What a Triumph our vacation was!!! Gambling, snorkeling and lots of relaxing!!

[Rudyard]

Yes they did and it was awesome!! They played "Wish upon a star!" Our ship and the disney ship were having a horn battle but I think that the Disney ship won!!

 

The Disney Dream horn plays multiple tunes :)

 

[jasjess7881]

Thanks for all of the great feedback!! Let's continue down memory lane!!

 

Sea Day

 

Let me tell you one thing we were looking forward to on this vacation was sleeping in and no kids waking us up early on the weekends and not having to wake up before the roosters to get the kids ready for school. Well that did not quite happen on this trip, our silly curtain had a mind of it's own. It would not shut all of the way, so there was always a stream of light coming through. So here we are, the first day of sleeping in and we are all awake at 7:30 in the morning!! Geez!!

 

Well we decided to sit on our balcony and enjoy the water going boy. there is nothing like walking out and seeing NO land at all..kinda freaky, but we love it!

 

 

Steve enjoying the balcony and his morning coffee

 

 

More water

 

Well I really did not take many pictures today because we really just wanted to be lazy and we did not leave our balcony much except to eat!

 

We napped on and off and just hung out on our balcony and enjoyed the peace and serenity and just being on vacation!

 

Let me take a quick break right now to tell you about our dining. When we booked our cruise, we were waitlisted on anytime dining, so we were not sure what would happen when we checked in. However, when we received our S&S cards, we in fact received anytime dining and we loved it. We did only eat in the dining room twice though, on elegant night and the night of the Cozumel port, and they were both excellent.

 

Ok back to the review. After spending much of the day in the room, we decided to venture out and look around. We had decided we did not want to get dressed up for elegant dinner, so we were just going to eat at the buffet. However, being the only girl, I used my "I changed my mind" card and decided I did want to eat in the dining room. So we went to change and we got all dolled up and went and enjoyed a great meal. When we showed up for dinner, we just gave them our room number and then they asked us if we wanted to eat with other people or by ourselves. We decided that we wanted to just eat by ourselves and they sat us at a booth. Dinner was great and the service was great and we have absolutely no complaints about our dinner experience. Now, I know that people love food porn, and I usually take alot of pics of food, but this time I did not. Sorry...but here are a couple that I did take.

 

 

These are ribs that were really really good and they were huge. We all shared them and still did not finish them.

 

 

Here are my hubby and myself

 

 

 

After dinner we went back to the room to change and get comfortable and we found a little friend in our room.

[jasjess7881]

Here is our friend of the night

 

 

 

They were going to play Back to the Future on the big screen that night and my husband loves that movie, so I grabbed my e-reader and we went to go watch the movie and just relax on the lido deck.

 

The movie

 

After the movie, we went to go check out the casino and lost some money. My husband and I love to gamble and we try to get away to vegas every couple of years, so the casino is one of our favorite places to visit on the ship. My husband plays craps and I play roulette, but this night the casino was not friendly towards us and we both left empty handed..( that would change in a few days) We then decided to go to bed because we were going to be in Progreso the next day and we wanted to be up early.

 

Up next Progreso

[jasjess7881]

Progreso

 

One of the things that we were bummed about were the port times. They were really short, so we decided that we did not want to try and do any excursions and be rushed. In Progreso our hours in port were 7:30-4, so we decided to do the majority of our shopping here and just visit the beach.

 

When we woke up, we were are already docked, so we got dressed and went to the lido deck to eat the breakfast buffet. I took some pics of the the port from the ship and then we headed off the ship. We were off by 8:30.

 

 

 

When you get off the ship, you have to walk through a store to get to the buses that will take you down the long pier into town. Once you get out of the store they have a bar and some little shops, so people can just stay there if they want instead of going into town.

 

 

This is what we walked out of when we go to the buses

 

[jasjess7881]

We then got onto an air conditioned bus (which was wonderful because it was HUMID) and went into town. The bus takes you to this bus stop and a tour guide gets on and describes some excursions that you can take, we just wanted to walk around, so we said no thank you and got off the bus. We then walked through the market looking area and took a left and headed to the beach. We had been to Progreso before on a previous cruise, so we kinda knew we were going. We decided to do our shopping on the way back, so we didn't have to haul it around all day. We got to the beach and of course there are people every where asking you to sit in their sections. We just said "no thank you" and kept on walking. My husband was looking for good beer prices and I just wanted to get into the water cause it was so hot and sticky. We walked probably a 1/4 of a mile and then a guy said they had buckets of beer--5 beers for $10, my husband said sold!! We sat down and ordered the first bucket and they also had free chips and salsa that Steve said was good..umm no thank you, none for me!!

 

We could see the ship

 

The Palapas and table and chairs

 

I know some people ask about massages in Progreso, here is a card they gave me

 

 

My hubby enjoying his first beer

 

 

My drink of choice

 

 

The guys enjoying themselves

 

 

I know people have bad things to say about all of the vendors on the beach, and everyone is right...it does get old getting pestered every 5 minutes to buy something, But that is their way of life...so we just say "no, thank you" and they move on. We did buy a couple of things for my kiddos from the vendors, but for the most part, we just said no.

[jasjess7881]

Last time we were in Progreso, there was a man with an iguana letting people take pics with it ( of course for a tip). So we were hoping, we would see him again and we did..woohoo!!

 

 

 

 

We had to be back on the shup by 3:30, so we headed back about 12:30 or so, because I wanted to do some shopping and really my hubby was feeling pretty good by this time, so I thought it was best to start heading back. We ventured into a market area and found some good buys for my kids and other family, and then we headed back to the bus station to catch the bus back to the ship. Buses come every 20 mins or so and the last one back to the ship leaves the station 30 mins prior to the ship leaving, so you better be on that one or you may be stuck!! We were lucky enough to get another air conditioned bus and headed back to the ship about 1:30ish. We got back to the terminal and of course Jason and Steve had to have another beer..."just one more babe"

 

 

They had some animals that you could take pics with (for $10, of course)..they had a baby leopard, a baby monkey , and a baby tiger. The tiger was not happy and kept on growling..poor thing!!! In that situation, I always think about what Chris Rock said in one of his comedy acts.."that tiger did not go crazy, that tiger went tiger!"

 

[jasjess7881]

 

We finally started walking back to the boat and took some last pics before boarding.

 

 

 

We boarded and went to go eat because we were starving. We then went to shower and change and watch the sail away from our balcony.

 

Good bye Progreso

 

[jasjess7881]

Steve decided to take a nap after sail away

 

and then we all fell asleep for a little while. Man vacations are wonderful!!

 

Oh a little side note that I forgot to mention that this day was also Steve's birthday!! So Happy Birthday to you!! I think he had a blast!!

 

Well after our naps, we got up and headed down to the Olympic Bar (The Sports Bar) to watch Monday Night Football. So besides huge Longhorn fans, we are also ...Dallas Cowboys fans..I know I know!! So we were excited to watch them win..umm yeah not quite! We had hoped that they would be on the big screen, but the fun times said that they were going to play "The Notebook" so we were content in just watching it in the sports bar. Well about halfway through the first quarter, someone came in and said that the game was on the big screen...so the bar emptied out and everyone headed to the lido deck. There is nothing like watching your favorite sports team play a HUGE tv screen while cruising in the middle of the ocean!! Well about the 3rd quarter, the game signal cut out..thank goodness, because we could not watch that butt whooping anymore!!!!!!!!

 

In the bar, before the game

 

watching the game on the big screen under the stars!!

 

 

We headed to our room to get some more drinks and we found another friend.

 

 

We walked through the casino that night but did not donate any of our money ( but there will be some exciting casino action coming up..I promise). We then headed to bed because we had a really early morning for Cozumel.

[klgreen803]

My SIL, cousin and I were on the same cruise. We had a fantastic time. I am sailing aboard the Triumph again on Dec 22 and feel great about going again! Looking forward to your review. We went to rest and relax so our review wouldn't be very interesting to most readers so I'll just wait and enjoy yours. I found the Triumph to be a fine ship. She's a little worn but it just shows character. There was one elevator that was out of order the entire cruise and there were some lines at expected times but nothing like what the negative reviews led us to believe. There was an unpleasant odor outside one of the doors down our hallway but it was too bad and did not permeate the hallway and stairwells as was also reported in a negative review. The staff and crew were friendly, helpful and courteous. Check-in and embarkation were a breeze as was leaving the ship. Great experience for us!

[jasjess7881]

Cozumel

 

Again we had another short port day--8-3. We wanted to be off the ship by 8 am. We had decided after extensive research(by me) that we wanted to go to Chankanaab and do some snorkeling and Steven really wanted to see the underwater Christ statue and he also wanted to go to downtown Cozumel, where Senor Frog's and Margaritaville are. So we made a plan and we stuck with our plan pretty well and never felt rushed.

 

We actually set an alarm and got up by 7:15 and looked outside and this is what we see

 

It is the Carnival Legend!!

 

 

We were just pulling up to Cozumel, so we sat out there and watched as we pulled up to dock. In Progreso, we were not on the dock side...so in Cozumel, we really wanted to be on the dock side (to watch the runners, of course) and I got my wish granted..YEA!! It was really cool to be out on our balcony and see the Legend dock right next to us and it was sooooo close!!

 

 

 

Here comes the Legend

 

 

Afterward we watched the Legend dock, we headed up to eat and take a few pics from the ship

[jasjess7881]

 

 

 

Well we got off the ship about 8:30 or so and headed through the port store and through the shops that they have at the terminal. We headed to the taxi stand and I had read here on CC that it was $10 for up to 4 people to Chankanaab and it sure was.

 

 

 

 

After a short drive, we were there

 

 

Now in Chankanaab, they have a Dolphin Discovery, where you can swim with the dolphins (for a price), they have a free sea lion show, a manatee show(free) and you can swim with the manatees (for a charge). They also have a snorkeling area, which is where we headed. You can bring your own snorkeling equipment and rent fins, snorkel and mask for $10. Jason and I rented, but Steve brought his own. Now we are pretty strong swimmers and did not want to wear a life vest, but all the signs said it was required but the guy running the equipment rental said it was up to us. We chose not to get a life vest and was glad of it later on.

[jasjess7881]

My SIL, cousin and I were on the same cruise. We had a fantastic time. I am sailing aboard the Triumph again on Dec 22 and feel great about going again! Looking forward to your review. We went to rest and relax so our review wouldn't be very interesting to most readers so I'll just wait and enjoy yours. I found the Triumph to be a fine ship. She's a little worn but it just shows character. There was one elevator that was out of order the entire cruise and there were some lines at expected times but nothing like what the negative reviews led us to believe. There was an unpleasant odor outside one of the doors down our hallway but it was too bad and did not permeate the hallway and stairwells as was also reported in a negative review. The staff and crew were friendly, helpful and courteous. Check-in and embarkation were a breeze as was leaving the ship. Great experience for us!

 

 

Hello, glad that ya'll had a blast also!! We relaxed alot also and I am hoping people are not getting bored from my review!! I did see the out of order elevator but it didnt seem to make that much of a difference. The biggest lines we saw were for the Chopsticks and the grill, but hey we are on vacation and I did not have to cook or clean..no complaining from me!!!! I am so jealous that you get to go again so soon!! We don't get to go again until next summer:(. The staff and crew were so nice and helpful even when they were getting yelled at by some mighty rude people!! Ugh..not sure how I could have kept on smiling but they did!!

[jasjess7881]

 

 

 

 

 

[txmom11]

Enjoying your review. DD and I are going in December and can't wait. I understand about watching your team play. Last October, we would literally run back to the cabin to watch the Rangers play (wouldn't have been a problem this year :rolleyes:).

 

DH and I are one of those rare finds in the DFW area---Redskins fans. :eek:

 

Can't wait to hear more.

[jasjess7881]

 

The snorkel area

 

 

and I turned around and saw the ships

 

I had to have a pink snorkel..lol

 

The place was dead when we got there and it really stayed pretty empty the whole time we were there. There were only our 2 ships in port that day.

 

[jasjess7881]

here is a pic of the map that they gave us when we arrived

 

 

We got our snorkel gear and they also provided complimentary lockers, so we put our stuff up and headed out to the water. We got into the water and it felt wonderful and was sooo blue. I do have to say though that there was a storm or something that had recently passed, so there was quite a bit of seaweed on the water, but it was still pretty clear.

 

Here are some of my underwater pics

 

The stairs into the snorkel area...once you step off, you can not touch

 

 

 

my husband fixing to get in

 

 

 

[jasjess7881]

My husband

 

 

 

 

They had a floating platform out in the middle..so we swam over to it and got out and looked around and caught our breath

 

 

We then headed to the underwater Christ Statue and got some great pics! It was huge and beautiful!

 

 

[jasjess7881]

Now Jason and Steve wanted to swim down to it, I was not able to do it, but they were!!

 

Jason

 

Steve

 

 

 

They were pretty tired after that dive..so we swam in

 

here is the seaweed I was talking about

 

 

Some more fish that we saw while swimming back...these fish were not scared of you and would swim right next you..it was crazy!!

 

 

[jasjess7881]

Here are a few more

 

 

 

 

We got out for a while and just sat back and relaxed and enjoyed the view.

 

 

[jasjess7881]

Ok I am pretty beat and will finish Cozumel tomorrow and hopefully get to the last sea day where it gets pretty exciting!! Good night my cruising buddies!!

[Crusin Karen]

What a beautiful beach! Strange that noone else was there, esp. with 2 ships in port. I have read a lot of reviews where Cozumel was a port, but have never heard of this beach. :confused: Thanks for the share. ;)

[Luluwa]

Ok I am pretty beat and will finish Cozumel tomorrow and hopefully get to the last sea day where it gets pretty exciting!! Good night my cruising buddies!!

Lovely review, we sail on the Triumph this Oct 22nd and have enjoyed your pics. Thanks :o

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, thanks for taking the time to post it and your wonderful pictures.

[cvpends]

I love the Triumph! She's the ship that sold me on Carnival :) Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[cruisetexas]

Great review, thanks. We were on the cruise before you, and the elevator was out the whole cruise, too.

 

I unfortunately broke my arm in Progreso so was pretty out of it for the remainder of the cruise! Going again in February, though....just need to not trip and fall....and there was NO alcohol involved!

 

Sounds like you know how to enjoy....don't sweat the small stuff!