My husband and I talked my two sisters into going on this 5-day cruise out of Galveston. One sister had never cruised, the other had but a long time ago. I was pretty anxious that they would have a good time. The cruise left on Monday, Feb.10, and the fog had been bad recently in Galveston. Sure enough, as we got to Galveston, we got text messages that heavy fog prevented the Triumph from getting into port from the last cruise, don't come to the terminal until 2:30. Our usual routine is to get there about 10:30. This was our 8th cruise, 6 out of Galveston, and the first time fog was a problem. We drove around town to see the historic houses, walked on the sea wall, checked out a souvenir store, until 1:30 when we went to 81st Dolphin Parking, then were taken to the terminal. Wasn't too long of a line, got checked in and went to wait. We had some snacks with us for just such a time, and Carnival had lemonade and water for passengers. We finally got to board sometime after 3:30. Straight to the Lido deck and Guy's Burgers! Pretty good! Cabins were soon ready and then muster drill which wasn't too long or awful, although it was out on the deck by our lifeboat. After unpacking we wandered around the ship. We had Ocean View cabins, with a connecting door, which was nice. Triumph didn't look a whole lot different than before the refurbishing, but really liked the addition of Guy's burgers and the Blue Iguana. Good burritos. I think we set sail about 5:30. We had late seating in the upper Paris dining room, with a terrific team of Juan and Imade. We had excellent service every night, food was good, my sisters enjoyed the waiters dancing and singing, as did we!

We hit the casino for a while, it was very smokey in there. Had a few drinks, then everyone was ready for bed, it had been a long day. Bed was comfy, slept well. In the morning we slept a little later than usual, then went to the brunch. The rest of the day was spent exploring the ship, sitting in the sun, drinking, really just relaxed. Checked out the shops, bought a few things.

The next day in Progreso we had arranged for a trip to Chichen Itza with Auto Progreso. Got into town and found where to go to catch the van. We were supposed to be there by 9 and leave by 9:30, but it was about an hour later when we left. The four of us and two couples, with the driver and the guide were in a van which had good a/c. The drive is 2 hours. This tour was available through Carnival, but was about twice as much. I assured my sisters Auto Progreso would get us back in time. Chichen Itza was wonderful to see, although we didn't have much time there. The guide insisted we go to a nearby hotel that had a cenote, and that we would pay $15 for a lunch buffet. We said we weren't interested in that, but we went anyway and had to pay $7 each to get into the hotel grounds! I think the guide may have had a kickback going there. We did not have the $15 buffet! We eventually started back to Progreso. About to Merida, the van started having mechanical problems - we finally stopped and the guide called for another bus to come pick us up. It's getting late now, we were supposed to be back on the ship at 3:30, leave at 4. By now I'm sweating bullets, just knowing we won't make it and it's all my fault because I didn't book through Carnival! The bus shows up and we made it back to Progreso about 3:45, and onto the ship a little before 4! We were the last ones on, they had pulled in all but one gangway, the engines are running, people on board are yelling down to us! That was way too close a call! Read more