Triumph June7th to Canada... The good, bad and Ugly!!

[malittlefoot971]

I know there are a few that leave soon and are awaiting a review for

Canada. Before I get to the review I'd like to state this disclaimer...

THIS IS BASED ON MY OBSERVATIONS. IN NO WAY IS IT THE ONLY OPINION FOR THIS CRUISE AS EACH PASSENGER HAS DIFFERENT NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS.

I'll attempt to hit all the questions found in a different post and

will answer any questions if I missed something.

Now on with the review...

[malittlefoot971]

First let me begin with the need for this cruise. I work in a stressful

factory with a bunch of 20ish year olds that think everything should be

handed to them instead of earned. Vacation time is one of the best

benefits I have (just to get away from them and their whining). We have

2 small children (6 and 3) that can be a huge handful at times. We

booked this as a shorter getaway so mommy wasn't homesick on a 7 day.

We are both easy to please type of people. I'd like to thank Michele

(again) and 138east for all of their info and reccomendations. All of

their tips/help made things a ton easier for someone that's never been

to the big apple.

Pre-cruise

We had a good week of helping with a field trip, fun day, and

graduation from kindergarden. Dropped the kiddos off at nana and pap's

house and started our trip of firsts with an early bed time. We opted

to fly from our little airport to be lazy and not drive the 4 hours to

NYC. I didn't want to start my trip with a stressful drive into the

city. After a short night of sleep we awoke around 3am grabbed a cab

and headed to the airport for our first ever flight. It was more

beautiful then I could have pictured. The only negative in the flight

was the 3 hour layover in Philly. There wasn't much turbulance and I

was pleased with that.

After many hours of research on CC and the net we opted to stay at the

holiday inn at the Newark Airport. We found the hotel for $95/night

when we made the reservation. Curiosity had me looking if there were

rooms available and found a lower price being advertised twice. Both

times I called, and to my surprise, they lowered the price of the

reservation. We ended up paying $49/night plus tax. They had a free

shuttle from the P4 terminal that took us to the front door.The room

was clean and ready to check into 3 hours before our reservation time.

We checked in, glanced at the room, and headed off for sight seeing. I

was worried about how close the hotel was to the airport as far as

noise. We were close enough to the airport to watch this plane land but

couldn't barely hear it with the AC on low.

 

We had gotten the advice of brendans in the city for dinner but found a

similar menu at Teddy's in the hotel and opted for that once we

returned. We caught a shuttle to the airport (runs every 20 mins or

so). A fast airlink trian ride and we were at the place to catch a NJ

transit train to 34th street NY Penn station ($15pp each way). We met a

nice lady from NJ that helped us get out of the terminal and onto the

street. We had read about taking a short bus ride to the Rockefeller

center but opted to walk since it was about 80 and sunny. I'm glad we

walked as it gave us a chance to feel like a local. We found elmo on

the street and ofcourse had to take a picture. I'd post it but the DW

would have me on the couch for weeks LOL. The first stop was Times

square.

[/url]They shut down part of the street to traffic so people use this spot to

sunbathe. I found it quite ammusing at the sight of this but figure

they don't have much room to work on that tan.

[malittlefoot971]

Finding the rock was relatively easy and after finding the ticket

counter we were on our way to the top. There were NO lines to be seen.

They had 6-8 people working at the ticket counter so wait time was less

then a minute. We saw a few minutes of the informational movie and

headed for the elevator to the top. The views from up there were

phenominal!! I'd post all the beautiful pics from up there but It might

crash CC's sight LOL. Here's a little taste

 

The empire state building

 



 

Uptown and central park

 

[/url]

 

A beautiful church stuck in the center of all those skyscrapers

 



 

And finally a view of alot of skyscrapers

 

[malittlefoot971]

After viewing the city from 80 something floors into the sky, we started our trek back to the hotel for dinner. On the way back I was reminded of CC and the funny thread about art/nudity. This is where I put in the disclaimer that if you feel it's nudity you should scroll fast passed the following pics. I'd also reccomend staying out of NYC

since these statues were found there and it might bring up bad thoughts in your sheltered minds and we wouldn't want that!!

 

Beautiful artwork in NYC

 



 



 

 

After a quick train ride and shuttle back to the hotel we got dinner and retired for the night knowing tomorrow would bring a good day!

[malittlefoot971]

Embarkation day

 

We awoke to find it a little smoggy/foggy outside but could see the sun was attempting to burn this off and just knew it'd be a great day! This was the beautiful view from our room at the holiday inn...

We ordered room service and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of

food that we got. It was a nice way to fill our bellies so we weren't

hungry until after we boarded. We got a little later start then we

expected due to this but it was deffinately not a complaint! We checked

out of the hotel and caught the next shuttle back to the airport for

our Carnival transfers. As a side note if you can manage your luggage

I'd reccomend doing it on your own as it was alot cheaper and no

waiting time. Once to the airport we found the ground transportation

info desk and were told to have a seat and wait. Those people had no

clue when they'd be arriving so we sat for awhile. After a little wait

I used the phones next to the desk and contacted Go airlink shuttle.

They sent a guy right away and about 15 mins later we were greeted and

on our way. If you do a carnival transfer be sure to print out TWO

copies of the transfer as they need to keep one for their records and

you won't have proof for the return transfer. After a nice 30 min ride

we were at pier and our first sighting of the ship. I get chills just

seeing the funnel and knowing I'M GOING THERE.

 

[malittlefoot971]

Since it won't allow me to go back and edit the second post, here are the pictures I was meaning to post in there. First is the beautiful view of a cloudy/foggy morning atthe airport from up in the plane.

 

And here's the pic of how close the holiday inn was from the airport. As I said in the review it was close but with the AC on low we couldn't hear this plane while standing next to the closed window watching it land.

[malittlefoot971]

Ok back to the review...

 

We dropped the bags off at the porter and only carried on our camera bag. After taking a pic or 2 of the terminal we were informed that due to security reasons we weren't allowed to take pics. I wouldn't consider a cruise pier to be a big risk but hey it's there rules. They had more then enough room for lines.

 

 

One bad thing we did find is that if we had VIP boarding it would have taken LONGER to get checked in for some strange reason. The people in that line were kind of ignored while we flew right there and were staged into chairs as boarding #6. They had a group of TA's boarding for a tour and then they started taking VIP and handicapped. About

15-20 mins later #6 was called and we were onboard in less then 5 minutes. Although we had planned on sitting and people watching we opted to go check out our room. It was quite impressive for a first time balcony. We had 8435 aft balcony. We changed to this cabin thanks to another CC member saying about how it was wider then the others and it was HUGE! I knew it'd be of good use as the weather for sailaway and our first day at sea were to be good temps. After grabbing something to eat on the lido we found ourselves 5 hours to explore before sailaway. One thing that erked me right off the bat was the fact that people don't know how to follow simple dirrections. People took so long arriving at the muster drill that we were already half way backed out from the pier before we were dismissed. Some went to sailaway carrying their lifevests. We opted to run back to the room and drop them. We set sail from our balcony as the ship was backing out of the pier. We stayed a few minutes and then headed to the front to see the statue.While waiting we spotted one of the roll call members and found her and another CC member during our "extra" time. We went there to meet them

and found we had just passed the statue. Thanks to the secret deck hanging over the side of the ship we were able to get some pics of the statue.

 

After talking a few minutes with our new friends DW and I headed for the slide entrance for "the bridge". We got there to find it wasn't as crowded as we expected. We did a few minutes of people watching from up there until the big moment and found this couple enjoying the hot tub fully clothed. It wasn't cold by any means but figured they didn't want to miss sailaway with doing laundry...

 

Before long we were heading under the bridge. WOW!!! that's all I can say. It sure does look like you're going to hit. It looked like the front part of the ship was closer then the tail but that was just from our perspective.

 

 

[malittlefoot971]

Before we left for NYC we checked and were still confirmed early dining. When we checked in we found ourselves with late dining. We were going to keep it and see how it was and then changed our minds and wanted to change to early. Since we had missed our chance to see the Maitre'D we did late for the first night with the plans of changing to early in the morning. Those with Early dining would miss the bridge or arrive late for dinner. Having later dining we were able to comfortably enjoy both. After sailaway we headed for the cabin to relax and then get ready for dinner. Our luggage had arrived before sailaway and this was a good chance to get settled in. After unpacking we headed for the dining room to meet our table mates. This became the theme of our dining experience. We had a table for 4 but only DW and I were seated there (other then our wonderful crashers) for the duration of the cruise. As soon as we met our waiter and his assistant we felt we had known them forever. They truly made the dining experience a memory. I was going to post a pic of every dinner we had but I'll save the space and post the favorite main course and desert so I can leave room for more room to post pics from our excursion.

 

Prime rib



 

Chocolate melting cake AND some cherry/coconut cake. MMMM both were YUMMY!!!

 

We retired early to bed but not until after we got to enjoy a beautiful private moment with a moon over the wake.

 

[malittlefoot971]

Day at Sea

We set the alarm and woke early so we could go to breakfast. We were seated with 6 other people. There were 2 nice ladies from Conn. that were fortunate enough to leave their 2 small children with their husband while they went on the cruise. The other 4 were chinese from Brooklyn NY. they sat talking in chinese ignoring us totally. Didn't even get a good morning from them. I assumed it was due to language barrier until one asked a waiter a question in english just as good as we were speaking. Since it was the beginning of the cruise I figured it wasn't going to be the norm...BOY WAS I WRONG!!! All threw out the cruise these 1000+ chinese were rude, line jumping, casino winning thieves that just happened to remove their expensive tips on the last day (whopping $40 each). It just burned my butt seeing them all being so cheap! to each their own but I'm sure the stewards for all these people didn't appreciate working for next to nothing. I'm sure a few stewards were flagged for all of this removing of tips and just hope that none got reprimanded thanks to them being cheap.

 

After breakfast we had a small amount of time before our roll call so we jumped on the balcony for a quick smoke and then headed upstairs for our roll call meeting. Only the 2 that we had previously met and a guy with his parents showed. Some either forgot where it was or figured they were too late for it. We sat and chatted for about 2 hours and then headed off to the lido buffet for lunch. This was where we ate almostthe entire cruise last year and I knew what to expect. A nice variety of different dishes and atleast warm food. While the food was just ok it was what it was. Later that evening was formal night which brought out a few interesting people. Some tables were completely empty and our tablemates were a no-show again. We had requested a friend join us for dinner but were told that they couldn't because there'd be people sitting there. That was the only flaw with the dining room other then the dancing messing up the flow with desert.

 

These were our dinner waiter and assistant.

 

EKA and his assistant (forget her name) were brother/sister and truely made dinner memorable.

[malittlefoot971]

Now it's time to make dinner (wish they'd just bring it to our home). I'll continue the review later on this evening.

[JuniorCruiser]

Thank You so much for posting this for us as i'm sitting here on the edge of my seat waiting for more :D

 

~~Debbie~~

[Crusin6]

Finding the rock was relatively easy and after finding the ticket

counter we were on our way to the top. There were NO lines to be seen.

They had 6-8 people working at the ticket counter so wait time was less

then a minute. We saw a few minutes of the informational movie and

headed for the elevator to the top. The views from up there were

phenominal!! I'd post all the beautiful pics from up there but It might

crash CC's sight LOL. Here's a little taste

 

The empire state building

 

 

Uptown and central park

 

 

A beautiful church stuck in the center of all those skyscrapers

 

 

And finally a view of alot of skyscrapers

 

The beautiful church is St. Patrick's Cathedral

[krissy72]

I have been waiting all day for this. Thank you so very much.

[BeyondKen]

these 1000+ chinese were rude, line jumping, casino winning thieves that just happened to remove their expensive tips on the last day (whopping $40 each).

How do you know that all one thousand people of Chinese descent on the cruise removed their gratuities?

[jmecme]

I am interested in how the weather was in Canada. Not sure of what all to pack. Did it get cool in the evenings? Were you able to sit out on the deck and watch movies at night or was it too cool? Our cruise is in August. I know the daytime should be nice enough to swim in the pool and lay out in the sun, just wondering about the evenings on deck.

[malittlefoot971]

How do you know that all one thousand people of Chinese descent on the cruise removed their gratuities?

 

Well considering we talked with the gentleman at breakfast the first morning and he told me they were all a group from brooklyn in 160+ cabins and everyone was 4 to a cabin that'd be atleast 640. When you place 2-300 people in line at the pursars desk all at once it's overwhelming. We were with a friend that needed to place cash on her S&S and she attempted to do it most of the day and there were that many people at the desk for hours upon hours. You do the math. I don't know for sure that EVERY person of chinese decent took their tips off but after seeing 4-5 hours of 2-300 people in line at the pursars it's a fairly good assumption. As a matter of fact.... I wasn't going to post this picture after thinking about it but here's a lady that was at the pursars for ATLEAST 45 mins. She removed her tips and then went on to argue her charges. It's speculation it was most of them since she had some reciepts with her.

 

 

I guess you had to be there to believe it. I know there are people that remove tips but DAM!!! it was rediculous.

[kyrisong1]

I'm truly with all my heart not trying to be argumentative, but one sentence has me in a spin with questions.

The comment of the casino winning thieves? I don't understand why they would be thieves for winning in the casino??????

Clue me in please???

I really want to do the Miracle out of NY but would love a night time sail away, do they have those???

Trock???? you know the answer????

Carole

[malittlefoot971]

I am interested in how the weather was in Canada. Not sure of what all to pack. Did it get cool in the evenings? Were you able to sit out on the deck and watch movies at night or was it too cool? Our cruise is in August. I know the daytime should be nice enough to swim in the pool and lay out in the sun, just wondering about the evenings on deck.

 

I brought with me 1/2 shorts and 1/2 pants. I wore shorts onto the ship and shorts on the first day at sea. After that it didn't get warm enough for me to wear them. It was 80-85 on sunday and monday and I think they said 70 on our port day. On the second sea day it was too cool to even think about shorts. I saw people outside watching movies wrapped in towels and bath robes. I wore a shirt and sweatshirt on the second sea day. and the same in port. In port I was getting hot and the second sea day I was still cool. In august I'd say it'd probably be ok for shorts all but the day in port. It just depends on how cool you like it.

[malittlefoot971]

I'm truly with all my heart not trying to be argumentative, but one sentence has me in a spin with questions.

The comment of the casino winning thieves? I don't understand why they would be thieves for winning in the casino??????

Clue me in please???

I really want to do the Miracle out of NY but would love a night time sail away, do they have those???

Trock???? you know the answer????

Carole

 

Ok this is a little bit of a story. A table mate of one off of the roll call had been playing slots. She hit 1000 and kept playing. She then after a little bit hit 500. She got the 500 cleared off the machine (cashed out) and continued playing. When she was finished she cashed out. Or so she thought. When she went to the cage to get the cash off the S&S it wasn't there. She had the workers go over to the machine with her and it was STILL THERE. One from the group had sat down and had it down to 940ish. When approached by the workers the lady said something in chinese and around 25 of her "friends" crowded the machine to not allow the workers to it. Eventually the workers got to it, shut it down and found out using the machine's computer what S&S # had hit it. the chinese lady didn't want to give it up until they had the proof in front of her. Then she had the nerve to ask for her $20 she had supossedly inserted back. Now if that's not a thief I don't know what is! It just amazed me the whole trip how many COULD speak english but had selective memory of the language when it went against them.

[BeyondKen]

Well considering we talked with the gentleman at breakfast the first morning and he told me they were all a group from brooklyn in 160+ cabins and everyone was 4 to a cabin that'd be atleast 640.You do the math.

OK I'll do your racist math:

 

The other 4 were chinese from Brooklyn NY. they sat talking in chinese ignoring us totally. Didn't even get a good morning from them. I assumed it was due to language barrier.

[kyrisong1]

Wow, unbelieveable!!!!! Thanks for the explanation I was befuddled, but thats not hard to do;)

Carole

[malittlefoot971]

The beautiful church is St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

Thanks I couldn't remember even though I asked. It was a truely amazing sight in the middle of all that concrete stretched to the sky.

[malittlefoot971]

OK I'll do your racist math:

 

Dude you have no clue. You weren't there. It's not a racist thing it's just what it is. This was a group of chinese people. Not all of the chinese people were like this. As a matter of fact I even made friends with a guy in the cabin next to mine. He was of chinese decent but was very pleasan to speak with. If it had been a different group I would have stated that. I couldn't have cared less if it was a group from PA. It was what it was and I saw it not you, since you weren't there. If you don't like what I've observed please referr yourself to the first post

[Chevy57]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this review. Cannot wait to hear more about the ship, actitivities and the port.

 

We are sailing in Sept. on the Triumph and am enjoying your review very much.

 

Can you tell me which side starboard or port passes directly across from the Statue of Liberty. We have a Verandah Balcony on the starboard side and was wondering if we will see very much on sailing if we stay on balcony rather than going up on deck. Want to use the balcony as much as possible as I know when we get up to St. John and Halifax the weather is very likely to prohibit that.

 

Once again, thank you for you information.

 

 

Margaret

 

Triumph Sept. 26,2009

[Cruisingfan000]

I am Chinese and I was on the Triumph too! I was not part of the group. I did not remove the gratuities - I even gave extra gratuities to the dining staff, bar server and room stewards. Just because a few Chinese people were rude and cutting lines, it does not mean that all Chinese people are the same way!