Anybody ready to set sail on this date

We are going with you! It will be myself,husband,son 19,daughter 15  and friend 15.We are celebrating our daughter 16th birthday early. Who are you traveling with?

Hi Justsea,

 I will be travelling with my wife son 18, daughter, 16 and son 9.  This will be our 2nd cruise on Inspiration although my kids dont know it yet.  Its a surprise.  Have you been on this ship before?

Hi Steve-o    We have not been on this ship.This will be our 5 cruise.We have been on Victory,Celebration,Legend and Explorer of the Seas(RCCL).Is it a special reason for the surprise( birthday Christmas)? Do you live near Tampa, that you are going on the same ship or just liked it?

We live in Tampa so it is convenient for us.  And not many ships accomodate 5 in a room so it works out well for us.  As far as the surprise, my wife wanted to go on another cruise and justified it by saying that it would be for our 20 year wedding aniversary.  We decided to kind of make it a christmas present as well for the kids.  I guess we loved going on the cruise the first time.  It seems that it is affordable.  I think that eventually when my kids get older and fly the coop that we will eventually be going other places, although my older 2 tell us that we still need to take them with us.  (Dont think that will be happening)

Wow I could never keep it a secret till Christmas.Our last cruise we had a count down starting at 350 days out.We are waiting till schools out till we start one for this cruise.Have you started planning what you are going to do on the islands?Will your oldest son still be in school at the time of the cruise?

I think we can keep it a secret, although everytime a Carnival commercial comes on my wife says, "I wish we were going on a cruise", and I try my best not to look at her and any of the kids if they are in the room.  My eldest will be in his first year of college and would be on break.  As far as things to do in the islands, last time we went I wanted to do the swimming with the Stingrays but my daughter was kind of freaked out about cause of the Steve Irwin thing.  My older son really did not want to do it either.  My younger son is definitely the adventurous type.  and when we went to the Tampa Aquarium where you can pet them he loved it.  So this time I told my wife that I dont think I am going to pass it up this time.  Last cruise we just hung out on 7 Mile Beach, which was really nice anyway.  I just wished we had more time in Grand Cayman it really is a very nice relaxful place.  We also walked around the shops there.  I bought some of the rum there, very potent stuff.  We went to one of the beaches in Cozumel but didnt stay very long.  Came back to the ship, changed clothes then headed out to lunch at Senor Frogs and then pretty much shopped the rest of the day.  Not sure what we are going to do this time when we go to Cozumel.  Got any good suggestions?

We have done the stingray thing twice.It is really cool.The first time we went I wasn't watching what I was doing and got the squid stuff on my arm when I moved my camera strap .A few second later I was watching the rays *** on the lady's arm next to me and then the thing was on my arm that fast.I had a bruise instantly that lasted for over a month.It even broke the skin.They say the rays have the power of 30 industrial vacuums and can take the skin off your thumbs if you don't hold the squid the right way.There was a lady that wiped here hand on her swimsuit top,not thinking,she had to get out of the water because the rays kept trying to *** on her top.They are really neat not trying to scare you.They let you hold them and kiss them.Are you going to go thru a private company or Carnival? In GrandCayman we are going to go snorkeling. and to 7 mile beach.My son said he would like to back to Hell also.In Cozumel we are going on a snorkel excursion.We are still looking for which company we are going to use.We also will go shopping the kids like that they can hagle with the people.We bought rum in G.C.also last time.Did you go to the Tortuga place? They often have good sales for cruise people.

I haven't really even started to look at how I want to book it yet.  Iread several places that you can get good deals if you book outside of Carnival.  I think I remember the last time we were there you can just basically walk off the boat and even catch an excursion right there.  We did not go to the Tortuga place to get the rum.  It was one of the local places.  It was pretty inexpensive but I like said pretty potent.  I would like to do maybe something different that we did not do the last time.

If you are looking for excursions not from carnivalI I use www.cruisecritic.com for recomendation from other people. That site also has a lot of other helpful info.Have you thought about doing the dolphin swim ?We did it last time and it was great. When we went to Tortuga they had a special that if you bought 6 bottles they gave you three free,it was nice right before Christmas to have for gifts.We also had friends that wanted us to pick them up some. It was real fun trying to pack it in the suitcases..Then one night on the cruise our son who had just turned 18 two weeks before ,won a game and the prize was 3 more bottles .I think we ended up bringing home 14 bottles.

Really didn't about doing the dolphin swim.  That would be a pretty cool thing too.  When i bought the rum I really just wanted some island rum as I know it supposed to be so much better than back home.  I bought a packaged set so it had a little bit of different kinds.  Have all your cruises been to the same places? I would like to do a Med cruise and possibly an Alaskan cruise some day.

Our cruises mostly have been to differnet islands.We have been to cozumel twice,Grand Cayman Twice.Jamica,St.Thomas.St Maartin,Bermuda Belize,Roatan,Key West and San Juan.Our favorite has been St.Thomas.We did a private day sail and snorkel.It was so pretty and nice because it was only us and the two crew members at the one cove.That was the time I learned that when you snorkel make sure you have on plenty of sun block.I got 3rd degree burns that day.We were going to take a family cruise to Alaska next year for my in-laws 50th anniversary but they said they didn't like cruises even thought they have never been on one.It was fine with me I don't know if I could take the whole family for a week.Maybe I'll get the Alaska cruise for our 25th anniversary in two years.

I remember the sun being quite different in the Carribean.  I know my wife and I will definitely take different cruises once the kids are out.  But for now they get to tag along.  The private snorkel thing sounds real cool.  I would do that. We tried to do a family cruise with brothers and sisters and parents...but that didnt seem to get off the ground to well so we decided to go on our own.  Have you every done the drink coupons on the cruise?  We were talking about it yesterday, of course with no kids around, and were trying to see if it works out better then ordering each time and getting the gratuities each time.

We haven't used the drink coupon.I've thought about using them.They say the draw back to using them is that you have to remember to bring them along and they can only be used on drinks that cost less then 4.50.If you drink is more you have to use your sail and sign card to pay for the rest of it.I think I'm going to buy some of picture coupons this time.They save you 5.00 per picture.Do you buy any of the pictures? My daughter loves to have her picture taken.Do you live near Tampa? We are looking for ideas for things to do before the cruise since we are driving in early.

We didn't really do much drinking on the cruise last time, but we figured on letting our hair down a little this time, not that we are big drinkers anyway.  But we thought going the coupons might save us a couple of bucks. 

I did not know they had coupons for the pictures.  We bought 3 pictures lst time, funny thing though we haven't even displayed them.  Although I am sure we will buy them again this time.  Where did you see the coupons for the pictures?  Need to tell the wife about that. 

I live in the suburbs of Tampa.  I am about a nice easy 30 minute drive to the Port of Tampa.  We are you from? Are you coming in the day before? If so, there is Busch Gardens, the Aquarium (right across the street from the terminal), there is the whole Channelside area around the port.  This includes shops, restaurants. movie theater, the St. Pete Forum (if there is anything scheduled going on). There is also Ybor City, a little historic Cuban area not to far from the port.