Great Farewell Cruise On Inspiration (no thanks to Guest Relations) 9/15/11 Pictorial

[DarthGrady]

The Carnivale Dining Room

 

Tea Time: Yes that is a piece of chocolate cake, a scone AND an apple cobbler. They also had strawberries with whipped cream and finger sandwiches.

 

 

The Brasserie Buffet

 

 

Exterior seating for the buffet

[DarthGrady]

Entertainment:

 

I did not attend any of the shows, but I did go to see both of the comedians in the new Punchliner Comedy Club. They were both pretty good, and I like how Carnival is offering multiple shows each night. It is a good idea, but it still has not reduced the overcrowding in the smallish aft lounge. If you have a party that all want to sit together you’ll have to arrive very early. This is a continual problem that they could easily fix by having the popular adults-only comedy acts in the main theater.

 

Cozumel, Mexico:

 

I can’t share any stories about our time in Cozumel because we did not leave the ship. I’m really beginning to enjoy just staying on the ship when we visit the same old ports. It’s so nice to be able to enjoy the hot tubs, water slides and the (only) pool without the throngs of fellow passengers around. The pool is seriously overcrowded on sea days since it is the only one on board. It’s a shame I have to wait for everyone to debark to enjoy the Lido area. But now that the ship has lost two hot tubs and a pool, the Lido deck is nearly unusable due to overcrowding.

[DarthGrady]

Arrival in Cozumel

 

The Elation docked at the pier next door

 

The mini golf course

 

We spent the majority of our day in Cozumel in the Serenity area

 

[yogimax]

Thanks again for your great photos and fair and balanced comments!

[DarthGrady]

I also went down the slides a few times while we were in Coz. They have tweaked the Waterworks area since my last time on board. They moved the dual flumes over and added the mini slides. They also added a nice circular staircase between the slides that takes you up to the funnel deck. There used to be a rather flimsy staircase on the Port side of the area that seemed cheaply done.

 

 

[cruising grandma]

We have never cruised on Inspiration, but looks like a very pretty ship....especially the Candlelight lounge and the library. I am curious about the closing of pool and hot tubs. What did they put in their place? Is the Serenity area complimentary? Nice review.......and photos. Makes me want to book it tonight!

[willyguy]

Entertainment:

 

I did not attend any of the shows, but I did go to see both of the comedians in the new Punchliner Comedy Club. They were both pretty good, and I like how Carnival is offering multiple shows each night. It is a good idea, but it still has not reduced the overcrowding in the smallish aft lounge. If you have a party that all want to sit together you’ll have to arrive very early. This is a continual problem that they could easily fix by having the popular adults-only comedy acts in the main theater.

 

Cozumel, Mexico:

 

I can’t share any stories about our time in Cozumel because we did not leave the ship. I’m really beginning to enjoy just staying on the ship when we visit the same old ports. It’s so nice to be able to enjoy the hot tubs, water slides and the (only) pool without the throngs of fellow passengers around. The pool is seriously overcrowded on sea days since it is the only one on board. It’s a shame I have to wait for everyone to debark to enjoy the Lido area. But now that the ship has lost two hot tubs and a pool, the Lido deck is nearly unusable due to overcrowding.

So what happen to the other pools on the ship?

[DarthGrady]

My favorite part of staying on the ship on port days is enjoying the lightly populated pool and hot tubs. They actually looks like the advertising photos Carnival puts out.

 

 

Unfortunately THIS is the grim reality of sea days on the post-Evolutions of Fun Fantasy Class ships. Not exactly "resort style" is it?

 

[DarthGrady]

We have never cruised on Inspiration, but looks like a very pretty ship....especially the Candlelight lounge and the library. I am curious about the closing of pool and hot tubs. What did they put in their place? Is the Serenity area complimentary? Nice review.......and photos. Makes me want to book it tonight!

 

So what happen to the other pools on the ship?

 

A few years ago Carnival started "improving" the Fantasy Class ships by way of something they call Evolutions of Fun. Some changes were for the better, like the complete cabin renovations.

 

Some changes were less productive.

 

There used to be a pool and two hot tubs on Veranda Deck aft. They were not adults-only, but since the slide was at the main pool it usually ended up that way. There was also a kiddie pool on Promenade deck aft. Carnival eliminated the Veranda Deck pool and its tubs, and installed the Waterworks in its place.

 

They eliminated the old kiddie pool and installed the adults-only Serenity area (yes, it is free) with two hot tubs. They eliminated the old water slide and made the main pool more modern "resort style" with umbrellas, overflow area and fake palm trees. They also eliminated the two hot tubs that were in the spa in favor of a money making aerobics room.

 

So the breakdown is this: The ship used to have three pools and six hot tubs. Now it has one pool and four hot tubs with the same number of guests. Not exactly great planning. Whats worse is that the kids still want to swim, so they swarm the main pool after they ride the slides a few times.

[DarthGrady]

The Destiny arrives at Cozumel. This was fun to watch since I will be cruising on her next week.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rosefloater]

 

I love the Fantasy Class regular cabin bathrooms. They have the best setup of any other cruise ship I have been on and seem to be the largest.

 

Thanks for the great pictures. We'll be on her in Jan.

 

It doesn't look like there is much space for toiletries. Is it just the little shelf above the sink? On the Paradise, there is a mirrored medicine cabinet to hold all of the toiletries.

[DarthGrady]

 

 

A nice sunset as we left port

 

See you soon Destiny

[DarthGrady]

Thanks for the great pictures. We'll be on her in Jan.

 

It doesn't look like there is much space for toiletries. Is it just the little shelf above the sink? On the Paradise, there is a mirrored medicine cabinet to hold all of the toiletries.

 

Yes, its just the little shelf. Those old medicine cabinets were 86'd during the renovations. My wife brought a hanging organizer for the bathroom to hold all of her stuff.

[DarthGrady]

The (lack of) Guest Relations Desk:

 

I suppose I should count my blessings that in my 15 previous cruises with Carnival I have never had any major issues with the crew. Unfortunately that streak came to an abrupt end on this voyage. The problems began pretty mildly on the first day. My wife went to the Platinum desk to ask a question. The crew members working the desk looked over at her and obviously knew she was there. After finishing with the guests they were attending to, they motioned more folks over from the regular line. It was as if they just assumed she was in the wrong place. They eventually came over and helped her, and it wasn’t really a big deal, but it foreshadowed things to come.

 

Later that same day she had to return to the Guest Relations (GR) desk because our group amenities ($25 OBC and a bottle of wine per cabin) had not been added to our booking. The GR folks were just as unhelpful on the second visit. They could have easily contacted the Group Booking Department as a pleasant gesture, but instead decided that it wasn’t their problem. So my wife had to take care of it on her own cell phone. Thankfully we were still in port. The amenities were eventually restored, no thanks to the ships GR people.

 

On our first sea day we again stopped by GR to reserve our spots for the Platinum Galley Tour. The guy at the desk took down our names and cabin numbers, and even allowed us to bring the rest of our group. He told us the tour would meet in the Mardi Gras Dining Room on the last sea day at 3 PM. Things seemed to be looking up.

 

On the last sea day we all arrived at the empty Mardi Gras Dining Room. When I say empty, I mean totally deserted. One crewman walked by and knew nothing of a tour. So I again got to visit the GR desk. The lady at the desk informed me that the tour had been at 10:30 that morning. Great! My wife and I informed her that her counterpart told us that the tour was to be at 3 PM. She spoke to him about it, and his retort was that he “didn’t recall saying that”. Wonderful! She then rather brusquely said that the tour had always been at 10:30 since the Inspiration started sailing.

 

My wife and I both found that last statement to be a bit dubious. The ship nerd in me figuring that Inspiration is now 15 years old, and the girl was all of 25. So it’s fairly unlikely that she has been working on the ship since she was in grade school. My wife’s reasoning was a bit more helpful. She had taken a cruise with her girlfriends on the Inspiration in May; and the galley tour was indeed at 3 PM. So it was not always at 10:30 AM. But what was done was done, and they offered no apologies for our trouble. The issue would have been minor had it only inconvenienced my wife and I. But the other six members of our group left what they were doing to attend the tour. We took down the crewmembers names, and we plan to send a fairly lengthy letter to Carnival about the issues. I don’t expect people to be perfect, and I’m far from hard to please. But it bothers me when I get dirty looks, lies and attitude from people being paid to help out.

 

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[DarthGrady]

Our family of towel animals

 

The new Sail and Sign Platinum Card. The Carnival logo has dissapeared from the top, and the "Platinum" wording has moved to the side for some reason. A far cry from the old cards with the cool shiny lettering, but they open doors and buy stuff all the same.

 

We stopped on the last sea day to check on a small boat floating in the middle of nowhere. No one was aboard. Strange.

 

Platinum goodies

 

 

All we got were the sweets this time. Fine by me.

[DarthGrady]

Conclusion:

 

In spite of the glaring problems both ignored and caused by the Guest Relations people, we all still had a great cruise. Since I have cruised more on Inspiration than any other ship, I am glad that I got to see her once more before she leaves us for California. She has been sailing from Tampa now for several years now. If she has the same longevity on the West coast, she may not return to Florida before being retired from the fleet. That is a shame, but I look forward to many good cruises on Paradise in the future.

 

Farewell Inspiration, thanks for all the good times.

[cruising grandma]

Thanks for a great review!

 

I understand the frustraion of dealing with Guest Relations Re: a tour. We missed a Bridge tour we had signed up for on our last RCCL cruise.....with about the same response from the C&A loyalty ambassador as you had with guest relation staff. We are Diamond + and had been offered the tour, but then somehow our card along with another couples was misplaced, so we missed out. No apologies, no concern.....We did have our crystal block presented to us at the last formal night's repeater's party, which was nice.

[firefly333]

Please excuse my ignorance, but where are the pics?

 

I dont see any pics either .. and I see people saying they love the pics.

 

Im with you.. just seeing captions. wierd.

[cathyz]

This HUGE ugly sculpture:

 

 

I agree, the bar is much better. Wish I could go see it for myself

That would be the one!!! It was pretty gross!

[Hogladyrider]

Another great review Grady!

 

We share your feelings on Inspiration.

 

We grabbed a great deal on Ecstasy Nov 7th and our plans are NOT to leave the ship in Nassau and Freeport just like you mentioned and enjoy the ship amenities with less people. Of course we will be off the ship in Half Moon Cay.....one of our favorite port days!

 

I enjoyed your new technique in writing your review and posting your photos........as always your reviews at top notch!

 

Enjoy your future cruises, looking forward to your future reviews.

Susan

[Litewait]

I'm from San Diego and was looking forward to a change in ships~ Love the Paradise. While it doesnt have the Evolutions of Fun, it is a much prettier ship than Inspiration. Even the Serenity area on the Paradise is nicer..

 

I hadn't seen many pictures so I appreciate the review and pics, Grady!!

 

Enjoy the Paradise~ We are going to miss her!:(

[hancogran]

Thanks for the great review and the memories! We sailed Inspiration way back in 1999 when we embarked in Santa Domingo. Your pictures sure refreshed my memory of the good time we had. Glad you enjoyed your cruise :)

[Lv2Camp&Cruise]

Thanks for another great review. We enjoyed the Inspiration but like you are excited to get the opportunity to sail different ships. We leave on the Ecstasy in 3 weeks so we will get another under our belt. Thanks again!:)

[okwriter]

Very thorough review and great assortment of pictures.

 

THANK YOU for keeping your pictures a decent size. I live on an acreage in the boonies, and the only available Internet is just a step above dial-up. :)

[okgirl]

Thanks for a great review and good memories from our Inspiration cruise way back in 2002.

 

I feel your pain with GS. I have many times stood in the Platinum line completely ignored while several guests in the regular line are moving through.

 

I don't mind that they make me wait a few minutes, but to stand there for 10+ minutes being ignored is annoying.