Great for first-time cruisers
Carnival Inspiration Cruise Review to Mexico
Sail date: May 11, 2015
Ship: Carnival Inspiration
Cabin type: Oceanview
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
This cruise was fun for us. It was exactly what we wanted -- some time to relax. The itinerary wasn't too demanding and allowed for some relaxation. The ship was even floating at sea for much of the voyage since the ports were close together.
The ports-of-call featured cities tours and adventurous excursions. They were ports that were easy to navigate on your own without getting lost or risk not getting back to the ship in time.
The ship (Inspiration) seemed to be an older Carnival ship. Most were great given it was an older ship, but they could have added more hot tubs. The Serenity area (supposed to be adults only) had hot tubs that were always packed to capacity. At one point we saw a few kids under 18 in this area and no staff enforced the age restrictions. This took away from the otherwise unique experience. We both have cruised several times before and on bigger ships with aggressive itineraries and shorter cruises with a more relaxed pace. So it is interesting getting to see what Carnival has to offer during their shorter cruises. Royal Caribbean seems to provide a little more luxury for the dollar and they visited similar ports of call as we saw their ship while docked too. The Carnival ship and ports of call during this trip did not really entice us to prefer Carnival over other cruise lines when cruising again, but this cruise was still a good pace for what we were looking for at the time -- a relaxed pace and a good value.
I would recommend this cruise for first-timers. It helps to get acquainted with the world of cruising without an itinerary that is action-packed.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
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Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
3 Comments
JusMe 9 years ago
Glad you had a relaxing cruise. I have done this ship a few times for the quickie 3 or 4 night getaways. I find it a great size ship to get around and lots of things to do. The staff and service on it have made it one of my favorite ships, it is just relaxing and upbeat. RCI no longer ports full time in Los Angeles so for the quickie cruises all we have is Carnival. I guess it depends on each individual cruise but I never had an issue with getting into a hot tub in the Serenity deck and always found a lounge chair there and bar staff to get me a drink.
I do look at the cruise for what it is and for the price it is when I set my expectation. I know I'm on an old ship, I know I'm on Carnival but I also now the crew is great, ship is clean, service is good and I thought the food was good, better then I expected from Carnival.
glomarrone 9 years ago
Carnival is a great value and good for first time cruisers especially and is great for families.
noname111 9 years ago
Hi BabsMcduffy,
Thank you for posting a your review!
With regards to the adult-only areas of the ship, enforcement is an ongoing issue virtually all lines that we've cruised. Sometimes crew steps in but often they do not... kind of the same issue as with saving deck chairs :/
There may also be language in the contract that specifies under 18 may be allowed to use the adult pool in certain circumstances... but that's a contract-specific issue so read your agreements carefully if it is that important an issue to you. Happy cruising!