Our experience on board the Carnival Triumph was just that- an experience. Unfortunately, there was very little good to our "fun"ship vacation. We took a 5- night out of Galveston, where we stayed at the Harbor House the night before embarkation, which i would highly recommend for those who wish to stay on the port. The morning of embarkation was very relaxed, because we stayed so close, there was no rushing or stressing the start the embarkation process, which went very smoothly, long lines- went by very quickly. But the disappointment began when i first boarded the ship, I have sailed on the Triumph twice, once in 2000, and this time in 2012. I immediately noticed that 12 years later nothing about the layout or decor of the ship had changed. The atrium looked almost exactly the way it did 12 years ago, which almost seemed like the ship had lacked attention. Of course we weren't allowed in our rooms until 1:30, so we waited with the massive amounts of people on the Lido deck until the cabins were opened. Our next problem arose when we didn't receive our luggage until 6:00 that night, which has never happened to us before. That alone caused us to be late to dinner, and miss the welcome aboard show, which left us with nothing to do but wonder around the ship for the rest of the night.

The dining room- was it's own disaster, we chose anytime dining, which normally means we are seated upon arrival- hence the name "anytime dining" but the Triumph's anytime dining took on a new meaning- you can be seated "anytime" AFTER the other dining guests in specific time seating were accommodated, anytime dining was definitely last priority. We were told we had to wait 30 minutes for a table for 4, when there were clearly many tables available that we could have been seated at. With that said, the food was an even worse experience. Dry and tasteless. My father ordered the steak the first night, which resembled some kind of plastic in taste. Not a single meal, one night of the cruise, was hot. Or even moderately warm. In fact on the second day, the food made me very sick, i lost my appetite for any food on board the ship for the rest of the cruise. When i finally did eat, i ordered a gourmet burger from the dining room, which was as dry as my napkin. Not even slightly edible. On the last night of the cruise, fed up with the dining room staff and terrible food, we gave up and ate on the Lido deck, causing us to miss the waiters and waitresses singing the farewell song, which we have never missed.

I have also never been more hounded to buy things as i was this cruise! People on every corner trying to sell you something crazy, like a drink in a crazy cup for $13, no thanks. The photographers were everywhere, you had to sometimes make a special effort to go around their equipment on the promenade. One even asked my father to get up and move from his seat so he could put his light there! So rude, this same photographer snapped at my sister for not cooperating with his ridiculous poses. Photos are too expensive to waste the time. Read more