I got to judge the hairy chest contest! Inspiration review: 2/26/11.

[gapearl]

The behind the fun tour lasted about 3 hours. I was hoping to spend my last afternoon laying out on the lido by the pool, but it was chilly and windy. That didn’t stop a lot of people though. Many people who were sitting out were wrapped in their towels. The lido buffet theme was American food. I ate from there and the rotisserie grill and enjoyed 2 slices of chocolate cake. There wasn’t a real chocolate buffet, but there were a few more chocolate desserts than usual. I spent some time walking around the ship taking pictures before going back to my room to pack and take a nap.

 

Anyone want pictures of the ship? Here you go!

 

The lido pool.

 

 

Waterworks.

 

 

 

 

Inspiration atrium.

 

 

[gapearl]

Seats at the back of the Paris Lounge.

 

 

The arcade.

 

 

Seats with a view along the Promenade.

 

 

The casino.

 

 

 

Avant Garde Lounge.

 

[gapearl]

Cafe des Artistes, where you can get even more desserts. For a small fee, of course.

 

 

The Rock & Roll Disco.

 

 

 

 

Serenity Deck.

 

 

Lido buffet dining area.

 

[gapearl]

This is the hallway between hallways that led to my room, an entire row of 1As. It was kind of hard to find on day 1. See how close I am to the stairs? The Carnivale dining room was right there up one floor.

 

 

The internet cafe.

 

 

Ship 411 with the captain, officers, and CD.

 

 

The gym.

 

 

[gapearl]

For dinner, I had a salad, honey bourbon glazed chicken, and my last warm chocolate melting cake for several months. Our servers paraded in one last time for our last bit of entertainment. I thought it was amusing to watch as they came around, not because they were doing anything spectacular, but because of their facial expressions. Most were smiling and really looked like they were having fun, but a lot of them looked like they were thinking “I’m sick of this %$*& and need a cigarette!” They sang Leaving On A Funship for us.

 

 

Me with my table's assistant and head waiters. They were wonderful!

 

 

My last towel animal of the cruise. At least I think it's an animal. It kind of looks like a dinosaur. Any guesses on what it is? Maybe a giraffe?

 

 

 

After dinner, we went to the Punchliner Comedy Club for the 9:45 show of John Floyd and the 11 pm Mark Hawkins show. This was my first time all week getting to see John Floyd. I didn’t think I was going to like him at first, but I did. I really enjoyed Mark Hawkins again. Karaoke was next for about an hour. Two of my new friends got to sing the last karaoke song of the cruise. It was appropriately “End of the Road” by Boys II Men. Karaoke was almost empty by now and it was just us plus a big group of spring breakers. We all joined in singing and had a kumbaya moment. We all had such a good time hanging out during the cruise and it was sad to be getting ready to leave. After karaoke, there was the disco one final time. I left at 2 am, but the party was still going after I left. We’ll be back in Tampa in a few hours. :(

 

Don't worry! I still have more!

 

Also, I do have Fun Times, spa menus with services, prices and specials, and Circle C & Club 02 activity schedules. If you're interested in anything specific from these, let me know. It will take way too much time to scan and post them all.

 

Up next: Debarkation day and final thoughts!

[gapearl]

::

+1

 

Thank you!

[Neotericisis]

Great, Great review!!!!

 

It felt like I was there- can't wait to go on my first cruise- it seems like so much fun!:D

[gapearl]

Great, Great review!!!!

 

It felt like I was there- can't wait to go on my first cruise- it seems like so much fun!:D

 

Thanks! I see you're going on the Imagination. I have a review for that ship too! It's in my signature. Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising!

[ATL2LAS]

You have to admit that the 1A's on Empress deck are in the perfect location:D.

[pacarolinagirl]

Fantastic review "gapearl"! The Inspiration was my first cruise...took me 5 yrs to convince my hubby to go on a cruise. He thought he'd be bored. LOL! He is hooked. We're looking forward to our next one in June. :)

[cuted126]

Don't you hate when a cruise comes to an end :( Man it sucks!! You and I would have a ball on a cruise! I love to dance and do all the line dances and would love to actually stay and close down the disco! Dh is not into dancing at all! Anyway great review and thanks for sharing!

[jackdis]

Just finished page one, but have to stop and tell you how much I am enjoying your review. I read your review about the Imagination. I will be going on that one next month!!

 

Got to get back to reading.....Oh! I love your shoes, too!!!!!!

[jackdis]

OK.....all caught up now. Great review! I appreciate all the time you put into these reviews. I am doing one now from our trip last month on the Dream. (It's in my signature!) It takes up some time, but it's such a great thing to have and look back on in the years to come!!!!

[gapearl]

You have to admit that the 1A's on Empress deck are in the perfect location:D.

 

Yes they are! I'm totally sold on the empress deck from now on.

 

Fantastic review "gapearl"! The Inspiration was my first cruise...took me 5 yrs to convince my hubby to go on a cruise. He thought he'd be bored. LOL! He is hooked. We're looking forward to our next one in June. :)

 

Thanks! I'm glad you were able to convince your hubby to get on a ship. There's no such thing as being bored on a cruise! Have fun on your next one!

 

Don't you hate when a cruise comes to an end :( Man it sucks!! You and I would have a ball on a cruise! I love to dance and do all the line dances and would love to actually stay and close down the disco! Dh is not into dancing at all! Anyway great review and thanks for sharing!

 

Yes girl we would have a good time together on a cruise! I usually stay and close down the disco also (and then head to get pizza and ice cream after that :D), but I was unusually tired this trip. I'm a serial napper and didn't get a nap every day as I would have liked, and the ones I did get were very short, plus I did some pretty active excursions. Thanks for taking the time to read! I'm looking forward to your next one!

[gapearl]

Just finished page one, but have to stop and tell you how much I am enjoying your review. I read your review about the Imagination. I will be going on that one next month!!

 

Got to get back to reading.....Oh! I love your shoes, too!!!!!!

 

OK.....all caught up now. Great review! I appreciate all the time you put into these reviews. I am doing one now from our trip last month on the Dream. (It's in my signature!) It takes up some time, but it's such a great thing to have and look back on in the years to come!!!!

 

Thanks for reading and thanks for the shoe compliment! :) Yes, these reviews take a lot of time to do. You see how long my reviews are for a 4 and 5 day cruise. My next cruise is a 7 day. Imagine how long that one will be! :eek: :cool: I'll be sure to check out your Dream review as well as your Bermuda review. I hope to get there someday!

[ticka1]

great review...i have really enjoyed your review and trip. Will you shop for my outfits on my cruise! I am going on the Ecstaty out of Galveston in May!!

[gapearl]

great review...i have really enjoyed your review and trip. Will you shop for my outfits on my cruise! I am going on the Ecstaty out of Galveston in May!!

 

Thanks ticka! I appreciate you reading it! I love shopping and will gladly do yours for you! Have a great time on the Ecstasy! :)

[mebecindi]

Hey Girl..I have already posted a few times but just had to say once more I am Loving this review. I am going to go and read your other review now.....

also, I have to say, you are absolutely beautiful and my hubby wants to know why you are cruising alone... ;)

[gapearl]

DEBARKATION DAY

 

I was up around 7 am to finish packing and to prepare to go home. I had to go to the Avant Garde Lounge to pick up my alcohol I purchased while in port. This is something new. Usually, they deliver your alcohol on the last night. Letters were left in my cabin saying I could pick it up between 6:30-9 am. This was kind of an inconvenience because I had to try to rearrange my bags to fit all the rum and tequila I bought. However, I heard that doing this makes it a lot easier for housekeeping. When picking up my liquor, I saw a table of confiscated no-no items such as irons and fans.

 

The first ones off the ship would be non US citizens. As they were being finishing up clearing those folks, an announcement was made that passengers on the empress and verandah decks ONLY that had passports and were self debarking could now come. I fit that criteria and I was ready, so I headed out, heard the last ding of the sail & sign card, then proceeded to customs & immigration. There was no line when I arrived. The officer glanced at my passport, took my declarations form, and I was outside at 8:30 am. Just like that my cruise was over. :( :( :( I called the Doubletree Hotel for pickup since I had purchased round trip transfers through them. They made it there in a few minutes to pick me and another couple up for airport drop off. I made it to the airport much earlier than expected and got on an earlier flight. I was home in Atlanta by 12:30 p.m. I still had 4 more days off work and flew the next morning to DC to hang out with a friend for the weekend. Cruise was over, but vacation was not! :D

[gapearl]

OTHER THOUGHTS

 

I got a lot of “You’re here by yourself?” I was not by myself. I was with three awesome people- me, myself, and I. :) I guess solo traveling is just foreign to some. Don’t knock it til you try it. Solo cruisers are not lonely and pathetic. I actually had quite a few friends ask to join me. See, my friends have seen pictures from my vacations on facebook (I post about 5x more there than I post here) and they hear my stories and they know I have a good time! I just didn’t want my cruise to turn into our cruise this time. I don’t regret my decision to not have one of them come along.

 

On previous cruises, the local news shown on tv was from Denver. This time, it was from Ft. Lauderdale.

 

There was no battle of the red team vs. blue team as I’ve seen on other recent cruises.

 

In the ladies locker room at the gym, the dry sauna wasn’t very hot. The steam room was perfect so I used it instead (although I really do prefer the dry sauna).

 

The décor of the ship is very dark. That was the first thing I noticed when I walked in.

 

There were not a lot of kids on this sailing. I heard the number was around 200.

 

I met a lot of first time cruisers who all commented on how they thought Carnival was a party ship and they weren’t having as much fun as expected. I told them all about what they should check out and what they could do to enjoy themselves more. I also explained that I think a lot of it had to do with the demographics of those on board, being that this sailing was an older crowd (no flaming!). I tried to convince them all to try another cruise some day because it could be a more lively crowd. Every sailing is different.

 

I didn’t see much of CD Stephanie because she mostly presided over trivia and events that were held inside and I spent most of my time outside by the pool. From what I did see of her, she’s about my age, high energy, and has a great personality.

 

I met my cabin steward the first day and never saw him again. However, my room was always tended to and I never wanted or needed anything.

 

I wanted to purchase a future cruise certificate, but decided not to since it can’t be used on already booked cruises. I know it can be used for up to 2 years and I know I’ll be sailing again way before it would expire. I just changed my mind and decided not to get one this time. I definitely would have purchased it if I could have applied it to my current booking.

 

The food was good and my belly stayed full the entire 5 days. However, I will say the food wasn’t as good as I’ve had on previous cruises. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Don’t forget I had chicken twice that was undercooked. Some of the dinner entrees were the same ones I had on the Imagination in September, such as the chicken a la greque and honey bourbon chicken. Hands down, they were better on the Imagination. No complaints, just a personal observation. I would rate the food for this cruise as a 7 out of 10.

 

I weighed myself the day I left for Tampa and the day after I returned. My starting weight was 1-4, and my post cruise weight was 1-9. I gained 5 pounds. :eek: Don’t even attempt to guess the second number! :p

 

By the way, if anyone from any cruise line is reading, if you give me a free cruise, I'll come back and write a review even better than this one. I promise. ;)

 

Well I guess that’s it! It has been so much fun writing this review and reliving a great vacation. I met some wonderful people on this trip and have about 25 new facebook friends from it. Thanks again Cruise Critic for highlighting my review on your facebook fan page!!! My next cruise is several months away. Be on the lookout for another pink review coming in October (like my Imagination one) in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

 

Thanks again for reading and happy cruising to everyone!

[gapearl]

Hey Girl..I have already posted a few times but just had to say once more I am Loving this review. I am going to go and read your other review now.....

also, I have to say, you are absolutely beautiful and my hubby wants to know why you are cruising alone... ;)

 

Thanks for reading. I finally finished it! Also thanks for the nice compliment! I actually have enjoyed cruising solo. There's no planning your day around what someone else wants to see and do. You do what you want, when you want. My next cruise is with my mom, and the one after that....let's just say it won't be solo and it won't be with my mom either. :)

[Lovharvey]

Thanks for reading. I finally finished it! Also thanks for the nice compliment! I actually have enjoyed cruising solo. There's no planning your day around what someone else wants to see and do. You do what you want, when you want. My next cruise is with my mom, and the one after that....let's just say it won't be solo and it won't be with my mom either. :)

 

 

I agree with you 100% about solo cruising. I wasn't sure that I would feel comfortable, but, I had a great time. I was with a group, but, we all did our own thing. My next cruise will be solo also, but, with the same group on Conquest before she is moved to NO. Since you didn't say where your cruise after the Mom cruise will be, you really need to consider a cruise to Alaska. It is a beautiful cruise. I plan to do it again one of these days.

[cuted126]

Yes girl we would have a good time together on a cruise! I usually stay and close down the disco also (and then head to get pizza and ice cream after that :D), but I was unusually tired this trip. I'm a serial napper and didn't get a nap every day as I would have liked, and the ones I did get were very short, plus I did some pretty active excursions. Thanks for taking the time to read! I'm looking forward to your next one!

Only 184 days to go:) Dang,that's a looonnggg time!

[kmflutist]

Of all the reviews I've read here (and that's A LOT), I loved yours the best! You made me feel like I was on the cruise with you. You seem like a smart, cool gal who really knows how to have a good time (AND how to dress!!! -- LOVED those shoes with the purple dress). Now I have to go read your other review!!! :)

[maryann2]

Loved your review and thank you for the link on the solo board. Also love your outfits. Thank you for taking the time to write the review.

 

Does the 200% solo supplement now on Carnival affect your future cruises on Carnival? I am now trying other lines.