Inspiration review – 11/27 to 12/01

[mosaic_mom]

We just got back from our 4-day cruise on Inspiration and we had a GREAT time. Sorry the pictures are so huge. (first time posting pictures) We booked this cruise as a gift to our DD who turned 21 a few days before the cruise.

 

Embarkation day – We drove to the port of Tampa since we live only about 45 minutes from there. We parked in the parking garage and paid $14 a day, which you pay up front when entering the garage. We didn't check any luggage and brought only carryon bags.

 

 

We waited in line outside the door for only about 5 minutes before they let us go inside. We put our luggage on the scanner belts and DH and DD walked on through the people scanner. Since I wear a medical device that can’t go through the scanning machine, I had to do the usual process of a pat down instead of going through the scanning machine. No problem with that. The security people were very helpful with that and very kind. I passed with flying colors. :p DD on the other hand had an issue with her carryon and they had to open it. She had a roll of quarters in her bag that set off the alert to open the bag. We finally cleared there and were sent to stand in line to wait for a person to check us in. We waited again less than 5 minutes for that. The man at the counter was very friendly and a joy to deal with. He told us to sit in a seat and wait for them to call our number to board and we were on the ship by 11:30.

 

We went up to the Lido deck and got a table by the pool and DH and DD went to a table set up by the pool to get their soda cards. We grabbed burgers and hot dogs and had a good lunch and did some people watching for a while. The food on the Lido deck was very good. They did NOT have punch to drink, but they did have lemonade and water and iced tea for cold drinks, which I thought were all very good. The pool was not open when we first boarded, but they opened it sometime before we left to go find our cabin.

 

[mosaic_mom]

We were able to get into our cabin around 1:20. We were in an OV on the main deck, cabin M118. There were 3 of us in the cabin with the 2 single beds and a cot for DD. We didn’t feel cramped in the cabin. It was a good setup for 3 adults. There were a lot of kids on this cruise – something like over 600 some – and they did run up and down the hallway, but not very often and they never did bother us. Seemed like a good bunch of kids on this cruise.

 

I had used my 45-day letter to order birthday decorations for the room as a surprise for DD and they were there waiting for us when we got to the cabin. The decorations were really nice. Not only were they hanging from the ceiling, but there was a little “tree” decoration on the desk with a note on it about the decorations.

 

 

[mosaic_mom]

The muster drill happened around 3:30 and was very easy. We had to meet up on the Promenade deck and it didn’t take long at all. The life vests looked brand new and were very clean.

 

Once we were out into Tampa Bay, we decided to walk around the ship and explore. The Inspiration is just beautiful. It was all decorated for Christmas, which made it even more beautiful. The entire ship is very clean and well taken care of. The only wear and tear we saw was in the elevators where often it was hard to read the name and numbers of the floors on the buttons.

 

[mosaic_mom]

Before we left home, we struggled with whether to go to the dining room the first night (we had early seating) or to watch the ship sail under the Skyway Bridge. Eventually, the bridge won and we ate at the Lido deck buffet. We watched the ship sail under the Skyway Bridge from the deck by the smoke stack. There were a lot of people up on deck and when the first part of the ship started to go under the bridge, people started cheering and clapping. Watching the funnel seemingly barely pass under the bridge is a site to not miss. The bridge was all lit up too because it was dark by the time we got that far (and very cold). It was around 6:15 when Inspiration passed under the Skyway Bridge.

 

 

 

We walked around the ship for a while more and took in all the sites. DD went to check out the jewelry sale and the T-shirts. We went to the casino and made our donation for the evening. I made my donation faster than DD and DH did, so I wandered out by the Violins Bar and listened to “Great Tunes with Justin Tyme” and he was very good. We did go to the Welcome Aboard show with Risa, which was very good, and stayed for the comedian Kenny Miller afterwards. I didn’t care for the comedian that night though. We enjoy seeing the shows every night while on a cruise. By this point, we were exhausted and decided to return to our cabin and go to bed. That bed felt so good and we were asleep in no time.

[mosaic_mom]

Day 2 – Day at Sea

 

I am accustomed to getting up around 5 am every day and today was no different. DH and I went up to the back end of the Lido deck to sit in the quiet and watch for sunrise, which was beautiful. We went down one deck to the Serenity deck and it was a wonderful spot to sit. It was so quiet back there and the background music was so peaceful and relaxing.

 

 

 

[heathercruisin]

I'm sailing on her on Dec 11th, and am really enjoying your review - I need more!

 

Heather

[mosaic_mom]

We decided to meet DD in the Mardi Gras dining room for breakfast and the food was exceptional. The weather was starting to warm up nicely now, which was a good thing. We spent most of the morning exploring the ship and made our way to the casino eventually. DD said she had a feeling about this one slot machine and said I should play it. Thinking she was insane and that I would play it just because it was her birthday cruise, I decided to play. With the second spin of the machine, I won. WOW. Guess she wasn’t so insane after all.

 

That morning, we met our cabin steward Rudolpho or “Rudy” as he liked to be called. He was a very nice guy and always kept our room looking great. He kept our ice bucket full and always brought us 3 Capers each night. It was so nice to be called by our first names too each time he saw us.

 

We went to the Travel and Adventure talk in the Paris lounge. This was given by Risa, the cruise director. It really was a good and informative talk. We really enjoyed it. We aren’t big shoppers on the islands and we like to know about the excursions and about the islands themselves, so this was more our type of talk. I was able to talk with Risa after the talk for a little while, and she is truly a very special person. Very sweet lady.

 

NOTE TO MACH... if you are reading this, Risa said hello and that she will be enjoying a vacation and time off until February when she will be moving to the Fantasy just in time for the Blogger’s cruise. She will see you then.

 

DD found the airbrush tattoo artist onboard near the pool area. So, not thinking, she gets this huge dragon tattoo on her arm. That would have been okay any other time, but right before dinner on Elegant Night? Hmmm. Oh well. The tattoo artist did a really good job.

 

 

 

This was Elegant Night, so we got all cleaned up and put on our fancy clothes and went to dinner in the Carnivale dining room. Everyone was dressed so nice. We didn’t see any jeans in the dining room that night at all. We were so very fortunate to have George the Greek as our Maître’d. He is so lively and fun and made dinner even more special in the dining room. We were impressed that he came to each and every table to speak to people. The entertainment and the food were wonderful. We had the steak and lobster tails and both were delicious. The lobster was cooked just right for me, as was the steak. Our waiter, Waian, and his helper, Rolando, were very good. We went to the show that night in the Paris lounge and saw “Shout”. This was a fantastic show. We did some more exploring of the ship before heading off to bed to get rested up for a day in Cozumel tomorrow.

[mosaic_mom]

Day 3 – Cozumel

 

We decided to get up very early and try and watch the ship pull into Cozumel. It was very cold up on the Sun Deck at that time of the morning and it was still dark. By the time we pulled into port, the sun was up and the weather was starting to warm. We went down to the Lido deck and had a nice breakfast. We were fortunate enough to find a table on the outside deck while we were docking at the Puerto Maya pier. We docked at the Puerto Maya pier next to an RCCL ship, possibly Navigator of the Seas. Can’t remember for sure. It seemed like the ship was cleared very fast and the all clear was given for people to disembark and go ashore.

 

We booked an excursion that didn’t leave until 9 am, so we took our time in getting off the ship. Once we got off the ship, we noticed how nice the newly rebuilt pier is. But for a disabled person like me with leg and back problems, that is a VERY LONG pier to walk. I was able to stop several times before we got to the end, but I did make it to the end. The pier area is really nice. There are a lot of different shops there and a beautiful fountain. We met our group at the end of the pier and the guide told us it was another long walk to the bus. So DH convinced her to tell us where the bus was so we could start walking ahead of them. We made it over to the bus and waited for the group to catch up.

 

 

[mosaic_mom]

We booked the Cozumel Highlights and Shopping excursion and I must say that this was one of the best Carnival excursions I have been on. We have done excursions both with Carnival and on our own in the past, but this was one of the best Carnival ones we did. We rode on an air-conditioned bus and they took us on a tour all the way around the island. The tour guide, Margarita, was very informative and had a wonderful personality. She made the tour so nice. We were thinking it would be a tour like we took in Antigua one time where they just drove by and pointed at things and told you what it was, but this was very different. She did do that on occasion, but we actually made a few stops and got off the bus for a while where she would tell us about where we were. One of our stops included the tequila factory where we were offered samples. There was over an hour of shopping at the end of the tour where they took us downtown near the museum and told us what time to meet them. We aren’t big shoppers either, but we did take a look in several shops, which were really nice. We decided to go sit by the water for a while and relax until it was time to meet our tour bus. DH can’t sit still and decided to walk down the block a bit, leaving DD and me sitting there by ourselves. While we were there, a man who had been selling things across the street came over to chat with us for a while and was a very nice man. He told us a lot about the island and their lives there and we found it to be very interesting.

 

After the tour, we just had to go to a few shops by the pier since DD had her eye on a few as we left the area to go on our tour. The shops were nice and very clean. While the vendors did ask you to come in and buy stuff, we never got the feeling of them being overly pushy or irritating. We enjoyed the port area very much. I eventually prepared myself for the long walk back to the ship and we headed back that way. We noticed that the Destiny had pulled up alongside of us while we were on shore. I hadn’t seen the Destiny before and was impressed by her size.

 

 

 

 

 

[mosaic_mom]

Back onboard, we rested for a while and walked around and eventually went to dinner in the dining room again. We had another wonderful dinner, after which we went to the casino for a while. Later that evening, we went to the show. It was a magician/illusionist and we thought he was good. We enjoyed the show. After he was finished, the comedian Roman had a short show. We thought he was much better than the one the first night. We really enjoyed his show. We walked back to get DH his nightly piece of pizza from the Lido deck before relaxing at the back of the Lido deck outside before calling it a night. I would have loved to have gone to the Mexican buffet that night, but that type of food just does not like me that late at night. We were exhausted after a full and fun day and were soon off to bed.

 

Day 4 – Sea Day

 

DH and I got up early again, leaving DD to sleep late. We watched the sunrise and sat out on the Serenity deck for quite a while enjoying the water and the quiet. We got breakfast at the Lido buffet and enjoyed another delicious meal. DD was finally up and found us wandering the ship. We returned to our room just before noon, just in time for a knock at the door for a cake delivery from Formalities – a birthday cake for DD.

 

 

 

Actually, the whole cake issue was the only bad part of our cruise. The day we got onboard, I went to Formalities to order the small cake (great price $7.95 and VERY yummy) and asked it be delivered on Saturday to the dining room at dinner so we could share it with our tablemates. That never happened. So Saturday night I went to Formalities and they said I scheduled it for Sunday, but having the receipt in my hand with Saturday written on it in their handwriting proved that wrong. So it was rearranged for us to receive the cake in our cabin on Sunday around noon, which did happen.

 

There were storms in the area all day and the seas were really rough. Made it a little difficult to walk, but it wasn’t really too awful. Didn’t see anyone sick from it and no bags were hung by the elevators.

[mosaic_mom]

We did the Galley tour around 4 pm and it was really a nice tour. I would recommend anyone taking it if you can. George the Greek narrated it in the Mardi Gras dining room before we headed on into the kitchen. It was nice, but I think it would be nice if Carnival would station people every so often in the kitchen to tell us what we were looking at instead of us just walking through. That didn’t really take away from the tour, but it may be a nice enhancement. We really enjoyed it. Plus we bought a cookbook after the tour, which was signed by George the Greek.

 

 

 

 

 

We went to see the show that night, Fiesta Latina. It was a wonderful show. We loved the costumes and the dancers and singers are so very talented. Although all the shows onboard were very good, this was our favorite. Later that evening, we went to see the adult comedy show by comedian Roman in the Candlelight lounge. He is so funny and we really enjoyed the show. Afterwards, we returned to our cabin to pack and relax. Couldn’t believe the cruise was almost over.

[mosaic_mom]

Debarkation Day

 

We got up earlier than usual, hoping to see us come in under the Skyway Bridge again. We missed it by only about 15 minutes, but it was a pretty site in the dark. It was way too early for the buffet to be open, so we sat on deck and watched us come into Tampa Bay. It was cold again. With passing through a cold front yesterday, the ship was rocking all night long. It seemed a little calmer this morning. We eventually got some breakfast and watched the Inspiration pull up to the dock in Tampa.

 

We chose self-assist debarkation since we only had carryon bags. Non-US citizens were told to go to a lounge at 6:30 am for customs clearance, but they were still calling some of those names past 8:00 am and telling them that the ship would not be cleared until they showed up. Once that last person’s name was called, it wasn’t long before we were cleared to debark. We made it up to the Empress Deck with a little wait at the elevators and on the Empress Deck, but once that cleared out, it was quick and easy going through customs and getting out of the terminal. Tampa is such a nice port to sail out of.

 

Final Thoughts – The ship, beautiful. The staff, excellent and pleasant. The food, very good. The shows, wonderful. The serenity deck, awesome and peaceful. :)

 

 

We had a GREAT time. Inspiration is a beautiful ship and we would love to sail on her again. Risa Barnes is a wonderful cruise director too. We were spoiled rotten and pampered as usually while on the Inspiration. I am hoping to talk DH into a B2B on Inspiration some time since we live so close. DD had a fantastic birthday too.

 

I will be glad to answer questions if you have them, although we have no small children for Camp Carnival and didn’t use the spa. We did order room service twice and both times they were very prompt and the food was very good.

[mosaic_mom]

I'm sailing on her on Dec 11th, and am really enjoying your review - I need more!

 

Heather

 

 

Thanks, Heather. Let me know if I didn't cover something you have questions about.

[Ms Belvedere]

Once we got off the ship, we noticed how nice the newly rebuilt pier is. But for a disabled person like me with leg and back problems, that is a VERY LONG pier to walk. I was able to stop several times before we got to the end, but I did make it to the end. The pier area is really nice. There are a lot of different shops there and a beautiful fountain. We met our group at the end of the pier and the guide told us it was another long walk to the bus. So DH convinced her to tell us where the bus was so we could start walking ahead of them. We made it over to the bus and waited for the group to catch up.

This was our complaint with the new dock, as well. You walk all that way up the pier and then have to walk around past the shops to get to the taxis. At Punta Langosta, downtown, they have the wheeled/canopied carts available as you got off the ship. The workers would "drive" you to the end of the pier for the cost of a tip. (We tipped them well since this is their only way to be paid.) It would be a good idea to have them at the new pier, too. We had my in-laws with us on the Glory and my MIL has difficulty walking long distances. Here is a picture of the cart, on the far left side, click on the thumbnail:

[heathercruisin]

Thanks so much for your review, and wonderful pictures.

 

Questions: What time did you arrive at the Tampa port, and could you park at that time, or did you have to wait?

 

How long did the dinner process take? Did you enjoy any particular desserts?

 

Do you have any scanned in copies of the Capers? Or the 'specials' for the spa inserts?

 

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll have some more questions later.

 

Heather

[mosaic_mom]

This was our complaint with the new dock, as well. You walk all that way up the pier and then have to walk around past the shops to get to the taxis. At Punta Langosta, downtown, they have the wheeled/canopied carts available as you got off the ship. The workers would "drive" you to the end of the pier for the cost of a tip. (We tipped them well since this is their only way to be paid.) It would be a good idea to have them at the new pier, too. We had my in-laws with us on the Glory and my MIL has difficulty walking long distances. Here is a picture of the cart, on the far left side, click on the thumbnail:

 

I think the cart is a great idea. Maybe since the pier just recently opened they will eventually get carts out there.

[Ms Belvedere]

I think the cart is a great idea. Maybe since the pier just recently opened they will eventually get carts out there.

 

That could be, it would definately help since there are many people with mobility problems who would appreciate that ride. :)

 

Thanks for your great reveiw, we like to see the Inspiration when we sail out of Tampa and in port. The Serenity Area is nice!

Ms B

[mosaic_mom]

Thanks so much for your review, and wonderful pictures.

 

Questions: What time did you arrive at the Tampa port, and could you park at that time, or did you have to wait?

 

How long did the dinner process take? Did you enjoy any particular desserts?

 

Do you have any scanned in copies of the Capers? Or the 'specials' for the spa inserts?

 

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll have some more questions later.

 

Heather

 

We got to the port around 10:30 and the garage had just opened up before then. There was only one attendant at first, but we only ended up waiting about 5-10 minutes in line. Not too bad.

 

Elegant night at dinner took almost a full 2 hours, but the other nights were an hour to hour and a half. We all loved the chocolate melting cake for dessert, but I also enjoyed the cheesecake and the sherbet too. I think DH had something like black forest cake if I remember correctly. It was all wonderful. :)

 

No, I don't have scanned copies of the Capers. Sorry.

[ellenmb]

That could be, it would definately help since there are many people with mobility problems who would appreciate that ride. :)

 

Thanks for your great reveiw, we like to see the Inspiration when we sail out of Tampa and in port. The Serenity Area is nice!

Ms B

I was in Cozumel in May and they had the carts (I know because I had used up my $ by the time we were at Senor Frogs and had left our CC in the cabin so I had to leave my hub at the bar while I went back and forth for cash from the safe...the carts were a much appreciated treat (I paid $5.00 each way and the guy even waited for me) nice..

 

P/S thanks for the review...I enjoyed much!

[heathercruisin]

Thanks Nancy for the answers! Glad to see you enjoyed your cruise.

 

Heather

[riu girl]

I have read a couple very recent Inspiration reviews that stated that people are getting a small fuel surcharge (15$) given back in OBC. Was this the case on this cruise and if so how much did you receive?

 

Thank you

[SRQfireman]

what do ya know about bringing on adult beverages in your checked in luggage?? you try it? you know anybody who did? they strict on that? are you there when they scan your checked in luggage? or does that go in the back door and you don't see'em do it (which is the normal way)

[mosaic_mom]

I have read a couple very recent Inspiration reviews that stated that people are getting a small fuel surcharge (15$) given back in OBC. Was this the case on this cruise and if so how much did you receive?

 

Thank you

 

Yes, we did get $15 onboard credit. It never explained what it was for though, so we assumed it was for fuel surcharge refund.

 

~~~ The $15 was towards our S&S account and not per person.

[mosaic_mom]

what do ya know about bringing on adult beverages in your checked in luggage?? you try it? you know anybody who did? they strict on that? are you there when they scan your checked in luggage? or does that go in the back door and you don't see'em do it (which is the normal way)

 

 

Can't help ya with that. We didn't check any luggage and we rarely drink, so we never bring any adult beverages. I don't know anyone personally who has done that either. You are not there when checked baggage goes through the scanners. Once it is handed to the porter at the port, you don't see it again until it gets to your cabin.

[BooBooMonkey]

what do ya know about bringing on adult beverages in your checked in luggage?? you try it? you know anybody who did? they strict on that? are you there when they scan your checked in luggage? or does that go in the back door and you don't see'em do it (which is the normal way)

 

I am not a huge booze smuggler. We were on this same cruise as the OP and I packed a pint of vodka in bubble wrap and ziplock (to prevent spillage in case of breakage). I packed it in my large suitcase wrapped in some clothes. Dropped off the suitcase with the porter and didn't see it again until 4-5 hours later. Pint arrived unharmed...LOL.

 

There are plenty of threads on here about smuggling alcohol. You can find the info you need by using "smuggling" or "booze" or "smuggling booze" or "alcohol" in the search (provided search is working...LOL).

 

I would not bring liquor on in your carry-ons except for the allowed bottle of wine. Speaking of wine...I have brought a 3L box of wine on prior cruises (in checked luggage) with no problems.

 

Good luck! Just don't try any smuggling at all on Norwegian...I love their cruises, but man are they booze ****s!

 

Boo