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

[KULPN]

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

We sail on her on 11/02 for our 20th anniversary. We live in the Tampa area so it is so convenient for us. We sailed her once before she was refurbished and looking forward to a great time. Thanks for the review!

[crusinpsychRN]

What did you have in the spa besides the rocks? How was that? How expensive was it?

[Gooker]

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

 

Great - thanks, we are really getting stoked for this cruise, we so look forward to our winter getaway since we live in a snow tunnel up north - all of the reviews and posts I have been reading are really making us excited.

 

Joey & DeeDee :cool::cool::cool:

[uCruiser]

Is George the Greek still Maitre D on Inspiration?

[nlg2nlc]

What did you have in the spa besides the rocks? How was that? How expensive was it?

 

Hot stone was fabulous...won it for free, but think it was close to $200 regular price. Also had a special they offered the first day...for $69 got a head, neck, shoulder, foot, and ankle massage, and also an eye treatment. Definately worth it!!! Also took advantage of the free sauna and steam room!!!

[nlg2nlc]

Is George the Greek still Maitre D on Inspiration?

 

Yes...he was the maitre d in the Mardi Gras dining room (which was where we were assigned!). He was a good time :)

[Scott_F]

Sounds like you had a great time. I love both your ports of call.

 

My wife and I are about to sail by ourselves for the first time. We've always had at least one other couple or huge gobs of family with us.

 

It will be interesting to be able to just sleep late and not have to answer the breakfast phone call each morning. We'll miss all of them, but no obligations to meet others expectations.

 

One of the best port days she and I ever had was when all the rest of the families went on the sub in Cozumel and the wife and I just went shopping and drinking in the bars. I'm hoping to recreate that day times 7. ;)

[kapeavey]

I think it's so sweet (and romantic) that you prefer spending time alone with your wife! Kudos to you!

[topspin1267]

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.

 

Maybe we'll see you on board. We are trying to decide between 7 day on legend or 5 on inspiration. We have 5 cabins of people including 8 kids ranging from 4-12 yrs old. We are booked for the Legend soon and everyone is waiting for our review when we get back before booking.