Where are all the Imagination Cruisers?

[bragstarr]

Come on, guys! Hasn't been a review or pictures for a while. A whole bunch of us leave in one month, anxiously awaiting any tidbits or photos. Help a poor gal out, huh?:o

[Squirt311]

I was on the last sailing before she went into drydock, so anything I would have to say would probably not be useful. We had a ball though! Food was great, itinerary rocked, and the crew was amazing.

[robistar]

Well, maybe I can help! My husband and I got back yesterday from our Imagination cruise. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try and answer them!

 

This was our first cruise and we loved it! We booked Carnival because we wanted to be away for Christmas and we've always wanted to go to Cayman and Jamaica. Embarkation was an absolute breeze and we were on the ship by 12:30. We couldn't get into our room until 1:30 since it was being cleaned but that was fine. We explored the ship and had lunch! Our luggage arrived by 3:00 but we had what we needed in carry on so it wasn't a big deal. We did use the zip ties to lock our luggage so I felt safe with that on.

 

The Imagination reminded me a lot of Vegas-bright lights everywhere. Some of the cruisers we met thought it was "sleazy" and "gaudy". I guess it is what you make of it! We loved it. We're late twenties/early thirties though and most of the complainers were older couples who have cruised with "more sophisticated lines".

 

We stayed in an interior room since it was our first cruise and we had nothing to compare it to. It was fine; although we will go for a window/balcony next cruise. There were many times when I would have liked to sit in the room (i.e.) early in the morning or late at night and just looked out at the water! One thing that we really liked was that the TV always displayed a view of the front of the ship (during the day), Lido deck and some of the talks/shows. My favorite was the front of the ship cam. When we arrived at Cayman at 7:00 am, we flicked on the TV for our first glimpse of land! It was cool. The room was much bigger than I had expected as well. I thought that for 2 people there was more than enough room and lots of space for clothes/bags. I just put our luggage under the bed so we had tons of space.

 

The food was probably the lowlight of the trip. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. We ate in the dining room for 4 of the 5 nights. The buffet wasn't great for dinner (not a lot of choices) so we only tried that the first night. We were a little apprehensive about sitting in the dining room since I am allergic to fish (and picky!) and I wasn't sure that there would be a lot of choices. I was wrong there. There were tons of choices. It's just the food wasn't super. 3/5 on average. The worst night was a very, very dry steak. Although later my husband and I figured it was probably just a bad cut. But the chocolate melting cake was truly as divine as other posters have said. We really enjoyed our table companions as well. We were the youngest couple but by the end of the cruise all of us were taking pictures of each other and sharing contact information! That was an unexpected treat. Our wait staff as well wasn't great. They did their job but didn't seem to like it too much. By the last night our food wasn't even arriving at the same time anymore. However, the table beside us had an amazing female waiter that serenaded them every night so we got unlucky. Gabriel was the maitre'd and well, he didn't do much for us. We saw him chatting it up and dancing with other passengers, but barely even ever said "hello" to our table. Not a big deal, but something to note.

 

The Lido buffet staff on the other hand were outstanding! Always smiling, friendly and efficient! In fact, other than our waiters, the employees on Imagination were amazing. It didn't matter who we encountered, we were always greeted with a smile! I really appreciated that. And our cabin steward was wonderful as well. We got the fancy towel animals every night with chocolates (like everyone says) so I expected that. I didn't expect that the cabin would always be spotless! That was fantastic.

 

We did shows on most nights and were a little disappointed. I guess I expected that cruise ships would have higher quality. (I'm not sure why I thought that!) The Carnival Dancers were awful. Out of time and they always looked like they were concentrating on not forgetting the dance. Now I should add that I am a dance teacher so I probably am a tougher critic of dancers than the general audience! There were 2 comedians. The first was Roman Murray and I hated his act. If you are a fan of "bathroom humor" then don't miss him! Me, I can't stand it. We actually walked out when he started to describe in great detail how it feels to...well, I think you get the picture. The second Hank McGauley was much funnier. We went to both his shows and really enjoyed them. And Jorge the cruise director was a blast. He does his job very well! Very funny and personable!

 

My husband really enjoyed the mini-golf (he’s a golfer so he was seriously practicing his putting.) I used the walking track so that was nice. We took a couples massage on our last day at sea and they added for “free” a scalp massage and body rub. While it was pricey, it was no more so than any nice spa anywhere. The staff were wonderful and it was well worth the price. The products they use are really nice as well and very reasonably priced in my opinion. We sat in the Library one day when we wanted the quiet and it was a great, relaxing atmosphere filled with fellow readers! We aren’t the late night party animals so we didn’t do the bars/lounges but did listen to musicians who would play on Lido deck. We also saved our money and skipped the casino! The Internet café was extremely slow so I wouldn’t do that again. It was $24 for 60 minutes but took 4 minutes to log onto my gmail account. (Seriously, we timed it!). With shore phones costing $9.99 a minute for international calls we decided to just use the payphones in Cayman/Jamaica to call home! There were always places to hang out on the ship. We could always find a quiet spot if we wanted or a spot in the sun if we wanted that! While there were a lot of people, the ship is big enough that it didn’t feel crowded for the most part. The longest line we encountered was the wait for the waterslide! And yes, there are photographers everywhere! But we really liked that. It became a bit of a ritual to go look for our pictures before dinner. Since there are just the two of us, we liked to have pictures that weren’t done with my husband holding the camera in front of us! Though they are a bit pricey ($21.99 for a 8x10) I think it is worth the money for the memories!

 

Shore excursions we did with the ship. Although I know you can do it cheaper on your own, we weren’t sure what to expect. I liked the convenience of going through Carnival. In Cayman we did the seaworld submarine explorer trip. Since we are not snorkelers or scuba divers, we thought it was a neat way to see the 2 shipwrecks and underwater life. It was a sold out excursion and everyone really liked it. Then we rented a moped for the rest of the day. This is strongly discouraged by Carnival and for good reason! But my husband and I live in Bermuda so we have our own bike at home and a bike license. It was perfect for us, but if you aren’t regular riders I wouldn’t recommend it! The traffic in Cayman was way busier than I expected. Again, since we live in Bermuda, we didn’t have a huge desire to go to the beach so we went to Hell instead. We loved it. It was really cool to see and since we had our own transportation we could stay as long as we wanted. We then drove around the north exploring before heading back to Georgetown for some shopping. Carnival made it very clear when we had to be back on board (and when to catch the last tender) so there were no problems.

 

Our excursion in Jamaica was cancelled the night before sadly due to lack of participants. (We were supposed to sail to the Falls and then go to a private beach). However, it was very easy to rebook and the lady at the Information desk was very patient and helpful. We ended up going to Shaw Park Beach and then the Falls. Jamaica wasn’t as nice as Cayman and wasn’t as well organized. In fact there was chaos as we all left the boat and tried to find our excursions. (This isn’t Carnival though but rather the independent operators.) Our guide Joy, didn’t seem to know our tour very well either. That was a bit of a turn off to have to be explaining to her how much time we had at the beach! The “private beach” wasn’t all that special and there was actually a nude beach right across the river. The Dunn’s River Falls were amazing though! She made us rent water shoes but I did feel safer with them. The only problem with the Falls was that we were MADE to leave through the “peddlers exit”. This meant that an “official” looking man was calling us over with “this way to the exit.” Upon meeting him, he slipped on the necklaces and started calling me “pretty lady” and telling us to come see his stuff. It was very uncomfortable! We ended up buying a magnet for $5 (plus those free necklaces) and then he started carving our names in these little mini totem poles. BEWARE, this is a common stunt! If they ask your name, don’t tell them!!!! Anyway, since we had already paid for the magnet and told him we didn’t have any more money, we refused to pay for the totem poles. “Come on Mon, I know you have more money in that case.” My husband actually had to show him the case to prove it was empty. At that point, we handed him the necklaces and magnet and asked for our money back. He decided he wanted the $5 so he let us go. We practically ran out of there as there were several people calling us to look at their stuff! Although we got off easy. A family in our group ended up with 4 carved totem poles (he was asking $30 for 2). Note, if you go to the Falls, make the security guards let you out through the entrance. They will do this if you are firm with them and then you bypass the peddlers. That was one thing I wish we had known prior to the trip.

 

The ship was nicely decorated for Christmas and had Christmas music throughout the cruise. I think being billed as a “Fun Ship” is a perfect way to describe a Carnival Cruise! No vacation is ever going to be perfect so that is why I included the negatives. However, the positives far outweighed the negatives. I would sail Carnival again in a heartbeat if I liked the itinerary.

 

Hope that helps! I think you’ll have a wonderful time!

[bragstarr]

Thank you so much for that very comprehensive review. First of all, I must ask about your screen name, Robistar. Believe it or not, my name is Robin Starr! I just found that unique that you were the person to answer me.

 

We are doing the Eastern Caribbean five day so your ports don't apply to us, although I will add I loved Dunns River Falls, also, aside from the vendor "attack" on the way out. Still remains one of the most fun things I did, ever.

 

I am sorry to hear your report about the food. Unfortunately, seem to be hearing a lot of this. My other five cruises, on other lines, it's been good to great for the most part. I'll just have to eat chocolate melting cake for dinner each night!

 

Did you go to Karaoke at all? A lot of the people on our roll call are doing it, and I seem to be the only one with late seating (which I've done every cruise; just works better for us). Which seating did you do? If it was the late one, did you find between eating dinner, the late main show and the late night comedy, there was just too much going on? My husband loves to watch Karaoke, but heaven forbid he miss a show.

 

Might I also suggest you cut and paste your review and put it in the review section?

 

Before I end, look at my signature and see where my last cruise was to. If I lived where you do, I would be in heaven--or at least give me a nice house to use when I want! We honeymooned at what was then the Southampton Princess in '79, and finally made it back via cruise ship last year. Great way for us to go, because it left out of NYC (40 min from my house) and then ported in Bermuda for 3 1/2 days, which gave us a very inexpensive hotel room! I absolutely love your island. The people are marvelous. We walked in St. George and went to the Perfumerie, went to Horseshoe Beach, which is the one of the most gorgeous beaches in the world, and then to the Museum and Fort (I forget the name) at the Naval Dockyard, which was great fun. Ate at the Frog & Onion Pub there, and also did the obligatory shopping in Hamilton!

 

Thanks again for your review....

[BEAN4870]

We also just came home yesterday.....this was our 5th or 6th cruise with Carnival. We love Carnival best. We have done Disney and NCL and they were good but Carnival is our favorite! We also had positives and negatives. but the positives definetly out way the negatives. If you have any questions feel free to email me back@ bean4870@aol.com

[LHP]

We also just came home yesterday.....this was our 5th or 6th cruise with Carnival. We love Carnival best. We have done Disney and NCL and they were good but Carnival is our favorite! We also had positives and negatives. but the positives definetly out way the negatives. If you have any questions feel free to email me back@ bean4870@aol.com

 

Did anyone do karaoke? I heard a "rumor" (from Noonan) that it is a new digital system!!! (He would have been the ACD for your cruise, but his wife had surgery and he is off until yesterday.)

[robistar]

Bragstarr-you have a beautiful name! Wish it was mine. Actually my first name is Robin as well so that is the robi part. I'm also an Arts teacher so I tend to call all of my students (and well actually anyone I'm impressed with) a star! So hence, robistar!

 

And regarding the food, it is what you make of it. I have been to Cuba on an all-inclusive where my husband got sick every night from the food. So in comparison Carnival was gourmet. Even though the food wasn't spectacular I didn't have to cook for 5 days!

 

We went to the Karaoke Legends show the last night and had an absolute blast. (Our whole table went together and sat together which was fun). We had the 8:00 seating and it was perfect. I liked to be able to have down time after visiting the ports before dinner. Then after dinner it was late enough to go and do all the shows or just walk around and enjoy the atmosphere! Some people we met had the early seating (they had kids) and they said that they found it harder. By the time they ate they were ready for the adult shows but had to wait for a couple hours. As a result they said they mostly got bored and went to bed early. We ourselves didn't do Karaoke so I'm not sure about the digital system or not.

 

Yep, Bermuda is beautiful. I realize that so much more after being in other Caribbean islands; Bermuda really is another world. My husband and I are Canadians though and we have been living here for the last 3 years. We tell friends and family that when we leave here and people want to see the island a cruise is the way to do it. It is far too expensive to stay in a hotel and fly. Plus the service and standards are well below what the charge is! With a cruise, you can do all the main highlights at a fraction of the cost!

[daynab]

Great review, thanks for the info. We sail on Feb7th. Haven't been on a cruise in 3 years. We got this one to surprise the kids for Christmas. Today we will start our countdown calendar. They are excited to see the new waterworks. We there a lot of kids on your sailing?

 

What type of room did you stay in? This year we are in a suite for the first time. More room for our family of 4.

Can't wait to escape the cold.

Thanks again,

Dayna