Perfect getaway for family with young kids for a great price!
Carnival Inspiration Cruise Review to Mexico
Contributor Level:
Third Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 26
4 Night Catalina & Baja Mexico (Los Angeles Roundtrip)
Sail date: October 21, 2019
Ship: Carnival Inspiration
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: M74
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
This was a really fun trip. Really easy with kids (3 and 6). Service was friendly. We all had fun! Getting two connecting rooms was clutch. An incredible value for a family vacation!Embarkation
Could not have been easier. Arrived at 10:56, boarding was called at 11:18. We were in group A1 and were onboard at 11:25. Tip: Check in early to get a good boarding position! Check in 90 days in advance, as soon as possible. Say check in opens on Nov. 1, that means midnight EST, or 9 PM PST Oct. 31. I did that, for the earliest time (12:30), showed up around 11, boarding group was called at 11:18, then we were on the ship at 11:25.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Breakfast:
Room Service Door Hanger Breakfast
Basically buffet food, but delivered to our room. Food was the appropriate temperature (warm stuff was warm, including my toasted bagel, cold stuff was cold), and I appreciated that it came with a whole carafe of coffee.
Blue Iguana Cantina (Breakfast Burritos & huevos rancheros)
Burritos were so yummy! The hash browns provided a really nice crunch - don’t think of them as potatoes for filling, they’re there for crunch.
Huevos Rancheros were made on fresh tortillas topped with all sorts of goodies (including chicken) and topped with melted cheese. These were not prepared fresh, but rather pulled from a warming drawer. Still delicious.
MDR
Food was hit or miss. Some things like the parfait were fantastic. Other things, like the power bowl, featured runny eggs and missed on flavor. In general, though the misses had to do with missed titles. I assumed the bowl would be mostly grains with some lettuce, but it was mostly lettuce with eggs and some grains. Other items didn’t list all of the ingredients. Service was quick and friendly.
Lido Marketplace
Lots of quality choices. Can’t go wrong! Expect basics.
Green Eggs & Ham Breakfast ($5)
The entertainment of this was so much fun, however the food was really lacking. Waffles tasted like they were cooked days ago and (poorly) reheated. Steak was tough. French toast was delicious.
Lunch
Guy’s Burger Joint
Best fries on the ship. Burgers are delicious with lots of toppings options.
Tip: they did not offer a veggie burger - only beef or beef with cheese.
Blue Iguana Cantina (Tacos & Burritos)
Super yummy! Lots of toppings to choose between, and all were really flavorful! The tacos were made with freshly made flour tortillas.
Tip: The lines for tacos were ALWAYS shorter than for burritos.
MDR - not available for any lunches, only dinner, breakfast, and sea day brunch
Lido Marketplace
Lots of quality choices. Can’t go wrong! Expect basics. Carnival Deli had 15 different sandwich choices available all the time, plus a daily special.
Tip: Get the grilled cheese with mustard and mayo. Thank me later.
Snacks
Swirls
Mostly chocolate and vanilla. Sometimes they had strawberry.
High Tea (only on sea day) - delicious, fun activity.
MDR Dinner:
Kids menu on back of activity book (well done). Asked about kids daily special and was told it’s just a special pasta.
Alexander and Jaycee were awesome.
Food quality was great. One thing to be aware of is that the menu doesn’t always give the whole picture. For example, one dish was called “roasted broccoli with three cheese” and in the subtitle, it listed the three cheeses. I was expecting to see some roasted broccoli with melted cheese on top, but what came was a broccoli and cheese soup. It was delicious — don’t get me wrong, it was one of the most delicious things we ate — but not what we were expecting. Same with the four season salad, which was listed as “lettuce, tomato, corn, cucumber” but came with two kinds of lettuce, tomato, corn, radish, and carrot. Again, not bad, but just not what we were expecting. Lastly, there’s an item listed as “Shrimp, noodle, and vegetable bowl” which anywhere else would list as “Pho.”
Service was paced really well. Even when I ordered a dinner of 5 appetizers, things came out in a proper order and not all 5 at once.
The waiters danced every night! So much fun!
Tip: Hot soups are prepared at the waiter’s station, but everything else comes out of the kitchen. Expect the hot soups to come out first.
Tip: The busiest night was the first night, after that, a lot of people stopped coming into the MDR. Ensenada day was the emptiest.
Pizzeria
Half-pizzas made to order.
Guy's Burger Joint
My son had one of these burgers a day. Great burgers and the best fries on the ship!
BlueIguana Cantina
Delicious burritos and flour tacos!
Onboard Activities
Water slides were a blast! Pool can get chilly, though.
We used the gym once. It was fine, but the equipment that faces the front of the ship has this amazing window to look out onto the bow, but it’s blocked by the TV screen. In order to see the front of the ship, I had to put on the ship’s front TV channel. Kind of a bummer.
There is a small outdoor gym area with outdoor equipment. If I didn’t have kids with me, I would have spent more time there.
Mini golf was really fun! It’s a great course. Only downside is that many people just leave their clubs and balls around instead of putting them back for others to use.
Mini Golf
Fun, but expect that previous patrons will not have cleaned up their clubs and balls.
Carnival Waterworks
Kids had so much fun on all three waterslides!
Entertainment
Ryan Rose is amazing. Dr. Suess parade was really fun, as was towel animal theater. Only complaint is that the music in group entertainment moments was way too loud. My kids couldn’t stay at the sail away party because their ears were hurting.
Only peaked into stage shows. B-rate theater. But fun!
Children's Programs
My kids had a blast at the kid specific programs (Dr. Suess parade & story time, build-a-bear, Dr. Suess breakfast, towel animal theater). There were also some Halloween specific activities, such as trick-or-treating. The ones we went to were really fun!
Camp Ocean activities were hit or miss. My son thought there would be more group activities but then all the kids were just playing video games, which he doesn’t like. My daughter, however, had a really fun time with her activities. Your mileage may vary.
Service and Staff
Really positive. When something needed to be addressed, it was quickly and professionally. We never needed to worry about anything. Staff was very friendly and got to know us, which is impressive for just a 4-night sailing. For example, I had dinners of appetizers for the first few nights, and on the last night I ordered an entree. Our waiter turned to me and said, "Oh! Now that it's the last night you're finally ordering an entree!" He clearly got to know us. Our room attendant really had a special relationship with my kids. Every time she was in the hallway, my kids wanted to go up and give her hugs.
Ship Quality
Clean, weird design choices. We taught my son the meaning of “Avant-Garde”: weird.
Cabin / Stateroom
Almost no engine noise. Very quiet. There was some sort of intermittent machine noise while we were sailing on later days. Not sure if it was due to the stabilizers being deployed and adjusted or something else onboard.
Since these were connecting rooms, there was not much sound barrier between rooms. We heard the kids and they heard us. The doors between the cabins stayed open on their own for the most part (unless we were listing, then gravity took control).
Small room. Space is at a premium for moving around. If traveling with kids and you can swing it, get connecting rooms. It’s like a two room suite.
Tips:
*AC controls are on the fan/vent above bed.
*If you book a room on deck 4 (Riviera), you could have people lining up outside your cabin.
*Port side of ship is side to be on. Better view for Catalina, shady side for Ensenada.
*Consider different configurations for the beds. They were set up one next to the other, but they can be configured in an L shape, which opened up a ton of space on the floor to move around.
*Water from tap was fine. Sure, bottled is better, but tap is fine and ice is easily accessible.
Ship tip
Port side of ship is side to be on. Better view for Catalina, shady side for Ensenada.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Long Beach (Los Angeles), California
Catalina is so easy to walk around, even with young kids.
We did the Catalina Semi-Submersible excursion.
This was so much fun! My 6 and 3 y/o LOVED every minute. They were enthralled with being able to see out of the windows and loved seeing the fish swarm when the captain went up and fed them. The captain's description of what we were seeing was really informative. We had heard that it was a choppy trip out to the cove, but we didn't feel that much swaying. At the end, we all went up and stood on the top as we pulled back into the dock.
Pro tip: We booked this through Carnival and saved a TON of money. For one, when you book directly, they tack on fees at the end which jack up the price. Second, Carnival doesn't charge for kids 3 and under - the company does. So, we saved on two fronts.
Ensenada is very walkable, even with young kids. Expect to get used to saying "no thank you" to those hawking their goods.
Our first stop was Cafe la Churreria. We knew about Cafe la Churreria from our last trip. This time, it was our first stop. We had churros stuffed with chocolate, carmel, and mango sauce as well as a horchata latte and an espresso. Always yummy, and about $8.50 USD.
The one excursion we did was Ensenada Express
2 hrs total, 45 min highlights bus ride and drop off for shopping, $20/ person (15 for kids 4-12, 3 and under free) Only announced on ship! Last tour of the day (1 PM) has most time for shopping. Mic was broken, so narrator had to shout, but her sister was sitting with us and had amazing commentary to everything. Fun facts: Ensenada is where the margarita and fish tacos were invented. Flag is 2nd largest in Mexico and takes 20 people to handle. 50 x 30m and weighs 395 lbs. University has viticulture program, as this region produces 90% of Mexico’s wine. $500/semester including food and books. Science museum was supposed to be aquarium, but they ran out of money, so now it’s a science museum. Russians developed city, but they don’t intermarry with Mexicans. Basically, the city is bars and tourism. Worth the money!
Disembarkation
Very easy. Parking is $20/day.
Traveler Photos
