Inspiration...anyone off her recently?

[sheilb4]

Here I go again, getting my pre-cruise fix, of reading updates , reviews etc, a couple of weeks before I leave....as there are only 2 reviews printed for May, wondering if anyone else out there has been on her recently that can write a short review?

pretty please.... ;)

[bgjj04]

I was just on the Inspiration 5/31-6/5. I'm new to the boards, and new to cruising. So keep that in mind if I sound excited about something that you veteran cruisers find to be no big deal.

 

About Me: Male, late 20s, traveling with girlfriend, no children.

 

Embarkation

We arrived shortly after 12:30pm. The line was long, but all told I think only an hour and a half passed from the time we arrived at the port until we were on the ship. Even though the line was long, it moved very smoothly and I was quite impressed with the number of people they processed and how efficient they were. Bring a pen, you have to fill out the "are you sick" form and we had to borrow a pen while in line.

 

[side-note: I had read to avoid arriving so early. However we were staying with a friend who dropped us off, but also had to drop off another friend at the airport at 11, so we were already downtown. We had already spent an hour or so at Channelside on a couple drinks, and didn't want to hold my friend up any longer]

 

Room

We had an oceanview room on the Riviera deck. The room was as I expected for a cruise ship. Small, but nothing unmanageable. The only time we were tripping over one another was when one of us was getting stuff from the closet while the other was going to/from the bathroom. But very little time is spent in the room, so it wasn't a big deal. TV was fine, closet, safe, and drawers were also fine. The bathroom was small (of course), but again nothing unmanageable. My girlfriend would do her hair in front of the room mirror, which opened up the bathroom for me to get ready for dinner.

 

You're a veteran cruiser so you probably know about the limited number of electric outlets (one in the room by the desk, one in the bathroom). I was prepared and brought along a power strip, but we never needed it. I left my phone on airplane mode so it didn't need charged, and my girlfriend didn't need to use her blow dryer and straightener at the same time.

 

I only saw our steward once, but the daily service and turn down service was excellent. By the 2nd night he knew what time our dinner was and would turn down while we were there. Towels were replaced with no problem, ice was refilled, cans of Coke replaced and the towel animals were fun!

 

Dining

We had the late seating (8:15) in the Carnivale dining room. Carnival did a great job with our tablemates. We were seated with 3 other couples, all of whom were very near the same age as us.

 

Aside from one incident, the food was excellent. The one incident is one night I ordered the chicken tender appetizer which comes with two grilled tenders. One of the tenders was only cooked on the outer layer (the other tender was fine). As soon as I cut into it, the middle 90% was still pink. I showed it to the waiter, who took it and brought back a double batch which were cooked thoroughly. To me this is fairly minor since I caught it before eating and the situation was rectified, but thought it was worth mentioning.

 

Our waiter (Alexandro) was friendly, funny and was honest about food recommendations (he specifically didn't recommend the lobster bisque appetizer because many guests find it too "fishy"). Our bar waiter (Florin) was also friendly and by the 3rd night remembered the typical order of all 8 of us, and knew our folio number so we didn't have to show him our Sail and Sign card (I know he may have had it written down, but I like that kind of service).

 

The food portions were small compared to dining out, but I found this to be a good thing. I could eat an appetizer, entree and dessert without feeling like I needed to unbutton my pants.

 

The little "show" that the waitstaff puts on was funny, but it didn't last too long if that's something you don't enjoy.

 

We were done eating by 9:45 each night, so we had time to catch any of the late shows.

 

Entertainment

We didn't do any of the daily sessions offered on the ship. But we did catch the magician and the "adult" comedian after dinner a couple of nights. Their shows were what I expected, decent but nothing to write home about. They're performing on a cruise ship and not at a club in a large metropolitan area for a reason. The casino was as expected. I managed to break even at Blackjack over the course of the week. All but one of the dealers I had was friendly and sociable. They had two $5 minimum tables which were always full in the evening. I wish they had more, but the fact they had two was surprising to me. During my last trip to Vegas I think I found 1 $5 table out of all of the casinos I went into. (I'm a cheap gambler)

 

The photographers were always on the promenade in the evening and at the docks on a port day, but usually stopped when you say 'No thanks'. They were relatively unobtrusive during dinner, but were there a few nights. We did buy one picture that we had taken on elegant night.

 

Pool

We found the pool to be too small for the number of people on board. We only got in a couple of times and were pretty cramped. If kids or drunk adults are splashing water or doing canonballs from the side you will get splashed. The line for the larger slide was usually longish, but it probably never took more than 10-15 minutes. The smaller slides had shorter lines. By the 4th day the smaller slides were down, not sure why. But the larger slide was still open.

 

The Serenity area is nice. The chair cushions are better and there are no children. I wish there was a pool instead of two hot tubs. Since it is at the back of the ship we never felt a breeze and ended up sitting out in the main pool area to catch the breeze. Although there were a lot of people on the pool decks, we didn't have a problem finding two chairs together.

 

Drinks

I initially thought drink prices were expensive, but when I think back they aren't that much more than you'd pay at a nicer restaurant on land. With the automatic gratuity they ran around $7-$8 a piece.

 

Ports/Excursions

Grand Cayman: We did the Reef 'n Rays excursion. We were unimpressed with the reef part of it, but really enjoyed swimming with the stingrays. We had a little time to do some shopping near the dock before and after, but would've liked more time. Grand Cayman is a tender port.

 

Cozumel: We did the Mayan Ruins of Tulum excursion. It literally takes the entire day in port, but if you're into the history/sight-seeing type of thing it's worth it. Our tour guide was very friendly and very informative and we learned a good deal about Mayan culture.

 

After the tour we had about an hour to explore the ruins, go to the beach, or shop outside of the park. Once we got back to port we had about 45 minutes to shop. One word of caution about the shops outside the ruins is that they are your typical "local vendor" type of shops. They can be somewhat pushy, but you can always negotiate on prices. As our tour guide put it, "it's an informal economy". Note: you do have to take a ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen. The day we went the water was very choppy. So if you're one to get sea sick on smaller boats, keep that in mind.

 

Debarkation

Just like embarkation, was very smooth. We opted for the traditional debarkation (put bags out the night before) as opposed to carrying all of our bags off. Our flight out of Tampa wasn't until 7:00pm, so we were in no hurry. We got up around 8:00, got ready and went to the Brasserie buffet for breakfast and sat until it was time for our zone (25) to disembark. We were literally one of the last passengers to leave. According to the checkout screen, only 6 passengers were still on board when we were scanned out. Our bags were waiting for us in the port, we took a few minutes to empty our carry-ons to get them airplane-ready before going through the line for customs. Customs was very easy and both of us had more alcohol than what is duty-free (each had 2 liters), but neither of us were taxed. We took the Carnival-provided (for a fee) airport shuttle. It left 5-10 minutes after we were on board and was a very stress-free trip. We were at the airport around 11:45am.

 

Overall

It was a great time and we'd both go again. I'm already starting to look for the next one!

[jamers22]

Great review bgjj04:) I'll be on the Inspiration June 28th. We can't wait!

[SavFam06]

Great review! Thanks! Will be on the Inspiration in December!

[sheilb4]

Thanks so much for your great review. I have 2 weeks to wait and am getting excited as my best friend is coming over from Uk and has never been on a cruise, so I know she will flip out!! makes it more exciting!

Gonna go to Nachi Cocum in Cozumel, as its one of my fave places...:) and drink lots of mimosa's on the cruise...only doing the 4 day, but will def make the most of it! lol

[chachi]

Great review. Glad you enjoyed your first cruise.