Background There were five of us on Carnival Triumph on the 6/2/07 Eastern Caribbean itinerary (Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk), our 13th cruise overall (8th on Carnival). It was actually our third time on Triumph; we booked this cruise mainly for the new itinerary as we had not yet visited Half Moon Cay or Grand Turk. We booked this cruise through our regular agent at a well known cruise agency approximately five months prior to the cruise date. It was a family cruise for us this time and we had two inside cabins. My husband (47) and I (45) shared our cabin (#8295) on Verandah Deck with our 15 year old son Tyler. After having a cabin to ourselves for the past several cruises, it was an adjustment having our son in with us, but we all survived the week. Our oldest son Andrew (22) and his fiancE Vanessa (23) were on Upper Deck. We almost always book a category guarantee, but at the time of booking there was a past guest promotion available that allowed us to go ahead and select our cabin and still get the lowest possible price. I think we were all happy with our cabin locations, but I did miss having a balcony this time around.

Embarkation We drove to the Port of Miami from our home in Orlando, staying over the night before at the Embassy Suites in Boca Raton, then continuing on to Miami the morning of the cruise. I hurt my back two weeks before the cruise and thought maybe it would be a good idea to break up the drive a little (even though it's only about a three and a half hour drive from our house to the port). It also didn't hurt that we were able to get a great rate at the hotel of $80, which included two hours of free drinks Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning.

We'd kept a close eye on the weather all week, and Tropical Storm Barry seemed determined to give us a wet start to our cruise. It rained off and on all day Friday during our drive south and for hours after we arrived at the hotel. We also had some rain Saturday morning, but it was dry when we arrived at the port. It was cloudy most of the day, but cleared up nicely later on. For the most part, we had pretty good weather during the cruise except for a brief heavy downpour Sunday while we were anchored at Half Moon Cay and a short shower during our last sea day on Friday. Seas were kind of rough the first night but I think, overall, considering the lingering effects of TS Barry that were still out there when we left the Port of Miami, we had a pretty smooth cruise the entire week. Read more