On August 18th we boarded the Carnival Inspiration after the very fast and easy embarkation procedure. This was our 3rd time on the Inspiration for a 4 night cruise. The Inspiration is a Fantasy class ship so she's smaller and older but in excellent condition. The 1st and 2nd time we had the same maitre d' (Yusuf from Turkey) who we also had before on the Legend. He remembered us both times and made sure we got a great table. This time though he was not on board. We heard he was now on the Conquest (lucky Conquest).

We got our lunch on the Lido deck and at 1:30 headed down to our cabin. At 3:15, as we exited our room to attend the safety drill and we heard someone say "Mr. Jon, Miss Holly!!!" We turned around and there was Ronato our cabin steward from our cruise the previous year with his new assistant, Richard. It was like seeing a friend we hadn't seen in a long time - just a happy moment! After asking about how everyone had been, hand shakes and hugs all around we continued on to the safety drill. After the safety drill we went up to the highest deck to be there when we cruised under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and when we returned there were extra pillows in our cabin - Ronato had remembered without us even having ask. This was a fantastic start to our much needed time away from work. We went to dinner and then to the show and off to bed.

On our first sea day we ate breakfast in the dining room, stopped in at the library and got a couple books (they now have board games as well), spent some time watching some of the events, reading on the serenity deck, reminiscing with Ranoto and just relaxing. I also did the teddy bear build. I do this on every cruise and name the bear after the ship as it's a great inexpensive souvenir.We dressed up for dinner because that what we do on formal night and enjoyed Thomas Brown for the third time. (funny is funny no matter how many times you hear it). Read more