Inspiration 4/25/04

[tdms1324]

Hi everybody!

 

I'm back from the Inspiration again I will do a brief review since I did a more detailed one from my first trip, but please ask me any questions you have.

 

The ship was beautiful and clean. The service was excellent everywhere and the weather was perfect. We had absolutely no complaints or issues.

 

Excursions:

 

Grand Caymans we did the Snuba. I really liked the Snuba a lot, but the area we did it in wasn't that great. I would either find a private tour company or do it in a different port.

 

Costa Maya we did the Chacchoben Mayan ruin tour through the ship. That was very interesting and our guide was well informed and was very entertaining. When we were done, we took a cab into the fishing village of Mahajual. I love this place. The water is beautiful and really warm. You can sit right on the beach and be served drinks. Be prepared though because you will likely be serenaded by strolling guitarist and they do expect a tip. They of course can't force you to tip them, but just know they are there and they will be hoping for tips.

 

Cozumel we took a cab to Paradise beach (after a little shopping at the pier). Paradise beach is really great. There is no admission charge. They also have floating mats, kayaks, snorkeling equipment, a water trampoline, and inflatable iceberg that floats in the water that you can climb and jump off of. This is all free of charge. There was some really awesome snorkeling there. I saw better fish at Paradise beach then I did doing Snuba in Grand Cayman. Also Paradise beach has very clean bathrooms and the beach chairs are plentiful, free, and comfortable.

 

Belize we did the River Wallace/Altun Ha Mayan ruins tour. Again the guides were very good, entertaining and informative. I really enjoyed the river part. I saw Manatees, crocodile, iguanas, bats, and monkeys. It is very cool to see these animals in their natural habitats, especially the monkeys. The Mayan site was also very interesting and you are able to climb one of the ruins to the top where you can really get some beautiful pictures. On the way back to the port, the guide was very good about giving us a lot of history of Belize and pointing out different things in the city.

 

One thing to be aware of, when taking any tour, they all accept tips and are not shy about making that part of their presentation. They want you to tip the bus driver, boat driver, guides...you name it, if they are part of the excursion, they expect tips. Again you are not forced to, but be aware that it's coming

 

The first time I was on the Inspiration I had late seating dinner. This time I had early seating. I much prefer early seating because it seemed like I was able to get in more night life that way. Late seating seemed like it cut into more activities. I ended up with the 5:45 seating. The 6:15 would have been even better.

 

I do have to say, the sushi bar is nothing to write home about, but if you stay in Tampa at all and have the chance to go to Ybor city (which was a lot of fun) for good sushi go to The Blue Samarai.

 

If anyone has any specific questions, please ask

 

Kristin

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[jennraycruise]

Kristin...

Thanks for your review. I cant wait. My boyfriend and I are sailing on the inspiration on 5/16. Do you have any tips for first time cruisers on this ship. We are spending 2 days pre cruise in Tampa and cant wait. Any insight is appreciated. We both drink and are paranoid of what our bartab is going to look like after a week at sea....

 

Jen and Ray's First Cruise together. Inspiration

[Maple Hts]

Greetings Kristin!

 

Thanks for the review. We're sailing Inspiration on July 4 (in-laws 50th anniversary, group of 35) and can't wait! I'm wondering how noticable the cigarette smoke is (our last cruise was on Paradise.) Is the outdoor smoking restricted to one side of the ship?

 

Also, how costly was the Belize excursion?

 

Many thanks,

Maple Hts

[betsyrossapk]

Hello Maple Hts!

We are almost neighbors. We are sailing the Inspiration in Nov & I am very eagerly looking forward to it. These boards are very helpful with all the tips & reviews

 

Inspiration: 11/4/04

[kapcruiser]

Thank you for review, we will be sailing in August. We are first time cruisers and our very excited about it.

 

Inspiration - August 2004

[tdms1324]

Jen, you will love the Inspiration! My best tips for cutting down on the liquor bill are as follows. Go to the Captain's party on the first formal night. If nothing else, it's all the free alcohol you can drink. My next tip is pay attention because the drinks are more expensive depending where you are on the ship. I got a glass of Pino Grigio wine at the bar in the Brassarie (the buffet dining room) and it was a lot cheaper than the one I had later that night in one of the lounges. You are allowed to bring a couple of bottles of wine on board with you. You can also jam a couple of bottles of liquor in your checked luggage to mix with things that are free on board. The first time I went, my Dad and step-mother came along and they took four 2 liter soda bottles and filled them with long island iced tea. They walked right on with those in their carry on. If you go to the onboard art auction, they serve free champagne. If you are creative, you can keep the bar tab down

 

Maple, the cost of the excursion in Belize was $69 per person I believe. I really enjoyed it. The last time I was in Belize, I went cave tubing and that was spectacular also.

 

If you plan on going to any of the shows (most of them are really done well and worth it to go) make sure you get there early. There are a lot of bad seats and the good ones go quick.

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[tdms1324]

Hey Kapcruiser....what part of Connecticut are you in? I grew up in Danbury.

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[tdms1324]

Sorry Maple, I forgot to answer your cigarette smoke question. Outside you can only smoke on oneside of the ship. There are many non-smoking areas, but I have to say, in many of the lounges, it got a bit smokey.

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[sexyred]

I just got off of the Inspiration as well and if any one ends up with cabin # E169 (on the empress deck)beware there was water running down the walls and black mold in the ceiling. I was in the room next door E171 and we had problems with the air conditioning, an unbelievable odor in the room plus we had problems with our toilet not working all of the time. The only reason we found out about the mold and water is the people staying in that cabin were our tablemates at dinner. The pursor's desk kept saying that there was no mold and no breathing issues etc. If there weren't breathing issues then my 8 yr. old niece would not have had an asthma attack in the room after being in it for only 2 days. I am so fed up with carnival and will never deal with them again. By the way the first name of the pursor we dealt with is Sudheir(i think i spelled that right!) He is the biggest jerk on the ship!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck with your cruise I hope they treat you better.

 

4/25 Sail on the Inspiration

[kapcruiser]

hey tdms - I grew up in West Haven.

 

Inspiration - August 2004

[tdms1324]

Kap, my mother lives in New Haven.

 

Sexyred, sorry your cruise wasn't a better experience for you. I've gotten lucky and had two perfect cruises in a row. Then again I spent so little time in my room and when I stumbled in there I was usually so exhausted (and pretty tipsy) that anything could have been going on in there and I would not have noticed!

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[djmckinn]

Hi Kristen! Glad you made it back safely. I'll give my review of the trip here also before I get too busy with work again. The worst part of the cruise is going back to normal life again

 

If anyone is interested in pictures they are at: http://community.webshots.com/user/djmckinn2

 

Pre-cruise:

 

Stayed at the Tampa Airport Hilton on Saturday night through Priceline. What a great place especially for $41! The rooms are very large and very clean. Shuttle quickly picked us up from the airport. A nice mall with a lot of restaurants is nearby which we ended up walking to. The shuttle will take you to the mall and any places nearby, but we got tired of waiting for the driver.

 

Got signed up for the $5/person shuttle the Hilton offers and headed off to the port at 12:30. I had intermittently visited CruiseCritic before the trip and remembered tdms was also going on the cruise with her mom staying at the Hilton, and sure enough she was on the shuttle too! Had a nice chat with them and got through the embarkation process smoothly.

 

Had a 4A inside guarantee booked and we were “upgraded†to a 4C. However, we were at the front of the ship so we got more movement and a wake up call from the anchor in Grand Cayman and Belize We didn’t really care where we were so no problems there. One thing we forgot to bring was an alarm clock. Kind of hard to know it is time to wake up when it is always pitch dark in the room! We used the wake up call service, but it would have been nice to know the time with a clock so we would know at a glance how much longer before we had to get up.

 

Ports:

 

Grand Cayman:

 

Booked the 2 hour stingray and snorkeling tour with Captain Marvin’s. Couldn’t be more pleased with the trip. My wife was a little worried about the Stingrays, but they are as tame as pets here. We had never snorkeled before, but didn’t have much trouble getting used to it after a few salt water swallows . What a neat experience!

 

The Carnival booked tour was packed – it looked like a mad house where they were. We were glad to be with a smaller group. Cpt Marvin's took the time to make sure everyone could hold the stingrays if they wanted to and took pictures with everyone’s camera. Captain Marvin’s is highly recommended!

 

The only complaint about this stop is that Carnival leaves so early. Definitely would have liked to have more time to do some other things.

 

Costa Maya:

 

Didn’t have any excursions planned here. Was raining when we arrived at port. Checked out the cruise built shopping/resort area. Then it started to clear up so we headed back on the ship to grab some food and suntan lotion. Took a cab to the fishing village Majahual. This is a totally different experience then what you’d get staying at the artificial atmosphere at the pier. It is a beautiful village right on the beach where you can relax or stroll around the various vendors with the usual assortment of trinkets. I can only imagine what the village was like before the tourists started coming there since it is obviously a relatively poor area. We were glad we went for a different experience than you get at the pier and get a true taste of what the area is really like.

 

Decided to walk the path on the way back instead of taking a cab. One thing that sticks out is the amount of trash all along the way on the rocky ocean shore. It was quite sad to see the potential beauty tarnished by all the trash. It was a very interesting walk with horses, and even what appeared to be a pig tied up by a family who lived at the beach. There were lots of iguanas (maybe geckos?) along the way too. If it is not too hot and you want to exercise some of that food off, it was worth the walk. Just note you have to walk in front of the fence to get back in the cruise ship port area which is at the edge of the water.

 

Cozumel:

 

Shopped for some souvenirs for the family back home in the shopping area and then headed off to Paradise Beach. By chance saw tdms there – she described the place very well. What a great place to all the FREE stuff they have to offer she described! Had a few drinks and the nachos supreme were very good. tdms told me later that if you go all the way out in the water and to the left (correct me if I’m wrong Kristen) there was some good snorkeling sights. I saw a few fish where I went snorkeling, but then again Paradise Beach isn’t really known for snorkeling since it is pretty sandy. The sand is pretty coarse here, but I’m sure all the beaches are like that. If you want to hit the beach in Cozumel, not sure why you’d go anywhere else! There was parasailing, jet skiing at the neighboring beach if you want to do that too. Split a cab back to the pier with tdms since the sun was just roasting hot by that point!

 

Belize:

 

Booked cave tubing with X-Stream. This was a great outing. We were worried about getting off the boat in time, but there really isn’t a problem. We got on the second tender, but he ended up waiting another 45 minutes at least. Richard has been doing this for a while and he knows what he is doing. My wife talked his ear off the whole trip since she was riding in the front and learned a lot about the country. The last few miles of the 60-70 minute ride is on a seriously bumpy gravel/stone road.

 

You can order barbeque chicken (on the bone type BBQ chicken) before you leave so it is ready when you get back for $5. The walk through the woods is somewhat strenuous since you are carrying a tube, but not too hard at all. We brought some old tennis shoes which worked out well and just left them in the van for them to throw away. X-Stream does 2 caves while the others do just one. There is a 10-15 foot cliff you can jump off of into the water to start the trip if you want (fun!) or you can just get in the water. I think the first cave is about ½ mile long, and the second ¾ of a mile. What a unique experience! There is a max of 16 in each group for X-Stream – much better than the big Carnival herd we saw (not to mention $29 less for X-Sream).

 

Got back to the pier with time to spare. They said to be back at 3:30, but seems like there was a lot of leeway given in Belize.

 

Debarktation:

 

Was a little worried about reports of the Inspiration being late, but sat around for a little over an hour or so, and was off by 10:30 I think. Happened to run into good 'ol tdms again to split

(another!) cab to the airport! I'm sure the $$ saved on cab fare just about covered her bar bill

 

WARNING!:

 

A couple at our table went on the Carnival stingray/snorkeling tour and the Belize snorkeling (I think it was the Barrier Reef Snorkeling). They reported that people had money stolen from them on both trips, with a lot of people having money stolen on the Belize outing (we are talking hundreds of dollars per person in some cases). They also said the rum punch on the Belize outing was very strange because after just a few drinks people started just going wild and the drinks didn’t taste like they had a lot of rum. Carnival didn’t seem to care too much about people’s complaints. So, be careful about your belongings and don’t bring more money than you need.

 

No one knows if it was the people running the tours stole or people on the outing. Regardless, I would think Carnival would show at least some concern about the companies they contract with and at least tell people they would review them, but they allegedly showed no concern. Just a reminder that if you book through Carnival, you really don’t know the company that runs the tour. I think one of the advantages of booking outside of Carnival is independent companies can’t allow things like this to happen or their reputation would be tarnished.

 

Other comments:

 

- Enjoyed the food, but I had high expectations and I was a little disappointed. The food was very good no doubt, but it didn’t knock my socks off with a melt-in-your-mouth filet for example – just very good. My wife is a big chocolate/desert lover and was disappointed that about 2/3 of the deserts weren’t very good in her opinion. It was nice to order multiple entrees to try different things though

 

- Service at meals was very good and room steward was great. It is magic how the room is neatly made every time you leave without fail

 

- The “shows†by the food staff during dinner got to be a bit tiring after while. I can see doing maybe 2 of these, but it was a little redundant after while.

 

- Smoke wasn’t bad in the public areas. The casino wasn’t too bad even unless someone nearby was smoking. Lounges could get smoky.

 

- Entertainment was pretty good for the most part. The Carnival dance shows were just OK for me - kind of like a really really good high school production, but I'm sure others think differently. Some of the comedians were good and the juggler was excellent.

 

That’s about all I have time to write for now… overall a great time! Let me know if there is anything else you’d like to hear about!

 

Don

[jennraycruise]

tdms: Thanks for the liquor advice. well taken.

djmckin - an alarm clock something I never would have thought of but I guess it would be nice to know the time when in your stateroom. Neither my boyfriend nor I wear a watch. Thats what our cell phones are for right???? Anyway. Does any one have any other pointers. I am so excited I can taste it....

 

Jen and Ray's First Cruise together. Inspiration

[kapcruiser]

Don

 

Great Pictures, this is our first cruise, pictures got me even more excited. Thank you for sharing them with us.

 

Inspiration - August 2004

[kapcruiser]

Don - just thought about something, my boys play basketball, was this allowed anytime throughout the cruise or only at times mentioned on the capers? Whatever pictures I seen in the past never seem to show anyone playing hoops. Thanks again.

 

Inspiration - August 2004

[djmckinn]

I'm pretty sure hoops are only at selected times. Many times they had lounge chairs up there during the day. Not sure about during port days. The area is also used for volleyball. I didn't go up there too often, but it isn't like you can play basketball anytime you want for sure.

[maps]

i have a question about the early seating. no one ever mentioned that there were two different times so i just assumed we'd be eating between 6 and 6:30.

 

do you get a choice as to which time you get or is it luck of the draw?

 

i remember our last inspiration cruise in 1998 there was a problem with our seating. we asked for late and got early and our cabin neighbors asked for early and got late (?)

they wouldn't let us swap so we had to stand in a huge line to get it changed. (and the staff was extremely rude about it)

[Maple Hts]

Kristin,

 

Thanks again for your answers.

 

betsyrossapk - say hi to the buzzards!!

 

Maple Hts

[djmckinn]

maps -

 

The Carnivale Dining room dinner times are 5:45 and 8:00. The Mardi Gras Dining room dinner times are 6:15 and 8:30. We had the 6:15 dinner which was perfect for us. We requested the early dinner and that's what we were given - not sure how they decide which dining room you get. We were in front of the ship and the Mardi Gras Dining Room is in front, so maybe that is how they do it - could have been coincidence though. Supposedly you can talk to the matre'd to switch times.

 

Don

[tdms1324]

djm,

 

I would like to say that the money saved by splitting the cabs with you helped the bar bill, however, it didn't even come close!! You are right about the alarm clock and I forgot to mention that. An alarm clock was the one thing that I really missed my first cruise.

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[judyf]

Thanks for the Inspiration fix. It felt good to read the reviews, brought me back to our cruise a month ago. As a matter a fact we were leaving a month ago today!

 

I agree with the reviews, we found the Inspiration to be clean, service was great I even tipped extra for this and the food was good and plenty of it. LOL Maybe too much of it. Still working on losing those extra pounds.

 

We changed to early seating for dinner just weeks before our cruise. I'm still undecided on early or late but with no children I think I will always go late now. I didn't like the idea of being in the dining room when it was still light out, I didn't like missing the ship leaving the ports and I didn't like missing the sunsets. The only one we saw was on our day in Costa Maya due to we returned late and skipped the dining room this day.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post a review!

 

Judy

CCL Inspiration 4/4-4/11/04

NCL Sea 4/14-4/27/03

Wonder 5/16-5/19/02

Wonder 5/3-5/8/01

Fantasy 2/15-2/18/01

 

[PINEVIEW01]

How was the debarktation? The Inspiration was has really bad problems December to Feb time frame. Have they cleared up the problems yet?

 

Melody

 

Paradise, 9-5-04

Holiday, 4-10-04

Inspiration, 11-30-03

Inspiration, 1-26-03

Victory,3-31-02

Sensation, 11-28-98

Holiday, 3-19-94

 

 

 

[jennraycruise]

tdms: I am still so freaking about the Bar Tab. LOL. I am trying to keep it under 500 bucks for the week. You guys here are so helpful. I cant wait.

 

Jen and Ray's First Cruise together. Inspiration

[judyf]

We had no problems on Easter Sunday was off by 10:30- 11:00 a.m.

 

Judy

CCL Inspiration 4/4-4/11/04

NCL Sea 4/14-4/27/03

Wonder 5/16-5/19/02

Wonder 5/3-5/8/01

Fantasy 2/15-2/18/01

[sexyred]

the time you get off of the ship depends on what color tags are on your luggage and what floor you are on. we were on the Empress deck which is the top deck of cabins( I think) we had pink tags and were the last off of the ship. We finally got off around 11:30am or so. but we didn't get into dock until 8:30am or so.

 

4/25 Sail on the Inspiration