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Inspiration 5 day cruise review

CruiserJul

By CruiserJul,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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I will do this in steps as I can't type all I want to say at one time!

 

DH & I sailed without the kiddos this time so I won't review any camp carnival activities.

 

We flew into Tampa the day before, rented a car from Thrifty and visited my aunt and uncle in Venice the night before. We stopped at John's Pass boardwalk on the way down - a neat place with shops and restaurants. Weather was nice and warm.

 

Sunday we woke to clouds and eventually rain :( and it was in the low 60's. Left for the port around 9:00 and stopped at the Hard Rock Casino on the way to the airport (Don't stop here - lost $30 really fast!) Thrifty has a free shuttle to the port so hopped on board with 3 other couples from Ohio! (Kept seeing these people all week). Got to the port around 11:30 and a line was forming outside (under a roof at least). The line moved quickly and we were on board in no time! Headed up to lido deck to get some mushroom goat cheese pizza (yum) & DH got reuben from the deli. They let us into our rooms around 1:45, so we dropped off our carryons. The cabin looked nice and new - we had OV on Empress deck. That was very convenient. There was plenty of room to store clothes since there were 2 closets , drawers and room under the bed to store luggage. They provided 2 robes and 2 beach towels. There was no hairdryer. I did not need an extension cord as I used the outlet by the vanity to do my hair.

 

When we got our luggage I noticed 1 of our suitcases was wet outside and it had leaked onto one of my skirts. I went to guest services and they said to put the skirt in the laundry bag in our cabin and give it to our steward and it would be cleaned for free. Our steward did come shortly thereafter to collect the bag and said I could throw other clothes in the bag to be cleaned for free also. Cool! Everything was returned cleaned the next day and I got a follow up phone call a few days later to make sure everything turned out ok.

 

We proceeded to the muster drill which was in a lounge and relatively painless. (DH even fell asleep):o Then we headed up to the Lido for the sailaway party. The weather started to improve as we headed out to sea.

 

We had the 6:00 dinner seating and were in the Carnivale dining room (yes, George the Greek was our Maitre d'). We met our tablemates and our waiter, Boris. Dinner was the highlight of our trip. The food was so good! And Boris was great also. I had tilapia the first night. I never had fish that tasted so good! We brought 2 bottles of wine on board and I brought 1 to the dining room that night. They did charge us the $10 corkage fee, but kept my wine for me until the 3rd night when I finished it.

 

Later we went to the free liquor tasting and visited the casino, where I played roulette for about a half hour and walked away with my original $20. We attended the Welcome Aboard Show that evening. I think they have a very talented group of singers/dancers - especially being able to dance with the ship rocking.

 

I think that's it for the 1st day. I'll continue with 2nd day in another post.

One thing I noticed was that there was a good mix of ages on this ship - not all spring breakers. There were senior citizens, families, couples and college kids.

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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Day 2 - Sea Day

 

The weather greatly improved after we left Tampa. After a good night's sleep on the comfy bed and pillows we proceeded up to the Lido for a breakfast of fruit before we headed to the gym. I'd recommend going to the gym in the pm. The am was very busy! We managed to find a machine but it was a weird experience to be on the step machine when the ship rocks. The spa/gym is on the top deck so you really feel the movement. You could forget going up to the track that day - the wind would knock you over!

 

After that we went to the pool and saw the chair hogs at work. After an hour I say move their towels to the ground and let someone else sit there! Some people never did show up :(. We met a nice family from Ohio while there. We got our lunch and brought it back to the chairs to eat it. I love their salad bar. DH loves the burgers and I discovered the homemade nachos :p. With a little chili and cheese - heaven!

 

I entered the slot tournament and got to be a finalist! The winner gets $500. I didn't win but got some casino goodies including a nice t-shirt.

 

Captain's party was that evening so we dressed up (as most everyone else did) and got our complimentary wine, champagne and whiskey sours. DH searched for a bar, since he doesn't care for those drinks, but there was none to be found in this lounge.

 

Dinner was wonderful, of course. DH could not decide among lobster or prime rib so Boris brought him both! For the record - he liked the lobster better:rolleyes:. I don't care for either so I had the grouper. It was excellent. I must add that their soups are also excellent. One night, as a starter, they offered stuffed mushrooms with cheese - get this if you like mushrooms!!!

 

I don't eat dessert too often - I had cappucino - but DH loved the chocolate melting cake.

 

We went to SHOUT and later went to the piano bar with "Barry". He was a riot! Finally turned in around 12:30.

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momofC&C

momofC&C

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Thanks for the review! We will be on her again in June ;). This time we are going to have four of us in one room :confused: hope we all fit!

 

We too are considering this. When I first deciding we were looking at 2 connecting Ocean View rooms, but then I start thinking about how the money for the second room could be used for excursions and such. Hmm.......not sure what to do.

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GaNavy

GaNavy

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I'm enjoying your review! I was on Inspiration just a few weeks after the Evolutions of Fun and posted a review on the Member Review page - had a great time, there was a group of several hundred salsa dancers on board and although some of them were unbelievable snobs, most of them including the group leaders were lots of fun (I met many because 4 of the group were my dinner mates), and their presence made the trip especially festive.

 

For those of you about to cruise this ship, you'll love the water slide, and the Serenity area is one of my favorite spots of any ship I've cruised on. The EoF upgrades have given this ship new life.

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WAcruisers

WAcruisers

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We too are considering this. When I first deciding we were looking at 2 connecting Ocean View rooms, but then I start thinking about how the money for the second room could be used for excursions and such. Hmm.......not sure what to do.

We did this same ship same ports last year and we paid $300 less for the first two people than we are this year. I have been watching the price and it keeps going up. I was going to book two rooms but we are never in the room but to sleep and shower. I will be the only female in a cabin with three males :eek:

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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Did you go on the water slide?

 

No - we never made it over to that part of the ship. Since the water was a little cool for my taste, I really had no desire to do the slide. I'm sure if my kids were with me I would have been talked into it.:D

 

Glad everyone is enjoying my review so far - I will post more later tonight.

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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After a breakfast of tater tots and eggs, we headed down to catch the tender to Grand Cayman. We did not have an excursion planned so we waited a while before getting off the ship. The process went very smoothly and we noticed there were 3 other boats docked that day. We got a cab/van for $4 pp to 7 mile beach. Geez - can they squeeze any more people into the van? I think there was a spare 6-8 inches - somebody might fit:D. It reminded me of watching a fraternity "bug stuff".

Anyway, we got to Royal Palms safe and sound. We decided to go here because I knew they rented chairs, had restrooms, etc.

 

It was a beautiful sandy beach! We rented chairs for $6/ea. DH rented a jet ski for 1/2 hr and I walked up and down the beach. There was not enough time here since we had to tender back at 2:00. There was a restaurant there and attentive cocktail servers but we did not purchase anything.

 

We got back on board around 2:00 and had lunch on the lido deck. After that we got ourselves a drink and headed out to the serenity deck - which was crowded & hot. After spending some time in the super hot tub, we found some chairs in the shade. Very comfy. The hot tubs on the ship are very hot! It's best to go in them in the evening, when it's a little cooler on deck.

 

We got ready for the past guest party which was held before dinner. Again, we had the same offerings of free drinks, plus a couple of different appetizers (one of which was salmon, which is offered many times in different forms on this ship). Too bad we don't like it.

 

For dinner I had the chicken in a mushroom cream sauce over linguini noodles. How do they make chicken taste so good? It was excellent. I never had room for dessert, just cappucino, but DH got choc. melting cake.

 

The Variety Show was this evening with an illusionist and comedian. I liked the comedian. After being on several cruises, the shows are the same but at least the comedian has different material.

 

We went to the piano bar but Barry wasn't there - so we went to the casino. The 2 cent machines pay out pretty often, but you have to play 9 credits min. so it's really a 18 cent machine. I played these all week on $20, then finally lost it on the last night. Easy come, easy go.:rolleyes:

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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Slept in then headed to the lido deck to the omelet station. I love this place. You get a choice of ham, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers and onions. Then they have warming pans with bacon, sausage and hash browns to go with your omelet. The hash browns are not so good though.

 

We walked around the track and it was very pleasant. Warm but not windy. Then we walked downstairs to see the ship pull into Coz. We pulled up next to the Valor - I thought our ship was big! We got in the long line to the gangway. Finally got off the ship and walked around the shopping area in search of a pay phone to call Grandma and the kids. $36 for 3 minutes:eek:!

 

Got a cab and for $10 we set out for Playa Uvas. We booked this on the internet. For $29pp you get 2 chairs, an umbrella on a nice little beach (rocky) a little pool, changing rooms/showers/bathrooms, a lunch of fajitas or fish and an open bar. Also incuded was snorkeling or a clear kayak tour. We opted for the kayaks. It was a pretty good deal.

 

Wow - eating fresh mexican food, drinking margaritas next to the beach on a beautiful day - life doesn't get any better!!

 

The only dissapointment here was the kayak "tour". We had to wait about 2 hours after we got there for the next kayak tour to go out and they withheld alcohol and our lunch until after we were back. I was starving!

So finally we get our life vests and a little talk about how to paddle, turn, etc and we're off to our kayaks. DH & I get in ours and try to wait around for everyone else, the tour guide being last in. However, the wind was determined to carry us out to sea. It was very windy that day! Not good! We hardly had time to see the fish and coral thru the boat, we were too busy trying to get closer to shore! One boat capsized and a couple others needed to be towed in. It was very stressful. I needed a margarita after that!:p

 

Later we got massages - $1/minute, minimum 20 minutes I think. We had 25 minute massages and needed every minute. My back was sore the next day from paddling.

 

We stayed until 6:00 & were the only ones there for the last hour. We went back into town and shopped for souvenirs. You can get cheap t-shirts around there. Got back on the boat around 7 and since we missed our dinner seating we went up to the sushi bar. They offer 4 kinds every day and make it while you wait. Sake is also available for purchase. We enjoyed the different kinds of sushi (except the salmon one of course) and it was just the right amount of food - since I was saving myself for the mexican buffet at 11:30 that night!

 

After we got cleaned up we headed to the photo gallery and purchased our formal night and embarkation photos. That's another thing I love about cruising - the photo ops. I think we went to the casino again. I know we decided not to go to the Talent Show that evening. Eventually we headed up to the Lido deck for the Mexican party. The food was delicious (there's that salmon again ;))

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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Boo - our last day on board:(.

 

Had a very fresh bagel for breakfast today and DH had pizza (hey, it's 24 hrs!:rolleyes:)

 

Did some on board shopping. I got an evening bag at the $10 store, and perfume at the duty free store. T-shirts are cheap this day too, so we bought a couple.

 

We headed to the pool for a while until it was time for bingo and the free cruise raffle. We didn't win, but it was fun. The guy that won the free cruise didn't look all the excited:confused:.

 

Had our last dinner in the dining room. This time I ordered the flat iron steak - not bad, but not as good as the fish and chicken dishes I had. They gave out the choc. melting cake recipe. I will not be making it - it's practically all butter and sugar:eek:! Again, I ordered cappucino, but Boris insisted I have a small slice of baked alaska. Whatever - I've had it before and it's not that great.

 

We did partake of the 24 hour frozen yogurt & ice cream machines quite often this trip, although 1/2 the time someone was working on one of them.

 

We went to Fiesta Latina and the R rated comedian later that evening. He was pretty funny - I couldn't believe some people brought their 15 and 16 year olds to the show!! I bet they were sorry after he made fun of them and told some pretty dirty jokes!

 

We went to th casino for one last time to lose the last of our money, then headed up to pack. We hit the serenity deck one last time for the hot tub until we were kicked out at 10:00.

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CruiserJul

CruiserJul

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We chose to do self assist since our flight back wasn't until 2:15. UsAir changed it on us and never bothered to call or e-mail us. I just happened to check our reservations about a month before the cruise online and it said to call them because there was a change. They did this to us once before too but we didn't find out until we got to the airport that our flight had left already:(.

 

About 9:00 there was a line forming down our hall (Empress is where you get off the ship) so we got in line and were off the ship by 9:30.

 

This may be useful info for some people - there is an airport shuttle next to the terminal and they will keep your luggage for you for $7 until 4:00pm, if you want to do some sightseeing in Tampa before your flight. They charge $20 for a taxi to the airport. They also sell discount tickets for the aquarium across the street, which is where we were headed! It's a nice aquarium and they have penguins! (My DS loves penguins - so he was jealous). They had 2 african penguins come out and do a meet and greet with the audience. They do this 2x a day. Very cool.

 

All in all, we had a great trip- only complaints were that people were walking/running down our hallway and talking loudly at night or early morning. You can hear everything! It's not very soundproof. Also, the bathrooms by the pool leave a lot to be desired!

 

I really miss the great dinners and the nice weather!

 

Hope you all enjoyed reading this - if you have any questions I will try to answer them.

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Scottohiocpa

Scottohiocpa

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Cruiserjul did a great job of writing about our trip.

 

 

I DID go down the waterslide....and it was really fun. The wait time was about 5 minutes.

 

The first night I couldn't decide between the baby back ribs or the pork chop, so Boris brought both! The baby backs were as good as Damon's and the pork chop was good too. The second night I had the lobster with shrimp AND the prime rib. The lobster was PERFECT, though a bit small, and the shrimp that accompanied it were excellent also. The first bite of my prime rib was a bit dry, but then I tried a bite from the other side, and it was not dry. It was very good, and I ended up eating about 3/4 of the steak. The third night I ordered the sweet and sour shrimp. They were very good, but the portion was really small. That was ok though since it left more room for dessert. As Cruserjul noted, I had the Chocolate melting cake 2x during the cruise and was every bit as good as they say it is.

 

The cheeseburgers at lunchtime were made fresh as you went through the line and were way better than those heatlamped cafeteria burgers they used to serve.

 

We had sushi on 3 of the days and if you go right at 5:00 when they open, the line is about 20 minutes long since some people opt to eat an entire plateful as thier dinner. If you go later in the evening, the line is much shorter.

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blessedwith12

blessedwith12

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I was glad to hear you both had a good time. Sorry we never ran into each other on the cruise. We had a fantastic time,too, and I wanted to write a review - still might - but first I am working on my pictures! The Inspiration was great - and I am looking forward to returning to Tampa in November for a trip on the Legend.

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