triumph review 8/26-9/2/06

[Knights on the Beach]

I think I need someone to explan what's wrong with shopping at Walmart.

 

Lot of people shop there.

Nothing is wrong with shopping at Wal-Mart, but when someone wants to bash Carnival and the people who enjoy cruising on Carnival, they often compare Carnival to Wal-Mart like they think it's the most insulting thing they could say.

[daaling]

Sorry things weren't so great for you... I'm curious on a couple of things...

 

Let me start with booking. I booked my cruise through Carnival, and had nothing but problems. My vacation specialist changed 3 times, and they were unable to answer simple questions such as where does the boat leave from, what time do I need to be at the boat at, when will I get my room assignment (I booked guarantee). Okay, so when you booked your cruise, they didn't know where it was leaving from? Why didn't you ask for someone else, or look online?? Also, as to when you get your room assignment.. the standard answer is "when you get to the pier"

 

 

We also would ask for a table for two and they were like we don't have any, but behind us were two tables that were dirty, that they were too lazy to clean up. During lunch they have limited staff, so they weren't lying about the tables for 2... they probably clean the tables in shifts. Not something to really get upset about.

 

We also were lied too about the chocolate buffet....I am still waiting for it...it doesn't exist on this cruise. The only two late night buffets are the gala buffet and the mexican buffet which were both pretty good. Who promised you a chocolate buffet? And you realize the chocolate buffet on the ships that do have them, are during lunch, not the buffets at night right???

 

Our dinner waiter was awesome, and the food for sit down dinner was overall pretty good though they repeated some items more than once, and for a 7 day cruise it just seems like they should be able to come up with a diffrerent menu. The menus are pretty varied, as varied as you really can get... I don't know that I've seen exact dishes repeated however. The menus are fleetwide.

 

Formal nights in my opinion, were not enforced in the dining room. There were people with jeans and halter tops. I felt really overdressed in my long silk black dress. The dress code says nothing about jeans not being allowed. If you are saying that a long black dress was the most formal thing there, that is definitely NOT the norm. Most people typically look very nice on formal night.

As far as the pools, they are small, and crowded with kids. There are two adult whirlpools, but they often had kids, and broke down every day at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We were told they were on a timer and would come back on, but we often waited an hour with no changes. It's not really Carnival's fault that there were kids, especially during one of the last weeks before kids head back to school. Security has always been good about getting kids out of the adults only areas, did you notify security??

 

 

Our room was very large (ocean view room), and ship was very nice overall. However, I would not reccomend it to a friend. For the same money princess or royal carribean would be a better deal. This may be a good ship for people who want walmart value and have kids. You pay for what you get, and what I got was bottom of the line service. First of all, which RCL or Princess ships? I can tell you that my RCL experience was the cabins are MUCH smaller... and was a very similar experience. RCL is definitely not a step up in my opinion. Your "wal mart" comment is just rude.

I 'Grees you that...and amen

[daaling]

Loved that old TV show the Loveship!

guess ALLLLL their parts are old..even their spirit(s)..too bad..and spent allll that money just so they could have a bad time n complain about it to us!..there is fab in allll we expierence..just need to lift the lid on it some times!!!

[Johnsy81]

Wouldn't it make more sense to just ignore these reviews rather than respond? If the OP had a bad cruise, they had a bad cruise...nothing anyone on these boards says is going to change that. Let it go and move on to another thread.

 

Peace.

[daaling]

I do have a posative outlook overall, it just was for how much I paid I guess I was expecting to be treated a little bit better by the staff. I said hi to all the staff that I saw and rarely did anyone say hi back. She just sat there with a blank look on her face. Also they are called manicurist, not fingernail ladies...again an example of the caliber of people on carnival. I don't want people to make the same mistake I did of booking a cruise through carnival, spending a ton of money and then having rude service, spoiled milk, and a lot of broken promises. Sorry if I am upset on here, but I went to sandals and nothing but posative things to say about them

Thel...u r NOT recognized by Your "CLASS", nor lack of it..unless you wear a big red "1ST" on your forhead...caliber of folk..how do we alll deal with that, how DO we decide?..which r u ?..I'm sure we all have decided, as you compare to Wally World,,u must visit/buy..so which is it dear?..and you spent a ton of $..wow,,an inch of $50's is eight thou.weighs only a few ounces...got a lot more countin to do here.....1..2..3...4...5..6..7..snzzzzzzzz

[joan_al]

The End!

I Hope.......................

Those that get too big for their britches get exposed in the end...

[jennew]

You folks are kinda brutal. Not everyone likes every cruiseline. I happen to love Princess, but I am not offended at those who don't. I admit, OP was a little insulting with the Walmart comment, but I don't think she deserves all this crap. Nothing is worse than a cruiseline cheerleader. :rolleyes:

[thelemalove93]

As a matter of fact I have plenty of money and finding the right princess or celebrity fare is no problem, just got back and already booked my next cruise and did not do it on carnival nor did I do it guaranteed :) It is a balcony room on the top deck as well.

 

 

My favorite remark by the OP is about how she harassed the Carnival PVPs into giving her a upgrade and a bottle of champagne over not knowing her guaranteed room number which she spent a ton of money on. I don't know about anyone else isn't guaranteed the lowest fare. I hope she finds fares she can afford on RCI or Princess.

[thelemalove93]

Congrats on your masters degree :)

 

 

You folks are kinda brutal. Not everyone likes every cruiseline. I happen to love Princess, but I am not offended at those who don't. I admit, OP was a little insulting with the Walmart comment, but I don't think she deserves all this crap. Nothing is worse than a cruiseline cheerleader. :rolleyes:

[hockeyluver]

"We also were lied too about the chocolate buffet....I am still waiting for it...it doesn't exist on this cruise. The only two late night buffets are the gala buffet and the mexican buffet which were both pretty good. Who promised you a chocolate buffet? And you realize the chocolate buffet on the ships that do have them, are during lunch, not the buffets at night right???"

 

We were on the Triumph in Feb and they had a wonderful chocolate buffet set up on the lido deck. It started around 11 pm.

[EngIceDave]

OP never answered the questions

[jennew]

Congrats on your masters degree :)

 

 

THANK YOU! It was a long road...I was raised on welfare and headed down that road myself. I give all the credit to God, he stepped in at the right time and today my life is totally changed. :)

[bflowngs]

I appreciate the fact that the OP took the time to write her review. Although many of you disagree with her and were offended by the walmart comments, she actually had many positive things to say about the cruise.

 

The positives:

 

.

• Carnival gave her an upgrade and a bottle of champagne for her inconvenience when booking the cruise.
  
• There were no problems with embarkation.
  
• Good deli and desserts (except for cheesecake)
  
• Good gala buffets
  
• Dinner was pretty good, except for repeat menu items (There is always a section of fish, steak and chicken if you don't want what is on the featured menu)
  
• The waiter was awesome.
  
• Liked the towel animals
  
• They liked their room and liked the ship
  
• Enjoyed one of the excursions.
  Entertainment was good.
   
  

The negatives:

 

• Greasy food on buffet. (you can always avoid them)
  
• Milk spoiled (It happens)
  
• Fruit punch out.
  
• Breakfast and lunch in dining room (I always enjoyed these on my cruises)
  
• No chocolate buffet
  
• Formal nights not enforced (Most cruiselines have a hard time enforcing these....check the boards)
  
• Small pools (Even RCC pools are small)
  
• Massage (yes...they are overpriced and they do try to sell you stuff)
  
• One of the excursions was not great. (it happens)

I still plan on booking a spring cruise on the Truimph. We love cruising and have not been disappointed so far. In my opinion, the OP's positives totally outweigh the negatives!! Thanks for reinforcing my opinions about Carnival!

[danfiveoh]

You folks are kinda brutal. Not everyone likes every cruiseline. I happen to love Princess, but I am not offended at those who don't. I admit, OP was a little insulting with the Walmart comment, but I don't think she deserves all this crap. Nothing is worse than a cruiseline cheerleader. :rolleyes:

 

 

I agree! We are trying the Triumph after being away from Carnival for 15 years. Not because of a bad experience, just got stuck on NCL and RCCL for a while and are looking for something different. If you look hard, you'll find negatives with any cruise but sooner or later you'll find a line your happy with, in fact our most disapointing was on Celebrity, generally thought of as an upper tier cruise line...

[Mizz.Katy]

Could be they used the term "fingernail lady" because they couldn't spell manicurist. I suppose someone who can't spell pier could call it a dock... :rolleyes:

 

Not only that she can't spell Pier she can not spell Positive, Come on now. Oh and here is a little bit of some inside scoop for you. Carnival owns Holland America, The Yatchts of Seabourn, Princess, Costa, Cunard & Windstar.

[MrPete]

The Yatchts of Seabourn, .

 

Pointing out spelling errors and type this doozy? :confused:

[Mizz.Katy]

Pointing out spelling errors and type this doozy? :confused:

 

Good for me ! And good to know that you actually noticed, But have you noticed how many times has she misspelled the same word ... Ummm Did not think so. Good Day Mr.Pete :D

[MrPete]

No, I usually ignore them, cause we all make them, and they're against the rules.

 

Good day to you too!

[Rena921]

Not only that she can't spell Pier she can not spell Positive, Come on now. Oh and here is a little bit of some inside scoop for you. Carnival owns Holland America, The Yatchts of Seabourn, Princess, Costa, Cunard & Windstar.

 

Mizz.Katy, you beat me to it! I was just going to point this out to the OP...Hope she enjoys her Princess Cruise :rolleyes:

 

Also, to the OP...why insult us people with children and shop at Walmart? Believe me, I can shop anywhere I choose (and do), but the deals at the big W can't be beat. That was really rude and uncalled for. Not a way to make friends or get anyone on your side. That statement right there took your credibility and tossed it out the window. I was on a RCCL cruise in May and the beds were lumpy, the cabins smaller and there were A LOT of kiddies on board :eek: (mine included). And I got a good deal...does that make it the Jones Store of the upscale world?

[brighteyes818]

Hi, Did anyone else notice them emptying the pools/hot tubs early like 5 or 6pm. I've been on Triumph and I thinks she's right about them shewing everyone off the deck and emptying the pools. The other stuff talked about wouldn't make me change my mind about Carnival I still love the food (danish is great, love the Ceasar salad if all else failded I can live on both for the week,,yummmmm) and I want to go Destiny Aug. 2007 so if anyone else has a comment on the pools I would love to hear. Thanks Laura

[K.T.B.]

Every single time I see someone comment about Wal-Mart in their review, the review is of no substance then.

 

They're just stirring the pot and causing people to get all riled....

[joan_al]

Don't forget Carnivals biggy "Queen Mary II".