My awesome little Inspiration weekend 9/13-9/16.

This is basically everything that happened once the craziness at the port settled down and we were checked-in: A continuation from my early post...with a few pics. :)

It was amazing from the time we walked the plank between the dome and the ship to embark and the time we waited to debark. This time, I was in NO hurry to exit...and I farted around as long as possible on Lido taking more pictures...and even got to walk around and take pictures of the Owner's Suite while staff was fixing it up for the next lucky suckers who probably paid an arm & a leg for the 4-day later that day.

Got to see some familiar staff faces (this is the 3rd time on the Inspiration this year...mad dash to platinum) and met some new amazing staff members.

I love Superstar Live Karaoke and performing with the live band. We all recognize each other now...LOL! They're all so welcoming and gracious. Sunday afternoon, Jessica and the Motown Band invited me to sing with them during their hour show outside of the casino in the Violins Bar...I've included a link:

The food was great...as usual. We (almost) broke even in the casino, we enjoyed Snuba Diving in Ensenada, Serenity deck, karaoke, great service overall.

Jessica, one of the featured dancers, and her parents visiting from Canada were sitting next to us in the MDR and they were a joy to chat with. She's an amazing dancer, as featured in the Latin production Saturday night...loved the outfits and the production as a whole. Inspiration is going into Dry Dock in a month and part of the 2.0 change is that the dancers have to be able to sing...so Jessica will be making her way to another ship... <sigh>

Villamor was our stateroom steward...best sense of humor! Top 2 favorite stewards overall. He even asked for my email so he can find out what stateroom I'll be in so he can find me in November...(was it my sparkling personality or my over-generous tipping??)

DH made the final table at the Blackjack tournament...cost to try to qualify is now $25. Finalists used to get a t-shirt for making the final table...now, you get bragging rights. I'm proud of him...he was all serious (which was hilarious to me!!): even turned his baseball cap backwards a la Sylvester Stallone in that silly arm wrestling movie! I should've gotten a picture. Grr. LOL! He also won the first trivia game before the ship even took off: the "how well do you know Carnival" trivia. He likes to brag that he beat out 2500-2700 other players, but there were really only 3 others playing. He did get a perfect score and we're that much more educated on our favorite cruise line! I played the game show trivia later that evening and was victorious, as well. I love trivia on the ship, but didn't want to seem like a big SOAS hog since I've won many of the music trivia games on prior trips, so I decided to bow out and let others have fun.

I kinda gambled through Tea Time, though, so I was kinda pissed about that..but since I overate all weekend long, it's not a big loss. LOL!

We went hose diving through BajaBlueDiver.com and had a blast. Sadly, though, the water was freezing even on a freakin' hot September day and water seeped through our wet suits...BRRRRR!! DH had a tough time getting his mask to stay on, because he has a mustache and the water would sneak in...a little annoying for him...but overall, having a waterproof video camera that allowed us to take video at the bottom of the ocean was pretty breathtaking. Good Trip. Will rate the excursion company separately, but I highly recommend them. Nice people...4 of them assisting the 2 of us.

Ashley, the karaoke host, was really cool...very welcoming back.

I'll be back on her November 22...right after she is 2.0-ified, so I'm excited to discover the new and improved Inspiration!

Some more photos: walking the plank!

. Not excited at all!

. Inside a life boat...wait! Where are the rest of the life preservers?!

. Some new friends!

. Rare non-silly pose!

. Owners' suite

another angle of the owner's suite

...and another...

big trivia winner!

new pal...

with bajabluediver.com excursion

my Disneyland!

Glad it all worked out. Youtube video was fabulous!

Glad it all worked out. Youtube video was fabulous!

Thank you!! :-)

LOL..love your jubilant heart and so glad my closest cruise ir a good cruise!!! thanks for reports..happy next trips...Sarah

LOL..love your jubilant heart and so glad my closest cruise ir a good cruise!!! thanks for reports..happy next trips...Sarah

You're welcome!

Thank you for sharing. We are going on our 1st Carnival cruise on Oct. 18th and we'll be on the Inspiration. Can you tell me if they have the soda cards on the 3 day cruises? I also read that we can take a bottle of wine/champagne onboard if we carry them on. Do you know if this is correct? If you have any tips, please feel free to share.

We usually sail on NCL or RC but since they are no longer out of Long Beach, we are giving Carnival a try. Cruising is my favorite vacation :-)

Thank you for sharing. We are going on our 1st Carnival cruise on Oct. 18th and we'll be on the Inspiration. Can you tell me if they have the soda cards on the 3 day cruises? I also read that we can take a bottle of wine/champagne onboard if we carry them on. Do you know if this is correct? If you have any tips, please feel free to share.

 

We usually sail on NCL or RC but since they are no longer out of Long Beach, we are giving Carnival a try. Cruising is my favorite vacation :-)

You're allowed a 12-pack of soda per person...save $ that way. You can also bring a case of water too. Yes, a bottle of wine/champagne is allowed...any other sprints must be, uh, "strategically packed."

I got a suite for the 4th of Oct on this boat and also got an upgrade call for the Owners S. that they couldn't fill so for a couple of hundred more I'm a true sucker with my balcony and dining room and wet bar with walk in closets and a jacuzzi tub. Thanks for the review

Just got on her a couple of hours ago. Priority boarding is awesome. All rum runners made it;) and the Mongolian wok is awesome! Caramel cheesecake is good too.

Just got on her a couple of hours ago. Priority boarding is awesome. All rum runners made it;) and the Mongolian wok is awesome! Caramel cheesecake is good too.

How is the Mongolian Wok?

How is the Mongolian Wok?

The Mongolian Wok was delicious. As soon as we got inboard we got our cards punched and then went right over. There were only about 4 people ahead of us at the time. It was actually the best food on the ship and I thought everything was pretty good. Also had a flat iron steak in the mdr that was amazing.