Inspiration 1/12/09 Review and Pics

[jsome72]

Background: This cruise was just me and DW (carm225). This was my 3rd cruise and her 4th, all on Carnival. Hopefully this will provide an honest assessment of our trip on the Inspiration from Tampa Jan 12-17.

 

Pre-Cruise: We were flying out of Flint on Sunday morning so we went down on Saturday afternoon and stayed at the Sleep Inn near the airport. This was a typical airport type hotel, not great but certainly doable for one night. We were up very early Sunday morning to go to the airport for a 6:40 flight. We flew Delta for what we both think was the first time. Everything went pretty smoothly with them. After a short layover in Atlanta we were headed to Tampa and on the ground there by around 12:30 I believe. Our pre-cruise hotel was the Residence Inn in downtown Tampa which I got on Priceline for $95. For that price this hotel was excellent and I would highly recommend it to anyone staying in Tampa before a cruise. The hotel did offer a shuttle anywhere within a couple of miles and we took advantage of that and went down to Channelside in the afternoon. The Legend was boarding and getting ready to depart so we went to Bennigans and watched as people boarded. After that we hung around the hotel a bit and went to bed knowing that the next day we would be boarding the Inspiration for 5 days of relaxation!

 

 

Legend:

[jsome72]

Embarkation/Day 1, Jan 12: We took the shuttle at about 10:30 and arrived at the pier about 10 mins before they started letting people inside. We waited in line for the short time and then quickly went through security and through registration. I was thinking at this point that we would be on the ship by around 11:30 but it was not to be, as the ship must have taken a bit longer to clear customs. We were on the ship by noon so there was no complaining there. The waiting area did get very busy for the last 15 mins or so before boarding started. We spent the rest of day one exploring the ship and checking out the new areas of the Fantasy class ships.

Day 2, Fun Day at Sea, Jan 13: Got up early and went up on deck for coffee. The weather was decent, not very warm, but no rain. Little did we know that this would be some of the best weather we would see all week! The rain came later that morning and washed out the Lido activities. Most ended up being held in the Promenade area. I believe the rain lasted most of the day if not all. I spent most of the day in the casino while DW read on the Promenade much of the day. We planned all day on going to the Love and Marriage game but I felt sick after lunch so I took a nap and just slept through it. I think maybe my Lido burger was undercooked or perhaps I ate too much as I had a burger, chicken strips, fries and an ice cream cone! I was fine after my nap and it was back to enjoying my fun day at sea! We attended the show this night. It was “Shout” and it was fairly average.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jsome72]

More pictures of the ship....

 

 

Theatre:

 

 

 

 

Casino:

[jsome72]

Day 3, Grand Cayman, Jan 14: Awoke to fairly high seas and some spotty showers. I was thinking that maybe we would not be able to tender in but luckily I was wrong! We tendered in at around 9:00 and walked around GC a bit. We had just been here in April and did the stingray, hell and turtle farm so we did not plan on anything other than walking around and doing a bit of shopping/exploring. We did this and thought a bit about snorkeling before deciding against it. It turned out to be a pretty warm morning, quite humid but still cloudy. We decided to head to Margaritaville for lunch before heading back to the ship. Once back on the ship the clouds parted and the sun came out! We headed out on deck for some time in the sun and a drink! We stayed out for about an hour and enjoyed the warm sunshine of the Caribbean! We knew we were lucky as it was -20 at home that morning! They did three shows this evening, the variety show twice, and the showcase of stars at 10:30. The variety shows were at 7:00 for the late seating diners and 8:30 for the early diners. We did not eat in the dining room at all on this trip so we went to the 7:00 show. The illusionist was Mark Miller who I thought really didn’t do too much at all, quite disappointing actually. The comedian was JR McCollom who was very funny, I thought he did a great job! After the show I got up and was getting ready to head to the exit when one of the most amazing yet rude scenes began to take place. Let me first say that there were a ton of quite elderly people on this cruise who seemed to me to be a bit rude and pushy much of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I also talked to some elderly who were perfectly pleasant but I think a couple of groups may have given them all a bad rep. Anyway, as we were going to leave the theatre a group of maybe 40 or 50 older folks rushed the theater! I’m not kidding here people, they were literally jumping over seats to get to ones we were vacating! It was one of the strangest things I had ever seen. This scene would replay itself on the final sea day during the changeover in shows. We didn’t go to the showcase of stars as we were quite tired but I believe that we watched most of it television over the next couple of days and I must say that there were a couple of older gentlemen that had fantastic and deep voices, some of the best guest talent I have ever seen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jsome72]

Day 4, Cozumel, Jan 15: Woke up early as usual and got my coffee, it was raining like crazy up on deck and very foggy. I watched as we got closer to Cozumel and the weather began to clear up a bit. It would turn out to be a decent day with cloudy skies and temps in the mid-70’s. We docked at 11:00 and headed off the ship. This was our first time docking at Puerta Maya and I thought that the new port area was very nice. If one did not want to go into downtown they would not have to with all the shops at the pier. We walked around a bit and then took a cab downtown as we were planning to go to Cozumel Mini Golf! The putt-putt course is three blocks back from the ocean and it was interesting to see what Cozumel is like away from the main drag. When we arrived the course was not yet open so we walked around a bit more popping in and out of shops. We were looking for a sink, yep, that’s right, a sink! We went back to the putt-putt which was now open and played our round. It is a very nice course and we had a wonderful time, I would highly recommend stopping by! After golf we were ready for lunch so we headed back to the main drag to Panchos! We had printed coupons for free margaritas and ordered those. They were VERY STRONG!!! The Panchos food was good and the atmosphere is perfect! After lunch we really dove into our quest for the sink! We had looked at them in April when we were there but at that time lived in a small house and didn’t have a spot for one. We have since sold our house and bought a larger one with a bathroom perfect for an authentic Mexican sink. Sure we could order off ebay and have it shipped right to our home but why do that when you can search store after store for the perfect one and then lug it back to Michigan in your carry-on?! After a long search we settled on a sink and bartered it down from $80 to $55. We figured we would be carrying it enough in the airports so we hailed a cab back to Puerta Maya. We dropped our treasure off at the ship, rested for a bit and then went back and explored the port area further. Having 9 hours in port is very nice, it gives plenty of time to do whatever you please. Toward the end of the day the wind started picking up, giving us just a hint of what was to come after we left. Back on board time was not until 7:30 and therefore there was no show this night. It was replaced with activities such as battle of the sexes and what’s in the bag. The evening culminated with meetings of the red team and blue teams and a meeting of the two teams on deck for the deck party. We did not attend this as again we were quite tired…can anyone tell at this point we are not exactly night people?!

Panchos:

Carrying that darn sink!

[jsome72]

Day 5, Fun Day at Sea, Jan 16: Finally, a bright sunny day!!! Wait, there’s a problem! The winds were sustained at 40 MPH throughout the day with waves at 14 feet! There were some hearty souls who laid out in the sun on the Lido deck but most folks stayed inside and enjoyed the activities throughout the day. With the extreme winds guests were not allowed access to any open decks above the Lido and we also could not go out on any of the side decks on any other floors. I spent some time in the casino and we also played a couple of games of Bingo. I played in the Texas Hold ‘Em tournament in the morning and finished third…too bad only the top 2 cashed! The entry for this tournament is $60 and assuming 10 people pay they pay $350 to win and $250 for second. We went to the question and answer session regarding life on the ship which was quite interesting. Thought about the gally tour but there were a ton of people there for it so we passed. The show this night was Fiesta Latina, again with the late seating at 7:00 and early at 8:30, again with the rushing of seats after the first showing! This show was decent, very enjoyable. JR McCollum was back with a late night comedy show this night which we wanted to go to but just couldn’t stay up for!

Day 6, Debarkation, Jan 17: Always the worst day off the cruise, the day you get off! We decided against doing self-assist as we were in no rush to get off the ship. The ship didn’t clear customs until about 8:15 or so due to a couple of groups of non-us citizens not reporting to the lounge until being called on the PA a number of times! Once cleared the self-assist folks left the ship and boy were there a ton of them! I don’t think that they started calling numbers until about 9:30 and I believe we were off at around 10. Customs was very efficient and after decided against going over to the aquarium we headed back to the airport, sad that another wonderful cruise had come to an end.

 

Waves don't look so big in the pictures:

[jsome72]

Misc Stuff: We had both been on Fantasy and were anxious to see what the new stuff was like. Waterworks is awesome, the enclosed slide is extremely fast! The Serenity area was very comfortable but too small, it was always very crowded no matter what the weather. There are areas of the ship that are showing her age, particularly the bathrooms in the staterooms. The newer vessels seem to have laid them out a bit better. The elevators were also in desperate need of a makeover as they were very worn. Other than that the ship is in excellent shape for her age. We did decide that we like longer cruises a bit better but agreed that we would sail Fantasy class again if need be. Our cruise director was Felipe Couto who was very good. He seemed to always be out and about and was so happy to have his parents on board cruising with him for the first time in 5 years! The entertainment staff consisted of Asst. Cruise Director Hennie, Lil John, Smithy and Pip, they did a very nice job as it seems the entertainment staff always does. Our cabin steward was Pholthong from Thailand, he was the best we had ever had, first class all the way! Some folks may have let the small things such as pushy old people and crappy weather ruin their cruise but we did not. It was another excellent cruise as they all seem to be! We are looking forward to booking our next one, probably October of 2010!

 

 

Misc. Pictures:

 

 

Love those Carnival comfort beds:

 

And the robes....

 

DW sent me a Bon Voyage gift:

 

Muster Drill:

[crusinpsychRN]

Can you tell me when you get off the tender which way is Margarittaville?

[carm225]

All of our pictures are in the link in my signature.....some of them are in there more than once for some reason. Sorry about that - don't have the time right now to delete all of them....Laundry to do!

[lostinohio]

Thanks for the review and pics. I am going on the Inspiration in April and love to read anything about it.

[starstruck05]

can you tell me where you got the coupons to Pancho's?

[jsome72]

Can you tell me when you get off the tender which way is Margarittaville?

 

 

Simply get off the tender and walk across the street!

[jsome72]

can you tell me where you got the coupons to Pancho's?

 

DW will have to answer that one. I believe they have a website and she got them on there but I am not 100% positive.

[carm225]

can you tell me where you got the coupons to Pancho's?

 

 

I did a yahoo search for Los Cinco Soles...and on their website you can print the coupons for the margaritas...but beware! They will knock you out! Strongest margaritas ever!

[jsome72]

I did a yahoo search for Los Cinco Soles...and on their website you can print the coupons for the margaritas...but beware! They will knock you out! Strongest margaritas ever!

 

We went to the Panchos downtown, not at the port. They appeared to be basically the same though. If you go to the one at the port you have a view of the ships. The one downtown is more of a garden setting.

[hollywood34711]

I loved the part about the sink, that sounds like something we would do.

What a great souvenir, and thanks for a great review, though sorry you had tough weather.

[beach410]

thanks for you review!

[DGP1111]

jsome72:

Really enjoyed reading - - Thanks for posting. :)

[carm225]

I loved the part about the sink, that sounds like something we would do.

What a great souvenir, and thanks for a great review, though sorry you had tough weather.

 

 

I love my new sink and have already threatened to bring back two next time so we can redo the master bath as well! :p

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review and pics...........Thanks for taking the time to post them............

[tess18]

Thanks for the review and pics. I am going on the Inspiration in April and love to read anything about it.

Lostinohio

We will also be on the Inspiration on the April 11th sailing. I started a Roll Call thread.

Tess

[crusinpsychRN]

Simply get off the tender and walk across the street!

 

I MIGHT be able to do that....:o

Thanks.

[helosardig]

Here is the coupon

 

http://www.loscincosoles.com/loscincosoles/coupons.htm