Triumph 05/10/09 Review With LOTS of PICS!!!

[ebandive]

And a few more:

 

 

 

 

 

[ebandive]

Kind of like the cruise, I don't want the review to end!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shawn loves to cruise]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your vacation with all of us. I feel as though I know you and Charlie after reading and looking a photos of all your adventures!:D

I have to say I was glad you two took the time to get to know your table mates. I am one of those pople who have always welcomed making new friends. Don't understand how someone wouldn't want to. Happy you were open to it and had a great time.

Looking forward to any future reviews you post. Thanks again for sharing and good luck with the new job!

 

Shawn

[ebandive]

On my way back down to the room to wake Charlie up, I took a few more :rolleyes: pictures of the atrium..

 

 

 

Charlie got up, and we went to Lido right when it opened before breakfast started getting too crazy busy.

 

CNN was on.

 

 

After breakfast we hung out in our room watching Twilight (haha) until they called us to disembark. At 8:30 you were supposed to be out of your rooms for the steward to clean, but we were called before then anways. We did the self-assist, so we kept all our luggage in the room and walked it all off ourself. This was the first time I had actually taken rum back with me, so I was a bit nervous about it because I had more than our allowance of 1 bottle per person. But we weren't even asked and walked right through customs and out onto the street.

 

We caught a cab for aprox $25 to go back to the hotel where we left our car. When we arrived, our car was perfectly intact and right where we left it. I went to the reception desk to see if there was anything else we needed to do, and she was so nice and was excited that we were back and asked about our vacation. She also offered us continental breakfast in the lobby. I declined, but was happily surprised that this was even offered, crossed our car off their list, and headed out.

 

And that's it folks! :( Now it's time for you to enjoy YOUR vacation and me to enjoy your review of it! :D

 

I probably won't have access to the internet this weekend, but if you have any questions or comments please post and I will be back on Tuesday at the latest.

 

Also, when I get that disc of pictures from our St. Maarten exursions, if I'm able to post some I will post a few.

 

Thanks everyone for your patience while I posted everything!!

[ebandive]

I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your vacation with all of us. I feel as though I know you and Charlie after reading and looking a photos of all your adventures!:D

I have to say I was glad you two took the time to get to know your table mates. I am one of those pople who have always welcomed making new friends. Don't understand how someone wouldn't want to. Happy you were open to it and had a great time.

Looking forward to any future reviews you post. Thanks again for sharing and good luck with the new job!

 

Shawn

 

I really enjoy posting reviews. It's a way for me to relive and solidify in my mind all the memories I just experienced. And it's always fun to go back through it all.

 

Now my next thing to do is Scrapbook it all. Out of the 800 photos I took, I've picked the 164 best ones that I will now print out and make a scrapbook out of. Charlie bought me a Cricut for Christmas, so I used that with to scrapbook my last cruise and it is just SOOO adorable!

 

The reason we were nervous about the tablemates is that we've had bad experiences in the past. The first cruise we were placed with 3 random strangers, all ancient. I like older people, but if they are not interested in building a relationship with you then sitting at a table with them is just wierd. In fact our first cruise we never even stayed at the table long enough each night to see the servers sing/dance.

 

Our second cruise we were placed with a couple with a little baby. It was awful. I'm not sure if they were uncomfortable about the racial thing, or what it was, but they were surely uncomfortable with us for some reason. And I can only pretend to like a crying baby for so long. :o

 

The last cruise we sat at a table for 4 with a couple that came with us, so that was fabulous. So this was truly our first great tablemate experience. And I too am SO glad that we gave it another chance!! :):):)

[malittlefoot971]

I really enjoy posting reviews. It's a way for me to relive and solidify in my mind all the memories I just experienced. And it's always fun to go back through it all.

 

Now my next thing to do is Scrapbook it all. Out of the 800 photos I took, I've picked the 164 best ones that I will now print out and make a scrapbook out of. Charlie bought me a Cricut for Christmas, so I used that with to scrapbook my last cruise and it is just SOOO adorable!

 

The reason we were nervous about the tablemates is that we've had bad experiences in the past. The first cruise we were placed with 3 random strangers, all ancient. I like older people, but if they are not interested in building a relationship with you then sitting at a table with them is just wierd. In fact our first cruise we never even stayed at the table long enough each night to see the servers sing/dance.

 

Our second cruise we were placed with a couple with a little baby. It was awful. I'm not sure if they were uncomfortable about the racial thing, or what it was, but they were surely uncomfortable with us for some reason. And I can only pretend to like a crying baby for so long. :o

 

The last cruise we sat at a table for 4 with a couple that came with us, so that was fabulous. So this was truly our first great tablemate experience. And I too am SO glad that we gave it another chance!! :):):)

 

 

Thanks for your detailed review of the triumph. She's heading our way in 2 weeks and it was awesome to read your review to get ready for the trip. I'll have to keep an eye out for the galley tour as we missed it on our first cruise.

 

As for the crying baby I couldn't agree more! We have 2 little ones (3 and 6) and it drives the DH nuts when we go out and there's a crying baby that's being ignored. He always asks "don't the parents know they cry for a reason?!?" lol.

 

Congrats on the graduation and the job hiring while on vacation.

[JaniceB]

Erin,

 

What time did you wake up to get those beautiful Miami pictures? I noticed the Valor was already in port.

 

Thanks again for sharing your cruise with us and I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. Like you, I will have limited, probably no connectivity, yeh!

 

Janice

[cathalane]

I wanted your trip to go on forever, just to enjoy the fun pics of everything... Who took the pics when you were joining in on the game show? You took pics of all the things I SAY I will, but then forget once I'm onboard... Now I'm going to try and take some good pics and write a good review in July, when I get to meet the Triumph up here in NYC.

[My6Dogs]

Excellent review.

 

I've been looking at the Triumph for a cruise in January. Will probably take my kids and their gf/bf's as a christmas gift.

 

Your review makes it much more likely!!!

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

[anchorsaweigh]

Erin,

I thoroughly enjoyed your review. You were so descriptive and the pictures were wonderful. I love your humor!!! You and your husband are absolutely adorable. I loved the way you described your trip to St. John and Charlie's trepidation. Not to mention the "scooch" picture. LOL!!! Can't wait to see the Triumph, we're on her in July. I've added many of your suggestions to my list of things to find and do on the Triumph.

Congratulations on your recent graduation and job!

God Bless you both and your expanded family in the future.

Take Care,

Tami

[SacredHeart]

I am so sad that the review is over! :(

 

But so happy you shared it with us! :)

 

Good luck with the new job and the pursuit of babies!! lol I will be watching and waiting for your future reviews!

[we3k9]

I want to thank you for your review and all the photos. I just love the photos of early morning Miami port arrival. Makes me want to book a cruise from Miami. I will be on Triumph in July, can't wait. thanks again.

[ERTHDOG]

thanks a lot for one of the best reviews i have ever read:)

 

it is nice to share the details of your vaca with us, and it helps for those of us that are awaiting our fist carnival cruise;)

 

waiting 10 months more will be tuff , but we are super excited for our very own dream cruise :D

 

dave

[mousey]

Erin,

 

I was on the Triumph on the 4/12 cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Unfortunately, I had had an accident at my son's baseball game two weeks before we cruised. My back pain was excruciating, however, I didn't let it stop me having having the best time that I could. The new bed stuff was great for my back. I was unable to get around the ship as much as I would have liked to so your pictures gave me a great view of what I missed. I really want to cruise on the Triumph again when I can appreciate her more fully. In spite of my back injury I did mangage to go into all the ports and have great dinners with the new friends we made at dinner. I cruised with my DH, DS (13 1/2), and SIL (it was her first cruise and she is now also a cruise addict). We had a wonderful time in spite of my limited mobility. Thank you for sharing you wonderful pictures :D. You and your hubby seem like exactly the kind of people we love to meet on our cruises. Your love for each other is a fun thing to see. You looked adorable in your pictures and so did the hub! I especially loved the "mud bath" pics. The only bad thing about your pics is that I have to wait until next spring break to cruise again!!!!:eek::D

 

I congradulate you on graduating from nursing school. My niece is a nurse. A truly great profession! Good luck on your board testing. I have no doubt you will ace them! I hope you enjoy your new job and good luck in the future with growing your wonderful family.

 

Thanks again for the best review I've ever read. I started at the beginning and read all the way to the end. I was kind of sad when it ended as I felt I was actually on the cruise with you. Your pictures were incredible! Thanks again!:D:D

[Isasprings]

Erin I belive instead of a nurse you should be a PHOTOGRAPHER you did a great job.they all came out great! I love the underwater ones .how many pics did you take?

[vegasvick]

Erin,

 

Thanks for a wonderful review!! Your pictures are great.

 

And congratulations on your graduation!!

 

[junebug8]

Erin,

 

Thanks again for posting such an awesome review. I didn't want it to end either. I loved all of your pictures and your style of writing.:) I have to admit, my heart skipped a beat for a second when you said "this is the picture Charlie took before he fell in the water.":D I also loved the deck when it looked blue.

 

Fantastic review and congratulations on graduation, your new job, and future babies.:) One last thing...you and Charlie are to be commended/honored/appreciated for taking on a teenager to raise. God Bless You. That is just awesome.

[Lgarth]

Erin !! All I can say is "AWESOME"....Your last review was great too !! You and Charlie are the most adorable couple...I absolutley loved the "mud bath" picture:D And the pics with the beads, you had some great ones there. Congrats on nursing school and getting the job you wanted. I hope the future holds all you want and more..And thanks for sharing your cruise memories...;)

[ebandive]

Wow, thanks for the overwhelming response!!

 

I had a chance to get on the internet quick so I will try to respond to a couple questions/comments.

 

I have about 720 pictures saved right now from the trip, but realistically I took about 1000 because I've gone through and deleted many.

 

During the Battle of the Sexes show, one of my tablemates (Savannah) who participated in the first round took pictures for me the second round when I was on stage. I was wondering if anyone would notice that! :D

 

Thanks for the kudos for raising a teenager. We've heard a lot of people tell us how great it is that we did that, but I think pretty much anyone would do the same thing under similar circumstances. Charlie's dad died when he was young and his mom passed away in 2005, his brother was 12 and his sister was 16. Unfortunately she didn't have a Will, so it seemed the obvious thing to take them in. We were only 22 at the time, so it did make us grow up fast, but thank God we were in a situation that we were able to do it... we had just gotten married and had a house with two extra bedrooms ... otherwise who knows what would have happened to them. I think any decent human being would have done the same. :)

 

Regarding what time I got up to watch us pull into Miami... I just took a wild guess and got up at 5:30, and probably made it outside about 15 minutes later or so. I did that on my last cruise too, and it just seems to add such a great ending to a cruise... because usually it's all rushed and stressed and crowded in the buffet and everyone is tired. This way I get off the ship still relaxed and my soul seems more at peace.

 

I better get going, if I missed someone's question please remind me!

 

Happy Memorial Day everyone and I will check in again Tuesday! :D

[poconopete]

Thanks for taking the Time to post this thread ,, My Fiance' and I are sailing out On the Triumph June .29th I was looking for recent pictures of the ship and also wondering about ""your secret deck"" I read somewhere about that spot once before But could not remember how to get too it ..

Thanks again , It looks like you guys had a good time .. I hope we have fun on our ''Practice Honeymoon "" ....

 

How would you rate the service of the ships staff , ?

[bobsfamily]

We will be on the Triumph this afternoon and will report back next Sat....

[rob6465]

We enjoy taking pictures of ourselves together. Charlie's trying to talk me into doing a whole photo series on our wall at home of these type of pics!

 

 

We had the main seating time at 6:00 pm, which was what we requested. We've tried doing the late seeing once before, and I was miserable. It was just too late for me to eat, so that when dinner was over I was so exhausted I went straight to bed.

 

The thing Charlie likes least about cruising is having to eat dinner with other people and at a set time, AND having to get dressed up. So basically he doesn't like the entire dining room experience. But I'm not a big fan of buffets. I promised him before we left that if he absolutely didn't want to eat in the dining room, we wouldn't have to and I didn't mind finding something in the buffet. We didn't bring ANY formal clothes, so formal nights were not an option (so we thought...) But being the first night, I talked him into just TRYING it out and meeting our table mates. If it was awful, we woudn't go back. Besides, the next two nights were out of the question because Monday was formal night and Tuesday night we would be in San Juan.

 

We wore nice jeans and nice shirts and felt completely comfortable and we fit right in. We were sat in the lower level of the Paris dining room at a round table with 3 other young couples, all of us in our twenties. It was still a bit awkward at first... they were all very nice... but it just felt awkward for us. Once we got talking though we had quite a bit in common. We would next see them on Wednesday.

 

Dinner was usually always good. And you can't beat the warm chocolate melting cake!! Sunday was mother's day, so we ladies each got a carnation and little chocolate heart cake-- that we were all way too stuffed to eat!!

 

After dinner we went back to our room. A towel animal!!

 

We then walked around up on Lido to watch the sunset. I snapped a pic of the whale tail funnel.

 

 

 

 

 

Tell charlie i'm the same way in regards to eating alone instead of with others. I'd rather dine with my wife or hit the buffet than eat with others but we could not pass up the dining rooms. Our cruise last year was ok because our son and his girlfriend were at our table. In 2007 we had the worse experience of having a couple with us that complained about EVERYTHING. We could not understand how anyone can complain on a cruise.

[rob6465]

Thanks! I hope you have a great trip! I should mention that our trip was the last eastern route from Miami. This week it is going Western, and then the Triumph makes her way north. I'm a bit jealous of those that are sailing out of NYC. Our waiter told us NY was his favorite port because it is just 3 blocks from downtown Manhatten. I have never been to New York... but SOME DAY I will surely cruise there!! :)

 

 

 

 

I was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in manhattan and now live in Houston. I would love to fly to Puerto Rico and spend couple of days there and then cruise from there.

[rob6465]

Then we went walking up to El Morro to do some more exploring.

 

 

 

There's a crazy statue here with two naked dudes fighting over a naked lady... at least that's what the guide said. We didn't do an organized tour, but they were everywhere when you walked off the ship, and price ranged from $10 to $20.

 

 

 

 

Miss being there. Last time i visited family there was in 1998.

[poconopete]

We will be on the Triumph this afternoon and will report back next Sat....

 

Cool have a safe fun Trip .. Take Lots of pictures ..