Carnival Triumph {7 Day Eastern Caribbean}

Back in March of 2008, Rob and I ventured out for our 6th cruise. It was very different from the previous 5 because we didn’t feel pressured to do everything or stick to a serious schedule. We just did what we wanted to and enjoyed it. We stayed up late most nights dancing the night away or singing along in the piano bar. Most cruises we push ourselves so hard during the day and we’re usually so exhausted it’s nearly impossible to stay up late.

Something else that was different is that we left our house early Saturday, the day of departure, to drive to the airport to catch a plane to Miami. We’ve never done that before. We usually drive or fly down the night before and stay in a hotel near the port. We chose to do it the same day this time to save money on hotel and the flight was cheaper. Luckily everything went smoothly, no delayed flights or anything. We got to the port in good time and was in line to check in before they even opened the gates. We were on the ship before lunch which is always our goal. We do that so we can avoid long lines, eat a free lunch on board, start finding our way around the ship, take care of business, like buying our “Coke” cards for the trip, just to name a few.

This was our first time to leave out of the Miami port, but my 2nd time in Miami, which I LOVE. I think it’s a beautiful city. The art deco is colorful and it’s such a trendy city. So I really enjoyed taking pics as we sailed away. Here’s Rob already enjoying a coke as we wave “Bon Voyage.”

Here’s Rob the morning of the 2nd day enjoying the drink of the day, the Yellowbird. This was our first full day on the ship and this day was a “Fun Day at Sea,”which means you stay on the ship while you get to your destination. You can do as much as or as little as you please. The activities director and staff on board all Carnival ships do an awesome job planning fun stuff from sun rise to way past midnight!

The 3rd day consisted of traveling until about 4 pm when we pulled into San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Port and disembarking about 5. This is our 2nd time to go to this port, so we decided to do something different. We took the Bacardi Tour, which was interesting and fun. From there we walked around San Juan and looked for a good place for dinner. We ended up at Tio Danny’s Cafe.

Tuesday we enjoyed our port of call in St. Thomas. We started with breakfast at Bumpa’s. We visited Blackbeard’s castle. We ate lunch at The Greenhouse, where Rob had Swordfish sandwich and I had a Grouper Sandwich. Both were very good. Nice open and airy seating. We also took the Skyride up to Paradise Point. It was a bit hazy, but still such a beautiful view.

Does he look familiar? He should. It’s the statue of the pirate that was portrayed as Jack Sparrow in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

Here’s a cool picture I actually took from our cabin while we were leaving the port for another day at sea.

Here we are getting free drinks at the Past Guest Part-ay! Very happy people
Here we are after another Fun Day at Sea on the 2nd formal night at dinner.

Can’t have a cruise without towel animals and chocolate each night.

Thursday we were supposed to go to Half Moon Cay – private island, but the currents were too dangerous for us to tender into the island, so that ended up being a day at sea. This was our first trip to have to change our itinerary.

Friday was our day in Nassau, Bahamas. The weather was yucky, but we got out anyway and walked around, shopped at the straw market, and checked email at an internet cafe.

Funny sign we saw while walking around in Nassau

The last night of the cruise the waiters and assistant waiters got on the tables and danced for us!

Here’s our last night. We did not want the night to end, but we knew we had a long day ahead the next day.

One thing I haven’t talked about was our Bar Waiter, who was the best ever! I could write an entire entry about Bar Waiters, in fact I might do that one day. Anyway, this is us with Ernie, who we came to love. He rocked!

This was from our last day after getting off the ship we had most of the day to site see before catching our flight back home.

Other stats of trip:
Ship: Carnival Triumph
Stateroom: 2316
Duration: 7 days – Saturday to Saturday
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean
See more Pics: On flickr

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Cruising 101