We waited for our friends to join us when boarding began on the 15th. It was great to see them as I had not seen any of them in a year. We all headed for the buffet area to visit and catch up, and wait for them to be able to get into their cabins. We were already well settled in ours. 
B2B is nice.
We had talked to George the Greek, the night before and he had confirmed that we indeed were going to be in the same dining room and that our friends were seated at our table. However the table was a table by the windows on the Port side. After advising him that one of our friends didn't like dining by the windows, he said he would see what he could do. Before we left dinner that night he returned to tell us he had arranged for us to be at the same table we were at for the 4 day and our friends were seated with us. George was a sweetie. Yes he did get a nice tip at the end of our cruise. Isabella our waitress was wonderful. She was very sweet and did a wonderful job, however it seemed her assistants were not around much. Isabella, even remembered that I had not been able to eat my dinner on the first night of the 4 day and when she took my order she said she figured I would want the pork chop since I didn't get to eat it before. She was pretty good at remembering that stuff. How she did it with so many people I'll never know.
On the 5 day we had a nice sunny sea day out of Tampa. We took full advantage of the sun and spent the day above the Lido deck. One of my friends and I were reading the same Harlequin NASCAR book, at one point she got my attention and pointed to the lady next to us, when I looked, she was reading the same book we were. When we got her attention we all got a big chuckle out of it. How often is it your going to site next to someone reading the same book as you.
The stay in Grand Cayman was short, we arrived mid morning and had to be back on the ship by 3p I believe it was. We ended up spending a couple hours at Margaritaville and doing a little shopping then back to the ship. We were there such a short time, not sure how people really had time to do any of the excursions.
The next day, was a return trip to Coz. One of my friends had been to Nochi Cocom before and had fallen in love with the place so we had booked the day there. NC, has 100 person limit on reservations each day. It's all inclusive about $55 a day I believe, and this included all food and drink. The place was absolutely beautiful. There were no more than 25 people there and only 3 kids. The kids were well behaved and never really noticed. As for the food and drinks, if you left there hungry, thirsty or sober, it was your own fault, not theirs. They never let you glass go dry, and were always offerning something to eat. The food was very good as were the drinks.
We took advantage of the massages. 2 people could get a 30 min massage for $35 each. Price for one person was $40.
They have a large pool right on the beach and a hot tub that will probably hold 25-30 people. It's such a relaxing place. The beach was nice, all the chairs are either near trees or thatch umbrellas so you can have shade or sun, what ever you choose. This was a beautiful sunny warm day so we took full advantage of the sun, since we hadn't seen a lot of it on our first 4 days.
Doug was playing in the piano bar and we spent a couple nights in there. The piano bar is located just out side the dining room, not near any of the other lounge areas, so it didn't seem to draw big crowds. Doug did a good job but I think if he had had a larger audience that was really into the piano bar stuff, he would have really had the place going. He had a great voice.
NC closes at 5pm, we didn't have to worry about leaving there in time to get back to the ship on time. We were there until close. They called a cab for us and Joseph the guy who keep us in drinks and food, escorted us to the cab. This is definitely a place I would recommend especially for adults. They don't have the water toys like Paradise beach and some of the other places, to help entertain the kids, so I'd say this place probably caters more to the adults.
Our last day at sea, was a little cool and breezy, we got a few hours of sun, but spent most of the morning visiting with our friends. Actually transitioned from breakfast to lunch at the same table in the lido dining room.
At dinner our last night, George announced that we were going to be arriving in Tampa around 1:30am instead of the normal 6:30am. There was a heavy fog moving in and they needed to clear the skyway bridge before it did. Now how do they make up 6 hours??? Anyway, when we woke up Saturday morning, we opened to curtains and looked out, but someone forgot to take the curtain off the outside of the window. It has been many many years since I have seen fog this thick. You could NOT see outside our window. This fog blanketed the bay area until almost noon that day.
We were off the ship and had our luggage by about 9:30. The ship had lost power several times that morning, so we sat in the library part of the time in the dark. It was strange because some things worked but the lights didn't.
Our post cruise stay was at the Marriott Waterside. It's actually within walking distance of the pier, however with luggage it would be quite a feet. This was a beautiful hotel. We were able to book it at a great price around $150, but again this was split 3 ways so it wasn't bad at all.
We had lunch at Margarita Mama's at Channel side. Food was good but a lot of it. Dinner was at a place also at Channel Side called, Stumpy' s. Food and drinks were good here also. The 20th was the last night of their Christmas Boat parade so we enjoyed watching about 30 boats of all sizes all decked out in Christmas lights parade past the pier at Channel Side. A perfect ending to a wonderful 11 days with friends.
Although I do prefer the larger ships, I wouldn't hesitate to book the Inspiration again. The staff was great. Felipe, "Woohooooo" was a great CD.
I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.
