Carnival's Inspiration is a marvelous cruise ship for short family vacations. It is a Tampa based ship offering four and five night western Caribbean itineraries.

We arrived on Monday, July 14th, for a five night cruise and were immediately impressed with the ease of embarkation. I'm told more than half the passengers who take this cruise drive to the port, as opposed to flying in from another state. A few tips for drivers. . . Parking costs $60.00 for five night cruises. There is a $15.00 surcharge for valet parking. We chose to self park, as the port authority lets you drop off baggage at the front door before parking. The walk from the garage to the front door is 3-4 minutes.

We had a porter take our bags out of the car trunk, tipped him a couple of bucks and never had to deal with them again until we reached our cabin. Read more