This is the first time I have written a review, but should note that my cruise buddy & I had ten successful cruises before this one. The others since 2003 have been on a variety of ships from Holland America to Princess to Celebrity. All out of either Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, or Europe. This 5-day 4-nite cruise aboard "Inspiration" was our first Carnival cruise & our first experience out of Tampa.

We actually selected this cruise rather last minute, fully expecting that since it spanned a weekend, we might be accompanied by many partying singles. But we were ready for a mini-vacation & are pretty flexible so were happy just to have a few days at sea with just one stop in Cozumel. We booked it on-line & selected one of the few staterooms left - on the stern which we thought would be a fun location where we could watch where we had been!

Though we live on the West Coast of Florida, I think we will continue to cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale & Miami. The port terminal at Tampa though easy enough to find, did not offer a good or easy transition for bags & long-term parking. Once inside the terminal, it was cool enough & quite speedy, just didn't have a good feeling. Felt like I was being herded already! Read more