I was invited by my Mom to join her on a cruise about 8 months prior to the cruise date and of course my answer to her was, but Mom, you know I get seasick. She assured me that I would will be fine cause the ships are so big you'll never know you on the water. I have never been on a cruise ship and was excited to start my adventure. I flew from Anchorage Alaska to Tampa and spent a few days in the city before the cruise (to recoup from my long flight). Once at port for Embarkation, I was amazed at the size of the Inspiration. I've seen cruise ships, but never this close. A group of us took a bus to port (baggage was taken care of once we arrived at port) and the process to board the ship was a breeze. Once on board, I was excited to explore the ship and get my bearings (which still took a few days). Thank goodness for the little pocket size ship deck plan they gave you to find your way around. (Or Mom and I would still be lost). I was impressed how clean and new the Inspiration looked. We went to check out our room and to my surprise the room was a decent size. We had a window stateroom with two twin beds and there was plenty of closet space for both of us. However when we opened the bathroom door there was a smell of sewage. I told our room steward about it and he took care of the problem as soon as we left the room to go back on deck. Once we left Tampa we went back to our room to freshen up for dinner and our luggage had arrived (excellent service). Our room steward took care of the bathroom smell and checked in on use to make sure if we needed anything else.

We dined in the formal dining room every night except for one night when we were late coming back from one of our ports. All I can say is the food on the Inspiration was excellent. The formal dining room had a different menu every night (but had a few same favorites as well). The desserts were awesome and all I can say is you cannot go hungry on these ships. We usually ate at the buffet for breakfast and/or lunch.

All the people that worked on the ship that we encountered we so nice and pleasant to talk too. We went the the shows every night and I was impressed with the talent. I also enjoyed getting the Carnival Capers newspaper every night that listed all the activities for the next day. Read more