Carnival Triumph Review w/ pics 3/28- 4/1

[DemonPeeves]

My family and I just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Triumph yesterday and I thought I'd share some thoughts and pics since I hadnt seen any in a bit. Although I see there are a few reviews popping up today. Oh well. No such thing as too many pics, right? Yeah... that's what I thought.

 

Our group consisted of 9 of us from NW Chicago suburbs and myself and hubby from NW Indiana. We caravaned down from the cold to New Orleans in about 15 1/2 hours. Not too bad of a ride, just loooooong...

I cannot tell you much about staying in New Orleans or packing packages with hotels, etc... because we used some of my dad's Marriott points and stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in Metairie, which was about 15 minutes or so north of the port. I think it was about $104/ night and included parking. It was very clean, off of 10 and close to restaurants and such.

 

While in New Orleans we ate at a po-boy place my dad saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives called "Mahony's". It was pretty good and right in the middle of a residential kind of area, so we had fun cruising around and exploring the city. We did make it to the French Quarter and Bourbon Street as well. Head's up though- if you borrow your in-laws van with a big travel dome on top, you will have to find parking in an outside lot. Many inside ones wouldnt take us due to the height. Luckily we found an outside lot and a nice family from Tennessee were leaving and gave us their spot and paid parking pass good til 2am. A million thanks to that family! How awesome!!

 

We hit Bourbon Street before it got dark seeing as we had my 10 year old niece with us and really didnt want her seeing too many Girls Gone Wild instances, just in case they do happen. All went well though and we all had a lot of fun! Here are some random pics:

 

The next day, Sunday, we spent at the RiverWalk, enjoying beignets, cocktails, the warm weather, and the $1.25 trolley ride from the RiverWalk area back over to the French Quarter.

[DemonPeeves]

Some more random pictures from the French Quarter.

Also, it was perfect timing for us to visit because it was like New Orleans sidewalk food walk (or whatever it was called) and we were able to sample some good cooking! We tried gumbos, ribs, stuffed crab, and the list goes on. It was a great time! Just a bit hot for me considering I've been hibernating in NW Indiana for a few months.

 

 

The next day it was time to head a few minutes south to find the Triumph!!

Ooooh... we see it!!!!

And yes, my sister and I did squeal like 6 year old girls. We planned this trip over a year ago and were just so happy it was finally here!

 

 

Parking was $80 and you can pay by cash or by credit card. The kicker is though, you have to pay. The car in front of us went through about 4 credit cards before one finally worked and they were able to get in. Nice... thanks for holding us up. :)

We pulled up, the porters grabbed our bags, checked id's and boarding passes and then we parked. My p's took advantage of the upgrade fairy's call and took an ocean suite so they were upgraded to VIP status. We rode their coat tails and entered the VIP boarding area.

Things were pretty smooth except that I had to fill out a few extra forms since I'm pregnant. I had to fill out forms and have my doctor fill one out as well prior to sailing, and then they made me fill out an additional document once I arrived. No problem, signed, then we were ready to get on the ship!

[LBumb]

great start

[nytraveller53]

Nice start - those beignets look yummy!

[DemonPeeves]

We were on the ship and eating on the good ol' Lido deck in no time. I was very impressed with how smoothly and quickly the boarding process was. I know some have had some bad luck, but it was no problem for us.

 

I do not take pictures of food and I dont really go into much detail about it as my food palate is my own so who knows if anyone likes what I like. For instance, I think onions are evil and are surely the cause of all that is wrong with the world, but others love the things. Blech! I can say that I never went hungry and I was happy with the variety of choices. Yes, some of the lines were long, but lines are long anywhere you put 2000+ people so it didnt sour my dining experiences.

 

The first thing I usually do when I get on the ship is explore. Its one thing to check out deck plans but its another to walk around and get a feel. Let's get going!!!

 

The Atrium:

 

 

 

 

Some Lido deck:

 

 

[DemonPeeves]

More Lido deck and ice cream hunt!! (Hey, I'm pregnant! I had to find it!!!)

 

 

 

 

Oh yes!!!

 

The aft pool:

 

 

Now let's go find our room!!

[cruisedarling]

Yeah!! Triumph reviews are hard to find. We leave in 61 days!! I cant wait!! I am going with my sister also, and I imagine we will be squealing like 6 year olds when we see the Triumph as well :-) Thank you for doing the review. I am anxiously waiting for more!!

[inga418]

We leave in 12 days so very exciting to see the pictures. Seen many but never get tired and everyone has a little something different to add. Thank you.

[DemonPeeves]

This is the first cruise I've ever had a balcony room or had a room on the Lido deck. My previous rooms (except a window room on the Fantasy) were spent in what I like to refer to as time deprevation chambers. This cruise my sister and I thought we'd be adventurous and both get balconies and on the Lido deck. My husband didnt much care, so I went for it. Wooohooo! I loved being on the Lido deck! I thought it was a great location and surprisingly quiet! We slept every night with the balcony door open, even the night of the late night Mexican buffet.

Here are some pics from good ol' room 9281:

 

 

 

It was not a super big balcony but did have plenty o' room for my big ol' belly, so I'm sure it will be fine for anyone!

 

I cannot for the life of me remember our room stewards names, but they were a team of great guys. They brought us extra pillows when we asked and had fresh ice for us several times a day. We appreciated this seeing as we did bring 2 cases of our own soda on board, as well as a case of water. And can I just say that I love love love that Carnival provides bathrobes. Love them!

[inga418]

We upraded just a couple of weeks ago to a TBA balcony from an interior. We got lido deck also. We have the bunjy cord all packed to help keep the door open so I can sleep to the sound of the ocean. You are glowing. Congrats with the baby!

[DemonPeeves]

More ship touring before it gets too crowded or I get sucked into the cruising life:

 

The Vienna Cafe:

 

You can get iced coffees and fantabulous desserts there. My niece was addicted to these chocolate cups with cheesecake inside topped with strawberrries for only like $2.25. We shared one the last day and it was awesome!

 

The Hollywood Disco was a pretty happening place. They had Camp Carnival activities in there during the day, along with art auctions, but at night this was a great place to dance and let loose.

 

 

 

The Underground Tokyo arcade was next door and it wasnt a bad arcade. You can get tokens with either your own money or take money off the Sign & Sail. They had an air hockey table, the Star Wars Arcade Game of Awesomeness, as well as a lot of racing games, hunting games, etc... We did play a few games with my niece there one afternoon and had a good time.

[DemonPeeves]

Walking down through the Promenade:

 

 

Casino:

 

And just an FYI on the casino- if you're thinking about possibly learning to gamble, go to the lesson on the second day. My husband went and got a lot of out it. And they also gave him a $5 betting card that he could use at a roulette table.

 

 

The Rome Lounge:

 

 

Time to get ready for sail away!!!

[DemonPeeves]

For me personally, I always think the sail away is one of the best times of the cruise. Like here it is... we're leaving ground... heading into the water on an adventure... wooohooo! Sometimes I just expect fireworks and a big to do but alas... a few massive horn honks and we're off down the Mississippi!

 

 

 

 

 

The first of many virgin drinks for me! But at least I wasnt the sole member of the non-alcohol club. My niece was with me!

 

Cruising down the Mississippi was a pretty cool experience, I must say. My favorite departure up to this moment was leaving on the Miracle out of Tampa and having to sail under that bridge that seemed about 3 inches higher than the top of the ship! This sailing down the Mississippi was up there with that experience though. There was a great deal of listing going on seeing as the giant ship had to maneuver the river, but I thought it added to the whole experience!

[Sundiego]

I love your pics and comments. Thanks so much! Keep posting :)

[DemonPeeves]

We had early seating in the London Dining room at table 162, which is the center floor of the dining room but towards the doors in the back. I feel terrible because again, I cannot remember any names of our waiters. I only remember Edus, who was our bar waiter, because my niece thought he was sooooo cute, "but dont tell him". Ok, I wont. :)

 

There werent too many activities going on this night, but the ones we participated in were in the Rome Lounge. "Pick the Flick" was a kind of movie title trivia game, which we lost by one. Bummer! And "Game Show Mania", which is like a pop culture trivia game. Both were pretty entertaining and we found out, during participant intro's, that there were many many people from the Chicagoland area. I see that though, seeing as it was Spring Break time for most of us up here.

 

That first night we also decided to check out the movie Grown Ups playing at the seaside theater:

 

 

Now about this theater. I had reservations about it before I got onboard because I had heard things about it being distracting, stupid shows were played on it, etc... bottom line is that the theater didnt bother me at all.

Movies were played in the evening and the schedule of the movies is in the Fun Times. During the day, it varied. Early in the morning, like 7am when we ventured out to get chairs, it showed videos of the sea and beaches and snorkeling while playing instrumental type of music. If an activity was going on, they would show it on this screen, like the Master Mixologist was on this screen as it was going on. In the early evenings, like 5pm, they'd show concerts like Tina Turner or Bob Dylan. Then at night, they showed movies. While we were on it showed Toy Story 3, Grown Ups, Oceans, Jonah Hex and I cant remember what others.

 

And yes, I'm serious about the 7am. The next morning, sis and I went to grab us some chairs to soak up the sun on the Lido! We grabbed 4, got breakfast, then went and lived on our chairs for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. There were a handful of others up when we were, but not many. And yes, there were people that came by, threw a towel on a chair and then we didnt see them for about 3 hours. When someone came to us and asked "are these taken?" We would tell them "Well, we havent seen them in 3 hours so who knows" and people would just take them. Oh well. My butt was in mine so I knew it was safe.

 

Views from the early birds like myself:

 

[DemonPeeves]

Now this is where we hit my complaint about this ship.

There were some afternoon activities that happened during day two of the cruise on the Lido deck. The problem? You cant see them. The Lido layout of this deck is just not one where you can have activities. I am so not a fan. They had the Master Mixologist contest and the Hairy Chest contest and you couldnt see either one without crowding the area or watching on the tv.

You can see what I mean:

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry to seem picky, but I just prefer the ships with an actual stage or something so you view what is going on. Some of these contestants were incredibly entertaining but a lot of what they did was missed due to the location. I enjoyed the shows and did LOL a few times, but I really do not like this deck layout when it comes to these activities.

 

This afternoon, my sis, niece and I joined in on the digital scavenger hunt. All you need is a digital camera and you get a list of things to find and photograph. It was a lot of fun even though we didnt win. Damn you shower cap!!!

[DemonPeeves]

Tonight was formal night and the captain's cocktail party, which offered $1 off drinks, I think. I didnt go. Oops! But we did go to dinner and experienced our first dinner entertainment for this cruise:

 

 

And our towel animal. Wooohooo!

 

This evening there was an adult only comedy show in the Club Rio Lounge in the back of the ship. Go early!!! This place started filling up about an hour before the show even started. We were there 45 min early and were in the waaaaay back.

Here are some pics of the theater:

 

 

Our comedian was Mutzie, who was incredibly non PC and super funny. He had a few more shows throughout the week and they all were packed. The last night he had a show and we couldnt even find somewhere to sit and I was just not going to stand so we missed it. Oh well! Should have gotten there sooner!

 

Next to this theater was the Venezia, which housed karaoke and the Triumph band would play back here as well.

[DemonPeeves]

Today was our first port, Progreso Mexico! We weren't sure what to think of this port as the reviews on here were so hit and miss but we docked and left the ship with an open mind! We also had taken some advice from this board and decided to go to Silcer Beach Club instead of booking an excursion through Carnival.

Here's how the day started- you get off of the boat and are immediately in a mini vendor market:

 

 

We shared the port with the Ecstasy today.

 

This area is set up like a mini market place so it does take about 5-7 minutes to walk through it. Once you walk through it all, you hit a line where you catch the free bus to the actual town. Why bus it? Well unless you're Lance Armstrong you are not going to want to walk the who knows how many miles from the pier to the actual town. Plus, its free so you're crazy to not take it. Get on that bus!

 

We took it to the central flea market area and got of the bus to find a guy who will take us to Silcer Beach Club. We didnt pre book this activity, we just knew that's where we wanted to go. We walked a few feet into the flea market where all the guys are selling tours and found a guy who was arranging the Silcer tours. The packages are $10 for basic entry and use of facilities, $25 for open bar (well drinks and cups of beer and some frozen drinks and water bottles) and $35 for open bar and open food. These prices did include the van ride to the place as well. We agreed and hopped on the bus and off we went. Once we got there, we paid and entered the facility. Its important to know that you can mix match your packages. I went with $10 and my husband got the $35 package. We were all in the same location, just with different colored wrist bands. Here are some pics:

 

 

 

To be continued... I'm at my 6 pic max!

[DemonPeeves]

The first view of this place is misleading like "uh... where is everyone?" but it was just that we were so early. The good side to that? We got great chairs on the beach! The water was warm and clean and we even found a hermit crab in the water! You could use the kayaks if you wanted and they even offered jet ski rentals. I do not remember how much. At this place they also offered 30 minute massages for $20. A few in the party took advantage and loved it. The food consisted of chips, salsa, guacamole, tacos, rice beans, fajitas, things like that. The open bar package also included shots, which some of younger peeps took advantage of.

 

 

 

 

For what you get for the price and the privacy and freedom, I would definately recommend this place! The bathroom and shower facilities were clean, food and drinks were good, and the beach was awesome. Dont be afraid to check it out!!

 

We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours and then they had a van take us back to the flea market area. This was the bummer part- you had to then wait in a loooooooong line to get back on the free bus back to the ship. Some taxis would take you back for like $2/ person, which some people took advantage of. We waited for the bus and it take us about 20 minutes to get one. Have some water with you!

 

Then we took some pics of the port was were were leaving from our balcony. We were on the starboard side and had a view of the container yard. Bummer!

 

 

Bye Ecstasy... see you in Cozumel tomorrow!!

[DemonPeeves]

Tonight was a casual night in the dining room and we were offered some great entertainment. We were also sung to by the maitre d, JP, who sang "Summerwind" quite well. I thought he was a great maitre d! He will be getting married on the Triumph shortly as well. How cool is that?

 

 

 

 

This evening was the Showcase of the Stars- the passenger talent show. I must say... awesome job everyone on this cruise! And there was a variety of talent. I was impressed. Tex, the cruise director, is also so funny! He opened the show singing to a woman in the front row...

 

 

And then ended with some of his comedy and dance moves. He's one of the more entertaining cruise directors I've ever had. He was great!!!

[DemonPeeves]

Yay... look!

 

Now tonight was also the Mega Deck Party!!! Dancing and congo lines and the Mexican buffet.

 

 

 

 

I didnt eat too much from the buffet, but I did enjoy some tacos and churros. Yummy!! Then it was off to bed to get ready for Cozumel!

[navybaby1113]

Great review so far!

[lovermonkey]

Thank you for the review. We are from nw chicago sub and will be on the Triumph on April 16th. Cant wait for more pics.

[DemonPeeves]

For our day in Cozumel we decided, after much research, to go to Mr. Sancho's. We thought that it would be similar to the set up of the Silcer Beach Club and I could get in without a problem and my husband would get the $50 all inclusive. Just an FYI- not the case. The place is almost segregated, so to speak, so if you do not get the package, you go to the left. If you get the package, you go to the right and get all the ammenities. Bummer! I didnt know this! But either way, we all got the $50 package and man... it was worth it!!!!

This place was beautiful, drinks were great, even the virgin ones, and the food was so good! I had like 2 plates of coconut shrimp, beef quesadillas, and sampled everyone else's food and wasnt disappointed. Even if you think you wont drink or eat that much money, you will. Drinks are like $6/$7 a piece and food ranges from a few bucks to $13 for the coconut shrimp.

 

This is their new bar that is like in the pool!

 

 

 

 

And these were so comfortable, I took an hour nap on one!

 

 

Be sure to get there early so you can secure yourself some cabanas and good beach chairs!

 

More to come... at my pic max again!

[cruisedarling]

How far was the van ride to the Slicer Beach Club? Looks like a fun way to spend the day. I'm still loving this review. You are doing a fabulous job!! Thank you