Cruise Logs - Free 5 Day Inspiration Cruise to Mexico and Grand Cayman.

Free 5 Day Inspiration Cruise to Mexico and Grand Cayman.
Posted on : 2009-04-26 by uCruiser

Cruise Line :	Carnival Cruise Lines
Cruise Ship :	Carnival Inspiration
Cruise Region :	Caribbean Western
Cabin Number :	R132
Ports :	Calica , Grand Cayman , Tampa
Days :	5
Departure Date :	03/16/2007
Avg. Price per Pax :	Free! Bingo price. Only taxes paid.
Tags :	Carnival Inspiration western caribbean

My wife won this cruise when she played bingo on our previous Fantasy cruise. We were really looking forward to this cruise, because we liked Fantasy so much, and Inspiration is Fantasy's sister ship.

How did I book?:
Since this was a Bingo price, all we had to do was call Carnival and tell them when we wanted to cruise and then send them the documents we got at the bingo game.

Did I get a good price?:
Free is good!

How was my trip to the port?:
Not too bad. The drive to Tampa is around 2-3 hours and we arrived in Tampa around 11 am.

Embarkation/Debarkation:
No problems at all. It is depressing to leave the ship after a really nice cruise though.

The ship:
I liked Inspiration just as much as I liked Fantasy on our last cruise. Everything (almost) was nice and clean and I liked the interior and decoration.

Cabin:
We stayed in an outside cabin on the Riviera Deck. It was definitely a step down from the suite on our last cruise, but our cabin was nice and clean and the crew kept it well during the cruise, so no complaints here.

Dining:
We always go for dinner in the main dining room and get breakfast and lunch in the buffet. Our servers on that cruise were the best we have had so far. They were funny and attentive and made sure we never were in need of anything.

Entertainment:
We saw the main shows and the comedian and they were good. The lead singers in the shows were very talented.

Ports & Excursions:
Our ports were Calic in Mexico and Grand Cayman.

Calic: We took a cab to Playa del Carmen. What a wonderful place that is. You got 5th ave running along a beautiful beach and there are tons of shops, restaurants, and small bars where you can sit and enjoy yourself with a drink and do some people watching. The shop owners are a bit pushy and try to get you inside their stores. Usually a "no thank you" is enough. My wife went inside a store and the guy in the shop actually locked the door so she couldn't easily escape. I came to her rescue :)

We went off 5th avenue to the beach and found a nice bar/restaurant where we could sit and watch the water and keep our stuff while we went swimming.

Grand Cayman: We booked an island tour through Carnival. It took us straight to "Hell", to the turtle farm and to the rum cake factory. I'm a rum cake addict so to me that was the highlight of the trip. Actually I didn't find any of it really interesting. "Hell" is nothing but a tourist trap and the turtle farm was ok, but I could definitely have survived without having been there. Next time I go to Grand Cayman, I'll probably make it a beach day on the Seven Mile beach.

Overall Experience:
We had a great cruise.

Comments

From: carnivallover said: "Turtles" - 2009-07-03

My wife is a turtle fanatic. What type of turtles sea turtles? What was there environment? Could you interact with themat all. Are we talking a Carnival type attraction or some dirt farm that has a pond? Our only cruise thus far was on the Fantasy interior Riveria cabin, we loved the cruise. Looking forward to our balcony on Triumph on August 16, 2010.

User Ratings:

From: uCruiser said: "An ok place to go once.." - 2009-07-07

Carnivallover, you can probably best get your questions answered by visiting their website here http://turtle.ky/history.htm We were allowed to hold the turtles and we could get close to them and touch them while they were in the water.