Chris

Age: 46
Occupation: Professional
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Inspiration
Sailing Date: October 12th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My girlfriend, two sons and I sailed on the Carnival Inspiration in October 2003. Our ports of call were Grand Cayman, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel. Here are my thoughts:

Embarkation: Like many of the others who wrote reviews, the end-to-end process took us just about an hour. We arrived right at the busy time (1 pm) so some delay was understandable and expected. The Carnival personnel were efficient and friendly.

Accommodations: We were very happy with our ocean-view cabin on the Empress deck. It was spacious, clean and well appointed. The bathroom was larger than we expected. It seems the room stewards cleaned our room every time we left it for even a few minutes. My sons had an interior cabin and were happy with it, but then again, being aged 16 and 17, they were rarely in their room. I give the accommodations and cabin service very high ratings.

Food: The food and food service were excellent, especially at dinner. Our two waiters from Romania were friendly and extremely efficient. We enjoyed the delicious food and ambience of the Mardis Gras dining room so much that we made it a point to eat all our dinners in the dining room. We also had several breakfasts and lunches in the dining room but did notice that the service took a definite decline for these meals (e.g. asking multiple times for coffee). We figured this was because it was not our regular wait staff and they felt no particular loyalty to us.

Entertainment: There is plenty of stuff to do on the Inspiration and we sampled it all: dancing, piano bars, karaoke, disco, casino, etc. The formal shows were a mixture ranging from mediocre to good. For example, the highly touted magician only did 3-4 tricks, and my son, who fancies himself an amateur magician, said that he quickly figured out what the guy was doing. The dancers were pretty good and the two lead singers sang with passion. But I got tired of constantly being told to clap louder as if we were there to support the entertainers, not vice versa. I was also not pleased with the fact that you had to get to the theater early to get a decent seat at any of the good shows. The social staff was also constantly pushing us to play bingo before the shows in order to ensure a good seat, and of course ensure a good profit for Carnival. Also annoying was the fact that the assistant cruise director in charge of bingo liked to insult/make fun of the passengers, which I found to be totally inappropriate. Overall, I gave the entertainment a C.

Ports: My son and I did the scuba diving in Grand Cayman while my girlfriend and my other son did the stingray tour. All of us were pleased with our decisions. Unfortunately there was little time to get to know the island after our tours.

In Costa Maya, we all did the biking and kayak tour. The biking was brief, the kayaks were not that fun and we all agreed that this was our least favorite excursion of the trip. We did have some extra time after the excursion so we went jet skiing – which we enjoyed very much. The shops and restaurants where the ship docked were pretty cool.

In Cozumel, we rented motor scooters (discouraged by Carnival) and drove around the city. Then we went on the Catamaran snorkeling and beach party. This was an absolute blast. First, a stop for snorkeling - not the best snorkeling, but certainly decent. Then we were off to a private beach party with kayaking, volleyball, and sunning. On the return trip, the music and alcohol flowed freely and the crowd let loose a little. Our fellow passengers on the Inspiration said that they could easily tell the Catamaran party crowd – we were the ones who were staggering up the gangway with big smiles on our faces.

Belize was our final adventure. My girlfriend and I went on the Shark Alley snorkel tip and the boys went off on the Powerboat Thrill Ride. The snorkeling was fantastic. We had great native guides and saw two sharks. Then on to a two hour lunch stop at San Pedro. We saw enough of the island to get a good feel for how the people of Belize lived and worked. The atmosphere was so laid back that we kept joking about giving up our rat-race jobs and moving there.

There were several times when the ship seemed crowded and always another line to wait in. Other passengers made the observation that the ship seemed more crowded than others they had been on. But the ship’s crew did their best to see that Carnival lived up to its reputation as the Fun Ships. Overall, I would give our Carnival Inspiration cruise a B, or if you prefer, three stars out of four. It was a good value for the money, but next time, we will probably look for something a tad more upscale.