Carnival Inspiration Review May 29, 2008

[Travel Angel]

I have to say that this was not my most enjoyable cruise experience with Carnival and sadly must not provide a "glowing review" as someothers may have had on this ship.

 

Embarkation: After a short flight from JAX to TPA we arrived at approx. 10:45am and headed to baggage claim, where we were met by Blue One Transportation. Quick grabbed the bags and paid our $20.00 per person r/t fee and they carried our luggage from baggage claim to the air conditioned passenger bus en route to the pier. No waiting for other passengers to board the bus…. Just a quick and easy transfer to the ship. They advised that they would be outside the cruise terminal awaiting us when we arrived back to Tampa and no phone call was necessary. When arriving at the terminal at approx. 11:30am, it looked as if either the ship was not going to be full, or we just got lucky and the crowds were at a bare minimum. Check-in was a breeze and we were onboard at 12 noon on the Lido deck starting our adventure.

 

Our Stateroom: We were in a Category 5A ocean view w/ 2 portholes, stateroom # M7 on the Main Deck. I have to say that when looking into the stateroom from the entrance way, it was like looking thru binoculars at the ocean! Because this was a last minute booking these were the only ocean view that were available. In my past cruises I have had no problem being forward on the ship provided the seas were not to rough and the weather was cooperative, this was however not the case on this cruise as we were dealing with the wrath of the first named Tropical Storm of the season “Arthur”!!! Friday and Saturday were quite an adventure with the pitch and roll effect making the nights very rough due to the weather conditions and winds at approx. 45 kts.

I have to say that I was not really impressed with the overall changes in the staterooms after the recent refurbishments were implemented. The bedding was the usual Carnival Comfort bedding as experienced on previous sailings and certainly comfortable as in the past, but was not a noticeable improvement. The flat screen TV, did not make any impact on us either and unless at the right angle for viewing, could distort the picture as is a common problem with flat screen TV’s.. They eliminated the old corner floor table with lighting, and replaced with a small wall mounted shelf, I can only assume for space improvement, but could not really see the benefit in doing so. The ceiling lighting seemed different than what I recall in the past, but reminded me of those round stick on lights that are pushed in the center to turn on and off that you see advertised on TV infomercials to have light anywhere you need it w/out wiring !

The bathroom…. Who in the heck ever thought of that god awful blue rubber flooring they installed? Only one shelf to store things over the sink and barely enough storage below the sink to hold 1 roll of extra toilet tissue and one box of Kleenex. The shower area just seemed smaller than on previous sailings on newer ships and I guess I just missed the beautiful tile in the bathrooms that made it seem more enticing to the eyes. I thought we were in a cheap Motel 6 regarding the bathroom and its amenities. The shampoo and body wash dispensers were not labeled, so that was a challenge to figure out as although they were different colors, they both smelled the same and both of the same consistency!

 

Cabin Steward: Couldn’t tell you his name, he never came by to introduce himself, no card in the room with his name or how to reach him. This did not start of a positive feeling abut him and things only got worse. No beach towels in the room when arriving, no ice in the ice container, no bath robes provided in the closet, no instructions on how to use the safe in the closet…..needless to say, it was not a great start for sure ! We happened to see someone outside our stateroom cleaning next door, but it was not the cabin steward but he got us the items missing and filled our ice container when asked. He was unsure which part of the dispenser was the body wash and which was shampoo. We finally found our stateroom attendant later that night and even though he apologized for the missing items, he still never introduced himself or described his duties or when his hours of availability would be. I have cruised many times over the years and this is the first time that such poor customer service was ever displayed. And YES, I did discuss this with the head of housekeeping and they of course apologized, but the situation never improved. After using the beach towels for the day, we would place them in the bathroom on the floor to be replaced that evening, and low and behold, those 2 beach towels would be still lying on the floor when we returned to retire for the evening. Next morning, we would have to ask for new towels again each day and the cabin steward would ask me to bring the old towels to him for replacement! Again we spoke with the head of housekeeping and they said it would be discussed with our cabin steward again. Nothing changed for the remainder of the cruise and we just had come to the conclusion that this guy either just didn’t like his job, or his level of performance and our expectations did not seem to be anywhere close to one another !

 

The Ship: I have to say, for all the hype of these great improvements, I just didn’t see them other than the “Water Works” area which was apparently a major portion of the investment. Nice area and passengers of all ages seemed to really like this improvement, but please use caution when walking around the area due to potential slippage issues as it is a very dangerous if walking around the areas where water splashing and spillage occurred. I saw 9 people slip and fall within one hour while relaxing in the sun and enjoying the warm breezes, 2 of them being adults, and the remainder children. Some more thought regarding rubber matting on the outside edge of the area could have eliminated some potential injury to passengers. The miniature golf course….I guess they ran out of funds to make it more appealing with at least some landscaping, flowers, etc. It was as if Carnival again cut corners just to say they had added it to the ship, but certainly not as extravagant as those on Royal Caribbean ships, to say the least. The adults only Serenity area already looked worn and tired as many of the lounge cushions were stained and or torn. As for privacy, be assured that there is really no privacy as the port and starboard outdoor dining areas are directly above you and people looking over the railings have a direct view of folks below. The port side of the outside dining being the smoking section will allow ashes from people smoking above to blow and land onto those in the Serenity area directly below. The sheltered area for those wishing to stay out of the sun doubled as a storage area for cushions and chairs but looked more like a garage for golf carts! Don’t get me wrong, the concept is good, but just looked very cheap compared to other cruise lines using a similar adult’s only area. Public areas are on par for the Fantasy class ships, so nothing to really say about them although I must say that major congestion in the photo viewing area seemed to occur many times.

 

Dining: We had the 8:15 seating in the Mardi Gras dining room with George the Greek…..I will say that he did make the dining interesting and added humor at appropriate times. We were crammed into a table for 10 that should have been a table for eight for better comfort and enjoyment. There was literally no elbow room between guests and the location was near a service bar that caused problems for the head water and assistant to move around and serve everyone. Our table was a mix of (8) 45 – 60 year old passengers and (1) poor couple that were 21 years old ! We sat next to them and tried to make conversation to make them more at ease, but you could tell they felt very out of place. I told them they should go speak with George and see if they could be moved to a younger table of guests and we would understand, but after speaking with him, he advised that they could not be moved and they remained for the remaining dinners with our table.

I noticed something that really seemed quite odd to me and had never experienced on previous cruises. 2 birthdays were being celebrated at our table and 2 other table’s right next to us……the waiter would bring out a slice of cake with a lit candle, sing their happy birthday song, the guest would blow the candle out and then they would take that same slice of cake, go to another guest at our table and repeat the whole thing, then take the same piece of cake and use it at the tables next to us and repeat again…..but no one got a piece of cake to eat!!! Although our waiter and his assistant were very cordial to our table’s needs, it seemed that the chefs could not comprehend the concept of a well done steak. No matter how anyone ordered their steaks, they always came out rare and luke warm at best! Despite the many times steaks were sent back and replaced, still no better. As a lover of the famous chocolate melting cake, I have to say it was more like a liquid soup…..very disappointing to say the least and we found that the cheesecake was the only item that sufficed the majority of the table.

Two of our tablemates were part of a group of new travel agents (who went to a seminar and paid $500.00 for a website and the title of Travel Agent!) who felt compelled to get the other passengers at our table to book their next cruises with them and encouraged the others to become a travel agent like they had just become, so they too could reap the gazillions of dollars they were promised to make with this company they bought into ! Needless to say, we would try to change the subject and did not really care to hear their sales pitch!

 

Dining on the Lido deck for breakfast and lunch was the normal buffet style with many options to choose from, but I have to say that many of the passengers did not comprehend the concept of forming a line. Instead they would just come into the middle of the serving line and reach in for what their eyes saw that appealed to them without care of anyone around them! Pizza was good and popular as normal as was the sandwich station at any given time. Burgers and fries were always hot and juicy and actually better than I have had on other Carnival sailings.

 

Room Service: very fast, and we enjoyed the Caesar salads several nights along with the shrimp salad sandwiches for a late night bite!

 

Entertainment: This is where Carnival scored the highest marks in my eyes…. EXCELLENT singers, performers for the most part, and comedians and the disco and promenade guitar player attracted many folks…..Kudos to Carnival and their continued excellent selections of entertainment options.

 

Casino: Did not appear too smoky, but I did not venture in there to much to make donations…..Bar tenders outside the casino as throughout the ship were very cordial and not overly pushy at all.

 

Cruise Director: If I do not here “WoooHooo” anytime soon, it will not be soon enough. He was just plain annoying, but I think what hit me the worst about this guy was at the debarkation talk and his discussion of the guest comment cards (which were supposed to be delivered to our stateroom, but right on par, never arrived !). He was almost trying to tell you how to make your comments and that the ship had dropped form 3d place to forth and they were trying hard to get the ship back into the 3d position again so that the crew would be given a grand party for their improvements! I could care less if the crew gets rewarded a party, and how did a ship that just under went a major refurbishment drop to 4th place, crossed my mind? He also advised of the tipping and said it is customary to tip the Maitre D’ $20 to $30.00 on the last night and that many passengers will tip upwards of $50.00! Huh???? I have yet to tip that type of figure to this person and I am by no means one that tips less than the customary amount and usually more for excellent service! He suggested to just place your gratuity in the envelope provided in your stateroom (Guess what??? That envelope sure made it to our stateroom!), and the Maitre D’ would be at the entrance to the dining room and gladly accept the gratuity! Don’t get me wring, and I do understand his responsibilities in the training and overseeing of the dining experience, but I just cannot justify that type of gratuity unless he did something above and beyond the call of duty.

 

Ports of Call: We only were in Cozumel and the weather did not really fair well for us due to the impending Tropical storm, but we made the best of the day and went to Nachi Cocom for a relaxing day at the beach with some great food and beverages. The service was wonderful and I would encourage others who have not yet visited this tranquil area to do so on your next visit to Cozumel.

 

Debarkation: Again, just as simple and efficient as the embarkation. We were off the ship by 9am and going thru customs was a breeze…. Our prearranged transfers were awaiting as promised and we were to the airport at 10am for an 11:40 flight w/out a hitch! If the cruise had gone as smoothly as the embarkation/debarkation, it could have been the perfect cruise I believe.

 

I have sailed all the classes of vessels in the Carnival fleet and must say that despite this major refurbishment which I prefer to call “Putting lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig no matter how you look at it”, was probably the poorest cruise experience I have had of all the sailings with Carnival and I am sure that some folks may or may not disagree and will have some negative thoughts to say regarding this review, based on their sailing on this ship. But as for me, I will be writing a personal letter to Carnival regarding my dissatisfaction experienced on this sailing, without looking for any compensation, but more so to provide them my personal experience.

 

I will continue to sail with Carnival in the future, as well as suggest Carnival to clients who qualify for the overall Carnival experience delivered.

 

Perhaps I went in with higher expectations after reading the glowing reviews about this ship, but in the end, at best, I can only give this overall cruise experience on this sailing a rating of 3.5 based on a 1 – 10 scale.

[GAMOM4]

We have not been on the Inspiration but we are wanting to book a cruise on it. I hate to hear that you didn't have a good time - there was a large group of young people from our town that were on that same cruise. Each student had to be accompanied by a parent - and I haven't talked to any of them to see if they enjoyed their cruise. I know that they all were really excited - so I hope they weren't too disappointed.

[Carnival Game]

Another cruise director that Woo-Hoo's besides Malcolm?

 

Sorry your cruise was a disappointment.

[Kurbanfan]

That's not good:(

Oh and that travel agent scheme.....if it's like what is going around out here it is like a pyramid scheme. We have a guy at work that bought into it. Knows absolutely nothing about traveling:rolleyes: Can't believe people are so naive.......

[Travel Angel]

We have not been on the Inspiration but we are wanting to book a cruise on it. I hate to hear that you didn't have a good time - there was a large group of young people from our town that were on that same cruise. Each student had to be accompanied by a parent - and I haven't talked to any of them to see if they enjoyed their cruise. I know that they all were really excited - so I hope they weren't too disappointed.

 

We saw many parents with their young children (many graduation students) and they looked to be having a good time overall and were in now way obnoxious at all.... there were 600 small children onboard and you would have never known it... they stayed quite busy in Camp Carnival. There were some teens and young adults that caused a little ruckus at times, but Security did a very good job of keeping them in line. We did run into a guy (maybe 22 years old at best) on an elevator that sad "You better believe there is a jail onboard this boat"..."I just got out of there" !!! He said he was caught streaking on the back of the ship and was told that they could press charges against him if they wanted to, but elected not to since he cooperated with them and agreed to sober up in a cell for a couple hours! What was funny is this guy was actually bragging that he was in jail.... go figure :D

 

I can only hope their experience was better than ours.....sometimes expectations can be a disappointment when not fufilled, but then again it is all a matter of personal opinion.

[Travel Angel]

Another cruise director that Woo-Hoo's besides Malcolm?

 

Sorry your cruise was a disappointment.

 

Cruise Director "Felipe" ... and yes he was a WoooooHooooo'er !

[Travel Angel]

That's not good:(

Oh and that travel agent scheme.....if it's like what is going around out here it is like a pyramid scheme. We have a guy at work that bought into it. Knows absolutely nothing about traveling:rolleyes: Can't believe people are so naive.......

Yep... pyramid scheme is what it is... they were trying to explain all of that to us as well and why we needed to recruite others if we elected to join ! I never made mention that I was a TA to them, as I did not want to get into a discussion of what they really got led to believe was far from the truth that they were sold ! If you saw the people that hooked up with this investment, it was obvious they had no clue about the travel business !

[MississippiMom]

I am sorry that your cruise wasn't as good as it should have been. It certainly sounds like your cabin steward (or his boss) could have made it run a lot smoother for you. It is very frustrating when someone in the service industry fails to perform to the level of service that you expect (and pay for).

 

I do have some questions, if you don't mind.

 

First, did you ask if you could change cabins? (Many years ago, I found out the hard way that I'm not a fan of forward cabins.)

Why did they have ten people at an eight person table? (Does this mean that the dining room was completely full?)

Will you clue is on the port excursions that you took? (Or is that info on the port of call board?)

Thanks!

[Travel Angel]

I am sorry that your cruise wasn't as good as it should have been. It certainly sounds like your cabin steward (or his boss) could have made it run a lot smoother for you. It is very frustrating when someone in the service industry fails to perform to the level of service that you expect (and pay for).

 

I do have some questions, if you don't mind.

 

First, did you ask if you could change cabins? (Many years ago, I found out the hard way that I'm not a fan of forward cabins.)

Why did they have ten people at an eight person table? (Does this mean that the dining room was completely full?)

Will you clue is on the port excursions that you took? (Or is that info on the port of call board?)

Thanks!

 

 

Yes it is for certain distressing that someone in the service field is not reprimanded for their lack of customer service.... others who had the same cabin steward we spoke with said theyhad similiar issues with him as well and reported him accordingly.

 

The ship was at full capacity and no stateroom to change to... the stateroom being forward was not the real issue... I knew what COULD occur if rough seas were imminent in advance......but no options at the time of booking or during the cruise to take advantage of.

 

The dining room table I honestly believe was designed for 8 passengers as I saw larger tables that accommodated 10 passengers.....Dining room was full w/out an empty table that I could see within a clear view !

 

We booked our own excursion at Nachi Cocom thru Island Marketers..... if you will go to the Cozumel ports of call boards there are highmarks and some good threads regarding this excursion. We have been there on 2 other occassions and always enjoyed our relaxing experience while there.

 

If you have more questions.... ask away and I will try to appease ! :D

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

The room steward not introducing his or herself is not a big deal to me. I am an experienced cruiser as are you and I know what their job is without having to have it explained to me.

 

I would not have reported him for this but other cleaning issues yes if he had not corrected said issues.

 

As far as the birthday cake, that is just WEIRD!

 

Why would they pass around the same piece of cake for 4 people?

 

Begging for tips on behalf of the maitre' d is just plain annoying. I get tired of hearing it. Unless he does something for me personally I am not going to add to his already decent salary.

 

I have a hard time accepting the fact that the Maitre'd personally assigns each passenger to a table. I am willing to bet a computer does this automatically. It is not humanly possible for one man to sit at a computer and assign 3,000 people to dinner tables. On top of that breaking them down to age groups singles, etc.

 

At any rate I am sorry you had a less than great cruise.

 

There is always next time!

[Caribbreeze]

Thanks for the balanced review.

I wish, for your sake, that there hadn't been so many things to balance.

I hope, for my sake, that they iron out the wrinkles. We are scheduled for the Inspiration in December and this is a little disheartening. I would have been very put out by the service issues you mentioned, and the birthday cake...OMG. There's a chance we may have to re-schedule for after the first of the year. Maybe that won't be a heartbreak after all.

[Travel Angel]

The room steward not introducing his or herself is not a big deal to me. I am an experienced cruiser as are you and I know what their job is without having to have it explained to me.

 

I would not have reported him for this but other cleaning issues yes if he had not corrected said issues.

 

As far as the birthday cake' date=' that is just WEIRD!

 

Why would they pass around the same piece of cake for 4 people?

 

Begging for tips on behalf of the maitre' d is just plain annoying. I get tired of hearing it. Unless he does something for me personally I am not going to add to his already decent salary.

 

I have a hard time accepting the fact that the Maitre'd personally assigns each passenger to a table. I am willing to bet a computer does this automatically. It is not humanly possible for one man to sit at a computer and assign 3,000 people to dinner tables. On top of that breaking them down to age groups singles, etc.

 

At any rate I am sorry you had a less than great cruise.

 

There is always next time![/quote']

 

In my eyes, a "tone" is set when the stateroom attendant makes an effort to at minimum introduce their self to their guests..... that was not an issue that was even discussed with the head of housekeeping... it was the lack of service he was providing....

 

I was just as shocked as you regarding the cake hand off to several b.day recipents....I have never seen this done before ! And what was odd is it happened AFTER the meal including dessert having been served and the tables being cleared !

 

The begging of tips really annoys me... we already have to deal with that with porters, shore tour guides, etc... and for the cruiseline to stoop to this level of strongly suggesting the tipping to me is just there way of maintaining a current payroll w/out increasing the staff wages....bottom line could this be a hidden surcharge (by way of a strong message to provide more tips to staff) in sheeps clothing ??

 

I chalk this up as a less than positive cruise experience and it could have happened on ANY cruiseline, but despite the problems, they could not take away the warm caribbean breeze in my face and the drink(s) in my hand !

[Travel Angel]

Thanks for the balanced review.

I wish, for your sake, that there hadn't been so many things to balance.

I hope, for my sake, that they iron out the wrinkles. We are scheduled for the Inspiration in December and this is a little disheartening. I would have been very put out by the service issues you mentioned, and the birthday cake...OMG. There's a chance we may have to re-schedule for after the first of the year. Maybe that won't be a heartbreak after all.

 

Well I am glad that you found it balanced... I am sure there will be some cheerleaders out there that will totally disagree with my review, and thats OK... I feel a true review beit bad or good is important for others to hear about.

 

I do hope that your cruise is a more pleasant experience than mine was and perhaps my stateroom attendant just was having a bad week.... As we were debarking the ship, he just turned his back on us rather than bid us farewell, but his assistant said thank you.....

[graysonsgee]

my daughters just arrived home today from this cruise...and they give it a 9 out of 10 based on the weather which carnival had nothing to do with....and they thought Felipe was great....their shampoo and shower gel were labeled and directions to using the safe were on the front of the safe...and people sitting at their table received a piece of cake for their birthday and got to eat it as well...as for the slippery area around the slide they agreed...but said they thought the rubbery floor in the bathroom seem to be a great idea as we have tile at home and it is quite slippery without a rug....they thoroughly enjoyed their cruise...especially the karaoke since she sang the whole time....their cabin steward introduced himself within the first 20 minutes or so...and did everything above and beyond what was asked...the only problem they had was flight home cancelled so had to stay an extra nite in tampa....but they give the inspiration a big ole A+:)

[marktac]

Sorry you didn't get what you expected. We were on the Inspiration May 15, and after 8 Carnival cruises and 6 on other lines, I thought they were pretty much excellent across the board.

 

I agree with the "Woo-hoo". I just put it off to his "tag" and didn't let it get to me.

 

Weather being what it is, and getting a bow cabin, as a TA you probably knew what you were getting into. That has to be taken as it is.

 

We had an excellent steward (never had a bad one!). Our shampoo and body wash were labeled on the side of the container near the push button. Also, our cabin had instructions on a placard right on the safe. They are the same on most all the Carnival ships, I believe. Surely this wasn't the first one you've seen, was it?

 

Carnival used to bring a birthday cake when they sang. They stopped that a few years ago. I didn't see personally what they brought when we were on board, but did hear them sing.

 

I never was thrilled with the large tables. They all seem a bit too crowded for me, but I'm a big guy.

 

The waterworks area was no more slippery than the area around the pool. Just have to be careful on wet wood decks.

 

I agree with the mini golf. We enjoyed it in the 40 knot winds, but it was a bit sparse. The wind may be the reason, however.

 

We found the ship to be very clean, and with the exception of the broken glass at the back of the elevators (probably from the luggage racks), saw no overt signs of wear and tear, even on the Serenity area. Sure, not much privacy, but they never advertised it as private, just kid free.

 

We're back on the Inspiration in Sept. and I'm looking forward to another excellent cruise. Thanks for your post.

[Travel Angel]

my daughters just arrived home today from this cruise...and they give it a 9 out of 10 based on the weather which carnival had nothing to do with....and they thought Felipe was great....their shampoo and shower gel were labeled and directions to using the safe were on the front of the safe...and people sitting at their table received a piece of cake for their birthday and got to eat it as well...as for the slippery area around the slide they agreed...but said they thought the rubbery floor in the bathroom seem to be a great idea as we have tile at home and it is quite slippery without a rug....they thoroughly enjoyed their cruise...especially the karaoke since she sang the whole time....their cabin steward introduced himself within the first 20 minutes or so...and did everything above and beyond what was asked...the only problem they had was flight home cancelled so had to stay an extra nite in tampa....but they give the inspiration a big ole A+:)

 

 

I am so happy to hear that your daughters had a wonderful experience, and please don't misunderstand me in the review as appearing as totally negative.....I complimented Carnival on the entertainment in all apsects, it was just plain good and made us forget about some of the negatives when we most needed it. There is usally a placard in the cabinet with the safe, but apparnetly the previous cruisers felt it was an important souvenier to take with them as it was not to be found in the cabin anywhere ! :D There was a place on the dispensers for labels... it just was not labeled or someone had removed them because I looked in the stateroom next door in the morning and it was labled, so we finally were able to tell which was which, since no one could give us a definite answer ! Sorry to hear about the cancelled flight, but hey, an extra day of vacation is not always a bad thing !

 

Sorry you didn't get what you expected. We were on the Inspiration May 15, and after 8 Carnival cruises and 6 on other lines, I thought they were pretty much excellent across the board.

 

I agree with the "Woo-hoo". I just put it off to his "tag" and didn't let it get to me.

 

Weather being what it is, and getting a bow cabin, as a TA you probably knew what you were getting into. That has to be taken as it is.

 

We had an excellent steward (never had a bad one!). Our shampoo and body wash were labeled on the side of the container near the push button. Also, our cabin had instructions on a placard right on the safe. They are the same on most all the Carnival ships, I believe. Surely this wasn't the first one you've seen, was it?

 

Carnival used to bring a birthday cake when they sang. They stopped that a few years ago. I didn't see personally what they brought when we were on board, but did hear them sing.

 

I never was thrilled with the large tables. They all seem a bit too crowded for me, but I'm a big guy.

 

The waterworks area was no more slippery than the area around the pool. Just have to be careful on wet wood decks.

 

I agree with the mini golf. We enjoyed it in the 40 knot winds, but it was a bit sparse. The wind may be the reason, however.

 

We found the ship to be very clean, and with the exception of the broken glass at the back of the elevators (probably from the luggage racks), saw no overt signs of wear and tear, even on the Serenity area. Sure, not much privacy, but they never advertised it as private, just kid free.

 

We're back on the Inspiration in Sept. and I'm looking forward to another excellent cruise. Thanks for your post.

 

The woohoo was eventually ignored, but was annoying !

 

I am well aware how to work the safe, it was the observation that it was missing and should have been there. What if it had been a new passenger to Carnival and they did not know how to work the safe ? I merely thought it should be there for future passengers and was trying to help out.

 

There is an excessive amount of water from splashing, over spill, etc in this area (but could have been beciase there were lottsa kids on our sailing and they were having a blast). There were also the little toddlers playing in the area right next to the dual slides that turned into a mini pool area for them to splash water on the wood flooring possibly more than normal, thus my suggestion of a rubber flooring say 3 ft. wide, surrounding the area as a buffer to avoid possible injuries.

 

Overall the ship was clean, but often found that on the lido deck seating areas by the pools, had continuously dirty tables even into the late hours of the evening, filled with spilled drinks, empty cups, dirty plates, that just were being left there for long periods of time and not being seen about on almost every day.

 

I hope your Sept. sailing on her, meets or exceeds all your expectations....

[S.S.Oceanlover]

The room steward not introducing his or herself is not a big deal to me. I am an experienced cruiser as are you and I know what their job is without having to have it explained to me.

 

I would not have reported him for this but other cleaning issues yes if he had not corrected said issues.

 

As far as the birthday cake' date=' that is just WEIRD!

 

Why would they pass around the same piece of cake for 4 people?

 

Begging for tips on behalf of the maitre' d is just plain annoying. I get tired of hearing it. Unless he does something for me personally I am not going to add to his already decent salary.

 

I have a hard time accepting the fact that the Maitre'd personally assigns each passenger to a table. I am willing to bet a computer does this automatically. It is not humanly possible for one man to sit at a computer and assign 3,000 people to dinner tables. On top of that breaking them down to age groups singles, etc.

 

At any rate I am sorry you had a less than great cruise.

 

There is always next time![/quote']

 

Ron,

I was on the Liberty awhile back and a friend from CruiseCritic was sailing on her a few months after me and asked me to get the Maitre'ds contact info because they had special needs for the dining room.

 

I got their email addresses and they said to contact them a couple of weeks before their cruise to have the issue taken care of.

 

When they contacted the Maitre'd they told them that the seating was done in Miami and they couldn't help.

 

Why they didn't just tell me this from the beginning I have no idea.:confused:

 

Bill

[shebring02lx]

Cruise Director "Felipe" ... and yes he was a WoooooHooooo'er !

 

 

Tory on the Sensation is a woooohoooo'er too!

[Travel Angel]

Tory on the Sensation is a woooohoooo'er too!

 

Must be a fleet wide "tag" for the cruise directors.... :D

[shebring02lx]

Cruise Director "Felipe" ... and yes he was a WoooooHooooo'er !

 

 

Tory on the Sensation is a woooohoooo'er too!

[Breapril]

Angel, If you went to a baseball game and the vendors did not come around to offer you peanuts, popcorn, or a soda as often as you would have liked...would you say it was a lousy game?

To give your cruise a grade of 3.5 out of 10 because your shampoo wasn't labled or you didn't have instructions on your safe, or you didn't like the blue mat in the bathroom is so nitpicking that I'm glad I wasn't on your cruise and one of the 10 people sitting at your 8 person table.

You can't go on a cruise with the attitude that "I've paid my money, now everything better be perfect". A cruise is what YOU make of IT. It's about the people you meet and the things you do. Not the room steward or the M'D or the cruise director.

I'm sure there were plenty of things not "perfect" on any of the cruises I've been on...I just can't remember them. But I've got many new friends from all of the country that I keep in contact with. And I've got plenty of fond memories of every cruise. I just don't have any negative memories because I chose to have a good time before I went.....and I did.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Thanks for your review - looking forward to being back onboard the Inspiration at the end of this month.

 

Do you recall the name of the band in the Avant-Garde lounge?

 

Tom

[Athena345]

Wow...I was on the Inspriation on May 24th sailing and I had a whole different experiance...

 

Maybe it was because this was our first cruise?

 

First, I didn't really care if I met my cabin steward...as it turns out I did meet him and we always had our room cleaned twice a day.

 

I liked the Whoooo Hoooo's from Felipe! Your on vacation for crying out loud!!!:)

 

The only thing I didn't like was the debarcation talk was nothing more than getting more tips for people! Oh well...

 

Oh and yes the bathrooms were WAY small, but really you are on a boat! I wasn't expecting the Ritz!!! AND, in reality this was a somewhat "cheaper" cruise!! We paid $1300 total for an ocean view M31 room. For everything we got on the ship I didn't think that was to awful of a price.

 

OH and we had a bad location of our dinner table as well, but I didn't let that bother me! The food made up for that!

[LHP]

Well I am glad that you found it balanced... I am sure there will be some cheerleaders out there that will totally disagree with my review, and thats OK... I feel a true review beit bad or good is important for others to hear about.

 

I do hope that your cruise is a more pleasant experience than mine was and perhaps my stateroom attendant just was having a bad week.... As we were debarking the ship, he just turned his back on us rather than bid us farewell, but his assistant said thank you.....

 

Hey, it is what it is. Everyone has things that make their cruise "experience" good or bad for them and I certainly don't fault you for things you would like to see improved. Thanks for a balanced review with lots of detail. Even complaints are great if they are detailed so that the reader can decide for themselves if it is an important issue to them!!

 

Our Holiday cruise in December was not up to par...but if you cruise as much as we do...you are going to run across them every now and then!!

 

The Legend last month made up for it in Spades. It was fabulous!!

 

Hope your next one is all Aces!!! :D

[steve4040]

Yes, I have read many glowing reviews on the Inspiration. However, as the OP described, he got lackluster service from the cabin attendant from the get go. This does create a poor first impression. The strange behavior with the Birthday cake would further give the impression that this crew was providing a half-hearted effort. After these experiences, I would not be to sympathetic towards the information that the crew's ranking had gone from 3rd to 4th place. If some members of the team are providing a half-a***ed effort, then the team is not going to be as successful as before.

 

Now you throw in a storm with rough seas,( which is not Carnivals' fault) which would make most people uncomfortable, and you have the ingredients for more dissatisfaction.

 

I have only cruised one other time, and that was years ago. But in my few months on cruise critic, I have checked out info on other cruise lines and it seems that Carnival is more successful than most at providing a consistent product. I expect things to go well on my cruise in July.