Just completed a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Triumph. Traveling with three kids 7, 5 and 2. This is the cruise with a decidedly holiday camp feel. If you like lots of games like bingo, name that tune with a bouncy announcer on the microphone announcing the next activity etc.. this could be the cruise for you. There is absolutely no stuffiness or formality with the ship even though there is an 'elegant' night - the only thing remotely elegant were some of the dresses the passengers bought along. The ship is supposedly only 10 years old but is decorated from the early eighties with faux Donald Trump gaudiness in most places. Despite this, the up keep of the ship is on the whole good and the crew work incredibly hard to keep everything clean and ship-shape.

Accommodations: We chose this cruise as they would sleep all five of us in a single room. We liked the room. My wife and I had a King and each of the kids had their own twin bed which in a room not much bigger than 150 sq ft is quite an accomplishment. Space is tight but the room is well laid out with a TV and most other conveniences. The room is well cleaned everyday and there is a bed pull down service every evening where they make an 'animal' from the towels and leave a chocolate or cookie for the kids. All the beds had duvets which was nice and everything was clean.

Food: The overall emphasis is definitely of quantity over quality. If you like your plate piled high with whatever is available and are not too bothered with the taste then you are going to love the food on the Triumph. The main dining rooms (Paris and London) bare no resemblance with their namesakes and are a noisy and chaotic dining experience. They provide a 'fresh' menu each day which is good, the problem is in the execution; everything pretty much stank. It was all edible (we were not spitting stuff out), however, at no time in the entire week did we really enjoy what we ate. The wait staff are nice but clearly are overworked and exhausted (my wife requested balsamic instead of butter one night and the waiter said he would get it but made us feel pretty guilty that he had to go downstairs to pick it up). Breakfast in the 'South Beach Grill' is monotonously the same every day with the most disgusting 'link' sausages I have ever had in my like. The rest of the cooked options are mostly a greasy mess (i.e bacon, eggs, omelets). There is some fresh fruit with melon, bananas, apples etc.. but it is hit and miss in freshness - sometimes great, sometimes not. Anytime of the day, there is an abundance of pizza, burgers, french fries and the like so if you want to come on a junk food mecca or want to nurture a future coronary episode this food will not disappoint. Read more