Imagination 6/17 - 2/21, 2004 Review Part One of Two

[cantwait2cruise]

Imagination Review

Four Day 6/17 - 6/21, 2004

From Miami

 

Background

 

When my husband and I returned from our Honeymoon with stars in our eyes back in 2003 we thought it would be a great idea to plan a family cruise. Originally it was going to be his family and my family, but it got too complicated to try to coordinate schedules and we decided just to make it his family. The planning process was still difficult...we wanted to go in a less expensive time of the year but several members of his family wanted to go in June. We also did not want to go out of Miami so that we could possibly drive but we lost out on that also. So we sucked it up and spent about $700 pp between the cruise, flight and transfers knowing that we might never be able to pull this off again or it wouldn't be for a long time down the road. So the cruise consisted of myself, my husband, his best friend, his parents, his two brother and their wives, her sister and her husband and six of our nephews ranging from two to fifteen years old. Yes, I know I am a cool wife to let my husband's best friend go (and stay in our cabin) and travel with ALL my in-laws!

 

Travel to Florida

 

We flew USAir from Charlotte. Got delayed about 30 minutes. Arrived at Ft. Lauderdale about 1:00 (It was about $80 cheaper pp to fly to FLL). We spotted a Carnival rep by the baggage claim and signed up for the transfer to the pier. Waited for our baggage. Didn't have to wait too long for the bus to fill. The ride to Miami was pretty quick, about 35 minutes.

 

Embarkation

 

Got off the bus, the porters were right by the bus to take our luggage. They made us make sure we saw all our bags before they put them on the cargo carriers. We had to wait in line about 30 minutes. The terminal is definitely not as nice as Tampa or Pt. Canaveral. I guess it's just older. We got on the ship and found our room...Empress 172. This was an Aft oceanview room. The location was very convenient. We were close to the stairs that took you one level up to the entrance of the Spirit dining room. The only thing was that there was a crew door right across from ours. I am a light sleeper so every morning about 6 or 7, I was awakened by big carts and big bins full of towels being rolled out that door (there was some kind of metal along the floor in the doorway). It was so loud, it sounded like they were in our cabin. And after being awakened by my husband and his friend coming in the room once the casino closed, and then awakened early in the morning it didn't make for a good night's rest.

 

The Ship

 

The ship was fine...just as I expected. We were familiar with the layout b/c of being on the Inspiration. There are definitely signs of wear and tear but I don't go around looking for that kind of thing so it doesn't bother me. I think the atrium area was a little different on Inspiration. There were several more shops on Inspiration than there were on Imagination.

 

The Crew

 

Our steward, Benny, did a pretty good job. He was nice and friendly. I did notice that he didn't take our glasses that we used and bring us new ones, so we never really had clean glasses. He also didn't bring us new pool towels after we used them the day in Cozumel, but we just got them out by the pool. Our dining room staff was Alberto (Albi) and Jurgita. They were both very nice. Albi did a good job. I wasn't as impressed with Jurgita. I had to ask for a tea every night and she was sometimes slow about refills. We had really really excellent waiters on Inspiration so I guess I was a little disappointed. But they both did good to deal with our two big tables full of our family.

 

I, along with several of my family members, experienced rude encounters with other crew members. A lot of the crew seemed just downright grumpy. The Bar service lady who came around at dinner had a sour-puss look on her face every night. My husband told her he wanted a “coke and smile.” She grumbled some and then finally admitted that she had 21 days left on the ship. On formal night, the photographers were going around taking pictures at the dining room tables. One photographer asked my brother-in-law (who was in the middle of eating) to move to the other side of the table for the picture. He was a little slow and grumbly and apparently she said to him very rudely "TODAY!" I didn't hear it but was astounded when he said something after she left. She did come back around and muster up an apology and mentioned something about "other duties." That still doesn't give you the right to speak to passengers that way. Also, at lunch one day, I asked one of the ladies who was cleaning the table where we were going to sit in the Lido Deck buffet for some placesettings. She told me she was busy and pointed across the tables to where they were located for me to get them myself. Hmmm...

 

Overall I was pleased b/c the crew we had to deal with everyday (steward, waiters) were nice but a lot of the rest of the crew seemed to have bad attitudes.

 

Food

 

We had the 8:00 seating in the Spirit dining room. The food was pretty good. I had filet the first night and prime rib the second night. I don't really like seafood but had a bite of the lobster and it tasted good. My husband liked it so much, he ordered two. I had a hard time finding an entree the third night and the fourth night I had some not so good fettuccine alfredo. The Lido deck buffet was o.k. The gala buffet was pretty neat to look at but there wasn't much I really wanted to eat. The food was much better on Inspiration and I think the food my mom and I had on our four night Sovereign of the Seas was much better than this cruise.

 

Entertainment

 

I hit all the shows with my mom on our cruise, but hubby likes to spend most of his time in the casino. We went to the welcome aboard show the first night. There was a comedian. I had to use the bathroom and he wasn't very funny so we got up and left. We didn't go to the show formal night. I think it was called Shout...our family went and said it was really good. The show the third night was one of the ones you have to go to before the late dinner so none of us went. And the fourth night my father-in-law actually sang in the talent show. He likes to karoke and has never really performed in that kind of setting so I give him credit for having the guts to get up and perform like that. The first two women were "professionals"...well not really but one was a music teacher and one was a choir director who has sang in opera companies. He held his own and was so proud of his "solid gold plastic trophy."

 

Hubby spent most of his time entertaining himself in the casino. And let me tell you it was expensive entertainment! I preferred laying out by the pool listening to the band.

 

See part two...

[tmswayne]

thnks for posting this review i am loving it...we go Oct with our 2 kids i hope in part two u hit on the kids club...i really appreciate u takin the time to post!

[cantwait2cruise]

thnks for posting this review i am loving it...we go Oct with our 2 kids i hope in part two u hit on the kids club...i really appreciate u takin the time to post!

 

 

You're welcome...I hope you have a wonderful cruise!!!

[cantwait2cruise]

I'm bumping this so it will be with part two... ;)

[cantwait2cruise]

ditto