Back from Triumph - Review!

[UKCruiser_2008]

We got back from our amazing vacation on the Triumph a couple of days ago - time to write a review! I travelled with my boyfriend and this was our first ever cruise ... we both loved it and my boyfriend and I spent a lot of the holiday discussing where our next cruise would be! :D

 

Flight to USA

We flew from London to Miami the day before the cruise, choosing to fly with American Airlines because they had the cheapest tickets. Overall it was a fairly disappointing experience: they did not have a sound system which worked and there were old-fashioned screens at the front of the cabin where they showed old movies (The Devil Wears Prada). But the worst thing was that they have no vegetarian options - dinner was "beef" or "chicken". So I made do with the strange pickled vegetable side dish. :(

We arrived in Miami only 30 mins later than scheduled and were relieved to get off the creaky old plane with no mishaps.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon for the night - which I would definately recommend to anyone looking for somewhere to stay in Miami. It is fairly near the airport but there is no plane noice, there is a useful supermarket across the road, free breakfast and nice rooms for a decent price! they also arrange shuttles to the port in the morning for £10 pp.

 

First day of cruise

We were up early and had a quick breakfast, realising that practically everyone staying at the hotel was going on a cruise today! The trip to the port went smoothly and we were dropped off outside the terminal. The first sight you get of the ship is so exciting - and they are so HUGE! The freedom of the seas and another Carnival ship were also docked at the port.

We had not been sent any luggage tags but after some slight confusion a port worker gave us the right tags and we headed inside to board. We had arrived at about 11:20 and it really was not that busy - we waited in several lines for about 10 mins and then got sent straight on board. It was a very easy fast process which they have well-organised.

We were told our cabin would not be ready until 1:30 so we headed for lunch on the Lido deck with everyone else. Lunch was good and the first chance to get used to unlimited food whenever we wanted it! It was also nice to see that Carnival include at least one vegetarian option for each meal. :D

Our stateroom was still not ready so we wandered round the ship for a while. It was still fairly deserted so we enjoyed exploring all the rooms on deck 5- e.g. the piano bar covered in shells and the huge casino.

Our cabin was on the Lido deck near the front, a wonderful location which was extremely quiet (except on the night of the deck party). My boyfriend loved the balcony and would have spent most of the cruise there if I had not dragged him out - it was particularly appreciated on the port days, watching people arrive back at the ship an hour late! :eek:

 

more to follow ...

[princessa]

Looking forward to the review! We sail in 10 days.

 

I have a question about the dining room. I heard that on port days it is not assigned seating. Is this true? Can you go at anytime?

 

Thanks!

[waitin4acruise]

Great review so far!! We loved the Triumph ..:D

[UKCruiser_2008]

I have a question about the dining room. I heard that on port days it is not assigned seating. Is this true? Can you go at anytime?

 

 

No - the seating times were the same on port days too (unless I got that completely wrong ... everyone still turned up at the same time and sat in the same seats!). The only unassigned seating times in the dining rooms are for lunch and breakfast, and of course in the buffet.

 

Hope that helps!

[pcrum]

Perhaps it depends upon which route you do--eastern or western Caribbean. We did the eastern route on 11/23/08 and on the night we were in San Juan, it was open seating for dinner. We did not dock until 5 pm so perhaps they expected many people to be out for dinner. All other nights were the regular assigned seating.

[southernmomga]

It is open seating for breakfast and lunch most days, just one dining room is open instead of the two they have open for dinner (which is assigned tables).

[Motorcycle Girl]

Great review so far!

 

I agree with you about the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon... great location and very convenient!

 

:)

[CruisinloversfromTexas]

Looking forward to your review. We sail on the Triumph on January 18th!

[daddybuff]

Keep it coming;)

[UKCruiser_2008]

First day continued...

 

After we had unpacked our luggage in the cabin (plenty of storage space) it was time for the muster drill. I insisted that we not go when the alarm sounded, even though my OH was getting worried .. because I read on here you will end up standing around waiting for everyone else to show up. Well after five minutes my OH persuaded me to go, which was lucky because a room steward was making his way along the corridor knocking on doors ready to give stragglers a lecture, and he had almost reached our door! Personally I found the muster drill quite interesting - maybe because it was our first cruise. It was over in 10 mins and we were sent away to go have some fun :D

I bought my first DOD from one of the waiters walking round with trays of drinks. It took me until the end of the week to figure out that these souvenir glasses do not contain as much

 

We enjoyed sitting in the atrium where they play piano music - I wanted to sit there the first night as we were early for dinner and I wanted to see what everyone else was wearing and if jeans were OK. We ended up sitting there every evening for a pre-dinner drink and enjoying the music, it's convenient for the London Dining room.

 

Dinner was excellent, although our waiter seemed to vanish for 30 mins now and then - I think he must have been serivng tables on the lower level too. He also got this idea that we were newlyweds for some reason, and kept giving me OH's dinner and vice-versa. But the food was very enjoyable.

 

We skipped the show on the first night because we were still jetlagged, so after a walk around the deck we went to bed.

[UKCruiser_2008]

Whoops forgot to finish this sentence!

 

I bought my first DOD from one of the waiters walking round with trays of drinks. It took me until the end of the week to figure out that these souvenir glasses do not contain as much as it seems - it might make more sense to buy a regular DOD from the lido deck (they seem to use bigger - plastic - glasses than the bars on Deck 5 - as they are a dollar less).

 

I also got the impression the cocktails were slightly stronger in the casino - has anyone else noticed this?

[Cruisin Kay D]

Did you see inside any of the balcony cabins up on Spa Deck? That's where we're going to be in March.

Was there any open seating/go anytime at dinner??

[Texas_firefighter]

Does the Triumph have a supper club restaurant?

[cathalane]

No Supper Club on the Triumph :(

[Cruisin Kay D]

Did you use the Spa area?

Did you find the ship to be fairly stable during sea days?

Any problems with sea-sickness?

[UKCruiser_2008]

- No, I did not see any of the spa deck rooms unfortunately!

 

- We had a tour of the spa, and it looked very nice. Too bad the treatments are all so expensive! I was not too keen on the guy who manages the gym, who came across as quite agressive and practically forced us to agree to go to some talk he was doing later in the cruise about losing weight. the rest of the staff at the spa seemed great though - but we had no treatments. You will get a much better deal if you wait till later in the week or a port day if you want one.

 

- No we had no problem with seasickness. I heard one person saying their husband had been in bed seasick on evening when the ship was rocking slightly- to be honest I was surprised that slight movement could make someone feel unwell. He must have been a delicate flower! And our cabin was right near the front, where the motion is supposedly the worst.

 

-There's no open time for dinner at the main restaurants, or open seating.

[UKCruiser_2008]

First day at sea

 

We ordered breakfast room service - melon, coffee, croissants etc. today. It was great to have a cup of coffee on the balcony to wake us up! Then we went to rent a pair of pants for my OH because I accidently burned a hole in his others the day before we left :o.

OH bought a soda card, which I think was $5 as day. We had read it was cheaper to buy the card out of port (no tax) and after the first day - as you are unlikey to drink enough soda on the first afternoon to make it worthwhile.

We then wandered down to the art exhibition as I'd never been to one before and I felt like some free champagne :D. Well there was no champagne! We arrived early and looked at the paintings ... then sat through some very dull talk about shipping charges and how frames cost extra - then we snuck out when no one was looking. I would not recommend going unless you really want to buy one of their "bargain" works of art (I'm not convinced they were).

We headed back to the deck to watch the ice carving. Unfortunately this drew quite a crowd and we could not really see anything much, but still had fun. The atmosphere on deck is great with the sun shining and the band playing music.

Eventually it was time to get dressed for dinner. Almost the entire ship seems to be filled with places to get your photo taken - it's fun to pose for a few and look for your photos later in the week ... and they are not too expensive to buy.

Afterwards we went to the show - I think it was called something like "Around the World". I was very impressed and thought the dancers/singers and the orchestra did a fantastic job.

The cruise director Ryan was good - a little cheesy with terrible jokes but likeable anyway.

After a few more cocktails we headed to bed - arriving in Jamaica tomorrow!

[Cruisin Kay D]

Really enjoying your review, UKcruiser!!! That's same itinerary we will be on with the kids. Interested in your comments about the shows and other sea day activities. Did you see many people/kids using the waterslide? I think the kids will love that feature.

 

Looking forward to reading about what you did at each stop, especially Jamaica. I never can find just the right thing to do there -- we'd like to do a catamaran ride, or other such boat ride, so maybe we'll just have to book through Carnival. It's really hard to find independent vendors at Jamaica doing just a boat ride!!

 

Grand Cayman we'll do one of the Stingray City/snorkel boat trips and also take kids to 7 Mile Beach.

Cozumel we either will go to Paradise Beach or Chankanaab Natl Park.