Carnival Imagination and Carnival Sunshine - My Back-to-Back Photo Review

[wrigley80]

One thing that is fascinating about Key West that I used to overlook was the awesome trees. The Kapok Tree in front of the courthouse and there some awesome looking trees over by the Hilton Hotel

 

 

 

 

I had to get my picture in our electric car

 

[wrigley80]

Well our day in Key West had come to an end so it was time to take our electric car back. By now it was around 12:30 pm and we had to be back onboard by 1:30 pm. We dropped the car off and then my favorite guy drove us back downtown so that we could get on a Conch Tour Train to take us back to the ship

 

Key West has a large Navy population. This is a US Naval Base and where the ship docked is an active Navy Base as well

 

This is my guy. This is Tommy Lee. He is one of the shuttle drivers for Sunshine Scooters. His brother Flipper also works there. They are wonderful people who I consider to be my friends

 

After he dropped us off back downtown on Front Street we hopped on a Conch Tour Train and headed back to the ship. We had another fabulous day in Key West. I am moving here someday....mark my words. We went back to our cabin to drop our bags off and then headed up to Lido to get some lunch and to get some sneak peak pictures of the Carnival Sunshine

 

 

The Serenity area and waterfall

 

 

[wrigley80]

It was still a surreal feeling knowing that we would be on this ship next week. We had originally booked this vacation as just the cruise on the Carnival Sunshine. One day when I was looking for price drops on our Sunshine cruise I found the 4-day cruise on the Carnival Imagination for only $159.00 per person. How could we pass up on a deal like that especially when it went to Key West???

 

Here are a few more teaser photos of the Carnival Sunshine to hold ya off until I get to that portion of the review

 

 

 

 

Bye Bye Sunshine....See You Next Week

[wrigley80]

After we had some lunch and got some photos of the Sunshine we decided to go down and sit out in the Serenity area for a while. This in my opinion is the greatest addition for all Carnival ships.

 

 

See you soon Key West

 

Can't get much more relaxed than this

 

We never had a problem finding a chair out on Serenity

[paulypride]

 

The Carnival Fantasy class ships have a very nice Waterworks area. It was a cloudy day so there wasn't anyone using it on embarkation day.

 

 

 

I love this picture. It really shows how big the funnel really is

 

Another great picture of me and my dad.

 

what a wonderful pic! I wish I was close to my dad like this! I have a pic like this of me and my husband on the Miracle!

[wrigley80]

what a wonderful pic! I wish I was close to my dad like this! I have a pic like this of me and my husband on the Miracle!

 

 

Thank You so much. I am very fortunate to have a dad that enjoys so many of the same things that I do. We love to cruise together. We are like 2 peas in a pod.

[purplemusik]

Back to the Review.....Who Missed Me :p

 

Another one of our favorite places to visit in Key West is the Key West Pretzel Company. If you like soft pretzels....you have to visit this place. Their pretzels are too die for

 

The Key West Pretzel Company is on Lazy Way Lane. Its basically right around the corner from Kermits Pie Store

 

You can get a soft pretzel plain, with just salt, or you can get one with some oooeeeyyy goooeeeyy goodness

 

Here I come with our pretzels

 

I chose the oooooeeeeyyyy gooooeeeyyy goodness pretzel. This was a pretzel sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and then had vanilla and raspberry drizzle. It was sooooo yummy

 

 

OMG! My husband would DIE for this!

[purplemusik]

Crazy to see the Sunshine now when I went on my honeymoon on it as the Destiny!

I love Key West too! My Grandfather grew up there so when we went there before he passed away- we rented a car and he drove us to see his old house and old school. It was so neat. Last time hubby and I went to the butterfly place- so awesome!

Um...I wouldn't have passed up that deal for the cruise before the Sunshine either! That's a great price! Does your dad let you research cruises and reccomend them or does he find them too? Reason I ask is my family relies on me to find great deals!

[familyfuncruise]

Getting very excited to hear and see more of your review! Thank you again for taking the time out to do this for us!:D

[shoppingfever]

Your Key West pics are convincing me to listen to my husband about taking a trip there!

[kybluecruiser]

I think i asked this on your previous review but forgot. Does sunshine scooter rentals pick you up at the peir?

[2 cruzen]

Thank You so much. I am very fortunate to have a dad that enjoys so many of the same things that I do. We love to cruise together. We are like 2 peas in a pod.

 

I lost my Dad 20 years ago this month...he was only 60. He loved the water so I'm sure he would have loved cruising. You are so blessed.

[wrigley80]

Crazy to see the Sunshine now when I went on my honeymoon on it as the Destiny!

I love Key West too! My Grandfather grew up there so when we went there before he passed away- we rented a car and he drove us to see his old house and old school. It was so neat. Last time hubby and I went to the butterfly place- so awesome!

Um...I wouldn't have passed up that deal for the cruise before the Sunshine either! That's a great price! Does your dad let you research cruises and reccomend them or does he find them too? Reason I ask is my family relies on me to find great deals!

 

 

Oh no my dad just shows up when I tell him to. I do all the planning and I book everything. I will run things by him to see if he would be interested in it or not but we have the same interests so if I like it I know that my dad will too.

 

Your grandpa was a lucky guy to live in Key West. I've said many times that I am going to move there someday even if I have to live in a cardboard box on the beach....haha

 

 

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[wrigley80]

Getting very excited to hear and see more of your review! Thank you again for taking the time out to do this for us!:D

 

 

Thank you and you're welcome. I really enjoy putting these photo reviews together. They are a lot of work but it allows me to re-experience my vacation. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of my review

 

 

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[wrigley80]

Your Key West pics are convincing me to listen to my husband about taking a trip there!

 

 

Please listen to your hubby....this may be the one and only time that he is right.....haha. Key West is wonderful. If you don't go let me know and I will take your place....haha

 

 

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[wrigley80]

I think i asked this on your previous review but forgot. Does sunshine scooter rentals pick you up at the peir?

 

 

Yes they will pick you up right at the pier in a minivan with their Sunshine Scooters logo on the side. When you arrive in Key West just call Sunshine Scooters and tell them that you are off the ship. Tell them where you are at and they will be right there to get you.

When we were in Key West the ship arrived at 7:30 am but Sunshine opens at 8:00. I called as soon as the Conch Tour Train dropped us off in town. I called around 7:50 am and it took maybe 5 minutes for them to arrive.

Their shuttle drivers, Tommy Lee and Flipper, are awesome guys.

 

 

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[wrigley80]

I lost my Dad 20 years ago this month...he was only 60. He loved the water so I'm sure he would have loved cruising. You are so blessed.

 

 

Yes I am and I don't take one day for granted with my dad. We don't have a lot of monetary resources but we are going to continue to go while he still can. My dad's vision has deteriorated due to diabetes but we will continue to enjoy cruising as long as we can together.

 

 

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[lovelearnteach]

Thank-you for taking the time to do an account of your vacation, loving it :).

[cruizinisthebest]

Wrigley do you mind if I emailed you? I have alot of questions about a couple of your port stops and don't want to hijack your review. My email address is

dance4me2@livedotcom.

 

Thanks!

Edited January 6, 2014 by cruizinisthebest

[wrigley80]

Thank-you for taking the time to do an account of your vacation, loving it :).

 

 

Thank You so much. Happy to hear that you are enjoying it. It is a fun to re-live the vacation

[wrigley80]

Thank you so so much!

 

 

I'll be waiting for your email.

[paulypride]

This is one of the best reviews I have read.

 

What camera do you have, it takes wonderful pics!!

 

Me and my husband are gonna attempt to do a review like this on our Splendor trip in two weeks!

[dmarie1623]

Enjoying your review very much. I now want to go to Key West. Guess I'll to plan another cruise. :D

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Now remember a few posts back when I said that I had some good pictures of the sunset coming up. As we were pulling out of Miami my dad was ready to go in and start getting ready for dinner but I told him that we needed to stay for a few more minutes because you could see that the sunset was going to be gorgeous. I am so happy that we decided to wait

 

 

 

 

It was just so beautiful.....it was almost like the sky was on fire

 

I have read this entire review up to here as I was also on this sailing and yes, the sunset that evening was absolutely stunning. I sat up on lido getting a pre-dinner snack and drinking hot cocoa :cool:, enjoying the sailaway party and had to go outside to watch it. Just fabulous and glad you got a picture. I think I got one on my digital, before the battery I had in it gave out. If I come across it I will post what it looked like from my vantage point. Even the local Miami tv newscast that was on the cabin satellite feed was mentioning how cool it was.

 

I also remember the floatplane. I wish I got a picture of that but I did get to watch a British Airways 747-400 on approach to Miami around the same time, with the city skyline in the background. That was cool as I am sort of an airplane geek. The coast guard guys seemed to be having fun but I don't remember them ever having the machine gun mounted on the nose of the boat while they escorted ships out of the local waterways like they did that day. Kinda interesting. But the weather was good on sailout day. The night before sucked but I kinda documented that in the trip review I posted a few weeks back and I am sure you also know this.

 

Anyway, we are platinums (my mother and I) and we got onboard at 1200 and dropped our stuff off in the room at 1215. I am not even sure if the cabins were "officially" open yet but our room was ready at that time and we met our steward, Wendell. He was just OK.

 

Did the cc meet and greet ever happen on this cruise? I participated in the roll call and there was talk of it happening but I never made it if there was one.

 

I am loving this review so far and cannot wait to read the rest.

Edited January 6, 2014 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[wrigley80]

This is one of the best reviews I have read.

 

 

 

What camera do you have, it takes wonderful pics!!

 

 

 

Me and my husband are gonna attempt to do a review like this on our Splendor trip in two weeks!

 

 

Thank-you so much. Comments like yours make all the hard work so worth it.

 

I used 2 cameras.

One is a point and shoot Panasonic Lumix camera. I use this camera the most. I just put it in my pocket every morning of the cruise and off we go.

Prior to this vacation I purchased the Nikon L820 digital camera. It has a long zoom. That's the camera that I used with the sunsets. I used that camera a lot as well.