you go to the fair yet?

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Hi Kokopops-

 

OF COURSE we've been to the fair...you can't be a native Bloomsburgian and NOT go to the fair !! LOL.

 

Ok, to your question....I'm not sure I'd say I liked it better than the Caribbean but it was a nice change. I wouldn't hesitate to cruise north again, but I did miss laying out by the pool. Not many did and those that were up there had sweatshirts and pants on. It just depends on whether you like cooler temps.

 

Oh...I was worried that the temps in our cabin or the MDR would be cold but I was comfortable throughout the week and I'm ALWAYS cold.

[kokopops]

i love fall weather and thats why i was thinking about this cruise. did you go to the quincy market? any good bargins there? i went to the fair the day they opened ( sat. ) and of course it rained. hehe

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

yes we did go to Quincy Market in Boston. I'm not sure we found "bargains" but it was fun looking at all the different things they had for sale in the shops and kiosks. The only thing I bought was a beaded hairclip for my grandaughter.

 

We've been to the fair twice and it's rained both times. We're trying again tonight as the weather report sounds alittle better.

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Hi Crazeecat....wow lots of NEPA folks here today.

[Guest Crazeecat5]

Great job, Ellen. Did you notice any Fall foliage anywhere? Although I live right in the thick of it (Poconos), I'm sure many people in my group would love to see some.

 

Kokopops, if you are interested in this cruise for next year, you can click on the link in my signature. Would love to haveyou join us!!

[halos]

yes we did go to Quincy Market in Boston. I'm not sure we found "bargains" .

 

LOL!!

There are NO bargains in New England!!! ;)

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise and was happy to hear you enjoyed Portland. I have lived in Maine (about 20 minutes south of Portland) for 10 years and I think Portland is just amazing. I love it.

 

and yes, you can't ever have too much lobster!!! :D

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

Great job, Ellen. Did you notice any Fall foliage anywhere? Although I live right in the thick of it (Poconos), I'm sure many people in my group would love to see some.

 

Kokopops, if you are interested in this cruise for next year, you can click on the link in my signature. Would love to haveyou join us!!

 

Crazeecat - This is terrible to admit, but I didn't even notice if there were fall colors or not. I guess, like you, since I live here and see that all the time, it's not a big deal to me and sometimes (most times) I don't even notice it. Sorry.:(

[alwayswantedtobekelli]

LOL!!

There are NO bargains in New England!!! ;)

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise and was happy to hear you enjoyed Portland. I have lived in Maine (about 20 minutes south of Portland) for 10 years and I think Portland is just amazing. I love it.

 

and yes, you can't ever have too much lobster!!! :D

 

Halos - I think Portland was our favorite port overall. DH and I both said we'd like to come back and spend more time there. I just found out my mother spent summers there when she was a child and loved it. She remembered many of the sites I told her about.

 

You're right about bargains in New England....very few and far between :)

[halos]

Halos - I think Portland was our favorite port overall. DH and I both said we'd like to come back and spend more time there. I just found out my mother spent summers there when she was a child and loved it. She remembered many of the sites I told her about.

 

You're right about bargains in New England....very few and far between :)

 

 

if you come to spend more time, come in the summer (July/August). There are some really nice beaches here. :)

[teacher2cruiser]

Can you tell me what the SOUTH BEACH CLUB is on Deck 10? Is that an adult's only area?