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

[crischickie]

Perhaps in China they don't tip, but, here in the USA only the CHEAP people don't tip. Presumably people from Brooklyn are Americans.

[malittlefoot971]

Creating a new screen name to argue a point is pretty immature. I do not believe a word of your post.

 

The OP is reporting what she saw and I applaud her honesty. It is what it is. If you don't like it, read post #1 of this thread.

 

I'm actually Brian on DW's screen name. I started the review and then realized it was under her name and just continued to used it. And thanks for reminding them of the "disclaimer". It's sad that you have to watch stating your opinion and trying to be politically correct all the time just so people don't go off the handle.

 

Now I'm uploading the last of the pics I need and will post the remainder of the review shortly after.

[Kurbanfan]

look - i don't want to chinese bash. i bash equally if truth be told. this is what was on the ship and this was how they behaved. just calling a spade a spade. now if you would really ask my opinion - which no one has - i attribute it to carnival. i believe people behave a little better on royal caribbean and celebrity and princess in general. you get what you pay for. now don't bash me for saying what i think.

 

ROFLMAO!! You guys are hysterical!!! If nothing else....great entertainment!

[salty dingo]

This is a comment about the people removing tips: it's not a racial thing but a cultural one. I have been on these boards long enough to have seen this before... most notable were certain European cruisers, for whom tipping back home was just not a custom.

 

So, these cheap clueless cruisers take their culture and customs from back home and carry them to the ship.

 

Look, just because you are from a culture which does not believe in tipping, when you TRAVEL to another place in the world you must adapt to the LOCAL culture. You should not expect people around you to adapt to your culture.

 

Carnival does a poor job of dealing with this problem, in my view. Tips should not be removable except by documenting some service deficiency. No one should be able to remove tips because they "prefer to tip in cash" or because they do not feel the charge is justified.

[malittlefoot971]

We arrived to the caves a few minutes after the first van and ran straight for them.

 

 

 

I'd like to add a warning here that this is not a place for those with limited mobility. I consider myself able to go about anywhere that not many people would even consider going. these little rocks were deep and VERY loose. While some in our group wore water type shoes I had on sneakers. I was only slightly worried about getting them muddy so I didn't "pansy foot" around when walking. It was deffinately different then any surface I've ever walked on. There was a small creek to cross and we were there. I went upstream some and crossed on rocks that were placed as a path.

 

This was an example of some of the wildlife from under the ocean that's exposed to the air with the low tide.

 

 

And a pic of the inside of the first cave.

 

 

After viewing this I saw a small opening to be able to go into the sceond cave and I took it. As I climbed over the rock I was being hollered at to come back. Ofcourse I didn't think it was that dangerous and I jumped onto the floor of the second cave and started snapping pics.

 

This was the floor of the second cave. I'm amazed at how much sea life can survive out of water for extended periods of time.

 

 

The second cave that only had one visitor that day...ME!

[malittlefoot971]

Above the cave I saw alot of interesting markings caused by nature and took the oppurtunity to snap a few pics. As soon as I took the pic of the cave I was asked if I could swim and knew I'd have to be quick as the tide was rising fast.

 

Here's a nice rock formation that's about 30 feet off the ground.

 

And a tree that won't make it threw the summer without crashing to the ground and being swept away with the tide. that's what peter the guide told me anyways. I guess I'll have to go back in the fall and see for myself!

 

 

After snapping these pics I climbed over the rock and about ran from the caves. The tide was coming in and it wasn't waiting for anyone to get out of it's way! Once I felt all was good I took the time to snap a pic of the side of the cliff. I know it sounds odd but it reminded me of concrete mix but was in 3d. I guess people view nature differently but I found it cool to see.

 

 

At the base of this cliff was what looked like loose rocks and rocks in mud. The mud however is hard and you can't remove the rocks. I'm guessing it's part of the errosion process which I found interesting as well and snapped a pic.

 

[Kurbanfan]

Carnival does a poor job of dealing with this problem, in my view. Tips should not be removable except by documenting some service deficiency. No one should be able to remove tips because they "prefer to tip in cash" or because they do not feel the charge is justified.

 

I disagree.........as long as they call them tips or gratuities, it should be up to the customer to make that decision......

If they add it as a service charge that is a different story.....

[e150club]

On one of our cruises there were a large group in their marroon t shirts on the first day of the cruise. It seems to me large groups of people seem to think they own more space then small group's . they take over the table's at the buffett, crowd the bar's and run around in bunches and have a good time, not giving respect to other pax. We all want to have an enjoyable cruise. My army of 13 can't compete with an army of 100's IMHO large group's feel they own the ship. We are thinking of taking the cruise north [again] in aug. 09. I hope there are no large group's aboard.

[MsTabbyKats]

This is a comment about the people removing tips: it's not a racial thing but a cultural one. I have been on these boards long enough to have seen this before... most notable were certain European cruisers, for whom tipping back home was just not a custom.

 

So, these cheap clueless cruisers take their culture and customs from back home and carry them to the ship.

 

Look, just because you are from a culture which does not believe in tipping, when you TRAVEL to another place in the world you must adapt to the LOCAL culture. You should not expect people around you to adapt to your culture.

 

Carnival does a poor job of dealing with this problem, in my view. Tips should not be removable except by documenting some service deficiency. No one should be able to remove tips because they "prefer to tip in cash" or because they do not feel the charge is justified.

 

You're absolutely right.

 

To avoid this...Carnival should raise the price by $10/person/day...and have a "no tipping allowed" policy.

[malittlefoot971]

We walked from the caves and the water had risen enough that the rock I climbed over was starting to be covered up. We went into the restraunt there and ordered lunch all before carnival's first bus showed up. They gave me a reciept and change in canadian along with a #. they even had a button on their register to do the conversion so we weren't getting short changed with the currency exchange rate. I walked out and had a seat and waited for the food to be done. While sitting there I noticed how much the tide had come up and took a pic. We had been there about 30 mins acording to the time stamp on the camera and still no carnival bus!

 

 

I had a nice lobster salad sandwich and fries and DW had a bacon cheese dog and fries.

 

She's not a big seafood eater and was happy to see dog and burgers and chicken on the menu. While waiting for the buses to pull in I was watching this amazing tide. It came in FAST! the carnival buses came in as I sat down with our food and I noticed about 40 people from the bus head for the shore and the rest headed INTO the restraunt. If I had booked an excursion to see sea caves eating wouldn't be on the top of my list! Of the 40 or so people there was one couple that decided to go to the first cave and the water was knee deep and freezing cold. They walked about half way over (just enough to look) and then returned and rubbed their legs rapidly. I guess it was more then they could bare.

[malittlefoot971]

Hmmm i find it interesting how MY REVIEW has become a thread about tipping and if it's acceptable practice or not. May I continue or do you all want to talk about tipping and just guess the ending??

[WAcruisers]

I would love to hear the rest of the review!;)

[e150club]

I'm sorry thanks for your review. We went to canada last year on the Victory and had a wonderful cruise. keep on posting and thanks for your honest opinion thats what makes us see the truth.

[we3k9]

I want to hear more about the ship and your review, please continue:)

[Sunniedays]

Hmmm i find it interesting how MY REVIEW has become a thread about tipping and if it's acceptable practice or not. May I continue or do you all want to talk about tipping and just guess the ending??

 

On with your review we're leaving on the Triumph on Monday and can'twait to read the rest of your review.

[malittlefoot971]

When we were finished with our lunch 1/2 of our group went with a more kid friendly choice while we went a different route. we stopped at the place we saw the boats out of the water and explored the stands. I took this time to snap a few pics of the boats in the water

 

and explore the lighthouse across the street.

 

When the ladies were done exploring we got on our way to look at a working lighthouse.

I was asked if I'd like to take a walk down the path to take some pics and ofcourse I agreed. I wondered down to see this view. Truly breathe taking!!

 

[Middleager]

After snapping these pics I climbed over the rock and about ran from the caves. The tide was coming in and it wasn't waiting for anyone to get out of it's way!

 

Do you remember what time it was when you were at the second cave?

 

We are visiting there ourselves on July 1. The low tide that day is about 2:03pm. What I had read is that 3 hours before and after the low tide, we can walk on the cave floor. So just curious what time it was that you got there, and when the tide starting coming in, compared to the low tide time.

[malittlefoot971]

After leaving the lighthouse we stopped at a local store where one of the group bought a bag of a local reat. it's called Dulce. It was some of the nastiest stuff I've ever had yet the locals love the stuff. I guess it's an aquired taste and I don't fault them for that. From there we headed on a country side tour as we headed for the reversing falls. I was impressed with the knowledge these 2 had and the extent of the tour. We arrived at the reversing falls to find a few venders set up and a nice walk way overlooking the falls. I ventured out and ofcourse I went off the beaten path to capture a few pics. Here are a few examples as I was being told to watch myself so I didn't fall in!

 

The falls tour boat

 

Birds sunbathing to dry their wings after "fishing" for dinner



And them actually fishing

they'd fly one way a few feet, land in the water, swim underwater to get fish and then do it again until they were done. Then they'd go over to the rocks to dry off because the wet wings prohibitted them from being able to fly good.

 

After watching this for a little bit we made a bathroom stop next to the vendors, loaded the vans and headed back to town for more history lessons :)

[malittlefoot971]

Do you remember what time it was when you were at the second cave?

 

We are visiting there ourselves on July 1. The low tide that day is about 2:03pm. What I had read is that 3 hours before and after the low tide, we can walk on the cave floor. So just curious what time it was that you got there, and when the tide starting coming in, compared to the low tide time.

 

The pics have a date/time stamp on them. However that doesn't help you much.. the tide table changes every day. If you email me I'll be happy to send you a link I found for the tide tables and maybe help you make a little sense of it. bnc13@hotmail.com

[malittlefoot971]

On the way out I noticed a stand there for the jetboat rides. One of the locals had said that only 1 boat had taken a trip into the rapids that day. getting wet with freezing water in upper 60's weather wasn't my cup of tea. They did have a very clean bathroom right there you could change into but I wouldn't hve wanted to. It just seamed like too much hassle for a 20 minute ride. After our little tour of the city and a ton of information we were dropped at the top of the market and given directions on how to return to the ship. We wanted it this way so we had adequate time to do some shopping before getting back on the ship. One of the ladies in our group was older and opted to return to the ship. they dropped 3 of us off and took her back right to the dock. I found this to be OUTSTANDING on their part as it was obviously not the norm for a guided tour. While in the market place we saw alof of interesting trinkets and souveniers. I was on the lookout for a coffee mug that I wouldn't have a problem with in the dishwasher and never found one. I did however find alot of nice looking mugs but was afraid of them breaking or removing the writing in the dishwasher. We found a nice store with some small souveniers for our new friend and her little ones and decided we'd rather give then recieve. After getting their things we bought shirts for our 2 little ones and headed back for the ship. A friend almost took money from a mac machine until she woke up and realized it'd give her money in canadian. Luckily I had enough cash to loan her until we got to the ship.

 

It was rather easy finding the ship and port from the market and after waiting in the nice line that had formed we were back on board. Here's another observation thatthe cheerleaders can feel free to bash (without a responce from me). When we went threw the security in the port we had to walk up a series of tunnels to get onto the ship. The tunnels were full and HOT. Think greenhouse effect here. Once out of the tunnels we had about 50 people waiting on the deck in a line to go threw ONE carnival boing machine. I was on a ship this size on my first cruise and they used atleast 2 if not 3 most times to get people on AND off. After boarding came the biggest carnival mess up of the trip....stay tuned as I'm typing this as I go.

[ward497]

hi bigfoot and ma, loved your review. thought i would say hi and glad you had a good time. we cruised out of baltimore this year and had a great time also. tell your mom hi for me.:)

[malittlefoot971]

We finally got threw the line (30-45 min) and headed back to the cabin to drop off the purchases and the cameras (big mistake). I stepped onto the balcony for a quick smoke as the DW wanted to wash up quick before grabbing a bite in the buffet. We had arranged to meet the others from the roll call and the excursion for lunch. We were in the cabin all of 3-4 mins and headed for the buffet. I expected a huge line but to our surprise there was none. I knew it was too good to be true. I stepped in line at the point where the trays are and as soon as I went to grab a tray a carnival employee slid a stand infront of me and said "buffet is closed". I was shocked. Turning around it was just me and DW so I politely asked if the 2 of us could go and he said "no you'll have to go to the grill pizza or deli" WHAT?!?!? are you kidding me?? I asked again with a simple "excuse me?" To be told the same thing again with a slightly different tone. Oh I was steaming at this point. I asked if they wee rying to save the food that was STILL out and the harm of 2 more going threw. He said something about it's 1 minute passed time and the fire in my eyes said it all. I told him how unfricken believable I found him and his staff and headed for the grill. I wasn't starving by any means but with late dinner I wanted something to hold me over. I grabbed a slice of pizza and a burger. The burger came with cold fries that I was given additude about when I told them they were luke warm "that's all I have sir" Unfrickenbelievable!! I took it upstairs and figured a drink was needed to help wash it down. I head over and no cups!!!! I said something to the 2 workers not doing anything more then leaning on the rail and get told "oh ok". I took that as "I'll go get some" and I sit down. A few minutes later I see the same 2 workers still leaning on the rail so now I'm more angry and head down to get my own cups! I returned a few minutes later to see the 2 same said workers in the same position with an officer leaning and chatting with them. I couldn't control myself. I blurted out "Don't worry I got my own dam cups!!" I go to fill them and that's when the officer tells them they better get some cups up there. Boy I know it's not my ship and all but if it's your job you should know to replace the cups when they are empty! After attempting to eat the cold fries, rock hard bun and cold burger and the cold hard pizza I gave up. I wouldn't give that food to an enemy so I gave up on a bite to eat. I went for a walk and a litle while later it was time for sailaway.

 

DW and I have seen a ton of videos online of pier runners. She had it in her head that there'd be some here thanks to the time difference so we went topside to look for them. while we didn;t see any we did find a nice guy that was part of the water pipe evacuation on our deck. 8 cabins were flooded and these people had to be moved. They got spa balconies on a "sailing full" ship. After chatting for a few minutes it was time for untieing and sailaway. I noticed a bagpiper was out to see us off. I found this to be a nice touch to a great port day (land only).

 

[malittlefoot971]

hi bigfoot and ma, loved your review. thought i would say hi and glad you had a good time. we cruised out of baltimore this year and had a great time also. tell your mom hi for me.:)

 

Hiya stranger!! I'll be sure to tell her tomorrow when I talk to her! did you do a review of your trip?

[malittlefoot971]

Oh and I better mention now before anyone thinks the lack of cups was the big issue. it wasn't! The issue was the non caring un able to please people additude that seamed prevelent from the staff

[Sunniedays]

Great review. Hope the staff learned a little these past two cruises and are a little more on the ball next week.

 

Question?? what side of the ship should we be on to view Miss Liberty as we leave NY