Todd

Age: 43
Occupation: ITS
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Inspiration
Sailing Date: May 18th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Sailing Date – May 18.
Ship – Carnival Inspiration.

Embarkation Port of Tampa - We arrived at the port about 12:00 and unloaded our luggage. My wife went and got in line while I parked the car in long- term parking. The parking is close and adequate . Cost for long-term parking was $10/day. By the time I got back to the terminal, only a few minutes later, My wife had had to get out of line twice and go to the back because it was moving so fast. The lines were long, but continued to move quickly. I noted the time when we actually got in side the terminal (officially in line). It was 12:40. We got up to the counter and actually registered at 01:15 and were sent to the waiting room to board. Check in was easy and efficient. We were called almost immediately to board and went through the process of having our pictures taken (several times). We were in our room and unpacking at 1:30. So from beginning to end the process took us 50 minutes.

About the ship – There has been a lot written about this ship and its décor. So I won’t even try. Others have done a much better job of describing each room. We had a standard outside stateroom. Again, these have been described by others so I won’t go into it. There has been a lot of discussion about the cleanliness of this ship, so here is what I found. The common areas – dinning rooms, bars, casino, pools, brassier restaurant. All seemed to be in pretty nice condition. I found them clean and in good repair. The biggest areas of concern were elevators were a little scratched up and worn. Not that you didn’t feel comfortable being on them, but floor numbers/names were worn off, things like that. The carpets in the hallways on the cabin decks were stained and worn. The carpets in the staterooms were worn and stained. The bedspreads needed to be replaced. None of this was terrible. It looked like they had been thoroughly cleaned just had some stains. When you think about the traffic in these areas it is somewhat understandable.

Staff – The staff was very good. We had very good service at every level. Our room steward cleaned our room at least twice a day. The towel animals are always fun.

Our waiter Dimov was on his last cruise. He had been working the cruise ships for 16 years and was ready to retire. He did a very fine job. Although he was not as entertaining as some you may have read about in other reviews. He was friendly and efficient. The restaurant service personnel in the brassier restaurant were friendly. They greeted me regularly. Was often asked if everything was okay, and if there was anything they could do for me. The bar staff was very good. I spend a lot of time going from bar to bar. Enjoying the entertainment and libations. We had great service everywhere, but particularly at ‘Violins’. This is the main bar on the promenade deck. It is a great place for people watching.

Shows – We didn’t go to any of the big shows on the ship. These are usually crowded and we just chose not to go. We heard many of the other passengers talking about how wonderful they were, but we just decided to avoid them.

Food – The food ranged from very good to okay. First of all, we had breakfast in the Brassier every morning. This is a buffet, which has bacon, sausage, ham, potatoes, scrambled eggs, omelet station, milk, fruit pastries and probably other things I am leaving out. It’s all good and a great way to start the day.

There is also a buffet style lunch served everyday. The menu varies from day to day. Most of what was served is of good quality, but I was not on the boat for most lunches. There are also hot dogs, hamburgers and fries served at every lunch. Of course, there is the 24-hour pizza available. We ate all of our dinners in the carnival dinning room. We had the early seating, which was at 5:45. A little too early for me, but you have to make the best of it. The food is very good for the most part. Don’t forget to order 2 lobsters on lobster night. One thing both my wife and I noticed though was that they seem to use up their best menu choices early in the week. The first couple of nights there were many items on the menu that sounded good. By the last night there is very little that sounds appealing. It is almost like they are serving leftovers. Overall, it is very good and there is plenty of it.

This is a new itinerary for the Inspiration. The trip called for a day at sea, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Belize and then a final day at sea.

Days at sea are all kind of the same. At least to me they are. We have a leisurely breakfast. Get some sun by the pool. Have a little lunch spend a little more time by the pool or some time in the shade watching the sea go by. They are very relaxing.

Grand Cayman – Was a great experience. We had booked a snorkel trip on line (didn’t book through the ship) through Captain Marvin’s. When we arrived at the tour office we were informed by a very nice young lady working the desk that we would be getting a private tour because we were the only ones who had booked that trip today. They have other tours and they were busy, just not when we had booked ours. Marvin’s drivers picked us up a few minutes later and took us over to the tour boat. They were very nice. Gave us a nice narration of the city on the ride over. They were extremely knowledgeable about their island. Even telling me the per capita income and unemployment rate. When we arrived at Marvin’s dock, we were greeted by Marshall. He would be our captain for the day. He quickly got us fins and snorkels and off my wife, Marshall and I went. First stop was the coral gardens. We saw a giant stingray almost immediately. There was an abundance of fish and beautiful coral. After about 25minutes of being alone a couple of boats showed up and Marshall hustled us out of the water. He quickly took us over to stingray city. I know many of you have read the reviews, but I just have to say it again. This is a must DO! Marshall hoped off the boat first and quickly came up with a large stingray. He explained that some people have cats, he has a pet stingray. This stingray, although there were hundreds around, never went more that a few feet away. We fed, held and played with them for a half hour or so. It was everything you have heard. Do not miss this! As we were getting ready to leave, Marshall asked me if I had ever seen a giant eel. I told him only at Sea World. He told me he new were there was one close by and off we went. About 600 yards off of stingray city he stopped the boat. Without a word, he went over the side and under the water. Thirty seconds later he swam back to the ship and said to get ready it was out there. He dropped anchor while we put on our gear. Marshall grabbed a handful of fish and down he went to a small cave. He then lured an eel out of it hole. Now he said it was a small one. I have to guess it was about 5 feet or more. It was bright green with large teeth. He managed to entice it all the way out several time. I hope my pictures came out. Captain Marvin’s staff was incredible. I would highly recommend them to anyone. I would also highly recommend the Cayman. It was a very clean city with very nice people.

Costa Maya – This is a new port not only for this ship, but also for all ships. This is not really a city at all. The cruise ships have created a dock and shopping area. There is very little to do there, but we made the most of it. When you get off the ship and walk towards the shore there is a shopping area with swimming pool and restaurant on the left. On the right there is a beautiful beach area that there seems to be no way to get to. My wife and I walked around the shopping area a bit and looked at the pool. Everything was overpriced. So we decided to head to the beach. This was tough, there seemed to be a consorted effort to keep you from going there. We walked out the back of the shopping area and proceeded to walk toward where we thought the beach should be. We were greeted with signs that said, “beware” and “not responsible” and so forth. We new that many of the other passengers were already over there so we ignored signs and continued. What we found was a pretty little beach with a restaurant and bar. Beach chairs for $3 and what appeared to be about 500 fellow passengers. We fried on the beach for a while. It was great. After several hours we decided to get a drink and went to the little beach bar. We grabbed a beer and sat for a minute. About half way through our beer one of the women who was working behind the bar came over to us and started talking. She was actually a fellow passenger. After talking for a few minutes she informed us that some of her family members actually owned the beach we were on. She had booked this trip to visit them. We met the whole family and started doing shots of tequila. It turns out that her family not only owns the land we were sitting on but quite a bit of land in the area. They sold the cruise ships the land for their dock and shopping area. Once they sold the cruise ships tried to cut them off from the lucrative passengers. Hence the signs….We talked to them for a while and then they brought out a bunch of lobster. They generously shared with us. I do mean generously. If you find yourself in Costa Maya remember to go to the beach on the right as you approach the shore.

Cozumel – We planned a day at the beach with a little shopping and a trip to Carlos and Charlie’s late in the afternoon. I had been planning for weeks to go to Chachanaab (sp) park. I had heard many great things. At the last minute we changed our minds and went to San Francisco beach. It is just a little further down the road. This turned out to be a pretty good choice. There were very few people there, even though there were four cruise ships in port. There is a nice restaurant and bar there. There also was a full water sports rental there. Although it was raining when we first arrived, it quickly cleared and we had the beautiful beach mostly to our selves the rest of the day. We left the beach around 2:30 and headed for downtown. We shopped for a while and went to Carlos and Charlie’s. I had heard that everyone must go to Carlos and Charlie’s, but I didn’t really get it. We decided to split one of the $12.50 margaritas and see what it was all about. Trust me, this is not all that much fun. It is really drunk people dancing to really bad music. It can easily be skipped for more time at the beach.

Belize – I had tried to find out as much as possible about Belize before we left, but couldn’t find much at all. Once on the ship it became apparent that Belize was not a place to go and wander around or even catch a cab to a nice beach. On the contrary, we were warned to be very careful and if we did go to go in a large group. We decided to book a snorkeling trip to Goff’s cay. This was a pretty good trip. We were picked up right off of the ship and taken to the cay that is about 9 miles off of the coast. It is very small, just slightly larger than a football field. It sits right on the second largest barrier reef in the world. There is a bunch of great coral and fish around. Nothing spectacular, but still good. Towards the end of this trip my wife and I happened along some barracuda right off shore. She had never seen one so this was the highlight of this particular trip. We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the ship watching the tender boats go back and forth to the docks. Later in the day we spoke with several people who went into the city to shop. Everyone said it was not worth the ride in.
Debarkation – Was pretty smooth. Remember to not rush out of your cabin. The earliest they are going to let you off the ship is 9:30. Get up and go have a nice breakfast. Don’t head to you station until after 9:00 then you should have a short wait. We were out at 10:00 and had our luggage in hand and through customs by 10: 15…

We had a great time and found Carnival to be a great value (this was our second cruise). I would take a Carnival cruise again, although I would like to try another cruise line sometime.