Carnival Triumph March 2012
Prior to this, I had been on one other cruise. I went on the Disney Dream last year for Spring Break. I loved it! It was a wonderful experience, but it was definitely expensive! One day I got an email from Carnival advertising cruises, so I decided to check out the prices. For less than half of the cost of my four night cruise on Disney, I was able to go on a five night cruise on Carnival. I contacted Jill, and she made the arrangements and I was booked at six weeks out to sail on the Carnival Triumph from Galveston, TX for spring break.
We drove six hours from Wichita, KS to Fort Worth, TX on Thursday after work. We stayed overnight at a friends house, then drove another six hours from Forth Worth to Galveston. I definitely think that cruising out of a port within driving distance was a real money saver! Although we had to pay for gas and a hotel the night before the cruise, it cost about half of what it would cost to fly to Port Canaveral in FL.
On Saturday morning, we took a taxi from our hotel to the cruise terminal. We had stayed at a hotel that had free parking for the duration of the cruise. I highly recommend doing this. It was a time and money saver!
The boarding process was much quicker than what I had experienced on the Disney Dream. We had gotten to the port early and were in the third boarding group. We were on the ship within about 45 minutes of arriving at the terminal.
My first impression of the ship was that it was TACKY! It definitely looked like a floating Vegas casino. Where the main lobby on the Disney Dream was beautifully decorated, the Carnival Triumph's main attraction was a bar. Although the decorations were tacky, the ship was quite clean and comparable to Disney in that aspect.
We went first to have lunch at the buffet on the ship. We also had a couple drinks of the day.
The buffets were nothing to write home about, but we always managed to find something to eat. If the food was any better, I probably would have eaten a ton and gained a lot of weight so I was fine with the food that was served.
When we were able to go to our room, I was impressed with the size. We had booked a verandah stateroom, and we were very happy with our room. We had a lovely view everyday.
I would highly recommend getting a stateroom with a verandah. We enjoyed ordering room service and having a private meal on our verandah. We would read out there almost every evening.
Our cruise went to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico. We did not make plans through the cruise line for port activities. I researched on cruisecritic.com and found activities for both ports. This saved us money and gave us more flexibility.
Dinner on the ship was amazing! We had the my time dining where you can go anytime between 5:45-9:00. On our second night we had a great waitstaff so we requested them each night after that. The Caesar salad on the ship was so good that sometimes I got it as an appetizer and for dessert!
Overall, we had a wonderful time on our Carnival cruise. As a huge Disney fan, it was hard for me to stray from the Disney brand, but the price made it too enticing. However, I am still on the fence about whether I would take my son who will be three this summer on a Carnival cruise. I think Disney is definitely superior when it comes to kids clubs and activities. Carnival seemed very adult focused and this was evident from the many bars on board, risque music that was played, and crass games that would happen on deck. If I found a cruise that was the right price, I would probably take my son, but for now I will consider Carnival to be an adult vacation for Mommy and Disney to be our family cruise line.
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