To celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary, my family of eight cruised the Western Caribbean via Carnival's 'Inspiration' from October 10 through the 17th, 2004. This cruise was anything but inspiring. Although we truly enjoyed being together as a family for the first time in years, the venue to do so left much to be desired.

Since all members of my family had booked suites on the Inspiration, embarkation was a breeze. I was very disappointed to find that our itinerary had changed. While I understood the Grand Cayman being dropped due to hurricane damage, I found it hard to accept that we would not be stopping in Cozumel because "another Carnival ship needed our spot", as explained to us by a Carnival representative. I was a bit dismayed at the small size of the room, bathroom and balcony (compared to other ships) upon entering, but that was easily put in the shadows by the inexcusable obstacles and disappointments we faced as time progressed.

Our Verandah suite cabins were quite worn (large scratches on walls/furniture, peeling wallpaper, peeling chrome in bathrooms, dirty carpets.) The mattresses were thin and worn which made sleeping impossible for several members of my family. Our room steward was a gem. She brought my husband and me additional mattresses in an effort to make us comfortable. While this did help to keep our hips from grinding in to the board under the mattress, the 'extra' mattresses were just a worn and saggy making for an achy body. As the week progressed, so did the severity of the stench of urine in our room (V3). Our balconies were not at all private. There were people walking beneath and up the stairs in front of V1 at most times. Each person would inevitably turn to look straight into our rooms. The movie channels only worked in some of our suites, and several times while watching a movie, it would cut out half way through. Read more