Avoid the Inspiration at all cost!!!

[wka_orlando]

I just got back from taking a group on the Inspiration and have to tell you the ship is really sad. I am including feedback I gave my travel agent below but the general gist is that it is an old ship with decent cabin stewards and wait staff, but pretty much everything else bit. Entertainment was pathetic, senior staff usless, and ship falling apart. If you love the smell of sewer gas and taste of high school cafe food, go for it... otherwise I would look for another ride...

----------------

 

Dear (name left out as our agent did try to help...)

 

Wanted to send you some feedback on the cruise we took. The group had a good time in the ports, but I have to tell you the Inspiration was not a nice ship....

 

From the first day, there was a prevalent sewer smell on most of the cabin decks and the air conditioning was not working properly in most of our cabins and in our portion of the dinning room.

 

I will just give you a gripe list and you can forward whatever to Carnival...

 

The Cabins:

 

Several of the Veranda deck cabins were directly under the weight room and starting at 6am until late at night (the crew used the facility after hours once til 1am) there was a continuous crash of weights hitting the floor and the cabins were not usable for sleep during those hours. One of my chaps went and complained several times about after hours noise and one Hispanic crew member seemed to be the main late user and did not give a damn about the noise he was making. Desk was no help...

 

The AC on the E-deck cabins was garbage. During the day and into the late evening it was extremely uncomfortable in those cabins and then by early morning it would turn freezing. My wife and two others ended up with sore throats from this. It seemed that the entire ship was a section by section guess on temp. Going from one room to the next, it could very by more than 10-15deg.

 

The sewer smell was horrid in some cabins and present in all of them. All of the passengers were complaining but no action was apparent on the part of the staff.

 

The so called upgrade from 6A to 6E placed us directly across from the elevator lobby and the noise made it difficult to sleep on top of the useless AC. Would have been better off in a lower cabin away from a traffic hub... We had two 'fights' get started right out side of our doors by drunken teens/early twenties. Ship finally put some security out on the last day but one of my people almost had two guys come crashing through their door until he opened it up and chased them off with no help from staff.

 

Dinning Room:

 

They put us on two tables right next to the kitchen. No AC, too hot to keep ties on for formal night and everyone was more concerned about eating and leaving than socializing due to the heat and kitchen noise. Complaints to the head waiter got promises of action but nothing was ever done. There had to be someplace else to put us but the staff ignored our requests. Our specific waiters were very nice and tried to make us comfortable, but it was obvious that they had no say in the issue. They gave us good service but the food was often cold and it is hard to eat in a hot room with dishes crashing every few minutes only six feet away.

 

Our Private Group 'Party':

 

The party we were to have got moved at the last moment to the kids disco. I was never told nor was anyone in our group. Finally figured it out half way through the hour and went to find all of the people who had left when they arrived to find a locked lounge that was the original location. By the time everyone was located and told about the change, we got 15min of party in a kiddie room with nothing but small kids chairs to sit on and a single staffer. No explanation on the move nor were they willing to extend the time or reschedule. Hardly what we were told to expect.

 

Other Entertainment:

 

I can honestly tell you this was the worst entertainment I have ever seen. Dancers barely able to dance, singers that were worse than the karaoke bar and few structured activities. The comedian only told rather tacky off-color jokes that even the 'red-necks' thought not much of... I mean, I like off color jokes as much as the next guy, but these were just not funny to anyone.... The one deck party night was canned for weather and nothing was scheduled as a replacement.

 

Food:

 

High School cafeteria on the buffet when it was open. All of about 7 hours a day. Seemed like everytime we went up, it was closed. By 10am closed, open for about 2.5 hours at lunch then closed for hours... The so called 24 hour service was usually cold pizza servered by an irritated staffer that you had to ring a bell and wait to find...

 

Anyhow, enough. I do not blame your agency for this as such but really wish there was some warning about the condition of this ship. Carnival has pretty much guaranteed that none of these folks will sail with them again. The sad thing is that most of the cabin and wait staff were very nice, professional and helpful. The ship was trash and management completely unconcerned about the passengers. Maybe the management should have to live on tips as well as the staff and perhaps things would get better.... I have sailed on Princess, RCL and others and this was beyond pathetic.

 

Not sure what to do about all of this. Wanted to let you know about this little adventure. All in all our group had a good time in the ports but everything related to Carnival was very disappointing.

 

Considering their reputation, I doubt any of this feedback would move them but again, I thought you should know. Now I really regret we did not opt for RCL out of Miami....

 

-------------

 

Anyhow, I do not know if this is representative of the newer portions of the Carnival fleet. I know that most of the ships like Inspiration and Fantasy are old cans that need refit badly but the line needs to draw a line someplace if they value reputation in any way.

 

The best suggestion I can make to them is to make the ships senior staff live with a sliding pay scale tied to the tipping levels and customer feedback cards rather than only holding stewards and waiters accountable. That might get some of these people off of there butts...

 

For now, I humbly suggest people avoid the older Carnival ships unless you plan to be so trashed for the entire ride that food and smells are not a problem...

[corina27]

Yikes,Thats not a good cruise.:(

[big_duck]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad time. Maybe you should have used the Vacation Guarantee.

[cruisingator2]

Complete opposite of what I read on another board from a group that just returned a couple of weeks ago. As a matter of fact the group liked the ship so much that they booked the same time again for 06.

 

Just as a side note. The dining times are clearly printed in the Capers showing when the lido dining room would be open. Should not be any confusion to the guest on this part.

[wka_orlando]

Not sure about how that guarentee works. Does not mater much. This was an employee reward trip and one everyone had burned time and the company money to go, not much can be done to repair the disappointment.

[wka_orlando]

The ship advertises 24 hour dinning on the marketing... The capers do provide times, but they do not stick to them or what happens is they close the inside buffets and leave you out in the heat to get food. Closing a buffet down at 10am in a vacation venue kind of stinks... When on vacation, I do not expect to have to conform to a limited sched. The other lines do not do this. Not that the Lido buffet food was all that great anyhow but after a late night, I do not think we shoul have to be up and out by ten to get hot food. The whole idea of a cruise is to not have a fixed regiment and relax...

[tigermaroon2]

WOW. I sailed on the Fascination last year and she's a year older than the Inspiration and didn't have any problems. The staff went out of their way to be helpful...the dining service wasn't great and we had some cold food too, but all in all we had a great time and the ship was in good shape overall.

 

I've been on three Carnival ships and each trip I always see maintenance guys out painting the rails or sides of the ship when in ports....it's obvioulsy constant attention to these large vessels and I've always seen them in good shape.

 

I think some rooms are obviously "noisier" than others. One year on the Jubilee we were on Empress underneath the main walkway area through the shops and had quite a bit of noise....but, even in hotels there is noise. Perhaps packing some noise reducing ear plugs is a good idea?

 

Is it just me, or are there starting to be more "negative" reviews of Carnival?

[destinydog]

sound to me that no matter what they had you wouldnt be satisfied, IMO it's all what you make of it. Having been on three past carnival cruises i find this story a bit far fetched....just my opinion...

[Angel99mm]

I'm sorry you had such a bad trip, but I'm confused. The Inspiration is in the Fantasy class of ships. If I'm remembering correctly, there is no 6E on the Fantasy class, there are only 6E's on the newer ships. Were you in a 4E on the Verandah deck, or was it a different ship you sailed on? There are so many ships I know it's easy to get them mixed up, but I think this is important that we have the right ship named since we're talking about some very negative points. If you could clear it up I think we'd all appreciate it. Thanks!

[wka_orlando]

Cruise buisness is losing a lot of the 'class' it used to have as they expand and try to price control. This is true of most of the lines. Celebrity is the only exception I have been on and of course you pay a bit extra with them.

 

Princess was my favorite until they went on a cost cutting bliz trying to avoid a hostil Carnival take over several years ago. Since Carnival got them, the service and quality has gone down noticably.

 

The fact is that like the airlines, they are trying to keep prices low and that takes a toll on quality. Ships are expensive to refit so they drag out maintenance. On the Inspiration, the floor labels in the elevator have been re-glued so many times, they were hard to read. The ship looks like it was decorated by Elvira which was the fashion 15 years ago... The AC is not able to keep up in most of the ship and the sewer system probably needs a tear down refit...

 

There is also the lines response to a lower class of passenger. Years back, I would never see passengers showing up to breakfast in night shirts, robes, and under clothes looking like they had not make any effort to clean up. Kids were suppervised by parents and the parents were not buying them drinks.

 

This was not my first choice of ship as I suspected, based on notes from this board, that it was not the ride for anyone who wanted more than liquid entertainment but I hoped it would be nice. The ports were great and the lower level staff did bust their butts to be helpful... All of the issues we had traced back to upper level staff not giving a damn... I will restate my biggest suggestion and that is to make everyone on the ship equally reliant on tips for pay. I bet you would notice a big difference....

[Fairsailing]

sound to me that no matter what they had you wouldnt be satisfied, IMO it's all what you make of it. Having been on three past carnival cruises i find this story a bit far fetched....just my opinion...

 

Doesn't sound so far fetched to me. I was fortunate enough to start my cruising on the Holiday and Jubilee. I have since moved up to the bigger, newer ships and continue to be impressed. It sounds like the OP went in the opposite direction - from new ships to older ones. And from what I've repeatedly seen on these boards, it rarely works out.

[big_duck]

I'm sorry you had such a bad trip, but I'm confused. The Inspiration is in the Fantasy class of ships. If I'm remembering correctly, there is no 6E on the Fantasy class, there are only 6E's on the newer ships. Were you in a 4E on the Verandah deck, or was it a different ship you sailed on? There are so many ships I know it's easy to get them mixed up, but I think this is important that we have the right ship named since we're talking about some very negative points. If you could clear it up I think we'd all appreciate it. Thanks!

 

Or 6d on the Empress deck?

[halos]

sorry you were so disappointed :(

[pungo3]

I'm so sorry you had a bad cruise. I just sailed the Inspiration a couple of weeks ago and didn't experience any of your problems. We were on the Upper deck (U92) and it was the first time I'd sailed with an inside cabin. The cabin was wonderful, new beds with the new duvet covers. There was no smell in our cabin at all and our steward kept it spotless. We never heard any noise at all during the night and our air conditioner kept the cabin comfortable. The food in the Mardi Gras dining room was fabulous. We enjoyed every minute of this cruise. Due to a recent medical condition, I have to avoid alcohol so I know my view of the ship was not impaired. I can't comment on the entertainment since we did not attend any of the shows. There was plenty to do without going to them. After your comments, I guess we were lucky we chose not to attend. I commented to several people in my group how impressed I was with the condition of an older ship. Previously, I'd only sailed on larger, newer ships. The Inspiration, IMHO, was every bit as nice as the newer ships. Once again, I'm sorry you didn't have the same experience that we did.

[corina27]

 

The ship looks like it was decorated by Elvira which was the fashion 15 years ago...

....

Now thats funny! Ive wondered what she has been doing.:D :)

[tigermaroon2]

Part of the atmosphere of being on a cruise is the sometimes outlandish, and sometimes even gawdy decor of the ship. I've found it quite amusing on a couple of the ships I have been on that they try so hard to make it look fancy/high class that they go way overboard on the "tacky" scale.

[lynyrd]

that even the 'red-necks' thought not much of...

 

 

Hey, what is this supposed to imply? :mad:

[jckvpa0]

Cruise buisness is losing a lot of the 'class' it used to have as they expand and try to price control. This is true of most of the lines. Celebrity is the only exception I have been on and of course you pay a bit extra with them.

 

Princess was my favorite until they went on a cost cutting bliz trying to avoid a hostil Carnival take over several years ago. Since Carnival got them, the service and quality has gone down noticably.

 

The fact is that like the airlines, they are trying to keep prices low and that takes a toll on quality. Ships are expensive to refit so they drag out maintenance. On the Inspiration, the floor labels in the elevator have been re-glued so many times, they were hard to read. The ship looks like it was decorated by Elvira which was the fashion 15 years ago... The AC is not able to keep up in most of the ship and the sewer system probably needs a tear down refit...

 

There is also the lines response to a lower class of passenger. Years back, I would never see passengers showing up to breakfast in night shirts, robes, and under clothes looking like they had not make any effort to clean up. Kids were suppervised by parents and the parents were not buying them drinks.

 

This was not my first choice of ship as I suspected, based on notes from this board, that it was not the ride for anyone who wanted more than liquid entertainment but I hoped it would be nice. The ports were great and the lower level staff did bust their butts to be helpful... All of the issues we had traced back to upper level staff not giving a damn... I will restate my biggest suggestion and that is to make everyone on the ship equally reliant on tips for pay. I bet you would notice a big difference....

 

 

So you went on this trip expecting to have a bad time :rolleyes: wish you had stated this in the begining of your post.

[cruizinwoman]

WOW sounds like your trip sucked! If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't sail with Carnival again either... I'd go back to Celebrity and pay more!!

 

My DH and I have sailed four times in the past 2.5 years and our first was on the Celebration - you want to talk about an old ship! But it was clean, and not only did I never notice a sewer smell, I didn't even notice cigerette odor in our cabin - and I can smell a gnat's a$$, let me tell ya! We don't drink much, but I do have to have a "drink of the day" if only for the fun of it - I AM on vacation, afterall. The decor wasn't to my taste, but then I don't live there, just visiting. The man responsible for most of the decor on the Carnival cruise ships was famously popular back years ago and since most of us cruising now are "baby boomers" I guess they figure we'll find it "groovy" or something. And our cabins, all of them, have been cold enough to store meat in, I swear! We crank that sucker down to keep from getting frost bite... and to imagine, everywhere you went on the ship, it was HOT!!! What are the odds?!?!

 

I read somewhere on these boards long before we took our first cruise that the experience you will have is based largely on your attitude. I could not agree more. I'm sorry you were so disappointed and that you basically considered your time aboard the ship wasted... maybe Celebrity is more your cup of tea.

 

Oh yeah, and one other thing... I get up pretty early in the morning and have breakfast and never once, not one single time, did I EVER see anyone in their underclothes!! Their robe, maybe, with a swimsuit underneath, but then, that's what the POOLSIDE eating is for... those who do not wish to "get dressed" to eat in the dining room.

[wka_orlando]

The folks that had the most trouble were on Empress deck which in our area is cat 6E... sorry about that. the original post was taken from a conversation with the travel agent.

 

As for Elvira, it was really a dark broody kind of decoration in the main lobby and the Lido dinning area. Some of our folks thought the buffet decorations looked like giant worms growing out of the floor and wrapping around the ceiling which was just such a nice observation during a meal... :-)

 

Anyhow, as I stated earlier, the core staff were very attentive and nice. None of our group had any complaints about them just management that kind of ruined several parts of the ride for us. As for the smells and AC, older ships have maintenance issues that become worse with time. The ship was well painted and the crew busy taking care of things but it was hard to enjoy the ride when you can't sleep at night because the AC is on the blink and the sewer gas is backing up the lines....

 

If not for those items, we would be 'satisfied' if not thrilled. Can always entertain ourselves... What was really called for was an acknowledgment from management of the problems and some efforts to deal with them. I saw other tables open on the second seating they could have moved us too but they refused.... We really felt that the senior staff did not care about what was happening. When our group reception (a big thing for us) got screwed up by them, they just said oh well... no explination, no attempt to fix... unfortunately, this was how all of the issues were handled...

 

This seems to be the trend in the travel industry these days. Cruise lines are no exception. I plan to keep most of my future rides to Princess or Celeb and hope for the best. Celeb seems to be holding the line on quality better but it can be a bit pricey... Princess is usually a fair price but some of the Carnival influence seems to be showing in declining entertainment and food service. In a way it is like Walmart of cruise lines. Carnival is making cruising more available to the masses but in the process it is driving the price point so low that quality has to go with it and other lines have to match them due to their size and the fact that they own most of the lines these days....

 

We LOVE cruising and it is sad to see the state the industry is falling into.

[Croftgirlz5]

Monday. :(

[corina27]

Monday. :(

Your cruise will be great.The op of this thread is talking about Carnival in general..

[bsdmhutch]

Monday. :(

 

Please don't let this one review get you down. Two people on the same ship at the same time can have completely different experiences. You just have to go with the right attitude. I'd take the Inspiration right now over being at work.:eek: Go - enjoy the sun and the fun and mostly - try to roll with whatever happens. No one can control everything.:)

[wka_orlando]

I would not worry too much. The folks on my ride pitched a good fit about the AC and smell issues so I would expect something got done by now... Most likely there were problems that could not be fixed at sea. Not like you can shut the toilets off for a day while you purge the system.

 

That said, I would show up early and 'sniff' around if you are sensative to that sort of problem. On our ride, the stewards were offering to spray air freshener in the cabins. Not sure which smelled worse... :-) Last time I smelled something like that, chaps in my college dorm were trying to cover pot smell. A really strong cherry cough serup scent. WOW.

 

I really felt for the stewards because they were the ones catching the flak for the problems and there was nothing they could do about it. Our group did not give them any hassle for it but there were some really bad 'ugly american' scenes in the hallways and I felt sorry for some of them...

[Sailfish]

The folks that had the most trouble were on Empress deck which in our area is cat 6E... sorry about that. the original post was taken from a conversation with the travel agent.

 

As for Elvira, it was really a dark broody kind of decoration in the main lobby and the Lido dinning area. Some of our folks thought the buffet decorations looked like giant worms growing out of the floor and wrapping around the ceiling which was just such a nice observation during a meal... :-)

 

Anyhow, as I stated earlier, the core staff were very attentive and nice. None of our group had any complaints about them just management that kind of ruined several parts of the ride for us. As for the smells and AC, older ships have maintenance issues that become worse with time. The ship was well painted and the crew busy taking care of things but it was hard to enjoy the ride when you can't sleep at night because the AC is on the blink and the sewer gas is backing up the lines....

 

If not for those items, we would be 'satisfied' if not thrilled. Can always entertain ourselves... What was really called for was an acknowledgment from management of the problems and some efforts to deal with them. I saw other tables open on the second seating they could have moved us too but they refused.... We really felt that the senior staff did not care about what was happening. When our group reception (a big thing for us) got screwed up by them, they just said oh well... no explination, no attempt to fix... unfortunately, this was how all of the issues were handled...

 

This seems to be the trend in the travel industry these days. Cruise lines are no exception. I plan to keep most of my future rides to Princess or Celeb and hope for the best. Celeb seems to be holding the line on quality better but it can be a bit pricey... Princess is usually a fair price but some of the Carnival influence seems to be showing in declining entertainment and food service. In a way it is like Walmart of cruise lines. Carnival is making cruising more available to the masses but in the process it is driving the price point so low that quality has to go with it and other lines have to match them due to their size and the fact that they own most of the lines these days....

 

We LOVE cruising and it is sad to see the state the industry is falling into.

 

I agree with you.

 

But I also know, when it comes to Carnival, to stay away from older ships. I adhere to this with other cruise lines as well, as I personally find older ships to be somewhat disappointing. But I suppose one can have issues with newer ships as well, so you never know.

 

Good luck.