PHOTO Review:Inspiration to Ensenada & Catalina + "Behind the Fun" Tour & Queen Mary

Good afternoon everyone!

We just got off the Inspiration this morning, and I'll be working on writing a review of our trip! I had so much fun writing a review of our cruise on the Breeze (see my signature below), that I thought I'd do it again!

Working on downloading some photos, so more to come later today...

This trip came about at the last minute since we were intended to board the Triumph on 2/16. Of course, that didn't happen...

Once moving on from the disappointment that we wouldn't be traveling to Texas to visit family and friends and take a cruise in the hot weather of the Yucatan, we decided to come up with a "Plan B". My husband had already taken the week off, and I own a little shop online making French Pillows. I had already closed my shop the week prior (I work a week in arrears), so it made sense to just go somewhere. Due to the Triumph disaster, Carnival had given us a 25% discount and we decided to just hit the local port of Long Beach for a short cruise. We had done this itinerary on the Inspiration on the May and had a nice time.

But first, we decided to extend this little "Plan B" vacation, and spend the night before embarkation aboard the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary is now docked in Long Beach and is a floating hotel. I decided to stay there because they offer a "park & sail" package. It isn't advertised - you have to call and ask, but we stayed in a king sized room with portholes for 1 night and parked for 5 nights for $149. I thought that was a good deal!

As others had warned me, staying on the Queen Mary is really to learn about her history, and get the opportunity to be part of that amazing history for just a short period of time. It is by no means a luxury hotel. In fact, it isn't even that comfortable. :( The decor is a little bit Motel 6ish actually.

Despite that, we had an awesome time! We visited the Diana exhibit downstairs, wandered the decks, ate on the Promenade deck, and took lots of pictures. A few glimpses:

Next up: More pics from the Queen Mary and the first glimpse of the Carnival INSPIRATION!

So excited for this report, we are on the Inspiration a week from today on a 3 day!

We continued our tour of the Queen Mary. I've included some pics of the rooms in case anyone is considering staying there. To be honest, I wouldn't discourage it. We thought we got a great value for our room, including the parking.

So, a few more pics of the Queen Mary, our home for only 1 night:

Just a few more Queen Mary Pictures!

The next morning, the Inspiration was already in the port when we had woken up. We headed out to the front deck of the Queen Mary to take some pictures with our new cruise home in the background!

And, we were also able to check in for the INSPIRATION cruise at the Engine Room of the Queen Mary around 10:30am. We were on board getting lunch on the Lido deck of the Inspiration by 11:30am! (We didn't do FTTF - I'm not even sure whether or not that's offered on the Queen Mary).

So, all things considered, we were very happy for the convenience of staying at the Queen Mary!

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about getting on board the Inspiration, even though I just sailed her 9 months ago!

I am such a planner, and I didn't have the opportunity to plan this trip, as I mentioned since it was a last minute replacement for our Triumph cruise...

We were "waitlisted" for Anytime Dining, and with a 3-year old, I was concerned we'd be assigned to the late seating! Yikes! Thankfully, we were given Anytime dining, but it turned out to be quite problematic...More on that later.

This was also a full sailing - I had the chance to choose from 3 cabins, and we just went with it. We were in M-193, a category 6c Oceanview. It was just fine. Good location! Unfortunately, our cabin steward hadn't cleaned it very well, nor did he really clean it much during the week. Oh well. I know how hard these guys work, and given how early we boarded, it's no wonder the cabin wasn't in pristine condition. We always had clean towels and towel animals (very important if you're traveling with a 3 year old!), so we were happy.

The cabins on the Inspiration are quite a bit smaller than the Victory and the Breeze. There aren't any small couches or sofa beds. Our cabin had a pull-down (another thing I was worried about with our 3 year old). But our cabin steward understood our concern and had a small trundle bed brought it by around 5pm that evening. It worked out perfectly and we were so happy!

A few pics of our cabin:

And ironically, the view from our cabin:

Next up: a tour of the ship!

The Inspiration is a smaller ship, built in 1996. It is still very nice, but much different from our recent cruise on the Breeze. The Breeze has been re-done in much softer, muted colors with a toned down decor. The Inspiration was screaming with neon colors and dramatic decor! Still very fun...

Boarding the Inspiration, you enter on Deck 7 - right near the Atrium:

A look into the Shakespeare Library. I think this is such a cozy, pretty library! They also have lots of board games and puzzles in there. Since the weather on our cruise was very cold, wet and windy, I saw lots of people enjoying the library.

The Paris Lounge:

Still more photos to come, and a fun first night dinner in the Mardi Gras Dining room!

So excited for this report, we are on the Inspiration a week from today on a 3 day!

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I'm sure you'll have a great time Dicecatt! I hope you guys have better weather than we did (!!!).

I'll keep working on the report today and this weekend, but let me know if you have any specific questions I might be able to help answer! :)

Great start to your review! Keep it coming! :)

I really enjoyed the Promenade on Level 9. So many window seats to sit and people watch. It's also located right near the casino and the Taste Bar where they do samples beginning at 5:30pm each night from the restaurants on board other ships which have received the 2.0 upgrade. During our 4 night itinerary, they did "tastes" from: The Red Frog Pub & the Blue Iguana.

There is a bar located there, with a coffee/espresso bar located nearby.

Throughout the cruise, there was also an amazing group of singers called "The Soundwaves" that performed right in the middle of "Violins" on the Promenade late into the afternoon. The lead singer was SO talented, and really got everyone singing and dancing along!

The Candlelight Lounge - this is where the comedy shows are held in the evenings. It's a very pretty lounge!

The Casino:

The Serenity Deck. It was so pretty, but unfortunately, I didn't really see anyone out there the entire cruise because we had such freezing, windy weather! This photo was taken as soon as we got on the ship on Day 1, and it was bright and sunny but still only 62 degrees!

Next up: Photos from our Sail Away Party!

We were so lucky the weather turned sunny for our Sail Away. This was the only day we were able to get out and enjoy the decks outside, and wander around the cruise!

"DJ Spin" did a great job of playing music and the staff got everyone involved in dancing and singing out on the Lido Deck. Well, not me, but I enjoyed watching everyone while sipping my $11 Tiramisu Martini (!!!). :p

We did get up now and then to get a closer look at them!

A View of the Waterworks. I couldn't believe how many kids were running through there and swimming! I guess our kid is a "California boy" - I put him in 2 or 3 layers if it drops below 70 degrees! But, if your child was raised in Calgary or Minnesota, I guess 62 degrees can be considered swimsuit weather! :D They were having a blast out there!

Beautiful view of Long Beach from the back of the ship:

More to come...

A few more pics as we were preparing to leave sunny Long Beach:

Next up: Dinner in the MDR and a special treat for my 3-year son. A HINT of what is to come!

Great start to your review! Keep it coming!

Thanks for reading along YankeeFan4Ever!!!

great pics

great pics

Thanks for reading along LBumb! More to come...

Great review and wonderful pics.

Do you need to stay overnight in the Queen Mary in order to check into the Inspiration?

Great review and wonderful pics.

Thanks battchief1!

Do you need to stay overnight in the Queen Mary in order to check into the Inspiration?

Nope. You just check in there if you get there early.

Do you need to stay overnight in the Queen Mary in order to check into the Inspiration?

No, you don't need to stay overnight on the Queen Mary. That is where they do the "early check-in", I believe until 11:15am.

However, you don't actually check your bags there - you'll need to give those to a porter near the parking structure in front of the dome building where you actually board the Inspiration...

Great review. I just got off as you were getting on. We had such beautiful weather over the weekend. 85 in Ensenada. I just need a cruise to hold me over until our British Isle cruise in Sept!!

So now I am looking at doing this one again in December!! Such a good ship. Loved every minute of it!!!

Thanks for the pics!

Great review. I just got off as you were getting on. We had such beautiful weather over the weekend. 85 in Ensenada. I just need a cruise to hold me over until our British Isle cruise in Sept!!

 

So now I am looking at doing this one again in December!! Such a good ship. Loved every minute of it!!!

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Kelzbelz, You were so lucky! It was FRIGID in Ensenada, and some passengers swore they saw snow/hail the day we were there! :)

We must be on a similar travel schedule because we'll be doing the British Isles in October on a cruise!

Thanks for the pics!

Thanks for reading along KirkNC!

After wandering around on deck for a couple of hours, enjoying the music and dancing, we decided to head back and start getting ready for dinner.

We had the "anytime dining" as I previously mentioned. I was so happy for this since we had originally been waitlisted. The anytime diners eat in the Mardi Gras dining room on level 8.

We were greeted by Windi, who was the very friendly hostess all week.

We had a table near the window towards the front of the restaurant. And our food was wonderful!

As I mentioned here, our son LOVES escargots. I don't know why he's obsessed with snails (he's only ever eaten them on a cruise!), but as soon as we ordered it for him, it took less than 2 minutes for him to eat all 5 of them!

The evidence:

I ordered the broccoli soup to start, which was yummy:

For my main course I had the Mahi Mahi with Mac n' Cheese and veggies. It was PERFECT!

And dessert? Key Lime Pie:

After an amazing meal, my husband and I took turns visiting the casino, and then put our little guy to bed. He was thrilled to be met with his first towel animal of the day: