Sorry, it is blurred. This is me unpacking and checking out the room. We did bring our own water bottles, and just refilled when we left on walks and tours. IF you drink or open anything in your room, you WILL be billed for it later. They also take a towel and robe count at the end of the cruise. Also, there is not a mini fridge, but there is an ice bucket.
This is the other half of the room. The window opens out to the sea, and though it was dirty...was a wonder to just look out or have open to let light into the room. We did have a tv. IF you want internet, you have to pay for it! We passed on that. There was also a small restroom with sink, toilet, and a small shower.
Just a couple of shots with us leaving port at Galveston.
And then, we were on our way! There was a gathering on the deck and EVERYONE was there!!! Over 2000 guests got a lesson on how to line up and put on a life vest in case we had to use the life boats. This was really boring and we never had to use any of the information that we were told. It was also hot out and we had to stand the entire time without any food or drink. It lasted forever cause folks kept showing up late.
Ready for a quick tour?? Here is one of the pools, and you can see to the right there are also a couple of hot tubs. Up to the left, out of the picture is where they showed movies! More on that in a bit.
These are the elevators, though we did take the steps quite a bit. There were a lot of times that waiting on an elevator could take quite a while. There were just so many people on board, and I had no idea that so many folks brought their kids!!! There were kids running around all the time...but then, it was Summer. Just don't understand how folks can afford something like this for an entire family. One couple that we talked to said that the cruises are getting to where there are younger and younger generations on board, you don't see that many really older folks anymore.
There were two of these basketball areas set up on both sides of the deck. I don't remember a time when there were not kids in it.
This mini golf stayed fairly busy. There was also a ping pong table, but it was really a bit windy to be playing.
Ah, there is that movie screen that I was telling you about. And there were movies or shows on it almost all the time. They were older movies that we had seen, but it was still relaxing to lounge and watch. There were guys walking around with trays of drinks and a tablet to keep up with what you would have to pay later if you got anything to drink! Needless to say, we didn't get anything. We walked to the Lido Deck and got free water. You could also purchase a "soft drinks" card and drink all those that you wanted, but we are not big soda drinkers...so we saved money there too!
This is looking up from one of the decks to the water slide that the kids took over. Telling ya, there were a lot of folks on here. One lady said that she had not been on a ship that was so packed with families. There were camps for the kids during part of the time, and we really enjoyed that.
This was upstairs, across from the movie screen. Yes, those are kids! One of them told the others to move so that "the lady" could get her picture. That was nice and I did thank them.
On to the food!!!
Welcome to level nine, the Lito Deck, all the free food. Not what we expected, but was good for the most part. There is NOT food available 24/7, and you have to watch your Daily News that is left in your cabin to know when special things are going on.
This is one of the many statues that were around the deck.
This was one of my hubby's typical breakfasts! I usually opted for a couple of pancakes (or waffles), some cubed potatoes, and fruit salad. Fruit salad was available at all meals. Breakfast also included a set up of coffee, orange juice, coffee, hot chocolate, and some sort of guava juice that was really quite good.
This was a lunch that Darrell had. Telling ya, there is a wide variety of food available. This was from the regular bar. There were also places that would fix for you while you waited. One day we had pizza (more on that in a second), and there were also places to get Asian, omelet bar (I skipped this for fear of mushrooms), paninis, and then there was also the dining hall. Oh, there was also a yogurt/ice cream machine that was available 24/7...I think. I do know that it was up and running whenever I went past it!
Isn't that pretty! One night at 11:30pm, there was a Mexican Buffet going on, and all the side food was fruit and cheeses. So, this next group of pictures is from that one evening. The fruit was all done up beautifully as you will see by the watermelon carvings.
This was just a part of the Mexican food, but it was really all about the fruit. I played it pretty safe in eating that night as I had gotten hold of a mushroom earlier that day.
I am allergic to mushrooms and shall we just say that my body ejects them as quickly as possible in any and all ways possible, and all at the same time. Ewwww. I think it was picked up at the pizza bar, which I didn't go back too! But, on to better things.
This was the ice sculpture of the Indian head that was on display that night. Further down in the blog, I will show you a few shots of a guy making one of these!!!
One afternoon around lunch time, there was a chocolate bar! Just look at those cakes!
What is a chocolate bar without a working fountain!
Just a few of the yummy cakes that Darrell and I shared!
They dipped the watermelon, donut hole, and pineapple for us. Then, we helped ourselves to the sugared almonds and pecans, dried apricots and ball of cake. Still dunno why they didn't dip those cake balls.
Then, Darrell found a place with more sweets that I had missed. Chocolate cheesecake, mouse, and cakes with fruit inside.
These were cream puffs that the lady made while you wait. And they were full of ice cream!!!! Yummy! Would you believe that there was another dining hall that we went to each night for dinner! It was a three course meal too.
The guys couldn't enter the dining room if they didn't have sleeves in their shirt, and ladies couldn't get in with a swimsuit on. Other than that, most anything went. Even on the formal might...I think we only saw maybe a dozen suit jackets. I was so glad that Darrell had gone comfortable, we fit right in. There is a picture of that later on.
Seared duck with fruit.
Es cargo. Yes, snails. And where I did eat one, I just couldn't get past the fact that it was a snail! I ate the bread dipped in the sauce though, it was yummy! Darrell ate most of the snails.
Steak! It was so tender!
Frog legs. We had both had these before, but it was still nice.
Some sort of pork something, not an exotic. lol
Just some good ole American comfort foods!
Darrell's shrimp plate one night, and this was just the starter plate!
We both snagged the lobster. I usually don't get this cause it just costs so much, but hey...it was already in the price of the ticket...why not! And yes, they had already pulled it all out so that all we had to do was enjoy it!
There were two kinds of breads available at dinner each night.
Fruit was my back up plan twice. Not everything was mushroom free, but we had a great waiter that watched out for me. We went to the "anytime" dining and had planned to change over to the scheduled one. But, we loved our first night with Henry so much, that we just always asked for him, and we were at the same table all but one night! While we are on the topic of people. Let me introduce you to a few.
This is Henry! He was our dinner person for the cruise and we really lucked out, he is GREAT! Has a wife and three kids that he will be going to see soon.
Tony, our dear friend Tony. What can we say...he is head of "all things food" and a great person. He and his wife were both stationed on this cruise together. Their time on the Triumph will be over soon and they will head off for their two months of vacation before heading out to Florida on their new station.
I would say sweet little Benjamin, but he is tall! Great guy and wants to go back home and continue his education to become a lawyer. He is taking his cruise training from Henry and doing great!
This one is a cute little thing, look how tiny she is!!! Any time we saw her, she had a smile and kind words. Carina was a joy to meet and such a blessing!
Precious. What can we say about her, no...really, her name is Precious. They had photographers everywhere taking pictures, they really want you to have memories of your trip. And let's face it, there is some great money to be made in photography on a cruise ship! But Precious was personable! She knew us by name (as did all our favorite folks that I have pictured!) and treated us really good. Thanx for the memories, Precious!
Oh wait! Desserts...I didn't finish with the food!!!
I think that this is the one that had layers of cherries in it.
Ice Cream and sherbet was almost always on the menu. And it was good!
Souffle, and it was still warm!
I had this a couple of nights. Warm chocolate mudslide cake with ice cream on the side. ohhhhhh....
I do not remember what this one was, but it was warm and chocolate!!!!
And...drum roll please....
This is the cake that Henry and his friends brought out to us on Tuesday evening. It was the actual anniversary for us and just happen to also be the "dressy" night.
This is the dinner crew that was on our level. Tony would announce "show time" each evening and they would all stop and gather on the steps to preform. One night was a cha cha around the room, once was singing, and one night even found Tony and three other up on the counters doing a song and dance. Very fun!
This is a copy of our formal night picture that we purchased. Yep, that is my husband Darrell and I. Thirty years of marriage and not a regret. Oh sure, there are always things that you would do differently, but not with anyone else but him!!!
Remember that ice sculpture of the Indian Head?? Here is the guy making one out on deck. It was so hot that you can see the ice just dripping! He worked fast, took about 30 minutes total time.
Pretty neat hu? The ice was just flying!!
Want you to meet Brian. He and Weslie have been together for about five years. Anyway...at the start of the magic show, they announce that a certain cabin was gonna win a bottle of champagne. It was their cabin, and you could tell he was nervous just bit. I had a feeling that something was going on so I took pictures. Sure nuf!!! He asked her to marry him.
And, Weslie told Brian "yes".
Her mom got it all on tape. They had champagne, roses, and chocolate covered strawberries.
Good job Brian!!! Congrats to Brian and Weslie!!! Thanx for sharing the moment with all of us!!!
We went to the art auction a couple of times. No, we didn't purchase anything. We did win a 1.1lb of Forest Rumcake, gonna break it open when the kids come over to play cards one night. We also got two of the free lithographs that they passed out.
These are just a couple of the art pieces that they were showing. These are more on the fun side. They also had a night that was all Kincade stuff.
I feel like this blog is getting really really long.
There was a new towel animal on our bed each day and we were fortunate enough to pass by as they were doing a free folding class. This is one that I did.
And, this is the elephant that I folded. Had a lot of fun and Darrell shot a ton of pictures. So...sometime next month, I will be posting the pictures on how to make these two guys!
This one was on the cart in the hallway.
Reminds me of the movie, Ariel!
How fun it was each day to come in to something different.
I think that this seal was the first one we saw.
This was the view over the side for most of the trip, and beautiful sprays of water.
This is my dear husband, Darrell. I love you sweetie! Thank you for such a great trip and awesome memories! Thank you for putting up with me all these years.
Our last evening, and my last cup of hot chocolate on board.
Great thing about cruises, everyone just stops and shoots pictures for other folks. They are all fairly nice about doing it, and we even had some of the staff take pictures for us.
We watched as the storm rolled in and then dashed for cover. It was all over and gone in a matter of minutes.
Our last evening onboard found lots of folks shooting pictures of the last sunset we would see from the Carnival Triumph as our journey grew to an end. We really enjoyed it and would love to go again! Maybe someday we will.
I didn't show you any of the pictures that we took from our excursions. So, be sure to check back with me in a couple weeks when I will show you around Pregreso and Cozumel.
IF you were on the ship with us and I didn't post a picture that you would like posted, be sure to comment on that. IF it was a picture from off the ship, those are coming in a couple of weeks.
Thanx for stopping by! - Pam