azjim66

Have a great cruise!! So glad this all worked out!

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Maybe that is specifically a Pride issue. I had 7258 on the Miracle (Great Cabin!!!) a couple years ago and never heard a peep!

Great review!!

Just got off the Inspiration and I did that several times.....I was the gopher while my wife was lounging by the pool!!

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I really loved your review of your Inspiration cruise. I did this cruise May 1 and loved it!! I enjoyed seeing your pictures and reading what you had to say about it,and now i want to rebook it again! I live on the east coast so I have to fly to California but I will definitely keep your recommendation of Hotel Maya in mind next time since i had a hard time finding a place with a hotel shuttle to the airport in a safe location

 

:)

Thank you! The Maya is great for Long Beach no doubt!! There are other options that would great choices too. I think their is a Marriott Residence Inn next door which would be a good choice as well I'm not sure if they offer the cruise and park deal. Parking at the port is @$20/day I think so that adds up for sure.

I am a Connecticut native but have been in AZ for @ 13 yrs and have been all over the East Coast and spent many days in Florida and the Caribbean. My wife is an AZ native and one of these days we are gonna fly back your way and take a Caribbean cruise so she can check all that out. I'm sure she will love it. I would definitely prefer the Caribbean over the Baja itinerary but I have to say I love Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. And the fact that we can drive to the port is a huge bonus.

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I have my complaints about Carnival, but when it comes to the little cruises out of Long Beach, I admit I love them. I have no expectation of these cruises and I end up just having the best time. Thanks for your review and I'm glad you had fun on your cruise.

I agree with having the right expectations. Knowing the Inspiration was an older ship and that the itinerary wasn't that exciting etc.. the ship was great. We thought the food was good and had no complaints. We all had a great time and would definitely do this trip again.

I have done a 4 day from San Diego on the Spirit that went to Cabo which was great!! I would probably prefer that itinerary over the Catalina/Ensenada itinerary. The sea days are always fun.

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Enjoyed your review! We would cruise 4 in an inside, or balcony. Doesn't matter as long as we are on a ship! We love the Inspiration. You are gonna love the Miracle. She is a great ship with an AMAZING crew! The service on her is impeccable.

Hi Louanne, we were dreading it a little before the cruise but it really worked out great. We don't sweat the small stuff and knew we would only be in there to sleep. The key is to be really organized and thankfully my wife is really good at that. We were on the Miracle a few years ago and loved it and can't wait to get back on in October.

I should have mentioned this earlier but the Crew on the Inspiration was awesome. They really went out of their way to make sure we were having a good time.

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Great review and pictures! We have not sailed on the Inspiration, but plan too in the future. :cool:

Thanks Jamman!! I have enjoyed your reviews very much. When I get on the Miracle I plan on taking my breakfast burritos to the Red Frog Pub to wash it down with a Thirsty Red in your honor!

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What a fun review. Glad you all had a good time.

Thanks! We had a blast!

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Enjoying your review and very nice photos.

 

 

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Thank you!

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Debarkation Day:

We decide to use self assist since I could load up my teens like pack mules. We got up early and had breakfast on Lido. We staged at the Mardi Gras dining room by 7 am for self assist. They had a continental breakfast set up in there ...so naturally my kids ate again!

We were off the ship and through customs by 7:20 am. I call the Maya and the shuttle was on its way to pick us up. In short order we were back at the Maya and had the car loaded up for the trek back to the desert.

Here are a few pics of an eerily quiet Long Beach Cruise Terminal while we waited for the shuttle:

We all had a great time and my wife survived being stuck in a little cabin with me and the boys. The cabin worked out very well and I wouldn't discourage anyone from going with 4 in a cabin. We would likely get a 2nd cabin next time. We wanted a fairly inexpensive getaway with the boys right after school got out in AZ. Carnival delivered for us and we felt we got tremendous bang for our $$ on the Inspiration.

We loved FTTF and will likely purchase it for every cruise. We are booked on the Miracle in October (without the boys!) and we bought FTTF when we booked and I'm glad we did because it's sold out.

We decided last minute to do the Cheers program. We thought it was a tremendous value for us. You don't have to drink 15 drinks in a day to get your money's worth. My wife doesn't pound like me and was drinking all those tropical frozen beauties and she only needed to have @ 5 or so a day to make it worth it which is easy to do on a cruise. You would need even less drinks if you were drinking at alchemy bar.

I cannot recommend The Hotel Maya enough. If you are sailing out of Long Beach. It's great to get there the night before to start the party a little earlier. And it's a great deal if you use the Carnival codes!! We are booked there for October also. They have the passport bus which has a stop outside the Maya, which is free and takes you to the aquarium and all the bars and restaurants in the shoreline village across the harbor.

Well that's all I got. I hope you enjoy my review. I really enjoy reading all of yours!!

Jim

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Sea Day:

After our usual breakfast stop on Lido it was time play some ping pong and mini golf. Nothing say fatherhood like pounding your kids in mini golf one handed because you have a huge boat drink in the other! My youngest eventually turned to tables on me and beat me in a playoff. I was of course bitterly disappointed in myself and my wife thought it best if we headed back to the RedFrog for a fresh one to cheer me up!! Haha she is a keeper!

We decided to be adults for a few moments and get our stuff organized for an early departure the next morning. We all had dinner on Lido and the boys had plans at the teen club so my wife and I headed to the casino to donate and then to the punchliner to see Russ Nagel again who was hilarious once again. We rounded up the Lads and off to bed we went. The 15 drink limit was not in danger tonight as I knew I had a drive back to Phoenix in the morning.... but you don't need to drink 15 to get your $$worth that's for sure.

Here are the fun times:

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Back on board I located my wife who was bundled up under several towels on the Lido deck. It was not pool weather by any stretch but people were swimming and the Jacuzzis were packed. At one point there had to be at least 15 people jammed in one. It was so packed it reminded me of an overloaded refugee boat. We had lunch at the taco/burrito bar and the tacos were great! With the boys off on their own we decided to get some more drinks and hang at the serenity deck. It was very quiet back there and the jacuzzis were not full. After a nice relaxing time we got cleaned up and decided to head to the Mardi Gras dining room for dinner. Our waiter was Alejandro who was great and had us laughing. The food was great and we had a great time. We decided to make our daily donation to the casino and stopped once again at the casino bar for a few and enjoy the band!! We then headed back to Lido to meet the boys at the Mega Deck Party which was fun. Amazingly I hit the magic number of 15 at the Red Frog and we all called it a night!!

Here are the fun times:

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Ensenada:

The sun would stay away today and it was pretty cool out on the Lido deck. The family hit the buffet and I had a breakfast burrito which was really good!! My wife decided to stay on board while the boys and I walked around the Malecon (it's nothing like Puerto Vallarta's which is awesome). This was the first cruise for the boys so they wanted to be able to say they have been to Mexico. The huge flag that is normally there wasn't out and that might have been due to potential rain. It looked like there would normally be vendors in that area but it was a ghost town. We walked all the way to the end of the marina and the only guy I talked to was a local who offered to take us on a fishing trip or maybe to Hawaii ... on his 20' walk around. Funny guy! No Bueno! The highlight of our walk was two lazy se lions barking between naps!! We decided to head back to the ship because the boys had meet ups planned and I had an appointment at the Red Frog!

Here are a few pics from Ensenada:

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Heading back to the ship:

After a fun day we were back on board and decided to head the Mardi Gras dining room. We sat at a great table next to a window with a beautiful view. Everyone really enjoyed dinner and while we were eating we were treated to a pod of dolphins keeping pace with the ship and saw what looked like a large sun fish floating near the surface. That's one weird looking fish! Afterwards the boys headed off to club 02 and my wife and I did some gambling, checked out the shops and stopped by the casino bar where they had a great band playing so we hung there for a while until heading to the punchliner to check out Russ Nagel who was hysterical. Turns out my youngest met a kid from his high school at the teen club and they made a bunch of new friends. After being informed that I had somehow managed to reach the 15 drink limit of the cheers program we decided to go to bed. Well my oldest was sound asleep but the 15 yr old was awol. Found him the first place I looked. Lido restaurant with all his new buddies shoveling more pizza down. We made eye contact and he knows the look!! and off to the cabin we went. I thought it was pretty cool that he already had a posse formed and they all seemed like good kids.

Here are the fun times:

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Catalina: We did not plan any excursions and decided to just explore Avalon on foot. It is a really nice little beach town:

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Here are the fun times from day one hopefully you can read these as I'm doing this review on my phone:

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We dropped off our one carry on in the room which was ready for us due to FTTF. The boys began stuffing their faces at Guys Burger Joint and my wife and I did what we normally do when we get on board:

Here is the drink menu at the Red Frog Bar:

Smiling faces exploring the ship:

We decided to eat at the Guys and the Lido buffet. The boys managed to shovel in a few pizzas too! Guys was pretty good and comparable to smash burger or five guys in my opinion. The toppings bar was great.

After eating we continued to explore the ship and thanks to the Cheers program we explored many more beers and boat drinks. The boys hung out at the teen club 02 and the wife and I checked out Stan Ullman in the punchliner and he was great. After a long fun day we all headed back to the room. If you want to know what an inside cabin on the Empress Deck looks like for 4 well here ya go:

We had room E 158 and Edy was our cabin steward and he was fantastic. The room was actually pretty functional and we all slept great the whole trip. We did set some ground rules about the bathroom and the boys found a lovely public restroom a flight up the nearby stairs to take of business!!

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Embarkation Day:

Cruise day was also Memorial Day and we should never forget all our Servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we all enjoy the freedoms we do:

We were up early and ready to roll so we ate breakfast and requested the shuttle from the hotel and they said to be ready @9:45. While we were killing time I took this shot of the Inspiration which was docked and waiting for us:

We arrived at the Port of Long Beach and there were quite a few folks there already. We checked a few bags with porters and held onto one. Check in was a breeze. We were issued our Sail & Sign cards at check in. We had FTTF so we made our way over to the priority boarding area and found the FTTF line and lined up behind a few small groups . There was a wedding taking place on the ship so the Carnival rep advised that we would be boarding after the wedding party and the Diamond and Platinum folks (there weren't that many). While we were waiting I took a picture of my goofy teens:

We were on our way into the dome @11:30 and in short order we were on the gangway:

The atrium honoring Memorial Day:

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Hey everyone! I thought I would write a review of our recent experience on the Carnival Inspiration. I have enjoyed many cruise reviews on CC and wanted to add my own. I decided to knock it out all in one shot and hopefully the pictures all post correctly. Here we go!

We arrived in Long Beach after an uneventful drive from The Phoenix area on May 28 and checked into the Hotel Maya. I had found a few different Carnival Corporate codes, p41 didn't work but 0560018220 did and got a great rate which included parking for the cruise.

Here is the view from the Maya with the Imagination getting ready to begin a three day to Ensenada:

Another view from the Maya:

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon which was unfortunately the best weather we would have.

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Hi there

 

Just to clarify...anyone can use self assist on debarkation, as long as you can manage your own bags.

 

On the tenders, you get preferred entry only for the first tenders leaving the ship. After that, it is first come first served, this only applies for the tenders going to shore.

 

hope this helps

Here is the Carnival explanation of FTTF https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374

Specifically:

Tender Priority

You will have priority tender service from ship to shore (multiple departure times may be possible) so you can explore ashore as quickly as you want to. When ready to go ashore, if not on a Carnival shore excursion, present yourself at the Guest Services Desk.

Note: This is also a benefit for VIFP Diamond and Platinum guests and guests traveling in deluxe suite accommodations.

Debarkation Choices

When it’s time to say good bye, you may choose an early or late disembarkation time upon arrival to your homeport.

Note: This is also a benefit for VIFP Diamond and Platinum guests and guests traveling in deluxe suite accommodations.

Hopefully this helps! ;)

Other perks of FTTF is the ability to get to the head of the line for all tender ports and also FTTF allows you to use "self assist" on debarkation day as long as you can manage your own bags. We just sailed on the Inspiration last week and were off the ship and through customs by 7:20 am. Our next cruise is on the Miracle in October with 2 days at Cabo so the benefit of skipping the line for the tenders is significant.

We didn't get the "free cruise" but back in the fall of 2013 we got an offer through the mail for an extremely discounted cruise with multiple options. We took the Miracle out of Long Beach in Feb 2014 because we live in AZ and could drive to the port. I forget exactly what the offer was but we had a choice of Inside, OV or balcony with a slight increase for each level. We chose an extended balcony and the total including port fees and taxes was less than $500 total not per person. I checked the available cabins again the next day and saw that 7258 was available which is one of the bowling alley balconies on the Spirit Class. I called Carnival and they switched me to that cabin for no additional $$. We had a great cruise and it was my wife's first one and now she is hooked. We are booked again in October on the Miracle and can't wait.

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Just off the Inspiration last week and wore this bar out

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Just got off the Inspiration today.... now it's 127 till the Miracle

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