shelle007

Last week I was on a 5 day cruise on the Triumph and I lost 4 lbs. I eat high protein and stay away from most carbs. I have a few margaritas and some wine during the week but stay away from the sweet drinks. I usually walk a couple miles on the treadmill every day and use the stairs some. If I have any dessert, it is only a taste of what my husband orders. I think the trick for me is to stay active and not eating large portions and limiting carbs. :)

Jenn Baxter, the CD explained over the PA that some wires melted together and caused the power outage and when the power went down the ventilator fans in the incinerator room failed which caused smoke to back up. As soon as the problem was fixed, she said it would take time to slowly power back up the engines so we could be on our way. Like the original poster said it took just a little over an hour and we were back to cruising again.

We were in our room in 7268 with some friends having a little get together when the power went out. We all stepped out on the balcony to have a look when Jenn said the smoke was not a fire and not to panic. We did see smoke coming out of the whale tail but it was darker and more dense looking than usual. We spoke to others who were also on their balconies but we never left our room until later after the engines fired up and the ship began moving again. Everything went well after that and at least in my mind, Carnival handled things well. I wouldn't hesitate to get back on the Triumph at all.

I agree with the other poster that said the early arrival at Galveston probably had more to do with the blackout incident than the usual fog issues they have there all the time. Hopefully they checked things over after our arrival and made sure all was well before the next cruise departed.

I was on board and in the Lido hot tub when it happened. Announcements were hard to hear. The hot tub was still running the entire time and the blenders were working after about 10 minutes. I remained at the hot tub with a few other cruisers and we kept on drinking & soaking the sun up. Our waiter Lovejoy told us: "I'm no worried, mon. I have ice, and the blenders are good. What do you want to drink?"

Lovejoy was a hoot! I don't think much bothers him. He was our bartender during ATD and I asked him what cologne he was wearing the night of the blackout because he smelled fabulous. He told me the brand name and then proceeded to tell my husband how to use it. It was pretty funny stuff. lol

That clearly conflicts with the 8 minute power outage that Carnival is stating.

I was also on the cruise and the 8 minutes is probably referring to the time that the electricity was out until the time the backup came on. It was probably about that long.

I will be 8 weeks post op with the sleeve on our cruise in two weeks. I plan on doing most of my eating in the MDR instead of buffets. I also plan on walking on the track and using the exercise equipment and using the stairs when I can. You can weigh in the fitness center to keep up with your weight.

So is there a time line for the rest of the fleet? I am going to be on the Triumph in 89 days and it would be awesome to be able to keep in contact with my family back here without paying an arm and a leg for it.

Just sent my email inquiry about any comps we might be qualified for for our upcoming cruise next month. Thanks for the information!

We do something similar, but it's not all in one suitcase:

 

We always drive down a night ahead of time, and instead of bringing ALL the suitcases into the hotel, we pack one large tote bag for the whole family (it's the BIG LL Bean tote, so it can hold some stuff!). We pack JUST something to sleep in, an outfit to wear for boarding, and our toiletries. We don't have a bunch of stuff to trip over in the pre-cruise hotel room, and the tote bag (with dirty clothes from the ride to Florida) stays in the car while we cruise -- no need to bring dirty items onboard.

 

We leave a spot in the "real suitcase" for toiletries, and we transfer them over (and pop on the cable ties) before we leave the hotel.

 

If I were doing a few days of Florida beach time before the cruise, I'd pack two entire separate suitcases: One for the beach vacation, one for the cruise.

Im really liking the idea of leaving the dirty clothing from precruise in the car! So simple but just didnt think about it. Love to use the ziplocks for underwear, socks, swimsuits ect.....I tend to roll the rest of my stuff but since we are driving to port this time. I might try to use more ziplocks and get more in my suitcases....weight wont be an issue since we are driving! Another thing Im going to do is to bring a few of those cheap ecofriendly shopping bags for any excess such as souveiners that wont fit in the suitcase. I think that these bags would also work great for port days when we are going to be shopping. Last time I packed a flat duffle in the bottom of my suitcase for the excess stuff and that was great for the trip home on the Airplane.

Ive only been on one cruise but these are the things I would recommend.

1-power strip did come in handy due to many things we needed to plug in which included my husbands Oxygen concentrator.

2-small fan; not only was it good for white noise and for comfort but I used it in the bathroom to help speed up the drying of our hand washed laundry/swimsuits that were hanging in the shower I left it on from bedtime till morning.....almost everything would be completely dry.

3-Lysol- They make small trial size cans that are close to the size of a large test tube. I sanitized our bathroom with it when we arrived just to be safe....esp the shower floor. Also great for deodorizing the cabin and after using the toilet.

4- I used some clothes pins to hang up the hand washed clothes and swimsuits in the shower........could also use on curtains to hold them together.

5-small sewing kit-I made my own. I took a piece of cardboard and wrapped threads of colors I thought would be good to match our wardrobe. Two sewing needles, variety of safety pins and a couple of shirt buttons, also a tiny pair of scissors.Put in an altoids can to keep.

6-a banana hair clip to hold the hair off my neck to keep me cooler. Can also be used to hold the curtains if necessary.

7- puzzle books for my husband who is disabled and needs to rest alot. It gives him something to do while in the cabin.

8- Lanyard with a vinyl pocket to hold the sign and sail card and also held my casino card, my picture ID and a few dollars cash. Everytime I left the cabin this went right on my neck.

9-I buy 8X power lithium batteries. I used one set and took over 600 pictures! no recharging. Buy twice the amount of memory card space you expect to need.

10- pack at least two weeks before so you have time to re-evaluate and remove what you dont need. Last minute packing leads to cramming losts of "might need items" that you really dont need.

11- Ladies pack only the make up you really use. No need to have 10 different eyeshadows when one or two will do you. Same with lipstick......one or two is sufficient.

12- take into account that you will likely buy t-shirts in port and incorporate those into your wardrobe so pack a few less than you planned.

13- I took some of my rattiest underwear and at the end of the cruise, I tossed them which left a bit more room for those found treasure/

14- Be wary of buying jewelry in ports......unless you are a gemologist you dont know what you are really getting. I bought a ring in Juneau and a few weeks later I lost one of the stones and upon closer look at home I could tell it was not of the best quality. Just remember these business owners are not down the street if you have a problem with something......you are likely to be stuck with whatever you buy.

What I will do next time: insulated cup for coffee and other bevarages. I have a smaller pocket sized digital camera instead of my larger digital camera that that takes up too much space and is bulky. A small collaping cooler for keeping beverages cold.

One more thing......if you do not want to pay high prices for what is in the mini bar, have them remove everything in it, This way if you brought that bottle of wine or cans of pop you can actually fit it in the tiny fridge.