Inspiration Review June 27, 2011

[Cruisin'Trooper]

Background: This is our 7th CCL cruise and we were traveling with my wife and 3 year old son, wife's sister and her children, co-worker and his wife, and in-laws for a total of 10 in all. This is our 3rd time to each of the ports of call on this cruise which was a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel from Tampa.

Embarkation: The Port of Tampa is always a breeze to get in and out of. We arrived at the port at 11:30am and were on the ship around noon. There were a couple of crabby CCL employees we encountered in the terminal while in the line waiting to get the S&S cards, but the agent behind the counter was awesome and he made up got his colleagues attitude.

Ship: The Inspiration is old and did not get the balcony cabins during refurbishment like her sister ships did, but she looks great, is clean, and everything was in working order. Our cabin was an ocean view cabin (first time without a balcony - tried to get one of the 10 suites that have a cove style balcony but none available) which is basically just like a balcony cabin but without the obvious! The room was clean and comfortable but is in need of a good dusting. The bathroom was nice and clean (except for a shower wall and ceiling covered in mildew) and the shampoo and body wash was abundant and stayed filled (we love the CCL body wash - smells like vacation to our family). The toiletry sample dish was filled with a nice assortment of goodies too.

Unlike past CCL cruises, we never once met the room steward. He was never anywhere to be found and I could not pick him out of a line up if I had to, but the room was always clean so I know he existed. Each night we received a Caper, chocolates, and an animal.

Food: Lido deck food is the same fleet wide. This ship seemed to have the same items as the others in the fleet and everything was fresh and good. We ate in the MDR every night and used the Anytime Dinning Option. The first night the waiters were awesome, so we used the same table and staff every night. The food as always was fabulous, however CCL could change it up a bit as it is the same menu in the same order of nights on every ship. One thing we noticed was that the dining room staff only sang twice this cruise which was a disappointment for the kids. We stayed each night well past 7:15pm to see the act, but only got it two times.

Waterworks and Putt Putt Golf are always a hit with the kids. The main pool area is a little cramped, but that is to be expected on this class ship. The Serenity deck is nice and they do a good job keeping the kids out.

Grand Cayman is a tender port and CCL tries their best to get the excursion folks off first, but after the other passengers start to overtake the crew member trying to prevent non-excursion folks from leaving early, it becomes a pandoras box of problems and the lines get over whelming. The tender boats get over loaded going back and forth and obviously carry too many people at once evident by the hoards of people crammed into the rows and hanging over the sides - you'd never see that in the over regulated USA!

Cozumel has a dock and the port area is built up nicely. The line to exit the ship was so ridiculous that it extended up from deck 3 (exit deck) into the hall ways of deck 4 from the front of the ship to the rear. CCL could do a better job to prevent this.

Disembarkation: We used self assist like in past cruises and our deck was called at 8:45am and we were out on the street in front of the terminal at 9:05am - 20 minutes from cabin to car is remarkable!

All in all it was a great cruise (they all are) and we recommend the Inspiration highly!

[micbooth]

Cruisin'Trooper: Glad you had a good cruise! Thanks for a good review. It's been a long time talking to you and hope things are going good for you and your family. Phillip and I are sailing on the Inspiration on August 27th. This will be my 5th cruise on her and we have enjoyed it everytime. Glad you kept her in good shape for us.

Michelle

[Cruisin'Trooper]

Cruisin'Trooper: Glad you had a good cruise! Thanks for a good review. It's been a long time talking to you and hope things are going good for you and your family. Phillip and I are sailing on the Inspiration on August 27th. This will be my 5th cruise on her and we have enjoyed it everytime. Glad you kept her in good shape for us.

 

Michelle

 

Hi Michelle! Great hearing from you neighbor - have a GREAT cruise!

[rokinrobin105]

Thanks cruisin' I will be on her Aug 27th with Michelle very excited this is my 3rd time on the Inspiration I love this ship!!

[firerunner]

I'm on this ship in Oct and its our very first cruise!!!! We are in E68 empress deck.

 

Cant wait!

[kelly11]

We're going in Oct, our 3rd cruise, 1st on this ship, we managed to get one of the Jr Suites on the Verandah deck (so our 9 yr old can be close to camp carnival) we cruise on Halloween and are really looking forward to it! We cruised out of Tampa (on the Legend) in March and we LOVED this terminal as compared to Ft Lauderdale, it was smooth and very easy on and off.

[StrangeBrew]

Glad to hear that your cruise was great , We are going to be on her on Sept 10th .

 

I would love to see pics of her but seems to not be to many around .

Anyway , I was wondering if you did anything in G. Cayman ? I have been thinking about a ship sponsered excursion or just walking around the port area . Any advice ?

[themnms]

thanks for the review. We are taking her on the panama canal transit in December. We have an ocean view booked also.

[patriotsgirl01]

Thank you for the review. I'll be sailing the Inspiration in September for my very first cruise, and I am super excited!!! I've been looking for some Inspiration reviews, but there hadn't been a whole lot recently so I am glad you took the time to share :)

 

Did you do any excursions in the ports of call that you would recommend? My DH and I are still thinking of things to do.

[Lucille Bluth]

I was on the Inspiration right before you :) Glad to hear you had a great time also1