Cruise with Mary goes to NOLA! Triumph!

[cruiselife4me]

We started this trip by having another cruise cancel two weeks before we were to leave!! I was devastated, cried like a baby until my DH said book another cruise. Two weeks out we booked the 5 night Triumph in an inside room (only room available) with my crybaby tears wiped away and a smile on my face.

 

You see, we had our airfare already booked and 2 days pre and post cruise with my favorite friends in New Orleans.

 

By the way, we are Mike and Mary from northern Michigan. I've cruises Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Celebrity. This was my hubby's 3rd.

 

We started our vacation by having s Bloody Mary breakfast as we had sold our house that morning! Celebrate!!

 

More to come!

 

 

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Edited December 31, 2016 by cruiselife4me

[cruiselife4me]

We landed in New Orleans and our friends met us to pick us up at the airport. They were the best tour guides you could ever ask for and I felt we saw so much of New Orleans in those four days.

 

We spent some time relaxing in their beautiful home before we decided to stay in and order pizza. The excitement of getting on the ship in just two days was mounting!!

 

The next morning Jimmy and Michelle took us into New Orleans and we went to Commander's Palace for their jazz brunch.

 

 

 

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Edited December 31, 2016 by cruiselife4me

[cruiselife4me]

After being overwhelmed at the menu, the music and oh my gosh..the food...we began to really enjoy ourselves!

https://vimeo.com/197576726. How cool is this?

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

The meal was fantastic and we even had the chance to dance in the second line!!

https://vimeo.com/197576883

 

Talk about full bellies!!! We decided to walk through Lafayette Cemetery. So interesting.

 

 

 

After our walk we swapped our suits and dresses for comfy sightseeing clothes.

 

 

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[BigDozer66]

I have some friends on the Triumph now as well! :cool:

 

Have a great trip and thanks for sharing the pics etc.! :)

[cruiselife4me]

I have some friends on the Triumph now as well! :cool:

 

Have a great trip and thanks for sharing the pics etc.! :)

 

 

Yes, this is a great ship!! Hope they have a blast!!!

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

The next day we went back into New Orleans to see the town. We parked near Harrahs to check out the casino and hotel as our friend works there.

 

We spent about a 1/2 hour playing blackjack and listening to the Lions beat the Saints. Now I'm a huge Saints fan even though I do have to also support our hometown Lions. We left as winners from Harrah's and walked/ran to catch the riverfront street car.

 

We got off the streetcar at Decatur Street in the French Quarter. We passed by Cafe Du Mindel... what a heavenly smell came from that historic building!!! Yum!

 

We passed by the Moonwalk, Jackson Square, and saw the beautiful St. Louis Cathedral!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

Well it's Cafe Du Monde not Mindel..dislike autocorrect greatly!!!

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

 

There we go!

 

At the cathedral:

 

 

From there we walked and saw some fantastic street performers. I had to get involved of course!

 

We made it to Bourbon Street where we shopped and bought a few beers.

 

. Mike and Jimmy giving a smile.

 

 

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Edited December 31, 2016 by cruiselife4me

[cruiselife4me]

****CORRECTION: The first night in New Orleans we had Michelle's mama's red beans and rice with sausage. It was so GOOD!!

 

 

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[Princess_K]

Can't wait to read the rest!

 

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[cruiselife4me]

That afternoon after running all over the French quarter, the skies opened up and drenched us.

At Pat O'Briens-famous for the Hurricane drink.

 

 

 

French Quarter

 

 

20161231/9c0a17a4802f3b8f33c762cf461b7bdd.jpg[/img]

 

We were wet and freezing so my hubby and I each bought a NOLA sweatshirt (which we love) and then we ran and found our car, wet and chilled! It was a great day, but tired as we were, we ordered pizza and went to bed early. We are boarding the ship tomorrow!!!!

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

I woke up too early (not to excited huh? [emoji2][emoji2]) then tried to fall back asleep. I woke Mike up and while he was getting ready I sat with Jimmy and updated my journal. How else would I remember all this??

 

Jimmy brought us to the pier and dropped us off, while I was feeling so bad that he and Michelle would not be coming with us on this cruise. There were a few long lines but we finally made it onboard. BEST FEELING EVER! They took our sign and sail cards and PING we were onboard! We walked into the atrium-huge.

 

 

 

 

Since we had booked two weeks prior to the sailing, the only room available was a 1A bunkbed inside room. As a married couple we knew this wouldn't work out too well and that's where my friend John Heald came in. I sell cruises and am on his Facebook page quite a bit. I LOVE his sense of humor!!! I was so excited that we were sailing on the Triumph and I mentioned it to him that we were in a 1A so you can imagine how happy my husband was to find out that we were in a 4F regular inside room. (I knew that already but surprised him.) I also pre-purchased a 12 pack of water, and the bottomless bubbles package for both of us although in retrospect we might've been better off to have a drink package. I also put $100 onboard credit which I knew would make him happy.

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161231/ac61879f02ac4f8ea49dbcbcb4def1f5.jpg[/img]

 

 

 

 

We were in cabin 8408 which was aft quite a bit but the long walks helped to keep those calories at bay. [emoji7]

 

Usually we have a balcony, and it was weird the first couple of days but then I never thought of it.

 

Our first meal...of yummy goodness...was at Guy's Burgers. They were outstanding!!

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

It was casual night for dinner, so I wore a tie dye maxi dress. We had anytime dining and were seated with Christina in the London Dining Room at a table for two. Mike had the calamari starter-very small- and I had the shrimp cocktail. Very tasty. I'm so sorry about my lack of good food shots..oops.

 

We both ordered the brisket-v. good!

 

And I was so happy to have my favorite melting cake with two ice creams!!

 

 

 

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[Destaw71835]

Great start

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

Great start

 

 

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Thank you!!

 

 

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[ksromack]

I am happy to see your trip report here because I'm about ready to book a cruise on the Triumph for the end of the month..... as a surprise for my hubby's 50th b-day. Hubby has never been on a cruise before and while this will be my 4th cruise, I haven't saimed in over 25 years!

[cruiselife4me]

More photo's from our first day:

Sail away inside due to rain:

 

https://vimeo.com/197713004

 

Dave the singer:guitarist. We loved him:

 

https://vimeo.com/197713331

 

 

 

Day two at sea!

 

We woke up around 8:30 AM and slowly got up and got ready for breakfast. We ate in the Lido buffet which was just meh, as both of us didn't particularly care for it. We walked around the ship, checked out the shops, and bought lanyards for the first time ever in my 15 cruises but I found that we really liked them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

For lunch we went to the Paris Dining Room which was much better! I had a tasty pasta dish:

 

My hubby had a burger and fries. Sorry no picture.

 

We went up to the aft pool which was our favorite and I needed to make a short video for my Facebook page. We also slept a bit by the pool and took a walk.

 

https://vimeo.com/197714603

 

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

After our walk we went back to the room and had s short snooze. We woke and dressed for dinner as it was elegant night.

And we didn't even get a picture---seriously how lame are we?

 

We were early for dinner so we popped into the casino, take note as this happened quite often. We played black jack and we both hit a couple times-cashed out at $100 to the black.

 

We were seated at a table next to the window and a very nice couple sat at the table next to us. We had shrimp cocktail and the steak and baked potato and they were very good.

 

And.... my favorite...the warm melting cake which I ate so fast I didn't take a pic. I have a lot to learn!!!

 

We sat in the atrium and had a couple drinks enjoying the music and people watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

We went to the Punchliner comedy club at 1:30am...he was hilarious!!

 

 

Late night but a fun night. We had purchased the social media internet package and it was fast and worked great. Came back to this cute guy.

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

Progresso-3rd day

 

We slept in. One thing about an inside room is we sure can sleep. [emoji15]

 

Dressed, we went to the Paris dining room for breakfast of poached eggs on toast, bacon, oj and coffee. All good.

 

 

 

We proceeded to disembark and boy was it hot and humid!! Our ship.

 

 

I really didn't get Progresso. We did shop at the port and I bought some vanilla. That was it. Had a beer and came back to the ship. We talked to others who took the 3 mile shuttle into town, one couple enjoyed it and one couple wouldn't get off the shuttle when they got to town, just rode it back to the port.

 

Once back onboard, we went to Guys Burger. I had the ringer and my hubby had two.

All that wS left when I remembered to take the photo. Oops!

 

 

Sat by the main pool and had some drinks. Very sweet waitress that we had the pleasure of talking to. My hubby had a rum punch and I had s cherry coke.

 

 

https://vimeo.com/197718378

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

We came inside from the hot sun to what? Take a nap of course. I love that about cruising!! Then we dressed for dinner early (I love wearing a dress each night!) and went forward to the casino. Did not win...waa! Oh well. At dinner we were seated with a nice table of six very nice people I had the flat iron steak and Mike had a pork chop. Warm melting cake...of course.

 

We then went to the show, Around the World but it wasn't our cup of tea.

 

We walked back to the casino, tried $20 in s slot machine and cashed out at $60 after four minutes. Yes!!

Blackjack was not going as well. We went out to the promenade and enjoyed the warm sea air.

 

https://vimeo.com/197720810

 

We went to the room early, watched tv and slept like a baby!!

 

 

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[cruiselife4me]

.

 

Day 4- Cozumel

 

We woke up late at 10:30. Can't believe it's already been four days of this cruise, it is going by too fast!! [emoji30]

 

We tried to go to the dining room but it was closed so we went up to the Lido for a late breakfast. There were two more Carnival ships in port, the Splendor and the Glory as well as the brand spanking new Harmony of the Seas. She is huge!!

 

 

Double whale tails!

 

 

 

 

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