Triumph May 1-Western

[queenie]

I'm just recovering from our honeymoon, but I wanted to put a small review out because I know much I appreciated all of the reviews as I planned our cruise on the Triumph.

 

Pre-Stay:

We flew into Orlando on Monday and stayed at our Fairfield time share thru Fri. morning. We did the Disney thing as usual and had a great time as we always do. Friday we drove down to Miami.......TAKE THE TURNPIKE..NOT I-95!!! It might cost you in tolls, but the lack of traffic will save you much more time that I-95. We stayed at the Hyatt which I booked thru Priceline. It was quite nice, but Barbara Bush was speaking at a graduation on Saturday morning and the security made it very hard to get a cab in, but we were lucky and didn't have to wait long.

 

Embarkation: This was pretty easy this time. Maybe 5 minutes in line, then up to get our sign and sail cards and to wait in chair for about 45 minutes.

 

Ship: We have sailed on the Paradise, Pride, and Glory, and the Triumph did not come off as an "old ship". She was clean at all times and the carpet has been replaced....so for goodness sake....NO MORE CARPET STAIN THREADS! lol Our balcony cabin 9288 on the lido deck was great. Not that much noise, and definitely better than those on deck 8......all you hear is deck chair moving. I would go with a lido deck cabin if you have the choice between the 2. We ate in the Paris dining room upstairs. We had a group of 10 with 2 children, so we were put into a dark corner. But the table wasn't bad...besides..the ship was full and somebody had to sit there. We figure, we have had 3 wonderful table placements in the past, so we are due for a non-view table Basically, the ship is in very good condition and we were very pleased with the Triumph.

 

Ports of Call:

Cozumel: Been here....done that. So, we were going to shop and do the bech, but it rained on and off thru the day, so we ended up just shopping and returning for lunch, took a nap, had dinner, then decided to walk back out to the shops at the pier after dark. We only left one couple here in Cozumel.........John said they were going to be in the talent sh0w( Carnival apparently was paying to fly them to grand cayman in exchange for their appearance....at least that is what we got from what John said) BUT....they never were shown at the talent show...so...I don't know what happened there..I was looking forward to it! Anyhow...no matter how many times you have seen the bedtime story...or what you "know" about it....it is always great

 

Grand Cayman,

I pre-booked a stingray city/snorkeling trip thru Captain Bryan. It was on a catamaran and we had a great time! Such a better bargain than thru Carnival. Wonderful trip and much less people on board than the Carnival excursions. You MUST see the stingray here....it was amazing!

 

Jamaica:

We decided to take a guided tour thru a taxi driver just outside of the port. He was very nice and showed us around for several hours and stopped in several places to show us the plant life and spices, etc. in Ochos Rios. We also drie in the hills to see how most of the Jamaican's live in the area. We also stopped at Dunn's River Falls and got some wonderful pictures. We were happy that we decided to do our own thing and once again get a better deal that Carnival's excursions. Another member of our party did go to a plantation on a Carnival exursion and said it was a great rip as well.

 

Debarkation:

OK....here is where the only truly bad thing occured on our trip. A member of our party has 2 boys, age 6 and 4. They had been going to Camp Carnival thru the week. On Friday when his parents went to pick them up for lunch, a counselor informed them that their 4 year old (which is one of the sweetest children you will meet) had "touched" a girl in the playroom.The girl had told this to a counselor. They discussed it and the parents took the child back to the room and asked him repeatedly if he had done anything. He is the kind of child to tell on himself ( he confessed that he had hit a boy in the foot with a polastis dinosaur). He kept saying that all he had done was chase a girl with tyhe same dinosaur along with another boy in the playroom. His older brother also told them that he hadn't done anything ( and he is normally trying to get him INTO trouble). After 3 people kept hitting this 4 year old with questions....it was apparent that he hadn't done anything and kept repeating his same answers over and over again. Well...Camp Carnival refused to let him attent the goodbye party and the parents assumed that the situation was over...WRONG. Only moments before the family was to debark the ship with their own luggage to drive back to Orlando and catch a flight....they were told they couldn't leave until the FBI came. At some point between then and the next 45 minutes....the charges were dropped. Here is the weird part. The family didn't decide to press charges or to file a report until Late Friday night.....and when our party was informed that the charges were dropped....they illuded that the family of the occuser had been onto Carnival to compensate.........we are thinking a free cruise, etc. And the family in our party wasn't even offered an opology. Aparently Carnival could sense that the family was only filing a report in hopes of receiving something.....which we think that they did.....and the boys family wasn't even offered an opology for the mess. It was very odd and upsetting. I know Carnival has to file a report if the parents want...that is the law. But once they knew the family was in itfor copensation sake......they should have at least appologized for the inconvenience.

 

OVERALL.......we had a FABULOUS time as always. The Triumph is in great shape. A vacation is what you make of it.....did we hear people complaining? yes.....over little things. A cruise is a cruise...a wonderful time....and that is exactly what we had!

[shabcruzn]

Thanks for the review. I am so nervous. This my husband's and my honeymoon-we-never-had/first anniversary cruise. I really want him to have a good time as this also is his first cruise. I am starting to get mixed feelings--I feel better after reading! Any must do's and things for which I should look out?

 

7/17 ON MY WAY TO TRIUMPH CRUISE

[cbabe]

Hi ,

I'm new to the Boards, but I just had to say,

I was on that cruise, and had a fabulous time.

Sorry to hear about the little boy, but the FBI is overkill!