Carnival cruise - which ship for our family...?

[AandBmom]

Hi we're a family of 4 (children boys ages 4 and 6). We're looking to do a quick 4 night get away. The kids have never cruised, we have a few times. We're not looking to spend a lot. We like good quality, clean and nice service, but we're not looking for the same time of excellence that we usually want when the kids aren't with us. Our priorities this time are:

 

- good food variety with good quality

- great kids program!!!

 

 

The Imagination, Sensation and Destiny all sail around the time we're looking(April 2010) and are comparable in price. Please offer your thoughts on which one(s) are better/worse for us.

 

If you have thoughts on which ones go out of an easier port, which one(s) have bigger or smaller staterooms, or anything else that might be helpful please comment.

 

Thanks in advance for you advice.

[kenspidey]

The Imagination & Sensation are Fantasy class ships and are very similar. I have been on the Sensation and the Destiny and enjoyed cruising on both. All three are similar in its activities as well. There really isn't much difference, but I know that the Sensation has recently gone through an upgrade so I would probably go on that one. I am not sure if the Imagination has been upgraded.

[MNmomof4]

I would chose a fantasy class ship that has waterworks. My kids love the water areas. My kids also enjoy camp carnival. I don't think you can go wrong with camp carnival for the kids. I've personally only been on the Sensation and we enjoyed it. We enjoyed the food and the mino golf was a fun thing to do. I'm sure your children will enjoy whichever cruise you choose.

[A&Jfamily]

The Imagination and Sensation have the waterworks, so that would be my call.

[#1TravelMom]

We've been on the Imagination 3 times. The first time we added after another cruise so we could cruise 2 weeks in a row. It was very inexpensive, so we had very low expectations. We've been on 25+ cruises, so we've definately had varying levels of food, service, etc. We were very pleasantly surprised with the Imagination. I definately recommend it for those who can only cruise with a limited budget, as they have some great rates. We wouldn't hesitate to cruise on this ship again.