I read so many member reviews before I took my first cruise on the Inspiration, and I found them so helpful that I wanted to contribute my own insight to those planning their vacation. This will be long, but hopefully useful regarding what to expect.

So let's start with the "hurricane experience"--my biggest fear in booking a trip that ran Aug. 30-Sept. 4. Of course, Gustav was making his way up the Western Gulf, and Hannah was in the East. We were supposed to visit Grand Cayman on Monday and Cozumel on Tuesday, but found out on boarding that we were rescheduled to do Key West on Sunday and Cozumel on Tuesday. The weather wasn't great when we sailed, and was raining by about 4 pm. The captain announced that evening that we had to cancel Key West and would only go to Cozumel---a BIG disappointment given it was our first cruise and we wanted to go to 2 ports. They only refunded us $20 for the missed port, which we felt was a bit pathetic, as did others on the ship! Still, we had the attitude of trying to make the best of it. However, Sunday got VERY rocky on the ship and it was really nasty outside, with huge waves. They actually drilled shutters over the portholes, so I feel bad for anyone who had paid for a porthole view room. I was fine until late afternoon, when I got seasick (luckily, I managed to just sleep a lot and not vomit, though I did miss the formal night). Our cleaning guy said his crew mate was sick, too, so you know it's bad when they are feeling ill! Also, we passed a pile o' puke in a corridor, which nobody cleaned for a long time---ewww. I also heard that some people were walking around the ship vomiting into their bags. They will give you a patch for free, but I heard it was $50 to get a shot to feel better. I fared ok with my sea band bracelets, which I brought just in case and used late Sunday. I guess there were a bunch of activities to keep us occupied indoors, but it was disappointing to be stuck inside because it was raining so hard outside. It's something to consider when planning a cruise during hurricane season, and I don't think that consideration should be taken lightly when planning a vacation, so please do think wisely about your expectations....

Embarkation: This was pretty easy, as straightforward as everyone else says it is. We took a taxi for 2, and it was $30 WITH tip, so it saved us a few dollars compared with paying $15 each to take Carnival's shuttle and then tip the driver--plus there was no wait for others to join us. We arrived at the port at 11:20 am and the line moved very quickly. We were supposed to board at 11:30, but that didn't happen until about noon, though we were group number 8 and were on board by about 12:15. Read more