My Triumph-ant Review: October 24-29, 2011

[DTXCruiser]

I just returned from a 5 day on the Triumph out of Galveston, hitting ports in Cozumel and Progreso.

 

I have cruised 4 times previously, two with Carnival. But, this was my first since 2004.

 

I didn't take many photos, as I was having way too much fun....unfortunately, I couldn't upload the photos I did take...I'll work on it as I continue the review.

 

I had plenty of questions prior to my cruise, as it had been so long since my last...so I feel compelled to help anyone that has any questions. I will be happy to give you any info I have from my experience.

 

I'll break down the review to each day, starting with my drive from Dallas on the Sunday before the Monday Embarkation.

 

Hope you enjoy it....even sans photos.

[DTXCruiser]

So I booked my 5 day in July for October 24 through 29 on the Triumph out of Galveston.

 

I read as many reviews as possible and chose to book a balcony for the first time in 4 cruises.

 

Embarkation was Monday Oct 24. I was traveling with the Boyfriend and chose to travel to the area, from Dallas, TX on the Sunday prior.

 

After a bit of research, I chose to stay the night before in Kemah, TX. I have cruised out of Galveston twice before. Even though it had been a number of years, I didn't have an interest in staying in Galveston.

 

I have lived in Dallas, TX all my life and had never heard of Kemah, TX. If you are looking for an activity prior to your cruise...I highly recommend!

 

Kemah has a boardwalk on the bay. I booked the Kemah Boardwalk Hotel for the night. Every room has a small balcony overlooking the main area of the boardwalk and it is WELL worth it!

 

We left Dallas at about 10 am and arrived in Kemah at about 2:30pm. We took our time, stopping once. It was a boring drive, but no stress. I was a little surprised at the amount of traffic we encountered in Houston for a Sunday. But it was then that I was happy I chose to stay in Kemah the night before the cruise.

 

Our room was ready and was a GREAT location. We had a king size room. It was clean, quiet, and very comfortable.

 

We toured the boardwalk, checked out the Aquarium, then watched the Cowboys beat the St. Louis Rams...perfect start to my vacation! The boardwalk had several outdoor bars...with t.v.s and great views of the water and boardwalk area.

 

After the game we had dinner at Landry's. Great service and great food!

 

There was a live band at the main stage of the boardwalk, right in front of the hotel. The band was great...even keeping to the Halloween theme with costumes and songs.

 

It was Sunday, so everything shut down between 9 and 10pm.

 

If you have a family.....I think a Friday and Saturday may afford you a bit more time.

 

Either way, it was a great time and excellent area!

 

We were in bed by about 11. Kemah is only about 25 minutes from the Galveston Port...so we had a very relaxing sleep, with no worries about making embarkation.

[SATOWN]

Great review so far!!

[Princesss]

I love Kemah ! It is more of a sailing town than a beach town. They have a lot to do, carnival rides, and places to eat. My favorite thing is the "Boardwalk Beast Speedboat Thrill Ride" it's pretty fast & they play the music really loud and make a lot of sharp turns.. "The Boardwalk Beast has been described as feeling like a roller coaster on open water"

[bookpage]

I want to tag along for this review, as we are sailing for the first time on Nov. 7th.

[DTXCruiser]

I love Kemah ! It is more of a sailing town than a beach town. They have a lot to do, carnival rides, and places to eat. My favorite thing is the "Boardwalk Beast Speedboat Thrill Ride" it's pretty fast & they play the music really loud and make a lot of sharp turns.. "The Boardwalk Beast has been described as feeling like a roller coaster on open water"

 

This is a great description of the Boardwalk...it's not "Beach" but the Boardwalk is great fun and definitely gets you in the mood for your Cruise. We did not venture out onto the Beast, primarily because we didn't plan on it....it's about $20 pp and they warn that you WILL get wet. Since we had all our electronics on us we chose not to do it. It was busy and looked like fun. It's a large speed boat with "Entertainment Girls" on board, providing a party-like atmosphere.

 

The rest of the boardwalk is very much an upscale carnival atmosphere. High energy, fun, at night I can see it getting romantic. Nice place overall and excellent place to start our vacation.

[mustwork2cruise2]

Great review so far. Can't wait for the rest!! Cruising the Triumph in Jan with a group of 20+ ladies!!

[DTXCruiser]

So we woke about 9am. Had a great rest at the Kemah Boardwalk hotel. It was very quiet and the bed was very comfortable.

 

I also love the bath amenities. I forget the name, but they all had a strong orange scent...excellent way to wake up!

 

Check out was easy. As far as "need to know"...the hotel is not exactly "full service". There are no porters, bell boys, or anything of that nature....I'm certain that if you need assistance, someone on staff could help, but no designated person. I requested extra towels the night before and they were delivered to the room within 15 mins...so service is great!

 

Through the week (Monday through Friday) breakfast dining options were limited. The front desk staff notified us upon check-in, so no surprises. There was a buffet style place right behind the hotel and then Starbucks within walking distance. We did Starbucks....it was a unique one with lots of character and only one other person at 10am!

 

Our drive was EASY. Compared to Dallas traffic, this was perfect! It took less than 25 mins to get to Galveston. We chose to drive around a bit. They have recovered well from the last Hurricane. I saw that The Strand (downtown tourist area) was built up well. I will consider staying down there next time.

 

We stopped at the beach, which was clean and groomed well. The weather was perfect! Bright, sunny, and warm. Not a cloud in the sky. We didn't get in the water, but at 11:30, there were several folks there.

 

Just as a warning....I saw several hotels that I considered staying at, based upon internet reviews and photos. They looked MUCH different in person. It should be of no surprise, but just a reminder...be cautious when choosing.

 

We drove to the port at about 12:15pm. The traffic was moderate to heavy....but they had police and security directing it VERY WELL. There was no question of where to go or how to get there. Kudos to the port folks on that.

 

We, of course got our first views of Triumph...she looked great!

 

I dropped off the BF and luggage at the port. Porters were there assisting and there were plenty. Again....great job with this, zero problems.

 

I then drove away....I had pre-booked a covered parking space across the street at Galveston Park and Cruise. No big signs, but it is literally across the street and there is a man with a board, identifying where to go. I parked in what appeared to be a large storage building. About 20 other cars inside. It had concrete walls and a metal door...I felt more than safe leaving it.

 

The description for Galveston Park and Cruise said you simply walk back. But the actual parking area is about a block or two away from the main street....so they did have a shuttle. This was great. Once back at the street, I walked to the port.

 

The luggage had been taken, I met up with the BF and we easily found our way to the doors and into the first of a couple lines.

 

We were in a fast moving line for security first. Security went rather quickly. It was faster than I recall. There was one guy shouting explicit directions every few minutes...after about a 15 minute line, your I.D. was checked against your boarding pass and then you sent your carry on through X-Ray. Then we walked through a metal detector.

 

This was not as intense as airport security, but it seemed to look for the "big" problems. You still had to remove belts and any metal.

 

We were bringing 2 bottles of wine. We were instructed to go to a secondary table...there, they inspected the wine, making sure it was not open or tampered with. They also did a very cursory look (I would not even call it a search) of carry on.

 

I'll also point out that the X-Ray folks were doing a very thorough job. (I paid attention because I am in the Law Enforcement/Security Field). I noticed that there was one guy was sitting at each X-Ray Screen. A second guy (or gal) was manning the walk through metal detector and several guys were walking around....any time the X-Ray guy had something questionable...the rover would come and look with him...if they thought it needed thorough searching...that's what would happen.

 

If nothing else...I felt safe. I don't believe anyone could get guns or anything of a serious threat through at this point.

 

I will address the actual Embarkation in my next post...The entire security process took less than 30 minutes....if that. It was smooth and without problems. If you have any questions, feel free to ask (best to do while fresh in my mind!). :)

[FlorenceItaly]

LOVING this review. Please keep it coming. We sail on November 7th. Thanks for taking the time!

Edited to say that on a previous Galveston cruise we visited the Kemah boardwalk and it was alot of fun. This was an August cruise.

 

 

 

 

Marie

[firefly333]

OP you have a great memory for details. i cant remember 3 things for 3 minutes without forgetting one of them.

[GradUT]

I'm looking forward to reading more of your nicely detailed report. We cruise on the Triumph in February.

[kwbound]

Thanks for taking the time to post. We have sailed on the Ecstasy 3 times and always enjoyed it. Looking forward to the rest of the review, especially how Hurricane Rina effected the trip.

[trvlqueen]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review! I'm planning to book tomorrow, so am waiting with bated breath for the rest of your review!

[daffodil52]

Am enjoying your reviews-keep them coming!! I'm a first time cruiser and am taking the same cruise in January. Really appreciate the info!!

[SweetpeaOne]

Very nice review. Thanks for sharing.

[dfmeeks]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review. We are sailing on the Triumph for spring break & have been a bit nervous with the most recent reviews. However, the title of your review suggests it was a very good cruise. Can't wait to read more!!

[LBumb]

nice review

[DTXCruiser]

I appreciate all the feedback. Please be patient. As one poster indicated, I am trying to remember details of the trip....it takes a bit of time. I have also figured out my photo situation, so that should help the flow some. Again, I had a great time, so didn't spend much of it taking photos and of the ones I got, some didn't come out as expected. But, i'll post and see what ya think.

 

As I have already posted about the hotel we stayed in....I will show you some photos:

[DTXCruiser]

As we cleared security our excitement level was growing. We had made it through security without a hitch and quicker than I expected.

 

This, unfortunately, changed. We were quickly and efficiently directed to an area upstairs. This, we were told, is where we would actually check-in with Carnival. Our names would be verified, Sign and Sail Cards would be issued and account(s) set up.

 

We passed a couple sections of chairs. There was no one waiting. What I expected was that groups of folks would be sitting, waiting to board the ship after checking in. That was not the case.

 

We had our choice of two lines....these lines were wrapped around each other....think a loosely coiled snake.....But they were only slightly longer than the security lines we had just encountered, so we chose one line (there didn't seem to be any difference). And the wait began.

 

After about 10 minutes I noticed we had only moved about 5 feet. The line was growing behind us but didn't seem to be moving much in front. From what I could see, it appeared that there were at least 8 to 10 Carnival Employees sitting at a long counter in front of computers...they appeared to be checking people in.

 

I started my stop watch....by the time we reached the final "coil" of the line...it had reached one hour 20 minutes...that's on top of the 10 minutes we waited before I started the timing and I stopped timing it, though we still waited another 10 minutes to get to a computer.

 

We kept a positive attitude during this wait. We had phones to access e-mail, news, the internet....and we kept saying "this is a vacation, it's ok, we are here to have fun!". And that all helped with the wait. I saw many older folks, overweight folks, and a few kids....not sure how they all made it through...but we did. By the end of the wait....the complaints were being heard loudly. People were mostly wondering WHY the long wait. What we later heard (I don't know it to be true or not) is that there was a computer problem on Carnival's side causing the extended wait. Either way...it was too long and not fun at all. I can gladly say it was the worst part of the trip! This was one of those things that We could not control...so why let it ruin the vacation.

 

As we checked in, I was asked for the CC that I used to set up the account on-line. I was happy I had it because I had listed the account number incorrectly! This error was quickly fixed. I was issued a Gold S&S and the BF was issued a Blue.

 

The S&S card shows your name, date issued, Dining Room, Table #(which we found would change many times) and confirmation of your dining time (ours was Your Time Dining). Of course I had a past guest number on mine and the all important folio # (this is how they primarily track your purchases).

 

There was also a stack of papers at the counter. The Carnival rep didn't point them out or hand one to us....I am nosy....so I picked one up and saw it was directed to the Boarding Guests! I am a bit confused as to why this was not handed to us or pointed out by the rep...maybe she would have given it as we walked away...I am not certain. But either way, it explained that Hurricane Rena was indeed named and would affect our cruise. The Itenerary was originally Galveston, Sea day, Progreso, Cozumel, Sea Day. They simply swapped the port days...so we were going to Cozumel first. This was explained in the letter. Basically we would get to Cozumel right before Rena was to strike and visit Progreso as Rena was striking Cozumel, leaving Progreso ahead of the storm to avoid it all.

 

I was a bit concerned about this, as I had scheduled a Snorkeling Tour independent of Carnival, in Cozumel. I had already prepared myself to lose the money....realizing that this was a danger of sailing at the end of Hurricane season as well as booking a tour outside of Carnival. I'll address the happy results later....but the letter did say, in general, that tours would be re-arranged and to contact the Excursion Desk.

 

After the long and miserable wait....we happily were escorted directly to the ramp leading to the ship! We had a very minimal wait in line....just a bottle neck of people boarding. Prior to boarding we were given the option of having "happy vacation" photos taken...I thought, from the past, that everyone had to stop and get photos taken. This was not the case, they politely asked and if you declined...as we did....they waved you towards the ramp. I saw many doing this. I think after a long wait in line, folks were not able to muster up a smile!

 

Our entry to the ship made us forget about our long wait. I believe we boarded at approximately 2:45. This caused a bit of a rush...we were still scheduled to leave at 4:30 and the Safety Drill was scheduled for 3:30! As we boarded, the Carnival Security scanned our S&S cards, we took photos that would be linked to our S&S cards and we were waved on into the Ship!

 

Next up: Safety Drill, Cabin, and Sail Off!!

 

Here are a couple shots of Galveston and the first view of Triumph!

[crewsweeper]

This is a great description of the Boardwalk...it's not "Beach" but the Boardwalk is great fun and definitely gets you in the mood for your Cruise. We did not venture out onto the Beast, primarily because we didn't plan on it....it's about $20 pp and they warn that you WILL get wet. Since we had all our electronics on us we chose not to do it. It was busy and looked like fun. It's a large speed boat with "Entertainment Girls" on board, providing a party-like atmosphere.

 

The rest of the boardwalk is very much an upscale carnival atmosphere. High energy, fun, at night I can see it getting romantic. Nice place overall and excellent place to start our vacation.

 

Used to crew on J-24 sailboats out of Kemah, years ago now. Remember when Landry's was being built. Used to be a couple of other good seafood places/bars along the canal. The Cove area at Port Canaveral reminds me a bit of Kemah in those days. Great choice to stay.

[DTXCruiser]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review. We are sailing on the Triumph for spring break & have been a bit nervous with the most recent reviews. However, the title of your review suggests it was a very good cruise. Can't wait to read more!!

 

I probably read the same reviews and was, indeed, nervous as well! I learned to take ALL reviews (yes, even mine) with a grain of salt. Your vacation will be YOUR vacation. Little things that affect you may not affect me. As you read on...you will see that most everything went as planned for us. That is really what made our vacation a great one. And certainly Carnival and the staff of Triumph did their job! :D

[DTXCruiser]

We boarded Triumph and, almost immediately, my worries were dismissed. I read several reviews from folks who sailed her in the couple weeks prior to mine and after her drydock. There were claims that not a thing was done, carpet ripped and stained, dusty, dirty, etc. I am a "clean freak". So, of course, this worried me. I also know that Triumph is an older ship. But, I boarded her and can tell you, the interior was excellent. I didn't walk around looking down at the carpet, but I also didn't notice any stains, tears, problems with flooring. Every staff member I encountered was polite. All service folks had smiles on their face. The maintenance staff weren't super friendly, but were polite and certainly not unfriendly.

 

Because of the time, I was wanting to hurry and get a drink and be ready for sail away. So, we first went to our cabin. I will go into greater detail of our cabin in the next post....because I was SUPER impressed with it. But for now, I will say, I highly recommend 1101!

 

I was also pleasantly surprised that all 4 pieces of our luggage had already made it there! As we were placing our luggage in our cabin and looking around....we heard the dreaded Safety Announcement. They warned us that it was coming so we stayed and unpacked a bit. We were then instructed to go to Muster Station C. When I cruised last it was a requirement to wear your life vest. I was happy to learn that this is no longer a requirement!

 

We, unfortunately, were some of the first few to make to our Muster Station. I tend to take this drill seriously (again because of my background). So I had no drink and was following directions. Others had clearly already been drinking and I saw at least a couple carrying a drink. We were on the back row and it took about 5 to 10 minutes for all to arrive and additional 3 or 4 minutes for a few stragglers.

 

Here comes the second worst portion of the vacation....staff demonstrated the use of the life vest and it seemed everyone paid attention. We all stood there....doing as instructed until the announcement came to begin dismissing stations when called. We waited....and waited. Finally, after 3 or 4 minutes, the first couple stations were called. There was a wait of about 4 minutes between each dismissal. Now, that may not seem like a long time, but consider that we just boarded after waiting in a very long line, it was hot and we were packed together, litterally no room between us....I know there are reasons for not dismissing all at the same time and frankly, I realize there may be no other way to get around all this....but maybe other methods of satisfying the requirements can be found? Who knows.

 

When it was all said and done, the safety drill lasted about 25 minutes(since we were some of the first to arrive), it was over and we didn't dwell on it. We got in and rushed to the upper decks, as we immediately heard the horns blowing, indicating departure soon.

 

We made it to the upper decks in time to get a DOD and watch the sail away!

 

The lines and the hot safety drill were behind us....the Cruise had officially begun! I didn't notice any other ship in port. Because of the way the port is secured, there was no one to wave to....but it was a great Sail Away. The sun was out, it was warm out, with a slight breeze and everyone seemed happy!

[dfmeeks]

Fabulous! Keep going!

[cruiser fanatic]

HI DTXCruiser great review so far is it possible that you still havethe funtimes as I would love to see them.

[futuresoonermom]

Loving the review!

 

Leaving on Conquest out of Galveston this coming Sunday...

 

Glad to know about the Park n Cruise details as well as the news that The Strand is coming back together well!

 

:D