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Carnival Cruise Line

MS Carnival Triumph

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Max M.
# previous cruises: 2
Date of Trip: July 22, 2003
Itinerary: Canada & New England

My father, mother and I (17 years old) went on the Triumph for a 5 day cruise to Canada. The ship is 3 years old. It looks really nice and big from the outside and the inside is nicely decorated. However, Carnival doesn't do a very good job of cleaning the ship. On the floors, there were numerous stains and the bathrooms were not spotless, as on the last Royal Carribian Cruise was.

There are many public areas aboard the Triumph that range from lounges, clubs, a casino, pool, sports deck, etc. All of these places were nice, but many of them were crowded. NOTE- when you go on a big ship like this, bring walky talkys. You can lose someone very quickly on this ship or any big ship.

The food was just average. Deserts were horrible. The cheese cakes had not creamy interior to it, it was air puffed! It tasted horrible. And when I ordered smoked salmon on a bagel for breakfast, I got quarter of a bagel with one little piece of salmon on it.

Our waiter, Orlando, was great. But our matre'de was a real jerk. We specifically asked for Early seating, but got Late. Many other people on the ship had the same mix up. There was a huge line by the dining room where we had to wait to see the matre'de. We spoke to him and he said we just had to deal with it and he couldn't change it. A few minutes later, we saw a man slipping the matre'de some money and then he gladly changed it. All this matre'de was looking for was money.

The cabins were big, much bigger than Royal Carribian's. I think, however, that since we were on the Nordic Empress, a 12 year old RCL ship, the rooms are going to be a little smaller. On newer ships, like the RCL Voyager, the rooms are just as big as Carnival's. But anyway, this room was good. The bathrooms were also big. The cabin stayed realitivly quiet though I heard many people talking in the halls during the wee hours of the morning. We didn't even know who our stewardess was and whoever it was, he/she wasn't a big help, different from RCL.

We didn't see many shows during the trip because there were too many people and dinner ran a bit late sometimes. However, we did manage to see one show and it was pretty good. The speakers were loud, since they were Bose. The Cruise Staff wasn't as good as Royal Carribian's. We didn't know the Cruise Director on the Triumph, as we did on RCL. Overall, entertainment was average.

There were many activities on board ranging from Bingo to swimming contest, to Hairy Chest Contest. We did Bingo once and thats the last time we did it. Carnival gives you one card and there are about 500 people playing. After about the 8th ball is called, someone wins and its over! On RCL, they gave us 5 cards for the same price and less people were playing. The games lasted for a good half hour and I did win $57(on RCL) We didn't do many activities though. We just relaxed most of the cruise. Carnival should re-evaluate the ports of call they pick. The first place we went was Saint John, New Brunswick. In my own town, there is more stuff to do. There was absolutly nothing to do in this town except watch a hippy band playing music on the street. Other then that, the town was BORING. The next port of call was Halifax- it was a little better because it was a city. But there still wasn't much stuff to do.

This cruise would probably be better for older people, not younger people. However, since it was a summer cruise, there were many families. I met a kid a year younger then me on the ship and we still talk online. Other then him, the passengers were just normal people.