My Inspiration Review, with pictures, 3/19!!

[beach410]

I only have this one, didnt think to take pictures of the entire room, but its really nice space, I am used to sharing a room with our 2 boys, so without the bunks it felt plenty spacious.

 

 

also, DH thinks I am crazy, but I took a picture of the robe, I love their robes, he doesnt wear his, I love this about Carnival, the use of rooms no matter what room you are in. Sorry, its sideways.

 

 

Have to make dinner now, will post our day in Cozumel later, thanks for following along!

[RAVI360]

great review....keep it coming

[beach410]

I meant to say use of robes in the rooms, not rooms in the rooms! Difficult to come home and type when I have been at the computer all day!

[beach410]

Here is our head waiter hamming it up!

 

 

and our team together, they were awesome!!

[jimvern1966]

Your review is awesome and I am really enjoying it. We were on the Inspiration this past October (we had a girls weekend, there were 6 of us). We had a ball! Reading your post is bringing back all those great memories. Thanks

[keiann]

Thanks for the great review. We leave on Monday. My first cruise.

[alprice]

Thank you for a great review - I will be sailing her in 3 weeks!!!

[TauruSmith]

Great review! I can hardly stand the wait for June!

[beach410]

Cozumel: I cant say enough good things about Cozumel, this is probably one of my favority ports, I know I havent been to many, but there is always something you can find to do here.

 

We woke up early again, this time it was from the noise docking the ship was making, you will hear this in these port hole rooms. I am hearing impaired and even without my hearing aid, I heard it, it was loud. So, I tell DH, let go see the sunrise, we get dressed and head up to the upper decks with some coffee and hang out:

 

 

Royal Carribean pulling in:

 

 

After watching the sunrise we decided since it was still early to do a little work out, no gym this time, headed up to the track, I walked, I am not a runner, and DH ran. Washed up, had breakfast, normal fare, omlettes, bacon (which was cooked perfectly the entire cruise btw) and today they had the home fried tots, like the ones you get at Burger King, but bigger, I preferred the hash browns with onions, which they only had on the first day. Our friends met us out on the dock, we kept them waiting a bit..sorry!

 

They entertained themselves while they waited for us:

 

 

I did some research about beaches before the cruise and we were leaning on going to Nachi, but I didnt really think I would spent $100 for the two of us on food and drinks and wanted to snorkel. So I found a beach that is less crowded, no entry fee, and ala carte, they had snorkeling from the beach, kayak rentals, float rentals and a snorkeling tour by boat, Playa Palancar. Taxi cost us $29 total each way. When we got there the place was deserted, it wasnt open yet, but the peacocks were there to greet us:

 

 

They are roaming around wild, pretty cool. And lets not forget Cheech and Chong:

 

[beach410]

After awhile people started showing up, we were no longer alone on this deserted little beach. I inquired about prices, $5 to rent a float, $15 for a double kayak $10 for a single and $30 pp for the boat snorkel excursion. I rented a float, silly me, I forget my book and I am thinking, o gosh, what am I going to do all day...I didnt need to worry, the day flew by. Its snorkel time, DH didnt want to go, the water was too cold for him, around 11:30 our time, we (my friend and her DH) decide to go on that tour. It was wonderful, only my 2nd time snorkeling,but I couldnt believe how many fish and how colorful they were. After about an hour, my hands started to get numb, I was glad it was over when it was, it was cold, but I had a wonderful time and I was happy that we thought to bring our towels to wrap up in on the ride back to the beach....brrrr...

 

When we get back, we are starving!! Dos XX time!! woo hoo..and lets not forget our salsa and chips, you cant go to Mexico and not eat these:

 

My friend and I both had the Shrimp Quesidillas, wonderful! DH had Chicken Fahitas and my friends DH had a Quesidilla. The food and the service was great and the beers colc! I think our total food and drink bill came to $74, it was very reasonable, that includes 10 beers between the 4 of us.

[beach410]

This is the boat that took us out to snorkel. the guide was very nice and they were all very helpful. They took pictures, but we never got around to seeing them.

 

 

As our day neared the end, we relaxed in the hammocks:

 

sideways pix:

 

 

I found a ton of these shells

 

some more pictures, my friends DH, testing out the waterproof snorkeling bag we purchased for snorkeling and never used, so he put her camera in there and swam out to the platform to take a pix of the beach:

this is the pix he took

 

See me waving back, dont tell DH, hes in this picture..LOL

 

 

 

 

and another

 

 

After lounging and relaxing in the hammocks for bit, we reluctantly called it a day. We didnt need to worry about calling a taxi, as there were plenty waiting in the parking lot. Bye Playa Palancar, it was a wonderful day!!

 

Thats it for now folks...more to come tomorrow!

 

 

 

Yeah, and you should have seen DH's expression on his face when I was taking this picture:

 

 

 

Be back tomorrow with more..

[beach410]

This is the shell I found tons of in the water

 

Little fish I saw while on my float, there were a lot of them over the rocky areas

 

[hug71]

my first carnival cruise was on the inspiration. Who was the Maitre d in the restaurant you were in?

[hartshorne cruisers]

I just wanted to let you know I took tons of pictures of the food in the dineing room. It was displayed so nicely and now my kids love looking at all the pics of their food. We had eight in our group and if anyone got something I had not taken a picture of they knew my camera was being passed down to them, so they could take a picture of their food for me. These pictures are some of my favorites from our cruise. And YES; like you, my husband was so embarrased at first, but by the end of the cruise, he would order things from the menu (that I had not seen) and eat them, just so I could take a picture of it. I LOVE him and cruising!!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D

[beach410]

my first carnival cruise was on the inspiration. Who was the Maitre d in the restaurant you were in?

 

 

It was not George the Greek, to our disappointment, we had the late seating and we had the early, I dont remember his name, but he called him self "Supercharge....." it was a little annoying to say the least, we just tuned hime out.

[Hart10]

Great review, I'm looking forward tot he rest. Your Dh sounds just like mine.

We are thinking about about this Cruise in Feb next year and your review is wonderful. Thanks for the picture of the room. Looks nice and a lot more light out of the port holes then I thought.

 

Thanks,

[cruisingirl75]

My DH and I were on the Inspiration this past August. We were in a porthole room on the Riviera deck: R23 and loved it. We also enjoyed our cruise on this ship immensely. Now we are booked on the Glory for this Sept. and booked another porthole room #2221. Can't wait!!!!!:D

[beach410]

I have to say, you will not be disappointed, I have never been on a Carnival cruise, but to tell you the truth, I feel like the service and the food keeps getting better!!

 

Cozumel continued: Ok, so where did I leave off?, o yeah, saying bye to our wonderful day at Playa Palancar. Taxi ride back to the pier for some shopping, and what I love about this pier is that you can find stores with prices listes on their items, I love not having to haggle. Purchased 5 tshirts for $20 for the kids and grandparents who are watching our two youngest, 16 & 11. Purchased a couple of shot glasses for a buck each and some harbernara sauce, for me, love it hot! DH went back to the ship and I continued to tag along with our friends while they finished shopping. Heres some pictures of the restaurants at the pier.

 

 

O, I just found the rotate button on Shutterfly, DUH!!

 

 

My friend and I ate at this restaurant a long time ago on our first and last girls only cruise, it was for Mothers day and this is when I became addicted,theres a restaurant behind the chairs, under that white building, its nice open air. The chairs overlook the pier.

 

We headed back in, long line to get back on the ship, then back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.

[beach410]

Tonight my friend and I shared the chicken alfredo as an appetizer, it was full of mushrooms which I love, and my friend doesnt, so she didnt care for it, I really enjoyed it, the pasta was aldente!! Very well done Carnival chefs! 3 of us had the Jerk Pork, it was fantastic! My 2nd favorite entree for the week after the lobster tail of course.

 

 

For dessert, drum roll....

 

 

Grand Marnier souffle!! Yuuuuummmm!

 

After dinner we went back to our rooms to change into comfy clothes, we planned on going back out for the magic show. DH and I never made it, I was just too tired, friends said it was OK.

 

 

[MAO]

AWESOME review and FANTASTIC pics. Thank you for sharing, I can't wait for more...please tell me theres more!!

[beach410]

O, I forgot to mention, I had Sushi again and it was fantastic, I went back for 2nds the day we were in Cozumel.

 

Final Sea Day :(: We had perfect weather, but the last day the wind picked up and the waves did as well. The entire time before, I totally forgot we were on a ship, thats how calm it was. DH and I hit the gym, he had to wait again for 5 minutes for a treadmill to become available. After the gym we went to get our friends for breakfast, my friend joined us, her DH wanted to go to the gym first. We went to the DR, I try to go once on each cruise because I like the Eggs Benedict. I have read a lot of complaints, but I have always enjoyed them. They were cooked perfectly, not dried out, enough sauce on them, it was a wonderful way to start the day. We headed out to the lido to find some chairs, it was pretty chilly, no chairs around the pool, so we went up top. I had to go back to the room for a sweatshirt and pants, I have no idea how my friend managed to hang out in her bathing suit! We had the perfect spot to watch the entertainment on the lido, they had bean bag toss and then the band, then this little cuties took the stage to provide additional entertainment:

 

 

They were doing cart wheels and dancing and later joined by another two little girls. I have 3 boys, so this was especially charming to me to watch.

 

1/2 thru the day, I almost gave up with being too cold and considered heading back to the room to read, the men are MIA, so my friend and I decide to try the Serenity deck, we found two chairs and OMG, it was much warmer back there, we spent the rest of the day there and what a perfect day it ended up being!

 

As we are headed back to our room to get ready for dinner we passed through the buffet area and saw they had the seafood pasta dish there, we had checked out the menu for dinner earlier in the day and I knew it was a selection for that night. I decided I wanted to try it, so my friend and I had predinner appetizers of our own, it was very good, lots of scallops and again aldente pasta, even on the buffet, I dont know how they do that!

 

Dinner time, crab cakes to start, sorry its not to clear, my DH was probably trying to grab the camera out of my hand :D:

 

 

DH had tomatoes and mozeralla

 

 

DH and girl friend had the short ribs and they lived up to their reputation

 

[beach410]

GF's DH had

 

 

I ordered the Salmon, which I prefer with rice and lots of lemon, and I forgot to order it, and by the time it came around to dinner, I was too full to bother, but the fish was cooked perfectly.

 

 

My final dessert choclate ameretto cake and cappucino, I had one every night, I love that they dont charge for this in the DR.

 

 

After dinner we were going to go to the final R rated comedian show at 10:30. Our friends went to save us a seat, we went back to the room to change and pack to put our suitcases in the hall, I didnt want to self disembark, we had a lot of luggage, so by the time we got there the show already started. We couldnt find our friends and ended up standing way in the back. After about 10 minutes, we decided the comedian wasnt that good, so we called it a night, we were tired anyway.

[beach410]

Disembarking: Since we checked our luggage, we didnt get off the ship until about 10am. A little later then I anticipated, but it gave us time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

 

 

Pictures of the food and beverages waiting to be loaded on for the next cruise, a lot of food, pretty amazing. We saw an employee tested the fruit to make sure it was good quality, you can see him in the white in the 2nd picture.

 

 

[beach410]

Final thoughts and additional information: I bought too much liquor, 8 bottles, I was carrying them out, so I ended up having to pay extra, but it was only $16, its strange they way they figure it out, has to do with alcohol content and the cost of the liquor. We had a fantastic time, everything couldnt have been any better. We drank the wine we brought on board, GF's DH would uncork it in their room and carry it into the DR in his wine bag, remember, hes a wine salesman, and would take the bottle our and pour it into our glasses. GF and I only had wine one night, formal night, the rest of the nights, we brought a drink into the DR that we made in the room. The waiters never said anything to us about the wine the men were drinking.

 

We didnt spend a lot of time attending shows, bars, etc. We just wanted a relaxing vacation and thats exactly what we got. We ate lunch at the buffets all week and breakfast, except for that one time. The food was always hot and good. I am a foody, as you can see, I really enjoy eating. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen as many moms do, cooking and serving the family, so the Dining room experience is a huge treat for me (I also used to be a waitress for many many years,so I appreciate good service). The year before last, my new years resolution was to lose weight, I also joined a gym, I lost 46 lbs in just over a year, I gained 5.8 on this cruise, even with working out daily, but I waited all year to enjoy this and I have no regrets. I have lost those cruise lbs as of today, yeah!

 

I would have like to have spent more time in the bars, specifically the piano bar, but this years resolution was to quit smoking, amazingly, I did it, but found it quite challenging during moments of this cruise.

 

I look forward to our next extended family cruise. The children will be with their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, my side of the family. There are 16 of us total. Have never traveled with the family like this before and hoping for another great time.

 

The rum runner flasks worked perfectly. But they dont hold much. Next time I will buy the alcohol in the plastic bottles and use those for the liquor you cant buy in plastic, the small ones were perfect for carrying in our beach bags for mixing a cocktail near the pool.

 

So, all and all, it was a great time, Carnival exceeded my expectations. I hope you enjoyed my review. If you have any questions I will try to answer. Here are some more pictures:

 

Trying this one more time, because I just loved them and the earlier shot wasnt that good:

 

 

How can I forget the famous choclate melting cake, DH's favorite, too rich for me

 

 

[beach410]

 

Shhhh, dont tell DH, but these are too cute

 

 

Our funny friends!

 

 

We cant forget the first DOD!