"Triumph"ant Adventures with D & E 12/2011 review w/photos

[txlnghrn79]

We survived the cold! It is an amazing thing to watch this massive vessel turn around basically on a dime in such a small space!! You get a new found appreciate for the captain.

 

After we got back to the hotel we loaded everyone up and headed to the port!

It was approximately 9:30 am. Although there is parking and shuttle service at the hotel we chose to park at Galveston Park and Cruise. We had used them while on our first cruise and were pleased with their facilities and service. (If you would like to see picture of their parking you can find them on our Ecstacy Review in my signature line.) Before we parked we dropped our bags with the porters and tipped them for their service. We have found the porters in Galveston to be very friendly and helpful. Then we drove across the street from the port and parked. Yes! It is really that close! They have covered and non-covered parking available. We always chose covered because they lock your car in a garage and do not open it for the entire length of the cruise! Also, by parking in a garage your car does not get a layer of sea salt on it! :)

 

We walked back across the street to the port and were through customers by 10:00 am. We did not choose to bring any alcohol but we did have a case of water. They did take every last bottle out of the plastic and shake it. Once they confirmed that we had only water we were cleared to go get our s/s cards! It wasn't long before they had loaded VIPs, wedding parties, and a travel agents tour on board and were calling for us to board! We were zone 6 but it went really fast!

 

We made our way to the lido deck to enjoy lunch and purchase our soda cards. I think the best thing about bringing first time cruises with you is the reactions as they get dinged onto the ship! I wish I had photographed their faces but our lunch pics will have to do.

 

[Rainbowfalls]

I love the review cant wait to read more :)

[txlnghrn79]

Here George and Judy are purchasing their bottomless bubbles card! Even though Judy is not a big soda drinker, the options for juice or the occasional soda any time we wanted was too good to pass up!

 

When you get on the ship their are several food choices for you. They have the general buffet open, the hotdog and hamburger grill hot and the pizza were open and ready. Around 1 pm the chinese food opened up. After we purchased the soda cards and had eaten lunch we still had an hour before the rooms would be ready. We took this time to explore the ship and take pictures!

 

Here are the pictures of the jumbo screen, the water slide, and the main pool with hot tubs. It was nice to have the Monday Night Football game on and the movies each night, pool side!

 

We then headed to the hallway to wait for our rooms. Usually we would not have been in a rush but DH and I had arranged for Bon Voyage to decorate his parents room. They had celebrated their 40th anniversary in May but we were celebrating as a family on this cruise. We were really impressed with the decoration and they were so happy when they saw the decorations!

 

[txlnghrn79]

We settled into the rooms and then headed to muster drill. I did have one complaint. It was cold and our muster meeting place was outside. Muster was supposed to be at 4 pm but at 4:30 we had not seen or heard any staff make mention of muster. There were several older cruisers in wheelchairs and using cains that were waiting with us as well. I went to guest services and they said that we did not have to stand out there until they announced it. I went outside and let some of the cruises around us know what they had said. At 5 pm we finally had muster and then were realeased to watch sail away.

 

We chose to watch the sail away on Deck 6. We went on the secret door and were the only ones in that area. We could look us and wave to the captain and sailors and have a great view of the gulf. Here is DH planking!

[etwright]

Enjoying so far...can't wait for more...

[txlnghrn79]

Here are some more pictures of the land crew removing our ropes! They were a lot of fun!

 

[stephuney]

Loving it so far ... will be sailing her in June and cant wait!

[dadof2boys]

Loving the review so far, keep it up. I too share your husbands addiction to all things cruise. The blogs, the boards, I just can't stop. I would go as much as you can possibly afford before you have little ones. I didn't realize I loved cruising until my second cruise, which was with our first born at 18 months old. While it is a blast with the kids (we bring them almost each time), I would have loved to have those memories and quality time with just my wife. Now when we go it alone, it's a short one and we are longing for the boys by the third day. Which is about as long of a cruise we do without them. I guess I say this now, because no one shared it with me before we had kids. Looking forward to the rest.

[txlnghrn79]

Sorry I haven't finished this thing by now! My week has been so full! So far I have covered introductions, the trip to Galveston, and embarkation! Now we get to the good stuff: food porn, excursions, and sea life! :)

 

After sail away we went to our rooms and got ready for dinner. We had early seating and we really enjoyed it. To us, when we eat early we have plenty of time to get to shows, comedy, and all other things cruise! Dustin and I were a little worried because only one of two bags had shown up. Luckily the first bag was clothing! Just before we headed to dinner the second bag showed up! The luggage tag had fallen off so they had to figure out where it went!

 

Our table was located in the Paris dining room, all of the way to the back, against the windows. When we arrived we saw it was a table of 10 and knew we would have company soon! DH and I love the prospect of meeting new people. We sat down and soon realized that the ship was experiencing a rough sea. We rocked all of the way through dinner. Here are the pictures of the first night and of food.

 

 

Marcia didn't let us get a pic of her this night. We also didn't get a pic of our table guest until later. Here comes the food porn! I personally ordered the pumpkin/ sqaush pot pie and it was divine! It is a vegitarian option and it was so good.

 

We forgot to take pictures of our desert that night but I am sure we can find pics from other nights!

[txlnghrn79]

Dad (George) had to leave dinner before all of us because the rocking of the ship was really getting to him. When mom (Judy) arrived back to the room this is what she found:

George didn't leave the room for the next 36 hours. He was soooo sea sick!

This is what kind of seas we were encountering:

 

DH, Marcia, and I decided to head to our room and call it a night. (Marcia and I snuck down to the pizza cafe and got a slice of pepperoni but then called it a night)!

 

Here is our first towel animal -

 

Our room stewards name was Sunni and he was from Thailand! He was so personable and he took great care of our rooms and of "sick" George which can be quite a task! lol

[txlnghrn79]

 

These are pics of the back pool and hot tubs. We did not experience any "chair hogs" and the lines to all of the food were never unbearable!

 

After breakfast we went to the Welcome Aboard Show. Our cruise director Felipe was great! He had a great sense of humor! His assistant cruise director Stephanie was also funny and helpful! At the show they introduced several ammentities of the ship. One of these was the spa and acupuncture. The doctor stated that acupuncture had been know to help with sea sickness. We made an appointment for George. He was scheduled for 3pm! We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best!

 

[stephuney]

waiting to hear if the accupuncture helped with the sea sickness! great review...

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for your review...and great photos, too. :)

[reerun25]

Great review so far!! I too am curious about the seasickness... if he toughed it out, took bonnie or something, or if the acupuncture helped....

[txlnghrn79]

While we waited for George to have his treatment Dustin and I took pics on the balcony, and took pics of the water. We went to the main theater to hear the talking about shopping opportunities in port but it really wasn't our thing. I am not big into jewelry and that is what it really highlighted. It sounded really informative for those who are into that thing and they do hand out coupons!

 

 

After we explored the ship we went to the spa to check on dad. He was still receiving treatments and the doctor told mom that he would not be joining us for dinner. She said that she would make sure he got to the room and that he would need to eat a simple, dry sandwich to get his tummy adjusted to food again. She also said that anyone experiencing sea sickness needs to drink warm water, not cold, and lots of ginger ale! She also said that taking ginger root or eating ginger for a few days before the cruise would detour sea sickness as well! Good to know for next time!

Dad was pretty pitiful but he later admitted that he began to feel better soon after treatments!

[Cruzin' Daddy]

Nice!

[bigdadcruiser]

Great Review and pics! I'm ready for more :)

[txlnghrn79]

Doctor's orders sent George to his room for formal night. We all went to dinner without him and hoped that in the morning he would be joining us in Progresso. DH and I had ordered an Anniversary cake from Bon Voyage for the parents. It still had not been delivered to the room. We were a little concerned and told each other that after dinner we would inquire about it. Here are some pictures of formal night:

We had to match!

 

I loved the color Marcia had on!!

 

My MIL is so pretty!

I haven't loaded all of the "professional or staged" pics yet. Hopefully by the end of the review I can have them available for viewing. :)

[txlnghrn79]

Here are some pics of the food and deserts we ordered from formal night!

[txlnghrn79]

As we enjoyed our dessert, our waiter Jimmy (who was fabulous by the way) came to the table with the anniversary cake! We were sad that George wasn't at dinner to enjoy the moment with his wife but Jimmy took his place for a while.

 

The wait staff sang to Judy a song of "Happy Anniversary to you" to the tune of "Happy Birthday to you" and then they offered to package it up so that she could take it back to George and enjoy it with him.

 

Dustin and I were relieved that it had been delivered and we didn't have to worry about hunting it down.

 

After dinner, DH and I went to the Rome Lounge Theater for the nightly show. D had to take a picture of his shoes.

I took a picture of the drink!

[txlnghrn79]

After enjoying the theater we decided to turn in early. We had booked the salsa y salsa tour to Merida for our first excursion and wanted to be well rested! Sunni always had the room looking nice each time we went to the room. He always had a smile on his face and checked on George and the rest of us so well!

Here is our nightly towel animal and Funtimes:

We also received our past guest invitations for the following night. DH and I were looking forward to going!

 

We couldn't go to sleep right away so we headed to the lido to watch the MNF game. Our Cowboys lost but it was still a fun time had by all!

The two things that could have made this night better would have been a win and a repair to the lights that were out on the screen! Lol

 

We dreamed of the whale tail that night... I love cruising!

[PathfinderEss]

Great review and wonderful pictures, keep it coming.

[douglinc@msn.com]

Your food pictures are making me hungry.

 

Doug

[Coolcruise02]

Great review, can't wait for more! :)

[txlnghrn79]

So the night before arriving into Progresso we had set out our card for room service. When we awoke the next morning we began to get ready for our excursion. We looked at our watch and realized that room service was late. We called to the parents room and their room service was also late. We called down to the kitchen and were told they were running behind. Needless to say, 45 min later and we still no room service. We decided that we would head to the buffet for breakfast. As another blogger has posted "if you leave a Carnival cruise hungry you have to be stupid.". We didn't let this hiccup ruin our day. After breakfast we came back to the room for one final potty break and found our toast and bananas had finally arrived. We thought about bringing the fruit with us for later but remembered from our previous cruise that they do not let you bring fruit off the ship. So all of us headed down to the pier. We had booked the Salsa y Salsa tour for all five of us. This excursion including an air conditioned bus ride to the city of Merida, a tour of the Governor's mansion, a cooking lesson learning to make three salsas and then an outdoor lesson learning to salsa. Here are a few photos we took as we got onto land!

The port of Progresso!

Our balconies!

Her aft!

Look who's feeling better! We love acupuncture and land! :)

Ready for an adventure!

Marcia didn't want to take pictures... We'll get her later!