An INSPIRATIONal cruise experience
Jun 15, 2007 | 1:30 pm
#1
Original Poster
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: TPA
Programs: Hilton Gold, DL DIrt Medallion
Posts: 38,267
An INSPIRATIONal cruise experience
or Why I Love Carnival
I just yesterday debarked Inspiration in Tampa after a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman and Calica. I have to say that I had some doubts about this cruise based on the age of Inspiration and the fact that she is due for a major refit in September. In short, I can say that all of my doubts were completely baseless and this was my favorite of the three cruises I have now done. For reference, I am 31 and my wife is 29.
This cruise was chosen because we wanted to do a shorter than 7 day cruise because we were leaving our 9 month old daughter behind and we also wanted the convenience of sailing from Tampa.
My wife and I were joined by her sister and brother-in-law. We all have nothing but positive marks for Inspiration and her wonderful crew. While I still don't have another big-cruise-line's cruise to compare them to, I cannot fathom why some people say the negative things they do about Carnival. In my experience they conduct one heck of a wonderful cruise, and they manage to do so for significantly less cost than their competition.
On to the details:
Embarkation
On Saturday June 9, we headed out about 10:30 AM to arrive at the Port of Tampa cruise terminal 2 by 11:30 AM. We were of course met promptly by a porter who took our four combined checked bags and we tipped him $5. I dropped everyone off and parked in the garage and met my group again by the terminal entrance, all of which took less than 5 minutes. After a quick document check we were sent upstairs where we checked in, which took about 10 minutes. At check-in my wife and I were greeted with "Welcome Back!". This was to be a theme to our cruise, as our gold sail and sign cards gave us away as past guests, and we were treated like old friends by nearly all service personnel on board. After check-in we had to wait for our group number 14 to be called, which took about 15 minutes. All told, by noon we were stepping into the Empress Deck atrium, by which our first-timer fellow cruisers were quite awed. We made our way up to Lido for atasty lunch and at 1:30 made our way to our ready staterooms U65 and U67 on Upper Deck.
Cabin
Like our cruise on Carnival Miracle in 2005, we were satisfied by the size of the stateroom. This was alas only an outside cabin and not a balcony like on that previous cruise, but overall we were quite comfortable. Our room steward Antonio was very friendly and did a fine job of keeping everything in top top shape for the voyage, including leaving a new to us towel bullfrog one evening. The shower was surprisingly large, the largest I've seen on a ship. We never did notice any "sewer" smell, in our cabin or otherwise, that some have commented on about Inspiration.
Dining
We were seated at table 159 in Mardi Gras dining room for the second late seating at 8:30 PM. We had wanted the first late seating at 8, but we decided not to try to change it. This was a good decision because our tablemates were wonderful. We enjoyed their company, and had a lot in common as they were two married couples where the ladies were sisters, just like our group. And they were near our own ages, giving us all a lot to talk about. Our waiter Lenford and his assistant, whose name I unfortunately have forgotten, were truly great service staff. The food was better than what I remember on our Carnival Miracle cruise. I had the chocolate melting cake on 3 of the 5 nights, and loved it each time. Nothing else was truly remarkable, but it was all quite good.
The Lido buffet was also very good.
Entertainment
The two "Vegas-style" revues were both quite good. The second show, Nuevo Caribe, was better than the first, Shout!, but both were entertaining. Kenny Miller, the first comedian, was just okay. The illusionist the evening of Grand Cayman was fun, but only did a couple of tricks. The second comedian, "Big" Tony Esposito was hilarious. Especially his R-rated show on the last night. The Captain's reception was pretty much the same as I remembered from Carnival Miracle, except I actually met the captain this time. It was, of course, packed and it was quite a fight to get drinks. But we managed. The past guest party was our first such event, and we quite enjoyed it. The video they showed with an interview of Ted Arison talking about founding Carnival was very interesting. And it was fun to hear the responses as they showed each ship in the Carnival fleet and people cheered for the ones they'd been on before.
Most importantly, I had a great time singing "Baby Got Back" quite drunkenly on Tuesday (Calica) night after dinner. I got quite an ovation! I don't remember much after that that night.
Spa
I did not partake of the spa, but my wife did. She purchased the "head to Toe" package which was sole only on the first night for $129. To receive each of the treatments of the package separately would have cost $250. It would have been ridiculously overpriced at that price, but my wife said it was a great experience for $129. She raved about it the rest of the cruise. on second thought, I did use the spa's hot tubs a few times, as they were almost completely empty every day. No screaming kids, unlike the hot tubs on deck. Very nice and very relaxing.
Ports
Grand Cayman
My brother-in-law and I took the Carnival two-tank dive excursion at Grand Cayman. Surprisingly to me, there were only about 15 people on this excursion. On the boat, they split us into two groups, with a divemaster leading each group on the dive. The divemasters were very good, and on even taught me how to improve my bouyancy much better than my scuba instructor had just a month or so before. The first dive we went to about 90 feet on the West Wall, which drops off to about 8000 feet at its bottom. On the way back to the mooring line for ascent, we saw a sea turtle that swam with us for several minutes. On the second dive we dived to about 50 feet on a spot called Wildlife, which was aptly named. We saw many tropical fish as well as crabs and colorful coral. It stormed over us at the end of our first dive, but the storm passed quickly enough that we were able to do the second dive just a few miles away.
Calica
In Calica we rented a car and drove to Tulum. Normally I would not recommend driving in Mexico, but this is a very easy drive on a very well-paved highway. After a two-hour visit there, we drove back, dropped the rental car off at the pier, and took a cab to PdC. We proceeded to have a great time getting sloppy drunk at Senor Frog's and made our way back to the ship.
Disembarkation
We disembarked with the self-assist passengers at about 7:30 AM. It went quite smoothly, and we were home before 9.
I just yesterday debarked Inspiration in Tampa after a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman and Calica. I have to say that I had some doubts about this cruise based on the age of Inspiration and the fact that she is due for a major refit in September. In short, I can say that all of my doubts were completely baseless and this was my favorite of the three cruises I have now done. For reference, I am 31 and my wife is 29.
This cruise was chosen because we wanted to do a shorter than 7 day cruise because we were leaving our 9 month old daughter behind and we also wanted the convenience of sailing from Tampa.
My wife and I were joined by her sister and brother-in-law. We all have nothing but positive marks for Inspiration and her wonderful crew. While I still don't have another big-cruise-line's cruise to compare them to, I cannot fathom why some people say the negative things they do about Carnival. In my experience they conduct one heck of a wonderful cruise, and they manage to do so for significantly less cost than their competition.
On to the details:
Embarkation
On Saturday June 9, we headed out about 10:30 AM to arrive at the Port of Tampa cruise terminal 2 by 11:30 AM. We were of course met promptly by a porter who took our four combined checked bags and we tipped him $5. I dropped everyone off and parked in the garage and met my group again by the terminal entrance, all of which took less than 5 minutes. After a quick document check we were sent upstairs where we checked in, which took about 10 minutes. At check-in my wife and I were greeted with "Welcome Back!". This was to be a theme to our cruise, as our gold sail and sign cards gave us away as past guests, and we were treated like old friends by nearly all service personnel on board. After check-in we had to wait for our group number 14 to be called, which took about 15 minutes. All told, by noon we were stepping into the Empress Deck atrium, by which our first-timer fellow cruisers were quite awed. We made our way up to Lido for atasty lunch and at 1:30 made our way to our ready staterooms U65 and U67 on Upper Deck.
Cabin
Like our cruise on Carnival Miracle in 2005, we were satisfied by the size of the stateroom. This was alas only an outside cabin and not a balcony like on that previous cruise, but overall we were quite comfortable. Our room steward Antonio was very friendly and did a fine job of keeping everything in top top shape for the voyage, including leaving a new to us towel bullfrog one evening. The shower was surprisingly large, the largest I've seen on a ship. We never did notice any "sewer" smell, in our cabin or otherwise, that some have commented on about Inspiration.
Dining
We were seated at table 159 in Mardi Gras dining room for the second late seating at 8:30 PM. We had wanted the first late seating at 8, but we decided not to try to change it. This was a good decision because our tablemates were wonderful. We enjoyed their company, and had a lot in common as they were two married couples where the ladies were sisters, just like our group. And they were near our own ages, giving us all a lot to talk about. Our waiter Lenford and his assistant, whose name I unfortunately have forgotten, were truly great service staff. The food was better than what I remember on our Carnival Miracle cruise. I had the chocolate melting cake on 3 of the 5 nights, and loved it each time. Nothing else was truly remarkable, but it was all quite good.
The Lido buffet was also very good.
Entertainment
The two "Vegas-style" revues were both quite good. The second show, Nuevo Caribe, was better than the first, Shout!, but both were entertaining. Kenny Miller, the first comedian, was just okay. The illusionist the evening of Grand Cayman was fun, but only did a couple of tricks. The second comedian, "Big" Tony Esposito was hilarious. Especially his R-rated show on the last night. The Captain's reception was pretty much the same as I remembered from Carnival Miracle, except I actually met the captain this time. It was, of course, packed and it was quite a fight to get drinks. But we managed. The past guest party was our first such event, and we quite enjoyed it. The video they showed with an interview of Ted Arison talking about founding Carnival was very interesting. And it was fun to hear the responses as they showed each ship in the Carnival fleet and people cheered for the ones they'd been on before.
Most importantly, I had a great time singing "Baby Got Back" quite drunkenly on Tuesday (Calica) night after dinner. I got quite an ovation! I don't remember much after that that night.
Spa
I did not partake of the spa, but my wife did. She purchased the "head to Toe" package which was sole only on the first night for $129. To receive each of the treatments of the package separately would have cost $250. It would have been ridiculously overpriced at that price, but my wife said it was a great experience for $129. She raved about it the rest of the cruise. on second thought, I did use the spa's hot tubs a few times, as they were almost completely empty every day. No screaming kids, unlike the hot tubs on deck. Very nice and very relaxing.
Ports
Grand Cayman
My brother-in-law and I took the Carnival two-tank dive excursion at Grand Cayman. Surprisingly to me, there were only about 15 people on this excursion. On the boat, they split us into two groups, with a divemaster leading each group on the dive. The divemasters were very good, and on even taught me how to improve my bouyancy much better than my scuba instructor had just a month or so before. The first dive we went to about 90 feet on the West Wall, which drops off to about 8000 feet at its bottom. On the way back to the mooring line for ascent, we saw a sea turtle that swam with us for several minutes. On the second dive we dived to about 50 feet on a spot called Wildlife, which was aptly named. We saw many tropical fish as well as crabs and colorful coral. It stormed over us at the end of our first dive, but the storm passed quickly enough that we were able to do the second dive just a few miles away.
Calica
In Calica we rented a car and drove to Tulum. Normally I would not recommend driving in Mexico, but this is a very easy drive on a very well-paved highway. After a two-hour visit there, we drove back, dropped the rental car off at the pier, and took a cab to PdC. We proceeded to have a great time getting sloppy drunk at Senor Frog's and made our way back to the ship.
Disembarkation
We disembarked with the self-assist passengers at about 7:30 AM. It went quite smoothly, and we were home before 9.
Last edited by SRQ Guy; Jun 15, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Jun 15, 2007 | 1:39 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 23,999
Fantastic review, thanks!^
As someone who also lives in the Tampa area I have taken several Carnival cruises out of Tampa, including one on the Sensation, which is the sister ship, and have enjoyed them all immensely. I know some people don't like Carnival because they think it's the Southwest of cruise lines, but I think that's total hogwash. I have done Disney, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Costa, and can honestly say I enjoyed my Carnival cruise the most. Thanks again!^
As someone who also lives in the Tampa area I have taken several Carnival cruises out of Tampa, including one on the Sensation, which is the sister ship, and have enjoyed them all immensely. I know some people don't like Carnival because they think it's the Southwest of cruise lines, but I think that's total hogwash. I have done Disney, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Costa, and can honestly say I enjoyed my Carnival cruise the most. Thanks again!^