StylishCurvyGirl

I cruised the Triumph last year out of New Orleans for a 5 day and I had a balcony room on the Empress Deck. My Husband and I had so much fun we are going back again next year on the Triumph.

It was private enough that I went out at night naked several times.....and Hubby and I had FUN....never saw the neighbors on the other balconies.

Since my Husband and I were celebrating our 4th Anniversary I decided to surprise him with a cake from the Fun Shops....I had my reservations because in the past I haven't found Carnival's desserts to be the best tasting but I decided to give it a shot and I'm glad I did. I ordered the 6 inch vanilla cake with strawberry filling and it was only 10.00. Don't order a bigger cake unless you have someone to share it with because there is no way to refrigerate the rest and because it's made with fresh cream it's not safe to eat after it's been out for awhile. I had a hard time finding pics of the white cake on this forum so I thought I'd help someone out who may be looking for pics of the cake. The cake would have been twenty bucks if I had a custom message so I just kept the generic Happy Anniversary message and put the rest of my message on the free greeting message that comes with the cake.

This was our first time ever having a balcony room and I will say I never want to go back to ocean view. I loved the view.....the balcony wasn't huge but it was enough space for us both and I'm plus size. The room was a nice size not too small and plenty of space to walk around.

I just got off Triumph today.....I enjoyed it. I was on the Empress deck 7 in room 7351. I did smell an odd smell one night but it was on a lower floor like 4 or 5 I believe and it was on the last night of the cruise. Ship wasn't dirty or old. It was much nicer than the Elation ship I cruised on last year. Elation definitely rocked WAY more to the point that my sister wasn't able to enjoy our sister cruise.

I should have specified I arrived an hour earlier than my specified check in time and only had to wait outside about 10 minutes in the heat. I didn't have FTTF but they let us check almost as soon as I arrived and we also boarded the ship early as well.

When I cruised out of New Orleans last year, I arrived an hour early and they let us board 10 minutes after I arrived and I didn't even have FTTF.......

Thanks so much I'm sailing Triumph out of N.O. in April!!!!! I can't wait!!

I can't wait I'm counting down now!

So I picked the Super 8 hotel on Chef Menteur Highway. It was only $67 for the night and they had free parking while on the cruise and offered shuttle service to/from the port for $8pp. I really liked it, it's not your typical cookie-cutter Super 8, it felt very NOLAish. It was super easy to get to and it was maybe a 15-minute ride to the port. There were always staff cleaning and maintaining the property which was clean and in good shape. There's not much to look at around the hotel, but for the price who cares.

We did hit some slow-moving traffic in NOLA, but it never came to a complete stop.

The front of the hotel.

Here's that NOLA feel with the inner courtyard.

The parking is underneath the hotel.

We were on the 3rd floor.

The pool area.

Wow so they allow you to leave ur car there if you are a cruiser? That's so cool!

Great review. I live close to Nola as well and will be leaving from there next year. First Carnival cruise only been on RC so far. I hope I like it!

Cool!

First cruise in 15 days on Serenade of the Seas.....ports: Key West, FL....Naussau, Bahamas and CocoKay Bahamas. Have you been on this cruise or something similar? If so, what did you wear to the ports....what kind of shoes would you recommend?

I'm just nervous and anxious about what to wear to the ports.........any other tips greatly appreciated.