A little background first. This was my second cruise aboard the Inspiration. The first time was in November 2008 with my wife. Since we had such a great time back then, we decided to bring our kids (ages 12 & 14) and my parents along the second time around. We drove down from New Jersey and did a couple of days at Disney prior to the cruise. An excellent way to start any vacation, but that's another story.

The embarkation process was very easy. We unloaded our luggage at the terminal, parked across the street in the parking deck and then waited in line for about 20 minutes to get checked in at the terminal. The boarding process consisted of waiting for our boarding number to be called, getting our picture taken and walking on. By 11:45 AM we were on board with food and drink in hand. What more can you ask for? After our meal, we explored the ship, located our dining table, and signed up the kids for the Circle C Club.

The rooms were made available by 1:30 pm. Our luggage showed up about an hour or so after that. What made this trip as special as the first was that my wife and I booked our own cabin (E48), with our kids in the adjoining room (E52). I don't think I need to say much more about that. Our cabin was an interior room located just forward of the Grand Atrium. The location was perfect. No noise issues. Actually, we had no issues with our rooms. Our room steward was Erni and she took care of everything, towel animals and all. Read more