This was my 10th Carnival cruise and 2nd on the Triumph. We arrived in New Orleans the night before to walk dogs at Villalobos Rescue Center where they film the TV show "Pitbulls & Parolees." Embarkation was fairly smooth. We parked at Fulton Parking garage as always and took their free shuttle over. We had the 10-10:30 check in time and the departure hall in the pier was pretty full when we arrived at 10:15. We were given Zone 6 and were onboard by 12:30. The Lido buffet was too crowded so we went to the Blue Iguana to eat lunch. There were only a handful or people in line and the food was good. We went to our stateroom, interior 2244, at 1:30 but had to wait about 10 minutes before the doors were opened and we were allowed in. Our cabin was clean and our room steward met us fairly quickly. He gave us a card with his picture, name and phone number in case we needed anything. We opted for only morning room cleaning.

The muster drill was the worst, most unorganized one I've attended in 10 cruises. We were put out on deck when the heat index was 110 and made to stand there for 45 minutes. The drill started late because of all the no shows. Carnival needs to find a better way to conduct their drills. Several elderly people had to be escorted out of the drill because they were overcome by the heat. Cruise got underway at 4:25 and because it was 4th of July they had a big deck party with drink specials, music and a few extras we don't usually see on the Sail Away. The entertainment on this cruise was a bit better than previous cruises and we played a lot of trivia. The pools were very crowded and the deck chairs pushed so close together that you had to crawl in from the end. All the ice machines were broken and there was no ice anywhere the first day.

Our ports of call were Cozumel and Progreso. In Cozumel we took at taxi and went to Playa Palancar for the day and in Progreso we had a tour with Autoprogreso that went to the Dzibalchaltun Mayan ruins. This cruise was enjoyable but the Triumph does not have a water park and the ship felt very crowded overall. We opted not to eat in the MDR per our usual routine but the Blue Iguana, Guy's Burgers (not very good), lido buffet, Chopsticks, Deli and the Pizza place provided more than enough for us to eat. I currently have 2 more Carnival cruises booked-the Dream for Chrismas 2016 and the Fantasy for May 2017. Carnival ports are the closest to my home and we are able to drive there which is why I will probably always cruise with Carnival.