fresh off the inspiration!!

[cruzin w chris]

hello all, just back and had a great time. if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. i also just wrote a review and that should be posted pretty soon i hope. SUCKS TO BE BACK !!. CANT WAIT TO BOOK THE NEXT ONE.

[imacruzinma]

We also had a wonderful time. Sorry we never met (or did we?). I posted on our roll call.

[Musicman9859]

hello all, just back and had a great time. if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. i also just wrote a review and that should be posted pretty soon i hope. SUCKS TO BE BACK !!. CANT WAIT TO BOOK THE NEXT ONE.

 

Hi Chris: I was wondering if you had to tender in Cozumel and did you happen to notice any Table for two's in the dining room? My wife and I are doing a 5 day Inspiration cruise beginning May 7!!!!!!! Thanks!!

[cruzin w chris]

We also had a wonderful time. Sorry we never met (or did we?). I posted on our roll call.

 

hey who knows maybe we did meet or bump shoulders while passing each other, lol

[cruzin w chris]

Hi Chris: I was wondering if you had to tender in Cozumel and did you happen to notice any Table for two's in the dining room? My wife and I are doing a 5 day Inspiration cruise beginning May 7!!!!!!! Thanks!!

hi musicman, yes we did tender in cozumel although you may not have to. and if you do it is a very short painless tender. as far as 2 person tables we did not do the dining room at all because of our little 5 yr old would not sit there very well so we opted not to do the dining room. sorry i could not help you on that one. have a great cruise in may !!!

[mamamo65]

We have an indy shore excursion booked and now I am starting to worry about tendering in Grand Cayman. We have quite a bit of time due to the Daylight Savings time thing. How did that go?

Thanks!

[imacruzinma]

We have an indy shore excursion booked and now I am starting to worry about tendering in Grand Cayman. We have quite a bit of time due to the Daylight Savings time thing. How did that go?

Thanks!

 

Hi Mamamo65. I was on Inspiration with Chris last week. Tendering in Cozumel was not a problem. It was handled very well with booked excursions meeting in lounges and others wanting to hold a place in line being given numbers and waiting up on the Lido. We chose not to bother and just waited for general boarding call to go ashore.

 

As for Grand Cayman....Tendering was not good. Having read much on the CC board, I did not want to risk an indy excursion. The time in port was (supposed to be) short and with the tendering and 6 ships in port that day there were too many factors that could have gone wrong (and did). After our first choice excursion that I booked online was canceled, we managed to get tickets to the reef wreck snorkel for the 10:30 time. Well, we got in line for the tender at 8:45 and didn't make it to shore until 11:15, just as our tour pulled away (had no issues getting a refund from Excursions Desk). The seas were very rough and the staff was having a horrible time trying to stabilize loading and unloading. On our return to the ship (we decided to get back after a short port walk and lunch), it probably took over 1/2 hour to off load the tender, passengers had to literally leap into the arms of the ship personnel who were there to catch you. Now, I was okay with it all, taking it as an adventure, etc, but there were elderly passengers and those with small kids who were definitely frightened, with just cause it really was an unsafe situation. Because of tendering issues, we left GC over 3 hours late...many people had been waiting for hours and hours to get back. Carnival compensated everyone by offering a 2 hour open bar on the last sea day, great for us - but maybe not enough for those who had bigger issues.

 

I kept repeating, a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work...and that attitude was expressed by my whole group, so we didn't let it spoil our trip. I have the memory of a wonderful margarita at Senior Frogs to take home from my Grand Cayman adventure.

[imacruzinma]

Hi Chris: I was wondering if you had to tender in Cozumel and did you happen to notice any Table for two's in the dining room? My wife and I are doing a 5 day Inspiration cruise beginning May 7!!!!!!! Thanks!!

 

Musicman - we were in the Mardi Gras dining room every night. 6:15 seating. The smallest table I saw was a booth for four people. We had eight in our group, so we took up an entire table by ourselves.

[tinkerbell_82]

Hi Chris: I was wondering if you had to tender in Cozumel and did you happen to notice any Table for two's in the dining room? My wife and I are doing a 5 day Inspiration cruise beginning May 7!!!!!!! Thanks!!

 

 

Hi Musicman!

 

We will also be on that cruise for our honeymoon! I don't know how accurate this is, but someone on a different thread said that we will be the only ship in port in Cozumel that day, so we should be able to dock...:confused:

[Musicman9859]

Hi Musicman!

 

We will also be on that cruise for our honeymoon! I don't know how accurate this is, but someone on a different thread said that we will be the only ship in port in Cozumel that day, so we should be able to dock...:confused:

 

Hi Tinkerbell 82,

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I hope we can dock! Tendering can be quite the pain at times... Anyway, thanks for the info and enjoy your first cruise and your honeymoon!!!!

[cruzin w chris]

Hi Mamamo65. I was on Inspiration with Chris last week. Tendering in Cozumel was not a problem. It was handled very well with booked excursions meeting in lounges and others wanting to hold a place in line being given numbers and waiting up on the Lido. We chose not to bother and just waited for general boarding call to go ashore.

 

As for Grand Cayman....Tendering was not good. Having read much on the CC board, I did not want to risk an indy excursion. The time in port was (supposed to be) short and with the tendering and 6 ships in port that day there were too many factors that could have gone wrong (and did). After our first choice excursion that I booked online was canceled, we managed to get tickets to the reef wreck snorkel for the 10:30 time. Well, we got in line for the tender at 8:45 and didn't make it to shore until 11:15, just as our tour pulled away (had no issues getting a refund from Excursions Desk). The seas were very rough and the staff was having a horrible time trying to stabilize loading and unloading. On our return to the ship (we decided to get back after a short port walk and lunch), it probably took over 1/2 hour to off load the tender, passengers had to literally leap into the arms of the ship personnel who were there to catch you. Now, I was okay with it all, taking it as an adventure, etc, but there were elderly passengers and those with small kids who were definitely frightened, with just cause it really was an unsafe situation. Because of tendering issues, we left GC over 3 hours late...many people had been waiting for hours and hours to get back. Carnival compensated everyone by offering a 2 hour open bar on the last sea day, great for us - but maybe not enough for those who had bigger issues.

 

I kept repeating, a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work...and that attitude was expressed by my whole group, so we didn't let it spoil our trip. I have the memory of a wonderful margarita at Senior Frogs to take home from my Grand Cayman adventure.

 

yeah, grand cayman was a bit of a nightmare as i fell on top of my 5 yr old son and hurt his leg. he then wouldnt go on the tender the next day in cozumel so i went to the info desk about an hour before we were scheduled for our excursion and i explained what had happened the day before and that my son would not go on the tender so they gave me a full refund for our cozumel excursion.

[bluepetal]

I'm thinking of booking a cruise with a couple of my friends on this ship but I've only been on the Glory, what's this one like? I was told that since this ship is so much older than the Glory that it's not as nice and I might want to pick another ship. My friends and I are in college though so we don't have a lot of money to spend on the cruise. So ya any information on this ship would be great thanks.

[jpmaximus]

What did you think of the ship itself? I liked it a lot and didnt feel like i was on an old ship at all.

[burnsie]

I haven't been on the Glory but have been on newer RCCL ships. The Inspiration is a nice ship. It is older but it is clean and the crew are great. If you are looking for a good value and just want to get away she is a good choice. We just did the 4 nighter to Cozumel with 6 - 18 yr old girls. They and us Moms had a great time.

 

Anytime on a ship is a good time!

 

burnsie

[BeachTeach]

I just got off the same cruise too! I loved it!!!!!!!! The ship, people, and ports were great! Grand Cayman was fun until the 2.5 hour wait in the hot sun. That was the only bad part of the whole cruise. I was actually ok with waiting but the person behind made it horrible! She complained the whooooooollllllllle time. She drove me nuts!!!!

I never saw any 2 person tables.

[PINEVIEW01]

Hi Musicman!

 

We will also be on that cruise for our honeymoon! I don't know how accurate this is, but someone on a different thread said that we will be the only ship in port in Cozumel that day, so we should be able to dock...:confused:

WOW that would be something. I spent a week land vacation there and not a single day went by that there weren't at least four in port.

 

I did a four and five day b2b and we docked the first cruise and tendered the second.

[greytdaddy]

Musicman 9859 and Tinkerbell82, our son is a DJ on the Inspiration. The cruise you are going on will be his last one on the Inspiration. He goes to the Valor in July after some time off. Stop by the disco and say hello to DJ Andy from Connie and Gary. Tell him his parents said to play whatever song requests you want or he will not have a place to stay during his vacation!!!

 

Connie & Gary

[Montycruiser]

Bluepetal, you will enjoy Inspiration, it is a Fantasy class ship, very nice and clean. You will have about 1000 less passangers on Inspiration than Glory, the lines won't be as bad. We have sailed both and to be honest I enjoy the Fantasy class ships, because of the smaller crowds and more service from the staffs. Hope you get your group together and have a great cruise.:D

[cruiselubbers]

Musicman 9859 and Tinkerbell82, our son is a DJ on the Inspiration. The cruise you are going on will be his last one on the Inspiration. He goes to the Valor in July after some time off. Stop by the disco and say hello to DJ Andy from Connie and Gary. Tell him his parents said to play whatever song requests you want or he will not have a place to stay during his vacation!!!

 

Connie & Gary

 

lmbo!! That sounds like bribery to me! Or entrapment! Or something I'd say to one of my kids one day....tee hee hee!

 

:D

[poptart]

I'm thinking of booking a cruise with a couple of my friends on this ship but I've only been on the Glory, what's this one like? I was told that since this ship is so much older than the Glory that it's not as nice and I might want to pick another ship. My friends and I are in college though so we don't have a lot of money to spend on the cruise. So ya any information on this ship would be great thanks.

 

 

I would pick the Inspiration over the Glory any day--. We really enjoyed our Inspiration cruise and the ship.

[imacruzinma]

I would pick the Inspiration over the Glory any day--. We really enjoyed our Inspiration cruise and the ship.

 

We sailed on Valor last year. I was concerned about going on older/smaller ship this year. I've got to say I think I actually enjoyed Inspiration more. My only regret was not having a balcony, I really like a quiet place to sit and read and have a glass of wine or cup of am coffee with dh. While Inspiration never felt crowded, there were not a lot of private nooks to chill out in.

 

As a mom, somehow I felt more secure with my kids on Inspiration...hard to explain why, but they seemed less likely to disappear for hours without checking in...could be that I set better expectations this time or that the smaller ship was just better for keeping them in sight.

 

Next cruise is on Legend...another class of vessel to explore!

[3x's]

Hello all..please help me out. On the "Overview" page it states Inspiration will be dry docked in fall of 2007, I had called Carnival yesterday and was told the upgrades have already been done, last year. Please advise if they are done or not. We have been on 3 other "Fantasy Class" cruises before and have found a very good price for the May 12th cruise and looking at doing a spur of the moment without children!!!! Just wanted to see if it is as good of a deal as it seems. :eek:

[zandk]

:) I would like to know if anyone checked

out the teen clubs? Daughters would like

to hear about it. Thanks for any information!

[BeachTeach]

:) I would like to know if anyone checked

out the teen clubs? Daughters would like

to hear about it. Thanks for any information!

 

The teens were having a blast! Their club looked like lots of fun. They had a toga party the last night. I could tell there was lots of "short term" boyfriend/girlfriend stuff going on. A little drama but they seemed to like it. We had lots of high schooler son our ship. I'm sure they will like it.

[Musicman9859]

Musicman 9859 and Tinkerbell82, our son is a DJ on the Inspiration. The cruise you are going on will be his last one on the Inspiration. He goes to the Valor in July after some time off. Stop by the disco and say hello to DJ Andy from Connie and Gary. Tell him his parents said to play whatever song requests you want or he will not have a place to stay during his vacation!!!

 

Connie & Gary

 

Connie & Gary: Ahh... Coercion at its finest. Not to worry, DJ Andy will be rockin to the tunes of the Musicman ALL NIGHT LONG :D :D . Thanks.