Nice Getaway

Item: Carnival Inspiration
Rating: 3.7
Author: elindke

Carnival Inspiration Cruise Review

elindke

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 27

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

4 Night Catalina & Baja Mexico (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 06, 2020

Ship: Carnival Inspiration

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: E199

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Ok cruise for the price. The food was ok, nothing spectacular. I however was surprised with how much fun I had with the entertainment. If I got another good deal I would possibly do this one again.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Extremely quick and easy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

I was really looking forward to feasting on this cruise and it just didn't happen, primarily due to the availability of food venues being open and the mediocrity of much if the food offered. The chicken tacos at the Blue Iguana were probably one of my favorite things on the ship, unfortunately they aren't open in the late afternoon - evening/night. My husband and kids loved Guys Burgers and ate there more then once. Like with Blue Iguana, I wish Guys Burgers was open at night. The buffet was meh. Not a lot of variety. Food served was ok in flavor, but nothing amazing. The pizza parlor seemed understaffed and extremely slow, though the kids enjoyed it. The Main Dining room was also underwhelming. The absolute best thing was the tiramisu offered only on the first night, it was probably one of th best I have ever had. Dinner service was very slow. I'm used to going out and having multiple course meals and this was slow for that. Especially when tables of similar size came in after us and left before us. Our waiters were nice, but by the last evening I was getting frustrated with the time it took for food that just wasn't that great. Also, we got caught in Carnival's switch over to Pepsi from Coke. I guess we were the last cruise with Coke and they started to run out around mid day on our last day, which was our Day at Sea. By dinner the MDR had no Coke and then no Root Beer. As the night wore on it was difficult to find anything that wasn't Ginger Ale. This really irritated me as we paid for bottomless bubbles for our family. In the future I will probably just stick with water & lemonade and buy sodas here and there

BlueIguana Cantina

4 out of 5

Chicken tacos were delicious. Breakfast burritos were alright, not as amazing as I had heard, but decent. I would have eaten the tacos more often, but their hours are pretty limited I feel like they closed between 2p - 3p.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Entertainment was fabulous. From the set sail party, to the nightly shows, we had a great time. I really didn't expect to go to as many shows as I did. The Welcome Aboard show and the Love & Marriage shows were hilarious. My husband I both became VIP's at the Studio VIP show and while not something we would normally do, had a blast and made great memories. Oh, and the dance parties in the Atrium were a blast! Many people in our party also attended the comedy shows, both the PG and R rated ones and said they really enjoyed them as well.

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

My oldest went to the teen club and made lots of new friends. Thanks to Social media, she still chats with them, over a month later. She really liked her the staff of the club as well.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

While a feel some of the decor on the ship was a little dated, it was extremely clean. I consistently saw staff cleaning, picking up stray litter etc.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ship tip

Go to the shows!

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ensenada, Mexico

3 out of 5

Went on a private bus excursion to La Bufadora. I knew ahead of time that there was a Mexican market on the way to the blow hole. I knew ahead of time they really badger you to purchase. None of that bothered me, just a bunch of polite "no thank you". What I was bummed out about was that all the stalls seemed to carry the exact same things. There was no variety. Where the blow hole actually is, is very pretty. We however didn't have great ocean or weather activity to make it blow really high. We got a couple of good ones, but nothing spectacular. But that is Mother Nature, so noting to be upset about. We came back to town to shop for a bit and it was ok. This was my 2nd cruise to Ensenada, and even though they were over 10 years apart, I feel like I would probably just stay on board if I did this cruise again.

Thumbs Up 0

Catalina Island, California

3 out of 5

We rented golf carts on the island (reserved before hand). It was a nice easy way to explore the island with the map that was included with the cart rental.

Thumbs Up 0

Long Beach (Los Angeles), California

3 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

If I thought Embarkation was easy, Disembarkation was probably even easier. We chose to not check our bags and carried (wheeled) them out with us. We left our cabin at 7:11am and were getting into our car to leave at 7:30am.