Dodging a Bullet on the Triumph - Feb. 2 - 6, 2013 - A Review

[jhale]

Sorry for the delay in getting to my review, it’s been a little hectic since we’ve been home, so here we go!

 

This was my 25th cruise, 23rd with Carnival, I was sailing with my mom (30+ cruises) and my wonderful friend Jess(1st cruise!). We were in cabin 7206, a 4J accessible room, obstructed oceanview, overlooking the “secret deck.”

 

“Secret Deck”

 

Our adventure started the week before when we hear the Triumph was having propulsion issues and the current cruise was having to overnight in Progreso for repairs, missing Cozumel. Of course this got us worried, as we’d (and most others) rather go to Cozumel. We considered “jumping ship” to the Magic, but hesitated due to scheduling issues and she filled up. Oh well, they’ve got some extra time, they’ll fix it. We got the text on the 1st that our ship would be delayed coming in until 11:30am, and that we wouldn’t be able to board until 3:30pm. Bummer, we like to get on early, it just feels like a whole “extra” day when you do. The silver lining was that they said we wouldn’t be missing any ports, yay!

 

The morning of the 2nd, we decided to leave around 10am anyways, we could always check out some of the Mardi Gras goings on while we waited, but what is that? The ship showed up at 9:30am or so! WOOOO HOOOOO! On the way down to Galveston from Katy, I called Carnival just to verify we’d be able to board, as the ship was already there. The girl on the phone kept saying it wasn’t in port yet, and that we’d be able to board at 3:30pm, um…. I’M LOOKING AT THE SHIP! We got to the island around 11am and stopped for a little snack before heading to EZ Cruise to park.

 

Upon entering the building, there was NO ONE there! I mean we just walked right up to security. Another issue we had, I had put my friend on my S&S account, linking her to me. The 2 “check-point” people didn’t have her name, so she couldn’t go up the VIP escalator with us. Of course, once in the VIP lounge and checking in, they asked for her. Had to run out and find her, minor inconvenience, but they should REALLY get this fixed. Took our picture, and we were on the ship, DOD in hand by noon!

 

The Triumph is one of my favorite ships, I like the darker blue tones with all the gold, it’s just a little more subtle than the neon colors of some of the other ships. We dropped our bags off and went out to explore and check out the food. This is where we met Ibayna (sp), he was selling drinks on the lido deck. He told us to call him “Iwanna” as in “I wanna ‘nother beer!” He was so sweet, kept us “watered,” and even made us roses out of napkins.

 

First buckets of beer…

 

The first night was pretty eventful, we hit the piano bar, the night club, the cigar bar, casino, I mean we went HARD! The dance club was doing ladies night, that was our last stop, after 1 or 3 too many free K-Mart champagnes (their terminology not mine, but it was cheap, lol) we called it an early-ish night. One last stop out on the “secret deck” and off to bed. We had a slot tournament to win tomorrow!

[jhale]

We got up around 9:30 and went to the buffet. It was pretty good, no big surprises here. Met Vlado the bloody mary/screwdriver cart driver, he would become my favorite bartender this trip. After breakfast, we wandered the ship taking pictures, and checking out the goings on. To this day, after all the cruises I’ve been on, I will NEVER get over the people in the Fun Shops when they start that $10 sale. GOOD LORD! That place was packed with a line cascading out onto the promenade waiting to get it.Um, no thanks! We headed up to our “private balcony” (aka the “secret deck”), grabbed a couple loungers that were stacked up, and read our books.

 

Bloody Mary by Vlado aka Hot n’ Spicy!

 

Vlado

 

Around 12:30pm we headed down to the casino for the slot tournament, people were lined up waiting so like good little gambling soldiers, we too got in line. My mom and I were on the leader board for quite a while until she finally fell off leaving me in the finals. I picked machine 8, machine 7 won. And wouldn’t you know that was my mom’s machine from earlier, and I heard about it for at least 2 days, lol. After all that “excitement,” I headed up for a nap, it was Superbowl Sunday, and it was time to rest up for the game!

 

View from the “secret deck”

 

Superbowl Sunset

 

That evening we headed to the main show lounge to watch the game, it had been raining/sprinkling on and off so we didn’t attempt the lido big screen. They had some snacks and bar staff around, but ultimately we decided to watch the rest of the game in our PJ’s in my friend’s cabin. We ordered roo service and had a Sunday Sandwich Superbowl feast!

[jhale]

What can I say about Progreso, it’s not my favorite port, but it’s not terrible. We didn’t go into town this time, we got our souvenir shopping done, had a beer, went back to the ship for lunch and then came back down to the “Sol Bar.” There are 2 bars at the pier, one serves Sol and the other Corona, we prefer the Sol bar, lol. I added my date to my name on the wall, and we hung out and drank. There’s always fun music there, and people will start dancing as the day (see drinks) wears on. We wrapped it up around 2:45, grabbed a last minute pair of silver earrings, stopped at the Corona bar for 1 last drink (they were 3 for $5, there were 3 of us, it just made sense.) and headed back to the ship.

 

If you drink these giant beers…

 

You’ll end up with these hats…

 

Mom went to rest, so Jess and I decided to do the martini tasting. 3 things I’ve learned from it… 1. They are ALL very sweet martinis, and as a straight up martini girl, I was a little bummed. But I still drank them, lol. 2. There is nothing spicy about the spicy chipotle martini and 3. Zoran the martini bartender is full of sarcastic fun. After that debacle, we were feeling pretty good, which is usually where things start to go awry. We ended up in the cigar bar again with Vlado and Ibayna, shots were done, drinks were spilled, one last stop at Zoran’s bar and it was lights out. There are some photos after that point, most of which we were like, “where was that??” Yeah, one of those nights.

 

Martini tasting…

[jhale]

OUCH! What happened last night?? Thank goodness for moms, mine brought me an omelet this morning, hallelujah because I was feeling like I’d been run over. I finally drug myself out of bed and we headed to the gangway around 10am. We had reservations at Mr. Sancho’s all-inclusive. We were there in September and LOVED it, this time would be a little different. Let me start with there were, I believe, 6 ships in port this day, so it was one of the busiest day I’d been to Cozumel in a long time. We took a cab, $18 for the 3 of us, arrived, got our wristbands, and found some of my CC roll call buddies. Thank goodness they let us join them, because it was PACKED. The beach was still beautiful, there was a ton to do, and the food was good when you could get it, but you could tell they had too many people there. The service compared to our last trip was super slow. We ordered some coconut shrimp about 45 minutes before we were going to leave, and it still hadn’t come when we were walking out. I was kind of bummed about this, as last time it was phenomenal. I think they just need to limit the occupancy and it would be fine.

 

Mr. Sancho’s

 

Mr. Sancho’s pool

 

We took a cab back with our new friends (hey y’all!), and got back to the pier around 2, I think we were supposed to be back on board at 2:30, I could be off an hour. One last stop in the looooong duty-free shop for my favorite pomegranate tequila, and we got in line. They were really trying to take up all the liquor purchased on shore, I pretended not to hear them and walked past the table, the lady yelled, there was no elevator in sight so I took the stairs. I know, childish, but I HATE picking up my booze the last day, and I wanted to put it in my checked bag, we didn’t open it if that makes anyone feel better, lol. That night was an early one, had some room service, didn’t really do much, I was still tired from the night before. 33 is starting to feel old.

 

Ship Canyon and the lines

[jhale]

Eggs Benedict on the buffet

 

Well since I’d not left the cabin since Cozumel, we had a lot to do, lol. We went and found some pictures we’d taken on the ship, some we’re pretty funny, especially the ones from that night after Progreso, good grief! Finally went and had lunch in the dining room for our free drink, and chilled avocado soup, OMG is that stuff good!

 

Avacado soup

 

We wandered around taking some more pictures, I gambled a little, actually came out ahead, that was fun! We went to the Newlywed Not So Newlywed show, hilarious as always, and that night we took in the Big Easy show. That is a really fun show, throwing beads to the audience, and my favorite part, the confetti cannons!

 

Here are some random ship shots…

 

Big Easy Piano Bar

 

Aft Pool

Lido Deck

 

The FUNnel

 

We went out to our “private balcony” to watch the sunset and noticed some VERY ominous clouds ahead of us. We watched the lightning for a while and went to say goodbye to our favorites around the ship. One last drink, and we were set to turn in early, debarkation is bad enough, you definitely don’t want to do it tired or hungover. And that’s when it happened….

[jhale]

THE STORM! Now I’ve seen thundershowers ate sea, and even a couple sever thunderstorms leaving port, but this was crazy. The lightning lit the sky like it was daylight, you couldn't see through the pouring rain. Then all of the sudden, there was a roar and the rain started coming at our cabin window sideways so hard that I jumped back off the bed away from the window. The ship listed waaaay over then corrected itself. I swear we were hit by a waterspout, it was just crazy! Turns out this list caused the pools to empty, the rear pool leaking into the Punchliner, dishes were sliding in the dining room, there’s some pretty good video out there if you know the right people. When all that excitement was over, we put the breakfast room servie hanger out and went to bed.

 

Here are some of the pics headed into the storms at sunset. It was one of the eeriest, beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

 

 

 

 

You can see the whitecaps getting bigger in this one

[jhale]

Debarkation -

Well what do you want to know? It sucked, it always sucks, this is just a fact of life. We are VIP, but we’re NEVER in a hurry to get off the ship. We ate our breakfast and hung out in the cabin as long as possible before making our way down to get off. Once off, we got a porter, it is SO much faster that way. Once through the line, getting through Customs was a breeze, we hiked down to the EZ Cruise pick up area and for once there was no wait! Probably took about an hour from stepping off the ship to starting up the car.

 

Final Thoughts -

I’ve never have a BAD cruise, my only complaint this one was we never got a towel animal, not one! Serioulsy, lol. I figure if that’s the worst thing that happened, we did pretty good. Plus we all know what happened to the Triumph on the cruise that left the day we got off! I met some awesome people, drank too much, ate too much and loved every minute of it.

 

So long!

 

If you have anything specific to ask, fire away! I’ve done this a few times, and am glad to help ☺

[Stillfloatin']

Fun to read. Love your breezy style. And the pics are a big plus.

[Gingee]

Thanks for the cruise. I was thinking all along that you were on the "bad cruise". Glad you made it.

[jhale]

Fun to read. Love your breezy style. And the pics are a big plus. More please! :D

 

Thanks! We're really "go with the flow" cruisers. I'm just happy being on a ship' date=' don't really care where it's going, I've even done a cruise-to-nowhere... on purpose! hahaha!

 

Here's a few more random shots...

 

Sunset leaving Galveston

[img']http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e382/halecjaclyn/72619_10151419410939449_790225389_n_zpse8f1bee5.jpg[/img]

 

Turning around, looks like we're going to pull straight into Mardi Gras!

 

Platinum sweet treats

 

Piano Man, he was amazing!

 

The beautiful Triumph in Progreso

[stewpapa]

Good Review of one of our favorite ships. Loved seeing Zoran! Wonder how he fared on the Cruise from Hell ?

[jhale]

Good Review of one of our favorite ships. Loved seeing Zoran! Wonder how he fared on the Cruise from Hell ?

 

We wondered about him to, he wasn't as tolerant as most crew members, lol.

[WetToes]

Great review! Sounds like you partied hard, ... and that ain't a bad thing. ;)

[jhale]

We really did party, well... In between naps, I just can't go like I used too. I need rest, lol.

[yoursurfer]

We are booked in that cabin in June, do the beds pull together to make a queen?

[wrigley80]

I love your pictures of the storm....those were amazing and very eerie all at the same time

[MelAnne]

If you have anything specific to ask, fire away! I’ve done this a few times, and am glad to help ☺

 

Can we be new cruise buddies ???

I wanna be a cruiser professional just like you !!!!

 

We were getting on Triumph when you were getting off. Ya coulda warned us... Hahahaha.

 

Great Review - thanks !!

 

Leaving for New Orleans for the Conquest in the morning !!!!

[jhale]

We are booked in that cabin in June, do the beds pull together to make a queen?

 

Nope, 7206 is twins only. The way the room is laid out there's no room to put the beds together. Here's a few shots of the layout, I wish I'd have taken a pic of the bathroom, since it's an accessible room, the bathroom is HUGE compared to regular cabins.

 

 

 

 

[jhale]

Can we be new cruise buddies ???

I wanna be a cruiser professional just like you !!!!

 

We were getting on Triumph when you were getting off. Ya coulda warned us... Hahahaha.

 

Great Review - thanks !!

 

Leaving for New Orleans for the Conquest in the morning !!!!

 

Of course!

 

You know, Jess and I joked about how we were going to "destroy" that ship, lol. Better watch what we say next time! I'd love to do the Conquest again, we sailed her in 2003 our of NOLA when she was brand new, I want to see all the Fun 2.0 changes!

[yoursurfer]

Oops, I just checked and were in 6205. It looks a little bigger. Its a 3 person.

[MelAnne]

Better hurry. They are moving her to Florida soon.

 

We are almost out of Houston on our way to New Orleans now.

 

Hubby and I LOVE the rooms under the navagation !! We sre usually on 7th deck but had to go on 6th this trip to have another room two doors down the hall for the kids.

 

Your review of Cozumel you went to an all inclusive? We always do Isle Pasion - its all inclusive - I will look yours up it looked good. Thanks!

 

Guys and Blue Iguana HERE I COME !!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[Seago2]

Thanks for the review and pics!! Loved 'em.

[onthehighseas606]

Loved your review and the pictures added to your story. Sounds like you know how to have fun!

[battchief1]

Great review, loved the pics.

[logan25]

Is that what caused the leaks in Punchliner? I was watching the show on the last night and the ceiling kept springing leaks. The comedian did pretty good about rolling with the unexpected and asked repeatedly if he could get a cleanup since it was making the stage wet and some of the very "front row" seating. The mucky mucks came to look later in between sets and a crew member towelled up the water and positioned drip buckets. It did add a memorable event to the whole experience.