Thoughts on Carnival Inspiration Holiday Cruise, Dec 22-26

Hello Cruisers!

I just wanted to post some random thoughts on the Carnival Inspiration Holiday cruise from Dec 22-26. I went with my mother and we had a very enjoyable time!

1. This cruise was full of families, as you might expect. I'd never seen the poolside bars so empty for this traditional "booze cruise" ship. I thought the children were well-behaved.

2. We found the crew/staff to be super friendly, happy, and accommodating.

3. We had Faster to the Fun so embark, debark and tendering in Catalina were a piece of cake.

4. Buffets were typical Carnival, no surprises there. Dinners in the dining room were good. I had read many previous reviews trashing the food, but we found it to be fine. We ordered off the Steakhouse menu once. ($20) The Filet Mignon was huge and cooked perfectly. My mom had the Surf and Turf. Although it took three times for them to get the turf part of the meal cooked right, it ended up just fine. A good sized serving of lobster as well. All in all, while not necessarily memorable, we had no issues with the food while onboard. Dining room service was great.

5. The Cruise Director NoNo (Noelle) was only on her second cruise as CD, according to her. I thought she was fun, accessible, approachable, visible and genuine.

6. Playlist shows were Motor City and Studio VIP. We enjoyed Studio VIP much more and the "after parties" in the atrium were fun too.

7. We took the Wine Country tour in Ensenada. Wonderful tour, although we were confused as to why the free bottle of wine included on the tour wasn't from one of the wineries we visited. I've also never really seen a tour guide make a point to talk to each guest for several minutes while on the bus ride, twice, like Pedro did. He also asked our names and made it a point to address us by name. Impressive.

8. We had an awesome Mexican lunch at Mi Casita on Catalina island.

9. Live music around the ship ranged from ok to good, but overall not as enticing as some of our other longer Carnival cruises.

10. While I don't think our stateroom stewardess necessarily knocked it out of the park maintaining our room, she was very friendly, addressed us by name and gave us hugs as we left at the end of the cruise.

11. Many have mentioned the 2 atrium elevators not working. No issue for us, but they still aren't. The elevator buttons have actually been completely covered/sealed over, so I doubt the atrium elevators are coming back to life anytime soon. On most floors, the elevator doors have had those standing sales banners placed in front of them advertising one thing or another.

12. Many guests fed the seagulls over the course of the trip. :( And the seagulls also fed themselves quite a bit when any leftover plates weren't cleared right away. If you have a fear of birds, be prepared to see a lot of them around the top decks.

13. We weren't overly fond of the Punchliner comedians this trip, but that was just our personal feeling.

Would we sail on this ship again? Sure! We had an enjoyable holiday onboard and came away with fond memories of the friendly crew, Christmas festivities in the atrium (even "snow") and the fun atmosphere onboard. It's a great little getaway. :)

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks for the feedback.

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Great review! I surprised my hubby with the gift of a cruise on Inspiration for September 2018 so I'm glad to gather any insights (good and bad) from others' experience. Wonderful that you and your mom had a nice and relaxing vacation for the holidays. You touched on quite a few of your own experiences/expectations that were mine as well so thank you for that info you provided as well.

Appreciate the feedback.

Thanks for the thoughts.