REVIEW - Carnival Inspiration – April 9, 2011 From Tampa to Grand Cayman and Cozumel

[Aeeo]

Carnival Inspiration – April 9, 2011

Tampa , Grand Cayman, and Cozumel

 

My girl friend and I hail from the land locked central part of Ohio. Mostly farms and slight rolling hills surround our home, defiantly no vast bodies of water. This was my 5th cruise with Carnival, and the 2nd on the Inspiration out of Tampa . This was my girl friend’s 2nd cruise with Carnival, she was excited to have the gold Past Guest card this time. I work in the Gulf of Mexico, 100 miles south of Biloxi on an oil platform and familiar with the blue waters that flow through the Caribbean . I am contracted to provide medical and healthcare services as needed to the workers of that facility. My girlfriend is also in the Medical field, she is a STNA, and said she needed another vacation.

 

Our last vacation was on the Triumph just six months ago.

[Aeeo]

Booking

 

It started out about 65 days prior to sailing. I received an email from Carnival, whom I never use, but it was a Pack and Go cruising rate out of Tampa for 5 days, there was also additional saving with my Ohio residential rate reduction. My last cruise on the Inspiration out of Tampa in October of 2004 was rearranged because of a hurricane Ivan damaging Grand Cayman . That year we did a double stop at Cozumel . So, with my fingers crossed I booked a guaranteed inside room online with only 52 days before the cruise in hopes of finally visiting Grand Cayman .

Booking only two months out was nice because the wait for the cruise was bearable and compared to some of the higher rates prior to the cruise I seemed to have saved a substantial amount of money. However, Carnival had big sale with 7 days to go and the price dropped $25 pp below what I bought my cruise for a IS room with an Ohio residency rate. Since I did not book a price guaranteed fare, I took an upgrade to a guaranteed outside room for only a few dollars more. The switch at the time was bitter sweet. I was excited about my IS room because I was assigned an Empress room 32 days before and had my luggage tags printed and now I needed to wait again to see where I would get placed. But, again I hoped the few dollars more I paid and the ocean view would make my trip that much more enjoyable. Wow! 7 days to cruise, another price drop, rock bottom prices and we could not take advantage of them. It was short lived, 3 days before the cruise the price jumped back up above what we bought in at.

[Aeeo]

Roll Call

 

We got on the roll call on Cruise Critic and very few people were on, but as the days got closer we got around 12 people chatting, but there are some large groups coming so I counted about 70 people. The meet and greet kind of failed. The deck plans showed a bar at the rear of the Verandah deck near the water works and it was not there.

[Aeeo]

FCC

 

This was my first cruise I used a Future Cruise Certificate on. I purchased one on my last cruise six months ago. Now, I am kicking my-self in the behind for not purchasing two because I am eyeing a cruise in November of 2011 and the Carnival sale is making the other cruise really affordable also.

Redeeming a FCC was a simple procedure. I was unaware that you must submit it before final payment, however this was a Pack and Go special and was only 52 days out, so I was required to pay the full amount when I booked. I called Carnival and asked about the FCC, she said all I needed to do is follow the instructions on the certificate and they would refund me my $100 FCC price and give me my $50 OBC for the five day cruise. (I thought they would have been smarter and placed the $100 on my OBC, so I would have to spend it on the cruise.) To redeem it, I filled the out pertinent information on the certificate, labeled an envelope and mailed it certified mail on Tuesday. By Friday when I checked my Carnival account the OBC was credited to my sail date. A few days later I received a deposit in my checking account for the $100 price of the FCC.

[Aeeo]

Pre-Booked Excursions

 

I definitely wanted to go to Sting Ray City , but not with the rest of the heard. So, I pre-booked a Wave Runner Tour to Sting Ray City with Fat Fish Adventures about 45 days prior to sailing. I emailed them on Friday at 9 pm with my date of arrival and ship name, and received an automated message from Peter Jervis immediately. An enquiry email from Carolyn Jervis came later on Saturday at 6 pm. She confirmed my date and time of arrival and asked me to call or email her with my information so she could collect a deposit for the excursion. So, I emailed her again on Saturday at 8 pm with my contact information. On Monday she called me at 6 pm, confirmed my tour date, informed me of some pertinent information, and collected my credit card information for the deposit. She was very helpful and answered all my questions I had about the tour and their policies. I was especially nervous about the meeting time because of several issues with the change of winter arrival times to spring arrival times into Grand Cayman, also the conversion between ship time, island time, tendering times, and daylight savings time not aligning with the Grand Cayman’s Port Authority website schedule not lining up. But she assured me they check with the harbor master and know the time when the ship will arrive. I received a confirmation email the next day at 9 am with more helpful instructions.

 

As for Cozumel , 4 months earlier we took a resort diving course through Sand Dollar Water Sports and enjoyed it very much. However, they only book through Carnival, so I had to find someone else not affiliated with Carnival. I am getting to enjoy Cozumel , this is my 7th time there. With only a week to the cruise I contacted SCUBA Mau and arranged another class for her and also a 2 tank boat dive. The communications with Opal was excellent, and the booking took only a matter of hours.

Also, since the ship will be in port till 8 pm, I looked for other adventures that might let us enjoy some Mexican evening life, and I wanted to try some tacos at a local Taqueria.

[Aeeo]

Before the Cruise

 

Of course as you know already I ended up with an OV room. However, just to be fair to Carnival, they did take care of me before I booked the OV and around 32 days before sailing we were assigned room E141 on the Empress Deck. Now, I had to wait to see what cabin I was going to be assigned.

Two weeks before the cruise I ordered from the Bon Voyage Service center and placed my order for a bottle of Vodka, a bottle of Chambord, a raspberry flavored liquor, and some beers to be in the room when we arrived. It was over priced compared to our local store, but exactly priced as listed in the other threads. However, I assumed the conversion rate of 33 ounces of alcohol per liter would only cost us about $3 per drink with 1 once of Vodka and 1 once of Chambord . (My recipe for our drinks included 1 ounce of Vodka, 1 ounce of Chambord , poured into iced Guava Juice or Lemonade from the Lido Deck.)

[Aeeo]

T-Minus 3

 

Three days before the cruise I checked my Carnival account and was assigned a room. How exciting! I could throw away my “To Be Assigned” Luggage tags and boarding passes and print out the new ones. I was defiantly excited because a few days ago when I called Carnival and upgraded to my OV room, I asked what rooms were available and requested R177 because it was the closest available room to the center of the ship, and was assigned that room.

Late that morning I arrived in New Orleans via Helicopter after getting off work. (No it was not VIP treatment, that is normal transportation from my job site on the oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico .) I was to meet my girlfriend, who was to drive down from Ohio , at the airport so we could go to Florida together. However, after some car troubles, I just planned to fly her into Tampa the Night before the cruise.

[Aeeo]

T-Minus 2

 

I stayed at some relatives near Pensacola the night before and I got up early and drove to pick up my girlfriend at the Tampa airport. We went out and picked up some wine for the cruise from Florida Orange Grove Winery. I recommend anyone who has never drank wine to stop by and try their free samples. ( http://www.floridawine.com/index.htm ) So we picked up a bottle of their White Sangria called Hurricane Class 5 and a bottle of Tangelo wine.

[Aeeo]

T-Minus 1

 

The day before the cruise we drove around Viewed the Skyway Bridge on Friday. There we reserved the “Ship and Shore” package through the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in the downtown are. It was under $100, they offered a night stay, parking, and transportation. The room was a typical multi-story hotel.

[truchattycathy]

Great review so far Jay. Now when are you going to join our NOLA roll call. ;)

 

J:)Y

 

More free wine? This seems to be a recurring theme!!!

[Aeeo]

Day 1 – Sail Away

The day before we had to pre-register for a van to take us to the terminal, so that morning we went and waited on the shuttle.

We arrived at the terminal at 10:30, there was no line and we proceeded into the terminal after dropping our bags off with a porter. In just a few minutes we were up the escalators and through security (They did not even look at any of my Alcohol I had carried on. But they were concerned with a Nintendo DS a kid had in his pocket.) and had our sail and sign cards in hand. At 11:30 we were on the ship and exploring after the traditional gangway photo. We entered through the Grand Atrium and made our way quickly to the buffet where they were serving Italian themed food. Even though we checked the buffet daily, we always ate some where else. So, our big destination was the Mongolian Wok (To our dismay was only open most days 12 to 2:30) and picked our ingredients out and picked our sauce and they cooked it for us while we waited (I guess many people do not have Mongolian Grills where they are from. Many people just walked up and tried to figure out what was going on, expecting food to magically appear in the woks.) Of course since the line was short, we also stopped by the Deli and picked up a Ruben. My favorite place to eat was right out back of the Pizza Pirate and ate on the open deck.

The muster drill happened at 3:15 and we made our way to the Muster Station in Disco and then was shown to our life boats on the deck above us. It was quickly over and we were underway, sailing away from Tampa . We went topside and watched as we moved further and further out the bay. I wanted to check out the “Secret” deck on the Atlantic Deck Fwd in the Paris Lounge. Just on the side of the stage was a door and we went through it to a deck above the crew only deck, there were many crew on this deck making phone calls. On the way back into the Lounge the doors were marked crew only, but we went through them any to get back in.

Before dinner we went to the Carnival Spa. (See Review Below) But, after the spa we were relaxed and ready for dinner. We started with the fruit, had the Flat Iron Steak (Tasted more like a roast then a steak) and Ribs with Fries. For desert it was the Classic Warm Melting Cake and Strawberry Cheese Cake. (It was the worst Cheese Cake I ever had, it had no flavor and was more like a rubbery sponge cake.) Oh well, we headed off to the Comedy Club and laughed to the Comedy of Donnell Keith Grey and Mark Hawkins before headed off to bed.

[Aeeo]

Carnival Spa

 

At 5:00 we took the Spa tour and sampled many of their services. They offered different types of massages including the Bamboo Stick, Poultice, and Hot Stone Massages. They had a Full Body massage with a free full body sea salt exfoliation if I booked today, so I did. At 6:00 we started our Hot Stone Full Body massage with the Sea Salt Exfoliation. Of course I had to strip down and relax while the course sea salt was rubbed across my body. After the exfoliation there was a hot shower. My skin felt so smooth and soft. Then, the second part again lying down on the table while hot stones were placed around my back and the massage started. There were many tight muscles in my body, but her hands, hot stones, and forearms worked and relaxed me ever more. Wow! 2 hours later, I think I am hooked on beautiful Asian girls rubbing and pressing burning hot stones into my tight flesh and muscles. Of course after spending 100’s of dollars we had to sit through a presentation about what products we needed to use at home to help us relax, we bought none.

[Aeeo]

Our Cabin R177

Of course we booked an IS guaranteed and received Cabin E141 about 32 days before we sailed. I really looked forward to it, because it was a convenient location. It was just around from the art gallery, the grand atrium, one flight of stairs below our dinning room and would did not have to travel through the Riviera , Main , or Upper decks. (I though it might make the ship seem a little smaller and easy to navigate since you only had three decks to familiarize your self with.) Atlantic – Dinning Rooms and Theater, Promenade – Casino, Bars/Lounges and Serenity, Lido Deck – Pool and Buffet, the deck above that were open and self explanatory.)

But we ended up with R177, all they way at the bottom of the ship. However the rooms location was very convenient. It was one deck up from Deck 3, were the gangways were located, so we did not have to wait in line for the elevators. However we mainly used the aft elevators to go to all the other places on the ship including the MDR on the Atlantic Deck, the Candlelight Lounge and other amenities on the Promenade deck, and of Course the Lido Deck. The only time we used the fwd elevators were for breakfast in the Mardi Gras Dinning Room.

My first impression was excitement, they switched out then old plastic beige and pink tinted doors with new wood textured cabin doors. Inside it was typical OV room, I guess during the last refurbishment they made many changes especially in the cabins. The colors I remembered were more pink now the are more neutral colors with lots of wood trim. The bathroom was also more modern then I remembered with a lovely modern blue floor, accent lighting and complementary shower, sink, and toilet. I do have to say at only 200 lbs, I was afraid the toilet would have come off the wall if I was any larger. Back in the bed room there were ample closets two hanging closets and one with drawers and shelves. In the closet were 2 complementary bath robes. Never had bath robes furnished before in my room, exciting. We rarely used them after bathes, but they made nice throws when you napped and did not want to mess up the bed. Also in the room was one pull down bunk in the room.

[Aeeo]

Day 2 – At Sea (Cruise Elegant Night)

Well, did not plan our day out since we had nothing to see but water. But we did plan on breakfast in the Mardi Gras Dining room, Lunch at the Mongolian Wok, a snack or two before dinner in the Carnivale Dining Room. A few things we did in between included the Fun Ashore, Fun Abroad Presentation and the Insider Guide to Port Shopping in Grand Cayman . I had to drag my girl friend to the Presentations, however after winning a Diamond Sapphire pendant she was a little lest reluctant to go again. Other then that we lounged around, played around with our drink recipe and made sex on the beach and purple hooter type drinks with our bon voyage alcohol.

Well it was about dinner. On the menu tonight was Prime Rib but we chose the Caesar salad, Thai Chicken strips, Flat Iron Steak with fries, and Gouda Cheese. Again the steak was wild and gamy flavored.

[Aeeo]

Bon Voyage Drinks

I think I mentioned Bon Voyage Drinks, but I thought I would let you know what we were drinking. Each drink cost us about $3 each

1 oz Vodka

1 oz Chambord

Free Guava or Lemonade Ice

[Aeeo]

Day 3 – Grand Cayman

 

Our day started early and we quickly packed our items we needed for the day and headed to the Mardi Gras Dinning room for breakfast. We had pulled into Grand Cayman about 7:00 and we could see the ship maneuvering into position while we ate. We were excited about today, but also feared this “Tendering” that I have read so many horror stories about. Of course I had to be on land at 8:00 Island time for my excursion I booked on-line, which was 1 hour behind ships time. But this was my first time tendering and I did not know what to do. I saw Stephanie our Cruise Director and asked her when I could board the Tender because I had an 8:00 excursion that was not booked through Carnival. It was easier then anything I could had ever imagined. In all the seminars and boards they preach if you booked an excursion you get preferential treatment, not directly mentioning Carnival Only, but also not mentioning any other excursion either. However, she stated all I need was something that showed I had an early excursion and they would try to accommodate me. So, at 8:00 I showed up at the Fwd Tendering location and the Assistant Cruise Director stopped me, and said I could not board, they were only allowing persons boarding that had Carnival Excursions at this time. I told him Stephanie said to show my paper with my excursion information and I could board. He the stated and pointed me to the Mid Tender point, which I could board. I walked down there and I was told to hurry because they were ready to release the first tender. We boarded and was on our way to shore with out any more hassle. I had a little trouble finding the Hard Rock Café, but it was right there to my right, just a few minute walk. We got there early and stopped at the Tortuga Rum company and bought a bottle of 140 proof Rum to be delivered to the ship. (Fat Fish Adventure Review Below) While we were on Island we tried to find a place to get our passport stamped, but every time we walked into the Port Authorities Office and went up stairs, the Immigration office was closed. I was also pointed to the purple sheds on the tender dock, but no on was ever in them either. Even though the lines were long, they moved fast. I think the large boats could hold 200+ people. I think once we were on the ship, we showered and fell asleep till dinner. I think Lobster was on the Menu tonight, maybe it was yesterday and tonight was Prime Rib. Anyway we did not eat either one, we stuck with the Same ole choices. LOL! We are so predictable. The steak improved tonight, and topped it off it the Bitter and Blanc, it was tasty.

[Aeeo]

Fat Fish Adventures

 

I used Fat Fish Adventures April 11, 2011 and had a great time. We had to do the early 8:00 AM time due to the ships time in port. After tendering in we had about 1 hour of shopping in Grand Cayman . We waited at and were picked up on the street beside the Hard Rock Café (To the right of the tender docks) just a few minutes past 8:00 AM. We had a short drive to the area were the Jet Skis awaited us. The Guide, Ray explained points of interest throughout the drive and answered all of our questions presented to him. There was a short time when we arrived till when we left, as people paid, got fitted for gear, and mounted the Jet Skis. After that we were on our way. One of the Jet skis had a key problem and would not start, but was soon started with a different key. While we waited we motored out to the open water an played while we waited. The tour guide then wasted no time high tailing it across the water on his jet ski and we soon followed. It was fast paced, my girlfriend who never rode a Jet Ski had no trouble keeping up. If you are afraid of high speeds of 60+ mph on the water, catching a little air, and getting salt water in your eyes, take the boat. We toured the Mangroves before headed out to Sting Ray City . He did slow occasionally for slackers to catch up, but everyone was with in a few hundred feet from front to back. When we arrived at the point, we were told it was 5 miles out, there were about 20 other boats already there. Our tour guide quickly found his ray and brought it over. We feed it squid and each of us held her. The sting ray felt like a velvet sponge, different then the tuff rubbery skin I was expecting. As each of us had turns different rays would swim by looking for food. Before long we were back on the jet skis and headed to a place to snorkel. No big reef, just some area where there was seaweed and fish. After snorkeling we headed back at high speeds to the dock. In no time we were back on land and headed to the island’s brewery, Caybrew for samples and a changing room. After sampling some beer we were on our way back to the ship. We asked for the best place to eat and were quickly dropped off about 10-15 from the docks at the Champion House Restaurant II where we had some good, fresh Caribbean food. After eating we walked back to the tender dock.

http://www.fatfishadventures.com/index.php http://www.cib.ky/ http://www.championhouse.ky/

[Aeeo]

Day 4 – Cozumel

As for Cozumel , we had an early wakeup call from the sun and late port arrival. We were scheduled in at 11:00 but arrived a little early that day. However, we saw all the wonderful scenery from the Mardi Gras Dinning room while we had breakfast a late breakfast. We went to our room and prepared for the day and made our way to Deck 3. Every one was crowded in the elevators and stairwells so we went to the mid stairs and made it right out with out any trouble. The gangway was marked Crew only but they wave us through.

It actually became a quite eventful day for many people. There was an Ambulance on the dock taking someone off the Carnival Legend, our friends said they witnessed a moped accident, and saw the aftermath of one, a guy got arrested after jumping from the pier were the ships were docked, and a man was being loaded into a ambulance from our ship when we returned that night.

Anyway digressing back to my trip, we headed straight for the Dive Shop. I asked for a single cab, but was loaded into a van with many other people. We arrived at the Dive shop and was greeted by the owner. I was told that the Dive shop would pay for my taxi cab ride, but the driver did not like that and he had words in Spanish with the dive shop owner. Maybe the locals have a different price. (SCUBA Mau Dive review below.) The dive was great and we headed to get some food. The dive shop recommended La Mission Grill, so we caught a taxi to the restaurant. The Taxi cab drive spoke good English but he seemed concerned that we might miss our ship. It was only 6:00 and the ship did not leave for another two hours. But he continued to check his ship schedule and call phone. He dropped us off in front of the Mission Grill and said he would wait for us. I assume the fares were getting scarce and he knew if he waited he would get another $7. Well we ordered our normal tacos arranchero and enjoyed our meal. La Mission Grill Review Below) I thought the taxi cab driver left, but as soon as we were out of the restaurant he was flagging us down and took us to the port. The port area was deserted and I thought we might have miss calculated and might have to make a mad dash down the pier, but as soon as we rounded the corner Fat Tuesday was still packed with tourist. The line at the gangway was quite long, but made it aboard as they were clearing Fat Tuesdays with a blow of the ships horn. We made our way to our cabin and showered and got ready for dinner. I have noticed Carnival is slacking on the dress code in the MDR and we went in t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops and nothing was said. We were way to tired and just ate to actually care. We just showed up to have fun with our table guest. We ordered fruit and salad starters and the berry and water melon dessert and retired to our beds. There was a all night sail away party with Mexican food Buffet and Margaritas on the Lido deck, till 1:00 am but we could not do much more that day.

[Aeeo]

SCUBA Mau

I made arrangements a few weeks earlier via email and had great communications from Opal, who greeted us as we arrived at the shop just outside of the Vila Blanca. As per the email, she paid for the taxi cab ride there. Not sure what transpired between the two of them, but driver seemed to be upset at that option.

It is a small dive shop but the people are friendly and knowledgeable about everything. We filled out the necessary paperwork and Heidi was soon fitted with gear. We moved across the street for what I thought was just some checkout procedures however once they entered the water they were gone for over one hour. I was told I could have a shore dive but was never given that option. I sat on the beach area at a small bar they share with other dive shops in the area.

When they got back, I was fitted and was whisked away on fast boat to another dock where we picked up to more divers. We were told we would go out to the Purta Sur Wall and dive. My girlfriend would do the top of the wall land we would go a little deeper. We ended up hitting 90 feet. I think one guy might have hit 100 ft, but below that was nothing but 2400 ft of blue. It was a nice dive we saw sea turtles and many other marine life. The dive lasted for almost 56 minutes. I was surprised, but still had 500 PSI when I hit the surface. The current was really fast that day and we actually made it quite far down the beach and actually into another dive spot that I could not remember. We had a short surface interval and went to our next dive spot. While on the boat we had fresh pineapple, mangos, and water. Just south of the Cruise piers is paradise reef. Paradise reef is a shallow easy dive with plenty of life, I was hoping to get close enough to the cruise ships to see the bottoms of them, but even though we were again diving for around 56 minutes we went a relatively short distance and never came close to them. We were watching for very small and minute creatures this time including shrimp and sea slugs. Well the dives were over and we were in the boat and off to the docks, it was a great time with our Dive Masters.

http://scubamaucozumel.com/

[Aeeo]

La Mission Grill

 

It is strange to describe, but the Restaurant is a open air pavilion sandwich between several buildings. The people were friendly and spoke English well. We were started out with Fresh chips and salsa. The starters were excellent and soon we received our Tacos arranchero with a side of rice and beans. The only complaint is they were served on flour tortillas. I prefer the corn ones.

[Aeeo]

Day 5 – At Sea

 

Well being sunburn from scuba diving the day before did not help with anything. I was itchy all day long. But, again the day started off with breakfast in the MDR. It was the last day and we had about 3 bottles which were still one quarter full of alcohol and 1 full bottle so we started drinking right off the bat. Before we knew it was lunch time and we hit the Mongolian Wok again for the last time. I attended the future cruise presentation and was acknowledged by the presenter for a conversation I had with her the day before. After that we passed by the pizzeria and grabbed a pizza and went back to the room to watch some movies and drink. Again after our nap it was about time for dinner and we enjoyed our new friends at the table. The wait staff was slow and every table was leaving and we still had not been offered dessert. So we all got up and left. We had just a few minutes to get ready for the Comedy Club. We went down and reserved a large booth for our table and enjoyed one of the comedians. In between shows we went down to a friends cabin and invited them up. They had bought a cake for us at dinner, but the wait staff brought it after we all left, so we carried it down to the Lounge. We watched the second comedian and had buttery nipple shots and ate cake into the wee hours in the morning.

[Aeeo]

Mongolian Wok

 

We ate here everyday but I forgot to include the picture above so here it is. Also, there was chocolate fondue on the Lido deck our last sea day.

[Aeeo]

Disembarkation

 

We chose to do the self assist disembarkation, so when we woke up about 8:00 we packed. I have read many post about the delivery or lack of delivery of confiscated items, alcohol bought in ports, and alcohol bought on the ship. I was told any alcohol bought on the ship would be delivered to your room the night before disembarkation, all others would have to be picked up in the Avant Garde Lounge. It was simple, I walked in, and got my stuff and went back to my room. I packed it away and we moved to the Lido Deck for breakfast. On our way, the ship cleared Customs and they started calling decks. They started at the top and moved down two decks at a time. It was not much longer then we finished our breakfast as they called our deck. We made our way down to Deck 7 and were out of the ship and through customs before 9:30. It was then just a short wait for our hotel shuttle and we were in our car and headed to Ohio .

[Haoie]

I like your review, nice and concise.

 

How large are the tenders at Cayman [concerned about how long it'll take], and how were the crowds in general for the 2 ports?

[Aeeo]

Overall

What can I say, We had a great time! The window in the room brought in a lot of light, I was glad I booked it now for the price of an IS room. Every night I keep it open and saw many things including the Moon, Stars and other Ships. The early morning wakeup calls from the sun were also nice, we did not sleep our cruise away every morning. But we did during our afternoon or after port naps. Also, even though the food in the MDR was not up to par with our previous cruises, the friends we made at the table and the wait staff pulled through with a great attitude. The best food was at the Mongolian Wok and the desserts.

Overall I found four great desserts, including the Warm melting Cake, the Chocolate Carrie (A three layered chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting between the layers topped in dark chocolate icing), the Bitter and Blanc, and last but not least the Grand Mariner Soufflé.

I would not mind doing this cruise or itinerary over again.