I just returned from a 4 night cruise aboard Carnival Inspiration along with my husband and 2 children under the age of 8.

Embarkment at Long Beach was relatively smooth (once you figured out that the non Carnival employed porters would deliver your luggage to the ship). We were on the ship by 12:15PM to be greeted by a swampy chicken noodle type of stew prepared by Mongolie grill - did not taste anything like the stirfrys I have tried in the past at actual restaurants.

The ship itself is very dirty, I had many drink and food menus that had leftover gum or food attached to the them...many a time I almost got stuck to the guck on the elevator floors. Our cabin was OK, cabin steward Bonnie was wonderful. Gym had great, high quality work out equipment. The pools were wicked cold...they definitely need to heat them a bit. Husband nor I were able to get in, I guess kids are immune to that:) The waterslides were great for the kids; however, there was no shallow pool for kids nor accessible life jackets...my little boy is a weak swimmer; therefore, was unable to go swimming in the pool. Read more