Ahhhhh Inspiration.... photo heavy review

[gnocchi_mommy]

I'm fresh off the Inspiration today. You may recall I had a little panic last week when an unexpected storm threatened our ability to depart Alaska. It all worked out though and off we went!

Here are our "stats", we're a family of 5, late 30s adults with a teen in club O2, preteen in Circle C, and 8 yr old in Camp Carnival. We had an inside and outside cabin across the hall from eachother on the main deck. This was our 2nd Carnival cruise, 3rd cruise overall. We're social smokers, happy drinkers, we don't smuggle booze, have fairly spoiled palates, middle class income, and are a military family.

Enough with all that....

This is what we saw on our way to the airport....



and from the window of our aircraft....



BUT, all was well that ended well- we made it out of Alaska and 24 hours later we were in Florida ready to sail.

Now I had read much about how smooth the embarkation/boarding process was at the Tampa facility. As our shuttle drove up though, I saw a massive swarm of people. Due to shuttle issues we didn't arrive until after 12:00, a full hour later than I'd planned. Seeing the throngs of people and what seemed to be chaos, my stomach turned and I figured this cruise was going to be off to a rough start.




Instead we discovered even with the big crowd, we were able to be inside, snake our way through security and customs, and be off exploring the ship in about 15 minutes fat. It was FAST!

We were greeted on the Lido deck with the drink of the day (aww, how nice of them!) a rum punch- that actually DID pack a little punch. It was our only indulgence in "of the day" drinks, and it was the perfect mood setter.



The buffet on the Lido deck and in Brasserie were typical cruise ship sailing fare. No complaints, and not much to write home about IMO. One treat I was drawn to, as were my kids, was this fruit cake. Now the kids rejected it for being not sweet enough (the icing was not very sweet at all) but I LOVED it!



So we ate and then set out to exploring- which was an easy enough task as we'd previously sailed Elation, which had the same layout- sans evolutions of fun slide deck.

Eventually we made our way to our cabins... and here was something I found super funny to see- out my window I look, to discover what happens to all those carefully packed suitcases.... they end up...... well, here, you look-



No worries mon, our bags all arrived intact and still well packed.

[gaylensgigi]

Im glad you made it out of Alaska.Going from all that snow to the sunshine must have felt great.I love the Inspiration,

[gnocchi_mommy]

At 3:15 sharp the lifeboat drill started.... and YAY, we did not need to go get our life vests. Our steward did stop to drop off a child sized vest for our youngest daughter.

Now is a good time to mention him, and I am SO embarrassed to say I don't know his name. I have a picture of his name tag though (scavenger hunt game...lol) and will post later. He was by far, the best cabin steward of the 3 vsl's we had sailed on. He knew every single one of our names the first time we met, and he was attentive to the tiniest of details. He was personable, and funny, and he didn't just say hello= he had full fledged conversations with us whenever he saw us. We were thrilled with his level of service!

So anywhoo, am going to try to make this NOT epic. I mentioned evolutions of fun... well one of those spiffy refurbs is the "serenity" adult lounge. Now honestly, it wasn't our scene. The only time we heard music back there was the last night when there was a sangria party back there we hit. Otherwise, it was just TOO quiet. They did have a nice set up last night, cigars for sale, fresh sangria, couches and lounges out.... but the "poker under the stars" tourney table was maybe a little distracting!



By far, the best thing ever was the new waterslide area. I'm not really a waterslide person but even I thought it was a hoot! There are basically 3 slides- the very large one and 2 small side by side racing slides. My son shot some video going through the big one I will add tomorrow It's fun to see!

See..... even a mom can have fun on it!

[GAMOM4]

We were on the Inspiration in July and your review is sure making me wish that we were sailing again!!!!! What a great time we had!

[ronirp]

can't wait to hear more! We are going in May.

[kerrytens]

I'm not even sailing this ship but I already know I'm going to LOVE this review! Thank you so much for posting it.
Miriam

[gnocchi_mommy]

Okay now I'm going to get real about dining. We had signed up for the "your time" dining, something we were greatly attracted to as we do not enjoy sitting with strangers at dinner. So sue us.

I had been warned here that there might be extremely long waits and that we wouldn't have our same waiter. Well we are a party of 5, we prefer to eat earlier rather than later and the only night we waited *FIVE* minutes was Elegant night. Every other night we were seated immediately and wherever we requested. We saw NO decline in wait staff service either.

Contrary to some stuff I had seen posted, Your Time dining apears to be extremely popular amongst both new and seasoned cruisers- Everyone sitting near us seemed ecstatic with the program and we met several people who told us they were sorry they had not been able to confirm it for themselves. At cruise end we were handed a very in depth Your Time Dining survey, and I suspect we will see Your Time slots expand greatly in the future.

As far as quality of food, it was hit and miss. When it was good, it was *very* good, and when it wasn't so good- eh, we hit the pizza stand later.

Night 1 my husband had the ribs- he is a compete ribs snob and he declared them finger licking good, I had some kind of chicken, we all had several appetizers, and for finale... we FINALLY had warm chocolate melting cake.

How did we go an entire cruise without it before??!! I expected like a soft cake with a fudgy center, but instead it was like.... brownie souffle. Seriously freaking good.... and STUFFING.

Other Big Hits.... bitter n blanc, grand marnier souffle, OMG the chile rellanos.... I LOVED it!!! The lobster was yum, the cream soups were a it for the kids, the onion soup was a big hit for me, my husband raved about the ceasar dressing, the tempura veggies were great.... oh husband also raved about the lamb which icked me out and the duck which looked I tested and was pretty yum. Okay most of the food was good, but those were the stand outs. As far as food complaints- the california roll appetizer was pretty but was HORRID imo. I LOVE California rolls and was shocked to hate it so much. I really gagged when it went into my mouth and I had to force myself to swallow. I also found it really off they didn't serve chop sticks with it. The veal parm was really disappointing. This is one of my favorite dishes and is pretty hard to screw up imo- but this was just "bleh", the sauce tasted almost vinegarish to me and the meat didn't seem cooked enough. It wasn't as bad as the Caliornia rolls, but it wasn't something I ate more than half of.

And here is a little food porn to indulge in....












Okay yawn, will try to finish this tomorrow!!

[gnocchi_mommy]

Oh wait, I found the chile rellanos picture, it doesn't do it justice.... I really enjoyed this!

Okay and a few extra gratuitous food pics....







The attractive but offending sushi...

[aarinsmama]

What a great review, and GREAT pictures! My question is about your room arrangements. You mentioned that you had rooms across the hall across from each other. Did you put the kids in the inside one, or did you and your husband split up between the rooms so an adult would be in each one? We've got 3 kids also, and have thought about doing the across the hall room. Our kids are about the same ages as yours, and I was just wondering how it worked out for you? Thanks!

[kenrod]

Awesome review so far!

I believe we met on board that pirate ship in Grand Cayman. My family was from the Carnival Freedom and I was asking questions about the layout of the Carnival Inspiration. You were kind enough to show me where things were from the outside of the ship (as the Jolly Roger was firing the canon on both our ships).

Looking forward to more of your review and hopefully some pictures of the ship's interior as well!

[gypsyrose]

Awesome pictoral review. Loved the shot on the way to Alaska. Wow..I would have been afraid of not getting to the ship on time. Glad it worked.

[jeleja]

So glad you madeit to the ship! I followed your saga and was rooting for you. The pictures from Alaska are awesome. I LOVED Inspiration..she was my first cruise and is responsible for my addiction to cruising.

[gnocchi_mommy]

Originally Posted by aarinsmama

What a great review, and GREAT pictures! My question is about your room arrangements. You mentioned that you had rooms across the hall across from each other. Did you put the kids in the inside one, or did you and your husband split up between the rooms so an adult would be in each one? We've got 3 kids also, and have thought about doing the across the hall room. Our kids are about the same ages as yours, and I was just wondering how it worked out for you? Thanks!

We put the kids were in the inside on 3 singles (2 singles and a cot really, but the cot was super comfy like a bed) and we were across the hall on the outside on the king. Our 16 yr old pretty much had free reign, he was always busy with his club O2 friends he made and rarely made it back before 2 am. He's a SR in high school and has been a pretty problem-free kid so we were comfortable with this. The 12 yr old had a rule she had to either be at circle C, with us somewhere, with her brother, or in the cabin- she did fine the few times she was in the cabin alone. The 8 yr old was never in there alone, she was either at camp carnival or with us. She was only in the cabin with one of her siblings. We would hang the DND sign on their door at night and remove when they got up (and ha, they woke later than us every single day!! It became our habir to go eat breakfast then come back and wake them up afterward)

Also, there are phones in the rooms and you can call between cabins which made it all easier.

[gnocchi_mommy]

Originally Posted by kenrod

Awesome review so far!

I believe we met on board that pirate ship in Grand Cayman. My family was from the Carnival Freedom and I was asking questions about the layout of the Carnival Inspiration. You were kind enough to show me where things were from the outside of the ship (as the Jolly Roger was firing the canon on both our ships).

Looking forward to more of your review and hopefully some pictures of the ship's interior as well!

Oh wow, yes! We had such a good time that day I was surprised, because we bought that excursion thinking it'd make the 2 younger kids happy and we'd enjoy "our" excursion the next day in Coz but it turned out to be a hit with all of us anyway. I hope you and your family had a good trip back to Toronto! We're still basking up some Florida sun before heading home to the great white north.

[gnocchi_mommy]

Thanks everyone for your kind words, I have family obligations today but will hopefully complete this tonight!

[ballinafad]

Originally Posted by aarinsmama

What a great review, and GREAT pictures! My question is about your room arrangements. You mentioned that you had rooms across the hall across from each other. Did you put the kids in the inside one, or did you and your husband split up between the rooms so an adult would be in each one? We've got 3 kids also, and have thought about doing the across the hall room. Our kids are about the same ages as yours, and I was just wondering how it worked out for you? Thanks!

What has worked well for us and will hopefully again in 2 weeks is to book connecting cabins. If you leave the door open, it is like a huge suite with 2 bathrooms. You can still close the connecting doors at night for noise or privacy

[micbooth]

Great Review!! Love the pictures. Just cruised on the Inspiration and going again in February!! Please don't stop we want more pictures and your review!

Mick

[Jdfireman]

Great review we were on the same trip as you.. Might have seen us the rather loud group of firemen from NJ.. We had the drink tower on the Lido deck.. I agree with the review especially on some of the food Hope you had fun

[nessz79]

You have THE most beautiful pictures!!! I can't wait to read more and I love your family's style of cruising so far! Please post more soon!

[waitin4cruise431]

This is an amazing review. Love the pictures and looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip. We will be on the Inspiration next month and I cannot wait.