Carnival Imagination Pics 3/16-3/20/14

[la2kw]

Just got off our third Carnival cruise. If you've seen my Breeze pics, you may remember my opinion of Carnival's design choices. Let's just say the Breeze (and now Sunshine) are exceptions to a long parade of bad choices in the design of Carnival interiors. :)

With that said, we had a great cruise, as we have had on all of our Carnival cruises. There were a few missteps on this cruise, but nothing that would stop me from choosing Carnival again. We are not brand loyal and want to try some other lines for a while. The only thing we didn't like was the decor of the ship, but we already knew what we were getting into in that department, lol.

 

I honestly would have loved to have witnessed the meeting where the guy in charge looked at these beauties:

 

 

and this black deathstar/disco ball:

 

 

and this LED lighting pretending to be red and blue neon:

 

 

and all this turqoise neon in a restaurant:

 

 

and said, "Let's do it!" :eek: ha ha. Seriously, we felt as if we had been sent back in time to a bad Vegas casino. So many clashing colors, so much black faux marble, so many golden sphinx-gryphon-tit-monsters! My head hurts just looking at these pics again.

[la2kw]

Okay, let's start back at the beginning. We booked this cruise about two weeks ahead of sailing. We had no intention of going on a cruise this month, let alone a Carnival one to Catalina and Ensenada. We live in LA, have lived in LA all our lives and have been to Catalina twice now. I have been to Ensenada before, we visited a lot when I was growing up. Hadn't been in about 20 years, though. It was a bit comical leaving Long Beach at 5:30 pm and arriving at Catalina the next morning. We could have stayed docked in Long Beach until 7am and still made it to Catalina on time! In some ways, it felt like we never left SoCal the entire cruise.

 

So even though we hadn't planned on this trip, Carnival sent us an email with a VIFP deal of $159 each for an inside cabin. We are both teachers and we are on spring break so the timing was good. The price was also good, so I booked it. I was hesitant about the ship due to the size and what I have seen of the Fantasy class of ships. I won't sail on that class of ship again. I missed my balcony, the pool movie screen, the larger size of things, etc. This ship was just too small for my tastes and didn't seem to have as much outdoor space as I prefer. It also just seemed so old and outdated. It was in great shape otherwise! After booking, we were offered an upgrade to an ocean view cabin for $20 each and so we took it. So now, we were paying $179 each plus taxes. Not bad for four days of lodging and food.

 

So school ended on Friday and we spent all day Saturday getting ready and packing. We left our house (about 80 miles from Long Beach) at 8 am and got to the port around 9:15. We didn't intend to arrive that early, but if you know anything about LA traffic, it can take you anywhere from 60 minutes to three hours to drive that distance. We had zero traffic and got there way too early. We decided to just park and hang out. If you haven't been to the port at Long Beach, it is pretty much all outside. The weather is usually great in LA, so that's not too much of a problem. Here's some pics of the terminal area.

 

Outside check in area. There is also an inside check in area I never saw used. No pictures allowed inside the dome.

 

 

Waiting area with high class concrete benches to sit on.

 

 

Another view from the little park across the road.

 

 

View from the check in area, a famous neighbor and an oddly placed village.

 

 

[la2kw]

We checked in, walked back to the parking garage to drop off our luggage, and walked over to the little park so soak up some sun and do stuff on our iPads.

 

There she is! Isn't she....tiny?

 

 

 

After about two hours, they called Priority boarding. We had FTTF, so we lined up and walked into the dome where security screened us, photogs took our pictures, and we headed upstairs and crossed the bridge to the ship. Always the best part!

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Almost there. That's one long bridge!

 

 

Finally on board, we headed straight to our room to drop off soda, water, wine, and carry-ons. I love FTTF!

 

 

 

 

Our $40 window. Worth every penny!

 

 

[la2kw]

 

The high-quality decor continues in the staterooms with this beautiful art work.:cool:

 

 

 

Notice the lack of counter space?

 

 

I found this room too small for just the two of us. I could not imagine having more than two people in this room, kids or adults. I missed the sofa. I missed the balcony. Neither of us were impressed with the room, but we were fine with it considering the price and length of this cruise.

[2 cruzen]

Thanks for all the pictures..never been on this class of ship so my curiosity is being fulfilled. Thank you.

[la2kw]

After dropping our things off, we walked around the ship and headed to lunch at the buffet.

 

The Centrum:

 

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

On one of the decks.

 

 

 

Pool deck. No big screen.

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

 

 

Horizons Cafe

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Outdoor seating at Horizons.

 

 

 

 

Looking down at Serenity.

 

 

[la2kw]

Xanadu Lounge is located below Horizons Cafe and adjacent to Serenity.

 

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Pinnacle Lounge outside Xanadu Lounge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Promenade

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee bar.

 

 

[la2kw]

Another club.

 

 

 

 

 

Dream Bar

 

 

[la2kw]

Casino. We didn't spend much time here since we go to Vegas a few times a year being about 3.5 hours away. They did have one of my favorite slots here so I played it occasionally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Pride dining room.

 

 

 

We had anytime dining and this is where we ate only one meal the first night on board. The service was so slow. It took 40 minutes to get any food at our table. I have food allergies and they seemed to struggle with what to do with me. Usually they bring me gluten free bread right away when they bring the bread basket. Nothing was brought for me when they brought the bread basket and the servers were no where to be seen for lengths of time. Finally after 40 minutes I got a salad with dressing I didn't ask for. Then I got a shrimp cocktail, or at least that's what it was supposed to be. I have never had mushy shrimp before, it was disgusting. Finally about 90 minutes after sitting down, we got our entrees. They were fine. On the Breeze and the Liberty they were so great dealing with me and my allergies. I didn't have a lot of confidence in this dining room team, and was concerned that they would not be able to keep my food safe. So that and the fact that I don't like spending 3 hours at dinner made us decide to just have the other three dinners at the buffet. I was able to get salad, fruit, baked potatoes, rice, and a carved meat each night for dinner which suited me fine and was safe for my allergies. There may have been some cross contamination, but I didn't have any issues. Now cruise food really isn't that great anyway, but when you add really slow service and poor quality on top of that it can be a bit frustrating. The buffet worked out much better for us this trip. If it had been a longer cruise I would have worked harder to fix the dining room issue. We were planning on eating meals in Catalina and Ensenada and knew that we wouldn't be that hungry at dinner anyway.

 

Another issue was the length of time it took to serve dinner. See the line in this pic? That was every night. It stretched from the dining room entrance back to the elevators every night.

 

 

I don't know if this is a problem just on this ship or what. But they need to do something about it. Perhaps speed up service. It's not like that food is being cooked to order, it shouldn't take so long. Perhaps take fewer ATD slots. I don't know, but there's a problem there that I haven't seen on the other two Carnival ships I've been on. I also noticed the buffet got busier and busier each night as the cruise progressed. Perhaps that's the whole point to push diners to the cheaper option? I heard lots of complaints about the dining room as well. I know Carnival can do better that that.

[la2kw]

Piano Bar. Strange yellow and purple beach ball theme and oddly placed in the Centrum.

 

 

 

It was nice to get so much sunshine in the Centrum.

 

 

[la2kw]

Good size gym. We spent a lot of time here and I also used the running track.

 

Men's locker room area.

 

 

 

Hall towards restroom, showers, steam, sauna, and gym.

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

 

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

Classroom. They offered spin and yoga classes among other things.

 

 

 

Sauna.

 

 

Steam

 

 

These are all from the men's side. I have no idea what the women's side looks like, but I assume the same. Both locker rooms exit to the main exercise room.

[la2kw]

Elevator lobby. We never used any of the elevators and just used the stairs. Good way to burn off extra calories.

 

 

This is the mini gold and track. 11 laps equals one mile. I run 5 miles, so that's 55 laps. I got dizzy going round and round so many times, lol. A longer track would have been nice, but I hate running on treadmills, so this was at least better than a treadmill.

 

 

 

 

The track loops around the mini golf and the skylight.

 

[la2kw]

 

 

Now a word about the track. I was usually up there around 6:30-7 am and we were pulling into port around that time. There's also an observation area at the front of the ship. To get there, you need to walk on the track a bit. No problem if you are aware of your surroundings and the fact that there are people using the track for it's intended purpose, to run or walk for fitness. If you see people running towards you, it's polite to move to the side of the track, or even onto the walking area next to the track. Its not polite to stand in the middle of the track taking pictures while people are running towards you. It's also not polite to stand with your group stretching across the length of the track so that no one can get by you. I'm 6'3" and 210 pounds. I'm not invisible. Don't pretend that you don't see me and don't try to play chicken with me, lol. Most people were very respectful and aware, but there were a few that were just jerks and clueless. :confused:

[la2kw]

The Destiny Lounge was the main theater. I was impressed with the size and openness of the place. For a small ship, it was rather nice. The talent on this ship was very good. I was impressed with the quality of singing and dancing, and I do not like shows very much at all, but I am a music fan.

 

 

 

 

[la2kw]

A few more shots of the cruise terminal in Long Beach from up on deck.

 

 

 

 

That long bridge from the terminal dome to the ship.

 

 

So after lunch, we went to our room and unpacked. Then went to the gym to work out, since we left so early from home and hadn't had a chance to yet.

 

We noticed that there was no huge morning crush to get on this ship. All of our other cruises had been a madhouse getting on with huge crowds. On this cruise, people just trickled on slowly and continuously throughout the morning and up until last boarding call. It was quite interesting to see the difference between this and our Florida cruises.

 

Finally, it was time for muster and then sail away. It was the most low key sail-away I have ever been on. Calm and relaxing way to start the trip. We stayed on deck for sail away and then headed down to get ready for dinner. As mentioned before, it was our only dinner in the dining room.

 

As it got dark, the Centrum took on a whole new faux-neon glow! :eek: