Carnival Inspiration - March 18 2019 Review

[Sudilly]

This was the third Carnival for my husband and I.  We have previously sailed on the Splendor and Dream.  We were part of a group of 56 in a wedding group.

 

We were flying in on JetBlue to the  Long Beach Airport and had ordered the Carnival shuttle. We were told to go to the left when exiting baggage and that the shuttle would be waiting there.  We did not see the shuttle anywhere.  Another passenger was also looking for it.  We each called Carnival and it turned out that the shuttle had been there the entire time on the right not on the left.  The shuttle driver had a tiny paddle that none of us had seen.

[Sudilly]

EMBARKATION:

 

We ordered Faster to the Fun and had a 12:00 check-in.  We got to the terminal and dropped our bags off with the porter and quickly made it through the check-in.  We were stopped just prior to boarding and told that we needed to check-in with Guest Services.  That made me somewhat paranoid.  So we went there and were told that there had been a problem with our room (E71) and that they had to paint a spot on the ceiling.  We were given 2 free drink passes and went over to the bar across from Guest Services.  Before we received our drink orders, the rep said that our room was ready.  She directed us to our room where the sign and sail cards were waiting in the mail box.  By this time it was 11:55, so we actually got to our room before our scheduled check-in time!

 

We had an ocean-view room, before we had booked balconies so it seemed really small.  The mattress was really comfortable.  I needed a firm pillow.  The steward brought the firmest pillow that I have ever seen and it was so thick we thought it was 2 pillows in the same case.  I ended up stuffing a beach towel in the regular pillow and it worked really well.

 

We went up to Lido and met up with some of our group.  We hit up the buffet.  It was Italian themed and typical buffet.  We sat by the pool and visited our friends.  Some of the guys got burgers from Guys.  I stole some of the fries and they were the best fries ever.

 

We wanted to go in the hot tubs but they were all over-flowing with people.  The ones on the Serenity deck were also over-filled.  Some schools were on spring-break so that was part of the problem, but there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of partying.

 

After muster, we ended up on a balcony on the aft side of Lido to watch the sail away.  It overlooked Serenity deck but was very quiet.   We went to the late dinner.  I don’t remember what I ordered but it was some kind of Asian noodle dish.  I did try the alligator fritters.  There was so much dough that I really couldn't taste the alligator. And of course warm chocolate melting cake for dessert!

 

After dinner, we went to the casino for awhile and quickly lost.  We headed back to our room at about 10:15.   Big mistake.  We were just 2 doors down from the Atrium lobby and the music was so loud that our room was vibrating.  We went to Guest Services which was in the lobby and complained.  All they could do was close the firedoor.  It did not help.  Finally around 11, they shut it down.

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Sudilly

[Sudilly]

Tuesday - Catalina

 

We met up with some of our group in the main dining room for breakfast.  I had my favorite avocado toast and a side of bacon.  It was excellent.  We then took the tender to Catalina for the wedding.  We walked to Step Beach.  It was not marked so we all walked past it and had to ask around before we found it.  They hired a local minister and had a beautiful ceremony.  Next we met up at Steve’s Steakhouse for lunch.  We had to order from a limited menu because of the size of the group.  We had 4 options from which to choose.  Most of us ordered the fish and chips.  Mine was stone cold.  Also the restaurant was on the second floor and they did not have an elevator.  We then hung out for an hour or so and did a little shopping.  One member of the group, got a call from the upgrade fairy and were given the Owner’s Suite, so they arranged a surprise wedding reception.  The suite is beautiful and had a bathroom with a whirlpool tub bigger than our room!

 

[Sudilly]

After the reception, we went to dinner.  It was formal night and Carnival does not enforce the dress code at all.  There was a man in a tank top and flip flops and a woman had on fuzzy bathroom slippers that were allowed to dine.  A woman was in line with just a bikini top and sarong cover-up.  I’m not sure whether or not she was allowed in.  I had the end-cut of the prime rib and grilled shrimp for dinner.  The prime rib was the best that I have ever tasted.  I didn’t have room for the creme brûlée so had to pass on dessert.  We went to the casino and I won about $20 on slots.  We were tired and decided to go to bed.  Once again, the music was blasting.  We complained and they offered to let us switch to a lower-rated room.  It was 10:30 at night on the 2nd day of a 4 day cruise and we didn’t really feel like packing up everything to switch rooms.  So we waited the music out.

 

[Sudilly]

Wednesday - Ensenada

 

I started the day with my avocado toast and bacon.  We then walked off the ship.  I got nervous when the drug sniffing dog kept smelling my purse, but it was just my gum.  We booked the La Bufadora Adventure through Carnival.  The bus was very uncomfortable and the seats were smaller than Southwest Airlines.  We first went to a historical building that was once the first casino on Ensenada.  There were about 10 vendors in the patio.  The best thing about the spot was we were off the crowded bus for a few minutes.  We next had about a 45 minute ride to the blow hole.   We had to walk through a flea market where they sold “genuine replicas”.  You could not walk more than 2 feet without being approached by vendors.  I was given about 10 small sips of Pina coladas from different vendors.  We watched the blow hole sprout water.  After paying 75 cents to use the bathroom, you are given a few squares of toilet paper.   Anyway we went back to the flea market and had some delicious grilled shrimp and fish tacos.  I wanted a virgin Pina colada and was told it would be $12.  I said too much and walked away.  A few booths up, I got one for $5.  It was so delicious.  They carved out the pineapple and served it in that with several slices of fresh pineapple.  We walked past the stalls but nothing appealed to me.  The tour guide encouraged everybody to order tacos to eat on the bus. So on the ride back, the cramped bus was filled with people chowing down.

[Sudilly]

We got back to the ship and had a letter from Guest Services.  They reported our complaints to the music director.  They also comped us $80 for our excursion.  We hung out with friends and then went to dinner.  I ordered the veal parmesan and it was nasty.  It was cold and dry and had hardly any sauce.

 

We went to the love and marriage show.  Our newly-wed friends were one of the three couples chosen.  Orlando, the cruise director was hilarious and this was the highlight of our cruise.  I’ve never laughed so hard in my life.  One thing that was disturbing, one of the other couples when asked if a parrot was in their bedroom would repeat and they both said “Dumb *****”.  I felt so bad for the wife.

 

We wanted to go to bed but decided to kill some time until the music died so we went to the casino.  I came out about $25 ahead on slots.  We then went to our room and once again had to make the nightly walk to guest services to complain about the noise.  (We were only 2 doors down). The reps there weren’t too happy about the noise level either because they couldn’t hear the passengers.

[Sudilly]

Fun Day at Sea

 

We slept in and then went to Sea Day brunch.  We had delicious filet mignon and eggs.  We hung out for the jewelry raffle to find it was only a crappy keychain. We bought a few fashion accessories and ordered our pictures.  We went back to the casino.  I started playing some kind of Asian slot machine.  I wasn’t sure how it worked, but I walked away with $150 because I kept winning free spins.  We then went to the early comedy show.  I think it was the same material from our last cruise on the Dream.  Next was dinner.  I had the tenderloin which was really good and carrot cake.  We then went back to the casino and I won another $40 on the Asian machine.  We cashed out and returned to our nightly “private concert” in our room.  We then made our nightly report to guest services and waited for the DJ to shut it down.

 

Debarkation

 

Debarkation was very smooth.  We hung out at Lido buffet until after 9.  Then breezed through customs.  Our shuttle was waiting and we quickly made it to the airport.

[masterty]

Thank you, We will be in E79. Knowing the music in the atrium my plan of skipping ship breakfast time altogether and sleeping in should work. I will do MDR lunch for my breakfast. Our early traditional dining will be our lunch for the day and then our third meal will be the buffet around 9pm for dinner. This should work well. I will start my day at 11am and plan on staying up well past 11pm each evening. 

 

[Sudilly]

17 minutes ago, masterty said:

Thank you, We will be in E79. Knowing the music in the atrium my plan of skipping ship breakfast time altogether and sleeping in should work. I will do MDR lunch for my breakfast. Our early traditional dining will be our lunch for the day and then our third meal will be the buffet around 9pm for dinner. This should work well. I will start my day at 11am and plan on staying up well past 11pm each evening. 

 

That will be perfect for you!

[Sudilly]

A member of our group found a toddler roaming the halls at 4am.  He stayed with her until he could find a crew member.  She had wandered out while her parents were sleeping.  Luckily it worked out okay.