Triumph May 21st Eastern Review

[DMgirl]

My husband and I just returned from our cruise on the Triumph. I'm 24 and he's 28.

 

Pre-cruise we stayed at the Holiday Inn across from Bayside Market. It was a nice, clean hotel. Bayside Market was nice. Lots of shops and restaurants, bars, etc.

The morning of the cruise, we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. We took a cab to the port which cost about $6.90. We got there around 10:30am. We checked in and got our Sail & Sign cards and the we stood in line waiting to board the ship for about 45 minutes. All in all, it took us about an hour to get on board. Once we got on board, we explored the ship and had lunch. I was really impressed with the decor of the boat. I had read a lot of reviews that said the boat was tacky, but I thought it was fine. Looked good for a cruise ship to me! Around 1pm, we got into our room (8352). We had a balcony, our first. It was great! We'll definiately get another balcony on our next cruise. We unpacked and then hung out on the balcony for sail away.

Our tablemates at dinner turned out to be a perfect match for us! They were our age, live about 2 1/2 hours from us, AND, they were celebrating their 4th anniversary, as were we, on the SAME day as us! We ended up hanging out with them most of the cruise!

Our diningroom waiting was Panji. He was great! A very nice guy and he did a great job. His assistant was Elena and she was very nice too. Our favorite was a bar waitress named Deyana. She was amazing! She always took care of us, and even gave us some 'bonus' drinks! She hung out with us in the disco and just took really good care of us. We loved her! If you are going on this cruise, make sure you look for her! She works the Paris dining room and the disco after that. She'll take great care of you!

The food in the dining room was really good, but the food at the South Beach buffet wasn't that great. It was good, but not great. The pizza was good and the burgers were good too!

Our first stop was San Juan. It was raining when we got there, so that kinda sucked. We ate at a little local cafe, then did some shopping. Our next stop was St. Thomas. We did the Coral World tour, then went over to Coki Beach and went snorkeling. I wouldn't reccomend the Coral World excursion. It wasn't that impressive and not that many went. Save your money and just head to Coki Beach. It was a nice beach. There are food and drinks available and the water is pretty calm. Our next stop was St. Maarten. This was my favorite. We did the Catamaran Snorkel Cruise. It was well worth it. The boat was nice, the snorkeling was nice, and the price included snacks and drinks. We also did a lot of shopping at this port. St. Maarten is so beautiful and we'd love to go back on a land vacation. I felt like we weren't there long enough though. Same goes for St. Thomas.

Besides St. Maarten, sea days were my favorite. There was always lots going on. We saw almost all the shows, went to the casino, hung out at the disco, played Bingo, watched kareoke, drank a lot and napped a lot! It was a total blast. The cruise director, Chris Jefferson, wasn't bad. He was a nice, funny guy and his assistant cruise directors were great! There were always activities to participate in or watch.

The night before we got back to Miami, I won a bottle of champagne! Woo! Overall, it was a great cruise and I can't wait to go back!

The only bad thing I can say is debarkation was horrible. It took us about 3 hours to debark. But, once we got to where our luggage was, we quickly found our bags and headed out. There were plenty of cabs waiting, also. After the cruise, we headed to South Beach.

I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff. If you guys have any specific questions or are wondering about anything, just ask! I'll be happy to answer!

We made some great friends on this cruise and I'll have some pictures to post hopefully sometime this week.

[BettyB2]

Thanks for the review! We are sailing her in December...I cannot wait. Did you try the Asian Restaurant? Wondering about lines for sushi? thanks

[DMgirl]

By Asian I'm guessing you mean Hong Kong Noodle factory? There was only sushi 1 day during the cruise. The line for the Noodle Factory wasn't too bad. The place has kinda weird hours though.