M
MoJo2Rusty
Guest
I hope this finds everyone well and recouping from the Christmas / Hanukkah holidays. I just got off the Inspiration on Dec 20th. Boarded on Dec 11th for a 4 day and a 5 day cruise out of Tampa.
I flew into Tampa late Dec 9th meeting a friend in Atlanta and we flew into together. We stayed at the SailPort Resort, 2506 North Rocky Point Drive, Tampa. This was not a fancy place but we had a little condo with a bed room, pull out couch in the LR and a kitchen. There were 3 of us splitting the cost of the room. $79 a night. It was comfortable and clean. 15 min from the airport with airport shuttle. They didn't have a shuttle to the pier but we had rented a car for the day we were in Tampa so Dollar Car Rental shuttled us to the pier when we returned the car. It was close to great restaurants for dinner but not for breakfast. I would recommend it and I would stay there again if in that area.
We arrived at the Pier around 11am and were on the ship within about 20-30 min max. One of our group was Platinum on this cruise so we did have that express check in, however there were no lines at any of the check in areas. My guess is no one had to wait longer than 30-45 min to board, even without the VIP check in.
The Inspiration is the smallest ship that I have been on so far. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it but it grew on me as the days passed. Our cabin was U-59 and U-57 Ocean View. They were right off the forward elevators on the starboard side. These cabins have the connecting door so it was like a little suite. It was great for the 3 of us. Our cabin stewards were good. Nothing outstanding other than they knew our names from day one and greeted us by name each time they saw us. We even had some mid day towel animals.
The first night was quite an experience. One of our friends that usually sails with us but was not able to this year, called while we were still in port to say we were in for a rough night. Her son is a meteorologist and he had given her the weather report. We began to feel the rolling about an hour before out 8:15 dinner setting. Not long after crossing under the Sky Way bridge. Not that is a site! Carol, who was on her platinum cruise, and I decided to take some Dramamine before it got bad. Carol made it to the line to go into the dining room before she had to return to the cabin. I made it through a half a bowl of soup and one bite of shrimp before turning green and having to leave. Now I've never been sick before but this ship was ROCKING AND ROLLING LIKE CRAZY. When I came out of the bathroom, Carol was looking out the window and called me over. Said OMG! look at this! Well, let me tell you. We were on the Upper deck and those little ole waves were right up there with us. I even moved stuff off the counters because I was afraid they would be on the floor by morning. I was ok after about 2 hours but Carol, was still sick the next morning. We ended up taking her to the infirmary. Half the ship was there I think. The nurse on duty deserved a gold star or crown or something. She worked her butt off and was a pleasant as could be. She got people in and out. We were probably only down there 20-30 min. She did tell us that half the crew was also sick and that she compared the night to when the ship went through Hurricane Rita. Ok, now never cruised in hurricane season, and after his I don't plan to take that chance. That was one rough ride. So after an hour name to sleep off the injection Carol was good as new and ready for the remaining 8 days of our cruise.
The ship had about the most Christmas decorations of any I have been on. The were tasteful but everywhere. Very festive.
We had the pleasure of being in the MediGras Dining room with George the Greek. What a great guy he is. He kept the dining room going. The first night when the ship was rocking and rolling, he said that the captain apologized but the R&R was not his fault. Seemed that they had placed all the newly weds on the same side of the ship! But seemed that at least one of the brides was in the infirmary the next morning so doubt they contributed to the motion. If you are on the Inspiration and can have George the Greek for your matre'de you are in for a treat. We were luck to have great table mates. A father and son, and dad's friend from Tampa. A couple guys from Ohio and a lady and her mother also from Tampa. The later 2 were originally from Russia.
The decor of the ship was nice but areas seemed dark to me. The lido dining room area especially. The ceilings were much lower and with those purple tubes everywhere it made it rather dark. I found it easy to navigate the ship and found the public areas comfortable. The new deck chairs are very nice and much more comfortable than the old white plastic ones.
The serenity deck was nice, but it was difficult to get sun back there and on our first sea day Sun was not in abundance. It was cool and windy so the water works was closed most of the 4 day cruise so the hot tubs on the Lido were Full of KIDS. They also didn't put water in the lido pool until the last sea day of the 4 day cruise. So you saw very few adults in the hot tubs on the Lido. I also noticed several ares where deck chairs were stacked. But there were very few spaces to put any more chairs. So the weather was not really sitting in the sun weather most of the first 4 days.
In Coz we had decided to take a tour of the West Side. We book with Lazaro. It was $80 for 3 hours. We had planned to do the 3 hours then go to a beach, but it was again cool and not real sunny, so we ended up with 5 hours. Lazaro was great. By the end of the 5 hours he was more like a friend and part of our little group other then he knew his way around. He took us where ever we wanted to go. He helped us down an embankment on one of the beaches to take pictures. He had a camera and would take pictures too. We stopped at Coconuts and had planned to eat lunch there but none of us were hungry so we settled for drinks and some photo ops. When we got to ElMadore he helped us out on to the coral bridges and took pictures and made sure we got safely out there and back. He was a great guide and well worth the money. I would recommend him to others wanting the West side tour. The West side is beautiful. Not commercial like the port side. There are miles of natural beaches with the waves crashing on the rocks. Oh yes, just a hint, if you plan to take this tour and get adventurous, do not wear flip-flops. That coral is SHARP! Bunged up my heel pretty good. Good thing I didn't have to wear shoes with heels in them for a week.
Our last sea day on our return trip to Tampa we did see a few hours of sun. They played a lot of oldies music over the ship PA and the band on the lido played a lot of island music and also oldies. Good music I thought. The band was a 3 piece band and did a good job. We never made it to the disco or the other lounges.
We arrived back in Tampa around 6:30 on Monday morning to sun. We had several friends that were joining us for the 5 day so we were anxious to see people start boarding.
Doing the back to back we did not have to disembark, we simply went down to the pursers desk around 11 and got our new S&S cards. It was nice not having to pack and standing on the upper decks of the atrium watching everyone else leave. We were standing there around 10am when Robin, one of the entertainment guys hollered up to us asking if we knew that we could leave. We told him we didn't want to leave, that we were staying. About 11 the new arrivals began coming on and we waited to meet our friends.
I'll be back later for the 5 day review. If you have any questions ask away.
I flew into Tampa late Dec 9th meeting a friend in Atlanta and we flew into together. We stayed at the SailPort Resort, 2506 North Rocky Point Drive, Tampa. This was not a fancy place but we had a little condo with a bed room, pull out couch in the LR and a kitchen. There were 3 of us splitting the cost of the room. $79 a night. It was comfortable and clean. 15 min from the airport with airport shuttle. They didn't have a shuttle to the pier but we had rented a car for the day we were in Tampa so Dollar Car Rental shuttled us to the pier when we returned the car. It was close to great restaurants for dinner but not for breakfast. I would recommend it and I would stay there again if in that area.
We arrived at the Pier around 11am and were on the ship within about 20-30 min max. One of our group was Platinum on this cruise so we did have that express check in, however there were no lines at any of the check in areas. My guess is no one had to wait longer than 30-45 min to board, even without the VIP check in.
The Inspiration is the smallest ship that I have been on so far. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it but it grew on me as the days passed. Our cabin was U-59 and U-57 Ocean View. They were right off the forward elevators on the starboard side. These cabins have the connecting door so it was like a little suite. It was great for the 3 of us. Our cabin stewards were good. Nothing outstanding other than they knew our names from day one and greeted us by name each time they saw us. We even had some mid day towel animals.
The first night was quite an experience. One of our friends that usually sails with us but was not able to this year, called while we were still in port to say we were in for a rough night. Her son is a meteorologist and he had given her the weather report. We began to feel the rolling about an hour before out 8:15 dinner setting. Not long after crossing under the Sky Way bridge. Not that is a site! Carol, who was on her platinum cruise, and I decided to take some Dramamine before it got bad. Carol made it to the line to go into the dining room before she had to return to the cabin. I made it through a half a bowl of soup and one bite of shrimp before turning green and having to leave. Now I've never been sick before but this ship was ROCKING AND ROLLING LIKE CRAZY. When I came out of the bathroom, Carol was looking out the window and called me over. Said OMG! look at this! Well, let me tell you. We were on the Upper deck and those little ole waves were right up there with us. I even moved stuff off the counters because I was afraid they would be on the floor by morning. I was ok after about 2 hours but Carol, was still sick the next morning. We ended up taking her to the infirmary. Half the ship was there I think. The nurse on duty deserved a gold star or crown or something. She worked her butt off and was a pleasant as could be. She got people in and out. We were probably only down there 20-30 min. She did tell us that half the crew was also sick and that she compared the night to when the ship went through Hurricane Rita. Ok, now never cruised in hurricane season, and after his I don't plan to take that chance. That was one rough ride. So after an hour name to sleep off the injection Carol was good as new and ready for the remaining 8 days of our cruise.
The ship had about the most Christmas decorations of any I have been on. The were tasteful but everywhere. Very festive.
We had the pleasure of being in the MediGras Dining room with George the Greek. What a great guy he is. He kept the dining room going. The first night when the ship was rocking and rolling, he said that the captain apologized but the R&R was not his fault. Seemed that they had placed all the newly weds on the same side of the ship! But seemed that at least one of the brides was in the infirmary the next morning so doubt they contributed to the motion. If you are on the Inspiration and can have George the Greek for your matre'de you are in for a treat. We were luck to have great table mates. A father and son, and dad's friend from Tampa. A couple guys from Ohio and a lady and her mother also from Tampa. The later 2 were originally from Russia.
The decor of the ship was nice but areas seemed dark to me. The lido dining room area especially. The ceilings were much lower and with those purple tubes everywhere it made it rather dark. I found it easy to navigate the ship and found the public areas comfortable. The new deck chairs are very nice and much more comfortable than the old white plastic ones.
The serenity deck was nice, but it was difficult to get sun back there and on our first sea day Sun was not in abundance. It was cool and windy so the water works was closed most of the 4 day cruise so the hot tubs on the Lido were Full of KIDS. They also didn't put water in the lido pool until the last sea day of the 4 day cruise. So you saw very few adults in the hot tubs on the Lido. I also noticed several ares where deck chairs were stacked. But there were very few spaces to put any more chairs. So the weather was not really sitting in the sun weather most of the first 4 days.
In Coz we had decided to take a tour of the West Side. We book with Lazaro. It was $80 for 3 hours. We had planned to do the 3 hours then go to a beach, but it was again cool and not real sunny, so we ended up with 5 hours. Lazaro was great. By the end of the 5 hours he was more like a friend and part of our little group other then he knew his way around. He took us where ever we wanted to go. He helped us down an embankment on one of the beaches to take pictures. He had a camera and would take pictures too. We stopped at Coconuts and had planned to eat lunch there but none of us were hungry so we settled for drinks and some photo ops. When we got to ElMadore he helped us out on to the coral bridges and took pictures and made sure we got safely out there and back. He was a great guide and well worth the money. I would recommend him to others wanting the West side tour. The West side is beautiful. Not commercial like the port side. There are miles of natural beaches with the waves crashing on the rocks. Oh yes, just a hint, if you plan to take this tour and get adventurous, do not wear flip-flops. That coral is SHARP! Bunged up my heel pretty good. Good thing I didn't have to wear shoes with heels in them for a week.
Our last sea day on our return trip to Tampa we did see a few hours of sun. They played a lot of oldies music over the ship PA and the band on the lido played a lot of island music and also oldies. Good music I thought. The band was a 3 piece band and did a good job. We never made it to the disco or the other lounges.
We arrived back in Tampa around 6:30 on Monday morning to sun. We had several friends that were joining us for the 5 day so we were anxious to see people start boarding.
Doing the back to back we did not have to disembark, we simply went down to the pursers desk around 11 and got our new S&S cards. It was nice not having to pack and standing on the upper decks of the atrium watching everyone else leave. We were standing there around 10am when Robin, one of the entertainment guys hollered up to us asking if we knew that we could leave. We told him we didn't want to leave, that we were staying. About 11 the new arrivals began coming on and we waited to meet our friends.
I'll be back later for the 5 day review. If you have any questions ask away.
B2B is nice. 