Myra

Age: 29
Number of Cruises: 1st one
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Inspiration
Sailing Date: August 31st, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

This cruise was my first and it was nice. Getting on board was a little hectic, and there are no signs directing you where to go. I guess if I had cruised before I would have figured it out a little sooner. There is also a long line once inside the terminal - this is where you 'register' your on-board payment method to receive your Carnival Cruise Sign & Sail card, which is the on board ID & charge card. They also have drink cards fot soft drinks, if I had to do over again, I would have bought one - only because I love Coca-Cola. If you don't like soft drinks, then don't bother.

The Ship - It was fun, but tacky in an old-mall-in-Vegas sort of way. It looked like a cross between the video game 'Tron' and a scary run down strip join, but it was clean and well maintained. I don't want to scare anyone, I just though it was tacky, but functional and overall, clean, but kinda smokey. Getting around was difficult until I got the deck plan down, after that it was easy.

The room - the room was nice. I wish I had known sooner, you can adjust the air by the knob in the ceiling of your cabin. I almost froze my butt off until a fellow diner told me about that. The room steward was great - he always kept the room clean, neat, and well stocked. Of course we had towel animals too. :). Also, our room had two beds, but if you ask the steward, they will put them together and make the bed like it is a queen size bed. Our room had small port-hole windows, that was nice, even if they were small.

The activities - I didn't really participate in too many activities, except bingo, and I never won. The pools were so crowded, so I used the hot tub in the spa (top floor area) and it was great, and you don't have to pay to use it. The entertainment was okay, a bit lame, but once again, if you like vegas-style, then you might like this. I found it kinda tacky and boring. I did find dinner-time entertainment and the ships crew entertaining. The crew is from all over the world, and very nice. It is interesting to see everyone working together and being so friendly. Dinner was fun when our servers would dance and sing to a silly song.

The food - It was good, I gained weight. I would say that dinner was the best, if I had to do over I would have ordered more. If you don't order what you want right away, then they cannot bring it to you later...so it you want two of something - speak up! The lido deck food was okay, sometimes great and other times okay. I was getting a little sick of it by the last two days.

The Ports - Grand Cayman was nice, but short stop. Stingray city was fun. Stores had good deals on jewelry and perfume. Really cheap on the perfume.

Costa Maya was kinda lame, tourist-y, so I went to the beach on the right rather than the shopping village on the left. The people that run the local beach are very nice, their food in the little restaurant it great and you can rent a cheap beach chair and buy cheap dos equis beer, which they bring to you while you relax. It was nice, the shopping area was cheesy and expensive.

Cozumel was fantastic! I was on the fury catamaran, it was great, also shopping was great although you have to haggle hard! Belize was nice, but I would go on an excursion or a tour, the city was poor and it didn't look like there was anything to do there except sit on your front porch (if you live there). I went on the cave tubing expedition, it was the high point of the vacation - it was incredible (if you are a nature lover) I want to go back and do it again. I was fun and the only adventurous thing I really did.

I really had a great time on the cruise, dinner was fun - you had to talk to new people so that was fun, the food was great and you get a chance to relax (except for having to follow tour/activity/dining schedules. If you don't want to follow schedules, stay on the boat and order room service (that is included!!! so you don't have to pay extra) Overall, I think it was a good value and I will try carnival again. I will try a newer or larger ship next time. But for the 1st cruise, this was nice.