Carnival Inspiration 8-5-10 REVIEW & PICTURES! Western Caribbean to Cozumel!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

This review will not be as long as my Destiny review, but will have lots of sail-away and cabin photos! We booked this cruise last-minute, about two weeks out. We chose the Inspiration because it was the only ship that had two connecting cabins available for our party of four: me, DH, DS & my father. We like visiting Cozumel, plus the price is right and the port is close to home, only 20 minutes away! Below is the itinerary of our 4-night sailing aboard the beautiful Carnival Inspiration, which departed from Tampa on 8-5-10.

 

 

 

 

Just like when we sailed on the Destiny, we have some pre-cruise drama at home. Our 14 year-old cat started "getting sick" all over the house (IYNWIM!), two says prior to sailing. Well, the morning of the cruise the cat took a serious turn for the worse... he is completely lethargic and constantly dry-heaving. The private kennel we booked for our dog & 3 cats is much cheaper than our vet's pet resort, but they don't have a vet on premises. Arggh! So much for trying to save a buck or two! Now I wished we had booked the animals to stay at our vet's resort, like we usually do. Thankfully our vet is willing to take the cat in on short notice, but we won't know the outcome of the blood tests & x-rays until we return from the cruise. My D-FIL kindly agrees to be the contact for the vet while we are gone... hopefully the vet can at least keep Cowboy comfortable until we get back!

 

So much for boarding the ship early, as planned! We don't leave our house until well after 1:30 pm... Yikes! Thankfully traffic is light. We make it to the Port of Tampa in less than 30 minutes, pay the parking garage attendant $56 ($14/day) and find a good parking spot on the second floor. The time is quickly approaching 2:30 pm as we walk the short distance to the Carnival Terminal. One of the porters outside the terminal keeps insisting that Carnival won't let us carry our luggage onboard and that the bags HAVE to be checked. I quickly find a Carnival rep to ask about the luggage carry-on restriction. She rolls her eyes and says: "Not true! The luggage just has to fit through the x-ray machine opening, which measures approx 30" wide and 24" high!" Thank goodness, because we like to roll our bags on and unpack right away! She checks our Fun Passes and Passports and clears us to take the elevator to the second floor. Upstairs, we find they only have one x-ray machine running and we wait a good 15 minutes in line before our 3 rolling duffel bags are scanned. After our bags are cleared, we make our way to the next area, which is check-in. After another 15 minute wait, we have our Sail & Sign cards in hand and we are ready to board! Yay! The time is now 3 pm and there are still several passengers in line behind us. We had no idea so many people wait to board so late! And we were worried we would be the last ones on the ship! LOL!

 

We make our way through the boarding gate and hear the familiar "Boing!" of the security kiosk! Yay... let the cruise vacation begin! We enter the Atrium and notice how much the Inspiration resembles the Imagination. Man, we have missed sailing on Carnival's older ships... we really like the Fantasy class lay-out. We look forward to exploring more, but first we head to our cabin to drop off our luggage. We booked connecting ocean view (cat 6B) cabins R-77 & R-81 on Riviera Deck 4. A quick trip down the mid elevators and we are there! Nice! The rooms are clean and the decor is updated. We have ample storage and the two bathrooms will be a time-saver, for sure. We have just enough time to get something to eat (we are starving!) before the Safety Drill. Up to the Lido we go, recognizing the familiar Fantasy-class lay-out as we go. Wow! The pool is so big! We prefer this layout over the small pools found on the Liberty & Freedom. And the buffet area seems huge. The big salad bar! The two dessert islands! The deli! The pizza station! We will be visiting these areas a lot this weekend! LOL! We load our plates with burgers and hot dogs... and macaroni & cheese! Yum! We only manage a few bites before the Safety Drill announcements begin. The buffet area is packed with passengers (hungry, like us!) and no one budges when the calls are made for us to go to our Muster Stations. We take a few more bites and then head downstairs, walking toward our (inside!) muster area in the show lounge. The Promenade (deck 9) is packed with passengers sitting in chairs and benches. We end up stopping in the casino and waiting with the passengers there, because the safety drill is almost over! Wow! That was the fastest ever... less than 15 minutes!

 

After Muster, we explore the ship and one of the stops is to Circle C. Here is the handout for this week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT: Fun Times for each day!

[Dave0311]

Looking forward to it! :D

[Oakman]

Can't wait for this review. Your Destiny review was excellent. We also live close to the Port of Tampa. Isn't it GREAT to be able to cruise at the last minute.

[spideyfam]

Great review so far. Looking forward to the rest!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruiseVacationQueen]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruiseVacationQueen]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruiseVacationQueen]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pcrum]

Did you have the farewell party on your cruise, which has replaced the Captain's Cocktail party? I don't think they had it on our 7/31/10 Inspiration cruise or if they did, it was a well kept secret!!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

When we booked the cruise, we signed up for Your Time dining, which was wait-listed. To our unfortunate surprise, we were assigned Late Dining. We wait in line at the Mardi Gras Dining Room to speak with the Maitre' D about a change in dining times. When it's our turn, we are introduced to the MD (Yusuf) and explain that we prefer Early or YT dining. He and his assistant scour over the long list of passengers with dining change requests, and then asks us to please attend late dining tonight, and he will make the change by tomorrow. We thank him and leave, and head upstairs to find a good place to watch sailaway!

 

We spend about an hour or so on the outside deck of the Promenade Deck 9 during sail-away, checking out all of the luxury homes on Davis Island. Around 6 pm, we head to the Sun Deck 14 to watch the ship pass under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. My father has sailed under the bridge in our boat, but never on a cruise ship, so he is pretty excited, too! We are pleased to see that only 20 or so other passengers are up here, and we easily find a good place to stand. I take several good photos of St Pete and then we catch our first glimpse of the Skyway! Notice the small crowd of people standing below us on the Verandah Deck 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DS is happy to be here!

 

 

 

 

 

So is my DF!

 

 

 

 

 

Getting closer.... and closer! The time is now 6:30 pm! So glad we have Late Dining tonight!

 

 

 

 

 

DH is excited, too! Except for the hot sun beating down on us!

 

 

 

 

 

Thank goodness the skies are a bit overcast, or else we would be totally baked in this bright sun!

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT: Passing under the bridge!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Did you have the farewell party on your cruise, which has replaced the Captain's Cocktail party? I don't think they had it on our 7/31/10 Inspiration cruise or if they did, it was a well kept secret!!

 

Hi! We attended the Captain's Celebration ($1 off drinks), but forgot to go to the Farewell Celebration, which was held Cozumel night... and not widely advertised! LOL!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Less than 10 minutes left, until we pass under the bridge! Getting closer...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... and closer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost there....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait for it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just another minute....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! We're REALLY almost there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT: Passing under the bridge!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Wow! We are directly under the bridge! And moving fast... the moment we have been waiting for is gone in an instant!

 

 

 

 

Now to turn around and watch the Whale Tail pass under the bridge! I take a mad dash to the center of the Sun Deck just in time to get this shot!

 

 

 

 

 

The Whale Tail passes safely under the bridge! Yay!

 

 

 

 

Another shot of the tail with the bridge in the near distance!

 

 

 

 

What a beautiful bridge!

 

 

 

 

Bye-bye Tampa Bay... see you Monday!

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT: more views of the Sun Deck!

[hfweather]

Thank you so much for the FunTimes and wonderful pictures so far. Can't wait to read/see the rest!!! We're going on the Inspiration in Dec for the 1st time, so I was so glad to see your post. :)

[paper1122]

Even though I was on the Inspiration last year I still want more of your review!

[fruity drinks]

I love your reviews and now that you're sailing out of my favorite port on my favorite ship, even better.

[CruiseVacationQueen]

After snapping the last photos of the Whale Tail passing under the bridge, I catch back up with DH & DS. Here they are, standing in front of the mini golf course. See the tall windows in the background? That is the very front of the ship, where we took all the photos of the Skyway Bridge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can tell from the photo below, it is very windy up here on the Sun Deck 14! LOL! So much for all that time I spent putting my hair up in a French Twist!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We head back out to the front observation deck to watch the remainder of our sail out to sea. We take the obligatory "DS blowing away" shot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we notice a few interesting signs to our left... almost good enough to send to Jay Leno! Seems silly that Carnival would have to point out the obvious... but then again not everyone has common sense!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are two more signs that make us crack up! Notice the rope fencing to keep people from climbing up... someone must have tried it in the past! Geesh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we sail past Fort DeSoto, I am fortunate to catch this great photo of the United States Flag! Sure looks beautiful! That's South St Pete & Tierra Verde in the background.

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT: more shots of Old Glory!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

As I already mentioned, it is extremely windy up here on Sun Deck 14... especially standing out on the front observation area! I notice a very loud "whipping" noise behind us and turn around to check it out. On the mast above us I spot Old Glory waving in the wind. I start snapping photos, and although some are out of focus, I find them to be very beautiful with the blue sky in the background! So here are six nice shots of our United States Flag!

UP NEXT: catching a glimpse of the Harbor Pilot leaving the Inspiration!

[Fisical1]

Keep it coming. Im really enjoying this.

[CruiseVacationQueen]

So, the time is now 7 pm and we are getting very hungry! We decide to check out a bit more of the ship and then get some sushi before dinner. We head aft and take the outside stairs down to Verandah Deck 11. DH & I discuss how we prefer this wide open layout, over the stadium seating found on the Liberty & Freedom. Sea days just seem to feel less crowded on the Fantasy class ships. We are glad to be back on one and can't wait to see more of the Inspiration! We make our way to the very back of the ship, and step into the Water Works area. What a cool use of space! The last time we sailed on the Imagination, we never found time to do the slides. We all hope to make some time, this time! The twisty slide looks really cool, as does the double race-slide.

My DF (who belongs to a sailing club) comments that he never saw the Pilot Boat today. Just then, I notice the Pilot Boat following a bit behind the ship. What a coincidence! All of the sudden the PB speeds up and we realize that we are about to witness the Harbor Pilot disembark the Inspiration! What a treat! We run over to the railing and I lean over to catch a few shots! In the photo below, the PB is just pulling along-side our ship which is travelling at a good speed (feels like 20 knots or more!). Can you see someone's head peeking out of one of the cargo doors?

And out comes the Harbor Pilot, climbing down the rope ladder to the PB! Yikes! Now that's bravery!

And someone on the ship is handing something down to the HP on the PB!

They make it look like an easy task. Keep in mind we are travelling at a high rate of speed! Amazing how the PB stays right slong-side the Inspiration!

The PB captain pulls away from the ship and then guns his engines!

Another safe transport of a large vessel (us!) out to sea... just an ordinary day in the life of a Harbor Pilot and Pilot Boat!

UP NEXT: Sailing toward Cozumel!

[debee1015]

Awesome shots of the Skyway! I have yet to cruise out of Tampa but I can't wait to see the ship just clear the bottom of that bridge.

[CruiseVacationQueen]

As I stated in the beginning, this review will be much shorter that my Destiny review. I didn't take nearly as many pictures this time, except I do have lots of cabin photos to share at the end!

 

Both our Days at Sea were spent pool-side, reading and playing Scrabble. We were in the mood to *relax* on this cruise! We woke up around 8 am on both sea days and had no trouble securing a table with a good view of the ocean and pool. We did notice several chair & table hogs, but most people were able to find a seat throughout the day. We noticed that the "inside" Lido buffet lines were always really crowded, but the "outside" buffet lines by the pool were always really short. The starboard-side pool buffet was the Grill: with burgers, hot-dogs, chicken tenders & nacho fixings. The port-side pool buffet line also offered burgers & dogs, but also offered a majority of the hot food located "inside". We call the port side the "secret buffet" because it had all the major offerings of the "inside" buffet, with no line!

 

At breakfast, the "secret buffet" offered: cut fruit, yogurt, milk, cereal, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, waffles, french toast, grits, oatmeal, hash browns, toast, bagels, and more! The omlet station is in the middle of the port & starboard pool buffets and the lines were never bad there, either! At lunch, the "secret buffet" offered dogs & burgers plus most of the Taste of Nations hot selections. During the day, the center area offered Rotisserie Chicken and a full spread of hot veggies including macaroni & cheese! The secret buffet also offered pastries in the morning and desserts in the afternoon. The only time we ventured to the inside part of the buffet, was to get ice cream and pizza... both fabulous, BTW!

 

As for entertainment, we think that the staff onboard the Inspiration is a very fun and hard-working bunch! The CD Stephanie was very good, but the ACD Matt and Ent Staff Member Alex were TOTALLY HILARIOUS! We still can't believe how many pool-size events they threw on both sea days, plus all the events they hosted in the evenings. They were awesome! We also enjoyed all the evening shows (production, illusionist and comedians) except the adult comedy routine on the last evening, which we left after just a few minutes. Funny thing is, we really enjoyed JR McCollom's "family" routine on Saturday night. Not sure why he felt the need to use the "f-word" so often during the adult show, because he was much more funny when he wasn't using profanity!

 

As for our assigned Late Dining in the Mardi Gras restaurant: we were glad to have the late dining on the first evening, so that we didn't miss sailing under the bridge. But eating that late is not enjoyable to us and it turns out that the MG dining room also hosts the Your Time Dining. Our assigned table that first evening was a huge table for 12. We were seated alone at first, and then 2 other families joined us... one while we were eating our appetizers and the other as we were being served our entree. We felt peculiar to be eating different courses from our table-mates and the service really lacked because the waiters were juggling too many courses at once.

 

The next afternoon, we did receive a note in our cabin from the Maitre' D (Jusuf) that our change in dining times had been accomodated... we were now assigned Early Dining. BUT, our family of 4 was now seated at two different tables! Yikes! Long story short, two trips to Guest Services and two long hunts around the ship to find the MD, and our problem was still not solved. We decided to get dressed early and head to the Carnivale dining room to finally speak with the MD. To our pleasant surprise, we didn't have to explain a thing to Jusuf. As soon as we stepped up to the dining room doors, Jusuf approached us, profusely apologized and said he would put us at the same table. We didn't even give him our name... we still wonder how he recognized us and how he knew of our predicament. Apparently someone in Guest Services did contact him... but how did he know it was us? Still a mystery!

 

We were seated at a table for 10 for the rest of the cruise. We thoroughly enjoyed the company of the other 3 couples, who were all from Florida. The food & service were fabulous and the conversation was equally good, including the Assistant Waiter who taught us a lot about his home country, Romania. The MD Jusuf was not only efficient at problem-solving, he is also quite the singer, dancer and comedian! He entertained the entire dining room each evening, and we gave him a nice tip at the end of the cruise! He is only the second MD in almost 20 years of cruising that we have actually tipped... he was THAT good!

 

As for Cozumel, we spent the day at the all-inclusive Nachi Cocum Beach, which we thoroughly enjoyed on our April cruise. When we booked this cruise just 2 weeks prior to sailing, we were afraid the place was already filled up (they only allow a max of 100 people a day!), but we got lucky and they still had room for us! We arrived early (just before 9 am) and were fortunate to get Carlos as our waiter, again! We had a fabulous time snorkeling (we brought our own gear), swimming in the fresh-water pool, eating a huge 3-course meal and drinking frozen beverages! The water was warm and the sun was hot. Later in the day, we watched a rainstorm pass by, while seated under their huge dining palapa. We stayed until about 4 pm and then headed back to downtown to shop a bit before reboarding. We highly recommend the place! Check out their web-site at http://cozumelnachicocom.net/ for more information!

 

 

Here is a picture of DS standing on the beach. Lounge chairs under shady palapas are included!

 

 

 

 

And a picture of DH sitting under our palapa:

 

 

 

 

And my DF wading in the gorgeous water!

 

 

 

 

And here is shot of DS on the last day at sea... sitting by the pool playing Scrabble!

 

 

 

 

And a picture of DF, doing the same! Notice all the loungers covered with towles, but sans passengers!

 

 

 

 

DH is winning the game, BTW! See his big smile? LOL!

 

 

 

So, all-in-all we rate the Inspiration a great BIG 5 STARS! The food, service, ship and entertainment were all top-notch! We are already checking prices for future sailings... hope to sail on her again real soon!

 

UP NEXT: lots of cabin photos!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

First up... pictures of the bathroom! Modern, clean & roomy-enough for a 4-night sailing!

UP NEXT: more photos of cabin R-81!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

DH & I stayed in this cabin. DS & my DF stayed in the connecting cabin (R-78).

UP NEXT: more pix of cabin R-81!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Here are a few more shots of cabin R-81!

NEXT UP: photos of connecting cabin R-77!