6/25/06 Just back from the Triumph!

[VCruisers]

First let me state that this was our very first Carnival cruise, we have only curised with Royal Caribbean (5 times) prior to this. This will be long....I hope it helps with your up and coming cruise!

 

We were a family of 5 - a 16 year old, 8 year old and 21 months

 

Comparisons:

Food:Dining room just as good as RC. Casual dining room on Carnival was so much prettier than RC's, however the food was not up to par. We opted to have breakfast and lunch in the dining room and this was a good alternative for us.

Service: We preferred RC. Only because the staff seemed tired, less "hellos" or "good mornings" but they might just be sick of being nice...think about it week after week..ugh! However was disappointed with the lack of detail to the kids and ourselves for having that little something "extra"

Condition of ship:This was fine, they cleaned all the time. I was disappointed at the amount of work going on though..it was cumbersome sometimes to get around the crews. They also had the pool closed for almost 2 days while they re-stained the benches, etc. on the pool with the retracting canopy.

Beverage services:I think this was my biggest issue. You buy the week soda/bevarge card, however each time you go for a soda it is in a cup...PERIOD! Those that don't purchase the beverage card get a cup with ice and the can. Soooo each time I would get a beverage I usually was knocked into, run into, etc and the cup would fall and with kids it was a real pain, becasue I would hold a hand, juggle a cup, etc. They would NOT give you a can, period even if I would explain or ask. I guess that goes back to the disappointment on some of the service. But they have their rules and the staff defently stuck by them.

Arriving on the ship:We stayed at the downtown Hyatt and arrived on Friday to enjoy downtown Miami for a day, this was nice. Getting on the ship was fine, less organized than I had experienced with RC but fine.

Shore Tours:We did the barefoot sail and snorkel from St. John...it was amazing!! and the crew were awesome!

Port Days:Puerto Rico - waaaay to short. We arrived at 5:00pm, couldn't get off the boat until after 6:00pm the crowd getting off was horrific! All the shops were closed, the fort was closed and we left by midnight. It was really disappointing.

St. Thomas - did the shore tour and some quick shopping, this was fine and as discribed above, shore tour was perfect even though it rained it was perfect.

St. Marteen- Beautiful as always, did Orient beach. One thing that changed, cab fares. $6.00 per person one way! Ouch! Wish I would have known we would have rented a jeep for the day and saved a lot of $$$

Days at sea - Can you really complain here??? Gosh I hope not. Your sailing, with the sun the ship is swaying, your lying around and sipping a drink....can there be any thing better???? Suggestion here would be that we traveled with a toddler (21 months) I took a small pool of my own that I blew up put it beside my lounging chair, she played I laid around and it was great, this was perfect I had used before last November, but it was even more appropriate on this ship with the amount of famalies, the kid/baby pool was over run by teenagers that were a little aggressive and they wouldn't leave, and the pool staff wouldn't assist in helping me ask for some "kid friendly" time...so this worked really well. The band on the lido deck, they were great!

Misc:Art Auction was fun, Comedy "adult themes" one night was fun, the others just were full of bad language and someone trying to be funny..Magic show, awesome! We did a lot of the games as well in the Rome Lounge, this was fun as well. We also visited every night for a port in the Wine Lounge with Lori (abbreviated from her Romanian name), she was wonderful and this was a nice end to an evening...this lounge closes early (tip) so we always went over to the Oxford Lounge to hear the Jazz...this was lovely, great bar perfect Cosmos and music.

Wishes: Wish they had more child care options for the toddler, with RC I can hire a sitter in my cabin and not worry...here I could only really enjoy for 12-2 to enjoy lunch...so I relied a lot on my 16 year old and her friends (their family traveled with us) and we always returned early so the young kids could hang out.

Camp Carnival: My 8 year old requested to be with his cousin who was 9, this was granted on the first orientation night, but then retracted when we actually took them to the functions...so he was bummed and he only went a couple of times, but enjoyed when he did...but really just stayed with us, swimming and hanging out. The slide wasn't open very much with the wind...and as you know their is wind with a ship, so on sea days it was usually closed (disappointing) but safety first.

 

Over all, We enjoyed our trip and time with our friends and family...would I do Carnival again, not sure. Was I disappointed? No, because life is to short not to look at how lucky you are to be in the middle of the ocean, being served food, drinks and playing with your kids. You make it what you want it to be.

 

I hope this helps, feel free to ask questions....enjoy your Cruise.....

[gymbrat33]

I'm glad that you enjoyed your trip. I'm sorry about the inconveniences that you had. I'll be on the Triumph next week. Do you remember who the cruise director was?

[VCruisers]

I'm glad that you enjoyed your trip. I'm sorry about the inconveniences that you had. I'll be on the Triumph next week. Do you remember who the cruise director was?

I think his name was Brian? Who ever the person he was very nice and funny. There was also someone that directed a lot of the games in the Rome Lounge, sorry can't remember the name, he was also very good!

[kathy32259]

When I was on the Triumph in May the CD was Stuart Dunn and his assistant (almost a CD) was Smithy. They were both a hoot!:D

[DEERINH2O]

Oh thanks so much, we are going on the Triumph in August.... We have been on smaller carnival ships and we have been on RCI and Princess, this is our first time back on Carnival in awhile. I am excited to go again as I never had a problem before.

 

Kathy

[gymbrat33]

Thanks Vcruisers and Kathy!