Just back from the Triumph 10/7-10/14

[vegasnvcruiser]

We returned home from what could have been a great cruise. Unfortunately it was just a "good" cruise. My DH and I went with 7 first time cruisers and 1 who had only been on 1 prior cruise.

 

What was the problem? Rude children and teenagers not being watched by their parents at all. Carnival staff couldn't keep up with the buggers either and ended up resorting to just closing down the adult only spas to get rid of them. We tried to politely tell some 10 - 12 yo's that they weren't supposed to be in the spa and that they would end up getting closed again... and we're treated to a tongue slashing that would put a truck driver to shame. I was also called a b**** after I suggested that a young man wait over to the side as I was doing for his pizza to be cooked. He insisted on standing where no one else could access the other slices that were ready. Those were just a couple of things that occurred.

 

Mind you, I don't have kids (can ya tell?) but there were several kids on the cruise and we take our cruises during the school year just to avoid this. I guess missing a week of school isn't that big of a deal anymore. There were a lot of well behaved children on board as well, but I couldn't believe they were still up after midnight! We sat with one couple who were just beside themselves because their 14 yo kept leaving her cabin and meeting up with a boy. They caught her at 4:30 in the morning! They finally started taking away her sign and sail card so she wouldn't be able to "sneak back in". My suggestion would be to just let her know next cruise, she'll be staying at the nunnery while mom and dad go and relax for a week!

 

Saturday morning at 2:30 we were treated to a couple of families (dad led them up!) marching up and down deck 6 chanting "carnival s###s". Security came down, broke it up and rumor has it took dad away. Perhaps that's where all those rotten children came from!

 

All in all, it was a swell cruise, but I think we'll be going back to a cruise line where 60+ is the average age.

[DqALEX]

Try Holland Americia line. My parents sail on that line. After 11:00PM it is very quiet. The casino is closed by midnight. Just be very carefull of the electric chairs you might get run over while in line on the lido deck.

[danfiveoh]

Been there done that. It's unfortunate how a few kids and sometimes even "juvenile" adults can screw up a cruise. I really don't think there is much Carnival or any other cruise line can do about it. It's all about the parents. We've taken our son with us since he was about 12. The 2nd cruise he hooked up with some other kids and they all became a typical obnoxious group. I sat him down and asked him if he was having a good time, he grinned and said "yep, cruises are the best!" I said, great, enjoy yourself cause this is the last one your ever going on with your mom and I. The smile faded rather fast and he was on his best behavior from then on.

[trevette1981]

Question about the 14 yr old girl- WHY do people let their kids stay in a different cabin than they are in? They could do WHATEVER they want and someone could hurt them.

 

Kids in general are starting to get on my nerves. I think they should sanction who has kids. They should give some type of mental test where they ask them questions hooked up to a machine. I teach and I see so many examples of where birth control should have been given out for free! Heck, if I hadn't been 12 when most of my students were born, I would have paid for it happily.

 

Can you tell I'm looking for a second career?LOL:D

[mrmrscheese]

I know the area we are from most of the schools private & public do fall break during that week. Sorry they ruined it for you. When we were on the conquest last Oct. there was a group of 8'ish to 12'ish aged kids that we called the wolf pack, they were everywhere you turned and always up to no good. We are taking our dd's who will be 18 & 20 and we have already set down the rules even though they will be across the hall they still will have the same rules, curfews etc. as if they were at home. Both work in the service industry and can not tolorate rude unbehaved children! Even when they are with a grouip of the same age group they are they don't mind letting them know that they are acting rude and obnoxius. Other then the beastly children how was the condition, staff, activities in general on the ship? We will be on the Triumph out of New Orleans next Sept.

[nycruiser2006]

That is too bad. On our cruise last year we had our DD and my sister's daughter with us and they were great - but much younger. They were never left to run free or amuck.

Besides the issue with the kids - how was the rest of the cruise? Food, entertainment, your room, etc?

[dansu]

I don't get it, why do people let their kids loose on a ship. Call me an over protective mom, but I wouldn't have a moments peace knowing my kids were unsupervised and running around a massive floating hotel. Never mind the trouble they could get into on their own, but add 3000 strangers to the mix! :eek:

[vegasnvcruiser]

The rest of our cruise was pretty good. We stayed at the Intercontinental and watched as a Royal Carribean pulled in Saturday morning and then our Triumph. The lighting was dimmer on the Triumph and DH deemed our ship the "Ghetto Ship". It was a joke... for the most part!

 

Check in was quick and easy... got to the port at around 12:15, sitting down for a quick bite by 1:00. Deli as wonderful as we remembered. Into the room by 1:45. Room wasn't quite ready, so we went wandering around. Layout seemed a lot like the Conquest we had been on back in '02. We had a balcony on the upper deck. SO much storage. Loved the love seat... quite a few naps on it! Bedding didn't impress me as much as I had hoped, since people rave about it on the boards. I scavaged around and found an old blue blanky which provided more than enough cover... the comforter was WAY too heavy for the Carribean. We used the comforter as more of a pillow top for the mattress!

 

Deck chairs were plastic. DH and I are BIG people and were concerned about the chairs as the ones on our balcony were adirondack style but were incredibly comfortable... and we fit!

 

Our cabin steward(s) were not quite what we are used to. He neglected to bring back clean beach towels, didn't always give us ice and charged us for beverages we didn't take.

 

The food was so-so. My favorite is always seafood, but this time out it was usually overcooked and rubbery. The filet mignon was GREAT, but the NY Strip which was an alternative was not all that from what I heard... I never tried it. They do have a great alternative listing which is the same everyday but is actually listed on the menu. We did discover that you can pretty much order something however you want (without sauce, etc.) and if you want french fries with your filet, order 'em up, they were happy to accomodate. My husband discovered rice on the alternative list and had rice and gravy a couple of nights after that. I ate at the deli once (tasty ruebens!), the Hong Kong Noodle company several times (not as good as I remembered, but okay) and mostly ate breakfast in the dining room. Eggs benedict was mediocre, but I just love the pastries and hot tea. Speaking of tea... do any of the cruise lines BREW their tea? That stuff was flat out nasty! Pizza place was the bomb as usual. Nothing like a late night freshly made stromboli or chicken caesar salad with garlic bread (ask for cheese on that for a special treat!). DH liked the grill... they had great steak sandwiches... add mushrooms and grilled onions and have them chop up that steak... yummy philly hot off the grill. And of course... the ice cream machine. If you order room service be sure and try the chicken burritto thingy... ask for extra chicken.

 

Entertainment... I didn't go to a single show... sorry! I did hear good things about it though. Wait... I did go to the Not so Newlywed game, which is always one of my favorites and they had a special Halloween night where they showed Friday the 13th. The movie was lame, but the fact that they had "ghouls" sneaking through the lounge scaring the crud out of people made it funnier than all get out. They did have sattelite tv which was great when one was attempting to recover from too much fun or too much dinner. There were 3 movie channels which showed the same movie all day. They changed daily.

 

The "returning guest" party was a bust. Overcrowded, in the Rome lounge, making it impossible to "mingle" and started during our dinner! It was for 45 minutes. And for those of you who felt they were short changed on the gift... we got zip! The horsey derveys didn't even make it up to us. All they offered was alcoholic beverages, which I'm not supposed to have... but did have a couple of rum punches... didn't want to appear too rude!

 

Casino... my friends were winning... and losing. Being from Las Vegas I passed on the gambling. The machines are extremely outdated and I'm used to the penny casinos. Them there nickel machines were too rich for my blood!

 

I think I went out on deck twice during the day. It was hot and muggy out there and being from the desert not a desireable climate and I don't do sun on purpose. And then there were those darned kids. We did attempt to use the adults only spa every night after dinner. The slide and miniature golf course were closed most of the week due to high winds.

 

Puerto Rico... got off the boat for a couple of minutes. I have been there a couple of times during the day and seen the historical stuff which was closed by the time we got there. They shouldn't do this stop at night.

 

St Thomas. Skip it. Go directly to St. John. Trunk Bay is the most beautiful beach I've ever been to, the water so clear and wasn't all that crowded.

 

St. Maarten. The shopping hot spot. Took a ship tour there. Went to Mullet Bay. Dissapointing after Trunk Bay. But I suffered through it. Nice little island.

 

Disembarkation went smoothly. The self assist started at 7:15. We were off by 9:00 and caught a cab quickly to the airport.

 

Like I said originally, it was a good cruise... I'm just spoiled and like GREAT cruises! I wouldn't recommend Carnival to anyone who wasn't used to kids being around and probably won't be cruising with them again.

[ladychidz]

I agree about the children being rude, I did bring mine. She never entered the spa as the sign clearly stated not with out an adult. But the problem still remained that there was nothing for the children to do. As far as the chanting at 2:30 am (that was not right) but did you know that they closed the Disco an 1 1/2 early? When asked why it was stated in the "Day at Sea" till 4 am they responded "we need to get ready for tommorow" . The crew was 20% understaffed. We booked the Fun Ship for fun expecting services that we never recieved. No 24hr sushi bar, no 24hr europeon cafe most of all no coffee. I would never sail with carnivall again.

[vegasnvcruiser]

I thought Carnival had "Camp Carnival"? Too bad there was nothing for the kids to do. They should have had something... at least until 10:00 or so. No one can ever justify the 2:30 chanting thingy to me. The passengers can't do anything about what Carnival did or didn't do. If they wanted to get their point across, they should have been marching where the crew sleeps!

 

AND.. on the Triumph... secret doors on level 6 forward where you can then go up to 7. Also on 9 and 10 forward.

[mahamc]

I think all cruise ships should mandate that children under the age of 16 should be with an adult at all times, if not participating in the camps. I have 2 children myself and would not let them gallivant around the ship. When vacationing elsewhere....do parents let their children go off on their own? I certainly don't. Why should it be any different on a cruise ship?

[ladycaveat]

Been there done that. It's unfortunate how a few kids and sometimes even "juvenile" adults can screw up a cruise. I really don't think there is much Carnival or any other cruise line can do about it. It's all about the parents. We've taken our son with us since he was about 12. The 2nd cruise he hooked up with some other kids and they all became a typical obnoxious group. I sat him down and asked him if he was having a good time, he grinned and said "yep, cruises are the best!" I said, great, enjoy yourself cause this is the last one your ever going on with your mom and I. The smile faded rather fast and he was on his best behavior from then on.

 

Why don't more parents do what you did? If kids were told that there would be no more cruises unless they behaved themselves . . .

[Bobal]

I'm about to travel on Triumph this weekend - travelling from the UK with 2 teenage boys (who DO behave). It's half term in the UK but I thought that US schools weren't out at this time of year - will there still be schools out on the US next week. Whilst it's nice to think they'll have some friends, not sure about packs of teens wandering around the place causing havoc :eek:

[vegasnvcruiser]

Well, don't forget your halloween costumes! Carnival is doing a thing with M&M as well for the little ones.

 

Seems as though they have an arcade, dance place and maybe even a meet and mingle kind of thing for the teenagers.

 

And thank your for keeping your children under a watchful eye!:)

[Cruzman]

I agree about the children being rude, I did bring mine. She never entered the spa as the sign clearly stated not with out an adult. But the problem still remained that there was nothing for the children to do. As far as the chanting at 2:30 am (that was not right) but did you know that they closed the Disco an 1 1/2 early? When asked why it was stated in the "Day at Sea" till 4 am they responded "we need to get ready for tommorow" . The crew was 20% understaffed. We booked the Fun Ship for fun expecting services that we never recieved. No 24hr sushi bar, no 24hr europeon cafe most of all no coffee. I would never sail with carnivall again.

You could easily have the same experience on most any other cruise line. That being the case, you may have to just quit cruising. Too bad!

[Jumbiecruiser]

I can't believe that there were that many kids on board this time of year. From experience it can happen on others lines but it seems that Carnival is the worst.

[BelatedHoneymooners2006]

The very first (and only so far) cruise that I went on was with my family back in 2001 (exactly a month before the attacks). My parents, my younger sister, younger brothers and myself went on a 5 day cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Imagination. I remember that there were a lot of rowdy people on board (kids and adults alike). My parents pretty much kept us in line. We were allowed to explore the ship as long as we went in pairs (in the case of my brothers, one of us girls had to go along); and if my parents caught wind of any misbehaving, we'd feel the wrath of God (AKA: my dad) immediately, and again when we got home.

[stephandjim1070]

not for nothing and IMO the kids are only acting that way because the parents act that way... sure kids can be kids but not act that way... i am sorry that those kids acted that way but really the parents are really to blame...

 

steph

[BelatedHoneymooners2006]

I still think that some of it has to do with the amount of disipline a parent gives a child. If the parents allow the kids to do whatever they want (no rules), they will.

[xz3k3x]

What days were the formal nights on?

 

Sorry about the kids. I know that they can dampen a great cruise.

[luvz2cruz637]

I thought Carnival had "Camp Carnival"? Too bad there was nothing for the kids to do. They should have had something... at least until 10:00 or so. No one can ever justify the 2:30 chanting thingy to me. The passengers can't do anything about what Carnival did or didn't do. If they wanted to get their point across, they should have been marching where the crew sleeps!

 

AND.. on the Triumph... secret doors on level 6 forward where you can then go up to 7. Also on 9 and 10 forward.

 

Carnival does have camp carnival but the kids are not FORCED to go there, it is all up to the parents. plus when you are old enough you can check you self in and out of the program... it is the parents responsibility to watch there kids.

[Hebejeebe]

I can't believe that there were that many kids on board this time of year. From experience it can happen on others lines but it seems that Carnival is the worst.

 

Another Carnival hater I see. I've been on Carnival and Princess. The behavior of people on both was the same. Princess does have a Youth Patrol to make sure that kids do not misbehave at the pool or enter the adult only hot tubs. But, the worst behavior on my three cruises was on Princess. A group of 20 something females liked to sleep in and one of them would yell at moderately noisy passerby at all hours to "shut up" and then slam the door. I felt like knocking on her door to let her know she was noisier than the passerby. But, I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere.

 

Perhaps the ships should ban passengers in their early 20s as well.;)

[vegasnvcruiser]

This was the Eastern Carribean cruise and they were on Sunday and Thursday. Lobster was only on Sunday. Prime Rib on both. They had Filet Mignon on Wednesday... while we were in Puerto Rico! Skip PR, have the Filet!:) Captain's party was on Sunday before dinner.

[thelemalove93]

I also went on the Triumph in August and experienced the same problem with kids being in all area of the ship and security not doing a thing about it. I don't know if you had the same problem of finding security, but this is a large part of why I won't return to Carnival. I am looking forward to Royal Carribean's new boats that have the adult only area. It might be something to check out for future cruises.