Carnival Inspiration 02/26/11 Review: TONS of Pictures

We just got off the Carnival Inspiration and had a fantastic time. This review may take a couple of days, but I'm hoping to be done by the end of the weekend before I have to go back to work. There will be tons of pictures!

Feel free to ask any questions you have along the way and I'll answer them the best I can.

First, let me give you a little background information on us. My DH and I went on this cruise for our 1 year anniversary. I am 24 and my DH is 27. We both work at a local university. We have sailed on two Carnival cruises before this, one on the Carnival Celebration and one on the Carnival Dream. We had never been to Grand Cayman before, but this is our second time stopping in Cozumel. The first time though, we went over to the mainland to go to Xcaret, so we had never had the opportunity to actually see any of Cozumel before.

We live in Tallahassee, so it's a 4 hour drive down to Tampa. We left after work on Friday and got down to Tampa about 11pm that night.

I'll be back shortly to start the review. I'm going to start with my review of the hotel we stayed at.

We decided to stay at the Hampton Inn Rocky Point before I had seen good reviews of this hotel on both Cruise Critic and the Carnival forums. We paid $120 after tax.

The hotel was very easy to find using Mapquest directions. We had no problems.

Like I said before, we got there around 11pm. We checked in and they scheduled our shuttle. We were the last guests to check in and got an 11am shuttle. I was very happy that we were lucky enough to get an early shuttle. The front desk gave us two tickets. You need to give the driver the yellow one when you leave the hotel and then you will need the pink one to come back to the hotel.

If you get there late, you will need to park in an overflow lot which is shared between the Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn. I highly recommend taking your bags up to your room before you park over there. You will have to carry your bags over some bushes, which is a pain in the rear, especially if you have heavy bags.

When we got into our room, it was quite warm in there. We tried to adjust the temperature using the wall thermostat, but it was broken. We called the front desk and they sent out a heating and cooling tech to come fix it. He got our AC turned on, but there was no way for us to adjust the temperature. We were freezing the rest of the night.

The room also didn't seem very clean. I had to wear shoes while I was in the room because the carpet was sticky. It made me leary about other parts of the room.

The bed was nice and comfortable, so that was an upside. We really just booked a hotel room to sleep and get a shuttle, so at least we would get a good night sleep.

Well, my husband at least got a good nights sleep. I was up sick all night from sinuses. I only got a couple hours of sleep the entire night.

The shower had really good pressure when I took a shower early in the morning. My DH took one around 8:30am and he complained that the pressure wasn't very strong. I'm assuming it was becuause one of our neighbors was showering at the same time. Also, be careful when stepping into the shower because it's very slippery.

The hotel has complimentary internet and a nice flat-screen TV. The provide you with an internet code on the pouch that has your room keys in it.

They advertise a hot breakfast. Not the best breakfast in the world, but it filled out stomaches. They had the make your own waffle station as well as some little frittata type things. Those were the only hot items during breakfast. They also had some nasty muffins, toast, bagels, and other standard breakfast fare. The orange juice was very good though and my DH said he enjoyed the coffee. The breakfast lasts until 10am.

Before I continue, here are some pictures of our hotel room:

After we finished with breakfast, we had a while before our shuttle time, so we decided to take a walk down to the water. You need to go back around the Holiday Inn to get down there.

Oh, here's a quick picture of the overflow parking lot from our window. That's our little silver Mazda down there.

We were told to be down stairs 15 minutes early to meet our shuttle, so we headed downstairs with our luggage to check out and meet our shuttle. Remember, we had an 11am shuttle time. Well, the shuttle didn't end up showing up to pick us up until 11:30am. We were quite frustrated that we were told to get out there early and they didn't end up arriving until later. We found out that part of the delay was that the shuttle is shared between the Holiday Inn and the Hampton Inn. It would make a lot more sense to have seperate shuttles between the two hotels.

After the cruise, we headed over to the parking garage where we were supposed to meet our shuttle. We called them when we debarked the ship at 9:30am. The shuttle did not end up picking us up until after 10am. On the way back, they had to drop a couple off at the airport before the took us back to the hotel. We arrived back at the hotel a little after 10:30am.

Overall, we were not happy with this hotel. It was nice having the free shuttle, but I do not believe the hotel was worth the money we paid. I expect a hotel to be clean and this one definitely was not. Oh well, we learned in the future that this is a hotel we will not be booking again.

great start

Keep it coming! Enjoying your review so far. My questions are; What did you eat every night? How was the food? Did you guys attend any comedy shows?

How was the Serenity Area?

Thanks in advance

Keep it coming! Enjoying your review so far. My questions are; What did you eat every night? How was the food? Did you guys attend any comedy shows?

 

How was the Serenity Area?

 

Thanks in advance

I took tons of food pictures, so I will definitely be posting those along with my reviews on the food. Overall, I was generally happy with the quality of the food.

We attended 3 different R rated comedy shows, but none of the PG ones. Both comedians were funny, but one was by far better than the other.

We didn't spend any time in the serenity area, but did walk down there once by accident. There are stairs at the back of the lido deck that lead down there. It would be very easy for a child or someone to walk down there and not realize it was an adult only area. It seemed like a nice area though. A lot smaller than the one on the Dream.

For those of you who don't want to read a full review, I'll post my general thoughts of the cruise here. I will go more in depth in the review.

Overall cruise: Had a fantastic time! One of our favorites.

Overall thoughts on the ship: We had a really hard time finding our way around this ship. Even though the Dream is a lot bigger than the Inspiration, it was easier to get around. We often got turned around and walked the wrong way to find something. We finally got the hang of it on the last day.

The ship was in good condition. There was always someone cleaning and fixing things. No complaints.

Overall thoughts on food and dining: Overall, the food was good. There were some bad items, but that's to be expected. We ate at the brasserie for every meal except dinner.

We did anytime dining this cruise. It was really nice to be able to eat whenever we wanted. That way we could time dinner around activities we wanted to do. That became a problem some nights though when service would take longer than expected. One formal night, we also had to wait about an hour before we could get a table.

Overall thoughts on entertainment: There were a ton of activities to do onboard. We were a little disappointed that there were only shows and comedy on sea days. Also, the day we were in Cozumel, there wasn't much planned at all, both day and night. Stephanie was the cruise director and was definitely our favorite that we've sailed with so far. She had a great personality! She did make a lot of announcements which got annoying at times though.

Great review so far!!! I've been on the Inspiration before and we got lost a lot too!

I love your review so far, can't wait to read the rest! I showed my granddaughter the pictures of the 3 I think they were pelicans ( I don't know my birds sorry) on the 3 poles. She loved that picture and asked me to see the rest.

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise!!!

I love your review so far, can't wait to read the rest! I showed my granddaughter the pictures of the 3 I think they were pelicans ( I don't know my birds sorry) on the 3 poles. She loved that picture and asked me to see the rest.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise!!!

I think they're pelicans... I don't really know birds either. It was just a really cool picture!

Off to a good start!! :) Thanks for sharing with us. Cant wait for the rest :)

Okay, I've got my husband off to work, so I can start working on the review more.

We arrived at port around noon. Before you were allowd in the terminal, they wanted to see your passport and your boarding pass. Then, we went upstairs and went through the xray machine. After getting xray-ed, they sent us further down the terminal and gave us the medical questionnaire and told us to get in line. The line was quite long, but moved relatively quickly. When we got up to the desk, they got us our sail and sign cards and sent us on our way. We got our pictures taken and were on the ship!

First thing we did was go up to the Lido deck for lunch. The interior tables were packed, but we were easily able to get an outside table on the side of the brasserie. It gave us a nice look of Channelside.

Today's menu was Italian. There were a couple tasty things on there. The fish was delicious! I didn't get enough food from the Taste of the Nations to fill me up, so I also got a slice of pizza. There wasn't a single person in line there. My DH decided to get some food from the Mongolian because the line was really short.

Rooms were open exactly at 1:30pm. We upgraded from a porthole room to an oceanview a couple weeks before our cruise. We were booked in room U148. This was our first time in an oceanview.

The room was a nice size. There was plenty of storage space. Wish the drawers were a little bigger and there isn't really enough shelf space in the bathroom. We encountered some problems when one person wanted to get in the closet and one wanted to get into the bathrooms.

One thing we found later in the cruise is that the lights over the desk are on a track. I got really upset that our battery charger wouldn't fit and then my husband accidently pushed the light up. We were very pleased to see that these moved so that we could fit our charger in there.

Muster drill started at 3:30pm. We were at muster station F, which was on the Lido deck. They showed us how to put on a life vest and then led everyone to their life boats. Since my muster station was already outside, they did not lead us to our life boats, so we just stood there while everyone else finished their drill. The entire drill lasted about 30 minutes.

We went up to the "secret" deck for sailaway. To get to this deck, walk as far forward as possible through the verandah deck cabins. There will be a door with a porthole. Open the door, walk up the stairs, and then open another door. The deck is right on top of the bridge, so it has wings that extend further out on the side of the ship. The deck isn't so secret anymore, as it's on the deck plans as an "observation deck". It got pretty busy out there during sailaway.

You could start to see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at about 6pm. We went back up to the "secret" deck to watch us sail under.

We sailed under around 6:30pm.

You could start to see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at about 6pm. We went back up to the "secret" deck to watch us sail under.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sailed under around 6:30pm.

 

 

 

I have a very similar picture from our Western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa in March 2006. I really like yours with the sun actually in it. Loving your review - can't wait for more. :)

I have a very similar picture from our Western Caribbean cruise out of Tampa in March 2006. I really like yours with the sun actually in it. Loving your review - can't wait for more. :)

Pretty picture! I took so many pictures while going under the bridge. The sun made it absolutely gorgeous. Definitely an experience.

Pretty picture! I took so many pictures while going under the bridge. The sun made it absolutely gorgeous. Definitely an experience.

Can never take too many. :) I love the ones you got! We were on our balcony and if I knew then what I know now, I'd have been up on that top deck. I'm sure I'll get another chance sometime. :)

This cruise we decided to try out anytime dining. We prefer to sit by ourselves at dinner, so we figured we'd test it out.

The first night, we went to dinner around 6:30pm. We went up to the hostess stand and gave her our room number. She didn't ask us if we wanted to sit by ourselves or with others. She just automatically gave us a table for 2. The tables are definitely really close. There are only about 6 inches between them.

They use only a portion of the Mardi Gras dining room for anytime dining. It's a very small section, so if there is a lot of people trying to go at one time, there will be a wait (we experience this on formal night).

For starters, I got the shrimp cocktail and my DH got marinated fruit. The shrimp cocktail was delicious as always and my DH really enjoyed the fruit. The presentation was gorgeous.

For our entrees, I got the marinated pork chop and my DH got the lasagna bolognese. The pork chop was quite large and it didn't have too much flavor. I had heard so much about how delicious the mac n' cheese was, so I was excited to try it, but I wasn't really a fan. DH really enjoyed the lasagna.

For dessert, we both had the strawberry cheesecake. They changed their recipe on this, but it was still yummy.

Dinner service was very quick. We were finished in less than an hour.

I love your pictures. Did you take some at your stops?

Gorgeous pictures, can't wait for the rest.

So far Inspiration has been our favorite ship, nice to see pictures of it again.

While we were away at dinner, our steward cleaned up our room. Not sure how they know when to come if the guests have anytime dining. They did it every night though!

We changed and then went to Big Screen trivia. Tonight's theme was Name That Star. It was extremely hard!

We stuck around for Game Show mania. The first group they had up on stage didn't know anything! They did a second group and my husband got picked. He ended up winning us a ship on the stick the very first night.

I have a video that I'll try to link when I get it uploaded.

After the game show, they did the Welcome Aboard show. It was the exact same as the Carnival Dream, but was still interesting. I like to go so that I can see the entertainment staff. That way I know who they are later in the cruise. One thing that bugs me about the Welcome Aboard show is when they throw the beach balls out into the audience. I noticed that it knocked over multiple drinks. I would be ticked if a beach ball knocked over my $8 drink.

We went back to our room to relax for the evening and someone knocked on our door. My DH answered it and it was a waiter with a room service tray. We thought that he had knocked on the wrong door, but then he said my name. It was a gift from the cruise director Stephanie. It had a note with it saying that she hopes we have a fantastic cruise and if there is anything she could do, to let her know. I'm still not sure why we received this, but it was a nice surprise. The chocolate covered strawberries were absolutely delicious!

I love your pictures. Did you take some at your stops?

Yes, I have pictures in both Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I took over 600 pictures on this cruise.

Great shots and commentary-Sailing Sat Mar 12 and a great primer. Thanks for the details.

Great shots and commentary-Sailing Sat Mar 12 and a great primer. Thanks for the details.

Thank you. I think you'll love the ship.

Here's the link to the video of my husband in the game show.

View My Video