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Inspiration Review (with pics) to Grand Cayman and Cozumel

ohitssunshine

By ohitssunshine,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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Desperate question about tendering in Grand Cayman...we will be in on Ash Wednesday, so Capt Marvins is only doing a single trip that day. Their email said if the ship gets in at 8 they will "do their best" to wait for us till 8:45. That doesn't really sound like we can make it does it?

 

 

Is that something that you booked through Carnival? They would do their best to get you out to them, but it doesn't sound positive to me.

 

Now, having said that, I did hear the employees on their walkie talkies and one was saying "How many do you think are going to complain?" Like maybe the delay in the tendering process was unusual. I wish I could tell you more :o

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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yes! we always seem to travel in groups! my 1st cruise we had 20+:eek: and our last cruise was 14!

I guess we kind of just winged it and usually just picked a bar to meet up before dinner~so everyone knew where we would be! other than that if we bumped into one another around the pool during the day it was by chance! We usually book our excursions all together!

I think if my son was older (he is only 7 1/2) I might want a walkie talkie...but other than that I don't think we need to get in touch with anyone else that bad :D I guess I think they are kind of a nuisance lol

 

Great review by the way!!!!

 

Thanks, I kind of figured. My family is one of those who have to wait for everyone to do everything together...and they drive me insane. I'm like...I am going at 4, if you want to come, meet me here. I don't think I would want to worry about carrying something around all day either, but its the only thing I could think of!

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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Day 2: Sea Day

 

I am pretty sure that everyone woke up day 2 sea sick...the ship was rocking and rolling like crazy! At 6 am we were traveling at about 18 knots per hour and the waves outside the window were good size.

 

I have to admit I lost the Fun Times from today, so I am going to try to piece it together the best I can.

 

At about 10 am we went to the welcome aboard information session. Stephanie Meads was the cruise director and she headed the session. She covered the ports, and the top 4 excursions for each port as well as some of the major events happening during the cruise on board. She was ok at this point, kind of funny talking about the drunks in Cozumel and how she recommended you wear the Carnival towel over your shoulders so when you do pass out they can claim you as one of theirs. I felt she covered the tendering process for Grand Cayman well, and overall it was informative. At this point I wasn't sure if I was going to love her or leave her!

 

With the sun finally shining, the Lido Deck was packed with people. There were no empty chairs on any level and we managed to rearrange a few to secure a space on the waterslide deck facing the water. The kids love the water slides on board, and I love the sun.

 

 

 

As I was enjoying some sun, we were delivered a notice to our room regarding the recent incident with the Royal Caribbean employee in Mexico.

 

 

At this point we were unsure what our plan would be, but we already had reservations for Nachi Cocum and I really did not want to have to miss that!

 

 

Thank you so much for the great review, you are kind to take the time to do this. We are sailng on Inspiration on the 26th and cannot wait! About the deck chair problem on Day 2, is it generally a problem obtaining chairs on Sea Days? What the heck do you do if they are all taken? And where in the world did you all get those huge bottles of booze you were chugging from?? Thanks again for all the information. :)

 

 

 

Thank you so much for reading! It is fun to write reviews, but not if your the only one who appreciates it lol!

 

The last 2 of the 3 cruises we have taken, yes there is a chair shortage on sea days. For some reason on our 1st cruise the Fascination out of Jax, there were chairs galore. The last 2 we took that was not the case. This one in particular was hard because there were 4 adults, and 3 children. When we did find chairs we had 3 and rotated through them as one would be swimming, one would be on the slides, etc. And we got the 3 by moving chairs from one side to the other...who wants to be that person? Not me... :p

 

The alcohol... that was the wine we brought on board. We brought 4 large bottles of Sangria (4 adults). We had wine glasses in the room the day before but the steward took them when he cleaned. We were just messing around being silly and kid free, we don't normally drink wine like that! (at least not before a couple beers haha!)

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BillyBoy013

BillyBoy013

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Thank you so much for reading! It is fun to write reviews, but not if your the only one who appreciates it lol!

 

The last 2 of the 3 cruises we have taken, yes there is a chair shortage on sea days. For some reason on our 1st cruise the Fascination out of Jax, there were chairs galore. The last 2 we took that was not the case. This one in particular was hard because there were 4 adults, and 3 children. When we did find chairs we had 3 and rotated through them as one would be swimming, one would be on the slides, etc. And we got the 3 by moving chairs from one side to the other...who wants to be that person? Not me... :p

 

The alcohol... that was the wine we brought on board. We brought 4 large bottles of Sangria (4 adults). We had wine glasses in the room the day before but the steward took them when he cleaned. We were just messing around being silly and kid free, we don't normally drink wine like that! (at least not before a couple beers haha!)

Thanks again for the info and the quick replies. One more question for you - the Carnival information says you can bring one 750 ml bottle of wine in your carry on per adult, did they not give you a hard time about the 4 larger bottles? We love our wine and would like to bring the larger bottles but don't want to have them confiscated because they are too large. And glad you were having fun being kid free, we will enjoy our entire cruise that way!!

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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Thanks again for the info and the quick replies. One more question for you - the Carnival information says you can bring one 750 ml bottle of wine in your carry on per adult, did they not give you a hard time about the 4 larger bottles? We love our wine and would like to bring the larger bottles but don't want to have them confiscated because they are too large. And glad you were having fun being kid free, we will enjoy our entire cruise that way!!

 

 

They didn't say anything about it! I don't know the exact size of the bottles we took but I would say they are about the size of a 2 liter soda bottle. To be honest, before we left I didn't even know they had a certain size, other than not bringing a box of wine I thought we were behaving. We used to bring rum runners too but it was too much worry followed by too many trips to get lemonade for the sweet tea vodka.

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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I know there has been some discussion on here previously about debit card holds, and unfortunately I did not notice until it happened to me. As a fair warning...they do place a million holds on your debit card. Throughout the week I would check my bank account online and noticed it looks like they randomly hold your newest bulk purchases a couple times throughout the day.

 

I had no problem with that, and understand why they would. But when we got home I waited and waited for them to all clear up. Well I got the 2 final room charges processed but still had $300 in holds at the same time. It was just enough to cause one thing to have insufficient funds.

 

I called my bank which is Wachovia, I know banks are all different. She was more than happy to remove the holds, putting my account back into the positive and she removed the insufficient funds charge of $70.

 

Thankfully we have 2 accounts, one for bills and one for fun so this only affected the fun one! But just a word of caution! I think next time I will probably do a cash account.

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lilpootr

lilpootr

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I knew that....but there was a l'il debate going on on our roll call thread!:rolleyes:

But I knew right where to go seeing as you just got off the Inspiration!!!

Thank you for the confirmation!!

Have a great day!!!

 

I was on the Inspiration in December, and forgot my hairdryer :( but went to the Pursuer's desk and they were able to supply. I went down the first day, just to make sure there wasn't a shortage ;)

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#1BradyFan

#1BradyFan

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I was on the Inspiration in December, and forgot my hairdryer :( but went to the Pursuer's desk and they were able to supply. I went down the first day, just to make sure there wasn't a shortage ;)

 

Thanks!!!!!! I never leave home without mine...even when they are supplied! It's just one of those items I can't live without!!! :D

I just wanted to make sure I had the correct answer for my fellow cruisers!

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msjaxson

msjaxson

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Thanks!!!!!! I never leave home without mine...even when they are supplied! It's just one of those items I can't live without!!! :D

I just wanted to make sure I had the correct answer for my fellow cruisers!

 

Hey thanx for looking out for me ... i of course would have "assumed" there was one.. since i never travel with one anymore :eek:..now that would have been a disaster LOL ..

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#1BradyFan

#1BradyFan

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Hey thanx for looking out for me ... i of course would have "assumed" there was one.. since i never travel with one anymore :eek:..now that would have been a disaster LOL ..

 

That's what I'm here for! ;)

and you know what happens when we assume!!!!! :p

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Cruisin'Lovebirds

Cruisin'Lovebirds

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Your detailed review with great candid kid-pics was terrific. I know it takes time to write but believe me there are lots of people who read them. Sometimes I lurk and just read, but I do try to comment and thank. We plan our trips based on people's tips about good excursions and fun things to do.

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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Your detailed review with great candid kid-pics was terrific. I know it takes time to write but believe me there are lots of people who read them. Sometimes I lurk and just read' date=' but I do try to comment and thank. We plan our trips based on people's tips about good excursions and fun things to do.[/quote']

 

 

Thank you! I know, I too do a lot of reading and not as much posting! Glad you enjoyed!

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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I really enjoyed your review - love your sense of humour! We'll be taking the kids on our next cruise on the Liberty! Can hardly wait to see what their experience will be like (DS will 11, and DD will be 15).

 

Thanks for posting!

 

 

Thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed the review! Is this the first time your kids will be cruising with you?

 

I won't lie, it gets hard when you want a vacation, but the kids are going 11o the whole time wanting to do different things. And Camp Carnival is great but there are times when nothing is going on too. Sometimes I felt like you have to run from here to here to here. I think I was more tired on vacation!

 

Glad to have had my older daughter who I felt comfortable with leaving the kids and sending them to the room alone or to something they wanted to do alone. That was a huge help!

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed the review! Is this the first time your kids will be cruising with you?

 

I won't lie, it gets hard when you want a vacation, but the kids are going 11o the whole time wanting to do different things. And Camp Carnival is great but there are times when nothing is going on too. Sometimes I felt like you have to run from here to here to here. I think I was more tired on vacation!

 

Glad to have had my older daughter who I felt comfortable with leaving the kids and sending them to the room alone or to something they wanted to do alone. That was a huge help!

 

Our Liberty cruise will be our 3rd, and the kids' 1st. My DD has a countdown going on the dry erase board in my office :) Like mother, like daughter! I've been looking to book, and am leaning towards the Lido deck, as I figure we'll spend a lot of time at the pool / eating areas anyway. I picked HMC, St. Thomas, San Juan, and GT because I figure it will be a little less expensive (more beach time), and my kids arent' too hard to please. A little of everything, and only 2 sea days to keep them occupied.

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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Our Liberty cruise will be our 3rd, and the kids' 1st. My DD has a countdown going on the dry erase board in my office :) Like mother, like daughter! I've been looking to book, and am leaning towards the Lido deck, as I figure we'll spend a lot of time at the pool / eating areas anyway. I picked HMC, St. Thomas, San Juan, and GT because I figure it will be a little less expensive (more beach time), and my kids arent' too hard to please. A little of everything, and only 2 sea days to keep them occupied.

 

Sounds great! That is one itinerary I would love to do. We just booked a quick getaway for September, but I am excited to start planning next February's more!

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ohitssunshine

ohitssunshine

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Thanks for your review! I am helping my sister in law book thier first cruise and they are lokking to book the imagination or inspiration so this review has been a great help to me and her. Her twin daughters would be 12 when they cruise and it looks like they'd have a great time!

 

 

You're welcome! Thanks for reading! The kids will have a great time- and I think it's always easier when there is more than one child going to Camp Carnival. Have fun!

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