Christmas Cruising Part 2 - Carnival Triumph

We were able to board the cruise ship at about 1:00pm Saturday afternoon (December 19). We dropped our bags off in our room, got some lunch and then explored the entire ship. It was really cool because while we were going room to room, deck to deck, we were really the only people around (most people were still boarding or eating). We said goodbye to New Orleans at around 5:30 and took off for the open seas (ok...took off for the Mississippi River, then the open seas). That night we had a fun dinner with a couple from Texas, Edward and Mirna (we later learned that pretty much our entire ship was from Texas - beauty of leaving from New Orleans) and then went to the first nightly show, which was pretty cheesy but fun.
The next 2 days were at sea and spent as follows...sit down breakfast, walking on the track, lay out/relax, buffet lunch, lay out/relax, maybe catch an afternoon show, shower/get ready for evening, sit down dinner with lame couple from Canada (we got moved to the early dinner), nightly show. The food was good pretty much every meal, but we were bummed that we got stuck with Laurie and Greg - the 50-something Canadians who loved Obama and only wanted to talk about politics and religion. Didn't they get the memo that those subjects are taboo? Umm...uncomfortable much?
One of my favorite things was the nightly turn-down service, which was of course accompanied by a different towel creature. I was also really impressed with our room size; it was much bigger than I expected (especially the windows).Since I get really motion sick, I was nervous the whole week about getting sick. Luckily we had pretty good weather, with only one bad day at sea (unfortunately, that day was Christmas). So we tried to sleep that whole day (everyone was sick - 12 foot swells tend to do that), but made it to dinner and the Christmas show (it calmed down right in time for dinner). We got back to New Orleans the next morning and decided to stop by and see my family on the drive home. All in all, it was a great holiday.
Just to recap, here are some of the high-lights and low-lights from the ship.
Ship high-lights:
-I loved the nightly shows. It was great to have something to do in the evening, and the variety was pretty good. We had comedians, magicians, impressionists, etc. I especially liked when one comedian (who was from Canada) yelled out "I just love Obama" and everyone booed. Gotta love those Texans. Made for fun dinner conversation the next night.
-I liked having a sit down breakfast and dinner each day. I liked ordering from a menu (and ordering 3 appetizers if I wanted).
-I also loved our singing and dancing waiter, Paul. Especially when they performed "Apple-bottom Jeans" and he was grinding on the pole. It was hilarious.
-Mark and I also really loved the cruise director, Jorge. He was hilarious.
-I liked having so much time with Mark. It was a fun way to experience my first (and likely only) cruise.
Ship low-lights:
-Our previously mentioned dining companions were pretty lame; when they didn't come to dinner on Christmas, I told Mark that was his present.
-At times, I found the days boring. I would prefer more land time, less sea time.
-I also definitely hated being crazy sea sick. That sucked. It especially sucked that it followed me home and I was "land-sick" for the next week and a half.
-While I did like the convenience of leaving from New Orleans, that location was apparently also convenient to many people I wouldn't typically associate with. If I ever did cruise again, I would definitely leave from another port. (Do they have smoke-free ships? Cause that would be nice as well.)
Ok...now time to post about the #1 high-light...all the cool places we were able to go!