Quick Inspiration Thoughts and Comments

[PaganView]

This won't be a very thorough review but just some general thoughts. We traveled as a family of 6 (two parents, 3 kids, one grandmother) in two staterooms on the Riviera deck. As a balcony snob :p I was concerned about being in an inside cabin. The only issue I had was that the bunks stayed down the entire time which made it very difficult to walk around the king sized bed on the floor. My mom's room which she shared with my youngest was very spacious but had a very strange pole near the desk. It caused no problems for them but did provide amusement for my husband as he speculated what other very memorable passengers could have used it for ;)

 

The waterslides were terrific and my older kids made the most of them. My one complaint about that area is that the sprinklers were only turned on twice on a 5 day cruise. My 40 in. 4 year old was too short to go on the slides and had no other option on that deck. We had to split up and have dad take her to the pool (which was often very crowded for comfort with a swimmer-in-training) while I stayed with the other two on the slide deck. The slide attendant told us it was up to the engine room whether the sprinklers were turned on or not. I'm guessing they only turn it on when people complain because they have to constantly sweep water off the decks when they are operational.

 

The food was good, sometimes great. We didn't have anything that was totally bad or off the wall. My 9 yo tried lamb, escargot and lobster bisque for the first time. He liked 2 of the 3. We were in the Carnivale dining room with George the Greek. I have to say that I do not like the singing and dancing in the dining room every night. One night of that would be plenty. I think it impacts service because we would be in between courses and George would tell all the servers to stop work and be quiet while he talked. It slowed things down and even resulted in half the table having their entrees while the others waited for him to finish.

 

Room stewards were great and very efficient. We had ice in our cooler each day and towel animals each night. Bathrooms were spotless.

 

My two girls loved Camp Carnival and we were impressed with the staff and the activities for them. My 9 yo son was not as thrilled but we opted not to give him sign out privileges and that limited what he could do with his own age group.

 

We came home with three ships on sticks from trivia and putt-putt. Once we won the first one, we needed two more so each child could bring one home.

 

My only real complaint of the cruise came while waiting to disembark. We were seated in the Violins Lounge waiting for our tag number to be called. I took my girls to use the restroom and found that although the toilets flushed, there was no water to the sinks. The attendant told us that it was standard procedure. I found this to be very concerning from a germ spreading standpoint. You have all the people left on the ship contained to a certain area and the water is turned off so they can't properly wash their hands? How does that stop the spread of Noro or H1N1?

 

All in all it was a great time and my girls did not want to leave. The 4 yo cried and said she wanted to live on the ship. My 9 yo (who thought it was very cool that his sail and sign card was a different color from his sisters' because he was a past passenger) is already planning our next cruise. We thought the 5 day time frame and the ports were perfect for our girls' first cruise.

[critterfriend]

We are going on the inspiration the end of this month and cannot wait! We were on her a few years ago before she was updated. I'm shocked to hear that they only had the sprinklers turned on twice. What's the sense in having something like this on a ship if their not turned on! Thanks for posting a review.

[Slimpickins]

We just lifted the bunks in my kids room in the mornings. There was nothing locking them in place. This was on the Fascination this June. Will be on the Inspiration this Nov. without kids this time:D.

[chachi]

I am glad that you had a good cruise. I have never heard of them shutting the water off. I wonder what there purpose for this is?