I got to judge the hairy chest contest! Inspiration review: 2/26/11.

[gapearl]

Can't wait to see more! I would LOVE to go on a solo cruise!

 

Thank you! Solo cruising (or solo vacationing in general) is awesome! You get to do what you want, when you want, and you don't have to bother with arranging your schedule around what others want to do. In addition to my 3 solo cruises, I've also taken 2 solo land vacations. You should think about it. I promise, you'll enjoy yourself!

 

I spy CUTE shoes!!!! I don't feel bad anymore that I have to bring all my cute heels on cruises! At least i'm not the only one :D

 

Girl you should see my closet at home. I'm at DSW every month. I have to pack plenty of extras. Just because I'm not at home doesn't mean I don't want to have options. ;)

[INCHARGE]

Hey Gapearl! Your reports are so much fun to read, because you think like me at a younger age. Let me tell you, I got all comfortable with a cup of coffee, ready to have fun reading your report. Now I have to actually get ready for work, since you had the nerve to stop writing it. How dare you actually have a life! :eek: :D

Seriously, I just love your fun reviews, and I know you had a ball judging that contest. I hope someone got pictures for you.

[Julienatul]

Thanks! I actually heard firsthand from some staff that this particular sailing always has an older crowd. Maybe it's because that area of FL has a lot of retirees and you have a lot more locals on board? I don't know. I don't really want to cruise during spring break. My observation from past cruises is that cruising from MIA and FLL, you get a much more mixed crowd.

 

We did Inspiration in Oct and it was a nice mixed crowd of all ages and then we did the Miracle out of FLL for New Years (dec/jan)and the average age was so much higher. So high in fact that at the New years celebration the newest music they played was from the 80's and only a few songs at that. The majority was 60's-70's music. chubby checker, the twist, all the little fishies in the deep blue sea etc. . It definitely put a damper on the celebratory mood. I just think that time of year attracts more retired persons

[gapearl]

Good morning! Back to my review.

 

Before dinner, I took all of the many outfits you saw in my closet to be ironed. I didn’t want to make multiple trips to the laundry room throughout the trip. Tip for newbies: I’d highly recommend doing this. Because there are no irons in your room, you have to do your ironing in the laundry room. I’ve heard the lines can get pretty bad for the irons. Just take everything on day 1 and you don’t have to worry about it the rest of your trip. The laundry room on the empress deck was across from E-4. Luckily for me, there was no one else waiting for the iron, so I was in and out in 10 minutes. It’s $3 to wash and dry, in case you’re wondering.

 

I was seated in the Carnivale Dining Room. Carnival has not disappointed me yet (knock on wood) on seating me with awesome dinner companions. The last time I cruised solo, I was seated with 4 other solos. At the table when I arrived were 2 guys from MO, 3 ladies from NC, and 2 more guys from OH. We had really great conversation all week. I can’t remember our server’s name. In fact, I never got it right the whole cruise. I remember he was from Bulgaria. He was great and took excellent care of us. I ordered the iceberg salad, chicken a la greque, and warm chocolate melting cake.

 

 

 

 

Here’s a funny story about how ordering dessert at my table went. Our server began passing out dessert menus. We he came to hand me mine, I proudly told him that I didn’t need one. He immediately read my mind and said “Warm chocolate melting cake!” And I replied “With TWO ice creams!” One of the first time cruisers at my table was so impressed that I knew EXACTLY what I wanted without having to look at the menu that he ordered the same thing, and so did everyone else! I created WCMC monsters! :D

 

 

 

After dinner, I headed to my room to relax for a bit and ended up taking a 30 minute nap. I got to the welcome aboard show a little late. I didn’t miss much. I could have slept another 30 minutes honestly. The crowd was kind of dull. CD Stephanie called some kids on stage and gave them some prizes for participation. Both of the comedians we would have during the cruise gave a pg rated show. As I was walking around and exploring the nightlife, I passed one of the teen clubs, the one for ages 15-17. Music was playing and I heard a song on with the lyrics “Girl you’re gonna think I invented sex.” REALLY? I don’t think that was an appropriate song to be playing for teenagers.

 

If you read my Imagination review, you can guess how the rest of my night went- comedy show then disco! :p I remember passing by the Rock & Roll Disco kind of early. The dj had music going but it was DEAD. Four ladies, obviously at least in their 20’s, wanted to go in. The security guy at the door asked them for id. They didn’t have it on them and he turned them away. That was very disappointing to see. I don’t think a lot of people carry their DL around on the ship because you simply don’t need it. Was he going to be like this all night? Did he not want the entertainment venues to be fun for guests? Maybe he just wasn’t in a good mood at that time. Thankfully, I never saw him or any other security do that the rest of the night or cruise. I called it a night around 1:30 am.

 

Up next: Day 2 sea day!

[gapearl]

Hey Gapearl! Your reports are so much fun to read, because you think like me at a younger age. Let me tell you, I got all comfortable with a cup of coffee, ready to have fun reading your report. Now I have to actually get ready for work, since you had the nerve to stop writing it. How dare you actually have a life! :eek: :D

Seriously, I just love your fun reviews, and I know you had a ball judging that contest. I hope someone got pictures for you.

 

Thanks INCHARGE! Sorry I left you hanging. I also had to go to work. Those cruises have to get paid for somehow. ;) I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[gapearl]

We did Inspiration in Oct and it was a nice mixed crowd of all ages and then we did the Miracle out of FLL for New Years (dec/jan)and the average age was so much higher. So high in fact that at the New years celebration the newest music they played was from the 80's and only a few songs at that. The majority was 60's-70's music. chubby checker, the twist, all the little fishies in the deep blue sea etc. . It definitely put a damper on the celebratory mood. I just think that time of year attracts more retired persons

 

Dancing to Chubby Checker for NYE? :eek: I can't imagine! LOL I guess it's really hit or miss. My 4 day on the Imagination was mostly a younger crowd. I'm sure some of the older cruisers were thinking the same thing about us. I definitely like a good mix of all ages and cultures.

[Cruisin Christi]

Nice review...Looks like a good start to a great cruise.

[Nars Glinley]

Two ice creams with the WCMC? Why didn't I think of that?? :smack:

[navybaby1113]

I think lots of people noticed this was an older crowd. I'll be touching on that later. I was up on the sports deck by the running track and miniature golf areas in the very front when I got the pictures of the bridge. I wanted to find one of the secret decks, but didn't have time to wander and try to find them.

 

You were right above us then. We were down on the Verandah deck.

[DaisyGirl55]

Cruising on the Inspiration next month, can't wait! I sailed on this ship last November for my birthday, and it was dark by the time we went under the bridge.

 

Now that the time changes next weekend, it will still be daylight so I am hoping for some good pictures.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I have tried to do a review with pictures, but not sure how. Do you resize your pix before posting, or do you use a specific website?

 

thanks - keep up the great work!

[Cupcrazy]

Two ice creams with the WCMC? Why didn't I think of that?? :smack:

 

I always get 2. One i dump on the WCMC and the other i just eat normally. soooooooo good

[gapearl]

Nice review...Looks like a good start to a great cruise.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Two ice creams with the WCMC? Why didn't I think of that?? :smack:

 

You'll know for next time. I didn't want to seem greedy and get 3. lol

[gapearl]

You were right above us then. We were down on the Verandah deck.

 

How did you get down there? I couldn't find the secret doors.

 

Cruising on the Inspiration next month, can't wait! I sailed on this ship last November for my birthday, and it was dark by the time we went under the bridge.

 

Now that the time changes next weekend, it will still be daylight so I am hoping for some good pictures.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review. I have tried to do a review with pictures, but not sure how. Do you resize your pix before posting, or do you use a specific website?

 

thanks - keep up the great work!

 

Thanks! I hope you have an awesome time! No, I didn't resize any of the pictures. I just copied and pasted the link from photobucket.

 

 

I always get 2. One i dump on the WCMC and the other i just eat normally. soooooooo good

 

Great minds thing alike!

 

Wow, 1,000 hits in 24 hours! I'm sorry to leave everyone hanging again but I have to stop here and head to work. I'm already running late!

[grsnovi]

Thanks for the tip about the laundry room iron! Cyn always sneeks a travel iron aboard but it sounds like your tip will remove the need for that! We'll be going out on Inspiration the first week of May (hope our crowd is older too).

[deeluvs2cruise]

Great start to your review. I can't wait to read more. I have often thought of doing a solo cruise. You just may be my inspiration.

[rex00111]

We are sailing this ship in SIX DAYS! Great review so far, thank you for the tips and information.....one question, do the oceanview cabins have fridge/mini bars???

[crusinpsychRN]

I had that room before too! I don't like the top bunk hanging over the bed, makes it hard to lie in bed and watch TV--you hit your head even with 2 pillows behind you. With the solo charge up I'm going in 4A's now.

 

I love Empress deck for the same reason you said--close to the Serenity so it's easy to go back to the room for more drink. Close to dining. Easy on/off. On my last trip the 4A was aft on Riviera and was the worst room ever! R219. It made a tick noise randomly all the time. So annoying. The toilet stopped working. The vanity light went out twice. It also had the bunk that jutted out over the bed. The TV was at such an angle that it looked green all the time.

[navybaby1113]

How did you get down there? I couldn't find the secret doors.

 

Walk all the way forward on the Verandah deck through the guest cabins. There's a door at the very front.

[Julienatul]

We are sailing this ship in SIX DAYS! Great review so far, thank you for the tips and information.....one question, do the oceanview cabins have fridge/mini bars???

 

No Fridge or mini bar in OV cabins. We always bring our small rolling cooler and have the steward fill with ice.

[gapearl]

DAY 2/ DAY AT SEA

 

I woke up early, took a shower, and got out to the pool around 9. The chair hogs were out in full force today! I ended up sitting next to a fellow CC member (cruizin lawyer if I remember correctly), who said she was out there at 7:45 am and people already had chairs saved. I grabbed a croissant, some cereal, and an apple from the buffet and came back to my front row poolside chair, where I parked myself for hours. Lunch began at 12. I had a salad and ate from the rotisserie grill. The lido theme for today was Mexican food. There were some pool games for kids, an ice carving demo, the master mixology contest, and *drumroll please* the hairy chest contest.

 

Two of my new friends from dinner were standing there with me when the host began looking for judges. I think it was the assistant cruise director who was the host. He turned to where I was standing, and there was no way I could go unnoticed with the 3 of us waving. There were 3 judges total. I was judge #1. The ACD cruise director came to me first for introductions, and our conversation went something like this.

 

ACD: What’s your name?

Me: Kim!

ACD: Where are you from?

Me: Atlanta! (Lots of cheers!)

ACD: So Kim, tell me, do you like hairy chests?

Me: Actually no I don’t!

ACD: Then what are you doing up here?

Me: I’ve seen this on all my other cruises and thought it would be fun to come up here and be a judge!

ACD: Well I’m so glad you told me that you don’t like hairy chests. I’m going to have you judge the feeeeeeel. That’s right, I want you to dig your hands through all that chest hair, and back hair too! Dig your hands all the way in there!

 

EEEEEWWW!!! :eek: OMG!!! :eek: What did I just get myself into? The contestants had to dance for judge #2 and she rated them on personality. Judge #3 had to judge on smell. Oh boy, we had our work cut out for us. :eek:

 

 

All six contestants did what they had to do to impress us. The crowd was loving it. When they were done, each judge had to eliminate one contestant, but this was no simple elimination. We each had to stand behind the contestant we wanted to say “See ya!” to, take a bucket of COLD water, and dump it all over him. Again, we were standing behind the fellas and they didn’t know if their time was up or not. It was funny to watch them standing there, clenching their fists and bracing just in case.

 

So we got down to the final 3. Our judging responsibility was done, but we got to keep our chairs on the stage for a front row show. The three remaining contestants had to then dance for the AUDIENCE, as they were the final judges. The winner, Larry, definitely deserved it! He won a ship on a stick, Carnival medallion, Carnival picture frame, and I think a bottle of champagne. The other two finalists won a ship on a stick, and the final three got a medallion. I got one too!

 

 

 

 

After rubbing my hands through the chest and back hair six crazy men trying to get a ship on a ship and 15 minutes of cruise ship fame, I immediately went to the ladies room and thoroughly washed my hands for about 8 minutes. ;) I hung out by the pool for a while longer, enjoying the hot tub and pool. I was hungry and wanted a little something small before dinner, so I went to the Mongolian Grill for some chicken in Thai bbq sauce with onions and peppers. YUM! NOT! The chicken was undercooked. First time that's ever happened. Ok, whatever. The chicken sandwich I had the day before from the other outside pool grill (where you get burgers, hot dogs and fries) was pretty good, so I went to get another one. Will you believe it was undercooked too? I just gave up on an afternoon snack. I went and bought a few things at the gift shop then hit the gym for an I’ve-eaten-too-much-already-must-run-a-5k quickie workout. I saw another ship out in the distance. I could tell it was a RC ship. I figured it was also headed to Grand Cayman.

[gapearl]

Tonight was formal night. On my way back to my room from the gym, I passed the photographers who were ready and willing to take lots of pictures of you. One asked to take my picture. Are you kidding me? I had been sitting by the pool all day, just worked out, had on ZERO makeup, was sweaty and gross, but you want me to take a picture by a pedestal with roses and champagne glasses, AND you have the nerve to tell me I look fine? Don’t make me push you overboard! I can’t help but wonder if the photographers have quotas they have to meet, or if they get a commission on photos sold and that’s why they’re so aggressive. I promised him I would be back when I was dressed up for pictures. I actually took pictures at all six photo stations. I liked all of the backgrounds and each photographer had their own style and poses they liked. Later in the cruise, I ended up buying three 8x10s. They were $22 each, and I swear, they were all retouched. Some years ago, I worked at Glamour Shots, so I know what a retouched picture looks like. I think I got a good deal.

 

Ok, back to formal night. The captain and officers were available along the promenade for a meet, greet, can I take my picture with you celebration. I think they were out from 5-8 pm, so no matter when you had dinner, you could come see them all. I had late dining, by the way. I don’t think I mentioned that yet. Everyone really went all out for the formal night this cruise. I saw lots of evening gowns and tuxedos. I didn’t see many of those on my last two cruises.

 

That's me with CD Stephanie Meads, Captain Vincenzo Miele, and Chief Engineer Giuseppe Cutugno.

 

 

We had two new people at our dinner table, two ladies from my neck of the woods in GA. I had the farfalle with turkey and peas as my appetizer (also available as an entrée), Cornish hen with vegetables and mashed potatoes as my entrée, and the warm chocolate melting cake with two ice creams for dessert. I forgot to mention that we got no dinner entertainment the first night from our servers. Tonight, we got a song- That’s Amore. The maitre’d told all the men who were traveling with a woman they love to stand, and then the men had to help the ladies out of their seats so they could dance together. It was really cute.

 

 

 

 

These are the shoes I spent HOURS searching for at the mall in Tampa.

 

 

My new dinner friends and I hung out every night after eating. I wanted to change clothes, but they insisted we stay dressed up. We went to the Punchliner Comedy Club and saw the 9:45 show of Mark Hawkins. He was hilarious! I enjoyed him the entire cruise. We headed to the disco around 11. The music was lame, so we left and went to karaoke instead. I was so happy to see they had Rihanna’s hit “Only Girl In The World” in their library. You can’t tell me I don’t deserve a Grammy after that performance! Yes, I sounded terrible. Yes, I was gasping for air. No, I didn’t know all the words like I thought I did, despite listening to and singing it in my car 22 times a day. Did I have a lot of energy? Yes! Did the crowd love me? Yes! Did I have a bunch of spring breakers up dancing and having fun? YES!

 

 

We left karaoke and headed back to the disco. The music was better and there was bigger crowd than earlier. The disco never really got busy until around 1 am. On other cruises, it would get hopping around 11 pm. Some of the entertainment staff was hanging out in here tonight. It was fun watching them battle on the dance floor. I headed to back to my room around 2 am.

 

Up next: Grand Cayman!

[gapearl]

Thanks for the tip about the laundry room iron! Cyn always sneeks a travel iron aboard but it sounds like your tip will remove the need for that! We'll be going out on Inspiration the first week of May (hope our crowd is older too).

 

No problem! Be careful trying to sneak the travel iron. On the last day of the cruise when I went to pick up the liquor I purchased in port, I saw a table of confiscated no-no items from day 1, travel irons included. Tampa is really on their game when it comes to stopping people from sneaking on stuff. I know you'll have an awesome cruise in May!

 

Great start to your review. I can't wait to read more. I have often thought of doing a solo cruise. You just may be my inspiration.

 

Thanks a bunch! I hope I can be your "inspiration" ;) to do a solo cruise. I really had a fantastic time. Give it some thought!

[gapearl]

We are sailing this ship in SIX DAYS! Great review so far, thank you for the tips and information.....one question, do the oceanview cabins have fridge/mini bars???

 

I hope my review is getting you in the mood for your cruise! You're going to have such a good time! Hopefully I'll be done with my review by then. I don't think they do. My interior room did not have a fridge. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

 

I had that room before too! I don't like the top bunk hanging over the bed, makes it hard to lie in bed and watch TV--you hit your head even with 2 pillows behind you. With the solo charge up I'm going in 4A's now.

 

I love Empress deck for the same reason you said--close to the Serenity so it's easy to go back to the room for more drink. Close to dining. Easy on/off. On my last trip the 4A was aft on Riviera and was the worst room ever! R219. It made a tick noise randomly all the time. So annoying. The toilet stopped working. The vanity light went out twice. It also had the bunk that jutted out over the bed. The TV was at such an angle that it looked green all the time.

 

 

My only concern with that top bunk was please God, don't let it fall! LOL I've never been on the riviera deck. Sounds like you didn't have a pleasant experience there. Another good thing about empress is that it's quiet. You're above passenger cabins and below the dining room. I think empress on Fantasy class ships is the only way to go now!

[gapearl]

Walk all the way forward on the Verandah deck through the guest cabins. There's a door at the very front.

 

That's good to know for next time. I never would have found it!

 

No Fridge or mini bar in OV cabins. We always bring our small rolling cooler and have the steward fill with ice.

 

Thanks for clarifying that. I didn't think so but wasn't sure.

[INCHARGE]

Girl...I am really enjoying your review, as usual. It must have been fun to judge that contest. :) those men are so funny, especially the cute little grandfathers. I love to see them having fun, and acting up.

 

I love those killer shoes. Good buy.

Ps...My daughter recently moved from Dallas, Georgia. I loved it out there.