Triumph Review 8/31-9/7/08 with pics

[cespo]

Right across from the church was street called Caleta De Las Monjas....translation the street of lonley cats. We were told regardless of when you go there you will find stray cats...and we found one.

 

 

 

 

We then made our way to the towards the El Morro and came to the Plaza of Goats.

 

 

 

[cruisinsly]

More more more please!! Loving it!!

[cespo]

Now for El Morro....we did not decide to go inside, since we have been to St Augustine, FL and since they both were built around the same time, and once you see one old spanish fort you have seen them all....., but the views from the outside were breath taking.

 

 

 

 

From here we decided to walk along the coast towards Fort San Cristal Bol. While walking down this picturesque (spelling??) we noticed how wonderful the water looked. It was a beautiful shade of blue, like the rest of the Caribbean. And the girls wanted to see if they can find a way down there.

 

We we stumbled across some stone walkways going down that were carved right into the sea wall, my DH noticed as he approached the sea wall an overpowering urine aroma, and we came across this lovley area, which we found out later is better known as "La Pearla".....means the the pearl, however names can be very deceiving and should be named ghettoville.....(never, ever, ever go here....unless looking to buy drugs or join a gang.)

 

 

 

[jus4fun]

Thanks for all the great pictures and information. My DH and I will be on the Triumph Nov. 23, 2008. I was already excited, but after reading your review(s) and looking at all your pictures - I can't wait!

[cespo]

Now that brings us back to San Christobol....again we did not go inside just took pictures from the outside.....

 

 

 

Picture of the Triump from the fort....

 

 

We all decided the heat was finally getting to us, so we decided to go to the boat for lunch and a short break. While walking back we saw a statue of Christopher Columbus

 

 

And a picture of their house of representatives....

 

[cespo]

Thanks for all the great pictures and information. My DH and I will be on the Triumph Nov. 23, 2008. I was already excited, but after reading your review(s) and looking at all your pictures - I can't wait!

 

 

Glad that you like it....if you have any specific questions, please let me know and I will try to answer them.....Christine

 

PS If you do not have any thing booked yet in St Thomas you must book Sunny Liston

[cespo]

After eating lunch and relaxing for a while...the girls decided to sunbathe and the rest went back to town, to use the laptop at the local Starbucks, since they have free wi-fi.

 

We needed to catch up on emails, ebay auctions that were ending and find out the latest info on the storms.

 

We returned to the ship and got ready for Dinner.

 

Once again the food was unbeleivable......here are some more food shots...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jus4fun]

Do you book SL through Carnival, through another site or once you get there?

 

Thanks!

[cespo]

That night we saw the Game show mania and DH was picked as a contestant for the show. The host was hilarious, and DH could not hear a thing up on stage and was answering things wrong......we were on the floor laughing so hard. He did mange to pull out 2nd place.

 

 

Later that evening we saw Phat Kat the top comedian. He was hysterical...

 

After seeing the show we decided to hit the slot machines.....at this point we were down about $40. I put $20 into a 1 cent slot machine and after about an half an hour I hit for $170.00....I took my money and ran as fast as I could.....figuring it wasn't going to get any better than that on a penny slot.

[cespo]

Do you book SL through Carnival, through another site or once you get there?

 

Thanks!

 

No we booked directly with him, via the internet. He also offers the same insurance as carnival, that if you miss the port he will refund you in full. He is top notch and would use him again in a heart beat....he site is

 

www.......sunnylistontours.......com just remove the extra dots....

 

Christine

[jus4fun]

Thanks bunches!

[cespo]

Friday 9/8 - was supposed to have been our stop Grand Turk, but we are now on a sea day.

 

We stayed up late the night before and decided to sleep in.

 

After getting up and eating breakfast, we decided to go to the photo gallery to find our photos. We did find most of them, but we were searching for about 2 hours for a group that we had placed aside 2 nights prior. We searched everywhere and could not find them. They were from the first formal night.....finally giving up, we decided to just retake the pictures that night. To our pleasure those pictures ended up being our favorite.

 

 

 

We did participate in the, "In the bag scavanger hunt".....we did get some of the items, but forgot to keep count half way through and just played for the fun of it.....

 

We did go back up to the lido deck, and the kids decided to sunbathe again, while we sat in the shade and listened to the island music and watched the limbo contest....

 

 

While talking to cruise critic friends, leaning on the lido deck railing, I commented on the "flying fish".....duhhhhhhh.... it was actually a school of dolphins right up beside the ship. What a sight to see them...

 

 

This was our last formal night on the cruise.....

 

 

[cespo]

This evening was the Gala Buffet on the Lido deck.....

 

you guessed it more food photos.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cespo]

That evening was the adults only showing of Phat Kat.....it was held in the Club Rio Lounge. We got there around 11:30 pm with an half of hpur till showtime and there was no seat to be found.....

 

We ended up standing against the wall the entire show, when after asking people if certain seats were available and being told no...that the are being held and the people never showed up.

 

After speaking to the Cruise Directer Lenny, he stated that it is now a policy of Carnival that all R rated shoes can not be held in the rome lounge, and he does understand that 1 show per eveneing on the r rated shows, just is not cutting it....he has had numerous complaints about over crowding. He did explain that they are implimenting 2 nightly shows in the near future.

 

 

Saturday 9/6 - Last day at Sea.....

 

This day we did not do much......walked around the ship taking last minute pictures that we had not gotten before, started to pack up the clothes, and just relax.

 

I did enter the slot tournament, but like every other drawing/contest I lost.

 

I just want to let everyone know again, that the kids had a great time at Club O2. They met some great friends on this cruise and said it was one of their best cruises yet......I guess mom and dad nagging them to go out and have fun on previous cruises finally sunk in, since they were rarley around us. On sea days we did not care what schedule they kept as long as they met us for dinner at 6 pm. And on most nights stayed out till 2:30 - 3:00 am. One night I did spy on them, and spoke with the security guard working that evening. He said this was one of the best groups he has had in a while with no incidents.

 

I decided to give the 2 cent slots machine a whirl tonight, and put in $10. I ended up playing on the same machine from 9pm until 2:00 am, with out putting in any more money. At one point I was up to about $45.00, and DH told me to call it quits, but I was having to much fun listening to the machine ding, every time it hit for something, regardless of how small it was....and I figured $10 for 5 hours of entertainment was not bad. Of course the ship got the $10 all back in the long run, but I did have fun for 5 hours......

 

Pictures of all the kids friends that they met.....

 

 

 

 

[ADATL]

Hi Christine! Was glad to run across this post. Great review. I'm sorry that we missed you at the M&G... not sure why? I was one of the lucky few you were talking about being sea-sick when the decks were empty. :) Been cruising for 15 years and never got sea sick until this trip. Anyhow - loved seeing your pictures.

 

Take care! Angie

[cespo]

Sunday Sept 7th - Debarkation Day.....BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

We used Carnival to take our luggage off the night before, and received luggage tags #17. Our supposed departure time was 9:15.

 

We sat on the lido deck eating breakfast with our family and Kim, Scott and Eli joined us......

 

At one point they did make an announcement that the Homeland Security had shut down the depature ramp....for what reason I do not know.

 

We stayed there until about 10:45 am, and we were off the boat by 11am, in the car and on our way back home by 11:30am.

 

This was one of the quickest debarkation we have ever seen, as long as you did not want to be one of the first ones off the boat.

 

All and All this was a great vacation despite the fact that we lost 2 ports and 2 storms out at sea.

 

Yes there were people complaining, but I think those are the people that would complain about anything, just to try to get something for nothing. The way we look at it, is we are vaction and the worst day of vacation is still better than the best day at work, and just roll with the punches.

 

Hope everyone enjoyed the review, and if anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask.....I do have all the capers and those for the club O2.

 

Christine

 

 

 

 

Saying goodbye to our niece/cousins at OIA Aiport.......till next year......

[cespo]

Hi Christine! Was glad to run across this post. Great review. I'm sorry that we missed you at the M&G... not sure why? I was one of the lucky few you were talking about being sea-sick when the decks were empty. :) Been cruising for 15 years and never got sea sick until this trip. Anyhow - loved seeing your pictures.

 

Take care! Angie

 

 

I am also sorry we missed you at the meet and greet......I am sorry to hear that you got sea sick, but those seas were pretty rough (13-20 ft seas) the 1st 2 nights.....hopefully you recovered quickly and enjoyed the rest of your cruise.

 

Christine

[magic&buddy]

Great review - you have a beautiful family.

[sheri18]

what a great review....and you have a great looking family.....loved the formal nite pics................

[LRene]

Great review Christine! It was nice meeting you and John but for as many times as I saw you on the ship, I never saw those good-looking kids of yours! I guess they WERE having too good of a time in Club 02. I managed to run into Angie a lot also but not so many of the others on the roll call.

 

You all managed to do a lot more than I did on the ship but I agree with your assessment of everything. We must have managed to get off the ship before the delays started. We had tag #1 but waited and got off after enjoying breakfast. It was a simple debarkation for sure!

 

It was a nice cruise....till next time....:)

[cespo]

Great review Christine! It was nice meeting you and John but for as many times as I saw you on the ship, I never saw those good-looking kids of yours! I guess they WERE having too good of a time in Club 02. I managed to run into Angie a lot also but not so many of the others on the roll call.

 

You all managed to do a lot more than I did on the ship but I agree with your assessment of everything. We must have managed to get off the ship before the delays started. We had tag #1 but waited and got off after enjoying breakfast. It was a simple debarkation for sure!

 

It was a nice cruise....till next time....:)

 

We too only managed to run into a about a dozen people from roll call on a constant bascis.....I do not know what happened to everyone else.

 

I glad you also has an easy time getting off.....we were in no rush to get off and were very happy sitting on the lido deck as long as possible.

 

Counting down to the next cruise.....only 78 days left to go....and most likely no hurricanes in December.

[shortstuf1255]

Christine

Great review!!!!! You said much more than i could have and your pics were great. I noticed the barf bags out a few days but never saw the need to use them In fact we never even used the stuff I brought in case we were sea sick. I enjoyed meeting you all and the agree with you that the Sunny Liston tour was great. We took one of those tours in San Juan for $20 bucks it was interesting just no beach and they dropped us in Old San Juan at the end so of course we could shop. I just wish they could have planned more activities for some of the sea days. I would say we had a great trip

Karen

[Heather Frazier]

Good bye St Thomas.....till next time

 

I'm enjoying your review. I wanted to share a family story. On my parent's first cruise to Saint Thomas, as the ship was leaving the harbor and the lights in the town twinkled, my mom said to my dad, "We are going to live here one day." To which my day replied, "OK!"

And they did. Years later, when my dad turned 65, we moved to Saint Thomas (I was 14yo.) My folks started a business, "Caribbean Rumballs." (You can still buy them!) Mom said it was the best 10 years of their lives.

Saint Thomas has a very special place in my heart.