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We got off the Insperation today 4/3


TonyinFla

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We just got off the Insperation. Embarkation was easy, and quick. The pool and slides were open. The ship was in incredible physical shape. Clean, Clean, Clean.

 

It did blow one motor and we had to skip Grand Cayaman, and spend four days at sea. :D I don't care for Gran Cayman anyways. They had the second motor at 50% yestersday, but it was throwing a lot of black smoke.

 

It was a great trip! We are ready to get back on and go again.

 

We chose to carry our luggage off, and was in our car by 7:30 am and I was home in Venice by 8:45 A.M.

 

food = very good

service = incredible

fun = outstainding

our 15 year old daughter and her new friends = priceless.

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Okay, TonyinFla, you just made me giggle about my embarkation on Monday. You said it all without a lengthy review. I agree about Grand Cayman. Glad you had a good time, and glad I am finally leaving! Thanks, neighbor!

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We just got off the Insperation. Embarkation was easy, and quick. The pool and slides were open. The ship was in incredible physical shape. Clean, Clean, Clean.

 

It did blow one motor and we had to skip Grand Cayaman, and spend four days at sea. :D I don't care for Gran Cayman anyways. They had the second motor at 50% yestersday, but it was throwing a lot of black smoke.

 

It was a great trip! We are ready to get back on and go again.

 

We chose to carry our luggage off, and was in our car by 7:30 am and I was home in Venice by 8:45 A.M.

 

food = very good

service = incredible

fun = outstainding

our 15 year old daughter and her new friends = priceless.

Good to know the pool and slides were open on embarkation day. Just 13 days, 18 hours and thirty minutes before I'm on board. But hey, who's counting?:cool:
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We just got off the Insperation. Embarkation was easy, and quick. The pool and slides were open. The ship was in incredible physical shape. Clean, Clean, Clean.

 

It did blow one motor and we had to skip Grand Cayaman, and spend four days at sea. :D I don't care for Gran Cayman anyways. They had the second motor at 50% yestersday, but it was throwing a lot of black smoke.

 

It was a great trip! We are ready to get back on and go again.

 

We chose to carry our luggage off, and was in our car by 7:30 am and I was home in Venice by 8:45 A.M.

 

food = very good

service = incredible

fun = outstainding

our 15 year old daughter and her new friends = priceless.

 

Thanks again for the good report. I leave on 4/17 and hope that the mechanical problems are resolved by then, but I sure wish that Carnival would admit that there is a problem instead of blaming it on a medical evacuation...perhaps it was a combination of the 2 problems that you did not make it to Grand Cayman...some have spoken to their PVP and they have no knowledge of a problem...sounds like they are trying to keep it hush hush???

 

How long did it take to reach the Sunshine Skyway Bridge? I have passed under it before, but it is definitely an interesting sight.

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Thanks again for the good report. I leave on 4/17 and hope that the mechanical problems are resolved by then, but I sure wish that Carnival would admit that there is a problem instead of blaming it on a medical evacuation...perhaps it was a combination of the 2 problems that you did not make it to Grand Cayman...some have spoken to their PVP and they have no knowledge of a problem...sounds like they are trying to keep it hush hush???

 

How long did it take to reach the Sunshine Skyway Bridge? I have passed under it before, but it is definitely an interesting sight.

 

I just watched her go under sunshine skyway bridge it went under at 610

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there is a great store off the main drag..in more of a pedestrian onlywalking zone..it is called.. "Everything is $20"..great buys on stone-strung beady-type, and freshwater pearl jewelry..I got 2 great selections, there are some that are 2 for 20, and 3 for 20..great souvies. The Rum Cake "factory too!"

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To everyone we met on the cruise.... what a great time we all had!! It was so nice to see the girls bond.... the three of them had such a great time together. Anyone with teens - they all LOVED Club 02.......Tony - Bailey texted Porscha to tell her you guys were home! I laughed when I realized we just got off of the ship when you arrived at home! We got home at about 1115... not bad considering we got off the ship at 9am ( great embarkation and debarkation - totally painless).

 

This was a great cruise... just what I needed :) I loved our Cat 12 and are super happy I didnt settle for the Cat 11 - I would have been miserable. I spent many an hour on our balcony reading and basically loving life. The service on the entire cruise was really great....... esp our wait team. The casino was kind and then unkind but I wound up a little less than even, which isnt bad. Our bill was the cheapest yet (prob cause Hubby wasnt with me) but with the onboard credit that Carnival gave us, and my shareholder credit my bill was super cheap in the long run..... gotta love it.

 

Yes the ship had mechanical problems - we were going soooooo slow for days. Honestly I am not sure if they were fixed or not..... because of the problems Carnival gave everyone a $50 on board credit and then 25% off our next 3, 4 or 5 day cruise... thanks Carnival!!!

 

It was nice to meet other cc'ers around the ship... that always makes it a pleasant trip. We had no prob missing Grand Cayman either (been there multiple times, done that) and had a great day in Cozumel. All in all a great trip.

 

Now to figure out which cruise to book with our 25% discount - gotta love Carnival!!

 

Eva

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We just got off the Insperation. Embarkation was easy, and quick. The pool and slides were open. The ship was in incredible physical shape. Clean, Clean, Clean.

 

It did blow one motor and we had to skip Grand Cayaman, and spend four days at sea. :D I don't care for Gran Cayman anyways. They had the second motor at 50% yestersday, but it was throwing a lot of black smoke.

 

It was a great trip! We are ready to get back on and go again.

 

We chose to carry our luggage off, and was in our car by 7:30 am and I was home in Venice by 8:45 A.M.

 

food = very good

service = incredible

fun = outstainding

our 15 year old daughter and her new friends = priceless.

Got off the Inspiration 3/24. I agree about the ship. The new carpet and fabrics really spruced the ship up. The atrium bar was a nice addition as opposed to the very strange sculpture they had there. Food was very good and service was on the money.

The thing that was funny is on the first day before leaving is no one thought to pack (in their carry ons) swimsuits for the kids. The water park was up and running and all the kiddies were running through all the spray jets, fountians and going down the slides in their street clothes....It was very funny.....

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We go on the Inspiration 01/12/09, and have a Cat 12. Do you have any pictures? what can you tell us aboyt teh Cat 12??? Puleeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeee ;-)

 

I can do that for ya! I leave Monday and am in a cat 12. I will post pictures when I return.

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I am not sure if it was really a medical emergency, I spoke to people who witnesed a very intoxicated, very large, very violent person being "drug" off the ship... with a bleeding hand. The motor damage just "happened" at that time?

 

Peaceful: I live in Englewood Isles so we may be neighbors!

 

Bailey is still texting all her friends, I think they had a better time than I did, which would be tough to do.

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I was actually disappointed we did not get to grand cayman...it is one of our favorite ports and one of the reasons we chose this cruise. How do we use this 25% discount seeing as there was no voucher or explanation on how to use it?

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I was told by the info deck that its recorded with our past cruiser number. I always book through Carnival, so I figured I'd ask when I call. I kept the letter they put under our door. If they don't there'll be about 2 thousand really mad cruisers, and we can all hold our breath until we turn blue , and they give us our 25%.

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Peaceful: I live in Englewood Isles so we may be neighbors!

 

 

 

You are right, we are! We live in Rotonda. Lucky people to live here, aren't we? We are moving to Naples May 3rd, so this quieter, more laid back area will be in the past for us.

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We just went on the Inspiration on March 24th. Everything seemed fine when we were on it. If your itenerary was supposed to be like ours, you didn't miss much in G.C. We got in before dawn, and the last tender to get back on the ship was at 1pm, and with 5 ships there that day it took about 45 minutes to get on the tender. Just enough time to spend a couple hours at the beach.

 

And TonyinFla, I noticed that you have been on some of the same ships I went on with my parents in the late70s and early 80s, like the Norway, the Southward, and the Carnivale.

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We were on the same trip 3-29-08, and I had been to gc several times, but the trip was not for me, but for 2 daughters first trip and looked forward to gc. and cozmel, But overall ejoyed the slow time and doing nothing. enjoyed meeting new people.

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Please pardon my lack of nautical verbage and jargon. I've never been on a cruise. The Inspiration was our first.

==============================

All the 't's were crossed and all the 'i's dotted and there we were - finally - on the Carnival Cruise Ship Inspiration! Our first cruise ever and we had earned every minute we anticipated enjoying.

During the life boat drill we noticed a young man asking a pretty crew member about how to hook up his life vest and while she tried to answer him, he spun the vest around his neck like a hoola-hoop and staggered off.

We left port and exhausted from effort just to get there to vacation, we ate on the Lido Deck and went back to the cabin where we had a wonderful view of the sea and the channel markers. After pulling past the petroleum holding tanks with sea life painted on them, we headed to the bridge and out to sea. It was shortly after we passed the bridge that I noticed that the channel marker wasn't moving. Not at all. Scuttlebutt had it that someone was being removed due to a medical emergency. A conversation with another fellow passenger and his wife we were treated to the story of an out of control, disturbed, 'impaired' individual who insisted on going against the advice of a barkeep at the cigar bar to leave the fellow patrons alone, go to his state room and go to bed. Security would be called if he didn't. He left and came back. Security was called.

Again, according to the scuttlebutt, this individual was placed in restraints and removed from the now stopped ship. The sun was going down.

Back in our room, I could see the water slipping past the window and I tuned the TV to the channel that reported the heading, speed, winds, temps... etc. Nine knots... 10... 15...16. On the horizon I noticed a gray ship. It was keeping pace with us. Knot for knot, wave for wave, rolling trough for rolling trough.

It got darker.

Our cabin was right above the amidships gangway.

From the left, I saw a smaller boat drawing up closer and closer to the Inspiration. 'US COAST GUARD' was painted in large plain white print on the smaller boats bow. The larger ship kept it's distance. I could only assume that it was on 'our side'. A set of spot lights were shining at us... at the side of the Inspiration. Blue flashing strobe lights flashed their International Emergency message against the spray and wake of the Inspiration as she maintained her speed while the smaller vessel drew closer and closer and slowly disappeared below our range of view. Two huge outdoor motors created a spray that glowed in the pulsing blue lights mounted on the top of their tower. After a time, the smaller vessel came back into view, turned off it's lights and peeled off to join the other vessel still keeping pace at comfortable distance away.

Ok. I've seen the movies. "Pirates of the Carabean". I'm old enough to remember the 1985 seizure of the Achille Laurel. Blue lights can be put on any boat... the bad guys know how to spell US COAST GUARD.

So down to the Purser's desk I went. I asked the young lady with the adorable British accent if there was anything going on.

"We are just changing out the harbor pilot for the ship's pilot," she said.

"At 16 knots?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. I'm not aware of anything going on that you should be concerned about," she said waving her hand to the other passengers enjoying the music and alcohol.

I went back to my cabin and relayed the message -

"Don't worry, be happy."

The darkness was now full except for yet another boat again approaching the amidships gangway. Again, flashing blue lights. Flood lights in the window. Again, getting closer... and closer and closer.

We went to bed, exhausted from the work of going on vacation.

The next morning, Sunday, I looked out the window and there was no Coast Guard or channel marker to be seen. Someone was saying something on the hallway speaker. With the door closed, it sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. We opened the door to hear that the reason for stopping dead in the water was because a passenger had experienced a medical emergency and needed to disembark the ship. Disembark. Nice word. We were also informed that for reasons known only to the management of the ship, a decision had been made in the night to:

1) Continue on with the trip on only one engine.

2) To cancel the excursion to Grand Cayman Island and instead go directly to Cozumel instead.

3) Decide on behalf of all of the passengers on board to continue on with no option for the passengers to choose to do otherwise and reschedule or cancel.

Now, I must say that being offered a chance to spend only 75% of the suggested retail price to do this again at some future date (excluding holiday bookings - of course) before December 15 of next year is very, very tempting. Considering their very kind and generous offer coupled with the immediate refund of the cost of the unusable off ship activities like swimming with the sting rays and the kind and generous $50.00 refund not just for the group but for all three of us... a generous total of $150.00!

They gave me back my own money and refunded the $50.00 per person we would have had to pay as a 'harbor charge' if we had gone to Grand Cayman Island. So again, they generously gave me back money that belonged to me! Woo-hoo! Almost like the quarter machine in the casino.

That reminds me. I know people smoke. I don't mind if they want to kill themselves at all. What I do mind is their second hand smoke hastening the killing of yours truly and my family. The casino is loaded with NO SMOKING signs AND ashtrays. I could not stay in the casino due to the smoke. It literally forced me to wheeze my way down to my cabin to take a breathing treatment after I'd stayed too long in that toxic environment. I guess the ash trays won out over the no smoking signs.

Our room was spacious -those parts that we could use. The Murphy bed was let down and left down for the whole trip. It made a great place for my 16 year old to escape to when we all needed a place to sit. However, getting from one side of the room to the other where I slept required working around the suit cases and bowing low to the larger bed. I just assumed it was supposed to be left down... I guess it was... because it was left down.

Our Maître D' was fantastic. The working staff were all exceptional and accommodating to a fault. Each and every one. The whole 'on-ship' experience was great and would have been everything I'd wanted and paid for - had I bought 4 days at sea and one day in Cozumel.

My issue is with the management who decided to play disembarking medical emergency word games. I've watched enough COPS to know what a driver experiencing a medical emergency looks and acts like.

My issue is how Carnival made a big show of refunding my own money to me and explaining how seriously we would have been adrift had the problem with the widget flooded the whose-a-what’s-it and caused the what’s-it-called to short out the electrical thingies and kill both engines leaving us adrift exposed to the will of the Neptune’s wind and tides. They would have me thanking the Gods that the engine crapped out near Tampa. How fortunate!

No, wait a minute.

The medical emergency and where the engines crapped out have nothing to do with the other do they? I mean the guy being disembarked so close to Tampa was HIS good luck and ours since the engines um, uh, got restarted and technicians would be boarding in Cozumel so that explained the cancelling of Grand Cayman in favor of Cozumel since we needed to get there to pick up the engineers right? Right?

Dare devil harbor pilots leaping from a moving, heaving, pitching, rolling deck to a small rubber boat with two huge outboard motors creating a huge spray in the growing darkness of night with spot lights shining and emergency lights pulsing. That would be a show in and of itself. They should have offered to sell that to us along with the other memories from the trip. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise. They wouldn't lie to us would they?

For those of you who have no problem spending money to be given what someone decides to give you instead of what you paid for... I commend your ability to adjust. Tell ya what. I have an old Ford Tempo for sale. How about you pay me for a new BMW and I'll deliver the Tempo and we'll call it a day. I'll even throw in plates and title costs just cus I'm such a nice guy. I'll even give you a 25% discount on any future cars you might buy from me (not counting any cars you might want to buy that I don't want to sell you).

It just occurred to me that that old pirate call has whole new meaning and certainly good advice if you are going to be Carnival Cruising...

"Prepare to be boarded Matey" because like it or not... your holiday may be forced to walk the plank and you won't be able to do a thing about it.

Carnival should be commended for the weather, though. It was great!

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OK so explain to me how Carnival refunded your own money to you??? I thought it was quite generous that they gave a $50 on board credit to each person on board along with offering a 25% discount for a future booking. Sorry to tell you but the "port" charges of Grand Cayman do not equal to $50 a piece. (No such thing as a harbor charge). And yes, there was a mechanical problem - things happen. Things that are mechanical do break on occasion......

 

Some people arent meant to be cruisers and I am guessing that you and your family arent those types of people. We had a great cruise and I would go on the Inspiration again in a heartbeat. We met some wonderful CC'ers and my daughter met some great friends who I know will be friends for life.

 

Im sorry you didnt like your first cruise....... after 13 cruises for me you can tell I loved mine :)

 

Eva

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Tony and Eva!

I haven't been on in awhile but I just wanted to say that I am so glad our girls stay in touch! They have had so much fun! The cruise was awesome for Bill and I. It was perfect! The day we had in Cozumel was even better because of the engine problems. I have since booked another cruise..only my daughter will not be going. Her Spring Break isn't the same as mine.:( Have either of you been on the Liberty? I am not rushing it to get here...I really just wanted to use our discount and get it booked. I want to enjoy my Summer with K before she goes off to college!

Take care and keep in touch!

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