Carnival Triumph Reviews

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My husband and I are newly retired but consider ourselves alot younger. We live above Dallas and drive to Galveston, unsually taking about 4 1/2 hours. This is our 4th cruise out of Galveston and our first on the Triumph. We leave the morning of embarkation and arrive in plenty of time. My husband does all the paperwork online and we always have all documents ready. Embarkation went very smooth, probably took 1/2 hour from when we arrived at the port. We usually do 7 night but decided on a 5 night and an inside cabin on this agic cruise mainly to help with the cost because we cruised on the Magic in March and we have another booked for the beginning of September. The stateroom was clean, well kept and our room steward was friendly and attentive, calling us by name. We were able to place our carry-on luggage in the cabin when we boarded so that we could go up to the Lido deck for lunch. Being our first time on the Triumph, we took the time while waiting for our cabin to be ready to explore the ship. Found the dining room, casino, shops and etc. We loved the fact that there was a band setup right by the casino, as we love to dance spontaneously. The Paris dining room was lovely, only 2 other couples at our table for 10, so we had extra seats. Our table mates were friendly and conversation was great, even saw them around the ship on other occasions. We really missed the Fish & Chips on the Lido deck as well as the Steakhouse, hopefully with the 2.0 upgrade, this will change. Always had room service for breakfast and then my husband would go up to the breakfast buffet and the omelets were great. We are not sun worshippers, however, we enjoyed going out on the deck by the pools and watching all the antics and activities. Spent time in the casino and the wait service was excellent, even received chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine from the casino manager. Stopped in at a few shows and also listened to karaoke all very entertaining.

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Got back last wk 05-12-12 from 5 day on Triumph out of Galveston. The drive to Galveston is about 7hrs. We usually leave early morning and go straight to the port but this time we went a day early and spent the night. I highly advise it. Quality Inn was very clean and the continental breakfast was good and had a lot of variety. Embarkment is always a bit stressful but it actually went pretty smooth. Our cabin wasn't ready yet but they allowed us to leave our things in there while they finished cleaning it. We booked a balcony for 3 directly from Carnival thinking they would know how their rms were set up. One of our party has some disabilities so would not be possible to climb into upper berth. We made this clear and were told specifically the rm either had a trundle or a couch that would make out to a bed. Nope! We returned to find upper berth made out. Our Steward was very apologetic and did his best to accommodate. We were brought a rickety roll away, wired together and sagging in the middle. My husband asked guest services if we could just change rms but were told none were available. So we just made the best of it. We also asked for a rm located so that walking could be minimized. Nope again! The elevator was close and opened directly to the London dining rm but we were assigned the Paris. I know we could have switched and probably should have but were trying not to be a problem so we had to walk all the way to both the front elevator and back elevator depending on where we were going. Ok, well at least the laundrette was just across the hall which might have been nice but part of the dryers didn't work, went to the one a deck above, same problem so carried wet clothes to deck below to dry. Others were frustrated with similar problems. We couldn't enjoy our balcony as much as we'd like because of the smokers all around us. It whiffed in like a vacuum. I realize smokers choose balconies so they may smoke but seems some consideration could be given to those of us who don't wish to be exposed. Safety drill was a joke! Pointing out we couldn't use the stairs because of impairment we were told to wait in the rm and special instructions would be provided, never happened. I was able so attended drill. What a waste of time. A crew member who obviously would rather be anywhere else half heartedly demonstrated how to put on a life jacket and that was about the extent of it. You would think in view of recent catastrophe safety would have been priority. The wait staff was wonderful. The food was ok but not the quality or choices we had on previous cruises. Dinner was usually in the dining rm while breakfast and lunch on buffet on Lido. My husband noticed staff in no hurry to clean tables and not particularly friendly. The one time we had lunch in dining rm I asked for guacamole which seemed to really put out our waiter. He left and eventually returned with a small bowl. Entertainment was fair. Magician was good, same illusions as all magic shows. We did enjoy the comedian, at least the family friendly show. Port briefing was just that, brief. Wish we'd had more info and a little warning about Progresso. We didn't take beach wear as we intended to make this our shopping day. Wow! You couldn't even stop to look at things because of the hassling to buy. One very insistent merchant kept heckling me to buy something I didn't want, he kept asking what I'd give for it, I told him $5 to get rid of him and he was very insulted. I should have studied the deck plans a little closer before booking on this particular ship. I love to go on deck and walk or watch the sun rise and set. The only decks where you could actually go outside had no working elevators going up to them and as mentioned before one in our party has disabilities which make stairs almost impossible. Sad to say Carnival is much more interested in getting your money than your enjoyment or safety. As embarkment is a little stressful, disembarkment is twice as much so but we were helped all the way to our waiting van, ez parking which I can recommend. As mentioned in another review this cruise was referred to as the Walmart of cruises. That about says it.

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I just got off the Carnival Triumph Saturday and I had a blast!!! This was my 4th Cruise on the Carnival Triumph, my 9th Carnival Cruise, and my 17th cruise total. I was already a Carnival Fan but now even more. Every single person on board was friendly and helpful at ALL times. They have improved their shows and entertainment. They still have lots of my favorite Karaoke but also had wonderful shows with beautiful sparkling Las Vegas style costumes. The men will like the fact that the costumes are quite revealing but the dancers were not Vulgar. Each evening they had 2 big show room show times, 2-3 Comedy shows in the comedy club, Karaoke, Superstar Karaoke (you get to sing with a live band), a Latin (salsa) dance club, a rock dance club, a piano bar, a small band near the Casino, and sometimes music in the lobby, Outdoor big screen movie,or a deck party. There was something for pretty much any taste. They had a midnight Burlesque show one night that was really cute. Not vulgar as you might fear but playful with beautiful costumes and great visual effects. I "donated" to the Casino as usual. I don't know if the 2.0 upgrades will be better than what they already had. They served a gourmet burger in the main dining room every night on the alternative menu that was about 1/3 to 1/2 lbs of ground beef with every imaginable topping choice- examples: guacamole, onions, mushrooms, bacon, cheese (of various types), lettuce, tomatoes, etc..... One guy at our table liked it so much he had that burger in various combinations 3-4 times during the cruise! They still had the Lobster in the main dining room on formal night. Only one disappointment. They didn't offer escargot. I was told by others that they still offer it on the 7 day cruises just not on the 5 day. I had an aft balcony for 2 on this 5 day cruise and could not have packed more fun into 5 days and yet the cruise cost less than $1000 dollars total for EVERYTHING! Some of you may have heard mixed reviews about Carnival cruise line but that is usually because they have not been on a Carnival ship in over 10 years. The ships are a little smaller than some cruise lines newer ships but I like it that way. The standard inner room is larger on Carnival than on pretty much any other cruise line. Our aft balcony had a lovely view but was a little smaller inside than other balcony cabins I've had on the Triumph and other Carnival ships. The Triumph, while not a big ship by modern standards, was still pretty big and had thousands of folks on board and yet many of the staff spoke to me by name as I walked about the ship. It was amazing that they could remember so many names! I have never met more friendly people than on this cruise. I purchased 4 future cruise certificates as I definitely plan to Cruise more with Carnival.

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Let me start by saying this was not a bad cruise, just not a good one. It had some good points, it came with a low price, the ship was small so it was easy to get around on. Getting on and off the ship was easy. It had a lot of bad points, Our room was on the Rivera deck at the front of the ship, it was very loud there and we had a constant banging that seemed like the ship was slamming into something. I have been on several ships and had never heard anything like this sound. The food was the lowest quality we had ever experienced cruising. The Lido deck buffet food was cold and average in quality. The buffet area is also set up poorly with extremely long lines and constant congestion. The pools are tiny and overcrowded. The children swarmed the area with little supervision, even in the so called "adult areas" and the "bars". It seemed that no one was there to assure that children were not running crazy. In the bar on the second night, 3 very apparent teenage girls were served drinks all evening by the waitstaff, at the "adult comedy show" the booth behind me had a family in it with young children, very inappropriate, a crew member should have asked then to remove the small children. The outdoor movie screen had some areas that didn't show up so the older unpopular movies that were played were patchy. During the day they just replayed videos of other cruisers that also played on tv in your room non stop. There was never anything playing that would prompt us to stay in this area to watch. Whenever the DJ would play music in the open area of Lido the base was often so loud that is was at times painful to just walk through to get to other areas of the ship. Overall the service offered on the ship seemed to lack something and didn't have the usual appeal that the other Carnival ships have. It seemed as though the Triumph was like the Walmart of cruising. I love to cruise and always look for bargains and understand that often a lower price may mean slightly lower quality but this cruise got to the point where we weren't able to look past the negatives and were very ready to get off the ship.

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This was our first cruise. These are my impressions: Embarkation: Since we got a call from Carnival asking if we wanted to upgrade from a balcony room to a suite a few weeks prior to the cruise, we went ahead and upgraded. This included VIP embarkation and it only took about 10 minutes! Easy Peasy. Oh yeah, and I wanted to add here that I took a clothes steamer and a power strip, per advice found on this site. They confiscated both of them! We got them back at the end of the cruise. Cabin: As stated above, we got a suite, and it was pretty nice. Decor was outdated, but there were two closets, a minibar, and tons of drawers. It also had a jacuzzi bathtub. Other than the square footage (Our cabin was 235 square feet and, balcony cabin we originally booked was about 185) and the bathtub, I don't know what the difference is between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had originally booked, but we were pleased with this cabin. Steward: Arnold was such a pleasant man. Always had a smile on his face and our room was cleaned twice a day. Upon meeting him, my husband tipped him $20.00 and tipped him almost every time we saw him. Food: I have mixed feelings about the food. I thought the buffets were pretty bland. It wasn't horrible, just not very tasty. The dining room, however, was pretty good. We ate in the dining room three of the five nights we were there. On elegant night, I had the lobster and it was really good. They don't give you a ton, but you can order as much as you want. And you've got to check out the pastrami sandwich at the deli on the Lido Deck, and also on room service menu. Yum! Dress: Shorts almost the whole time. I did wear a long gown on elegant night and did not feel out of place. My hubby wore a suit. Photos: They take a picture every time you turn around! But I actually liked that because we haven't had a professional picture taken of us since we got married 18 years ago!! Shows: We only saw the magic show, but I'd say it compared to a top notch show in Las Vegas, complete with show girls! It was very good. Excursions: Didn't book any in Progreso. Just went shopping in the port. My one complaint is the excursion we took in Cozumel. It was completely geared to steering you to certain shops, from which it appears Carnival gets a kickback. It was half a day excursion called Shopping and Highlights of Cozumel. We were supposed to be taken to a tequila factory. It wasn't a factory at all. They just sold tequila. We were taken to a little town with about three or four shops, and told that we would get a good deal at these shops. Anyway, it was pretty much a joke. Next time, if we want to shop, I'll forego the so called "excursion" and just shop on our own. Debarkation: Again, we had VIP debarkation. We were told to go to the Lounge (I think it was the Rome Lounge), and about 5 minutes after we got there, they told us to go ahead and debark. Very smoothly run. Anyway, I am excited to go on another cruise -- and open to exploring different cruise lines. But I would definitely go on a Carnival cruise again. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me at: phowell@swbell.net

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