Cruising on the Triumph

We’re the Kalisiaks – me (Heather, known as the_monkey at Cruise Critic), DH Chris, DS Stephen (6.5) and DD Talia (4), and this is the journal of our first cruise – the Carnival Triumph, sailing on September 18th from Miami.

The following pages are a compilation of our experiences on our first cruise, taken from our journal that we updated while we were away. This ended up being a much better idea than we’d planned, as you will see as the story unfolds, as we ran into one complication after another!

Since this was our journal during the trip, you will find that there are many parts of it where Chris and I write in the first person.  Deal with it, ok? :^D

It’s always best to start at the beginning…

Our story starts in January of 2004 when, after pricing a trip to Great Britain and realizing that we couldn’t afford it with the exchange rate, and I said, “How about a cruise instead?” Chris and I had planned on cruising for our honeymoon back in ‘92 but had cancelled. So the decision was made, and the ship was chosen. The Carnival Triumph, leaving Miami on September 18th for a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise, visiting Cozumel, Mexico, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

By March, everything was planned – air flights, pre- and post-cruise hotels – and we were set!

There was only one thing we could only plan for so much – the fact that the middle of September is hurricane season. And 2004 was to become one of the worst hurricane seasons Florida has ever seen.