Prior to cruising, we stayed at the Maison St Charles and took advantage of their $139 park and stay special. The hotel was great and our car was safe the entire time. I will definitely stay here if we cruise from NOLA again. Actually, I loved the hotel so much I would probably stay there even if we're not cruising.

Embarkation: The embarkation process was easy, but some of the Carnival employees were fairly rude to us (one example: my phone was ringing and as I reached to silence it a man in a Carnival shirt threatened to take my phone away if he saw it out again- I had already gone through the line and was in the seating area waiting to board, so I'm not sure what the problem was. Several other people were talking on their phones at the time). Once onboard we stood in a short line at the shore excursion desk to book our Behind the Fun tour, then on to the buffet. We had arrived at the cruise terminal at about 11:20 and were eating by 12:15. Our room was ready by about 1:15.

Cabin: Our room was great. We were in 1109 and I would stay in that room again if we return to the Triumph. It is a balcony stateroom on the spa deck. The rooms on the spa deck are bigger than the rooms on the other decks. Our room was spacious and though it was very pink, the decorations were tasteful. Our shower had great water pressure and very hot water! Our balcony was a decent size. One note if you're thinking of booking the spa deck- the balconies are not covered and the people above can see you!!! Also, there's no shade out there during the day. Fair trade, I think, for being able to look at the stars at night. Our steward was really pushy and abrupt and the assistant steward apologized to me for the steward's behavior but indicated there wasn't much he could do. Read more