This was my 3rd CARNIVAL Cruise, and my second on a "Fantasy" class ship, having sailed on the sister ship Fascination a year earlier. While Fascination's legendary mannequins were a thing of the past by the time I sailed, I can only hope that the Inspiration's gaudy and bizarre decor is the line's most extreme. While the cabin decks on all Fantasy ships are identical (orange, if that's your thing), the public decks are borderline obscene in their decor. The Lido deck buffet restaurant is outfitted with swirling purple pipes that are capped with what look like orange Tiffany lamp shades - sort of Captain Nemo meets Guys & Dolls. The Candlelight Lounge makes no attempt to replicate actual candles, but instead presents odd geometric arrangements of electric candles with blinding unflickering bulbs. The dining rooms are a little less garish, but still hardly conducive to a peaceful meal. If the decor in the dining rooms doesn't put you off, the blaringly loud Muzak will do the trick. The trademark atrium was without it's huge metallic sculpture I saw in photos, so at least there was a brief respite from the visual assault. The theatre's art nouveaux design got way out of hand, carried through to the carpets and stage draperies. Horrors. In brief, the ship is a floating "Salvador Dali Meets Las Vegas" style nightmare.

But wait - that's just the surface. And you know what they say - "Scratch the surface..." Speaking of scratches, the ship seemed full of them! My cabin closet doors, drawers, sinks, floor and the corridor walls, too! I didn't see the usual "water stained carpets" (though I stopped looking -- too busy being appalled at the decor).

This 1996 vessel is starting to show its age and the creaking is not just from the rocking of the ship. My aft inside stateroom on U Deck (a lateral upgrade) was very pitchy and in port one could hear all the mechanics of loading and unloading through the thin walls. The dining rooms (located just above) were also pitchy even in the calmest seas. Read more