Just back from the Inspiration

[Springbreak08]

We were on the 5-day (Grand Cayman and Cozumel) cruise out of Tampa. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer anything. Just as an FYI - we like it so much that I have already book the same ship, internary for March 2009.;)

[Drew's Wife]

Yes, I do have a question! How was embarkation? Last time we booked the Inspiration, the embarkation was a nightmare, and for that reason we have not wanted to book any thing out of Tampa again. Even our VIP boarding was total chaos! Of course the time we sailed was The Inspiration's first sailing after her refurbishment last October. Just recently we decided to go ahead and book another cruise on The Inspiration with the hopes that the embarkation procedure is in order. It's so convenient to go to Tampa, but the embarkation at Port Canaveral is a breeze!:) Thanks.

[GOODIES]

how was the entertainment, i am traveling with my daughters in may was there alot of 20yr olds on the ship

[Caliber1]

Yes' date=' I do have a question! How was embarkation? Last time we booked the Inspiration, the embarkation was a nightmare, and for that reason we have not wanted to book any thing out of Tampa again. Even our VIP boarding was total chaos! Of course the time we sailed was The Inspiration's first sailing after her refurbishment last October. Just recently we decided to go ahead and book another cruise on The Inspiration with the hopes that the embarkation procedure is in order. It's so convenient to go to Tampa, but the embarkation at Port Canaveral is a breeze!:) Thanks.[/quote']

 

Drew's Wife, we sailed the Inspiration a couple of weeks ago and the Embarkation was a breeze. Our second time from Tampa and absolutely loved it. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was fresh from dry dock, dunno.

[madaamt]

I have sailed the Inspiration from tampa 2 times and Embarkation was super super easy.. We love the Inspiration

[Drew's Wife]

Oh, I am so glad to know this!!:) We might have booked it sooner! It was just so awful that day, that we just had no desire to ever go through that again!!:(

[scotts82705]

Someone has posted that there was something wrong with the boat? DO you know if that is true?

[riu girl]

Springbreak08:

 

what time did you board?

Was the pool open at your boarding time?

 

Thank you

[marktac]

Someone has posted that there was something wrong with the boat? DO you know if that is true?

 

Which boat???? There must be 40 boats on the Inspiration. :)

[Peaceful]

Just happy to know you enjoyed your trip. I am counting the minutes until Monday for my turn on the Inspiration.

[Caliber1]

Springbreak08:

 

what time did you board?

Was the pool open at your boarding time?

 

Thank you

 

We boarded at 11:30 I think, and yes the pool and water slides were open as soon as we boarded.

[Springbreak08]

Yes' date=' I do have a question! How was embarkation? Last time we booked the Inspiration, the embarkation was a nightmare, and for that reason we have not wanted to book any thing out of Tampa again. Even our VIP boarding was total chaos! Of course the time we sailed was The Inspiration's first sailing after her refurbishment last October. Just recently we decided to go ahead and book another cruise on The Inspiration with the hopes that the embarkation procedure is in order. It's so convenient to go to Tampa, but the embarkation at Port Canaveral is a breeze!:) Thanks.[/quote']

 

Embarkation for us was a breeze. We took a shuttle from Blue-One from our hotel (arrived in Tampa the night before) and got there about 10:45. We waited in line to get into the door for about 10 minutes. We went straight to the check-in area (where they look at birth certificates, passports, etc.), was given a Group 1 number and were on board by 11:45 a.m. I did notice a much longer line at the passport place as we were waiting for our group number to be called but it seemed to be moving fairly fast. Our longest wait time was the time between checking passports/birth certificates and being called to get our pictures taken before boarding the ship. And I think that was more because we were there so early. . .but we enjoyed people watching and checking out who was going to be cruising with us.

[princeryanandevan]

We were on the 5-day (Grand Cayman and Cozumel) cruise out of Tampa. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer anything. Just as an FYI - we like it so much that I have already book the same ship, internary for March 2009.;)

 

Hi there - will you be posting a full review on the Cruise Critic Page? These boards and reviews have been so helpful. We are cruising in November and I have a few questions: Did you do any excursions in Cozumel? How was the tender process in Grand Cayman - we are cruising with my 74 year old Mom and I'm a little concerned about the tender. Last question - did you miss dinner so you could see the Ship pass under the Sunshine Bridge?

 

Thanks for all your help!!

Barbara

[Springbreak08]

We boarded at 11:30 I think, and yes the pool and water slides were open as soon as we boarded.

 

Yes, pool and water slides were open. And we boarded about the same time. Not many people in the pool. . .mainly kids (and yes, a few of the kids belonged to me).

[linda8892]

Please can any passengers that just returned to Tampa

today (4/3) on the Inspiration advise if they had to skip the stop in Grand Cayman due to a medical evacuation or a propulsion problem with the ship? There is another thread for the Inspiration with several posts regarding these issues...

 

Thanks

[TonyinFla]

I just got off of the ship. It blew a motor and operated with one motor. It moved slow, and we did not have time for Grand Cayman. It was not fixed this morning.

 

It was a GREAT TRIP!!!! The ship is great, staff is incredible, and I don't like Grand Cayman anyways.

[Springbreak08]

Hi there - will you be posting a full review on the Cruise Critic Page? These boards and reviews have been so helpful. We are cruising in November and I have a few questions: Did you do any excursions in Cozumel? How was the tender process in Grand Cayman - we are cruising with my 74 year old Mom and I'm a little concerned about the tender. Last question - did you miss dinner so you could see the Ship pass under the Sunshine Bridge?

 

Thanks for all your help!!

Barbara

 

Yes, I am planning on doing a full review. . .but in answer to your questions -

In Cozumel, I booked an excursion (not through the ship) to swim with the dolphins at Dolphin Discovery in Chanakaab Park. It was awesome and much cheaper than doing it through Carnival. After we did the dolphin swim, we had time to snorkel at the same park - it was awesome, too. If (and when) we go back to Cozumel, we are planning on going back to the same park because we didn't feel like we had enough time to do everything there. If you just go on your own (and there are all kinds of taxi's willing to take you for $10-15), then you just have to pay to get into the park. I think it is around $16 but you can print off a $2 discount on the park's website. I can't locate the website right now but I am sure if someone else is reading this, they may be able to find it.

The tender process in Grand Cayman was OK. If you booked an excursion with the ship, you got in one line for a boat. If you didn't, you got on another boat. The boat with the Carnival excursion people took off sooner than ours but I am sure it is because it filled up faster. I had booked a stingray excursion through Moby Dick Tours. Unfortunately, the sandbar was closed that day because of high winds. So, there were NO excursions that day - private or ship! The line to get back on the boat in Grand Cayman was LONG, LONG, LONG! and it was HOT, HOT, HOT! Granted, we chose to get back on board as late as possible so that may have had something to do with it. But we weren't the only ones. The line behind us just kept growing! Is your mother able to go up and down stairs? To get on the tender, you just walk down a few stairs and onto the boat. There are men there to help you cross from the ship to the boat.

As far as going under the bridge, we had a 6:15 dinner seating. We thought about missing it but decided that dinner was more important. We did watch from the window in the dining room. I am sure it was not as exciting but nonetheless, the food was AWESOME!

Any other questions? I would be happy to answer them!

[linda8892]

Yes, pool and water slides were open. And we boarded about the same time. Not many people in the pool. . .mainly kids (and yes, a few of the kids belonged to me).

 

 

Springbreak08,

 

You were not on the Inspiration cruise that arrived back in Tampa today (4/3) were you? You mentioned the stop in Grand Cayman and I understand that the sailing that returned today had engine problems as stated by

TonyinFla.

[linda8892]

I just got off of the ship. It blew a motor and operated with one motor. It moved slow, and we did not have time for Grand Cayman. It was not fixed this morning.

 

It was a GREAT TRIP!!!! The ship is great, staff is incredible, and I don't like Grand Cayman anyways.

 

Thanks for the info...Carnival keeps telling callers that it was due to a medical emergency that you missed the call in Grand Cayman and that there is no mechanical problem???? There is another thread on these boards entitled "Inspiration Propulsion Problems" with postings from some who were also on this cruise.

[Springbreak08]

Springbreak08,

 

You were not on the Inspiration cruise that arrived back in Tampa today (4/3) were you? You mentioned the stop in Grand Cayman and I understand that the sailing that returned today had engine problems as stated by

TonyinFla.

 

no - we arrived back into port on 3/29. . .i heard there was a problem. it most have been on the sailing that left the day we returned.:eek:

[Victrola]

There are lots of rumors about what happened to the Inspiration and I am the last to pass myself off as an expert. But I can tell you what we saw and heard first hand. A male passenger was removed from the ship to a coast guard craft, he appeared to be in good shape and was being restrained by coast guard staff and was cusing like crazy and appeared to be drunk and combative.

During that time we had a power failure that lasted only a few seconds and the water on the ship went down for a few minutes. I was told a water seal had failed and water made contact with a generator on the propulsion system. Water and electric current don't mix well. If we had been under way and at full power we could have had more damage and the engine could have suffered fatal damage since we were at dead still we suffered only minor damage. The ships crew was able to get the engine to work at about 50 % and more techs were brought on board in Mexico. So we had a nice slow ride across the Gulf of Mexico and they didnt charge us extra for the smooth ride. Anything made by humans and used by humans can break down and I am glad we were not under power when this occured.

I am also pleased to have made new cc friends on this cruise and it was wonderful to meet all you folks.

Lets do it again next year!!!!

[scotts82705]

Do you think it is fixed now?? I get worried cause that happend to me on the celebration last august. Had a shorter cruise.