18th September, 2004
We arrived at the pier on Saturday around 11:30 am, and had to navigate through all those poor people they had just forced off the ship. The lines weren’t bad – I don’t think we waited more than 10 minutes in the main line to check in. There were several lines – first the metal detectors (which are not nearly as strong as the ones at the airport), then the main check-in where we presented our tickets and set up the Sail & Sign, then up some stairs to pick up the actual S&S cards, and then into the holding area.
Now let’s face it – I have red highlights in my hair and I wear pigtails a good part of the time, so I’m pretty easy to pick out. And Terry (Beerman from Cruise Critic) did just that as we were walking into the waiting area. Which was cool, because they were towards the front of that area, so we were able to board nearly right after the wedding parties did.
We set foot on board literally at 12:00 noon.
By 12:10, the kids and I all had our “foo-foo” drinks (virgin ones for the kids, of course!). Let the cruise begin!
The ship is beautiful – and actually much smaller than I thought it would be. I had to get used to the ceilings – they seem very low, even in the public areas. The second floors of the London dining room bisects deck 4, and to get around it you have to go up to 5 and then back down – which, in my eyes, is a design flaw, but there’s probably some arcane reason for it. It’s annoying when you’re trying to get to the Internet cafe, though.
OK, let me get this bit over with now. There are several reports on the Internet of stained carpets on the Triumph. Now that I’ve been on the ship, I can say with all certainty, that if there are stains on the carpets, they’re not as bad as the ones on our carpets at home.
We were on the Spa deck (deck 11) in what is considered a “Family stateroom” (a 6E) – which has a floor to ceiling, slanted window. Great view most of the time, but when the sun’s on that side, it heats up the room quite a bit.
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Now there’s one big issue with the ship – temperature control. There are isolated parts of the ship that are *freezing*, and others where they could really crank up the A/C. And then there’s the outside – it’s HOT out there! Yeah, yeah, I know, we’re in the Caribbean, just call it a blond moment. :^D OK, back to the room. Sleeps 4 – the bunk actually comes out of the ceiling instead of the wall like I’d seen in pictures. You can just see where it is in the ceiling in the picture below. The room is small, but larger than I’d expected. Could use more counter space. Stephen’s in the bunk, and every night he ends up with one of his legs sticking out the rail into space, and he kicks the rail all night. Our bed is two bunks pushed together into a king, and while I can find the seam, it hasn’t been an issue. |
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Here you can see the couch and that countertop that was way too small. Next time we’ll bring lots of those little baskets that have suction cups (like you would use in a bathtub) and suction cup everything to the mirrors. |
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We did, of course, decorate our door, which you can see here. Ours was the only decorated one on our floor, and while we didn’t go to many of other floors, it was really the only one we saw. Still, the kids liked it.Didn’t do much Saturday night, as we were all pretty tired out from all that stupid traveling. We did go to the sign-up for Camp Carnival and signed up both of the kids. Went to bed early so we were rested for our first day at sea. |