Triumph October 29 Review - Better Late Than Never, lol

[jhale]

Sorry for the delay gang, the holdays have been crazy here so while my review has been done, I hadn't had time to upload any pictures; and I know everyone loves pictures ;)

 

I'll have to put this into parts as I can only use so many pics per post, so here we go!

 

Carnival Triumph Oct 29, 2011

5 Nights to Progresso and Cozumel

 

Pre-Cruising:

 

My mother and I booked this cruise kind of last minute for our birthdays. Hers is at the beginning of October, mine is at the end of November, so we met in the middle, lol. We got a really good deal on a 4J (inside/obstructed view) cabin that we just couldn’t pass up. This was her 29th cruise and my 26th, our 26th and 20th with Carnival respectively.

 

Before the cruise we did a little shopping, you know the normal stuff, clothes, sunscreen, champagne, etc. We did smuggle, but only the one type of liquor they do not sell on the ship, our $400 bar tab at the end of the week will tell you they still got plenty of our money on drinks, lol. I also ordered a bottle of vodka from Bon Voyage, this is really the best deal on the ship. Yes it’s more expensive than what you would pay at home, but after you add up a few drinks a day at $6-$11 (depending on what vodka you like, I happen to like Grey Goose so it‘ll run up a tab QUICK.) it saves you a TON of money.

 

Embarkation:

 

We live in Katy, so it’s about a 45 minute to an hour drive to Galveston. We usually leave around 10:30am but this time didn’t leave until 12:30, putting us at EZ Cruise around 1:30. I know there are a lot of choices, but EZ Cruise has always been our favorite, they even had margarita jello shots on the shuttle ride over to the ship this time! Once EZ Cruise dropped us at the pier, we began the hike up to the terminal entrance. EZ Cruise drops you at the end of the pick-up/drop-off area, I fully recommend checking any heavy bags, you won’t want to haul them.

 

First sighting of the ship!

 

 

This was our first experience in the “new” terminal, eh… same ol’ same ol’. I will say that now if you have a sweater on they make you take it off to go through the metal detector and they send it through the x-ray. (Take note rum runner people.) They did pull us aside to look into our bag that had our 2 allowed bottles of champagne in it, however they did not take them out and check the seals, etc. as I’ve read on some threads lately. They just made sure that there were 2 of us (one for each bottle) and sent us on our way. (They didn’t even blink at my bottle of olive juice.) Once through security, we went to the “old” terminal and up the escalator to the original check-in area. I will say that they have expanded the VIP area, and have started calling people for their turn. Previously they would check you off the VIP list, but sometimes people would walk in and jump in front of other that were seated, so this was a nice new touch.

 

Just a side note, when I say “new” and “old” we sailed last in May of this year, so the changes at the terminal have happened since then.

 

We got our Sail & Sign cards and proceeded to the obligatory embarkation picture. This is usually the only picture we buy. We have every picture from every ship we’ve sailed on, just our little mother/daughter “thing” lol. Up the gangway and we’re on deck 3 getting ready to step into the lobby, ahhhhhh cruise ship smell! It is only second to new car smell in my book, and before fresh baked cookies. DING! We’re officially on vacation!

 

Since we checked in so late we went directly to our room and put our carry-ons down. I will say that while I like getting there early, being able to go straight to the room was nice. We put our things down and were off to find our first DOD.

First DOD on our “private deck” outside of the room ;)

 

.

[jhale]

Cabin 7206 - Category 4J

Nice size/layout, this room is handicap accessible so it has a larger bathroom. No flat screen TV in this room. The beds can only be in the twin positions.

 

This is our room’s window, and the deck is accessible through a door to the left of the cabin door.

[jhale]

Sail-a-Way & Night 1:

 

By now it’s around 3:15 so we start heading to our muster station, all the way forward on deck 4. Wasn’t too bad, at least we were out of the cold (for Galveston) wind, and we were finished BEFORE sail-a-way! I stress this because most of my recent cruises we’ve sailed while still at, or just leaving muster. We headed up to deck 9 (lido) and went to the New World Bar for another DOD and mom wanted some pizza. She ate and we headed up to deck 10 to wave at the Crazies. There they are! I have to admit it was neat to actually know some of the people waving from the pier. They were starting to party on the lido so we watched that for a while when I realized, I haven’t eaten since 9am, better go find a snack. SUSHI! I will say that the sushi was very good, they also had it on the dinner buffet on the nights the sushi bar was open, and it was just as good there too. OK, I really didn’t keep track of what all I ate, but I know that on night 1 there was some amazing glazed pork on the buffet. We ate here 4 out of 5 nights as we’ve done the whole dinner in the MDR numerous times and well, this was a laid back trip.

 

The Crazies on the pier

 

After dinner we went out to explore a little, we’ve been on the Triumph before (October 2010) so while we knew where everything was, I was determined to see if I could spot some dry-dock updates. Besides the disco, the answer is no, I could not. However the ship was beautiful, and very clean. I really enjoy the décor of the Triumph, it’s not loud or gaudy, lot’s of dark blue and gold tones around. She’s a really good looking ship.

 

Looking up at the lobby bar, the blue/gold theme was everywhere

 

Specialty coffee/cake/ice cream area

 

Between dinner and our evening festivities they made an announcement that “some of you may have noticed we’ve turned around.” We were about 4 hours out and someone had had a medical emergency so we were headed back towards Galveston to meet a coast guard cutter that would take them back to shore for care. Around 11pm we did walk out onto deck 3 and could see that we were close to land again and had slowed down considerably, however we missed the actual pick-up. This did not effect our itinerary.

 

We ended up in the piano bar, and HOORAY IT’S LORRAINE!!! I don’t know how many of you have sailed with her, but she is just so much fun! We stayed there until I’d won my ship on a stick and she was done for the night, then headed to the casino to make our donation.

 

 

I did gamble more than usual this cruise, however until I learn to quit while I’m ahead, it’s a donation. After my cash was gone we decided to call it a night. Tried to call room service for a late night grilled cheese but could never get through, so around 2am I just gave up and went to sleep.

[jhale]

Day 2 - Sea Day

 

We had ordered the room service breakfast and they were right on time at 8:30, it was always good. Coffee was hot, the salmon was fantastic! We had this 4 out of 5 mornings. After breakfast I laid down for “just a minute” and fell back asleep, those Carnival beds are just so comfy!

 

Room service salmon off the breakfast door hanger

 

I finally got up around 11am, got cleaned up, and went to sign up for the slot tournament. I’d be playing around 12:40 so we went to grab some lunch. I decided to try the China Bistro, it was alright, nothing amazing but not bad either. During lunch we heard an “operation bright-star” call over the PA, from what I understand this is a medical emergency. Later this day they were doing in cabin announcements looking for someone, and over the course of our trip we would have 3 more in cabin announcements 2 “team sierras” and a possible man overboard, but more on that later.

 

We headed back down to the casino for our turns in the slot tournament, I was on machine 9, it was NOT the winner, lol. I went to donate some more money into the BMW/25K machine while mom played in her round and when she was done we decided it’d be cheaper to go get our books and a bucket of beer and read a little.

 

The casino

 

Now the Triumph does not have a Serenity area, but deck 3 right outside the lobby bar is as close as you can get. There was hardly anyone out there every time we went out, and most of them were reading, napping, or just watching the water go by. I also like the easy access to the lobby bar, there aren’t waiters out there but it’s only a few feet to grab a DOD.

 

Deck 3 pseudo-serenity deck lol

 

View from behind a book

 

We read for a while, then went up to the shops to get a few trinkets. We got mom a thermos type thing for our Bon Voyage vodka drinks, and a couple of Christmas ornaments. You got a magnet or keychain free with the purchase of 3 logo items so that was nice. It was getting close to dinner time, so we took our loot back up to the room and got ready for dinner.

 

Went to the buffet again, tonight was formal night so they had prime rib, it was good. This night was an early night for us, we stopped by to say hi to Lorraine, decided we were too tired and turned in around 10pm. We received our petit fours this night as well. It was a little rough tonight, probably felt it more as we were at the front of the ship, but I miss the rocking at night now that I’m home.

 

Mom didn't get the "don't eat any until I take a pic" memo, lol

[jhale]

Day 3 - Progresso & Halloween

 

We woke up to our morning room service around 8:30, it was a cloudy day but we were backed in so we couldn’t see the rain storm coming at us from behind. Luckily I had thrown my little purse umbrella in my bag, lol. We ate a late snack around 11:30am at the breakfast buffet (yeah, even after room service earlier, don’t judge me, lol.) The days my mom went to the buffet area for coffee she said the bacon police were out, this day at the buffet right next to the pool they were not. It was AMAZING how much bacon people would take, lol. I mean, I love bacon too but geez! You would’ve thought it was free money or gold or well something else of real value.

 

Buffet breakfast

 

We got off the ship around 12:30 or so, once off the ship you could see the rain clouds and hear the thunder that was coming our way.

 

 

We didn’t have anything planned except for picking up some tequila here so we were just taking our time putt-putting around. We purchased said tequila and headed to our favorite little bar right on the pier. I’ve signed my name on the wall here so they let me back behind the bar to add another date, and we settled in for some Sol beers when BAM! Here comes the rain! We ended up staying here a couple hours, it rained for one of them but they had pop up canopies so we stayed dry. This little bar is just too fun for words, it’s nothing fancy but they know how to show you a good time.

 

Can you find the Hale?

 

The rain stopped and the people started dancing, we watched for a while and started to head back to the ship. We saw a sign at the Corona bar that said 3 for $5 so of course we had to stop.

 

 

After that we really headed back to the ship, there wasn’t a line when we got back (yay!) so we went and put our things in the room and headed up to get a snack to soak up some of the beer.

 

Another side note, when we got back on board they told us we needed to check our alcohol we had purchased, however there was not a table. Confused and too lazy to search any harder we ended up taking it back to our room. There were 2 gangways, so I think maybe the area to check it may have been at the other one, but we never saw it. Several other people we spoke to had the same experience with this. I have no problem checking it, it’s simple to pick it up the last day, however it was nice to put it in the checked luggage and not have to carry it off.

 

We grabbed a snack, and went to see if there would be any pier runners. Nope, there were a few pier turtles.. You know the people that just walk super slow with the “they won’t leave me” attitude. But no runners. I noticed that the Triumph blows the horn a few times, kind of a 30 minute, then 15 minute warning to those still milling around. I haven’t seen this on a lot of ships.

 

The lines to get back on board

 

So long Progresso!

[jhale]

Day 3 Continued

 

Once everyone was back on board, we were on our way to Cozumel. Tonight is Halloween so we get cleaned up to go watch the costume contest, etc. I wore devil horns, other than that, there was no dressing up for us. Let me say this, I’ve been to a ton of Halloween parties in my day, but there is NOTHING like Halloween on a cruise ship. This was my second time to be on a cruise during Halloween and it did not disappoint. The ship was decorated, and the costumes, well the costumes were anything from a simple robe from the room to a full custom costume that probably needed it own suitcase. There were Smurfs, Mario Brothers, Avatar characters, and even a feminine hygiene product. Yes, it was a sight to be seen for sure. They held the costume contest in the main show lounge, it was pretty fun, costumes were rated by the audience’s cheers.

 

There was a pumpkin carving contest

 

He was my favorite, he even had a doctor “assistant” with him

 

Smurfs!

 

We went into the night club (Hollywood Disco I believe?) this night, and it was too much fun. Everyone in their costumes dancing around, really a sight to see. I finally got my disco ball cup this night, and we retired around 1am. Now for the room service debacle.

 

I finally got my disco ball souvenir cup in the nightclub :D

 

This is what I put in it

 

This is now night 3 of the cruise that I haven’t been able to get through to room service, so I call guest services. The girl that answers tells me she can get through fine, also mentions that she is new, and then gives me a different extension for room service. This extension works just fine, never have a problem getting through, am never put on hold, and I will sell you this information for $4.99. Only kidding, but it was a working number. Now I don’t know if they were really just that busy ALL of the time, or if the phone was off the hook or what, but without this number, we wouldn’t have been able to order room service for the entire cruise, as the regular 8000 number never did work, and always rang busy, night or day. Long story short, we got our sandwiches around 2:30am and turned in to rest up for Cozumel.

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[boaterette]

Nice review. I like the triumph.

[jhale]

Day 4 - Cozumel

 

Knock, knock, knock…. Room Service! Good morning Cozumel! This is my FAVORITE port, I’m always super excited to get here. I jump up out of bed while mom lets in breakfast, I look out the window, and…

 

RAIN

 

Well, maybe it’s just a shower. So we eat, get dressed and head down to deck 0 to get off the ship.

 

MORE RAIN

 

Nope, this is going to be alllll day. For those of you that don’t remember, hurricane Rina had been lurking around the Yucatan for the past week, and she was still sending her rain in our direction. Oh well, the good news is that I can have non-beach fun just as easily in Cozumel so we head for the swings at Fat Tuesday to figure out what we’re going to do. We decide that we don’t need to shop, and since we’re not going to get any sun today, we’re going to eat.

 

Rainy day? An atti-tube adjustment may be needed!

 

View from the swings

 

We finish up our “Attitube Adjustment” drinks (190 octane for me piña colada for mom) and head over to Three Amigos to sit on the patio and have some nachos… and Sol beers. Let me just say, I’m no nacho aficionado, but these were some GOOD nachos! The jalapeños and pico were fresh, as was the guacamole. The chips were warm and crispy, mmmmmm just so good!

 

Three Amigos nachos

 

 

 

After a couple more Sols and one of those shots with the whistle involved we head back to the Triumph.

Usually having to walk through the duty free shop on the pier annoys me, but today since it’s raining, I’m

ok with it. My mom stopped to look at the paperback books they had to offer, but $20 for a paperback

book? They can keep them. We did buy 2 bottles of the La Niña Pomegranate tequila, if you haven’t had it

try it next time you’re there, it is fantastic! Upon exiting the duty free shop, I think I’m being smart and pull

out my little purse umbrella, HA! The wind promptly blows it inside out and snaps it in half. We catch the

top part and hold my little pathetic contraption over our heads the rest of the walk to the ship, lol.

 

Side note, this time they didn’t even ask for our tequila when getting back on board.

 

Back in the room, we put our loot away in what my mom was calling the “pantry” as it held our booze,

cokes, and mixers. A normal person would call it the TV stand, but hey, it’s her vacation, lol. We headed

down to deck 3 to see if there were any pier runners, again just some turtles, finding it uneventful we head

back up to our deck to our “secret patio” on the front of the ship. We’re docked next to the legend and while

taking pictures of them, I get a wave from their bridge!

 

 

Then comes the horn battle. Now, I know this is mundane to some, but for me, well there’s just nothing better than a cruise ship blowing it’s horn. This goes on for a few minutes, and regretfully I think the Legend’s horn is louder.

 

Triumph’s horn

 

Off we go, saying goodbye to beautiful Cozumel and the Legend, and heading back home to Galveston.

[jhale]

Day 4 Continued - Man Overboard!

 

Bye Legend!

 

Tonight is the Past Guest Reception, so after a quick shower we’re all shiny and new and ready to go mingle with our fellow return cruisers. Big Tex makes an announcement around 4:40 that he’ll see us in the main show lounge in about 15 minutes and we get ready to start heading down, when… “CRUISE DIRECTOR TO THE BRIDGE, CRUISE DIRECTOR TO THE BRIDGE IMMEDIATELY.” This announcement is in all the halls, cabins, bathrooms, everywhere. I look at my mom and say “let’s hang back a minute, I don’t think that’s normal.” Well folks, it wasn’t. Soon after we felt the boat turn a little and Big Tex came back on. “Ladies and Gentleman, we have had a reported man overboard and have turned around. I need everyone to return to their rooms so the cabin attendants can take a head count of all passengers.” At this point I’m glad I’d told mom to hang back, so we’re already in our room. There are a few crew announcements after this, and we prop our door open and start mingling with our neighbors. Mom and I pop a bottle of champagne, make some new friends, and kid around about how Carnival will do anything to not have to give us free drinks, lol. After signing off on the “roll call” it’s about 20 more minutes until the all clear is called and the evening goes on as planned.

 

All joking aside, there was no person overboard this time, but I couldn’t have been more impressed at how quickly the staff accounted for every person (guest and crew) on the huge ship. All in all it took about 45 minutes to an hour to do a full “roll call.” They have this system down, and while you never wish anything like this to happen, they are very serious about safety and it was handled with complete professionalism.

 

After all the excitement we headed down to the past guest party. You know, the usual video and foo-foo drinks. Take note, if you tip a few bucks you will get more drinks and yes you can ask for what you want. It was nice, some appetizers to go with the drinks, a little video. I have to say it’s fun to cheer for all the ships I’ve sailed on, yes, I’m a cruise nerd. After this we headed to the buffet for some dinner, this night I remember the little popcorn style shrimp. They were honey fried or something? I really should’ve paid more attention, what I can tell you is they were GOOD! One disappointment on the buffet this cruise was the soup selection. Usually they have the mushroom, pumpkin, pepper pot… dining room soups on the buffet. The first 2 nights they had the same minestrone soup, then a cheddar soup? It was kind of like cheese wiz, lol. I’m a soup person, so I look forward to that, I guess I’m going to have to go to the dining room for the good soups from now on.

 

Canapés tonight

 

After dinner we went down to the sports bar, this is where I they served the Thirsty Frog beer, it was fantastic! Great job on this one Carnival, this beer is a hit! Mom was worn out from the day, so she headed to the room around 8:15, meanwhile I was ready to GO! I met up with a couple people I’d met during the cruise, we had a couple more drinks and headed to the piano bar to see Lorraine. We hung out there until around midnight, and as always had a blast.

 

Thirsty Frog!

 

My long day of boozing it up in Cozumel started to catch up to me (I blame the rain for my intake, hehe) so I headed to the room. I got the “it’s about time” from mom that I used to get when I was in high school and came in late, ordered some room service, then went to bed.

 

Here’s a couple more shots of Cozumel to end day 4

 

 

Waiting in rainy “ship canyon” to get back on board

[jhale]

Day 5 - Last Sea Day

 

I slept in a little this day, mom had forgotten to put out a room service hanger so she’d gone to the lido and brought back an omelet and some other things off the breakfast buffet. Thanks mom! We took our time getting going this morning, as the last day starts the deep depression that is bound to happen once we dock. We finally left the cabin around 11am and went to check out the casino action. There was another slot tournament, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to pay the $20 to enter. You really get spoiled with the free entry you get for being platinum. I cashed in the $2 in chips I had left and decided the casino was dead to me.

 

The only machine that paid for me

 

We headed up to have some lunch, and I wanted to get some pictures of spots around the ship that I’d have missed. We walked the ship and took pictures for a couple hours, visiting with new friends, enjoying the iced tea and lemonade when we accidentally stumbled upon high tea.

 

Another friendly Carnival crew member catches me taking pictures and plays along, lol

 

We haven’t done this in a long time so we decided to pop in, it was so fun! I would recommend this to anyone who likes tea, or cakes, or snacks, lol. It was in the aft dining room, the service was impeccable, and the tea and food were fabulous. We used to make a point to attend high tea, and hadn’t for a while, I will definitely start doing this again.

 

Tea, cake and some salmon

 

Aft dining room

 

After tea, we went back up to the room to pack up some things we wouldn’t be needing, might as well get some of it out of the way now. We packed our big suitcases then grabbed our books and went out onto our secret deck. We had a bottle of champagne left so we took it out there and read our books while the sun started to ease it’s way down in the sky. There was a moment where whomever had the first balcony on our level yelled at us for talking and disturbing her balcony but we just ignored her. I could understand had we been yelling, cursing, playing loud music but we were simply having an inside voice conversation on a public deck. I’m assuming this is the same person that insisted the “secret doors” on her side of the hall be locked. Look people, if you don’t want extra noise, don’t book your cabin by public areas, it’s as simple as that.

 

As I watched the sun set on our final night the sadness set in, it was almost over. How friggin’ depressing is that? Well to heck with it, I’m not going to let it bring me down, it’s our last night, let’s get this party started!

 

[jhale]

Day 5 Continued

 

We got cleaned up and decided to eat in the MDR this last night. We had the anytime dining option, which is sooooo nice. We sat next to a couple from Katy so we compared stories, they were also fans of the piano bar, so we knew we’d see them later. This night I had the study in sushi, French onion soup and veal ptarmigan. The veal was ok, everything else was VERY good. I had a glass of wine with dinner, the MDR bar service was really quick where we were seated. Our wait staff was also very good. You can tell, however, that the ATD staff is a little more rushed than the regular seating’s. Didn’t make the service bad, but just seemed that they were always in a hurry to get to and away from the tables.

 

After dinner we went to the cabin to finish packing up and put our suitcases out. The bags lining the hallway is a sad sight, but there’s still the whole night ahead of us so let’s ignore it. We made a couple Bon Voyage drinks, and headed to the piano bar. What was that I said about the casino? It was dead to me? Yeah well I lied, $20 in the machines and then onto see Lorraine, lol. We stayed there the rest of the evening. Lorraine even played a little later than scheduled for us, she is amazing! We said goodbye to our new friends we’d made during the week, and went to have a last piece of pizza before turning in for the night. Oh yeah, remember the guy dressed as the feminine hygiene product on Halloween? Well he got himself into some trouble that last evening because he had security stationed outside his room, naughty naughty!

 

As I laid down for my last night in that wonderful Carnival bed, I started planning out when I would try and do the next cruise.

 

Here are some random shots around the ship.

 

We always saw empty lounge chairs

 

 

 

The big screen

 

 

Promenade

 

Piano bar during the day

 

It was a little rough this last sea day, the barf bags were out

[LA Lady]

Great review! We were on Triumph last year with 30 of my cousins and spouses and kids. Loved it so much, we're doing it again in March!

[jhale]

Seating are on the Promenade

 

 

At sea, deck 3

 

 

Lido deck at night

 

 

Club Rio

 

 

Rome main show lounge

 

 

Sailing back home

 

[jhale]

Debarkation -

 

We were docking when I woke up to room service at the door, boooooo we’re home. It’s overcast and cold today in Galveston, can someone please take me back to Mexico??? We ate and finished gathering up the rest of our things and hung out on the “secret patio” waiting for them to start debarkation. We couldn’t do the fancy turn-a-round at the pier due to high winds so they were having to move the gangway and it would take a little longer to start offloading. Fine with me, I’m in NO hurry.

 

I will say that the Triumph does an amazing job of offloading passengers. We were zone 1, but had checked bags so had to wait for all the self-assist people to get off first. We were getting off around 9:30am. In Galveston the quickest way to debark is to grab a porter and have a passport. We were waiting at the EZ Cruise line by 10am, this was the longest line we would experience the entire trip. Apparently they only had 2 busses running and it just wasn’t enough. We got on a bus right as the people in line were beginning to get VERY irate with the rude, inconsiderate (you know who you are) line jumpers that think they’re too important to wait like everyone else.

 

We were pulling into Katy around 11am, it felt like we hadn’t even left. I walked into the house and asked DH what was for lunch, he didn’t find it all that funny, lol.

 

Summary -

 

All in all, this was a great trip. There was a lot more “ship action” with the emergency calls, turn grounds, person overboard, things going on but the Triumph handled everything with such ease you hardly noticed any of it. The Triumph is a beautiful ship, she is clean and well cared for, and I would definitely sail her again. The staff is also very good, it’s been a long time since I had a room steward that called me by name every time he saw me, it was nice. You can tell the cut backs in some of the food, still I would say that 90% of it is still the same wonderful food you’re used too. There was always something going on on the ship, I would say one would be hard pressed to be bored. Cozumel and Progresso are beautiful, even in the rain. And if you’re sailing the Triumph anytime soon, go see Lorraine in the piano bar! Tell her Porsche sent you ;)

 

Sorry about some of the pictures being so crummy, my camera was on it's last leg this trip and has been replaced for the next trip. Thank goodness for the iPhone or everything would've been a blur!

 

The End

 

 

 

 

Next up…

 

[RunsWithFlyingDolphins]

Great Review! I haven't been on the Triumph in 12 years but hope to sail on her probably in the next couple years.

[JeanieTheMom]

Thank you so much for the review. I was supposed to be on that cruise, but we had to cancel. Now we are going out next Saturday instead, and this is just what I needed to get me REALLLLY excited!

[Disneycruisers]

Very nice review ...we cruise on the Triumph in 23 days and are looking forward to sailing out of our own state.

[willhan59]

great review, thanks, we leave on triumph 2/4/2012...can't wait

[jhale]

Thank you all for the kind comments.

 

If you have any questions I can try and help you out, I tried to hit the things I hear asked about most but of course I'm sure I missed some.

[TimeYet?]

Thanks for the great review. I wish there were more reviews & postings about the Triumph. I will be sailing on the Triumph as you debark the Magic.

I can't wait!

[wanman]

Thanks for the review. We get on her on the 16th and cant wait. We normally do 7 day cruises, but taking a newbie and wanted to let him try a 5 day out first.

 

I noticed you purchased some booze, how much can you bring back (as a Texas resident?) Last time we were told one bottle per person if you lived in Texas.

[Disneycruisers]

This will be our 7th Carnival cruise and the shortest, we have convinced our good friends to come on the cruise and get out of their normal comfort zone and try something new. How did you find the over all physical condition of the ship? Did you receive good customer service? also did they keep the ship picked up an clean?

 

TIA

[jhale]

Thanks for the review. We get on her on the 16th and cant wait. We normally do 7 day cruises, but taking a newbie and wanted to let him try a 5 day out first.

 

I noticed you purchased some booze, how much can you bring back (as a Texas resident?) Last time we were told one bottle per person if you lived in Texas.

 

The rule is 1 liter bottle per person, and I'll admit, we broke this rule. We only claimed booze purchased on the ship.

[jhale]

This will be our 7th Carnival cruise and the shortest, we have convinced our good friends to come on the cruise and get out of their normal comfort zone and try something new. How did you find the over all physical condition of the ship? Did you receive good customer service? also did they keep the ship picked up an clean?

 

TIA

 

I found the crew to be extremely friendly. This is the first cruise in a long time where multiple crew members really stood out.

 

The ship is in excellent condition, there is always cleaning and maintenance going on. I was surprised to see some rust spots on her hull as we were sailing almost right after her drydock, but it wasn't enough to ruin anything for us. Honestly had I not known about the drydock, I'd have thought nothing of it.

 

The food areas were always well maintained as well, no trays of half eaten goodies laying around, they seemed to be very good about picking things up after people.

 

Our room steward was amazing, towel animal every night, always greeted us by name when he saw us, kept our collapsable cooler full of ice. I mention this because the ice machine was almost right across from our room and we could've easily done it, but he just kept beating us to it!

 

I forgot to post the pic of our towel zoo...