DJ

Age: 22
Occupation: Client Analyst
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Inspiration
Sailing Date: May 14th, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My boyfriend and I went on a cruise on the Inspiration and were pleased. I am going to write about the things that were important to us in our decision.

Activities/Entertainment
There were always things to do. They constantly had games occurring: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Fear Factor, Hairy Chest Contest, Trivia Games, Name that Tune, Newlywed Games. They also had shows nightly. There were two Las Vegas style shows, which I loved. There was Karoake, dancing, and the casino every night. They also had games of Bingo for $500, $1000, and free cruises as the prize. There were bands that played out by the pool. They also had piano and violin players that played for you throughout the day and night. We went to watch these on more than one occasion. They also featured two late night comedy shows. One of the comedians were funny; the other was not, but still funny because he wasn’t funny!

There was a casino and pool, which we didn’t frequent. The pool was much much smaller that I expected. The pool was never crowded when we walked by. There were always lounge chairs available on the ship. There didn’t appear to be very many children on our cruise. I knew most of the children by faces by the time the cruise was over.

Overall, the entertainment and activities were sufficient. If you someone is bored, it is their own fault.

Food
The food was good to okay. When you embark, they have a buffet waiting for you. This begins around 12 and ends around 3:30, so get on early if you can. Okay, There are hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, chili, French fries, potato salad, cole slaw served at the grill by the pool. This grill seemed to be open from 11:30 to around 4:00 (I could be a little off on the times). The hamburgers, hotdogs, and chili are good, and the fries are great. There is a lunch buffet everyday at the Brassiere dining. There were themes everyday; some included: Caribbean, Italian, Indian, American etc. Don’t forget you can always go the grill for lunch. We ate lunch at the grill everyday except for the last day when they had American cuisine at the buffet. They had fried chicken, baked potatoes, etc.

Breakfast was served buffet style at the Brassiere everyday. This was also good and we enjoyed it. We never ate breakfast or lunch in the dining room. It was too good on the buffet and at the grill. I couldn’t imagine it being better in the dining room. The buffet lines were never long.

There was 24 hour pizza and 24 hour ice cream. We tried the pizza two times. It was okay the first time and good the second time. I tried the ice cream on the 4th day of the cruise and wished I had tried it sooner. It was good.

We ate dinner everyday in the dining room. I was not a fan of this. I usually don’t like to try new things, so this was my least favorite dining part of the cruise. I typically played over everything I ordered at night. There was nothing outstanding that I remember about dinner. (Its probably just me though because of my tastes and not a reflection on the cooks.) Our table mates seemed to enjoy it very much. I usually ordered stuff like, honey glazed chicken, sirloin, i.e. stuff that I knew what it was. The waiters sang for us and dance for us three nights. This was fun to watch.

Late night eating began at 11:30: We went to this every night (because I usually didn’t eat my dinner.) They had a variety of limited things. They also had the burgers and fries late at night too. I think I ate fries twice every day. They also featured the Gala Midnight Buffet on the formal night. There was also a Mexican midnight buffet; I stayed far far away from this. I didn’t want to be up all night.

Room
The room was always keep clean. They make animals for you and turn down the bed at night.

Pictures
Let me just say, be prepared to spend at least $75 on photos.

Overall, we enjoyed the cruise and plan to go on another cruise in the near future. I would recommend this ship to anyone.