Our four day cruise on the Inspiration

[AZbeachboy]

I will put this on two different post.

 

 

 

We just returned from a four day Inspiration Cruise out of Long Beach to Catalina and Ensenada. It was really a mixed bag of good and bad. We had a Veranda Suite and it was one of the best cabins we have had. We had read about some of the changes with cabin service and in talking to those on board it was true. They only received service one time a day. Some said however they did not have a choice; they were told when it would be. In the suite we got the regular two times a day service. We had two great cabin stewards working at a team, Jason and Anna May. We had some plumbing problems but they were quick to take care of them and they were never a problem.

 

 

It was the best embarkation and debarkation that we have ever had. A family we rode over from the hotel with was ignored. They were in a Veranda Suite as well, but the agent at the door would not let them in the Captains Lounge assuming that if they had children they did not belong there and sent them to the regular line. They found someone and that person took them into the lounge, so it worked out well in the end.

 

 

 

We had some dealing with the customer service,. Initially there was an agent who said she had worked five years, but would not understand what we were trying to say. So I asked for the CS manager and the assistant came and knew exactly what I was talking about and told me how to take care of it. When I returned at the time he told me everything was taken care of. I thanked him and told him that he was one of the few on the ship that listened and how I appreciated that. The customer service manager was around the corner and came out and thanked me for recognizing him in that way. We saw her later at the Grove for St Jude’s and had a great conversation. I had a Princess had on. When we got to the cabin that night she had sent two Carnival hats up, a nice surprise.

 

 

 

The Paris theater entertainment was good. We have seen Motor city five times, but I love the live entertainment. The new Studio VIP was great. It was fun , lively and used passengers. I do miss having bands on board, especially on deck. I also miss the big band entertainment. They did have one, the Magic Tractor, and they were pretty good, at the casino bar. The singer and guitarist in the lobby were not so good. But the parties that they had after the entertainment with the CA Dee were great and a lot of fun. It was a good way to celebrate my birthday.

[AZbeachboy]

We had a great time, but there was to weaknesses on the cruise. The comedians on the ship were bad. One was fired and had to leave the ship after the first night. He was not funny and all he did was run around to the white women and say would you like to have a black man. The black women started to yell that they wanted something funny. That is was not a black and white thing. He said they were just jealous. Then he started to pick on a developmentally disabled man, a group home had taken a cruise together, and the so called comedian Smiley was unmerciful on him. Everyone left the show. So there was no G comedy throughout the cruise.

 

Much worse was the food and dinning situation. We had your time dinning. It actually went very well getting in and out. There seldom was line and you could get in anytime you wanted. But that should have been a clue. The first night the service was a bit inadequate but acceptable. The second night was my birthday and it was a bit better. The last two nights were unacceptable. There was not team. The waitress was doing four tables by herself. She had no assistant, no water person and had to do all the bar drinks. These were the share tables, three tables of eight and one of four that had two people.

 

I use to brag about Carnivals food. Not this time however. The first nights menu was not so good. I had the sea bass but the preparation was lousy and it tasted bad. One person had the Lasagna and only took two bites. She said it was the worst thing she had ever eaten. On another night my wife had the Chili Relleno. She eats them a lot here in Tucson, but she said it was horrible. The crust was not right and it had a strange taste. I thought the menus would get better after the first night, but they never did. I was very disappointed. On the breakfast side I had never had so many no’s when I asked for something. It was really a communications problem. As I left I saw other people having what I had ordered. This was a problem throughout the ship. People just did not seem to listen. After the first morning we began eating breakfast on the lido deck. That is the first time in 17 cruises we have done that. I don’t like buffets, but we had better breakfast and the service was just what we wanted.

 

I hope this is helpful to some. I tried to be fair. This is my first attempt at trying a review. Sorry I did not take pictures to upload.

Edited October 12, 2016 by AZbeachboy
spacing

[trudster57]

I was on this same cruise with you. I agree with you on the MDR. We had breakfast and did the Sea Day Brunch. Service was horrible. There has hardly anyone there but our food took forever to be served. Also we went to Tea Time and we had to ask for the food each time. They kept skipping our table even though we were right in the walkway aisle. Also we only had once room cleaning a day. It was a toss up if it would happen in the morning or a turn down service while we were at dinner. We still enjoyed ourselves but the service did go down.

[GradUT]

Makes me glad we chose the Imagination rather than the Inspiration for our recent cruise. We had service twice a day without asking; the food and service in the MDR were very good; the comics were funny and the productions shows were excellent!

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[BriBrizzle]

Thanks for the review. I was trying to decide between Imagination and inspiration for the next cruise

 

 

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[xbatt8]

And here I was looking forward to the Inspiration. :(

 

And you still should. First, there are 2,000 people on the ship, and I'm pretty sure that others had a completely different experience. Everyone sees things differently. What the OP was bothered by, others may have thought highly of. You just never know. Sometimes there is simply a bad section, and the OP had the misfortune of getting seated in that one.

 

Secondly, crews change on these ships. If there were some slow workers on this cruise, they may be gone by January 13th. To illustrate this, I was on the Inspiration in May, and I couldn't have been happier with the food or the service. I also had YTD, and my experience was great. The lasagna was delicious (I always order it), the service was quick and accommodating. Perhaps this great servers left and a new crew got on. But then again, you may get a better crew. You just never know.

 

Finally, go in expecting a great time and the chances are pretty good that you will find it. I've never seen a ship where the whole crew is bad. Sometimes you get unlucky (I've been unlucky a time or two myself), but most of the time you get excellent food and even better service.

 

I will be on the Inspiration in December and again in January. I expect to have great food and great service. Odds are I'll be right...:D

 

Bob

[louanne93]

And you still should. First, there are 2,000 people on the ship, and I'm pretty sure that others had a completely different experience. Everyone sees things differently. What the OP was bothered by, others may have thought highly of. You just never know. Sometimes there is simply a bad section, and the OP had the misfortune of getting seated in that one.

 

Secondly, crews change on these ships. If there were some slow workers on this cruise, they may be gone by January 13th. To illustrate this, I was on the Inspiration in May, and I couldn't have been happier with the food or the service. I also had YTD, and my experience was great. The lasagna was delicious (I always order it), the service was quick and accommodating. Perhaps this great servers left and a new crew got on. But then again, you may get a better crew. You just never know.

 

Finally, go in expecting a great time and the chances are pretty good that you will find it. I've never seen a ship where the whole crew is bad. Sometimes you get unlucky (I've been unlucky a time or two myself), but most of the time you get excellent food and even better service.

 

I will be on the Inspiration in December and again in January. I expect to have great food and great service. Odds are I'll be right...:D

 

Bob

 

Agree with everything you said!! We were on the Inspiration in April and had the same experience as you! I wouldn't hesitate to go again!

[AZbeachboy]

And you still should. First, there are 2,000 people on the ship, and I'm pretty sure that others had a completely different experience. Everyone sees things differently. What the OP was bothered by, others may have thought highly of. You just never know. Sometimes there is simply a bad section, and the OP had the misfortune of getting seated in that one.

 

Secondly, crews change on these ships. If there were some slow workers on this cruise, they may be gone by January 13th. To illustrate this, I was on the Inspiration in May, and I couldn't have been happier with the food or the service. I also had YTD, and my experience was great. The lasagna was delicious (I always order it), the service was quick and accommodating. Perhaps this great servers left and a new crew got on. But then again, you may get a better crew. You just never know.

 

Finally, go in expecting a great time and the chances are pretty good that you will find it. I've never seen a ship where the whole crew is bad. Sometimes you get unlucky (I've been unlucky a time or two myself), but most of the time you get excellent food and even better service.

 

I will be on the Inspiration in December and again in January. I expect to have great food and great service. Odds are I'll be right...:D

 

Bob

 

This was just a report on this one cruise. We always look forward to having a good cruise. This was the first time in 9 cruises with Carnival that the service in the MDR was disappointing. As you read, we were happy with our room steward although they are beginning to cut service there as well. I hope you did not see my whole review as being negative. I think there was plenty of positive there.

[xbatt8]

I hope you did not see my whole review as being negative.

 

Not at all. In fact, my post was predicated by the poster that I quoted where the author said that they WERE looking forward to their upcoming cruise. My post just told them that they should still look forward to the cruise as everyone has different experiences and that theirs might be completely different.

 

Bob

[woodman]

We loved the Inspiration when it was out of Tampa Fl. Must have been on it 5 or 6 times and they were all great. I'm sorry to say that Carnival just keeps getting worse, their new CEO has not helped the situation. I now have 4 cruises booked for next year but are getting second thoughts after our recent cruise on the Magic. We had the same complaints, the food and the entertainment or lack there of. Hope things get better.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

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