June 7th - First Triumph Cruise out of NY - Review

[crusinmama06]

sheesh.............they can't fix the drink machines??? sounds like the cappuccino machine on Explorer in Feb.

 

Keep typing......

 

lemme ask a dumb question.....how did you get pix in your review??? did you put them on the computer then copy and paste into word or something??? i searched as it's been on CC a bunch of times, but i got funky answers.....

 

awaiting more.....:p

 

Yep, 4 of the beverage machines in the Lido buffet had actual signs on them that said "Out of Service" the others, just simply spit out water instead of the drink they were suppose to spit out.

 

And that's IF there were cups. One of the machines had no cups. I almost laughed myself silly listening to another CCer tell the story.

 

And posting pics, go to a free hosting site like photobucket - www.photobucket.com

--upload your pictures there

--copy the IMG code

--paste it at Cruise Critic

--The IMG code looks something like

 

MORE TOMORROW - I'll move on to Saint John - GREAT port and wonderful people

[CeleBrat]

HOLY COW! You are efficient. Didn't you JUST get off the ship a few hours ago. Way to go getting a review put together so quickly!

 

And, welcome back!

 

CeleBrat

[crusinmama06]

HOLY COW! You are efficient. Didn't you JUST get off the ship a few hours ago. Way to go getting a review put together so quickly!

 

And, welcome back!

 

CeleBrat

 

Yesterday we got off the ship. ;) So I am a day late...lol.

 

Thanks Celebrat. :D Signing off for the night

[Dave85]

Awesome review so far!!! Can't wait for the rest!

[Name Of The Game]

Mad at your husband and wouldn't take him? :D

 

Enjoying the review but sorry to hear you sound annoyed with this cruise. We had a great time on the Triumph.

[Sneezykevina]

Tell me more about camp carnival...... we *plan* on our kids (4 & 8) going to CC in a few weeks. My son will be fine, my daughter however can be uhm....CHALLENGING at times. I love her to death but ohhh the pain she causes.....

 

Anyway, we leave on the triumph soon (june 29) so I just can't wait for this. Though I may regret taking her.:( I just hope I don't.

[singbluesilver1]

thanks for the review.....

[CC Help Michell]

Looking forward to reading more, Michele, especially about Saint John. It sounds as if the Camp Carnival counselors may need more training, because it's clear that the issues there impacted your cruise in a negative way. :(

 

I have to say the business with the delayed muster drill interfering with the sailway in NYC is a big deal to me -- that's one of the main reasons I booked my cruise on the Triumph next week -- I wanted to sail out of NYC and experience those sights. If I'm stuck in muster drill past the scheduled time without a good explanation, I am going to be a very unhappy camper. I'm a go-with-the-flow person, especially on vacation, but I think sailaway from NYC is a significant highlight of the trip -- it's one reason I don't begrudge the higher fares NYC sailings carry. Was there ever any explanation on your cruise of why CCL thought holding a muster drill while sailing by the Statue of Liberty was necessary?

[WAcruisers]

love your review

[nannyny]

Great review so far! We are going on the Triumph June 20th, can't wait to hear more!!

 

We've got a a nice roll call over for 6/20, pls feel free to join us.

 

Nan

[MNmomof4]

Great review Michele....can't wait to hear more

[crusinmama06]

Mad at your husband and wouldn't take him? :D

 

LOL! No, his job allows one vacation/year, since we just did Indy in Feb, that meant no Triumph. :( So I have been taking my girls in June alone for the past few years (usually land based trip though)

 

Tell me more about camp carnival...... we *plan* on our kids (4 & 8) going to CC in a few weeks. My son will be fine, my daughter however can be uhm....CHALLENGING at times. I love her to death but ohhh the pain she causes.....

 

Anyway, we leave on the triumph soon (june 29) so I just can't wait for this. Though I may regret taking her.:( I just hope I don't.

 

If you have ever read my posts before, I USUALLY talk about how wonderful Camp Carnival is for the younger kids. I USUALLY say that they are great with my kids. I don't know what happened on this cruise, but I have to say I am glad it wasn't our first, because I would have had a very different outlook on Camp Carnival.

 

When I went to get my daughter after the "shark incident", I looked around and the counselors were not doing the activities they were suppose to be doing at that time. They were suppose to be "coloring big cruise ships" and making "princess paper bags". They weren't. The kids were just doing free play. So while I was there, another little girl started crying, a boy had bit her on the arm. :eek: So they called both of their parents too.

 

So I guess the best way to describe Camp this time - CHAOS. And that's a shame because it hadn't been that way in the past. All you need is a couple of inept counselors and they can really ruin the child's cruise.

 

I will be posting the rest of our experience with Camp Carnival (and the scanned pages) - so stay tuned. ;)

 

Was there ever any explanation on your cruise of why CCL thought holding a muster drill while sailing by the Statue of Liberty was necessary?

 

No, there was NO explanation of why the Muster was delayed. Standing 45 minutes in life vests doesn't seem like a big deal, but coupled with the fact that we were in an outside hallway (with no view except a metal wall) and could feel the ship moving. AND, for the first time ever, they didn't put the small children up front. So the kids were smushed up against a wall. :( It was bad.

 

I knew with Main Seating we would miss the bridge. But I was really upset that we almost missed the statue too.

[crusinmama06]

DAY 1 - New York City - Capers

 

 

 

 

 

[crusinmama06]

DAY 2 - First Sea Day - Capers

 

 

 

 

[JuniorCruiser]

Michele.... I hope you don't mind me saying this but i think you and your girls are BEAUTIFUL :D

 

I am LOVING your review so far. I wish i could write reviews like you but i can't so i never do.

 

Have a Great Day :)

 

~~Debbie~~

[crusinmama06]

Awww thanks Debbie!

 

So - the kids meals. On Day 1 when we arrived to dinner, the waiter handed the kids the adult menus...lol. Then he said "And there is a kid menu with kid food on it like pizza, chicken, hamburgers" but he didn't give us the menu. Luckily, the kids wanted pasta off of the adult menu anyway so we didn't need the kid menu on the first night.

 

And, with our other cruises, they asked the kids what they wanted to drink. Not this time. So we all drank water every night - which was fine. I was too exhausted the first night to argue...lol.

 

So here is the kid's menu. They gave it to us from the 2nd night on. And the server turned out to be pretty nice. He made origami for the kids every night. I couldn't tell you who our assistant waiter was. Seriously NO IDEA. And its amazing because I can tell you the name of the waiter and assistant waiter that our friends had in Late Seating (Ekka and Ni Luh) because they were THAT good. And that dining team hadn't even served ME. But they were that good on the night we crashed the late seating dining.

 

[crusinmama06]

DAY 3 - Saint John - Capers

 

 

 

 

 

[JuniorCruiser]

We are packing as we speak and i told hubby about it be chilly so now he's not sure if he should pack shorts or not. What do you think? I'm guessing i should bring a sweat coat with me too huh?

 

~~Debbie~~

[crusinmama06]

We are packing as we speak and i told hubby about it be chilly so now he's not sure if he should pack shorts or not. What do you think? I'm guessing i should bring a sweat coat with me too huh?

 

~~Debbie~~

 

Ohhh yeah, you are sailing in 2 days, bring sweatshirts! It was COLD. And if you are driving and want to sit out on deck to watch movies or the concert, then bring a blanket. I never thought about bringing a blanket on a cruise, but I really missed out. Everyone was all wrapped up on the deck watching the seaside theatre during the movie times. I didn't have blankets so we just passed.

[JuniorCruiser]

HMMMM. Never thought of bringing a blanket either to tell ya the truth. Thank You for the tip. Maybe we could find some room in the suitcase for one :eek:

 

~~Debbie~~

[A&Jfamily]

I have to say the business with the delayed muster drill interfering with the sailway in NYC is a big deal to me -- that's one of the main reasons I booked my cruise on the Triumph next week -- I wanted to sail out of NYC and experience those sights. If I'm stuck in muster drill past the scheduled time without a good explanation, I am going to be a very unhappy camper. I'm a go-with-the-flow person, especially on vacation, but I think sailaway from NYC is a significant highlight of the trip -- it's one reason I don't begrudge the higher fares NYC sailings carry. Was there ever any explanation on your cruise of why CCL thought holding a muster drill while sailing by the Statue of Liberty was necessary?

 

It can happen, so I would take your camera with you to the muster drill - and go later so you'll be at the front near a rail and can snap some photos if you start moving.

 

Crusinmama - thanks for the review. sorry about the problems with Camp Carnival. Like you (up until this point) I have had nothing but great experiences with them. Did you say anything/complain during the trip? Or are you considering a letter post cruise...things like that need to be corrected....especially when CCL markets itself to familites. Can't wait to hear more - we are thinking of this cruise or the 9 day next summer, but that will be the Glory.

[crusinmama06]

Crusinmama - thanks for the review. sorry about the problems with Camp Carnival. Like you (up until this point) I have had nothing but great experiences with them. Did you say anything/complain during the trip? Or are you considering a letter post cruise...things like that need to be corrected....especially when CCL markets itself to familites. Can't wait to hear more - we are thinking of this cruise or the 9 day next summer, but that will be the Glory.

 

No, I didn't say anything. :( I think I was looking at it like this, it was a short 4 day cruise. This happened on Day 2. I knew Day 3 would be a port day, so no reason for her to go to camp that day (just for 2 hours that night). And Day 4, I kept her out until after dinner. So she was there 2 hours on the last night.

 

It's a shame because being her 8th cruise, she knew what she was missing in camp. She bawled when I took her out on formal night because she didn't know what was happening. She kept saying "I playing kitchen, I being a gooood girl" I had to explain that she had abused a rubber shark...LMBO...and that she had to take a break from them that night.

 

Had it been a longer cruise. I would have complained to the camp director right away. Looking back on it now, I probably should have said something because it didn't get any better the other 2 days....more to come.

[jimbri]

Thank you so much for the pictures. They are great!!

[crusinmama06]

SAINT JOHN - DAY IN PORT

I awake early (3:15am) to capture the sunrise off the balcony. Can you believe that the sun rose at 4AM (ship time)????? And yes, I was crazy enough to be up to catch it.

So this is Sunrise over the Bay of Fundy. We had an Aft balcony so you can see the bridge in this shot. Who I can imagine were loking back at me wondering "What is this crazy loon woman doing up at 3am to take 100 pictures of the bridge?" lol

From this....

 

To this...

 

 

LATE AGAIN

 

(Notice how Carnival mispelled Saint John in the Caper - listed as "St. John" and as any good New Brunswick resident will tell you, it is SAINT John, not St. John....LOL)

Before we went on this cruise, I looked for the best way to see Saint John/St. Martin and the Sea Caves. I had read on CC about the Carnival excursion buses arriving later than the private tours. And in St.Martin, if you arrive even a few minutes later, with the tide schedule, you could entirely miss the chance to go into the sea caves.

So, we booked a shore excursion called "Fundy Coast to the Fundy Shore" with Freedom Tours. We found it on Shore Trips. There were 7 in our CC roll call group who went together to do this tour. And this was the BEST decision we had made.

We all met for breakfast at 7:30am in the Paris dining room, {one tip - AVOID THE BUFFET AT ALL COST, horrible lines, bad layout}

We were suppose to "Arrive in Saint John at 8am {SHIP TIME, Saint John is one hour ahead of the ship - IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT}

Our tour was to meet at 9:30 (local time) in the terminal, they would be holding a sign for us. So we go down to the Deck 2 gangway (not Deck 3 as the caper says, the tides had changed that).

And we WAIT. And WAIT. And WAIT. The ship hasn't cleared customs on time - thank you Mr Duncan who was called over and over again on the ship's PA system.

We know that for us to get into the caves, we have to be off the ship and on our way to St. Martin at 9:30 and its not happening. We were stuck in the hallway on Deck 2 for over an hour. We finally get off the ship at 10:30 local time. God bless their souls, our tour guides were there waiting for us with a smile on their face, which is more than I could say for us...lol.

The terminal at Saint John is brand new so we were the first guests to arrive at the terminal. Each lady was handed a rose. Each gentleman a pin. And each child a Canadian flag. Our guides said that they started this tradition 10 years ago and do it for every passenger that disembarks in Saint John.

And since the terminal is brand new, we were met on the street by a news camera. I can just imagine what we looked like after waiting over an hour in the hallway on Deck 2...lol.

Since there was 7 of us, 4 went in one mini van and 3 went in the other. I told the guides that we could separate from the others if they thought there was something the kids would want to see along the way.

Since we were late, the guides took us straight to St. Martin (an hour away) on a scenic coastal highway. Let me tell you - this area is GORGEOUS!

These are some of the things we saw on the way to the sea caves...

 

 

Someone stole the water under these boats.....

 

 

[firefly333]

Hi Michele, I didnt realize you were back already (sorry having issues here, no power since the storm went thru Dallas Wednesday night).

 

What a nice surprise to pop in and see your review. I plan on reading every word.