Our family of five took a 5-night cruise on the Inspiration, departing April 7, 2008. I have a son who is eight years old, and my daughters are 14 and 16. We've cruised with Disney twice and Royal Caribbean once, and I've been a Carnival skeptic in the past. We chose this cruise for some new ports of call and to fit in our kids' Spring Break, and we enjoyed the cruise overall.

Pre-Cruise: We drove from our home near Atlanta and spent the night before at the Bon-Aire Resort Motel in St. Pete Beach. I used to go there with my parents when I was a kid, and it has been remodeled and maintained nicely. It was about a 30 minute drive back to the port, but we wanted to have some beach time before we left.

Embarkation: Very easy, no problems. Dropped off the family and luggage, parked in the garage, and then checked in. We arrived at 10:45AM and were on the ship at 11:30AM. We received a letter at boarding saying that the ships' propulsion system was hampered, so the arrival and departure times were shifted an hour later than advertised, but that worked better for us. The room hallways were blocked until 1:30PM, but we just had lunch on the Lido deck in the Brasserie Grill. Read more