Carnival
Triumph
Eastern Canada

Andrew Minchak

This is our second Carnival Cruise and our first cruise leaving from NYC. Our flight arrived at Newark Airport around 11am. We grabbed a cab (Carnival only provides transfers from LaGuardia) for around $60.00 (with tolls & tip) and were at the port by 11:30. Porters met us at the curb. We elected to roll one of our smaller suitcases with essentials through the embarking process. Lines were very short at the time of our arrival. After getting x-rayed, sail and sign, photo, and the like we were on the ship by noon. We were unable to obtain access to our stateroom until 2pm. We had lunch at the buffet and were off to explore for 2hrs. (towing our one case)

We booked a category 6 balcony stateroom. I booked one of the odd shaped rooms (6451) which backed up against an emergency stairwell). It was very roomy plus the balcony was twice the length of other balconies on the same category. Our only complaints were the large noisy family across the hall…constantly knocking on their doors and hollering for each other. Every now and then there was either a diesel and or sewer odor in the hallway and room. I just opened the doors for some cross wind and it seemed to fix the problem for awhile. Oh, we were right above the Club Rio. This is the room where they do Karaoke…need I say more. Thank God it only went to mid night! Sounds like those of animals caught in a trap!

To my surprise we didn’t meet our cabin steward until the last day. He was very attentive and kept things nice and neat. During the debarkation talk they mentioned that the stewards are told to be completely out of the way of the guests. Carnival has “auto billing” for gratuities so this may be another reason they are not around as much.

Food…As with most cruises you can eat anytime. Whether you want to may be due to the quality, not quantity. First of all we booked the main seating one year prior to sail date…we got the late seating. When change was requested it was politely taken but not granted. Okay, back to the food. Dinners, okay, some good, some not so good. Head waiter was fantastic, she was on the ball, Alexandria is from Bulgaria her English was very good and easy to understand. Asst. waiter should go back to the buffet dinning room. He was good at handing out bread (which was really good) that was it. Put the coffee cups out one night never poured the coffee. Little things like that. Hit and miss with beverage requests.

I understand that they are attempting to feed 800 people at once so I know the food isn’t going to be piping hot. On formal night everyone got lobster but me. Everyone complained about the lobster…dry and rubbery. Steaks were either rare or well. Every meal had excellent presentation. What really surprised me were the desserts. Desserts on the buffet were hands down better in taste and presentation than the ones at dinner. We did do room service one morning…service was quick but food was only okay. Availability of 24 hour beverages (coffee, tea, ice tea, lemonade) was great. The NY Deli, Burger stand, and 24hr Pizza were all excellent. Hong Kong Noodle was yuck.

While leaving port we had an armed Coast Guard escort out to sea and a brief NYPD helicopter escort. What great views of Manhattan, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty!

If you head to the north Atlantic in August you are probably going to see whales, porpoise, and fishing boats. (We did see them on the first day at sea) That is if there is no fog. It was foggy every night and in the early morning hours. Do not go up on lido deck at night if the horn is blowing from the stack. It will loosen your teeth…trust me.

St John, NB…very foggy morning. Roses for the ladies, pins for the gents. Port under construction. Tents with some nice vendors. Took a cab to the reversing falls. ($7.00 or $35.00 for an hour tour with as many as you can squeeze into a van) cabbie very friendly and helpful. Another cab ride to the City Market and from there we hiked around town. No a whole lot going on around town but we were able to fill the day with shopping, Loyalist House. We were surprised by the amount of beggars and street musicians. Arrrggg, 45minutes to get back on the ship at the end of the day! Back out into the open water and back into the fog. Don’t worry about money exchange. We did it but all the vendors gave 20% to the US dollar.

Halifax, NS…did I mention fog? Bought tickets for the two of us to do the Hop on Hop Off tour bus. Sun came out around 10am and all was well. Citadel, Public Victorian Gardens(best part), Maritime Museum and shopping. If we do this again I would rent a car for the day. Car rental right in terminal. Very pleasant city, very friendly people. Would have liked to stay an extra day. We were chased out of port by a very bad thunderstorm. Made for a great light show and sunset.

Carnival was able to keep us busy. Production shows were better than expected. Our cruise director was very entertaining when he wasn’t hawking Carnival stuff. Constant bingo announcements.

Debarkation…If you have the bodies in your group to do the self assist debarkation, do it. We did the standard debarkation figuring we had plenty of time to make our 1pm flight. They began calling floors about 9am. When they got to deck 8 it was 10:30. Since they were descending in number (45 minutes between calling decks) we know it was just time to leave out of turn. No one questioned us. Finding our luggage was tough, close piles, some stacked on top each other. Not an easy experience. Porters did not approach you, you had to track them down. Customs did not check passports, only asked if you had smokes or booze. Got a cab easily and made it back to Newark ($75.00 return fare w/tolls and tip)