Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Carnival Triumph Past, Present, and Future!!!

Virginia_Native

By Virginia_Native,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

allleftys

allleftys

Posted
Posted

We cruised the Triumph last week (December 24th-31) and generally had a great time. It met our goal of traveling with 2 families – 4 adults, 4 kids (11, 14, 16 and 19 yrs) to a warm location where we could be together as much or as little as desired without having to prepare/clean up from meals. We chose this cruise partly for the price and for the destinations – we wanted to see the Western Caribbean this time. Last year over Thanksgiving we cruised RCI Navigator which is an awesome ship in terms of size, the extent of its Promenade and even the overall elegance; so a comparison between the Triumph and Navigator isn’t completely fair. The Triumph is a very nice ship – not as big as the Navigator and therefore it lacked a great Promenade experience, not only for the shopping but also as a general meeting place for coffee/snacks and for people watching. We expected lots of “glitz” (like Las Vegas, we were told), but were pleasantly surprised to find the ship understated, yet with nice decorations in the main and dining areas. Since this was predominantly a family week, the people on board were pleasant and no more rowdy than on the Navigator last year.

 

The food was generally comparable to the Navigator with decent choices for our vegetarian kids. However, the midnight buffet on the Triumph was nothing special, somewhat disappointing both in appearance and in actual taste in comparison to what was done on the Navigator which was very impressive. Not a big deal for us, in any event. The fresh pizza was very good as noted by many others, and the soft ice cream and yogurt were free and available 24 hrs. You had to pay for ice cream on the Navigator. The Triumph’s rip off was a separate coffee place that charged not only for specialty coffees but also for regular and decaf AND $1.00 ea. for cookies! For some reason this disturbed me but maybe it was a blessing because I refused to buy a cookie for a buck so I didn’t add on any extra pounds! The coffee (in the dining room and on the Lido deck) was better on the Triumph than the Navigator. The cabin and dining service was very good.

 

We liked the Cruise director, Matt. He was entertaining without being overly pushy. The entertainment was generally good, a step below last year’s on the Navigator in our opinion, but still entertaining. Unfortunately, the second comedian could not make it at the last minute because his flight was cancelled, so we don’t know if he would have been good or not. The comedian from the first night was not very good. The Carnival singers/dancers performed in three shows: a Holiday Christmas Show, a Wonderful World Show (songs/dances/costumes from around the world) – this was very good; and a show about the decades from 1900-2000 (good but tiresome after a while). Outside entertainment included the 1st comedian who also had a midnight “R” rated show (also not great), a hypnotist (the best and funniest show and unusual) and a sword swallower (who would have been the opening act to the 2nd comedian but became the sole performer). One of the nights included a talent show by a few of the passengers who auditioned, and a fun game hosted by our cruise director. A couple of the passengers were talented, but it went on way too long. This activity should have been part of the general karaoke that was offered each night in a separate lounge. The kid’s and teen’s activities were not as well planned/executed as last year’s cruise but our kids and niece and nephew still made friends and found fun things to do. The karaoke was handled nicer on the Triumph than the Navigator – much more friendly and less competitive.

The casinos were comparable to the Navigator – although if you purchased chips on your sail card, Carnival added a surcharge to your bill. If you wanted $100.00 in chips, it cost you $103.00. This nickel and diming – especially for gambling was ridiculous. It was smoky in the casino – no surprises there. No one at our table smoked but you could smell it from the other tables in the room. Some of the lounge areas were a little smoky but overall not too bad. It was worse on the Navigator – probably because there were so many European people on that cruise who smoked. Other “extra” expenses included an array of photo shoots, drinks (obviously), excursions, BINGO (the biggest rip off but we did it anyway). As long as you know these things cost and you make the choice to buy/participate, then all is well. We posed for many of the photos – there is no sitting fee and you have your family there anyway. We bought a few of the photos as mementos.

 

We did not use Carnival for any excursions. We liked that we went to 3 ports instead of 4 (on the Navigator). You don’t have a ton of time in any port and we preferred to do activities on the ship. Our ports included Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Cozumel was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina so we did not arrange any tour. We chose to take a taxi to/from Paradise Beach ($15 total each way for the 8 of us). Chairs and umbrellas are provided at no charge. An $8.00 fee allows you access to the kayaks, water trampoline and “iceberg” climbing wall. Our two girls did this and it was fun. Beer was reasonable – 5 for $12.00; Mexican food was good. We shopped briefly before boarding the ship. This is a good place to buy real vanilla (for cooking). We split up in Grand Cayman – the guys and kids went to 7 Mile Beach and the ladies went shopping (browsing). A lot of the shopping is the same – we came home with the infamous Tortuga Rum Cakes (need something to share with the office upon return!). Stingray City and Snorkeling are the highlights here, but we had already done this before and were not interested in doing it again. In Ocho Rios, we pre-arranged a trip with Marva Shaw (as recommended by many on Cruise Critic). Our trip was simple – she met us at the pier and took us to Dunns River Falls. She picked us up 2 hrs. later and drove us to Margaritaville. We were going to include Coyaba Gardens but only two of the adults were interested. She was willing to take us wherever we wanted to go. Marva provided some interesting information about Ocho Rios and was very nice – we would recommend her highly. Her price is less than the ship’s price. We loved the look and feel of the Falls. Go early because this place gets extremely crowded. You have to be very careful in Ocho Rios – two of the passengers from our ship (father and son) at the last minute decided to taxi to the Falls, and the driver tried to sell them drugs – they politely declined and the driver pulled a switchblade on them. The father gave him $10.00 just to get out of the car. I don’t know if it was a real taxi – it is supposed to have a red license plate.

 

Our experience on the Navigator last year was really great. However, there was too much self promotion at the expense of other Cruise Lines on the Navigator – very unnecessary negative advertising. Some of the Navigator amenities were nice (mini golf, climbing wall, ice skating to the public and an ice skating show) but not necessary to us to experience again. The Triumph had a water slide that was fun – also not critical for our next cruise, but fun anyway. We are glad to have experienced different cruise lines/ships to identify what worked best for our family. In summary, our family had a very enjoyable vacation on the Triumph and would recommend it to others. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
familyplanner

familyplanner

Posted
Posted

Thanks everyone:) Jspirit, I will be sure to pass on the tip to bring an old credit card for the safe onto our group as well as how to get to the secret doors. Alllefty's & k2c2w thanks for the reviews they add to the excitement and anticipation for this weekend. Alllefty's glad you had a good time with Marva Shaw we will be using her next week.:p Now if I can just resist the urge to stay of the boards, I might actually be ready to fly out on Friday morning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
savage5

savage5

Posted
Posted

We generally liked the ship. To be honest we did not go into it with huge expectations. We are a family of 5. Our kids are 6,11,14(15 this month). It was a first cruise for the kids. My DH and I have only sailed RCL Adventure of the Seas until now. We have heard from others that after sailing RCL, Carnival is disapointing. I can't say that is true. Of course my kids didn't have anything to compare it to and had a blast on the ship.

 

I was worried about embarkation in Miami, but it was easy and the wait wasn't as bad as I have been reading on these boards. I was happy with the process. :)We checked out of our Hotel in Miami at 11:00 am and headed straight for the ship. When we actually got on board, our stateroom attendant Thomas let us put our carry-ons in our room(9274). He was great!!! Anyone will be lucky to get him.Great stateroom location for convenience to pool, food, elevators etc. Not a lot of noise as I had expected. We all slept great every night. Bedding was excellent. I think I slept better there than at home. We took a bungee cord but never used it. It stayed open on it's own. Most of the time we closed it due to the fact that our neighbors in the next stateroom smoked all of the time. And I don't mean cigarettes!!!!:eek: Our sons were telling everyone on board about it too. If you were on this cruise with us you probably heard it from one of them.

 

They served free champagne for a couple of hours on the Lido deck right after we boarded, that was very nice. Our very first impression was that the area by the food wasn't very clean and it smelled funny. That was an everyday thing. My 6 year old held her nose when we walked past certain places. I would have never let the kids walk around there with out flip flops on. Of course a lot of people did. :eek:

 

The Christmas decorations were very tasteful and nice. They played Christmas music non-stop in elevators, hallways, shops etc. They were still playing it when we debarked. It was nice for awhile but I was ready for something else. Not many shops on board so don't look for anything like your would see in the Promenade on RCL. Nice though.

 

Food in the grill and buffet was good(not great) everyday. The New York deli was awesome and I quickly learned to go inside to the grill to get burgers and not from the buffet. They were great and you could get sauteed mushrooms and onions on the burger! The Hong Kong Noodle Co. was not as good as I had heard from these boards, but I am picky and I may have just hit them on a bad day. I thought the pizza was terrible but the kids seemed to think it was ok. We were in early seating(5:45 because of the kids) in the Paris Dining Room. We had a beautiful view and saw many sunsets from our dining table. Our head waiter Gladdie made our trip. The kids just loved him and he was so good to them. He would bring them things without them asking. Food was very good everynight. Great selections and nicely presented. Breakfast was another story. The same every single day and not very good. There was never anything new or differnent...ever. Stay with the crossiants, fruit and bacon. The round hash brown things were disgusting. Coffee was good. What more can you want for breakfast anyway? My hot chocolate critics gave it 3 thumbs up!!! It was yummy.

 

I was worried about just letting our 14 year old have the freedom to do whatever he wanted, but now I am glad we did. Security is good at night and there was a lot to do for his age group. He was in the 15-17 group beacuse he is nearly 15. I swear our 11 year old son did everything but steer the ship. If you ever had a question he could answer it. Our 6 year old daughter liked Camp Carnival. I usually just took her there from 9-12 unless something special was happening. She loved to watch all of the fun Lido Deck activities and most of the time she was laughing out loud at some of the funny things people did. We did let her go to the slumber party which was until 1am for her and 3am for our 11 year old. We had to pick her up , but the Camp staff walked the 9-11's back to their stateroom. Loved that.

 

Music in the bars was just so-so. My husband like the guy playing the piano in the Big Easy. He couldn't sing worth a lick but played well. Good thing it was sing-along type bar. That is what made it so much fun. After a few drinks of the day everyone sounded good anyway. We actually enjoyed a band from the Phillipines that sang a ton of Eagles. It was so funny because they could hardly speak English at all but sang all of these great songs so well. That was my favorite. Casino was not so great. I don't cruise to gamble anyway.

 

The ships photographers did a great job. They were terrific with the kids and all of the photos turned out so well it was nearly impossible to choose. Needless to say we spent an insane amount of money on photos. Memories forever I guess. Actually they were better that the ones on RCL. Of course, we had the kids so maybe they took more time and effort because of them. Go to the guy that does black and white..they were beautiful.

 

Our biggest complaint was that most all of the staff was not very friendly. Many times rude. With the exception of our waiters, stateroom attendants and our bar server in the dining room(great girl), most everyone never seemed to smile orgo out of their way to be friendly. On our RCL I swear every crew person said hello and smiled. I felt very welcome even if they didn't care that I was there or not. In fact the family we were traveling with complained twice about it once to him and once to his daughter. Oh well, I am grouchy at the holidays too sometimes. Many times I would smile and say hello or good morning and they would just look at me like I had two heads. We did laugh because my daughter dropped her roll one evening on formal night. Our waiter said not to get it because we were all dressed up and he would get it later. Well, the next night at dinner it was still there.

 

It was a good ship for a family cruise. Carnival is so reasonably priced for a family of 5 and tons of kids on board. When my DH and I cruise we most likely not choose this ship, but the kids loved it. We had a wonderful Christmas cruise and all 3 kids are asking when they can go on another one. My 14 year old saw the Grand Princess in port one day and decided he would like to try that ship. I wonder if he'll pay too. To anyone whose going on Triumph, have a great time. Tip all of the Lido servers well on the first couple of days and they will be your friends for life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
terisu10

terisu10

Posted
Posted
Bring an old credit card of no value that you can use for your safe key. You do not want to use your S&S card! Also, it is better not to use a real crdit card in case you lose it. Sometimes a gift card works , or another kind with a stripe on the back. We did try unsuccessfully to use an old hotel card, but I guess they deactivated it when we checked out. Oh well.

Have a great time!

 

We used an old sun and sail card from a previous Carnival cruise :eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
big_duck

big_duck

Posted
Posted
Sorry, I did not know you could not bump - I was away on my cruise :D I remember seeing a lot of bumps previously. Where can I read all the rules?

 

Top of the page under Guidelines.

 

It's just that I have a question pending and it is a little frustrating to think it may be answered just to see "bump"

 

Off my soapbox now. ;) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hockeyluver

hockeyluver

Posted
Posted

We will be on the Triumph Feb 25th Family of 4 with another family of 3 and 4 very single 20 something friends. i am enjoying soaking up all the wonderful information. Told Chrisgo about the secret door and he will be on a mission to find it, whew keep him outa my hair for a while LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
sme

sme

Posted
Posted

Only 38 more days and we will be back on the Triumph!!! :D The kids are getting really excited (but then so are their parents.) We really enjoyed our last time on board, I am sure the trip will be just as fun. Too bad Marc Price isn't the cruise director, he was a riot. He has a hilarious Robin Hood skit for those who may have him on another cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
big_duck

big_duck

Posted
Posted
Only 38 more days and we will be back on the Triumph!!! :D The kids are getting really excited (but then so are their parents.) We really enjoyed our last time on board, I am sure the trip will be just as fun. Too bad Marc Price isn't the cruise director, he was a riot. He has a hilarious Robin Hood skit for those who may have him on another cruise.

 

Wow that is such a long time.

 

Sorry couldn't resist.:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Codfish

Codfish

Posted
Posted
a sword swallower (who would have been the opening act to the 2nd comedian but became the sole performer).

 

A sword swallower on a moving ship! :eek: He's got some guts! Just how long he'll keep them is another story. :D I hope for his sake he doesn't perform during heavy seas.

 

I miss my old ship :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hockeyluver

hockeyluver

Posted
Posted

Have you seen the comercial on TV for Disney where the kids cant sleep "Cause we're too excited" Then the dad says to the mom that he cant sleep cause he is too excited too....well its 4 am and guess what I cant sleep cause....

 

IM TOO EXCITED!! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...