Just got home from the Inspiration

[CarnyMan]

We had a wonderful cruise on the Inspiration this week. It has been 8 years since we have been on a Carnival cruise. Yes, things are different.
Here is a short review:
Embarkation went great. Got there about 11:30 and was on the ship by 12:15. A very smooth embarkation.

THE SHIP: It is in great shape. Of course, the dry dock last year certainly made a big difference because you can tell that all of the carpets are new and the upholstery is the same. This ship looks really good for its age. Much of the public rooms are very beautiful like the Paris Lounge, the Candlelight Lounge, the Rhapsody In Blue piano bar, the disco and the Carnivale dining room. We ate in the Mardi Gras dining room and I thought it was not as pretty as the Carnivale. Just my opinion. Of course, the 7-story atrium is impressive and airy. The staircase is elegant. Yes, it is bathed in bright, neon lights, red, blue and green, but I love the Fantasy class ships. They are FUN! Our friends who came with us had never been on a cruise before and they were very impressed with the ship's size and beauty. All the kids loved the new Waterworks with its slides. The Carnival staff does a phemonenal job of controlling the lines whether it is adults or children using the slides. Our room was plenty big with new carpet and new bedding. The beds slept like a dream. The shower is huge compared to the ones on the RCCL ships I have been on. Very little counter space at the sink. I just kept most of my stuff in my shaving bag the whole time. My wife used what little space there was. Our room (inside) had two uppers and a king bed. We also had a chair and upholstered bench to use. LOTS of hot water. The only negative about the room was it did have a sewer smell the whole cruise. Maybe not as bad the last couple of days but it was still there. We never went up to the mini golf so I can't comment on it.

THE SERVICE: TOP NOTCH! Our room steward always greeted us with a smile and made every effort to fill all requests. We got a towel sculpture EVERY night. After the turn down the first night I asked him why did we not get chocolates on our pillows and he said that CARNIVAL HAS QUIT DOING THIS!! YIKES! after we bragged about it to our friends! Oh, well I guess they have to cut cost somewhere, but BE WARNED! You won't get your nightly chocolate fix at bedtime! Our server in the dining room was very good. She was always pleasant and did a great job. We had fixed early seating which I loved. I hate the anytime dining option. Her assistant was also good. She had two tables of ten (one was ours) and some smaller tables. She was a little slow sometimes but I think this is because Carnival give their servers more tables than they used to give them. Service at the guest services counter was excellent. I cannot complain about any of the Carnival employees. All had smiles and acted like they enjoyed their jobs.

THE FOOD: This is where I can really tell the difference from our previous Carnival cruises. You don't get near as many choices as you used to and many of the entrees have the same side items. Some dishes were very good and more were just average or awful. I loved the lobster, it was cooked perfectly and I ate two! I like the honey-glazed bourbon chicken. It was tender and moist with a wonderful flavor. The sweet & sour shrimp were pretty good, but not excellent. I don't eat beef but my companions who tried it said the prime rib was excellent and the flat iron steak was good. The shortribs were badly overcooked. One terribel dish that stands out is the pasta with scallops, shrimp and calamari. It had a tomato cream sauce. One bite and I asked for it to be removed from my sight. It tasted like the scallop had been cooked for days and was just sitting in a warming dish. YUK! I love scallops and seafood and what Carnival did to this was unforgivable. No filet on this cruise. Another cost cut, I suppose. And you can't get iced tea without paying for it. ONly water and lemonade! The Lido buffet food was very average. I hate eating when I have to stand in line with a tray so I avoided it most of the time. But basically, what was served in the DR's was also served at the buffet. As always, the fries were stupendous. Hamburgers and hot dogs were enjoyed by my friends. I don't eat them. Desserts were hit and miss, mostly miss. Cheesecake was tasteless. Ice creams and sherberts were really good. Chocolate melting cake was good, but it got old quickly. Room service food was good and fast. Less than 10 minutes.

SHOWS AND ACTIVITIES: 3 of 4 shows were absolutely the best. The welcome aboard, the SHOUT, the comedian and juggler were the good ones. I left during the first 10 minutes of the Fiesta Latino show. The women did not have on enough clothing for my taste. Plus, I don't care for Latino music. I played the Game Show Mania and wond a 24K plastick gold ship on a stick! Yeah! One thing I really hate is that Carnival has turned the Newlywed-not-so-newlywed show into a vulgar, profane-laden version. We stayed 5 minutes and left.
We have always loved this show and are sad to see this happen. It was always hilarious without the "R" rating. Shame on Carnival! There are still plenty of activities to keep you busy, though there probably is a few less than before. Bingo is $10 for 1 card or $20 for 3 cards. Art auction and ice carving are still on the agenda along with the hairy-chest competition and a few scavenger hunts. Movie trivia, music trivia, sports trivia, etc also still done. Kaeroke (spelling?) was every night. We went 3 or 4 times and enjoyed it. I sang twice. There is also a Guest Talent show with up to six people in it. There were 5 on this cruise and they all sang.

We loved the cruise and if you have any questions just ask. I am tired and ready for bed.

[Familyforce6]

Sounds like you had at least a pretty good time. I can't wait! I had no idea that ice tea cost in the dining room. Thats what i was planning on drinking. Oh well. Guess it will have to be water or something alcoholic.

[WEBJR]

Wierd..just got off the Legend and we got chocolates every night and the Iced Tea was free in the dining room as was the lemonade

[efhuggins]

We were on this cruise also and had a wonderful time! We loved doing the 5 night where the first and last days were sea days. We had fun in the ports, but needed that sea day to relax before getting off the ship.

[Goplayball]

We will be on the Inspiration in51 days, yahhhh...... What did yall do for excursions on port days? Also can you comment on the Serenity area? Thanks for the review. Really enjoyed it.

[efhuggins]

We went on the Allura Catamaran to Stingray Sandbar in Grand Cayman and had a wonderful time. I highly recommend this excursion. In Cozumel we did the three reef snorkel and was not impressed. It was way to crowded (60+ people).

[cathyoo]

Thanks for sharing your memories with us. The Inspiration was my first Carnival cruise. The one that made me an official Carnival groupie. All the changes are sad to me. My DH will miss that turn down chocolate. Made him feel special.

[nautica34]

Who was your Maitre D in the Mardi Gras MDR? I sailed on the Inspiration back in 2006 and at the time the Maitre D was Ferhard in Mardi Gras MDR. Just wondering if he's still there? I think the other was George the Greek in Carnivale.

[CarnyMan]

Here is what we did in port: We had done the stingray in Cayman before so we got a taxi to take us to Sea Grape beach. It was $5 per person each way. The water was beautifully clear. There was a restaurant called Calico Jacks there and we had some conch fritters and fries and some delicious smoothies for the kids. You have to rent everything like the chaise lounges, snorkel gear and floats. We enjoyed the water for about three hours and our taxi took us back to the dock. We didn't shop much, got just a couple of t shirts.
In Cozumel we took a taxi downtown to the shopping district. Bought several souvenirs and looked seriously at some diamond rings but the kids were getting hungry so we left and went to the ship to eat then we got a taxi to take us to PARADISE BEACH! A GREAT PLACE! It has all kinds of great, big water toys like trampolines and slides and floats, etc. You pay $10 to get an armband and you can play on everything as long as you want. It was so much fun but it did wear us out. There is a restaurant and souvenir shop there also but the water was not as beautiful as at the Cayman Islands.

The Serenity area on the ship was VERY popular. Everytime we went there was no empty lounges to use so we left. Carnival does not allow anyone under 21 in the area and they enforce this policy.

[CarnyMan]

Originally Posted by nautica34

Who was your Maitre D in the Mardi Gras MDR? I sailed on the Inspiration back in 2006 and at the time the Maitre D was Ferhard in Mardi Gras MDR. Just wondering if he's still there? I think the other was George the Greek in Carnivale.

I can't remember his name. He was a skinny, white dude with very little hair and wore glasses. He had an extremely thick accent. He came to our table one night for a couple of minutes and that was all we saw of him.

Carnival quit the chocolates at turn down three cruises ago according to our room steward.

[CarnyMan]

Originally Posted by WEBJR

Wierd..just got off the Legend and we got chocolates every night and the Iced Tea was free in the dining room as was the lemonade

Our room steward told me that they quit the chocolates three cruises ago. There was a card on the dining room table that advertised specialty drinks and it had on it that iced tea was $1.95. You could get as much lemonade as you wanted but I didn't care for the lemonade much. It was too tart for my taste.

[activeac]

Charging for iced tea?!? My DH favorite non-alcholic beverage and meal beverage since infancy (well, at least as long as I have known him...)! Didn't budget for that one....

[jerseygirl79]

Originally Posted by CarnyMan

One thing I really hate is that Carnival has turned the Newlywed-not-so-newlywed show into a vulgar, profane-laden version. We stayed 5 minutes and left.
We have always loved this show and are sad to see this happen. It was always hilarious without the "R" rating. Shame on Carnival!

I agree and it's pretty sad. DH and I were married on the Miracle in May and we would have been the newlyweds to play, but having seen the show twice before I knew it was a bit too rauchy for us. I wish it weren't so sexual. We were sailing with our mothers and it wouldn't have been fun.

I'm going to miss the free iced tea and chocolates. That is a real bummer.

Otherwise, I'm glad you enjoyed the ship. I am considering her for our first anniversary next year.

[Max Circus]

Thanks for the review CarnyMan. My wife and I are booked on the four night Inspiration 12/10/09 - second time on this ship.

Our one complaint from the previous cruise was the food - especially the beef. Sounds like that may have improved slightly. Although, we never had a problem finding something we liked to eat. We learned on Valor that one of the best entrees in MDR was the vegetarian "Indian buffet". And have since learned that you can ask for this each night. We'll see if this works in Inspiration.

[Dubsolute]

We're on this cruise in February. I was wondering what we were going to do in Grand Cayman. I'll have to check out Sea Grape. Thanks for the review!

[CarnyMan]

Carnival has really gone crazy with taking pictures. There were at least 10 stations for taking pictures with different backgrounds, not counting they used the atrium stairs on Elegant Night. Yes, the pictures usually turn out great and we did buy several. 8x10 is $21.99 now! But I had no idea they had added so many different backgrounds. And it was every night starting with the formal night, which is the second niight of the cruise. They even had a Western background with costumes of a saloon girl and gunslinger you could dress in for the picture!

[1timecruiser]

We received chocolates EVERY night (I have some in my purse now) and the iced tea, though not the best was offered and I have pics of that from the lido deck fountain. Yes, I took a picture of that too, for those that always ask.

[Kurbanfan]

Originally Posted by CarnyMan

Our room steward told me that they quit the chocolates three cruises ago. There was a card on the dining room table that advertised specialty drinks and it had on it that iced tea was $1.95. You could get as much lemonade as you wanted but I didn't care for the lemonade much. It was too tart for my taste.

Can you still get the ice tea out of the dispenser in the buffet?

[jerseygirl79]

Originally Posted by CarnyMan

Carnival has really gone crazy with taking pictures. There were at least 10 stations for taking pictures with different backgrounds, not counting they used the atrium stairs on Elegant Night. Yes, the pictures usually turn out great and we did buy several. 8x10 is $21.99 now! But I had no idea they had added so many different backgrounds. And it was every night starting with the formal night, which is the second niight of the cruise. They even had a Western background with costumes of a saloon girl and gunslinger you could dress in for the picture!

They have, but I LOVE my Carnival Paparazzi!!!!

Originally Posted by 1timecruiser

We received chocolates EVERY night (I have some in my purse now) and the iced tea, though not the best was offered and I have pics of that from the lido deck fountain. Yes, I took a picture of that too, for those that always ask.

now you have to share with the class

[gargoyle999]

Originally Posted by Kurbanfan

Can you still get the ice tea out of the dispenser in the buffet?

I'd like to know this as well. If that is free but they want to charge for it in the MDR I might have to fill up my Bubba Keg before heading to dinner each night!