I sailed the Triumph on 12/11 to the Eastern Caribbean with my wife and two 13 year old girls. I'll try and keep this review brief.

Condition of Ship: Absolutely Great. However, I was surprised by the fact that many things are already broken on the Triumph. Things like room receptacles broken or missing, Cabin Door Lock broken, Sliding Glass Doors not functioning, and mainly the amount of lights throughout the ship and in it design features that were burnt out or not functioning. I counted hundreds not working in just in the Dining Rooms, and Fitness Center alone. Everything else was clean and in order.

Food: Wonderful... probably the best I have had on any of my numerous cruises, both in the dining room and in the alternative dining areas. Lots of options.

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Photo Program: This is hands-down the BIGGEST BLUNDER on the ship! Carnivals photo process is straight from the 1950's... only with the addition of Guards, theft detectors, alarms, monitors, and cameras. The Photo Gallery alone could ruin this cruise for many. Nothing like sitting in the Grand Atrium's piano bar trying to relax and have a conversation only to the walk-thru theft detectors alarms going off loudly about twice per minute... and echoing throughout the atrium! Carnival's greed for the Dollar has caused them to treat this area like Fort Knox... to to guard what... photo's that they have less than 50 cents invested. Carnival is out-of-control when it comes to this process, and program. On two separate days of our cruise I counted no less than 14 solicitations for photo's... they in fact take more photo's than they have room to display. It's a madhouse... but the biggest blunder is those ugly, obvious, and NOISY alarms. I could go on and on about this one...however all I will suggest is that Carnival "get with the program" as Disney Cruise Lines has.. and allow their customers to select their photo's from the privacy of their Cabins via TV. Get electronic... Please!

Service: Great.... rarely did I see a dirty table, used dishes/glasses, or an unorderly public area. Food Service was also wonderful, and quick. Except for those individuals in the self service food line who just had to have an omelet made...but would not step aside while waiting so the others could continue thru!

Activities: Carnival and the Triumph Staff seemed to do a great job of have activities planned for all... this is important on a 7 days cruise with 3 days at sea!

Entertainment: This also surpassed my expectations... and at times was quite good. However, Carnival is smart enough to know how to make even more money by spending so many days at sea, thus capturing your dollars... and my main complaint was that no shows were schedule on the nights in port, also the dancers/singers only performed 3 or 4 nights... thus salary saved! Other live lounge entertainment was the normal stuff... nothing special. The Rome Lounge is the most attractive assembly I have ever been in .. on land or at sea!

Shore Excursions: All I can say here is "Do your Own Thing", the ships are mainly utilized by the Senior Citizens, and also costly!

Embarkation: Not too bad.. we were able to board at 12:30. However our Luggage did not show up until 7:15pm. Therefore we missed dinner, ect... One thing I continued to notice is that everybody has to be at the front of the line. It still amazes me how rude many folks are by walking right by the forming line to the front, or continuing to crowd into and area already occupied by waiting people! We often fuss at the Cruise Lines and their crowd control processes.... can you imagine how they must feels having to deal with so many rude, pressing, and eager individual each week. I almost witnesses a fight due to rude folks trying to butt in at the front of the boarding line! Arrogance is abundant during boarding!

Disembarkation: Amazed that Carnival does this each and every week... yet they still can't get it right! On our final morning we were all ask to got to different areas of the ship... for example our floor and several others were ask to assemble by 9:30am in the main show lounge at the front of the ship. Therefore Carnival had 4 or 5 different luggage tag colors assembled in this one area. When it came time for the first color to disembark they did not even announce it in this Lounge! They were announcing it throughout out the rest of the ship... but not where they had ask these colors to assemble. Amazingly dumb! Thus since everybody in this assembly area saw folks starting to leave... regardless of the tag color, they all started for the door! What a mess! I got the feeling by watching, and listening to the crew... that at this point they really didn't care... they had already made their money off of you... so your own your own! Bring on the next crowd! Now for the biggest disembarkment blunder! PARKING LOT exit! You have this lot full of hundreds of cars... you have two of Carnivals largest ships disembarking at the exact same time... yet you have ONE Exit Gate, and ONE attendant working! It took me 1-1/2 hour to get out... and I cheated! Many others I have heard were there for more than 2 hours trying to get out!

Lounges: Great... some of the most beautiful I have seen! Service was also great!

Exercise Facilities/Gym: The best I have ever seen on a cruise ship... better than many Cities Gyms I have been in! Very impressive!

Interior Design of Ship: Wonderful... it will be a long long time before I will find a more attractive ship than Triumph! Everything was laid out nicely... and the ship was easy to get around on. Triumph has many design improvements over the Destiny... thus much more deck space for sunning, etc.! Finding a chair was not a problem!

Exterior Design of Ship: Triumph is well thought out.. however the exterior of the ship is not the most attractive you will find. Carnivals ploy to make extra passenger cabins, and higher price balcony rooms was at the expense of the ships visual attractiveness!

Overall impressions: Great Ship, Great Price, Wonderful Food, nice/friendly staff, annoying Photo Gallery, and Great Lounges! Now, if Carnival would put this ship on a Southern Caribbean route... with 5 or 6 Island stops, and 1 day at sea... I would rebook on her tomorrow! The current eastern itinerary is lacking... to say the least!