Miami/Imagination July 10 (4 day) Review with pictures

[ratherBcruizin']

I love the review. I am on the Imagination on 7/23. Please keep it coming. We can't wait.

 

I am staying at that hotel pre cruise as well. It is the Hyatt Regency Miami.

 

It's supposed to be close to the port. is it really?

 

Thanks again!

Ahh, thanks! I knew that pool looked familiar!

[ebandive]

I love all the pictures. It's worth the wait. I'm looking forward to see how the imagination has changed since I saw her. Keep them coming! :D

[mom2girls]

When we were hungry again we decided to wander around downtown hoping to find a nice restaurant. We soon realized that most everything was closed at night in downtown Miami. We only went about a block, when I began to get a little nervous. So, we turned around and went back to the hotel. We had dinner at the bar in the hotel. The food was quite good, but a little expensive.

 

Thursday: Embarkation Day

Finally, the day of our cruise had arrived. I used my GPS to get me to the port. However, that was a mistake because it took me to the Sea Aquarium instead. Of course, I was frustrated because I had wanted to arrive at the port as soon as possible. So, as soon as I could I pulled over. I asked the GPS to take me to the Hard Rock Café, since I knew that the port entrance was right next to Bayfront Park. We finally arrived at the port around 11:00. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to get to the parking garage. After parking we went down to catch the shuttle. There was a line of people with no shuttle in sight. I could see where we needed to be, so I told the girls we were going to walk. By the time we walked over, gave our bags to the porter, and walked in the terminal it was about 11:35. We had to wait about 10 minutes to get checked in. I was actually kind of surprised to see that no one had boarded the ship yet. We later found out that the ship had arrived back in Miami late so people were still getting off of the ship at 10:30. So, we got embarkation number 4 and found a seat near the escalator to wait our turn. Around 11:50 they called groups 1-3. I was really excited because I knew we were next. After about 10 minutes I was wondering why no other groups were called. All the previous borders had already had their pictures taken, and were on board. I still don’t know why it took so long to call the next group. But, at 12:20 they called groups 4 and 5. The girls and I were the first in our group to board the ship. We were ecstatic, and ready to begin our adventure.

 

We decided to go see if we could at least drop off our luggage. We went down to the Riviera deck without a problem. But, as we turned to go down the hall we saw that the hall doors were closed. Bummed, we turned to go. But, we saw a passenger exit the hallway. We asked her if she was able to drop off her carry-on luggage. She replied that she did drop off her things, but they were still cleaning the rooms. Well, that was fine with me. So we proceeded down the hall to our room. We quickly dropped off our things. The girls were starving so I told them that we would be getting our lunch next.

 

We all felt like having pizza, so we headed to the back of Horizon to get some pizza. (I also had some salad.) For dessert we had some ice cream. When we were all full we decided to go explore the Lido deck, and go swimming in the empty swimming pool. I snapped some pictures right away, knowing that it would soon be crowded.

 

View of Miami from the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

I really LOVE these palm trees!

 

 

 

[mom2girls]

Here are some more pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a while the girls made some friends in the pool. I ended up meeting furchic (Debby, I believe) from our roll call. We had a wonderful conversation. It was kind of funny to have met someone from the roll call without having an official meeting set up. (I wasn't even wearing my cruise critic lanyard yet.) I wish I could have met up with her again, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. The girls still hadn't seen the wonderworks yet, so that was where we were off to next!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say that Carnival did an awesome job with this area of the ship. It's a great place for both kids and adults to hang out!

[snc421]

Hey Mom!

I am stunned. This review already blows Travel Channel's Sam Brown's recent show right out of the water! I am in love with this ship! The palm trees got me! Well, not just the palm trees, I like the WaterWorks and the way you have presented it. (Good job!) Looking forward to hearing and seeing more!

Thanks Mom!

[mom2girls]

Hey Mom!

I am stunned. This review already blows Travel Channel's Sam Brown's recent show right out of the water! I am in love with this ship! The palm trees got me! Well, not just the palm trees, I like the WaterWorks and the way you have presented it. (Good job!) Looking forward to hearing and seeing more!

Thanks Mom!

 

Carrie: You are so sweet. I was also disappointed in the show on the Inspiration as well. I had expected to get a better view of the upgrades on the ship. But, they didn't do it. I actually have been on the Inspiration twice before the renovations. I love the ship, but I don't know if I would have wanted to sail her after seeing Sam Brown's show. This is another good reason to post my review of the Imagination with pictures so that other's can get a better view of the ship and it's amenities.

[mom2girls]

Embarkation Day continued:

 

After playing in the Water Works area for a while I realized that it was getting close to Muster Drill time. We hadn’t even been down to our room again since dropping off the bags, so we headed toward our room. When we arrived at our room we were pleasantly surprised to see our luggage had arrived. I was very happy with the room even though it was an inside. (I haven’t been in an inside room in 25 years, so I was a little worried.) This room seemed the same size as the Ocean View rooms on the Inspiration and Fantasy. There was plenty of storage and closet space. We didn’t even hang anything up in the second closet. Since they hadn’t made the announcement yet for Muster I proceeded to unpack. We left the room about 5 minutes after the announcement (which was about 20 minutes after the scheduled time). Our muster location was in the Illusions Disco. This was a pleasant surprise since I have only been on two other sailings where Muster was indoors. It was pretty crowded, but we were able to find a seat. People arriving after us had to stand. The Drill began about 5 minutes after we arrived. It was short and for the most part painless. When it was over we went to the Empress deck since I still hadn’t had my S&S card whole punched. (I wanted to put it on my lanyard.) There was a short line, but not as long as we had seen earlier. The people in front of us were complaining because they didn’t have their luggage yet. I was kind of surprised since I often didn’t have my luggage by 4:15 on sailing day.

 

This is a picture of the Serenity Area taken from the same deck as the WaterWorks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Atrium

 

 

Muster Drill

[phabric]

Love your review with the pictures. We will be on the Imagination for the first time in Oct.

 

Did see adults using the waterworks slides or was it only children.

[mom2girls]

Love your review with the pictures. We will be on the Imagination for the first time in Oct.

 

Did see adults using the waterworks slides or was it only children.

 

There were MANY adults sliding down all of the slides. I had actually planned on it, but I didn't do it the first day. After that I didn't want to wait in line.

:( I'll do it the next time I'm on a ship that has it. (I'm pretty sure there will be a next time! :D )

[cruiselover00029]

Just checking back for more. I am loving your review but my 3 tear old loves it more. Guess it's time for his first cruise.

[dreaming-a-way]

thank you for your trip report. This will be my first cruise and it is on this ship! Your girls are beauitful:)

[mom2girls]

Just checking back for more. I am loving your review but my 3 tear old loves it more. Guess it's time for his first cruise.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the review! My youngest was 3 for her first cruise. :) I guess I should let you knw there is a height restriction for the slides. But, he'll be able to play in the sprinklers. You both willhave a blast! :D

[mom2girls]

thank you for your trip report. This will be my first cruise and it is on this ship! Your girls are beauitful:)

 

Thanks! I know that you will enjoy this ship! How long until you sail?

[red1der1]

I am loving your review!! So many pictures which are great and you haven't even set sail yet!! I am sailing on her in Oct and you are making me so excited!!! :D Can't wait to see the rest!!!

[firstmickey]

Great report so far. Can't wait to hear more!

 

Loving all the pics too! :D

[dreaming-a-way]

Thanks! I know that you will enjoy this ship! How long until you sail?

 

I sail on October 17

[mikil321]

Thanks! I know that you will enjoy this ship! How long until you sail?

Mom2Girls! Thanks sooo much for such a wonderfully insiteful review WOW! This by far is the best one I ve seen on the new and improved Imagination. I myself with 23 other friends and family set sail on her on August 25th this year. Can t wait!!!!! I greatly appreciate you taking the time to making a great review Much thanks again Mikil and family

[mom2girls]

I sail on October 17

 

I sailed during that week a few years ago on the Fantasy. We had wonderful weather. I'm jealous as I probably won't be going on another cruise until Spring Break at the earliest.

 

Mom2Girls! Thanks sooo much for such a wonderfully insiteful review WOW! This by far is the best one I ve seen on the new and improved Imagination. I myself with 23 other friends and family set sail on her on August 25th this year. Can t wait!!!!! I greatly appreciate you taking the time to making a great review Much thanks again Mikil and family

 

Wow, 23 friends on the same ship! You're going to have an awesome time!

[mom2girls]

Embarkation Day Sail Away:

 

After our visit to the Purser’s desk we headed back to our room to drop off our life vests. We then went back up to the Lido deck to watch the sail away. I have to say that I really hate driving in Miami, but the view from a ship as it sails away out of Miami is spectacular!

 

 

NCL Sky

 

NCL Sky

 

 

The Pilot Boat

 

 

Miami's famous South Beach

[mom2girls]

Here's another picture of South Beach.

 

 

 

Soon we realized that we needed to get ready for dinner. (Unfortunately, we had the 6:00 seating. We had requested the 8:00 seating, but I’m assuming that since we were scheduled to be in Cozumel until 10:00 on Saturday many people requested the late seating.) We quickly got ready. Since we ready a few minutes early I decided to have some Sushi before dinner. I’m not a Sushi guru, so I probably can’t rate the sushi, but I thought it was quite good. And, of course the girls enjoyed playing with the chopsticks. I also had my first DOD during this time. (Can you believe I had been on the ship 6 hours before I had a DOD?)

 

Waiting for dinner. You will probably notice that Megan seems to always have this hat on.:)

 

The coffee bar.

[mom2girls]

We went to dinner, and saw that we were seated at a table for 10. I was surprised since all of our past Fantasy class ship sailings (with just the 3 of us) had been at tables for 6. We were the first to arrive. Our tablemates arrived a little late. They were a very nice family who had 3 kids. Emily really enjoyed talking with their little girl. Another bad thing about dinner being at 6:00 is that it’s difficult to get to some of the kid activities. The Camp Carnival talk was scheduled at 7:30. We didn’t finish until 8:00. Fortunately, we were very near to the lounge that was having the talk. We arrived late, but were told it was still ok to fill out the registration forms. We were then told that there was a welcome dance for parents and children at 8:30. So, we went up to the Lido to watch the sunset before we went to the dance. So, the one good thing about early dinner is that we did get to see the sunset. We snapped a few pictures, and were off again to the Illusions Disco.

 

This was taken on the way to the Lido deck to watch the sunset.

 

 

The party was fabulous. The counselors did a wonderful job getting everyone involved. We did a couple of dances with balloons. After the balloons there was a competition. The parents got to dance to the Twist, and the kids got to dance to “Who Let the Dogs Out”. Of course, Funship Freddy was there as well. I honestly have to say I had a wonderful time. I was dancing mainly to get my oldest daughter to participate since she is so shy, but it was definitely fun! And, lo and behold I won a medal for being the best “mom” dancer! Yep, that meant I was on the televisions from that day on. So, we always seemed to get a lot of attention.

 

 

 

 

 

After the dance we went up to the Lido deck to get some drinks because obviously we were very thirsty. They were going to be having an ice cream sundae social, but we were all still pretty full from dinner. So, we decided to go back to the room and crash.

 

Next up Key West!

[mom2girls]

Day 2 Friday, Key West

 

We woke up around 7:15. We were excited to see Key West. This was my 3rd time to the Keys, but it was the girls first time. We ate at the buffet this morning. The girls had French toast, bacon, hard boiled eggs, and fruit. They didn’t eat it all, but they had some of everything. I had an omelette and grits. After breakfast we hurriedly found the floor for debarkation. It was surprising that it was not on the 7th floor like it was yesterday, but on the 3rd floor. (I am happy to say that there was no tendering on this cruise.) We were docked at the Naval Base, so we had to take a bus to Mallory Square. There was an option to be let out at the beach if we were interested, but we had already booked our trolley tickets online. Megan is going into the 4th grade this year, so I knew that she would be getting some Florida history on this tour, which will certainly help her in the coming year. I actually learned a little bit myself which surprised me since I have been teaching 4th grade for about 13 years.

 

We were let off at Mallory Square. We wandered around until we got to the visitor center which was where I needed to get the tickets for the Old Town Trolley Tour. The first trolley left at 9:00, and I wanted to be on it since the next one wasn’t until 9:30. We really enjoyed the trolley ride, but I found it difficult to take pictures while we were moving. I didn’t want to get off at every stop since there wouldn’t be another trolley for 30 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was kind of neat seeing roosters walking around. We went to use the restroom. While we were in there one cockle-doodle-dooed which seemed to scare the girls to death. It was kind of funny.

 

 

 

Man made of sponges.

[Honeybear1974]

great review, cannot wait to read more.

[SpideyHulk24]

I will be on the ship this thursday and I can't wait. I am so excited. Please keep posting the review!

[mom2girls]

Key West continued:

 

We did get off at the Southern Most point stop. I have pictures at the Northern Most point in the Continental US, so I wanted the Southern Most point as well. We also shopped some at this stop. The entire tour held a great deal of history. I can’t remember everything that was said, but it was interesting. I learned that Key West is the 2nd oldest city in the United States. I knew that St. Augustine was the oldest, but I hadn’t realized Key West was the 2nd oldest. I also learned that Key West closes their schools and announces a snow day anytime the temperature gets below 48 degrees. I found this to be very interesting. Apparently, the last time this happened was 3 years ago.

 

I had to make this picture darker because the sunlight hit it wrong.