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LE

Age: 43
Occupation: Programmer
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Triumph
Sailing Date: June 18th, 2005
Itinerary: Eastern Canada

I traveled with my husband, 14 year old son and 12 year old daughter.

New York: We drove into NYC the morning of our cruise and had no problem finding and parking at the pier. It’s only a few blocks away from the Lincoln Tunnel (the directions are on the Carnival website). You must drop your luggage off at the berth where a porter will meet you ($1/bag). Passengers can also get out of the car here and begin the wait in line for embarkation while your other half parks the car on the rooftop. Parking was $24/day and you must pay in full (Visa or cash) on arrival. We all had passports and had registered online with Carnival which made the embarkation process painless – we probably waited in line less than an hour. We were on the ship by 2pm and ate lunch at the buffet on the Lido deck. Dinner was casual the first night which was good as half of our luggage didn’t arrive until 8pm.

Weather: We sailed from New York up to Canada. Bring a sweatshirt, a jacket, and slacks – it will be COLD on deck and especially at breakfast! Even if you are eating inside it will be quite chilly. The gift shop had a run on hooded sweatshirts the first day at sea ($60 each!) We had gorgeous weather in Canada – sunny and 50-60 degrees (a tad chilly, especially in the shade).

The Room: We had an inside cabin on the first deck. The cabin was fine – two twin beds pushed together and two bunk beds for the kids. There wasn’t much drawer space but there was plenty of closet space and there was space under one of the bunk beds for shoes and luggage and dirty laundry. The bathroom was supplied with shower gel, shampoo, razors, and a blow dryer. The only bad thing about being on deck 1 was the distance to deck 9 where most of the action is (the elevators tend to be very slow). You can work off all those buffet calories by using the stairs.

The Entertainment: There was a Vegas type review show the first night that seemed a little long (there were a few people snoozing!). My husband and kids liked the magician – I opted to play in the blackjack tournament instead of watching the magic show. I am not a gambler and was a little intimidated to try my hand at blackjack but the host was fantastic and friendly and he helps you along. There was also a slots tournament. For a $20 entry fee for either tournament you get 100 pulls of the slot machine, or $1000 in chips and 7 hands of blackjack. This is a fun way to feel like a big roller! The orchestra pit was experiencing hydraulic difficulties the last night of the cruise and so the Vegas show (different from the first night) was canceled and a comedian was added.
Since this was a “cold weather” cruise there were no pool games and only one or two deck games offered (bingo one day and a hairy chest contest which wasn’t even announced). Since Carnival is known as the “fun ship” I would have liked to see more fun, gaming type activities offered during the day and evening. I felt like there wasn’t much fun going on at all, unless you like to pay $20 for one game of bingo or attend an art auction or watch other people play Pictionary (only 10 guests were specially selected to play!). The only time I ever saw the cruise director was at the one bingo game per day!

The restaurants & food: The 24 hour pizzeria and ice cream was a definite plus and especially popular with the kids. We ate in the dining room every night - the food was good and there was usually a good choice of meals. My kids ordered from the adult menu each night – it is a great way to try new things and if you don’t like something you can send it back and get something else. I was disappointed twice – neither the Cherries Jubilee nor the Baked Alaska was flamed. Everyone was served Baked Alaska – there were other choices for dessert but we weren’t told about them. For lunch there was plenty of variety: Hong Kong Noodle Co, Burger Grill, the NY Deli which had GREAT sandwiches, and the daily buffet which usually had a theme (Mexican, Asian, etc). There was a separate dessert area each day. We did not buy the soft drink cards because coffee, tea, lemonade and iced tea are available all day. Hot chocolate was also supposed to be available which was nice since this was a “cold” weather cruise but the machine was often out of order. I’m glad that Formal Night was the same day as an “At Sea” day (as opposed to a port day where you are rushing to get back to the ship in time for dinner). However, I was disappointed that the Gala Midnight Buffet was the same night as Formal Night and also held the night before a port day where you typically get up earlier than usual (and so want to be in bed by a decent hour).

The service: Most of the service was good. My daughter loved the towel animals made by the room steward. Carnival puts the service charges (tips) right on your Sail & Sign card, but I wish I had dropped those and handed out the tips myself to make it more personal and to make sure I knew my dining room team and cabin steward were taken care of. I never saw the dining room Maitre’ d and therefore did not tip him. Our waiter handed out souvenir prints of the ship at the last meal and the kids enjoyed having our wait staff “autograph” the prints for them. This is when it would have been nice to hand out the tips myself. I do want to say that if you want exceptional service, go on a Celebrity cruise. The service seemed much better on Celebrity than on Carnival.

The shore excursions: Our stops were St. John (New Brunswick), and Halifax (Nova Scotia). Debarking at both locations was pretty simple and straightforward. Bring your Sail & Sign card off the ship with you. At Halifax you will also need a photo id (passport, drivers license, etc). Each port has different rules about what you need to get back onto the ship. Each port is very welcoming and it’s easy to find a taxi or rent a car right at the port if you want to. St. John’s is doing a major overhaul of their pier in order to better serve the cruise ships. I got the feeling that both ports were trying very hard to please the cruise ship passengers. Most of the shops etc will give a 20% discount when you use American cash – but try to use exact change or else you will get your change in Canadian money (with no exchange rate). When you debark at St. John the city reps will present all women with a rose and the men will get a pin. It’s a nice gesture but then you have to carry a rose around all day with you!

In St. John, eight of us opted to book our own kayak excursion (instead of booking through the ship). We saved half the price by booking it ourselves and we had a private tour of Dipper Harbour (the cruise kayak excursion goes on the St. John River). Bob, the owner and guide of Eastern Outdoor Outfitters was wonderful!! He met us right at the pier with his 28 passenger bus and drove us by the Reversing Falls at Bay of Fundy on to Dipper Harbour (about a 50 minute ride). He left it up to the group how far and how long we wanted to paddle which was nice, as we did have several children with us. He has a nice bathroom and shower area, so take along a change of clothes for afterwards. My butt got a little wet, but only because I kept splashing myself accidentally with water (I’m not much of a paddler!) It would have been nice if we could have packed lunches & drinks to take with us (or stopped somewhere to buy a bag lunch) as there are several scenic places to stop paddling in order to eat and rest. The other plus to booking it ourselves was not only did we save money and have a private tour, but we only had to put down a small deposit and if we had to cancel we would not have lost a lot of money. Bob takes Visa and his prices are Canadian, so remember in US dollars it will be even cheaper (Visa will automatically do the conversion). We used two-person kayaks so that each kid could paddle with an adult. Give Bob a call or check out his website.

http://easternoutdoors.com/dipper-harbour.htm
Toll Free: 1-800-56-KAYAK
Fax Number: 506-634-8253
E-mail: info@easternoutdoors.com
After getting back to the port we asked Bob to drop us off at the City Market, which is like a farmer’s market. The kids got souvenirs and there were plenty of stands where you could buy food. I had a cup of awesome seafood chowder at the Wild Carrot (near the back of the City Market) – but unfortunately I had the last bowl (I would have ordered another!).

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, we decided to walk around town on our own. The town is quite hilly – be prepared. It’s a nice little college town with plenty of pubs, restaurants, book shops, clothing shops and also a candy shop called Freak Lunchbox that my kids loved. We had a snack and some brews at the Alexander Keith Brewery up on their rooftop patio. We walked up to the Citadel fort (quite a hilly climb) but opted not to go in – we walked around the outside of the fort. Our friends went on the Harbour Hopper amphibious tour – they saved money by buying their tickets that day instead of through the ship’s excursion desk.

Debarkation: We could either carry off ALL of our own luggage and disembark early (8am), or let the porters take our luggage the night before and do the general debarkation. Because we weren't in a hurry, we opted for the general debarkation. We ate breakfast in the dining room about 8:30am and the general debarkation started about 9am. It went smoothly – they had two decks from which you could debark. The luggage is in color-coded areas at the pier – we were able to find a porter and our luggage fairly quickly (suggested tip is $1/bag). We spent the day in NYC – we took the subway to Battery Park (head towards the theatre district and ask any cop or at the info desk in the subway station which metro to take). I had made advance reservations before leaving for our cruise to see the Statue of Liberty (make your reservations for the Statue of Liberty ahead of time or else you will be waiting in a LONG line). We left our car at the pier but I’m not sure if this is wise or not – I’m not sure how long they stay open. We lucked out and there was a worker leaving at the same time we were (6pm) – I’m not sure if we would have been locked out otherwise because they do lock the doors to the steps.

In general: We enjoyed the trip. Next time, however, I'd probably choose a warm weather cruise (going south). I thought that Carnival gave good value for the money and found the whole experience was more than satisfactory. The 24 hour availability of pizza and ice cream was a plus but the lack of activities on the ship was a minus.