here is the review of ourcruise on the inspiration on 4-9-07. we arrived in florida on 4-6 and spent 2 days at st. petes beach before moving on to our pre cruise stay at the chase hotel and suites in tampa. this place was very, very nice for a pre cruise stay especially if you are driving as the package was $189 p/night which includes parking for your vehicle for the duration of your cruise as well as shuttle service to and from the port of tampa. it also includes a hot breakfast buffet which includes waffles, bacon &eggs,bagels,muffins,fresh fruit, cereals,juices and coffee as well as other items.it also has a small but very nice heated pool and a hot tub.it also has a tennis court right next to the pool. there is also a dock where you can fish or just go and sit on and just relax. they also have a guest laundry room with 5-6 machines as well as dryers. they also sell trial size laundry items as well as other things such as snacks and drinks in the hotel lobby.right next door is the bahama breeze restaurant. it is very nice and just a couple of minute walk from the hotel. they have a covered as well as an uncovered outdoor dining area as well as a large indoor area.now for our room. it was flawless, as soon as you open the door your are looking right into the living room which has a couch and a chair with ottoman as well as a fireplace and cable television. off to the right is a full kitchen with a dishwasher,fridge,microwave and a stove. it also has dishes,utensils,pots and pans, etc,etc.. off of the living room is the master bedroom which has its own full bathroom, closet,desk and chair and another television.outside of that room is a staircase which leads to yet another bedroom which also has its own full bathroom, closet and television. this room is a loft which overlooks the livingroom. both rooms have king size beds. i highly recommend this place for a pre cruise stay as it is nestled among other hotels and office buildings and the restaurant. it is very quiet and very safe.

embarkation day went very smoothly. as our hotel shuttle dropped us off we were instantly met by our porter and we tipped our driver and porter and we were on our way. the lines were quite long but they moved very,very quickly.we left the hotel at about 10:50 and we were on board and having lunch by 12:15. the usual burgers, dogs and fries were delicious as usual. we were allowed access to our room on the empress deck by about 1:15 and all of our luggage was there by about 4:45. we hardly saw our room stewardat all on this cruise and when we did he just acted like he didn't want anything to do with anybody. but our room was done up pretty nice although very late on all days. his crew on the other hand were very friendly and always said hello and greeted the kids very nicely.our past stewards were always very attentive and very friendly.we did not do the dining room at all so i cannot comment on that. the buffet seemed to be a little better than on past cruises. we also dined at the deli station located in the buffet dining area. my wife was not crazy about the paninis but everything else there was very good. 24 hr pizza and ice cream was a favorite as always. our 12 yr old son had the run of the ship as he spent alot of time in the arcade as well as going to shows and just hanging out in the lounges playing his gameboy.our 5 yr old spent lots of time in camp carnival as well as the arcade and plenty of time with mom and dad.he also attended the slumber parties at camp which was from 10 pm till 3 am where they watch movies and order room service. this was at a cost of $6 p hour. this was our first time in an inside stateroom and i personally didn't care for it. the room was fine and had everything in it but not having that window made the cabin dark and i usually like to wake up and see that daylight shining in so i know its time to get up. next time i will have to bring an alarm clock.

day 1 was a day at sea and we spent time poolside as well as exploring the ship and going to the casino for a while. day 2 was grand cayman. we did the stingray city and island tour. the turtle farm was very cool as my 12 yr old and i got to hold the turtles and get pictures. from there we went " straight to hell " and the rock formations out back were real weird looking but still real cool. iguanas were running around wild and we thought that was awesome. then we had stingray city which is something we will remember for the rest of our lives. we have pictures of jamie (12 yr old) and his mom kissing and holding the stingrays. little joshua (5 yrs old ) would not get off the boat because he was scared so i stayed on the boat myself and missed the experience, but i still had agreat time watching.the rum punch on the way back was horrible. the ship was scheduled to sail at 2pm and we arrived back to the pier at 205 pm. we had to wait about 1 hr and 40 min in the hot sun because the seas were so rough that they were having a hard time tendering. it was the same way tendering from the ship to the pier and i really thought they would cancel grand cayman all together. they finally set sail around 4 or so and a lot of people were talking and complaining about the events in grand cayman. carnival decided that the way to compensate for this would be to have an open bar for about an hour and a half on the final night. my wife and i didn't care too much for this because the kids dont drink alcohol obviously so they would get nothing out of it. i think a stateroom credit would have been more appropriate. but i guess they didn't have to do anything so its better than nothing.next day was cozumel and my youngest did not want to go on the little boat ( tender ) due to the fact that i fell on him on the tender in cayman and he hurt his leg so he was scared. we had an excursion booked in cozumel, so about an hour before we were supposed to go on the excursion my son was flipping out so i went to the information desk and explained what had happened on the tender the day before and that my son would not go into cozumel, so i asked if we could cancel and get a refund and surprisingly they said yes and gave me a credit right then and there. i thought this was real cool of carnival to do this. so after a while he did go to camp and the wife and i went ashore and did some shopping and had a cocktail at fat tuesdays. then we had another fun day at sea. Read more