Carnival Inspiration Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Carnival Inspiration - Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Inspiration

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Sail Date: Aug 2007

We sailed from Tampa to Grand Cayman and Cozumel on aug. 13th. this is probably as late in the year as I would want to go as we just missed hurricane Dean. At this time I haven't heard whether or not it hit Cozumel. sure hope not! We spent two nites at the Embassy Suites Westshore/Airport. It was about 15-20 minutes to the Port of Tampa. This was our 2nd stay at an Embassy Suites and I can't say enough good things about this chain. For 119 per nite we had a great suite room , a full cooked to order breakfast and free cocktails from 5;30 to 7;30. We also visited Busch Gardens the day before our cruise and enjoyed that immensely. Embarkation on Mon. aug 13th was quick and easy. We arrived at the port around 12;30 and were on board by 1pm.The valet parking is well worth the extra 10-12 dollars plus tips. The Inspiration is due to go into dry dock for 5 weeks the first of sept. It is being entirely redone with a water park. slide that goes out over the ocean and comes back insomehow. Can't picture it but sounds like fun.According to the cruise director it will be like a brand new ship. That being said I had no complaints about the ship. It was clean and colorful and if there was a odor as I had read most of it is from less than adequate ventilation from smokers in the public areas , especially around the casino. While my husband, who has a sensitive nose noticed a slight sewer smell in the cabin, it did not bother me. We actually had 2 ocean view cabins side by side on the lower deck. Our two sons 19 and 20 shared the 2nd cabin.The beds are very comfortable and there was adequate space for hanging and storing all of our clothes. The shower water is very hot! Our room steward was friendly and always had our cabin clean and ready to sleep in at nite with the cute little towel animals. We really enjoyed them. A;ll of the staff is friendly and helpful. all you had to do was ask. You are virtually treated like royalty. this was our 3rd cruise, 2nd on Carnival and I really don't know how anyone can complain about them. we have had a wonderful time with them on both occasions. Food was plentiful and delicious both in the Brasserie Grill and the Carnivale dining room. We had an 800 seating to me. Our waiters, Rommell and Steven were the highlight of our cruise dining experience. we had a table for 4 and they were able to chat with us a lot more, and always brought us extra desserts and whatever else we wanted. Our sons had the soda cards and after the first nite the sodas were always there when we sat down to dinner, and they kept them coming throughout dinner. We all thought the food in the dining roomwas really good, my boys tried new things and liked them all for the most part. I had fish 4 out of 5 nights and if anything was less than I expected it was the Chateau Briand(sp?)the last night. the lobsters were small but delicious and everyone had two. No problem! there are 24 hour stations for pizza and icecream in the Brasserie and the mando cake was to die for!

Our ports of call were Grand Cayman and Cozumel as I said . We had booked a waverunner excursion through Island Marketing in the Grand Caymans as I thought we would all enjoy that. The time was short of the island, 7-2 so it was really something you probably should book through the cruise lines to injure you don't get left. We too waverunners over to Sting Ray City. My boys loved the waverunner, my DH and I thought they were much too rough for us. The seas were less than calm. The sting rays were neatand we rode over to Rum Point beach which was very pretty. The sour note was that we had left our beach bag with tools, sunscreen, MONEY, etc. locked up in their hut because there was nowhere to put it on the waverunner and when we got back we discovered my husbands money clip empty. About $120.00 missing. We were on a time clock and we did not have the full amount we needed to pay the cab driver to take us back to the ship. He was a saint who took the$20.00 we had left and helped us look up the number for the excursion place, even dialed it for my husband who was really shook up, because he also discovered he had left his new watch on the waverunner. We got in touch with the answering service and someone called us back when we got on the boat. They found the watch but of course said it was "impossible" that our money was stolen. Ok it was there and then not so, anyway they said they would fedex my husbands watch so hopefully we will get it back, Overall not a good day and not an excursion I would recommend. Cozumel was a different story altogether. We booked a dune buggy excursion through the same company and it turned out lovely, There was only one other family and our two tour guides and we had the most wonderful day snorkeling and riding along the most beautiful coastline I have seen to a beach where they fixed fresh pico de gallo and guacamole for us underneath a palapa while we swam and took pictures . They brought some delicious roasted chicken to serve with what they made. It was wonderful and the scenery was breathtaking. We al agreed it was one of the beat times we had ever shared. We had about 90 minuted to see the shops and bars once we got back. Everything you could want is pretty much right there on the main street. would have loved to have had more time but it was fun! Debarkation was more timely than embarkation but still took less than a hour and the porter took all of our bags to our car across the street and in the parking deck. I thing we spent a total of $95.00 for valet parking including tips for the valet and the porter. Well worth it as we had about 10 bags. In my opinion, the Carnival crew does a bang up job and tries to show everyone a great time. If you can't have a good time, you really don't want to.I may eventually try another cruise line bur more than likely I will stick with Carnival because of price and overall great service. I might try one of the newer , larger ships next time. The only things that is not really enticing is the pools. Just too crowded and small for the number of people but then it didn't bother me not to get in them.

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