gozagswoohoo

We're leaving from Galveston on the Vista in April.  I haven't had any luck finding a decently-priced and decently located hotel that offers a Cruise-and-Park option.

Commodore on the Beach in Galveston is 1.5 miles from the port, which is great, and they said I can leave my vehicle in their lot as long as we've stayed at least one night at the hotel, but...the reviews on the place are quite rough.

Just wondering if anyone here has stayed there before?

6 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Try the Gulf Coast departures forum for better answers to this type of question.

Will do, thank you!

We cruised out of NOLA last Summer, and we were able to find a hotel for a decent price (I'm thinking $130/nt) that offered a FREE shuttle to and from the cruise port, AND we were able to leave our vehicle at the hotel for all 5 nights for FREE.

Anyone ever able to find a decently-priced hotel with a similar offer in Galveston? 

Thanks!

Hello, and thanks in advance for any info!  I'm looking for input from some of you that have possibly been on both of these ships?  Thoughts on how they compare?  Crowds/noise/entertainment, etc.

I really appreciate it!

So my family and I have taken three cruises before.  We've done 4 nights, and all thought it was too short.  Then we did 5 nights, and thought it was just about right. 

We're seeing some pretty good prices on the Vista for a SEVEN night cruise.  I don't know, I just almost feel like that could be TOO long??  Has anyone done a 7 night cruise before and thought it was too much?

I appreciate any input.

DANG!! You guys are lucky!! I have ZILCH in the way of casino offers.

Now, I literally JUST got home from my cruise 5 days ago...so I don't know how long it might take to get any offers based on my casino play (which wasn't HUGE....but I probably gambled 90 min or so all 5 days).

My wife/family and I enjoyed our last cruise so much. I told my wife that I'd love to book the exact same cruise (out of the exact same port, exact same ship, exact same stops) again later this year, and she said I was crazy. hah

For me....*shrug*....I kinda liked the idea? You'd be familiar with the ship, familiar with the stops and what not. I don't know. Have any of you ever done it multiple times and enjoyed it (or NOT enjoyed it?) Thoughts?

Thanks for the review. Unfortunately, the photos are missing for me.

BUMMER!! They were up for at least a few hours, but now they’re showing ‘missing’ for me too! :-(

I was on that cruise, too. I have to admit, you had me with your headline. I found the ship to be anything BUT nasty! I didn't get a Guy's burger until the last day, and I have to admit, I'm glad for that. I would have been in that line way, way more often!

 

I'm laughing that you took a picture of Al Katz yelling at "cooter".

His show the last night was better than that one.

Was it?? Maybe I should have given it another chance! I can't recall the name of the other comedian, but we saw his PG show and loved it.

Simon London was our cruise director. It was his first cruise as a director, and I loved him. He was great.

Oh, and if I had one regret, it's that I didn't stop and listen to the musician's enough! We were always in such a hurry to make 'this' or 'that' event/show, we would always walk right by them, but on our final night, we just sat and listened to two of the groups. I can't remember the names, but wow...they were so good...it's always amazing to me the talent you can find on a cruise ship!!!

I guess that's the end of my review. Long story short, it was simply incredible. All of the Carnival staff was amazing. Everyone was so pleasant. I can't recommend this ship enough. It was the best vacation/cruise my young family has had!

Feel free to ask any questions you might have about the ship or destinations! I did a ton of research before our cruise...

In the water at Progresso

Snapped a pic with these guys while walking the pier at Progresso.

Pulling into the pier at Progresso, the ship was SWARMED with these birds. EVERYBODY was throwing food over the sides of the ship, which I'm sure is not encouraged (haha), but may have been my boys' favorite part of the cruise!! lol The birds would catch everything you threw, even if you tried to throw it straight down at the water, they'd nose dive and snatch it right out of the air. Again, I'm sure you're not really SUPPOSED to throw food to these birds, but EVERYONE was at their balcony doing so, and my mom used to say something like "If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, you should do it too" (or something like that, maybe I'm remembering that saying wrong). :-)

We also did a little shopping in Progresso. It wasn't a bad little town, just nothing special.

Pic of the family on our way back to the ship in Cozumel. I mean....can a day get any more perfect...? If so, it would be hard for me to imagine.

So...Progresso....

Okay, so I think it helped that I didn't have HUGE expectations for Progresso, based on what I had read and whatnot. But yeah...it's nothing terribly special. We didn't feel like doing any tours of the ruins, because I thought my youngest would get bored, so we just took the free shuttle into town, and walked to the public beach. It was a neat experience, just seeing the town. Be prepared to get hit up by people selling things....literally, every 5 steps. haha. On the way to the public beach (6-8 min walk), we saw this Mexican police/military guy. He didn't speak much English, but greeted us with a smile and happily took a photo. My boys thought he was pretty cool. At the beach, we rented 3 loungers and an umbrella for the day for $25. The sand was nicer here than Paradise Beach (very soft), but the views/beach itself weren't quite as nice. We still loved it though, and we found some REALLY nice shells. You will get hit up every 30 seconds by vendors walking the beach, but we didn't so much mind. We actually got a handful of our souvenir shopping done this way!

Beach at Progresso

EXCURSIONS- Cozumel was unbelievably beautiful. The water, the weather, etc were PERFECT. Again, based on recommendations from this very forum, we did NOT book an official excursion, and just planned on catching a taxi to Paradise Beach. The taxi ride was $21 (total, for 5 of us. Very reasonable), and it was a short 10 minute ride to Paradise Beach. I cannot say enough about this private beach! It was PHENOMINAL. The water was gorgeous, the activities were awesome, the floating slides and trampolines had my sons laughing for hours. There were plenty of chairs for everyone, and the pool and bar were GORGEOUS! I wished we could have stayed longer!!!

I have ONE complaint...when we got there, we were greeted by a super friendly waiter, Omar. He gave us a rundown of everything they had and everything fun we could do, and then said it was $21 for the entire day. I swore I remembered reading that it was only $18....but it was close enough, and the kids were excited to go play, so whatever, I paid it. A few minutes later, another waiter was giving the same rundown to a small group and seating them near us, and he told them it WAS $18 for the entire day! I asked him about it, and said Omar told us it was $21 (and that we PAID $21, AND I tipped him, ugh), and he said he would send Omar to our seats....he never showed, and I never cared enough to track him down. I found that mildly annoying though...especially since I tipped him. BUT anyway, here are some pics.

TWO TIPS!!!!!!!!!!! You NEED water shoes for this beach. There are thousands of tiny shells in the sand, and after a bit, they DO start to hurt your feet a bit. Also, there are some rocks/shells in the water. Plus, it just makes it easier to climb on the equipment. SECOND, if you're going to snorkel (snorkeling gear is included in your $18, as is stand up paddle boards, kayaks, life vests, etc), snorkel near the pier!! We saw some beautiful colorful fish and a small STING RAY!! It was really neat).

My wife and oldest son snorkeling---

The pier at Paradise Beach. GORGEOUS! Picturesque!

The pool at Paradise Beach. AMAZING

A view from behind the lounger chairs

So glad you has a positive experience. We are seasoned cruisers (about 15, I think), and usually do the longer cruises on the newer ships.

But, we decided to try the Triumph a few months ago, and I was very pleasantly suprised! We had a lido balcony. The room decor was dated, but no worries about that. The room was spacious and very clean. In fact , that was our experience over the entire ship.

We had a balcony on Deck 8, and I'll agree with you there...it was a bit dated. I didn't mind it a bit though, we didn't spend a whole lot of time in our room anyway. The bathrooms were pink, and dated, but again, they were just fine.

And yes, the rooms were surprisingly spacious! Manny kept our room clean, and room service was QUICK!

FOOD/DINING- Again, it was FANTASTIC. I'm pretty sure I consumed 19+ Guy's burgers. It was always FAST, and delicious. The pizza would sometimes have a decent wait (waited one time for 15 minutes, but then got an entire Pepp pizza! It was great). For our evening dining, we had booked our cruise late and ended up with LATE dining, which wasn't good for us because my boys go to bed around 8:30 or 9:00....so I had gotten on the wait list to hopefully get moved to early dining, but nothing ever opened up (before the cruise). SO, I took the advice of a few posters on this site, and immediately went to the dining room when we got on the ship and requested we get moved to early dining. They were VERY nice, and said they'd try to move us, and voila, by day 2, we got a card slipped under our door that we were moved to early dining. It was FANTASTIC. Our Carnival waiters have always been great, but this time was the best. Our head waiter was named Genesis, and he was very special. My youngest son, Brady, ended up forming a special bond with Genesis. The first meal we had, Brady had requested a bowl of fruit for his appetizer, and then told Genesis how YUMMY it was. From that night forward, everytime my son sat down, Genesis appeared with a bowl of fruit just minutes later! He also showed us a few magic tricks every night. By the final night, when Genesis was thanking us for sailing Carnival, and saying our goodbyes, Brady asked for a hug and almost started crying! It was the sweetest thing. Here's a pic of Brady and Genesis. I can't speak highly enough of this man! He was amazing.

Later, we checked out the Punchliner Comedy Club. I enjoyed the PG shows much better than the R rated shows. This particular show I snapped a pic of was one of the R rated shows, and the comedian was going back and forth with a heckler. That always makes me feel so awkward when they do that, haha. It was pretty uncomfortable, and the language got REALLY bad at one point. I know they warn you that it's 18+, but I was seeing it with my wife and my dad, and it was just a BIT much for me. The PG shows were very worth checking out though. I was impressed with the SIZE of this show room. It was a lot of fun, and the energy in the room was great.

If I had to have any complaint about any shows....I'd throw 2 things out. The magician was a LITTLE hokey for me? My 9 year old loved it, but in my opinion, the magician didn't have much charisma, and it was just a little goofy. Also, I like singing karaoke, but if you weren't in the room in the first 3 minutes of karaoke starting, you may as well not put your name down because the list filled up THAT quick. I put my name down one particular night and waited an hour and 20 minutes, and it still never got to me. I still had a great time 'people watching' and hanging out though, the room the karaoke was in is another fantastic venue. The last cruise I was on (Sensation, I think) was in a very small room...

Sorry, having issues posting pics...working on it

My family (wife, 2 young sons) and I just got off the Carnival Triumph out of New Orleans this last Saturday on a 5 day cruise that stopped at Cozumel and Yucatan. We drove to NOLA from the St. Louis, MO area, and stayed in NOLA for a couple days, and then hopped on the ship.

EMBARKATION: We dropped our luggage and headed to security/check-ins. I was a little worried that it would take a while, because it seemed like there were a LOT of people....but it was EASILY the fastest I've been through check-in (this is my 4th cruise). It was simple and very stress free, and we were continually walking/moving. I think the staggered check in is working great (we were 1:00-1:30, and arrived about 12:50).

ON THE SHIP: Okay....so I'm not going to lie...I was SUPER stressed about this ship, based on the reviews I'd read. For the most part, it seemed like I should just expect this to be a really old and smelly ship. It felt like every other review was just bashing it. BUT I LOVED IT. Out of the 4 cruises I've been on, this was the BEST ship, and we had the most fun cruise ever. We loved everything about it. My kids had an absolute blast. We could always find an opening in the hot tub (since there were FIVE OF THEM!!). There are 3 pools, so you could always find a spot to swim. There were loungers/chairs EVERYWHERE (especially on the top deck along the rails). We LOVED the Dive-In movies. My boys thought this was SO fun.

Here are a few pics of what I've discussed already (also, I HIGHLY recommend the Cajun Encounters tour in NOLA if you have a day or two to waste! We saw gators and wild boar!)

Here we are enjoying the lovely hot tub under the slide (also a blast, by the way)

And here's a shot of the Dive-In movie. We would cuddle up with some blankets (you can rent these from the towel station, using just your S&S card) and mugs of hot chocolate!! (also free)

The first cruise i ever went on (11 years ago, before i had children), my grandmother got HORRIBLE sea/motion sickness. It was a nightmare, and she was miserable for 5 days.

We now leave for a cruise in 3 days, and I have two boys, ages 6 and 9. I’m thinking that kids are probably MUCH less succeptible to sea sickness, but I just see images of my grandmother doubled over in her room for 5 days and i get terrified.

Have your kids ever had issues on a cruise? Should i give them anything preventative? Walmart has mostly just tablets for age 12 and up...

I'm not into Texas Hold'em per say, I will play but I'm not out seeking a tournament everywhere I go. With that said I have seen a tournament on one of our cruises. The problem is I have been on 4 different cruise lines and can't remember which one I saw it on. Anyway, the tournament that I saw was way longer than 1 hour, I believe there was at least 3 tables. In fact, I was there when they were dealing I believe it was only the 3rd hand and when I returned (at least 2 hours later) they were still playing. I believe it was about hour later when I saw it was down to 3 players, so I had to watch and see who won (I was rooting for the guy that sat at our MDR table every night for a week). About 10 mins later one of the other guys got knocked out (yeah for our table mate). However, the tournament ended after that because the two guys left asked the dealer if they could quit and split the money. The cruise line told them it was up to them, and if you guys split the pot it would be $950 apiece:D. They did a gentlemen's hand shake and that was that, and the money counting began. The cool thing about it all was our table mate for the last 3 nights of the cruise bought a bottle of wine for the table (I do not drink wine:(, but would have taken a beer...LoL). As for my DW and two other people at the table they were happy, happy, happy. Well that was my one and only experience with Texas Hold'em on a cruise ship.

Very cool. That's what I'm looking for!!

On my last cruise on the Magic there was a texas hold'em tournament at the electronic tables. My son won 2nd place and got an invite to another tournament some time in August (I think) where the grand prize is $750k. It is going to be on another ship but he can't go due to school.

Wow! That's awesome!!

I'm assuming he would have still had to pay for his cruise and whatnot? But his entry to the tourney was going to be free?

The electronic table’s speed means you see about twice as many hands per hour compared to playing with real cards so instead of seeing a good hand every 20 minutes you are seeing one every 10 minutes which makes it seem

less random.

 

 

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That’s solid point. Hadn’t ever considered that actually. Appreciate the insight.

I DO like that facet of electronic hold em, the increased speed.

And no, not saying there are more than 4 of any single card in one deck, haha. But the programs used online are ALLOWED around have hands that generate action. For example, one player has a boat at the exact same time another player has trips with a pocket pair, at the same time as another player is dealt AA. Gonna be quite a bit of action in that pot huh?? Online programs are allowed a certain amount of leeway in that regard, and there have been a lot of complaints about that. So anytime you play an electronic game, I’d think it’s only natural to not be COMPLETELY as comfortable as you would in a fully live game. That seems fairly simple to me.

I see you say "people are convinced", do you really think Carnival fixes a poker game? so you think there might be more than 4 of a kind in a deck? I think your argument is absurd. Ten random people playing poker, mostly not very well. Geared to generate action?

Well...I mean...it’s not a theory, the ‘programs’ used to ‘generate random’ hands are not perfectly random. I can’t say with certainty that it’s the same program as what online companies use, but there have been quite a few documented issues over some of their poorly ‘randomized’ hands. I’m not at all saying (and I don’t think the previous poster is either) that the cruise line purposefully does anything unethical, but it’s MUCH different playing fake electronic cards than it is playing real cards, with a real dealer and real shuffle, against real players. Knowing some of the crap some online poker sites have pulled with their random hands just makes me slightly uneasy playing an electronic game.

I think there’s a sizeable rake that the machine takes as well. The one nice thing about the machine though is a small amount of money can usually last awhile. As long as you don’t get that ONE person at the table that thinks he’s in the WSOP and tries to bully the table. Last cruise there were 6 of us that were all playing for about 2 hours. We were all making modest bets, just having fun, and letting our money last. This one guys comes up and sits down and starts betting outrageous amounts. Sucked all the fun out. Got a little ticked off, called his bluff after about 10 hands, took his money, and left lol

HAHA!! Gotta love it! Sounds similar to my last outing on the ship. I had been playing with a group of really fun people for quite a while, then some guy sits down and starts betting half his stack preflop and on the flop. It was like 6 straight hands, and we'd never seen a turn. So finally, pre-flop he raises something like $30, and I call with 99. Flop comes out something like 2 4 9, rainbow. He bets the pot, which was like $65 at that point, I raised him another $65, and he immediately raises all-in, which was like $200 (of which, I think I had about $140 at that point). So...I mean, obviously, I had no choice but to call, as I had the absolute nuts at that moment. I'm thinking it was quite obvious that he had AA or KK.....right? (That, or pocket 2's or 4's crossed my mind, but I didn't really think that was likely).

So anyways, I call, and he had A7. Un-suited (not that it matters, lol).

Soooo....yeah, that was the easiest couple hundred dollars I'd ever made. HA HA

Even though it sounds like a tourney may never happen, does anyone recall what the listed buy-in was SUPPOSED to be?