We sailed on the Carnival Inspiration the week of December 14th.

1. This was our first cruise....we were very excited and couldnt wait to start our vacation. While I know that there is no way of controlling the weather...we were disappointed to find out that when we arrived to the port at 12:30, our ship had not arrived yet. Thankfully we were able to drop off our bags and check in, however as we were checking in, Carnival attendents were making announcements that we should go enjoy the shops and restaurants around Channelside. This would have been fine if the delay were only an hour or so. However, the ship we were supposed to be able to board at 12:30....that was going to be leaving at 4 wasn't even CLOSE to arriving. By the time we checked in it was 1:30....we were told to be back to that area at 5:30 or 6. As another person put in their review....2,000 people were told to go "find something to do" for 6 or so hours. Again, I COMPLETELY understand that there is no way to control the weather but Carnival had no back up plan and I don't agree with that. All of us traveling in our group are all in our mid twenties, and are pretty easy to please...however this in my mind, was beyond ridiculous. Sadly, the $15 credit that we received...just didn't cut it. We ended up having lunch....and we made sure to eat slow and just sit and enjoy the weather (thankfully it was a beautiful day). After lunch we ended up going to see a movie....which a lot of cruise passengers did as well. When we got out of the movie theater it was 4:30 and we were suprised to see that our ship had arrived. FINALLY. Oh was it false hope though. We made our way back to the check in area outside only to find that we could not start boarding until 7. Again, beyond ridiculous. So, we decided to stand in line. Once we were able to finally start boarding they started boarding by numbers...which we were all assigned at check in. It couldn't have been more of a cluster f**k. What made this process even worse is there were the random people who for some odd reason didn't check in, so they never received a number. Somehow, Carnival attendents pulled them off to the side and while the rest of us who followed directions had to stand in line...continued to wait, while these people got to board first. Oh, we can't forget the random idiots in line who decided it would be funny to call out random numbers while the attendents were calling out boarding numbers. That was a treat.

2. Once we got through the doors we had to go back into the check in line, and wait AGAIN to receive our room key. Once we were able to get on the ship, it was much more relaxed. We got to our room...we walked around the ship...we ate....it was fine. The ship was a perfect size for us, it was clean, and though there were a mix of different people from all walks of life, we had no issues. We thought the food was great and the desserts too. We were never hungry so that was no problem. We didn't go to too many of the shows...but the ones we did go to, were worth it. The welcome show befor the comedian on the first night was cheesy, but still fun. The comedian's were good and if you do go to a show....make sure you attend the "Newlywed" show. It was hilarious. The waitstaff was great.....very kind, and friendly and always helpful. Our room steward was amazing. He was very personable, and our room was always spotless. We spent most of our "days at sea" on the serenity deck. That was the deck were you had to be 21 or older to be on, and it was perfect. The rest of the trip was great (except for the last afternoon/night which I will explain shortly). Read more