Carnival Inspiration

[Andreas Mom]

So has anyone cruised on the Carnival Inspiration? I am looking into there 3 day cruise out of LA.....was looking for thoughts on this boat. We have cruised before and have cruised with Carnival. The boat is an older one in there fleet so I am just wondering if once we are one if the "feel" would be of that too

 

[Jajone]

We sailed on that ship 2 years ago and it was fine. Older, but not beat up. Not any different than the other Carnival ships we have been on.

 

[usnuzuloose]

So has anyone cruised on the Carnival Inspiration? I am looking into there 3 day cruise out of LA.....was looking for thoughts on this boat. We have cruised before and have cruised with Carnival. The boat is an older one in there fleet so I am just wondering if once we are one if the "feel" would be of that too

I just got back from the inspiration. I have a tr going under the west coast trip area. Its called a Carnival cruise....with a chicken. I dont have the link under my sig as it did something weird. Check it out. I havent updated for a while as I have a sciatica nerve problem and cant sit up for long. Its a great ship and had a great cruise.

 

[usnuzuloose]

bump

 

[Andreas Mom]

We sailed on that ship 2 years ago and it was fine. Older, but not beat up. Not any different than the other Carnival ships we have been on.

Thanks! We have been o nthe Elation before but that was 6 years ago. We are hoping for just a quick anniversary trip and this fits are days perfect. How was the port?

 

[Andreas Mom]

bump

thank you!!!!! going to go read now

 

[eeyorethegreat]

We sailed the Inspiration. Would never do another Carnival cruise again. It just wasn't our thing. I would give another cruise line a try and definitely want to do a Disney Cruise sometime. PM me if you want to see the blog I wrote about our trip last Feb....

 

[dgr1973]

OMG!!!! You have brought back so many memories of my honeymoon on th Inspiration! We sailed for a week out of San Juan Puerto Rico and had an amazing time. Yes it was a Caribbean cruise but we were married in May 1996 and our week was only its 2nd voyage! Oh how I loved it soooo much and would love to sail it again for our 20th in 4 years but it may not still be around So its on the west coast now?

 

[Andreas Mom]

OMG!!!! You have brought back so many memories of my honeymoon on th Inspiration! We sailed for a week out of San Juan Puerto Rico and had an amazing time. Yes it was a Caribbean cruise but we were married in May 1996 and our week was only its 2nd voyage! Oh how I loved it soooo much and would love to sail it again for our 20th in 4 years but it may not still be around So its on the west coast now?

Yup! 3 and 4 day Mexican Rivera. Were thinking about this for our 10th aniversary

 

[Andreas Mom]

OMG!!!! You have brought back so many memories of my honeymoon on th Inspiration! We sailed for a week out of San Juan Puerto Rico and had an amazing time. Yes it was a Caribbean cruise but we were married in May 1996 and our week was only its 2nd voyage! Oh how I loved it soooo much and would love to sail it again for our 20th in 4 years but it may not still be around So its on the west coast now?

I'm sure in just 4 years it will still be here, unless you have heard otherwise. It just got re-vamped in 2007 so I was under the impression it was still going strong.

 

[Andreas Mom]

We sailed the Inspiration. Would never do another Carnival cruise again. It just wasn't our thing. I would give another cruise line a try and definitely want to do a Disney Cruise sometime. PM me if you want to see the blog I wrote about our trip last Feb....

Yes and No.....ok yes

 

[dgr1973]

Yup! 3 and 4 day Mexican Rivera. Were thinking about this for our 10th aniversary

That sounds awesome and I'm sure you will have a great time no matter what you choose. I will say that I didn't think the food was so great. It was ok and edible but after the hype that everyone told me about cruise food I just expected more. Mind you this was 16 years ago so maybe that has changed also. I just went back and watched some video and looked at pictures and goodness the ship wasnt the only thing that was soooo young then, I'm like an old hag now LOL!

 

[eeyorethegreat]

That sounds awesome and I'm sure you will have a great time no matter what you choose. I will say that I didn't think the food was so great. It was ok and edible but after the hype that everyone told me about cruise food I just expected more. Mind you this was 16 years ago so maybe that has changed also. I just went back and watched some video and looked at pictures and goodness the ship wasnt the only thing that was soooo young then, I'm like an old hag now LOL!

That was my take on the food as well. Nothing wrong with it. It was good. Just not fabulous.

 

[dgr1973]

I'm sure in just 4 years it will still be here, unless you have heard otherwise. It just got re-vamped in 2007 so I was under the impression it was still going strong.

No I havent heard anything, I just assumed because of its age but if it was re-vamped then maybe it will! It's funny thinking back on how huge the ship was compared to some of the others at the dock and when I checked out Carnival's website the newer ships make the Inspiration look so tiny, lol! Oh I am feeling all nostalgic now and thinking about how much has changed since then, my dh and I were so young and naive(me 22 dh 25) and now we have two dd's in HS and MS and our oldest dd is not much younger then I was when I first met my husband

 

[nilseks]

I was on it a few years ago for a music cruise. Having also been on the Carnival Victory and on the 'maiden voyage' of the Carnival Splendor, I will say it is the least impressive of those boats. Having said that, it is just fine. No real complaints, other than the fact that it doesn't have the restaurant choices of a newer ship like the Splendor (basically, your only choice is dining room or buffet). It shows it's age a bit, but it's clean and the staff was good.

We are cruising on the Paradise next month for our anniversary. The Paradise and Inspiration are both in the same class of ship. They are older, mid-sized ships. I guess I know what to expect since I've been on the Inspiration. I'm not expecting anything over the top, and Carnival's food really cannot match up pretty much any other cruise line. But it's adequate, it's far from horrible, it was cheap, and it is allowing us a little getaway. The main thing for us, like you said OP, was the dates worked.

 

[nilseks]

Oh, one more thing...when cruising on these 'cheaper' boats, I recommend really being careful with your dates. If you go at a time when kids are out of school, or heaven forbid college spring break, the ship will be overrun with kids. Carnival is known as the party cruise line, and with good reason. Since they are cheap, they attract a lot of young college and post-college aged people. Our anniversary is in March--prime time for Spring Break. We didn't want to deal with that so we decided to go in February instead. Hoping it will be pretty calm at that time.

 

[Andreas Mom]

That sounds awesome and I'm sure you will have a great time no matter what you choose. I will say that I didn't think the food was so great. It was ok and edible but after the hype that everyone told me about cruise food I just expected more. Mind you this was 16 years ago so maybe that has changed also. I just went back and watched some video and looked at pictures and goodness the ship wasnt the only thing that was soooo young then, I'm like an old hag now LOL!

When we were on the Elation it was hit and miss....some things looked in and were not but then there were some things that I thought I would pass up but my husband had and they were great!

 

[Andreas Mom]

I was on it a few years ago for a music cruise. Having also been on the Carnival Victory and on the 'maiden voyage' of the Carnival Splendor, I will say it is the least impressive of those boats. Having said that, it is just fine. No real complaints, other than the fact that it doesn't have the restaurant choices of a newer ship like the Splendor (basically, your only choice is dining room or buffet). It shows it's age a bit, but it's clean and the staff was good.

We are cruising on the Paradise next month for our anniversary. The Paradise and Inspiration are both in the same class of ship. They are older, mid-sized ships. I guess I know what to expect since I've been on the Inspiration. I'm not expecting anything over the top, and Carnival's food really cannot match up pretty much any other cruise line. But it's adequate, it's far from horrible, it was cheap, and it is allowing us a little getaway. The main thing for us, like you said OP, was the dates worked.

See at this point I dont care what we do or where we go I just need to get a way for a few days and this is falling into place....well at least for me. My husband is a little worried that we would be going to Mexico....im not worried at all! I figure if there are issues they would stop the boats from coming in and letting people off

But yes dates work...its cheap and with baby number 3 coming that is two great things about the trip!

Just need to convice husband

 

[Andreas Mom]

Oh, one more thing...when cruising on these 'cheaper' boats, I recommend really being careful with your dates. If you go at a time when kids are out of school, or heaven forbid college spring break, the ship will be overrun with kids. Carnival is known as the party cruise line, and with good reason. Since they are cheap, they attract a lot of young college and post-college aged people. Our anniversary is in March--prime time for Spring Break. We didn't want to deal with that so we decided to go in February instead. Hoping it will be pretty calm at that time.

Thats why I nixed the Vegas idea Im hoping we can beat somewhat of the kids All the places I am looking into for our trip I have a feeling will be a little more over run with kids. But we have some of our own so I wouldnt be too upset...I will probably see others kids and miss mine even more

 

[nilseks]

It's not so much the little kids...they don't bother me either. It's the college kids who don't know how to hold their liquor and love to act all drunk, lol. The ship staff is pretty good about trying to keep them under control though. As long as you don't go in March during college spring break, you should be okay.

I was the same way, I didn't care much about destination either. We ended up finding a cruise that stopped at 2 ports we haven't been to, so that was a bonus for us. I wouldn't worry too much about Mexico. I have been there many times, including during some of the height of the travelers warnings, and it was no big deal. The port areas are very touristy and seem relatively safe.