This is our second cruise on the Carnival Inspiration, but this time we took family and friends for a total party of 10. Eight of us occupied four 1A cabins on upper deck and two had a penthouse suite, also on upper deck.
We originally booked this cruise on the Fantasy but they canceled it do to an extended dry dock. We were able to keep our same rates and book the Inspiration, even on a holiday weekend (meaning fewer missed school days). We also were refunded part of the gas surcharge b/c we originally booked the Fantasy before Carnival started charging for gas. Total price per person w/all taxes and surcharges? $310...$62/night! We were also refunded $25/person for port fees for Key West, so I guess technically it worked out to $57/night.
Embarkation: SLOW! My MIL and FIL were directed to VIP checkin. Most of our party had not completed the online funpass, and one person was a last minute sub so we had a lot of paperwork to complete. It was extremely time consuming but our "checker inner" was very patient and sweet. DH has a fuse like a ticking time bomb so it took several hours afterwards to get him calmed down. All in all it took close to 40 minutes to check the 8 of us in. And we still had to "rearrange" our room assignments which meant waiting in line at the pursers desk for another hour.
Poor room steward service. Sewer smell in hallway. Very spacious. Tiny bathroom.