Carnival Triumph Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was my husband's first cruise and the first one I've been on in nearly 15 years.
Food: There's no polite way to say this; the food on this cruise was pretty much horrible. So much so that it will probably stop me from choosing Carnival again.Guy's Burger Joint had good burgers, and the Cantina had good tacos. Pirate Pizza was ok. The buffet downright sucked, morning, noon, and night. The food was poorly prepared, sometimes to the point it wasn't obvious what the food was (e.g. scrambled eggs that looked like lumpy grits), tasteless (e.g. all the buffet desserts attempted), or just gross (e.g. penne in marina doesn't usually taste like fish oil and "steak" doesn't usually have the texture and taste of liver.) We went to the dining room as well. The only thing of worth there was the Chocolate Melting Cake. Same steak experience as with the buffet, overcooked baked potato (no butter?), the Greek salad I ordered had 2 pieces of lettuce in it (I counted). The rest was cucumbers, which was interesting. We didn't participate in formal night, but were on deck when about 20 people from early dinner swarmed the pizza place in their finery saying the food was inedible.
Entertainment: There was very little on board entertainment. Comedy club nights: standing room only each time we tried - maybe more show times? Day time activities = casino or day drinking. Speaking of the casino, it takes up most of mid-ship promenade, meaning you're forced to walk through cigarette smoke to visit the fun shops, pixels, etc. Then they had family oriented activities there like the scavenger hunt and bean bag toss. With all those people who were just smoking up a storm. Really?
Cabin Review
We had an interior cabin on deck 1. The size and layout we're decent and there was adequate closet/drawer space for 2 people. There was no turn down service on the first night, but we had just gotten on board so I feel that was reasonable - I'm sure our checked luggage arrived faster because of it. Carnival's Faster to the Fun program is highly recommended. Without it we would have been wondering around the ship for a couple of hours before our room was ready and we drove all night to get to Galveston so that would have been rough. The only downside to our cabin was the bathroom. It stank - all the time. Yep, smelled like a port-a-potty. More chemical septic tank than raw sewage, thank goodness. One morning the drain backed up and filled the whole floor with water from who knows where, but they were really quick to send a plumber.
Port Reviews
Galveston
The on boarding situation was hectic and disorderly. We paid for Faster to the Fun which was a great choice as it allowed us to bypass security and check in lines and go right to the front.