The Tauby's Take On The Triumph

[cynt]

I did not like the hangers. My last Carnival Cruise was Ecstacy many years ago but I don't remember them having these type of hangers.

 

 

 

Are all the hanger's like this on the Carnival ships? I hope not! No big deal but I was't expecting that type of hanger system. Will it stop me from cruising on Carnival? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

 

Here's a pic of the new return guest coupons.

 

 

 

And guess who forgot to use their coupon?!?!? Note to self use it the first day you get it so you won't forget to use it by the end of the cruise. LOL! But I blame it on the short cruise. If I would of had 3 more nights I definitely would have remembered to use it. :D

[cynt]

OK my BF is on his way over for dinner. I need to get up and shower. Speaking of BF I forgot to mention I was ok with going on the cruise with the family. But my last cruise BF and I went together. It hit me when I entered the cabin for the first time that he wasn't there. Major missing him pains hit me. I called him and told him I missed him like crazy before we set sail. We cooed and ahhed and I got myself together so I could enjoy the rest of my cruise.

 

I'll post more later. Thanks everyone for reading my review. If you have any questions ask away and I'll try and answer them or I'm sure someone will have the answer.

[cynt]

Our first Sea Day went great! My team won the Digital Scavenger Hunt! Today was the day we all decided to do ASBOLUTELY NOTHING! And we enjoyed every minute of it. My dad ran into some members from his church. Small world. We staked out a table in the shade and someone or two were at the table most of the day. It was a great meeting spot on and off all day. Today is also the day Jazzy and I discovered the chocolate chip cookies at the desert bar. YUMMY!! And then my dad and uncle added the ice cream DOUBLE YUMMY YUMMY!! This is also when I realized how much I missed the cookies from the Liberty of the seas. Would this stop me from cruising Carnival? NO! You just have to adapt. The kids also talked me into going down the slide. Well they didn't have to do much persuading, I've been eyeing that slide since I got on the ship. At 42, I was going down the slide. LOL! So we walk barefoot across the lido deck up 3 flights of stairs to the slide, BIG MISTAKE! The deck was hot and we should have kept on our flip flops. We ohhed, ahhed, ouched all the way to the slide. We had fun going down the slide but we also got a wedgey. LOL! :D We were so excited and enjoying the day I didn't snap any pics.

 

We retreated to our cabins to rest and get ready for our formal night. We took a ton of pics at the different locations around the ship. Unfortunately, we a large group it's hard to get that one perfect picture.

 

Dinner tonight was delish. And they served some of the largest lobster tails I've seen on any ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Carguylee]

thanks for sharing

[yoursurfer]

Beautiful family! I wish I could convince the rest of my family to do this.

[jimbug]

I'm loving this review! I would love to do a family reunion cruise one day.

[MSRussell]

I am really enjoying your reveiw...thanks for sharing your cruise adventures.

I know what you mean about the slide....I had been telling myself to do it for a few cruises, but on my last one, finally tried it. I had to do it 2 more times, just to make sure it was as much fun as I thought it was.

Melanie

[cynt]

Beautiful family! I wish I could convince the rest of my family to do this.

 

Keep trying!! I've always wanted to do it. At first I was bummed that didn't more people go with us but the 9 that went we had an absolute blast. They wore me out but in a good family fun way. They are hooked and next time I know we'll start w/ 9 which will be a great help for me when it comes to answering everyone's questions. So go with a few and build from there. That's what I'm going to do. :D

[cynt]

I am really enjoying your reveiw...thanks for sharing your cruise adventures.

I know what you mean about the slide....I had been telling myself to do it for a few cruises, but on my last one, finally tried it. I had to do it 2 more times, just to make sure it was as much fun as I thought it was.

Melanie

 

LOL!! It was a blast! I'm so glad my lil' cousins went with me. Like I mentioned before since we had such a wide age range cruising there was always someone with you to try something new. Thumbs up for family cruising!!

[cynt]

I apologize for being away for a week but I was heads down at work making up for the week I missed and getting ahead because my super is out next week. YEAH!! ;)

 

Where were we, O formal night. After a ton of pics, dinner and the show we walked through the casino. Lo and behold we became addicted and got suckered into paying a dollar to turn the key in the key slot in this machine. Let me explain. Remember when we were kids and you had to move the joystick with a claw on the end to get the stuff animal? It's along the lines of that game but more skill is required and it looks super easy! First the joystick has a large key on the end of it, I'm terrible with dimensions but I'm going to say it's about a 3 inch gold plastic key. There's 3 rows and 3 columns or something along those lines. Top row - IPADS plus $500! Second row - $500. Third row - $100. You insert your dollar in the machine. You have 30 seconds to play the game. You move the joystick to the left or right. You can continue moving it left or right to align it to the column. Then you move the joystick up to align with a key hole. But you only can move it up one time. This is where they GET YOU! So once you take your hand off the joystick to move it up it automatically goes forward thru the key hole to try and turn the key. You can't move it up and down to align it. One shot to move it up and align it. Well we left several dollars in that machine and came away empty handed. We played this every night. It was a hoot!! One guy spent $117 one night and still didn't win. LOL!:D

 

I thought I took a pic of it but I guess I didn't. It was lots of funs!

[cynt]

I forgot to mention, while we were at dinner we were going over what we wanted to do at Cozumel. We originally wanted to do the boat ride and then the land tour, $65/each but it was sold out. So as we were talking it comes out that Uncle isn't getting off the ship.

 

Me: Uncle why aren't you getting off the ship?

Uncle: I'm just going to stay on the ship.

Me: Why?

Uncle: You know how your dad was scared to climb up to the top outside where the slide is? I'm scared like that to get off the ship!

WTW!!!!

And he continues on trying to explain why he’s frightened to get off.

 

We're all dying laughing. See, this afternoon my dad was outside on the lido deck and was taking the stairs up the 2 decks to get to the top of the ship. He couldn't make it up that last set of stairs where the entrance to the slide is because he was scared. We were laughing because the stairs are in the middle of the ship so it's not like a huge wind could come by and sweep him off the stairs and take him overboard. He would just land on the deck below him. LOL! So now, my uncle is comparing this with his fear to go ashore because of the trouble they are having in Mexico. Mind you, we're dressed up and in stitches listening to my uncle. The kids are cracking up and sliding under the table to keep their composure. It was a riot!

 

You can see the stairs at the top in the middle of the ship leading to the top of the slide. Those are the stairs my dad was afraid to climb.

 

 

Fast forward to the next day our sea day. We have breakfast in the dining room, where we ate each morning. I’ve gotta have my lox and English muffin. It’s a signal to me that I’m on vacation. And I must be served these items. Anyway, we meet on the lido deck. I'm asking everyone do they have their passports/cards and Sail & Sign cards you will need them to get back on the ship. Uncle, who isn't getting off the ship has a neck full of S& S card. I look at him with these purple lanyards around his neck and drop my head in despair. He has all the kids S&S cards around his neck and he's going to keep them for them while their in port. No Uncle. They need these to get off the ship. So he takes them from around his neck and distributes. Mmmm, mmm, mmm my poor Uncle. The line is long to get off the ship but it moves quickly. We get off the ship and they start taking pics w/ pirates, women and animals.

 

 

 

 

I noticed Pen and Tan are having a serious conversation behind us. I move closer to hear the conversation. Pen has left all her money aboard the ship. She thought she could use her S&S card to purchase items in Cozumel. Dad’s like I gotcha you. I’m like no you don’t because I got you and I and I don’t have Pen too. LOL! So back on board Pen goes to get her cash, CC, etc. Thank goodness this came out just as we were getting off the ship. All I can do is laugh at this point. How in the world are you going to purchase things in Cozumel with your S&S card? LOL!!! I don’t get it.

 

We walk through the duty free shop and take a seat to wait on Pen.

 

 

[shark with a laser]

I read on the board to head to the safety drill late so you wouldn’t be stuck in the back. THANK YOU for that tip. Pen and I were at the same safety session outside in the heat. We arrived late and were on the first row in the front. It wasn’t a long drill but because it was hot and humid outside it seemed like it lasted forever. We amused ourselves by people watching. NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED. Everyone please put your cell phones up during this drill. Numerous people were asked to put up their cell phones. If you see someone asked to turn off their phone what makes you think you’re an exception to the rule. REALLY!?!?! No DRINKS. We watched the ledge in front of our station get lined with drinks. We heard the English announcement and then we waited a few more minutes before we were dismissed. Next it was time for the Sail Away Party! [/color]

 

I was afraid of this! Not going to be fun with a 15 month old. NCL let's you meet in the theater for the muster drill. No standing in the sun/heat, and I don't recall having to bring my life jacket. Don't recall if we were allowed to have our drinks or not.

[cynt]

I was afraid of this! Not going to be fun with a 15 month old. NCL let's you meet in the theater for the muster drill. No standing in the sun/heat, and I don't recall having to bring my life jacket. Don't recall if we were allowed to have our drinks or not.

 

We didn't have to take our lifejackets.

[cynt]

Cozumel was our favorite day. We hired a driver to tour the island. He charged $25/pp. We toured the island and stopped at a beach for a beach break. We loved the beach. My dad before the cruise was adamant that he didn't want to stop at the beach or spend very little time there. I told everyone wear your bathing suit under your clothes. You're going to want to go to the beach and get in the water. Well only the kids listened. And boy did we have a blast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I need to load more pics to photobucket. I'll be back.

[cynt]

More pics from our Cozumel day!

 

This is the resort where he took us for a beach time.

 

 

Lizards anyone?

 

 

Enjoying the beach.

 

 

I meant to get a before and after shot of that plate of nachos. We were famished after our swim time. We cleared that plate in about a minute.

 

[cynt]

Look who we saw coming off the ship as we were getting back on. We laughed and laughed. He just couldn't resist it.

 

 

But he only walked along the pier. He wouldn't even walk to the duty free store. LOL!! :D:D

 

 

My camera dies shortly after this. In my haste packing I couldn't find my camera cord and my cell nor kindle fire cord fit my camera. So I had two batteries to last me this cruise. So that's it as far as pics. I'm glad I was able to get all of our Cozumel pics. I took about 300 pics on two batteries w/ my Nikon.

 

Our last sea day we did nothing again. I went to the spa and LOVED IT! I took advantage of a special via a flyer they left in my room the second nite. Because they didn't have any openings I was able to book it for the last sea day. My appt was at 11AM and they called at 10:50AM looking for me. I'm on my way. It takes 2 minutes to get there but of course I got lost. LOL!

 

I got the facial, massage, exfoliation package $139. It was GREAT! I felt relaxed the rest of the cruise.

 

Disembarkation

I took the hints from this board to grab a porter. We grabbed him, loaded all of our luggage on the cart and headed straight for the custom agents. Bypassed everyone. Tan and her son decided to walk ahead of us and not participate. Well we passed them and they said O, we're with them and followed us to the front of the line. Painless.

 

Well after a grand vacation with the family Pen purchased absolutely too many souvies. So to the car and out to find Big Lots to purchase her more luggage. It's right on Broadway/45 as you're heading back to Houston. She purchased a new medium luggage and filled it with her souvies!:D Yep she over purchased. LOL! We dropped her off at Houston International and headed back to Dallas. O and remember earlier when my dad said I gotcha. Yeah right dad. O I need to take a pic of my hand painting on a tile that I purchased. I love it and now I wished I would have purchased two. Well you know what that means. Back to Cozumel to get another pic. I did find my camera cord when I got home. I'll post that pic when I type my final words.

 

I'm going to think about it and right up my final thoughts later.

[cynt]

Here's a pic of the painting I purchased at the pier in Cozumel. I was walking back to the ship after our land tour and realized I didn't purchase anything. I don't do souvies been there done that but I do look for unusual artifacts for the house. So I stumbled upon this guy finger painting. I couldn't believe it! The talent of some people. I truly believe God has given a measure of talent to everyone. USE YOUR TALENT!! Anyway, off my soapbox. I stood there about 10 minutes watching this guy create a painting with his fingers. I started to peruse his works of art and settled on this one. I took this quick photo with my cell phone. The art work is amazing and he did it with his fingers. NO PAINT BRUSH! I paid $65 for it which I thought was a steal. But I'm sure I could have negotiated down to $40-50. This is one of a kind original and I will never see one like it. So I don't mind spending the $65 plus it's a finger painting. UNBELIEVABLE!!

 

[isaiahsnana]

Love your review and the great pictures! You had some shots that are never shown by others making your review unique. What a fun family reunion!!

[TexasCruiser52]

Enjoying your review. Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Love ur honesty & humor ! :)

[jennkmr]

Thanks for posting all of them!

[bluehenfan]

I have been trying for 2 yrs. to get a favorite relative in Houston to come back to Maryland to visit me with no luck. I am now thinking maybe a cruise on the Triumph would be the answer. I could fly in and meet her in Galveston. For this reason I've been really looking for trip reports on the Triumph. I really enjoyed yours because your pictures were different shots I hadn't seen before and your report had a lot of humor included. Thank you for taking the time to post it. You have a nice looking family and you could see everyone was enjoying their selves. Nice job :)

[True Texan]

One of the most delightful reviews I have read. I see so much of your family's behavior in the way my family used to be. I am older now and most are gone, although we never went on a cruise together we had some wonderful times together. Your pics were very interesting and I want a tile like that!!!

[Sh1035]

Great review! Going to Cozumel next month so where do I find the finger painter? Looking forward to the rest..thank you.

[cynt]

Love your review and the great pictures! You had some shots that are never shown by others making your review unique. What a fun family reunion!!

 

Thank you. Since I've been on several cruises I have more than enough pics of cruise stuff. I usually don't take pics but if I do I try to take pics of unusual stuff. I'm making a family reunion picture book thru picaboo so I got some normal shots as well for the picture book.

[cynt]

Enjoying your review. Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Love ur honesty & humor ! :)

 

Your welcome! We're a very funny family. Uncle was the hit of the vacation. He was always getting into something. LOL! :D