Pure Imagination: A photo trip report!

[JayMo]

Hello all! I'm in the process of writing a trip report. I always write it first on my travel blog, then copy and paste it here.

 

It's a college spring break trip report on the Carnival Imagination (GASP). If you're looking for a "OMG, LOOK AT HOW DRUNK AND LOUD I AM", you won't find that here. We did a lot of wholesome activities (mostly eating...is being "Food Drunk" possible? I think so.)

 

We took the trip in March, so I'm a bit behind, but I kept a travel journal (thank goodness) so I'm ready to get to sharing!

 

My pictures are currently uploading to Photobucket, so bare with me. This is for all the college students who want to know what a SB cruise is like, for all the people who wonder if cruising during spring break is a good idea, and for all the people who like to have a good time.

 

So I hope you follow along :D

[JayMo]

Hmmm…where to begin.

 

Introductions might be a good way to start for those who are unfamiliar with me.

 

Hi! I’m Jay. 22. College Senior. Lover of all things travel (in particular cruising and Disney). I’m a public relations major who would LOVE to go into the hospitality and tourism side of PR, hence the reason of this here blog. Depending on where you’re reading this, the website may not be a blog. To further get good, kind people like you to read my stuff, I also post my adventures onto respective websites. Blog about cruising? I’m posting a trip report on Cruise Critic. Blog about Disney? DisBoards, Also, I’ve been told by a big time blogger that I should start pinning my blogs on Pintrest. So I’m all over. You’re welcome :D

 



 

Okay, I'm really missing the days when Photobucket offered small, medium, large, for the size of your pictures:rolleyes: So if my photos are all different sizes, I apologize in advance

 

Now that we have THAT out of the way, let’s get down to business (to defeat…The Huns.)*Only Disney obsessed people will get that. Or a lover of Mulan’s movie*

 

Me and my travel buddy, Malcolm, aka “Babyboy”, bka “the boyfriend” (21, Senior, math and science wizard, mastermind behind all the restaurants and tours we do while on vacation) went on our first spring break together 2012. We spent a week at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and had a grand ol time. Why no pictures of that? Well silly me set my iPhone back to factory settings or something of that sort thinking I had all my photos, contacts, everything backed up…and apparently, I didn’t. So I basically have no photos of our first “grown up” trip together. WOMP WOMP. But I have memories…that’s the most important thing right? Right.

 

 

Anyways, during last spring break, prices racked up pretty quickly. Hotel and park tickets I found a really good deal on, so that was $300 bucks per person, which I was happy with. 3 day park hopper to Universal, not too shabby. But then was the task of factoring in all the other prices:

 

Gas to make the four hour trip in Malcom’s Charger that he insisted on taking. Charger = Gas guzzler.

Food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, midnight food. (I get hungry late nights. Judge me not)

Extras (Those corny Thing 1, Thing 2 shirts I insisted on buying, photos, SWAGCrap, etc)

I used to live in the Orlando area when I interned for Disney 3 years ago, so I introduced Malcolm to the greatness that is Florida Mall. Magical Florida Mall, that sucked another 300 bucks from us. SO BEWARE IF YOU GO THERE.

 

After getting home and calculating our spending for the trip, we agreed that for how much we spent on a land vacation, we could do a cruise next year, which of course I was down for!

 

*************************************FAST FORWARD TO 2013***************************************************

 

So it’s January and it’s time to start thinking about what we want to do in terms of Spring Break. For some odd reason, we were thinking a week at a condo in Miami with friends, but that didn’t work out, then we were thinking a week in Orlando with the same group of friends…but that didn’t work out either. So Malcolm was stuck with me for another spring break So we started looking at cruises.

 

One thing you gotta know about me is that I’m a Carnival girl. Although I would love a chance to try out other lines, I always check with Carnival first. I know they can get me where I want and for a price I don’t mind paying. It’s been that way for the past 7 cruises.

 

Malcolm on the other hand is a Royal Caribbean person. He first cruised Adventure of the Seas from Puerto Rico while he was in high school. He loved the options they had on the ship: rock climbing, ice-skating, and Johnny Rocket’s. So naturally, RCCL was who he wanted to sail with.

 

So prices got checked and my math wizard of a boyfriend started running numbers….long story short, I got my way with Carnival and after explaining to him what Carnival lacked in a rock-climbing wall and ice-skating, they made up for in value and fun.

 

I felt bad that he was missing out on his RCCL, so I let him pick the itinerary. He narrowed it down to two choices:

 

A 7 day cruise from Port Canaveral on a newer ship with more Port of Calls (of course this was the one I was rooting for. Port Canaveral is a short 4 hour trip, plus come on…7 days…HELLO)

 

or Carnival Imagination, going to Cozumel, Mexico and Key West, Florida.

 

Malcolm kept saying how something didn’t feel right about the 7 day option. “It’s nice…but I don’t know…something is telling me no…”, so we went with the Carnival Imagination! And for the price for about $400 for a porthole stateroom including the gratuities for the stateroom, meals, entertainment, etc, we we’re happy!

 

And good thing we did! You all know the story with the Carnival Triumph, so our families were already worried about that. Even Malcolm quipped in and said, “I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE SAILED RCCL.” Then on top of that, the ship we were going to go on got stuck in St. Maarten (I believe) and the next cruise on the ship, THE CRUISE WE WOULD HAVE BEEN ON, got cancelled.

 

That boy…amazing. He saved our vacation.

 

We’re were going cruising.

 

In about 3 months of course.

 

BRING ON THE WAIT!

 

Two things I LOVE: that boy and Disney

[JayMo]

forward three months to March 2013. Typical college stuff happened in the meanwhile. Class, papers, exams. I work on-field promotioms for my school’s baseball team, so I had plenty of baseball games to keep me busy before spring break. Plus, I work, so I had that to keep me busy as well.

 

I don’t have any pictures of our crazy weekend, so long story short, here it is. Ready?

 

Ended up babysitting my cousins at my moms house. They live an hour away. Left my wallet in their baby bag, drove hour to get it hours before we were set to Miami. Womp Womp. Left for Miami at 3 am. Malcolm…isn’t happy even though he slept longer than I did. Somehow, I ended up driving the first few hours to Miami. It’s an 8/9 hour drive from where my mom stays in GA depending on traffic. Hint. There is no traffic at 3 am. I drive until we get breakfast somewhere off the highway. Malcolm takes over. I wake up and it’s 7 and we are a few hours out of Miami at a rest stop. My poor boyfriend had to take a nap. I wake him up and and take over driving the rest of the way to Miami. We make it, VERY EARLY. Moral of story: I probably won’t leave for Miami at 3 in the morning EVER AGAIN.

 



 

I didn’t want to pay the price to park at the pier, so after A LOT of research, (THANKS CRUISE CRITIC) I found a seemingly safe place to park my car. We parked with Safe Cruise Parking in Miami. You have the option to reserve our spot online, but I wanted to check out the surroundings. If I didn’t feel safe leaving it there, we were going to park at the port. We plugged the address to the parking site in our iPhones and went on our quest to find it. I guess we were expecting a parking garage, so we initially missed the site. It’s actually a parking lot under a freeway. OH LAWD. We stopped a car that was leaving the lot and asked if they were pleased with the service. They basically said, “Hey, our car is still here, so yeah…just the shuttle back after the cruise is a nightmare”(more on that later). Me and Malcolm took our chances with the gated lot. We still were able to get a spot, even without the reservation. We paid $40 bucks to park our car during our vacation. SWEET DEAL. We caught the shuttle to the port, got out, tipped the guy and headed inside the terminal.

 

 



On the shuttle! We look gross...pay us no mind y'all!

 

Embarkation was painless. We were ecstatic to be to be there, so the long lines didn’t bother us. We just stood chatting excitedly. We got our Sail And Sign cards, took that horrible boarding picture and we were finally on the ship!

 

I wanted to get out my gross traveling clothes, so I found a restroom so I could change before we went exploring the ship. It was welllll before 1:30, so we had a lot of time to burn.

 



 



 



 



 

More in next post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2013 by JayMo

[cjknox]

Loving the review so far!

[Hommiette]

Great review so far! Looking forward to more :)

[mzspyc1]

I like your style! Subscribing!

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, thanks......:)

[JayMo]

 

When I last left off, we were touring the ship. It was a gorgeous day in Miami (foreshadowing), we were on vacation, life was good.

 



 



 



 

We were hungry (or food was just readily available, same difference) so we had lunch on the Lido deck and watch the luggage load onto the ship. Exciting stuff I tell you.

 

After eating, it was time for a drink! We headed up to the bar by the main pool and ended up meeting people who went to our school. We saw their shirts and joked that of course people from out school would find the bar. It was a couple and they told us they were too excited to sleep so they left our school at midnight and drove all through out the night and got to Miami around 9! Wow.

 

We still had what seemed like FOREVER until 1:30 until we could head to our stateroom and it was BLAZING outside, so we headed inside on the Promenade deck and sat outside of Xanadu Aft Lounge at Pinnacle Club Bar, talking about what we wanted to do while on vacation and having a bit of quiet time away from the crowds.

 

Before long, it was FINALLY 1:30 hit and we were able to go to our stateroom. We were in need of a nap, but we were pushing to make it through the day.

 

 

Our room was on the Main deck. Cabin M2 to be exact. Booking an inside never bothers me, but Malcolm wanted to see the ocean, so we got a porthole room to allow natural light in and allow peeks at the ocean.

 

Ignore the towel animal, this was before all our stuff got everywhere.

 

We sat in the room resting with our eyes open, calling parents, etc, waiting for luggage and waiting to be called to muster.

 

Here’s a story. Let me explain:

 

I brought a big bottle of liquor the beginning of spring break. We put some in portable flasks, hid them in my suitcase (I’m a bad girl…I know, but we’re both legal drinking age) We took three little flasks and left the rest of the bottle at my moms. My stepdad then SWORE UP AND DOWN that every time him and my mom go on a cruise, he takes a full bottle. I tried to explain the rules to him (the irony, I know) but he told me just to try it. *eyeroll* This bottle was HUGE. Huge Smirnoff Pineapple bottle. But he promised me that if it got taken (which I knew it would) he would buy me another bottle. So he wrapped it up in tons of plastic bags to protect it and keep it from spilling if busted and packed it away in my suitcase. I was already nervous about the flasks, now I had this to worry about.

 

Did the bottle make it through? Did my portable flasks make it through? What’s the meaning of life?

 

Find out (answers to two of the questions at least) on the next post!

Look at those tired, little eyes of ours. Zombies.

[re-re]

Enjoying your review, can't wait to find out if your drinks made it on board...lol:)

[BigBertha81]

Wow to stop there is just Cruel, Lol :eek::mad:

[bonnys]

Well did they? Good review so far. We were on the imagination back in December so it is fun reliving those memories. Well except for the heat. It was just barely warm enough for shorts when we went.

[TrqoisWtrs]

Love me my Imagination! :D Sailed her in February and was in M3. Loved the peaceful morning of sleeping in whenever we docked. :eek: lol

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[luv4u859]

oh man! way to leave us hanging! I am loving your review already. Imagination was my first ship back in November. I had a great time.

[JayMo]

Love me my Imagination! :D Sailed her in February and was in M3. Loved the peaceful morning of sleeping in whenever we docked. :eek: lol

 

Looking forward to the rest!

 

With the recent events of Costa Concordia and the Triumph in his head, Malcolm freaked out when he heard and felt the anchor coming down that first port day. I forgot to warn him :rolleyes: lol

[mzthaij]

awww man you left us hanging! lol!! i can't wait for the rest.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[JayMo]

Let’s see…where was I…?

 

Oh yeah, sitting on pins and needles, waiting to see if my alcoholic luggage made it to my room.

 

Since our cabin was tucked away in the corner, we kept our room door open to keep an eye out for luggage.

 

In the meanwhile, I enjoyed views of the room and watching the ever fascinating video about the ship.

 

I also took these pictures.



 

Then, luggage came. First Malcolm’s luggage…. and then 10 mins later, my luggage came. I’m so happy I didn’t have to be called to the “Naughty Room”.

 

DUN DUN DUN.

 

I don’t know the meaning of life (sorry y’all), but I do know that: 1) my big bottle of liquor didn’t make it through and 2) My little flasks did.

 

Oh well.

 

 

We sat in the room unpacking and setting up camp. Oh, and I partook in some adult beverages until it was time to go to the muster drill. Whoops.

 

Our muster station was in The Dynasty Main Show Lounge.

 

 

It was really empty still, but this is the last picture I got before they yelled at me to put my camera away. WOMP WOMP.

 

The drill felt like it took FOREVER and people were showing up late. We finally headed up to the lifeboats, stood up there for forever and finally, IT WAS TIME TO SAIL!

 

We headed up to Lido for Sailaway. Lido deck came to life! People were Cupid Shufflin’ all the the place, I wanted to join them, but Malcolm was hungry again. And he felt I should be a good girlfriend and sit with him as he eats. WOMP WOMP. lame.

 

 

 

I took this while waiting for Malcolm.

 

When he was finally done eating, we went for another drink at the poolside bar.They were having a Sailaway Special. A whole whooping dollar or two off the house special drink. I forget the name of it, but it was pretty good. Fruity. And it came with an umbrella. So that’s always good.

 

Look at the gorgeous Miami weather!!!

 

 

ISN’T IT SO SUNNY?! So sunny I had to put my shades on -__-

 

 

I MEAN, GOSH, NOTHING BEATS A RAINY SAILAWAY.

 

It started raining so bad, people left and the DJ packed up. Yep. So much for a Sailaway Party. But hey, we’re on vacation, we’re together and as Carnival says “Adios Miami and HELLO FUN!”

 

We sat under the bar’s awning to protect us from the rain, sippin’ on our drinks and people watching until it was almost time for dinner, which for some reason, I was nervous about.

 

Would we have a two top dinner table? A big table full of strangers? Would these strangers be nice? Would I save room for Chocolate Melting Cake?

 

Stay tuned!

My Naughty Letter. They threw away my bottle because it was open. Oh well. My little flasks made it through

[gambee]

Love the way you write, so much energy and enthusiasm. Thank you for doing this, can't wait for the rest of your story :D.

[TheTravelista]

OMG you look so much like Alyson Felix. I did like 3 double takes. Beautiful couple.

 

Love your writing style. Looking forward to more :)

[Avril]

Hi Jay!! I'm loving your review so far and your pics are awesome!! :D I'm sailing on the Imagination (doing a B2B with a good friend) later this year and this is making me even more excited than I already was (which I didn't think was possible)!! :D Can't wait to read more and see more pics!!!!

[pezhead]

I'm in-- I did the same cruise in October but chickened out of a trip report. And I've been a Disser for way to many years.:)

 

Responses sent form a tuochscreen device. Please disreagrd any crash typos.

[JayMo]

I'm in-- I did the same cruise in October but chickened out of a trip report. And I've been a Disser for way to many years.:)

 

Responses sent form a tuochscreen device. Please disreagrd any crash typos.

 

Then be on the lookout for my trip report on the DisBoards coming up very soon :)

 

Right after I wrap this one up, I'll be heading over there next :D

[JayMo]

When I last stopped, me and Malcolm were going to see how fate would treat us in the Main Dining Room world. Would we get a intimate table just for two? Or be sat a table full of strangers? Would they be close to our age? Would we have anything in common? Would we hang out with them on the cruise?

 

SO.MANY.UNANSWERED.QUESTIONS.

 

Usually, I sail with my family or a big group, so we get a huge table to ourselves, so yes, I was a bit nervous.

 

I was staying in the dress I had changed into earlier since dinner tonight was “Come As You Are”, so I let (yes, LET) Malcolm wear jeans tonight with a nice Polo shirt.

 

 

I took pictures while I waited.

 

Then finally, he was ready. He’s such a girl sometimes. He takes forever.

 

We had an early dinner time at 6:00. Malcolm was pushing for the late seating of dinner when we booked, but if I eat at 3 course meal at 8 at night, I’m passing out right after I eat. And probably at the dinner table. I told him if he or we are still hungry at 8, it’s a cruise…there will be something to eat!

 

We were in the Spirit Dining room, table 129 or something like that. The host showed us to our table which was in fact a big tabletop for 12. When we arrived, there was another young couple seated at the table. We said hello and went to sit by the window (foreshadowing).

 

 

They were seated at the far end opposite of us. I forgot their names, but I remember they were from Louisiana, the girl was in her senior year in college and the guy had already graduated and was a firefighter (okay, maybe he wasn’t, I can’t remember, he just looks like a firefighter type. So let’s just say he was. Okay? Okay.) We got our water and bread and me and Malcolm made quiet conversation. Then our other table mates started to show up. They were all couples and we were all around the same age. Besides Louisiana and Firefighter, everyone was from the North. We had one couple (well, they claimed to be best friends) who went to a liberal arts school in New York, and the other couples were from states around the country that I haven’t ever met anyone from, so I sometimes forget that state even exists, hence, why I can’t remember. One couple showed up a bit late and they sat directly across from us. Their names were Tim and Michelle from Wisconsin. (Foreshadowing)

 

We all thought it was pretty cool how Carnival sat all us of cool kids together. We started chatting and talking sports and other stuff and eating. Pretty cool group.

 

I don’t have any food pictures for a multitude of reasons:

 

Ya girl…she likes to eat. By the time it comes off the wait staff’s fingers, I have my fork/spoon/fingers ready for war.

I didn’t want to be THAT PERSON taking pictures of their food with my little iPhone haha. The other girl took pics, but she had this fancy camera, so it seemed okay.

I also don’t have the names of the food I ate. Sorry about that.

Malcolm and I stayed for dessert and the show while the other couples left. Tim and Michelle asked what we were doing the rest of the night. I told them that we were going to the welcome show (foreshadowing) they said maybe they will see us there and left.

 

I do however remember that I got Chocolate Melting Cake for dessert. Actually, I got two Chocolate Melting Cakes because my boyfriend, who swears off sweets, kept eating mine, “OMG IT’S SO GOOD. IT’S LIKE WARM PUDDING. IF GOD COULD CRAFT A DESSERT, THIS IS WHAT IT WOULD TASTE LIKE” He’s so silly.

 

So we went back to the room to unwind.

 

 

 

We found this little fellow. He was too cute keep to send back to the harsh realities of the African Savanna or Zoo Atlanta or where he came from, so, we kept him on our counter. He was too cute to let go :)

 

Unwinding, turned into a nap.

 

Set your alarm, Malcolm said. We’ll get up and go to the Welcome Show, he said.

 

Yeah right.

 

It had been a LONGGGG first day. We been up since 3 am basically. The covers and the rocking of the ship felt a little too good.

 

So we just caught the Welcome Show every day of the cruise since they played it over and over. Louisiana and Firefighter were on it.

 

Up next, FUN DAY AT SEA.

 

Do we get that gorgeous Miami weather back? How many pounds can we put on in one day? Would I tackle the water slide? Who becomes our “cruise besties? And can you believe that I became a dancing zombie? How do you ask? Well, you have to stay tuned!

 

If anyone knows how I can get the smaller pictures to show here, please let me know : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry the pictures are so big y'all! I keep re-sizing them on Photobucket, but then when I post it here, it shows regular size :mad:

[wrigley80]

Loving your review so far....I will be doing this same itinerary in December. Can't wait to see your pictures and review of Key West and Cozumel

[Elaine5715]

Jay, your formatting is impossible to read on a mobile.

[JayMo]

Jay, your formatting is impossible to read on a mobile.

 

Hmm....that's weird. I had to look on my iPhone just to check to see if the formatting is off....everything shows up on my phone as it would on a computer. Matter of fact, I'm writing this reply on my phone. And that's without the CruiseCritic app...just using plain Safari. I'm sorry about that.

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I take that back. On the first page (on mobile) some of the pictures are showing upside down.

 

Anyone have any advice how to make it more mobile friendly? :)

Edited July 19, 2013 by JayMo