The Inspiration....just how bad....??

[Qcruise]

OK....so we live in Long Beach and see the Inspiration/Imagination ships rotate the weekend "booze cruise" itineraries all year round here. We've sailed only once before on a Carnival ship, the Splendour a few years back, and enjoyed the ship and cruise (aside from blowing out my knee and being in a wheel chair for five of the seven days), but we have some apprehension about the New Year Day weekend cruise we just booked on the Inspiration to celebrate our twin sons 21st birthdays. They turn 21 in September, but we can't do anything then as they are in college and can't. So we have two interior cabins and we expect to have a ball. This cruise is not during New Years Eve, but embarks on New Years Day....so we only chose it for it's convienience not having to take any vacation days, and it works with our boys schedules well. I know the ship is old....and assume some wild party crowds will be aboard with us, can anyone tell us their experience. I'm hoping no horror stories.....we are booked, and I'm sure our kids will have fun regardless.

[thekidsandi]

OK....so we live in Long Beach and see the Inspiration/Imagination ships rotate the weekend "booze cruise" itineraries all year round here. We've sailed only once before on a Carnival ship, the Splendour a few years back, and enjoyed the ship and cruise (aside from blowing out my knee and being in a wheel chair for five of the seven days), but we have some apprehension about the New Year Day weekend cruise we just booked on the Inspiration to celebrate our twin sons 21st birthdays. They turn 21 in September, but we can't do anything then as they are in college and can't. So we have two interior cabins and we expect to have a ball. This cruise is not during New Years Eve, but embarks on New Years Day....so we only chose it for it's convienience not having to take any vacation days, and it works with our boys schedules well. I know the ship is old....and assume some wild party crowds will be aboard with us, can anyone tell us their experience. I'm hoping no horror stories.....we are booked, and I'm sure our kids will have fun regardless.

 

I have taken both the 3 day weekend and the 4 day weekday trip about 6 times. Depending upon the time of year, it can be a real party boat, but its still lots of fun. We have enjoyed laughing at and with some of our fellow cruisers. It is popular with bachelor and bachelorette parties. You will have a great time. The ship is older, but well maintained. It doesn't have all the extras that many of the newer ships have, but it has everything that is necessary.

[Rod in Az]

OK....so we live in Long Beach and see the Inspiration/Imagination ships rotate the weekend "booze cruise" itineraries all year round here. We've sailed only once before on a Carnival ship, the Splendour a few years back, and enjoyed the ship and cruise (aside from blowing out my knee and being in a wheel chair for five of the seven days), but we have some apprehension about the New Year Day weekend cruise we just booked on the Inspiration to celebrate our twin sons 21st birthdays. They turn 21 in September, but we can't do anything then as they are in college and can't. So we have two interior cabins and we expect to have a ball. This cruise is not during New Years Eve, but embarks on New Years Day....so we only chose it for it's convienience not having to take any vacation days, and it works with our boys schedules well. I know the ship is old....and assume some wild party crowds will be aboard with us, can anyone tell us their experience. I'm hoping no horror stories.....we are booked, and I'm sure our kids will have fun regardless.

 

We have done a total of 4 cruises on the Inspiration. The first one was just the two of us, hate to admit it, but it was really a test run because I had the same trepidation you express (well, that and we had never stayed in anything other than a balcony, so a short cruise would let us test our tolerance for that too). We had a wonderful time, and have since cruised three more times on her, twice with (some of) our kids and once with DW's mom and one of her friends. While none of our trips were during the New Years holiday, one was over Thanksgiving weekend, I can say there have been no "Horror Stories" on our trips.

 

The ship is showing it's age, but our rooms (2 porthole rooms and 2 oceanview rooms) were clean, well kept, and everything worked fine. The food was good, both on the Lido deck (Buffet, Deli, Grill, Mongolian Wok), and the Main Dining Room. We enjoy the casino, the comedy club, and some of the nightlife although we tend to entertain ourselves, either together or with our group.

 

We didn't notice an appreciable difference in the behavior of others than on our longer cruises, so I wouldn't classify the three or four day cruises that we went on as "booze cruises". I've seen just as much rowdy behavior on our longer cruises as I have on the short ones. Our Dream cruise from New Orleans had two separate large Bachelor/Bachelorette party groups on it, I would say that was the rowdiest ship we have ever sailed on. I'm sure there are others who have a different take on it, but that is my sense based on my experience.

 

The only time we were disappointed in anything on the Inspiration really was our most recent cruise, and that was a result of one of the hot tubs in the adult area being out of service. I never asked why, it certainly didn't ruin our cruise. It did however cause me to seek out the steam and sauna rooms, which were quite relaxing

 

We have learned our way around Ensenada, and while we don't really consider it a destination, but did enjoy people watching at Papa's and Beer's downtown. We did find a resort with one of the best run zipline adventure areas we have ever been to.

[K.T.B.]

I'll be on her in 12 days. I'll be doing a review when I get back. :)

[Beach_gal]

We had the same hesitation as you and ended up thoroughly enjoying our little weekend getaway with friends.

 

In fact, our expectations were so low, we were surprised at how much fun we had. The dining room service was fantastic and the food was great. We enjoyed the nightlife and were never woken up by loud party animals out in the hall in the middle of the night (we always travel with a small white noise machine, so perhaps this helped?).

 

Don't worry about it and go enjoy yourselves!

[T. Advisor King]

Our Inspiration weekend cruise was a couple years ago and the first weekend in April (so just after, or at the end of spring break, depending on your jurisdiction). I thought it was a little more rowdy than a weeklong summer cruise, but not by any order of magnitude. If an average Carnival cruise is a 7 out of 10 on the rowdy scale, this might have been an 8.

 

I'm reluctant to say "you will have a great time" because how could I possibly know that. You might hate it. But if you've sailed with Carnival before, I'm guessing you'd find this more similar than different.

[SoCalCruiserGal]

Hi,

 

A large group of us sailed Friday, January 2 of this year. It was a great cruise! So much so, that I'm hoping to be sailing with you next year!!!

 

I have been on weekend cruises on sister ships out of Long Beach and can say that this was nothing like a weekend "booze cruise". It was fun, but relaxing just the same.

 

Personally, I really like this ship. It doesn't have all of the big bells and whistles and isn't nearly as large as Splendor, but it's a great size and everything is convenient for walking distance. No hiking gear necesssary to get from one place to the other. LOL. It's a clean ship. Alot of things have been refurbished. We sailed three times on her since last May and have a cruise coming up next Monday on her.

 

If you don't mind me asking, where did you book on the ship? You don't have to give your exact cabins. The reason I ask is that our friends had interior cabins across from our ocean view and they kept hearing loud noises. Come to find out, we realized that the noise was from the stairs. I have been on many cruises and never thought about the noise from stairs over a cabin. I've always been concerned about the deck above us and chairs sliding.

 

Stacey

[SadieN]

Worst part about sailing out of Long Beach is the parking situation with three ships in port. The structure fills up. Late arrivals park on the roof or on the flats outside.

(If the Splendor returns it will be worse.)

[eponym]

Worst part about sailing out of Long Beach is the parking situation with three ships in port. The structure fills up. Late arrivals park on the roof or on the flats outside.

(If the Splendor returns it will be worse.)

 

When we have done Long Beach, we coordinate drop off/pick up with family or friends to avoid the parking! Shuttles are another way.

 

Inspiration on short Mexican cruises, to us, is a big time booze cruise. But not much different than any other 3-4 day out of Los Angeles heading south. Just not our cup of tea after having done them a few times in the past. It also MAY have been a time of year influence onboard too when we have sailed.

 

You'll have a great time. We just don't book those cruises any longer, opting for longer cruises, and varying brands.

Edited May 17, 2015 by eponym

[elliair]

We did a B2B on the Inspiration and never again! Drunks everywhere, drunks puking in the hallway, drunks not even able to walk to their cabin they had to crawl. Our cabin was next to a storage area where things that were stored there kept banging against our wall. Our room also filled with cigarette smoke from the ventilation. We complained but didn't get moved like the other cabins surrounding us. They ran out of cabins. After that cruise Carnival left a sour taste in our mouth. Oh, and a couple of brats were on the Lido deck dousing bread with Tabasco sauce and feeding it to the gulls. No one said anything until I got up and confronted them. I showed them my camera and told them that I had pictures of what they were doing. I told them that security was on their way. They took a saucer and threw it overboard. I never saw them the rest of the cruise. The gulls got even, saw them taking a bath in the kiddie pool and pooping in it. Worse cruise EVAR!

Edited May 17, 2015 by elliair

[maritaysa]

I've done about a dozen of the shorter cruises. In my earlier cruises, I enjoyed being around "the party." Not so much as I got older. Now that we have kids, not at all. The only time that I didn't fully enjoy the short cruise is when we did the Inspiration this passed Superbowl. I had booked it at the last minute forgetting that it was Superbowl, and it was just my 3 yr old and myself. DH was giving me a break from not sleeping due to our baby. My issues with the cruise was the all hours of the day loud music in the cabin areas, marijuana smoke smell getting into our interior cabin, that smell in various spots of the ship, and the scantily clad women in the MDR on formal night. I felt like we were trapped in a rap video. All other short cruises that I've been on were just fine. I will just avoid cruising Superbowl weekend.

[ColoradoCruiser1982]

My parents cruised the inspiration and departed the day after the Super Bowl this year. Their embarkation was delayed because people partied too hard during the game and had to be dragged out of their cabins. You may want to be prepared for a similar situation if you are cruising out on New Year's Day.

Edited May 17, 2015 by ColoradoCruiser1982
Misspelling

[Melcoug]

I took my kids (6 and 8) on the Imagination the first week in January this year. My expectations were low knowing that it was an older ship and sailing a short itinerary. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Other than the buffet being horrible and some spotty service in the dining room, the cruise was very enjoyable. The only passenger issue I witnessed was a family down the hall fighting. It sounded like the mother was upset with an adult child who had too much to drink.

 

My kids aren't allowed to run around the ship by themselves, but when I finally do let them, if they are doing anything wrong, I hope other passengers will step in and correct their behavior.

 

You can find examples of bad passenger behavior on just about any cruise. Chances are you won't have cruise FULL of them. If you encounter any craziness, move on and continue to enjoy your cruise!

[SadieN]

When we have done Long Beach, we coordinate drop off/pick up with family or friends to avoid the parking! Shuttles are another way.

 

Inspiration on short Mexican cruises, to us, is a big time booze cruise. But not much different than any other 3-4 day out of Los Angeles heading south. Just not our cup of tea after having done them a few times in the past. It also MAY have been a time of year influence onboard too when we have sailed.

 

You'll have a great time. We just don't book those cruises any longer, opting for longer cruises, and varying brands.

 

 

Most cruises we take public transportation in. Takes about three hours from home, including bathroom breaks. Since OP lived in Long Beach they might be able to catch the free Passport bus into the port area.

 

FWIW our worst short cruise was on a Princess last November.

Edited May 17, 2015 by SadieN

[SoCalKJ]

I've been on her a few times...actually, I have to check my own signature just to remember exactly how many...LOL!

 

With the exception of the Kickball Weekend from Hell, I've always had a tremendous time...and I'm grateful to be so close whenever I need a weekend away and have the time off to go away.

 

I DON'T drink...and even though it's considered a Booze Cruise, I've always been fairly surprised at how decently-behaved everyone is...FOR THE MOST PART! Lower your expectations and you'll have a BLAST! Unless you choose to nit-pick...then you're surely going to hate your experience. :eek: :D

[makeda]

what is a "booze cruise"?

[vwrestler171]

I took the Inspiration for my kids first cruise and it wasn't bad. Not my favorite cruise by any means, but it will be fine for quick getaways. I didn't see many drunks on my trip. Probably just depends on when you go.

[SadieN]

what is a "booze cruise"?

 

 

Think 'Frat Party'. Even on booze cruises we've been able to find quiet spots, inside and out.

[Cruznjuly]

We have been on the Inspiration and Imagination, 2 times each- 3,4, and 5 night cruises.

Each time we have discovered

That if you want a party, you'll find one, but if you want peace and quiet, you'll find that too.

 

 

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