Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Just Back From Carnival Inspiration!!!! Awesome!!!!

nlg2nlc

By nlg2nlc,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

Recommended Posts

nlg2nlc

nlg2nlc

Posted
Posted

Hey all. I just got back from the 08/01/09 sailing on the Carnival Inspiration to Grand Caymen and Cozumel. It was just my husband and myself sailing....we had a really great time!!! I'm just gonna do a little mini review, but if anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask!

 

Embarktation: This was a very smooth process. We flew into Tampa the night before the cruise and stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown. Beautiful hotel, wonderful service, would strongly recommend. We took a taxi to the pier in the morning. We arrived at around 11:30 am. We were on board eating lunch and having a DOD by 12:30.

 

Cabins: We were in cabin E78. It was an oceanview stateroom. More spacious than I expected. We didn't spend much time in our room, but it was very adequate for the purpose of sleeping and showering! :) Our room steward was awesome...always addressed us by name and made sure we always had everything we needed.

 

Food/Dining Room: We were assigned the Mardi Gras dining room. We had your time dining. I was a little nervous about it, but we never had any problems being seated. We tried to arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 pm to avoid the lines of the early and late seatings. The only thing we felt like we missed out on was having the same group of servers each time. They tried to sit us in the same area, but could not always accomadate that. The food in all areas was really good! I could not get enough of the warm chocolate melting cake!!!!

 

Shows: We both really enjoyed both of the "adults only" comedy shows. Very entertaining!!! We saw the Shout show also, and thought it was pretty good. Our favorite was the Love and Marriage show. The cruise director, Skip, hosted. He was awesome. Definately one the highlights of the cruise.

 

Spa: I had two different treatments from the spa. I was a little nervous going into it since there had been some negative feedback before. No one pressured me to buy anything. I won a hot stone massage the first day. The girl did a fantastic job. She gave me a card at the end with recommended products, but did not pressure me to buy any of them.

 

Grand Caymen: We did the reef and rays tour through Carnival. We had a great time. It is put on by Don Foster's. Robert, Steven, and Esteban were amazing. They were very informative and made it a really positive experience. I had never been snorkling before...I loved it!!!!

 

Cozumel: We booked Nachi Cocum after reading all of the great reviews. It did not disappoint!!!! There were only around 30-40 people there. We got fantastic service and the beach was beautiful! It was like sitting in the Corona commercial on TV!!!! I would definately go back.

 

Debarktation: We decided to do self debarktation, just cause we were not in the mood to get our luggage together the night before. It was very easy. They called our floor around 8:15 and we were in a cab before 9am! We spent lots of time at the airport waiting because we booked a 3pm flight since we were not sure how the process would work. We will know better for next time!

 

All that said....we had a great time! I cannot wait for our next cruise. I am already planning!!!!! I would recommend the Inspiration to anyone. They had an amazing staff...especially the cruise director Skip! He made our cruise :) Any questions....feel free to ask:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nlg2nlc

nlg2nlc

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It was our first cruise too! We had heard mixed reviews, but I can tell you we had a great time. The Inspiration was a great ship, they have a great staff, and a really nice itinerary! Enjoy your trip!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gooker

Gooker

Posted
Posted
Hey all. I just got back from the 08/01/09 sailing on the Carnival Inspiration to Grand Caymen and Cozumel. It was just my husband and myself sailing....we had a really great time!!! I'm just gonna do a little mini review, but if anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask!

 

Embarktation: This was a very smooth process. We flew into Tampa the night before the cruise and stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown. Beautiful hotel, wonderful service, would strongly recommend. We took a taxi to the pier in the morning. We arrived at around 11:30 am. We were on board eating lunch and having a DOD by 12:30.

 

Cabins: We were in cabin E78. It was an oceanview stateroom. More spacious than I expected. We didn't spend much time in our room, but it was very adequate for the purpose of sleeping and showering! :) Our room steward was awesome...always addressed us by name and made sure we always had everything we needed.

 

Food/Dining Room: We were assigned the Mardi Gras dining room. We had your time dining. I was a little nervous about it, but we never had any problems being seated. We tried to arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 pm to avoid the lines of the early and late seatings. The only thing we felt like we missed out on was having the same group of servers each time. They tried to sit us in the same area, but could not always accomadate that. The food in all areas was really good! I could not get enough of the warm chocolate melting cake!!!!

 

Shows: We both really enjoyed both of the "adults only" comedy shows. Very entertaining!!! We saw the Shout show also, and thought it was pretty good. Our favorite was the Love and Marriage show. The cruise director, Skip, hosted. He was awesome. Definately one the highlights of the cruise.

 

Spa: I had two different treatments from the spa. I was a little nervous going into it since there had been some negative feedback before. No one pressured me to buy anything. I won a hot stone massage the first day. The girl did a fantastic job. She gave me a card at the end with recommended products, but did not pressure me to buy any of them.

 

Grand Caymen: We did the reef and rays tour through Carnival. We had a great time. It is put on by Don Foster's. Robert, Steven, and Esteban were amazing. They were very informative and made it a really positive experience. I had never been snorkling before...I loved it!!!!

 

Cozumel: We booked Nachi Cocum after reading all of the great reviews. It did not disappoint!!!! There were only around 30-40 people there. We got fantastic service and the beach was beautiful! It was like sitting in the Corona commercial on TV!!!! I would definately go back.

 

Debarktation: We decided to do self debarktation, just cause we were not in the mood to get our luggage together the night before. It was very easy. They called our floor around 8:15 and we were in a cab before 9am! We spent lots of time at the airport waiting because we booked a 3pm flight since we were not sure how the process would work. We will know better for next time!

 

All that said....we had a great time! I cannot wait for our next cruise. I am already planning!!!!! I would recommend the Inspiration to anyone. They had an amazing staff...especially the cruise director Skip! He made our cruise :) Any questions....feel free to ask:D

 

Great review, just booked 2/8/2010, coming back to Carnival after many years. We have been to Nachi Cocum, it's fantastic - how was the waterslide? Did you try it?

 

Joey

Link to comment
Share on other sites
halos

halos

Posted
Posted

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. :)

 

I have 4 cruises this year and not one is going to Coz. How I screwed that up I have no idea, but I won't make that mistake again.

 

I loved the Inspiration when I sailed her too....except hated the idea that the cruise was short.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lgerrish

lgerrish

Posted
Posted

I'm booked on the Inspiration Feb. 13 and excited to sail on this ship. Thanks for the review. The excitement is building!

 

You mentioned the CD was Skip. Was he very interactive with the passengers? Curious about the piano bar too. Can't wait to hear more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nlg2nlc

nlg2nlc

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Great review, just booked 2/8/2010, coming back to Carnival after many years. We have been to Nachi Cocum, it's fantastic - how was the waterslide? Did you try it?

 

Joey

 

We did do the waterslide....it actually went faster than I thought!!! Pretty fun!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nlg2nlc

nlg2nlc

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'm booked on the Inspiration Feb. 13 and excited to sail on this ship. Thanks for the review. The excitement is building!

 

You mentioned the CD was Skip. Was he very interactive with the passengers? Curious about the piano bar too. Can't wait to hear more.

 

Skip was fantastic!!! He hosted several different shows including the "Love and Marriage" show, which was probably one of the best times during our cruise. We saw him around the ship frequently and he was always pleasant and happy to stop and chat. I don't think we could've done better in that department!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nlg2nlc

nlg2nlc

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Did they have a good Piano Player in the piano bar on the Inspiration. That is my favorate evening entertainment.

 

Barry was the piano guy. Honestly we didn't spend much time in the piano bar, but everyone always seemed to be having a really good time!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nlg2nlc

nlg2nlc

Posted
  • Author
Posted

You can request to be seated in the same section, but you may have to wait if those tables are full. We were seated in the same section the majority of the time, but not every time. We always were seated at a two person table. Not sure if this is the norm, but this is what we got!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail on Sun Princess®
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...