My Triumph Review 4/9-16 sailing Part 1

[bankofdad]

Having just returned from our cruise on the Triumph this past Saturday, I’d like to offer MY Humble Opinion of our experience on our vacation. We sailed the Triumph on 4/9/05, returning 4/16/05. Our itinery was the Eastern Caribbean route, which included stops in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. I’ll break this review up in to sections, so that I don’t try to post a file too large for the CC boards.

 

 

Our group consisted of eight family members traveling together. I had arranged this trip as a birthday gift for my Mother In Law (MIL) for her 70th Birthday. She had never been on a cruise or to the Caribbean in her life. Others traveling were myself (42 Y.O, 5th cruise), DW (Age Undisclosed at her request, but 30-something, 5th cruise), DS #1 (12 Y.O., 3rd cruise), DD (8 Y.O., 3rd cruise), DS#2 (just turned 3 Y.O., 3rd cruise), SIL#1 (30-something, 1st cruise), SIL#2 (30-something, 2nd cruise). We are all from the Milwaukee area.

 

 

Because of a great deal we received from American Airlines, we all flew out of Chicago O’Hare Airport early on the morning of Friday, April 8th, and arrived at the Fort Lauderdale Airport just prior to 11AM. I had made an on-line reservation for a private shuttle from Tri-County Airport Express, www.floridalimo.com, to take us to our pre-cruise hotel and they were waiting for us just outside of the baggage claim area just as promised. A very courteous driver drove us in a 12-person van (with our 15 pieces of luggage) to the Fontainebleau Hilton on Miami Beach at a cost of $100 plus tip (which worked out to $12.50pp plus tip). This was very convenient, stress free and door-to-door. Our vacation was off to a great start.

 

 

DW and I had stayed at the Fontainebleau many times over the past ten years, and have always enjoyed this hotel very much. We were originally planning to stay near the Port (at the Sheraton Biscayne Bay), but others in our group had never been to South Florida, and they wanted to stay close to the beach. I did get a nice deal on Price**** for three rooms at this hotel (using the bidding strategy taught at www.biddingfortravel.com).

 

 

With the addition of the new condominium based Fontainebleau II which is adjacent to the original hotel, we got our first glimpse of the “semi-remodeled” property. Personally, I do not like the way the new construction (contemporary design) meshes with the original “Grand Hotel” feel of the existing property. If you were from Chicago, I’d compare it to the renovated football stadium – it just doesn’t look right. That said, the pool area is still one of my favorites, and I do love this section of Miami Beach (Central Area), because it is quieter than South Beach, which is about a 5-10 minute cab ride to the South. The beach is clean and the water is very nice.

 

 

Even though we secured our rooms though a discount on-line broker, most of our requests for room type and location were granted. We were placed in three rooms (each non-smoking with two double beds), adjacent to each other (two of them connecting) on the 6th floor of the original property. Not much of a view at all, but very comfortable for a one or two night pre-cruise stay. We had arrived at the hotel around noon, and were allowed to check in to our rooms right away.

 

 

After a swim with the kids, a stroll on the boardwalk along Miami Beach and lunch at the poolside bar & grill, we loaded into two taxis and headed for the Bayside Marketplace. The cab drivers always try to take the long way around to get to the Bayside, and the cost is about $22 plus tip to get there from Miami Beach. The ladies and kids decided to do some shopping, and I relaxed at Bubba Gump’s outside bar for a few cold ones. Later in the afternoon I returned to the hotel with the kids, and the ladies did the boat tour of “Millionaire’s Row”, which leaves from Bayside. They all said it was fun and informative, and would highly recommend it if you’ve never done it before. If I recall correctly, the cost was $12pp for the tour, and it lasted a bit more than an hour.

 

 

Our only disappointment with the Fontainebleau was that “Cookies World”, the kid’s mini-water park, was closed for maintenance while we were there. This is a great water play place for the younger ones, primarily in the 10Y.O and younger group, and there are adjacent cabanas (with beverage and food services) available when the facility is open. Our kids very much enjoyed it during our post-cruise stay last year.

 

[bankofdad]

On Saturday morning I had again made arrangements for Ti-County Airport Express to pick us up at the hotel for transportation to the pier. The van was there promptly at 10AM as planned, and was the same type of vehicle we had had previously. The cost for this service was $15pp, and very much worth it to us because it kept our group and all of our bags together. We arrived at the pier and began unloading with the porters at approximately 10:30AM. After unloading and tipping the porter “to ensure the safe transportation of our luggage to the appropriate place”, we walked over to the entrance for the Triumph’s check-in location.

 

 

I have to say that embarkation and debarkation have always been to least favorite part of cruising for me. I simply appall it. I despise standing in line for long durations at a time, particularly when I’ve cruised with my kids. We have cruised out of Miami (twice), Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, and Port Canaveral, and I still have to rate Miami as my worst two experiences.

 

 

The initial check in went very well. Once you enter the Triumph’s boarding location, the check-in desk is to the immediate left. Because we had arrived early, we walked right up and completed check-in for our group of eight in less than ten minutes. In our hands when approaching the check-in counter we had all of our completed and required documentation. All of the adults had passports, the kids had original birth certificates, we had completed our on-line “Fun Pass” registration prior to our cruise, and had all of our sign-and-sail charge card information completed before our arrival in Miami. This obviously made a difference for our group, because we did see others groups around us scrambling to “dig” information needed for check-in out of bags, purses and pockets, and those groups were still at the counter as we proceeded into the line for the security checkpoint. As others have said, no one asked us to see our printed Fun Pass, so don’t stress if you’ve had trouble getting one to print from the Carnival website.

 

 

Now the waiting began. We were in the security check-in line before 11AM, but that line did not begin to move for more than ½ hour. After passing security, we were taken upstairs to another line, then a different line (where our photos were taken for our sign-and sail), and finally were able to get our obligatory boarding photo (the one they try to sell you), and were onboard at about 12:20PM.

 

 

My initial impression of the ship was very favorable. As most always, you board into the atrium area near the information and shore excursion desks on the lobby level. The atrium was very attractive and spotless. Crewmembers greeted us as we came on board, handed us flyers about how to avoid Noro-virus, about the Camp Carnival meeting to be held later in the evening, and one that advised us that our rooms would not be ready until after 1:30PM. We were told that lunch was being service in the South Beach Club (lido deck buffet, deck 9), and that we should enjoy the public areas until after 1:30PM.

 

 

We proceeded to the buffet, and very much enjoyed the selection of various vegetable salads, cold pasta and potato salads, fruits, and main buffet fare which included several different meats and seafood dishes. The Coney Island Grill (aft Lido deck, starboard side) was also grilling very tasty hamburgers and steak sandwiched, and also offered hot dogs and French fries. The 24-hour pizza station (aft lido deck, port side) was open as well, serving a variety of Pizzas, which kept DS#1 and DD very happy throughout the cruise. My favorite was the Mediterranean pizza with feta cheese and mushrooms, and DD (who usually hates pizza) loved the cheese pizza because it had “just the right amount” of sauce and cheese.

 

 

The aft Lido deck is home to the “new World Bar”, an establishment I frequented during our cruise. It opens daily just before lunch (11AM) and closes late night (11PM-4AM, which changed each day). This bar had the best service IMHO, and was rarely crowded. There is also one of the three pools located aft on the Lido deck, and it has a retractable roof, which made things very comfortable on the two evenings it rained outside. There are also two adult hot tubs (for age 13 and older) adjacent to the pool. There are also soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt machines right there as well.

 

[bankofdad]

Back to the South Beach buffet area. There are two main lines that form for the buffet, one starboard (right side) and one port (left side). The seating area is two-deck high, with most of the seating on deck 9 (Lido), with stairs going up to deck 10. The New York Deli (serves deli Sandwiches etc) is a “drop-down” counter on the on the port side of the ship, and always seemed to have a line going when it was open. The Hong Kong Noodle Company is another drop-down counter located on the opposite (starboard) side of the buffet area, but it’s hours of operation were kind of strange and we never did get the chance to eat there. I did walk by once when it was open and the food smelled and looked very appealing.

 

 

I’d just like to make an opinionated comment on the décor and design of the lido buffet and aft deck areas. I have read reviews where others have commented that the Triumph is an “Old” ship, and that always confused me since it was built in 1999 (which to me isn’t that old, although I know there have been many newer cruise line fleet deliveries since that time), and the amenities seemed very modern. However, if you didn’t know the delivery date of the ship and you were estimating the age by the décor in these areas, I can see where you might think it is old. The décor looks like something out of a 1960’s – early 1970’s diner IMHO. If that was the look the designer was going for, they hit it dead on. For my taste, I didn’t care for it much, but again, that’s just MHO.

 

 

Around 1:30PM, we headed toward our cabins, both of which were near the aft of the ship on the Empress Deck (7) of the ship. DW and I and our three kids had room 7374, and MIL and both SIL’s were in cabin 7366. Both were category 8B staterooms that included a balcony. When we arrived, room 7366 still had not been cleaned, but was done by 1:45PM. While our stateroom was cleaned daily with turndown, I didn’t find the quality of the services we had received up to par with our four previous cruises. Quite often the room didn’t get cleaned until well after 12AM (even when we were out of the cabin around 9:30AM), and turndown didn’t happen until after 9PM (which wouldn’t have been a problem except we had three children, one which is very young, that needed to be asleep before that time). In summary, room steward services were adequate, nothing more, but certainly nothing that would cause us to complain or ruin our trip.

 

 

One of the reasons we chose this ship for this trip was that DW and I wanted our family of five to be in the same cabin together. We had done this on our two previous carnival cruises with our kids (Paradise and Fantasy, cat 12 suite), and it worked out quite nicely. However, in the future, I will avoid this approach at all costs unless I’m in a suite. IMHO, there is no way five people of any size or age should be allowed to book in the same cabin on this ship.

 

 

Our cabin layout included a queen bed (which was extremely comfortable, with a down cover and very soft pillows), a sofa that was converted into a twin bed the entire trip, a pull down twin over the top of the converted sofa, and a roll-away that would be placed adjacent to the converted sofa bed. This made movement around the cabin totally miserable and stressful, even after all of our luggage was unpacked and the bags were stored under the bed. If you’re considering five in a cabin for your trip, I would suggest reconsidering that approach at all costs! Even with the rollaway removed, it still created a very crowded environment, with no place to sit other than on a bed. No Mini-sofa or even a stool would be able to fit anywhere.

 

 

MIL and both SIL’s cabin was the same size as ours, and they’re set up included the queen bed and pull-down. They thought there’s was just the right size, and that it would have been crowded with another person in the room.

 

 

Other than the bedding issue, we found the rest of the cabin very functional. The bathroom was a little larger that I had experienced on my NCL and RCCL cruises. The corner shower was large enough, with a wrap-around shower curtain and detachable showerhead. The cruise line provides Lever 2000 liquid body soap and a liquid shampoo (I don’t recall the brand). I always bring my own bar of soap on board with me, as I don’t prefer the liquid soaps while showering.

 

 

The bathroom had a zip-line in the shower for hanging swimsuits, and three towel bars (two on the door, one on the wall) for hanging wet towels, etc. There was also a towel hook near the rack that was home to the clean towels and washcloths. The medicine chest over the sink is a corner mount unit with three shelves, and is larger than most I’ve seen on board.

 

 

In addition to the underneath the bed luggage storage, there are three closets, which are fairly large by standards. These are located in the hall just inside the main cabin doorway. Two of these contained a cloths bar with hangers (about ten hangers per closet), and one had shelving (one shelf taken up by the in-room safe which is operated by a credit card).

 

 

There was a tree drawer built in dresser that was more than adequate for DW’s non-hanging garments (and she’s a notorious over-packer) in the main living area. There are also two cabinets (one large, one medium in size) that are built in’s in the same area, and these were more than adequate for the three children and me.

 

[bankofdad]

After leaving our carry-ons in our room, we decided to explore the ship. As always, I had studied the deck layout and read CC advise prior to our arrival at the pier, which saves a lot of time. We headed two decks down to the Promenade deck (5), which is home to many of the activities on board. We started aft at the Club Rio, which is the location Karaoke was normally conducted, as well as the comedian adult late night show, and other events. This is a very nicely laid out lounge, and very appealing in a décor of darker woods and ceiling paint, and was sized nicely for the events that occurred here. During shows, bar service at the tables was not the best, so my advice is to bring a drink (or two) in with you before the show so that you aren’t disappointed with the service.

 

 

Adjacent to the Club Rio is the “Big Easy” Piano bar. This is a fun bar with a circular seating area directly around the piano, and seating for I’d estimate another 25-30 people. I didn’t spend much time there, but it was a nice place to drop in for a drink. The Venezia Lounge was located in this area, too, but it was often being used for different types of private functions, so we never ventured in.

 

 

Just down the hall on the starboard side of the ship (in the section of the ship referred to as the “World’s Way”) is the California Wine Bar. This is a nice setting that can accommodate about 20 people, and had an extensive wine list. I’m not a wine conesour, but if I were, this would have been my place.

 

 

Next around the corner is the Hollywood Dance club. The only time I had the chance to go there was when picking DD up from Camp Carnival activities here, so I can’t comment much on it. The arcade, known as Underground Tokyo is adjacent, and DS#1 spent a significant amount of time there during our cruise. I spent some time one day with him there, and there was a good variety of video games to choose from for most every age level. I allowed him sign-and-sail privileges on this cruise, but he was automatically limited to $20/day (in $5 increments) by the cruise line.

 

 

The Vienna Café was great. More than a coffee shop, it had a variety of ice cream sundaes, banana splits, and gourmet desserts. There is an added cost, but DW and I didn’t think it was any higher than a local Starbucks or DQ (for the banana splits).

 

 

Next to Club Monaco (the casino) is the World’s bar. I received great service here during our trip, and highly recommend a stop for a cold one hear. Speaking of the Casino, I came out $277 ahead playing dollar slots. All during the week there were the typical blackjack and slot contests going on, and the variety (and volume) of slots were the best I’ve yet seen onboard).

 

 

Off of the Casino is another bar called the Olympic Bar. The Olympic bar is the sports bar on board with a number of large screen TV’s mounted on the wall behind the long bar, and it had sporting events going all of the time. There are also built-in video-poker machines on the bar top, if that’s your game. This bar is easy to miss, but worth seeking out. Once again, great service here.

 

 

Across from the World’s bar is another piano that was active each night with live entertainment. The entire starboard section of the “World’s Way” section of the ship had floor to ceiling glass panels offering very nice views, and plenty of seating. This section of the ship was always very active, but never seemed very crowed at all.

 

 

Just forward of the World’s Way area are the onboard gift shops. Standard cruise ship stores hawking liquor, jewelry, perfumes and souvenir items. An obligatory visit is in order, but wasn’t on anyone priority list on this trip.

 

 

At the front of the ship and encompassing decks 3,4 and five is the Rome Lounge, which is the home to the ship’s major show productions. I thought the lounge was the most attractive I’d seen on board, with only a few obstructed seats (by floor to ceiling pillars). The ladies attended all of the shows, and highly recommended them all, other than the comedians (Lewis Nixon and David Miller). In particular, the group consensus was that David Miller was just plain bad, awful. They had attended both his matinee and late night adult show, and said it was the only waste of time they had experienced on board. That’s just their HO, so please take it for what it’s worth.

 

[bankofdad]

After our exploring portions of the ship and having a few drinks, we went back up to our staterooms to get ready for dinner, which for us was the 5:45 early seating in the Paris ( decks 3 & 4 aft) dining room. The main seating in the Paris is at 5:45, with the late seating at 8PM. The other dining room, the London, is located mid-ship (decks 3&4), with main seating at 6:15PM, and late seating at 8:30PM. I’m not sure how dinner assignments are made or how requests are honored, but we were honored our request for the 5:45PM seating, and it was honored. Our group had a table for all eight of us.

 

 

First off, I loved the appearance and layout of the dining room. With floor to ceiling glass windows on three sides, we always had a nice view while dining. Our table, #509, was on the 4th deck, starboard side. I really enjoyed our dinners together, because it was one of the few times on board that our family was able to sit down for dinner together and talk about the day, the evening and following days activities together. If you’re traveling with children and they can behave normally and quietly in the dining room, this is a special time of day.

 

 

Our wait staff was tremendous in every way. They went out of their way to make the trip special for MIL (first time cruiser), and made it fun for our kids (kept them from getting board). The bar server was very efficient and timely. We never had to wonder “when are we going to be able to order something from the bar”, because he came right after menus were delivered to us by the wait staff and came back again mid-meal.

 

 

Regarding the new menu, it was fantastic, IMHO. We dined in the dining room five nights during the cruise, during which time I tried the New York Sirloin, the Prime rib (and asked for a lobster tail to go with it on the first formal night and was happily obliged), the Black Tiger Shrimp, the Wiener Schnitzel, and the Broiled Pork Chop (which was huge). Each and every entrée was perfectly prepared and presented, and was delicious! I sincerely enjoyed the appetizers, and the ladies the desserts. They do not have a “published” kids menu, but happily made sure that we knew they could provide the standard restaurant kid-only chicken tenders, PBJ, Mac-n-cheese, etc.

 

 

For breakfast and lunch we only ate in the dining room once, which was open seating in the Paris on that particular day. I had eggs benedict, perfectly prepared, with great service. We had wanted to see the London dining room during our cruise, but with everything else going on, we never did get the chance so unfortunately I can’t comment on that establishment.

 

 

Just outside of the Paris Dining room on deck four is the Oxford bar and lounge. This is a very attractive lounge, done up with an old world stained wood décor and multiple built in bookcases. For cigar lovers, this is your place. A wide variety, and cigar friendly lounge. I stopped in a few times, and enjoyed relaxing with a cold beverage and the usual great service.

 

 

On the forward side of the London dining room on deck 4 is the Washington Library and the photo galleria. The library is not that large, but was also nicely done in the stained woodwork and built in bookcases. I spent some time here with DS#1 playing board games (which they had a great variety of), and SIL#2 used the book checkout service on several occasion. Very nice, but small room only seating about 15 people. Because of the board games, it’s not the best quite spot for quite book time, but there are spots on the remote part of the ship’s outer decks that serve that purpose well.

 

 

The photo galleria on deck 4 encircling the atrium is standard cruise ship variety. We went there several times to pick out photos of our group during the trip, and were pleased with the quality of photos, despite the normal inflated prices ($10-$20 each, depending on size).

 

[bankofdad]

Now a word on our shore experiences.

 

 

First was San Juan. While traveling from Miami to San Juan, I noticed that the ship really vibrated a lot. I just chalked this up to a vessel traveling at high speed to make an itinery that quite often is satisfied by a departure out of San Juan, therefore, it needed to travel near max speed.

 

 

We were not scheduled to arrive in San Juan until almost 5PM on that Monday, but we actually pulled into port and the ship was cleared before 2PM. As it turned out, a crewmember became ill in between Miami and San Juan, and needed urgent medical attention. Hence the faster speed and vibration than normal. After that stop, I didn’t notice the severe vibration again during our trip.

 

 

In San Juan, we debarked around 5PM, and headed for Senor Frogs for dinner and drinks. Because of our early arrival, the place was totally packed, with a long line waiting to get in. It was also raining (sometimes heavily) outside, so everyone was pushing to get inside. After about 15 minutes of that, we left, had dinner around the corner at Hard Rock Café (which is now opened and newly remodeled. After dinner I went back to the ship with our kids, and the ladies shopped. They did see some good deals on Gucci products that they had targeted, but none good enough to keep them from holding out until the tow following ports of call.

 

 

If the weather had been better, we would have enjoyed shopping around the pier. As it was, we all agreed we would have had a better time going to the dining room that night, which was open seating from 6-8:30PM. The ladies also indulged in the 11PM Mexican buffet on the lido deck, and they all agreed it was fantastic.

 

 

St. Thomas was our next port. We had arranged on our own for an all day private tour with Godfrey for that day. The ship cleared customs at around 8AM, and we had our pick-up scheduled for 9AM. Once on shore, we were greeted by Godfrey’s brother and escorted to an 11-passenger air-conditioned van for the tour.

 

 

We had given Godfrey’s Brother a few idea of what we wanted to see, and asked for his suggestions for filling in the time lapses. Since we had requested a stop at Coki Beach first, he took us in that direction with several scenic stops for photos along the way. In route we passed Sapphire Beach (which I would later see from the air). Upon arrival at Coki Beach, DD and I proceeded to the dock for a parasailing reservation (10AM, $55pp) with Sky Pirate Parasailing, and the rest of our group went to set up on the beach).

 

 

We were greeted at the dock by the Sky Pirate crew, and were accompanied by another passenger. The crew was very friendly, and the vessel very modern. While to ride seamed short by comparison (I had parasailed in Hawaii and Miami Beach in the past), it was most certainly a beautiful ride. There had not been much rain on the island over the past six weeks or so, so the water clarity was spectacular from 600 feet above. It also helped that there were gentle winds and clam seas that day. I would very much recommend this tour operator and tour, but would have liked a few more airborne minutes.

 

 

The rest of the group rented a few chairs and relaxed on the beach. There only complaint was that the beachside services vendors were relentless selling drinks and food, but other than that, the beach was small, but very nice. There is a small walkway that you have to go on to get to the sandy part of the beach, and it passes through several vendor stands providing food, drinks, and beach rentals. There are also bathrooms, and of course the Seaquarium (which we did not visit).

 

 

After Parasailing, I hooked up with the rest of our group and went snorkeling with DS#1 to the right side of the beach (near the rocks), which lead to the Seaquarium area. Visibility was pretty good, but in comparison to other Caribbean and Hawaiian snorkeling we’ve done, it was very average at best. The living coral is limited, and the fish are allowed to be hand fed (which to e is a no-no, and not healthy for the fish) causing un-natural behavior among the fish. If you’ve snorkeled in Cozumel, Belize or Roaton on previous cruises, this will be somewhat of a disappointment, as it isn’t even close to those ports for this activity.

 

[normaxs]

Thanks so much for this detailed review. Our gruop of 15 will be on Triumph in Sept. to do the New England/Canada itinerary. Was so please that your review of the ship was a positive one.

Norma

[bankofdad]

After Coki Beach Godfrey’s Brother recommended a nearby Irish Pub for lunch called Molly Malone’s. We really wanted to experience some of the local flair for lunch, but he was very hesitant to offer a recommendation, saying all of the restaurants were on the other side of the island and away fro what we wanted to see. I don’t know the island, so I can’t argue, but I didn’t see any locals eating at Molly Malone’s. Food and drink here was good; not great but good, and very expensive. However, we enjoyed our time together, and had a good time.

 

 

After lunch, we had requested a ride to Magen’s Bay. We thought the beach was very nice, the water clear, but actually preferred Coki for the sand, water and setting. Magen’s Bay was very crowded when we arrived, but was worth the stop. We didn’t spend much time there, and soon departed back to town.

 

 

Godfrey’s brother dropped the ladies off in town around 2:45PM, and had arranged for a pick-up at a pre-determined location at 4:30 (in order to beat the main rush back to the ship, as passengers had to be on board by 5:30 for a 6PM sail away). He then took my kids and I back to the pier, where we thanked, paid and tipped him. Just a note on Godfrey private tours – they do not accept anything but cash. No credit cards or traveler’s checks. We did not know this in advance, but fortunately I had enough cash on me. Otherwise, you’ll spend part of your tour time going to the bank getting cash for payment.

 

 

The ladies found a few good deals on the Gucci products they were looking for, and were greeted promptly at 4:30 by Godfrey’s Brother for return to the ship. All in all, we would recommend Godfrey tours. The private tour gave us a lot of leeway on what time and where we wanted to go. Godfrey’s Brother was very informative and knowledgeable about the island, if not as charismatic as other driver’s we’d had on similar Caribbean Island tours.

 

 

Next was St. Maarten, and this was by far my favorite port. DD#1 and I started the day by booking the Golden Eagle Catamaran tour through Carnival for the half-day catamaran trip out to the small island of Tintamar. I knew this was going to be a great trip when I was offered a bear at 8:30AM! The ride out to the island took about an hour, and was very scenic and “roller-coaster” fun. This tour is not for those prone to motion sickness, but is a blast if you’re not! Once out at the island, we went into the crystal clear water for an hour and a half of swimming and snorkeling. The snorkeling was about the same as Coki Beach, but the atmosphere was uncrowded and very festive. The ride back was even more fun with a deli lunch, music and dancing. This was the port highlight of my trip. Golden Eagle also operates several other identical catamarans in this port.

 

 

Shopping in St. Maarten was very pleasant for a Caribbean port, where you’re normally practically mugged to get into a shop by its operator. Once we left the cruise ship port area and Diamonds International behind, we took the fifteen-minute walk down to Front Street, which has been nicely redone. Having been given a few ideas in advance of our trip of a few things DW wanted to look at, I did my home research, and then got a tremendous deal on a diamond bracelet for her and diamond and emerald earrings for DD. Of course I purchased a few t-shirts for myself and DD#1 and DD#2. Drink vendors were plentiful and very cheap ($1 - $1.50 beers, the best bargain of the trip)!

 

 

Our trip concluded with two enjoyable sea days. I’d just like to offer a few more general comments, and then I’ll end my long review.

 

 

First, the water slide was open during our entire trip. It’s 30-40 feet high with lots of curves and a blast to go on. At times there were lines waiting, but we never waited more than tem minutes for our turn. The end of the slide does not end with a pool-drop like other slides I’ve seen, benn instead ends with a short straight run where slightly deeper water caused you to stop very rapidly. Much fun!

 

 

Second, the ship holds 3,200 passengers, and was full during our sailing. I can honestly say that when we were not in port, it felt as if all 3,200 passengers were around the main Lido Deck pool area. It had an enormously crowded feel to it IMHO. Also, the tiered deck design seemed to create an awful lot of stairway congestion. It didn’t help either that the save-a-chair-but-not-be there-hogs were out in full force, and we were never even able to get a chair anywhere near the main pool. It got so bad near the main pool that adults were going up onto deck 11 to soak their feet in the kiddy pool, making it useless at times for DD#2 who is only three years old. This is my only complaint about the ship itself, everything else was all good.

[bankofdad]

I’d also like to offer a few comments regarding Camp Carnival. DD (8 Y.O.) loved it, and went there at every opportunity. We pretty much had to drag her out to spend some time with us. DS#2 (3 Y.O.) experienced Camp Carnival for the first time. He was a little nervous at first, but by the end of the cruise couldn’t wait to get in there. The staff was very nice to them both, and I can’t say enough about how much more our two youngest enjoyed our trip as a result.

 

 

However, DS#1 (12 Y.O.) was in the 12-14 group, and after the first introductory night did not want to go back. This was a shock to us because he had had such a great time on our two previous cruises with Camp Carnival. In speaking with him, he just felt out of place because he was on the lower end of this age group, and at times he was grouped with the 15-17 age group as well. BIG difference! Also, in looking at the activity schedule, I’m not sure what incentive he had to want to stay. He could have, and did do, a lot of similar activities on his own or with us.

 

 

Next, sadly, debarkation. The ship was cleared for debarkation slightly before 8AM on Saturday. The first group allowed to leave were those American Citizens that could carry all of there own luggage off the ship (i.e. no luggage turned in for pick-up outside of your cabin the night before). The next few group’s included those on early flights and those on shore excursions.

 

 

What was different about this process compared to previous cruises we had been on was that tag colors or deck numbers were not called for debarkation in intervals. Instead, at around 9:45AM, “general” debarkation was called, meaning all remaining passengers could debark at their leisure. We had been waiting for our call in the World’s Way section of the ship on deck 5, and easily caught our elevator, went through a short walk to the gangway, and left the ship for the terminal. I was thinking to myself at the time that this is way to easy!

 

 

That’s when the line stopped and we realized were in the middle of a 2500 passenger long line that was moving very slowly. To make a long story short, we were not off the ship and through customs until about 11:15AM. Not pleasant, but we survived.

 

 

All said, this was a great cruise, and we’d highly recommend the Triumph to anyone. Our entire group enjoyed it very much enjoyed it. EVERY crew member we came into contact with was very pleasant and helpful, no exceptions at all. This really is a fantastic group!

If I can answer any more questions, please let me know.

 

Next up – the Carnival Pride (Mexican Riviera) in October (Just DW and I)!

[LauraG]

Thank you so much for the detailed review. It is really helpful to get specific details so that we can plan our own vacation a little better.

 

Just this weekend, my family-- three adults and four kids--booked the Triumph for a New Year's cruise. I'm glad that you mentioned the crowded room because the PVP at Carnival was insisting that we'd be happiest with a 5/2(expensive room) split as opposed to the 2/2/3(cheap 1A, 1A and 4B) split that I insisted on. I kind of thought that 5 in one room for a week would be miserable.

 

I am still considering switching to the Valor (which sails the day after the Triumph for a bit less money)-- primarily because I cannot find anybody that thinks San Juan is much of a stop-- particularly with kids (6, 9 13, 15). Did you meet anybody on the cruise that was able to do something "adventurous" in Puerto Rico?

 

Thanks in Advance

 

Laura

[bankofdad]

Did you meet anybody on the cruise that was able to do something "adventurous" in Puerto Rico?

Hi LauraG,

 

We saw an awful lot of people get back on the ship early in San JUan. I'm sure the weather had much to do with that. Shopping and walking around in the rain wasn't much fun. I do recall announcements over the PA that several of the ship offered shore excursions were canceled (I don't recall which ones).

 

The ship doesn't really offer much in the way of excursions, and it gets in port so late, it was hard for us to get interested in any of the avaialble tours operated by local businmesses that we could book directly. DD (8 Y.O.) didn't have an interest in getting off the ship with us and just wanted to go to Camp Carnival, and DS#1 (12 Y.O.) just wanted to hang out at the arcade and eat pizza.

 

I had read previous reviews (good ones) about the night time beach front horseback riding and night time kayaking, but neither interested us. I hope others can offer some better insight/comments on San Juan than I.

 

Hope this helps some!

[kjunea]

Thanks for the awesome review! We are looking at the Triumph for next year to do the Eastern. :)

 

June

[scarface]

Thank you so much for your help. Im pretty sure we are going to book the golden eagle sail excursion. It sounds like a blast. I do have a question for you though. I have no clue who Godfry is or what it is. We are interested in doing somthing like this in San Jaun and are debating on hiring someone like this or just using taxi or even renting a car. How do you feel these would work out if we did it ourselves and also could you tell me how to contact Godfrey. Again, thank you so much.

[bankofdad]

Hi scarface,

 

Godfrey tours can be found at www.godfreytoursvi.com. He came highly recommended by other CC members, and I'd have to agree it was a great way to see the island. You can also do a seaerch to find more reviews about Godfrey on the St. Thomas forum under "Ports of Call" here at CC. There's a lot of great info about his company on that forum.

 

I don't know if there's another tour operator like him in San Juan, but we weren't really looking for one there because of our late arrival. There's also a San Juan forum under Ports of Call that might give some ideas as well.

 

Regarding the Golden Eagle Catamaran, it was the most fun ocean excursion I've ever taken in the Caribbean. I would definitely do it again if/when we see St Maarten again.

[cruisingator2]

Thanks for posting a great review. I have been on this ship twice and even though I dislike the design/layout of the ship, it has one of the nicest interiors of the Carnival fleet IMHO.I noticed that you are on the Pride next. That is my favorite ship in the fleet. You cannot beat those Spirit class ships.

[FlaJam]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=166487

 

I was on the same ship & cruise... Where mine is not as detailed as this one is, it will give you another perspective of this cruise... Happy Sailing... :D

[scarface]

Wow! Thank you so much for the insight. We booked the Eagle earlier today, and are also looking into Godfrey. Most likely gonna a do that also. As I look at Godfrey website I see that he has two different choices for tranportation. My wife, myself, and another couple are going. Do you share your safari or limo with other people or are you by yourselves. Again I cannot thank you enough for your help.

[bankofdad]

Wow! Thank you so much for the insight. We booked the Eagle earlier today, and are also looking into Godfrey. Most likely gonna a do that also. As I look at Godfrey website I see that he has two different choices for tranportation. My wife, myself, and another couple are going. Do you share your safari or limo with other people or are you by yourselves. Again I cannot thank you enough for your help.

 

We elected to do a private tour with our group and ended up with an air conditioned van which I believe Godfrey rents from a local taxi agency (it had the same name on it as the rest of the taxis around the island). However, we did see his own vehicle, which is a red open air van and it was being used for the shared ride service.

 

If you go with a shared ride with others and go on Godfrey's pre-determined schedule, the cost is $20pp. If you go with a private tour where you tell them where/when you want to go it's $40pp. Whichever way you chose, you'll see a lot of positive reviews posted.

 

Have fun!

[mlantigua]

:) Just wanted to say thanx for the review. I will be leaving on Saturday 04/23/05. Unfortunetly, we've already booked a cabin for 5. It's a 8C balcony, I figure if worse comes to worse, I'll sleep out there,lol. I have a 13 yr old boy, 10 yr old boy and 6 yr old girl. Do you think they'll enjoy camp carnival. My 13 yr old boy loves hanging out with older teens, will they allow him to? How about the teen dance club, any info? Did either of you folks try the spa, any treatment idea? Was the beach better at Coki? I'm looking for a beach that is clean, has bathrooms, has water sports (jet ski rental- do you know how much $$$ and how old to drive???). The kids want to snorkel and just play in nice, clean sand. Prefer no current (6 yr old can't swim yet but will have her boogie board, floats, and castle building equipment). The older boys have their own snorkel stuff (I can't see them putting their mouth on the ones that they rent, sorry). I just want to relax, maybe get a massage by the beach or in a hammock (do they have any hammocks?). Sorry, so many questions, let me know when you can. 3 days left and very excited....

 

Thx:D

[fofita01]

Bank of Dad,

 

Can you please tell me about the formal nights? How were people dressed? How about the other nights?

Did it take long to debark in San Juan? (I read that you docked at 2pm, but didnt get off till 5pm? Was that just your group or the entire ship?)

What about in St. Thomas & St. Marteen? Did it take long? or was it quick to get off the ship?

Any info on good deals on liquor in the ports and/or onboard?

How was the condition of you cabin & bathroom?

What were the drink prices like? I'm talking about beers (corona) and foo-foo drinks/mixed drinks?

Sorry for all the questions!;)

THANKS for the INFORMATIVE review! I cant wait till MAY 7th!:D

[BettyB2]

Thanks for the GREAT review! We just booked the Triumph for the Dec 3 eastern sailing and now am looking forward to it even more! WIsh I could of heard more about the Piano bar...but we will discover that on our own. We have an aft balcony cabin on the Empress deck....I cannot wait:D

[DP21]

Betty-

I was on the 4/9 Triumph as well and spent some good time at the piano bar. It was very enjoyable and Damian, who was the main entertainer, was very talented. The only thing that bothered me in there was that it drew all the smokers and because the room wasn't so big, it got really stuffy. Other than that -- fun and relaxing.

[bankofdad]

:) Just wanted to say thanx for the review. I will be leaving on Saturday 04/23/05. Unfortunetly, we've already booked a cabin for 5. It's a 8C balcony, I figure if worse comes to worse, I'll sleep out there,lol. I have a 13 yr old boy, 10 yr old boy and 6 yr old girl. Do you think they'll enjoy camp carnival. My 13 yr old boy loves hanging out with older teens, will they allow him to? How about the teen dance club, any info? Did either of you folks try the spa, any treatment idea? Was the beach better at Coki? I'm looking for a beach that is clean, has bathrooms, has water sports (jet ski rental- do you know how much $$$ and how old to drive???). The kids want to snorkel and just play in nice, clean sand. Prefer no current (6 yr old can't swim yet but will have her boogie board, floats, and castle building equipment). The older boys have their own snorkel stuff (I can't see them putting their mouth on the ones that they rent, sorry). I just want to relax, maybe get a massage by the beach or in a hammock (do they have any hammocks?). Sorry, so many questions, let me know when you can. 3 days left and very excited....

 

Thx:D

 

Thanks for your comments, I hope my review helps some.

 

Coki Beach is a very nice, clean soft sand beach with very clear water and very gentle surf (it was totally flat the day we were there, which I'm told by locals is the norm). My 3 year old (who doesn't swim yet) had a blast there and didn't want to leave (he kept calling it his Beach Pool). After we had been to both Coki and Magen's Bay Godfrey's Brother asked which we liked better, we replied that Coki was our favorite, and he confided that most locals feel the same way. There were also jet ski rentals there, but we didn't use them so I can't help with cost information. I didn't see any hammocks, but the local vendors were quick to provide loungers, and other vendors were offering massages. There were also bathrooms right by the snack shack on the walkway leading to the beach.

 

We also brought our own snorkel gear, because we feel the same way you do. Especially for the children, they'll probobly love snorkeling here, because there are a lot of fish to see. From what I've read and experienced, this is probobly as good of snorkeling as it gets around the island (I can't speak for St. John island though)

 

Regarding Camp Carnival, I'm sure your 6 Y.O. will have a great time. The 6-8 Y.O. group is what my DD has been in on our last three carnival cruises, and she's loved it each time. For your 10 Y.O., that group seeamed to have an awful lot of activities onboard, and we saw the group on a number of occassions having fun. DS#1, now 12, loved being in the 9-11 Y.O. group on our previous cruises.

 

Speaking of the 12-14 group, IMHO there's a big difference between a 12 Y.O. (and he just turned 12 and is in the midst of puberty) and a 14 Y.O. getting ready to enter high school this Fall. Most of the kids in his group were in the 14 Y.O. age range, which he said he just didn't feel like he fit in with. The expereince you might have with your 13 Y.O. caould be totally different (at that age, I'm sure you know one year makes a big difference in their lives). Regarding the Teen Dance Club, most evenings they did have it open for about an hour, but DS#1 never wanted to go.

 

On this trip none of the ladies used the spa, so I can't help much there other than to say they were offereing various specials thoughout the week. If you'd like, I can scan and email the Camp Carnival activites capers (for the 6-8 YO and 12-14YO groups, I don't have one for the 9-11 group) to you along with one of the caper inserts we received pertaining to the spa. If you do, please just post your email adress and I'll send them to you today.

 

I hope you have a great trip!

[bankofdad]

Bank of Dad,

 

Can you please tell me about the formal nights? How were people dressed? How about the other nights?

 

Did it take long to debark in San Juan? (I read that you docked at 2pm, but didnt get off till 5pm? Was that just your group or the entire ship?)

 

What about in St. Thomas & St. Marteen? Did it take long? or was it quick to get off the ship?

 

Any info on good deals on liquor in the ports and/or onboard?

 

How was the condition of you cabin & bathroom?

 

What were the drink prices like? I'm talking about beers (corona) and foo-foo drinks/mixed drinks?

 

Sorry for all the questions!;)

 

THANKS for the INFORMATIVE review! I cant wait till MAY 7th!:D

 

Formal nights on the Eastern itinerary were on Sunday and Thursday (both sea days). I would say that probobly about 60-70% of the adult passengers were dressed in formal attire, as were we. It didn't bother us at all that others were not dressed as formal, but our entire table was.

 

In San Juan, our early arrival was not the norm. We arrived earlier than scheduled due to the crewmember medical emergency, and on normal cruises, you'd arrive between 4-5PM. With our early arrival, they did clear the ship for debarkation within 30 minutes of arrival (we just didn't get off right away because our group wasn't ready to yet, but many other passengers did).

 

In St. Thomas, the ship had arrived sometime around 7:30AM, and it was cleared for debarkation right about 8AM. We didn't get off until around 8:30AM because we scheduled our Godfrey tour for 9AM (we could have asked for earlier, but my MIL and both SIL's are notoriously late for everything). In St. Maarteen, the ship arrived before 7AM, and was cleared shotly thereafter. DS#1 and I were off the ship before 8AM to meet our tour group, but could have gotten off earlier if we had needed too.

 

Regarding Drink prices, SIL#1 is a Corona drinker, and they went for $3.75 each for a 12oz bottle. I like MIller Lite, which was $4.25 each for the 16Oz (large) plastic bottles, or could be bought in a bucket of four bottle (remember these are the larger bottles) for $15.50 each (so you can save a $1.50 by buying the bucket). Michelob Ultra, for my low carb friends was $4.25 each for the 12oz bottles. DW, MIL and SIL#2 liked the Pina Colada's and Miami Vice's, which were 4.95 each (not in the souveniour glass).

 

Regarding liquor prices on shore or onboard, I very rarely drink anything other than beer, so I can't help much there. I just don't know what most of that costs here to tell you if there where any good deals. I can say, however, that when liquor that has been purchased on board and on shore were being returned to the owner the night before the cruise ended, what seemed to be at least 1/2 of the rooms had liquor waiting for them in the hall (so there must have been some good deals I would guess)!

 

Regarding the condition of our cabin and bathroom, the only issues we had were that the lok on the bathroom door was very difficult to engage, and the safe never worked. Quite honestly, these were really big deals to us, so we didn't even mention them to the crew. I know this might be a big deal to some, but it wasn't to us. Otherwise, the cabin and bathroom were in excellent shape.

 

I hope this helps!

[bankofdad]

Betty-

I was on the 4/9 Triumph as well and spent some good time at the piano bar. It was very enjoyable and Damian, who was the main entertainer, was very talented. The only thing that bothered me in there was that it drew all the smokers and because the room wasn't so big, it got really stuffy. Other than that -- fun and relaxing.

 

Betty, I agree about the smoke. Nothing at all against smokers (I used to be one), but it did get overpowering to us, and that's one of the reasons we didn't spend much time at all there.