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

[iluvdoxies]

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:

 

I had a problem with Guest Relations on our Fascination cruise - my stockholder obc wasnt showing up - they guy basically blew me off and told me to call AFTER we got home ---I went back to the cabin fuming, went down again and talked with Isabella who was great - she got it fixed.

I wrote a letter to G Cahill about this, expe being Milestone - all I got back was the form letter saying "sorry we didnt meet your expectations, etc " That really left a bad taste in my mouth----all I wanted was a real apology.

 

Carnival has changed, and not for the better - we are now trying different lines.

[crusinpsychRN]

The elevators really needed repair. I'm going to miss her. I'm taking the last cruise out of Tampa...

 

Can you smoke at all in Chopin's?

[bdstrom]

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:

 

THANK YOU!!! This is exactly what we went through on the Inspiration! Prior to the cruise, we put in a special request which has been granted through Carnival and we even had it in writing.

 

When we arrived at the ship, we discovered that the request was not being met so we went to the guest service desk and they were clueless and then decided to get rude with us. It was awful! Said many ignorant and insensitive things to our group of 10 people, literally sent some of us into tears.

 

In my 31 years on this planet, no one has ever spoken to me like that in a business setting before. Ever.

 

But it turned out well at the end, we filed a complaint and Carnival sent us a nice gift. I suppose we are giving Carnival another chance this November.

[yogimax]

Thanks for a great review!

 

I understand the frustraion of dealing with Guest Relations

 

I wonder if the fact that Inspiration is one of the older and smaller ships has something to do with this.

 

I would think that crew who have the best ratings would be sent to work on the newer, larger ships while those just starting to work for the company or with poor ratings would work on the smaller, older ships.

 

Just a thought

[DarthGrady]

The elevators really needed repair. I'm going to miss her. I'm taking the last cruise out of Tampa...

 

Can you smoke at all in Chopin's?

 

Nope. The only authorized smoking areas now are the Rock and Roll dance club, certain machines and tables in the casino and the Starboard side of the Lido Deck.

 

The thing that irked me was that cigar smoking is now only allowed up on the Lido. I don't consider myself a smoker, but I do enjoy the occasional cigar. Cigars are best enjoyed in a nice lounge with comfortable furniture and good music.

[DarthGrady]

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

 

Thanks Susan! Hope you enjoy Ecstasy, Half Moon Cay is awesome!

[clearwatergirl]

Thank you for such a nice review. I'm glad we were able to sail on Inspiration in March knowing that she'll be leaving us soon. We had a lovely cruise with few issues. Nothing I can remember that was too bad.

 

Ship looked good. Staff was OK. Glad I didn't run into what you experienced. I too would have written a letter to Carnival and sent an email to John Heald. No reason for rude behaviour from GS. That's their job and we're paying them to do it. Ugg. :cool:

 

Looking forward to Paradise coming over. Will book a 2013 cruise next year. :D

[gelboydad]

Nice pictures. I am wanting to upgrade my older camera. What kind of camera did you use for this trip. And doe it have a automatic picture setting. My better half has difficulty thinking about changing settings.

 

thanks

Jim

[Buckett]

Thanks for your review, and all the pictures! I will be sailing the Inspiration out of Long Beach in February on a little 3 dayer to Ensenada. :)

[MotoRacer598]

Was on the cruise with you Grady. Only problem we had was the food in the MDR. Chicken was always dry whenever somebody ordered it and a few complained about the new menus. Our table staff was awesome! The comedians were good but I think they should'nt have been in the Candlelight it's not nearly big enough.

 

 

We had a group of 27 of us on this cruise 8 of us were in wheelchairs. We are a wheelchair rugby team and I talked the guys into a cruise and now they are hooked!

[willyguy]

Thank you for the review.

[DarthGrady]

Nice pictures. I am wanting to upgrade my older camera. What kind of camera did you use for this trip. And doe it have a automatic picture setting. My better half has difficulty thinking about changing settings.

 

thanks

Jim

 

Its a Panasonic DMC-ZS10. It has an excellent Intelligent Auto setting that makes it dead simple to operate. It also has a very good 16X zoom, which is only slightly less than the bridge camera it replaced.

 

[DarthGrady]

Was on the cruise with you Grady. Only problem we had was the food in the MDR. Chicken was always dry whenever somebody ordered it and a few complained about the new menus. Our table staff was awesome! The comedians were good but I think they should'nt have been in the Candlelight it's not nearly big enough.

 

 

We had a group of 27 of us on this cruise 8 of us were in wheelchairs. We are a wheelchair rugby team and I talked the guys into a cruise and now they are hooked!

 

Cool, I saw some of your team around the ship. Glad to hear you all had a nice time.

 

I totally agree about the comedy shows. The aft lounge is too small, they should definitely use the main theater so everyone can have a seat.

[sassyredhat]

Thanks for the pix Grady. :)

We are booked for Feb. here on the west coast. We are going with my brother on his first cruise.

You will love Paradise. She is a very pretty ship. We have sailed Elation twice.

Just got off the Sea Princess, and we were wishing were on one of those little Fantasy class ships !!

We book a balcony up on verandah, so when the boys get rowdy at the pool, we have our little 'sanctuary' away from it all.

Yes, it can be loud, pool is crowded, and the balcony is TINY, but the food is good, crew is mostly excellent, and we love those ships.:D

Pat

[ccruisequeen]

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.

 

 

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

Did you make arrangements through a PVP or TA? We have 7 cabins (not the required 8) but PVP said I'd be treated as a VIP because I recommended all our friends to him & he's connected our reservations together.

[momof3cruisers]

Nope. The only authorized smoking areas now are the Rock and Roll dance club, certain machines and tables in the casino and the Starboard side of the Lido Deck.

 

The thing that irked me was that cigar smoking is now only allowed up on the Lido. I don't consider myself a smoker, but I do enjoy the occasional cigar. Cigars are best enjoyed in a nice lounge with comfortable furniture and good music.

 

That is just so silly to me. As a nonsmoker, I would much rather have people smoking in a cigar bar...that is some irony, right there...than out on the lido where I can smell it. People who wanted to avoid the smoke should stay out of the cigar bar.

[DarthGrady]

Did you make arrangements through a PVP or TA? We have 7 cabins (not the required 8) but PVP said I'd be treated as a VIP because I recommended all our friends to him & he's connected our reservations together.

 

My wife is a part time TA, so she made all of the arrangements through the Group Reservations Dept.

[DarthGrady]

That is just so silly to me. As a nonsmoker, I would much rather have people smoking in a cigar bar...that is some irony, right there...than out on the lido where I can smell it. People who wanted to avoid the smoke should stay out of the cigar bar.

 

I agree, that lounge (as well as those same lounges on the rest of the Fantasy Class ships) was very nice as a cigar bar.

 

They could have even made just the Port side smoking if the complaint was that people had to walk through there to get into the Candlelight Lounge.

[DarthGrady]

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

 

Im with you.. just seeing captions. wierd.

 

Sorry, not sure whats going on there. I have opened the thread with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, I see the pictures with both.

[DarthGrady]

THANK YOU!!! This is exactly what we went through on the Inspiration! Prior to the cruise, we put in a special request which has been granted through Carnival and we even had it in writing.

 

When we arrived at the ship, we discovered that the request was not being met so we went to the guest service desk and they were clueless and then decided to get rude with us. It was awful! Said many ignorant and insensitive things to our group of 10 people, literally sent some of us into tears.

 

In my 31 years on this planet, no one has ever spoken to me like that in a business setting before. Ever.

 

But it turned out well at the end, we filed a complaint and Carnival sent us a nice gift. I suppose we are giving Carnival another chance this November.

 

Sorry to hear that, but it's nice to know it wasn't just us they didn't like. :D

[themnms]

Thanks for the great review!! Makes me wish we were starting the repositioning Panama Canal cruise tomorrow!!

[cathyz]

Sorry, not sure whats going on there. I have opened the thread with Google Chrome and Internet Explorer, I see the pictures with both.

I couldn't see some of the pics last night, but can tonight. Great review and pics, we're glad to get the Inspiration back on the west coast just for a change of pace, been on the Paradise many times!

[Rosefloater]

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.

 

That's too bad. I liked not having all of my toiletries out in the open. Guess I'll have to out and buy an organizer.:mad:

 

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.

 

Maybe they thought you were talking about the regular galley tour (if they do it on the Inspiration). I've learned to confirm the time of the tour the night before.

 

Did you make arrangements through a PVP or TA? We have 7 cabins (not the required 8) but PVP said I'd be treated as a VIP because I recommended all our friends to him & he's connected our reservations together.

 

The crew doesn't care how you booked your cruise.

[DarthGrady]

That's too bad. I liked not having all of my toiletries out in the open. Guess I'll have to out and buy an organizer.:mad:

 

 

 

Maybe they thought you were talking about the regular galley tour (if they do it on the Inspiration). I've learned to confirm the time of the tour the night before.

 

 

 

The crew doesn't care how you booked your cruise.

 

Unfortunately they only offer the galley tour to VIP/Platinum guests now. If they still held it for everyone it would have made the whole thing much easier.

[Sargent_Schultz]

 

 

 

Platinum goodies

 

 

Looks like they haven't run out of the old ship pins, yet!