JeniL

Deck Hand

Boston, MA

Joined 07/2012

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Carnival Valor

Sail date: September 25, 2011

Great cruise for our family

Very impressive boat. "Goose" was the cruise director and made the experience feel personal, even though we never spoke to him directly. I wish there were more dining areas outside where we could view the sunset/sunrise without looking through glass.

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Carnival Inspiration

Sail date: September 06, 2010

First time Cruiser

The Carnival Inspiration was a first cruise for my husband and me. We enjoyed the cruise experience enough to start planning our next one. However, we would choose a larger Carnival boat with more port stops (and a basketball court for my husband). Our itinerary was: Tampa, FL - Grand Cayman Island -- Cozumel, Mexico We ended up going: Tampa, FL - Key West, FL -- Cozumel, Mexico A fellow passenger had a medical emergency that required greater attention than the on board medical team could provide, so we had to loop back to Key West. I was really disappointed about not going to Grand Cayman Island (which was a major reason for us to book the vacation). Safety comes first, but I wonder if they could have handled the situation better. For example, dropping off the ill passenger at Key West and continuing full speed to Grand Cayman. Or having a helicopter or another boat meet us. The food was excellent. My favorite dinner was lobster tail & shrimp. The dining crew often led dances to get everyone excited. Our server remembered that my husband ordered coffee on the first night and automatically knew to bring him a coffee every night following. I would definitely recommend a sit-down dinner as opposed to anytime dining. With a sit-down dinner, you are assigned the same table for each night. We met other couples at dinner and it was nice to share experiences. At the end of the trip, we exchanged emails to share photos and keep in touch. The housekeeping team is wonderful. They cleaned out our rooms 2 times a day. They provided continental breakfast when we requested it at 6:30am. The animal towels were a nice touch. I wish I could say I enjoyed the pool but it was usually crowded so we never stepped foot in it. I'm surprised there is only 1 pool for the whole ship. There were 4 jacuzzi's but we didn't feel like jumping in those with the hot sun beating down on us. Overall, I can't wait to go on my next cruise. Good experience.

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Grand Turk Island

AWESOME excursion: Gibbs Cay Beach and Sting Rays. This was the highlight of our trip. We were able to touch and kiss the sting ray, and even get a sting ray massage. You could see all the sting ray swimming up to the boat as we came close to the island. We could also see a barracuda. A pleasant surprise with this excursion was being able to snorkel. We saw more sting ray and a small turtle. We could have spent much more time snorkeling. Great excursion

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

Getting off the boat took long because we had to take a small boat from Carnival Valor to the island of Half Moon Cay. I wish there were a way to speeden the process but I suppose they did the best that they could. We were given stickers and asked to wait in the Ivanhoe Theatre for our turn to be called out to the small ferry boat. We didn't purchase a shore excusion here; we just enjoyed the beach. Bring snorkeling gear because there was some fish to be seen.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

We visited the rainforest (El Yunke? I forget how it's spelled). Not as exotic as you would think a rainforest would be. We didn't see many animals other than a few snails and a common household cat (!). The waterfall we visited was right off the road and not as impressive as the ones we saw in photos where people could swim at the bottom of the waterfall.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

We visited Coral World, a water aquarium park. We booked our shore excursion through Orbitz website and weren't sure exactly where to meet our group, but we joined the Carnival group headed to the same destination and they took care of us. If not for the confusion of transportation, we would have had another 45 minutes at Coral World.

Cozumel, Mexico

Visited the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. It required a 35 minute ferry ride and then a another 45-60 min ride on a coach bus. Husband and I like a bit of history. Fortunately, the Mayan ruins of Tulum are also next to a *gorgeous* beach, the kind you see in postcards.

JeniL

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