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

[mom2girls]

Hey Mom...

 

:D LOVED Cozumel! You know I too am obsessed with the place... Thanks again for sharing your awesome pics!

 

BTW: Do you know what the term Sancho means? :eek: Heehee! :cool:

No, I have no idea what the term means. Is it bad?

 

P.S. I especially love the pic of Emily sitting in the chair in the water. I also love how you captured the clarity of the waters at Sancho's... Thank you for that!

 

I love that picture too. The water was sooo pretty, I couldn't resist taking the picture.

 

Maybe we will see you there. It will be me, DH, my mom, my 2 girls! Is there a roll call??

 

I'm getting so excited based on Mom2Girls review! The water slide looks scary though! It looks like it almost goes right over the edge of the ship!!!

 

Maggie

 

None of the slides go anywhere near the edge of the ship. Both girls really enjoyed the twister slide a lot!

[mom2girls]

Hey Mom...

 

:D LOVED Cozumel! You know I too am obsessed with the place... Thanks again for sharing your awesome pics!

 

BTW: Do you know what the term Sancho means? :eek: Heehee! :cool:

No, I have no idea what the term means. Is it bad?

 

P.S. I especially love the pic of Emily sitting in the chair in the water. I also love how you captured the clarity of the waters at Sancho's... Thank you for that!

 

I love that picture too. The water was sooo pretty, I couldn't resist taking the picture.

 

Maybe we will see you there. It will be me, DH, my mom, my 2 girls! Is there a roll call??

 

I'm getting so excited based on Mom2Girls review! The water slide looks scary though! It looks like it almost goes right over the edge of the ship!!!

 

Maggie

 

None of the slides go anywhere near the edge of the ship. Both girls really enjoyed the twister slide a lot!

[mom2girls]

Hey Mom...

 

:D LOVED Cozumel! You know I too am obsessed with the place... Thanks again for sharing your awesome pics!

 

BTW: Do you know what the term Sancho means? :eek: Heehee! :cool:

No, I have no idea what the term means. Is it bad?

 

P.S. I especially love the pic of Emily sitting in the chair in the water. I also love how you captured the clarity of the waters at Sancho's... Thank you for that!

 

I love that picture too. The water was sooo pretty, I couldn't resist taking the picture.

 

Maybe we will see you there. It will be me, DH, my mom, my 2 girls! Is there a roll call??

 

I'm getting so excited based on Mom2Girls review! The water slide looks scary though! It looks like it almost goes right over the edge of the ship!!!

 

Maggie

 

None of the slides go anywhere near the edge of the ship. Both girls really enjoyed the twister slide a lot!

[honeymooners10]

This is the best review ever! Thank you so much for taking the time to post the pictures.. it makes you really feel like you are there!

 

We fly out 2 weeks today.. spending 2 nights in South Beach and then boarding the Imagination for the 4 night cruise.. I am so excited, counting down the days:p

[rebeljohn]

Very nice review and pics............Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us.............

[cookc61462]

WE fly out sunday for Miami and cruise on Monday!! I can not WAIT!!! thanks for the review. Looks like you had a great time.

[Tee Tee]

Maybe we will see you there. It will be me, DH, my mom, my 2 girls! Is there a roll call??

 

I'm getting so excited based on Mom2Girls review! The water slide looks scary though! It looks like it almost goes right over the edge of the ship!!!

 

Maggie

 

Yes there is a roll call.... but I am the only one on it.

[snc421]

No, I have no idea what the term means. Is it bad?........

Sancho is a Mexican slang term for the other man. ;)

(Sancha is the other woman.) Hahaha! I about died laughing when I learned this... espacially because there is a song Santeria by the group Sublime that keeps mentioning Sancho. I figured it was just some guy's nickname, but when I learned otherwise that song made a whole lot more sense!

[mom2girls]

Sancho is a Mexican slang term for the other man. ;)

(Sancha is the other woman.) Hahaha! I about died laughing when I learned this... espacially because there is a song Santeria by the group Sublime that keeps mentioning Sancho. I figured it was just some guy's nickname, but when I learned otherwise that song made a whole lot more sense!

 

Well, I certainly had no idea that Sancho meant the other man. That's pretty funny. I'll have to keep that in mind for future reference.

 

TeeTee: I was planning on thanking you for complimenting my review earlier, but the boards were acting funny. Somehow, I even double posted. So, thank you for your kind words.

[snc421]

Well, I certainly had no idea that Sancho meant the other man. That's pretty funny. I'll have to keep that in mind for future reference.

Definately! ;)

[mom2girls]

Definately! ;)

 

:D :D

[mom2girls]

We arrived back at the ship around 4:45. We were absolutely exhausted so decided to relax for a little while in the room. The girls really wanted to eat dinner with Camp Carnival, so we got ready around 5:50. I took them to Horizon’s to meet the counselors. After dropping them off I went to the dining room. I knew that I would be eating alone since the family that had been eating with us had told me that they would probably stay late in Mexico. The dining room was more empty than I have ever seen it on a cruise. I actually was finished eating by 6:45. (I didn’t have dessert.)

 

Originally, I had thought that I would try out the casino while the girls were in Camp, but then I remembered that the casino isn’t open while we are in port. So, I went up to the Lido deck to relax for a while. I had a pleasant conversation about cruising with an older couple that I had met. Since cruising is my favorite topic of conversation we got along well. After they left to get ready for dinner I decided to look for a spot that would have a great view of the sunset. While I was standing by the railing I looked down into the beautiful sapphire blue water. I was amazed to find that I could see a stingray burrowing in the sand. I tried to get a picture, but it didn’t come out. But, at least I have the memory of it. Of course, I snapped some pictures of the beautiful Mexican sunset as well.

 

 

 

[mom2girls]

 

 

 

After watching the sunset, I decided to wander around the ship a bit. I stumbled upon the “In the Bag Game,” but had arrived to late to participate. I had played this game on the Inspiration, and it was a lot of fun. I did enjoy watching the game though. After the game I went down to the room to download the pictures onto the computer. (Before downloading I took some of our towel animal for the night.) Then, I went to pick up the girls from Camp. We wanted to get a good seat for the show tonight. We got to the lounge about 40 minutes before the show, but it was already packed. I guess since there was only one show time tonight we needed to compete with everyone on the ship. Tonight’s show was a comedian who also does hypnosis. I had seen him on a previous cruise, and I had thought he was very funny. But, for some reason I didn’t enjoy him as much this time. He was still funny, but I guess I didn’t think the participants were as funny as they were before. During the show Emily fell asleep, so she didn’t see much of it. Megan is still counting her fingers, and leaving out the number 8 like Puck had told one of the participants to do. It was kind of funny to see her try to figure out why she had 11 fingers. After the show I woke up Emily so we could walk back to the room. Naturally, we were done for the night.

 

 

[mom2girls]

I also got some pictures of Club O2, so I'll post them here. I met some teenagers while taking the pictures. They told me that they were having an awesome time. They really seemed to enjoy Club O2!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures were taken while we were docked in Cozumel, so obviously it wasn't that busy.

 

I grabbed one of their activity sheets. Some of the activities include: Welcome Aboard Dance, Slide Races, Karaoke, Scavenger Hunt, Guitar Hero, Teen Hang, Tropical Deck Party, among many other activities. Club O2 is for teenagers between 15 and 17 years old.

 

Next up Day 4: Fun Day at Sea.

[hightownCO]

Kelli-Ann, Really have enjoyed your review! And thanks for the pics of Club 02!

 

Sharon

[blivey]

GREAT review. I am enjoying it sooooooooooo much. I keep checking back often to see if/when you update. Thanks!

[snc421]

Loved the Mexican sunset! Funny you put it like that. What's that about great minds...

 

Thank you!

[mom2girls]

Kelli-Ann, Really have enjoyed your review! And thanks for the pics of Club 02!

 

Sharon

Sharon I'm glad you're enjoying it! The pictures were no problem. I really enjoyed talking to the teenagers. They really seemed to be having a good time.

 

GREAT review. I am enjoying it sooooooooooo much. I keep checking back often to see if/when you update. Thanks!

I'm glad you're enjoying the review as well. I really like to read about any ship I'm about to sail on. So, I did this review for those who will be sailing the Imagination in the future.

 

Loved the Mexican sunset! Funny you put it like that. What's that about great minds...

 

Thank you!

:) We do seem to think alike. We're going to have to book a cruise together!;)

[mom2girls]

OK, I forgot that I took some pictures on the 3rd day that I didn't upload to the computer until the 4th day. So, here are some of those:

 

Circle C is the activity room for kids between the ages of 12-14.

Some of the Circle C activities include: Welcome Aboard Party, Casino Night, Truth or Dare, Video Games, Ping Pong Tournament, Champions Challenge, among many other activities.

 

 

The Library. I ran into the teenagers I had seen earlier in Club O2. They were playing "Sorry". Apparently, there are board games in this room that you can play if you want. It's nice to know that that option is there if it's a rainy day or something.

 

And, of course our two towel animals on the shelf under the tv.

 

I promise the next up is the sea day! ;)

[mom2girls]

Day 4 Sea Day

The girls and I actually slept in late this morning. I woke up at 8:15. I was shocked since I normally wake up early while I cruise. (I don’t want to miss anything.) I’m thinking the inside cabin had a lot to do with me waking up late. It was so dark, which helped me to sleep like a baby.

 

We went to eat breakfast. Then the girls wanted to go to Camp. So, I dropped them off and headed to the Serenity area. Well, it was pretty crowded. The Chair Hogs seemed to be in full force in this particular area. But, that didn’t bother me too much since I knew I could get an awesome view in the aft part of the ship near the WaterWorks area. I spent about 2 hours just enjoying the view and relaxing. I think I was mesmerized by the deep blue water.

 

I picked the girls up from Camp early since I didn’t want to have to wait in line to sign them out. We wandered around the shops for a little while. But, the girls didn’t see anything they really wanted. They already have several Carnival T-shirts. We decided to have lunch in the dining room today. When we arrived we were seated at a table with 6 other people. They were very friendly. We discussed what we had done on our cruise. It was nice to hear other people’s experiences. We were surprised to see that we had our waiters from dinner serving us lunch. I wonder how often this happens. I ended up having a cheeseburger since I still hadn’t had one yet. Megan had a hot dog and Emily had the tuna sandwich on a wheat baguette. The girls of course had the sundaes as well. I’ll have to say it was nice being waited on during lunch. It was much better than the buffet line.

 

After lunch the girls played on the slides. After about an hour or so they wanted to go to Camp, so I took them to change clothes and took them to camp. After dropping them off I went back to the aft part of the ship again. I relaxed for about an hour than picked the girls up. (They wanted to play putt-putt and weren’t interested in playing video games which is what Camp was doing at this time.) We then went to check out the golf clubs and balls. I was pretty impressed at how well Megan did at the putt-putt golf. But, after a while it got extremely hot. They wanted to play another round, but I just couldn’t take the heat. Besides, by this time it was getting close to dinner time. So, we needed to get ready.

 

 

 

Can you tell it's windy on the sports deck?

 

While playing putt-putt we saw a ship sail past us. I'm not sure which ship it was, but we did see the Fascination in Miami the next day. Although, it looks as though this one has balconies, so it's probably not the Fascination.

[mom2girls]

Tonight was the going away party for Camp. So, the girls asked me if they could eat with them. What’s a mom to do? Of course I told them they could. But, I told them that they had to go to the show with me that night. I was very sad going into the dining room knowing that this was the last dinner of our cruise. I really enjoyed myself, but it was bittersweet. I ordered the spareribs which I had heard so many people rave about. But, I wasn’t too impressed with them. I really enjoyed the Greek salad though. Since it was the last night, and who knows when I’ll be on a ship again (I’m leaning toward the Sensation for Spring Break since she will just be renovated.) I ordered the chocolate melting cake. Yum!

 

 

O'Dante entertaining us.

 

After dinner I went to pick up the girls at the Illusions Disco. They really did look as though they were having a good time. We then proceeded to the Dynasty Lounge to see “Shout”. I had seen this show before on another ship. But, it was still a good show. After the show we went back to the room since I hadn’t packed yet. I had planned on doing Self-Assist for debarkation since I didn’t want to wait forever to get off of the ship. When we got to the room we saw our last towel animal. We of course took pictures. We watched the Miss Universe pageant while I packed. Our favorites were Miss Mexico and Miss Venezuela. We didn’t stay up for the entire show. But, I looked it up on the internet the next day, and was happy to see that Miss Venezuela had won.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Day: Debarkation

When we woke up the next day I was shocked to learn that we were still moving. I had never been on a ship that wasn’t at the home port by 6:00. (We were up at 7:00.) Obviously we had a lot of time so we went to the dining room for breakfast. Breakfast in the dining room was much better than the Lido deck. Emily had a Belgian Waffle. Megan had pancakes, bacon, and hash browns. I had two eggs over medium and pancakes. I knew this was the final time I was going to be served so I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. I knew once I was at home I would be the one who was doing all of the cooking and cleaning.

 

When we finished breakfast we went back to our room to get our things. We then headed to the 8th floor to wait for self-assist to be called for debarkation. I wasn’t thrilled with having to wait on the 8th floor knowing that I would have to lug my heavy suitcase down to the 7th floor, but I knew it could be worse. We didn’t have to wait very long. We were off of the ship, and through customs by 8:20. We didn’t see the van that was supposed to take us to the parking garage. Since we didn't want to wait we decided to walk again. It wasn’t too bad of a walk, and after all the food we had eaten I knew it probably would help us. Now, the next problem was finding the car. I had forgotten what level we had parked on. Ugh! It took us about 30 minutes, but we finally found it. The next problem was we were supposed to take the ticket with us to pay when we got off of the elevators. I didn’t do that. So, now I had to take the ticket back down to the area we were supposed to pay. So, after putting the luggage in the car, I got the ticket, then went to pay for the parking. Finally we were on our way. But, there was a line to get out of the parking garage. Apparently , only one of the 3 lanes was working. I honestly don’t know why they have 3 lanes if they’re not going to use them all. At last we were on our way. The drive home was not bad. We were home before 1:00. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Consequently, I patiently wait until the next cruise!

[bonnys]

Thank you for the great review. Our first cruise was on the Imagination. The picture of the Lido deck bar brought back wonderful memories. DH and I had our very first DOD there:p . My DD said your girls look like they had alot of fun and now she is even more anxious for our cruise in October to get here.

[red1der1]

Thank you so much for your great review! I loved every bit of it and everyday would come back everyday to check out if you added more. You have made me so excited to sail on the Imagination in October. I can not wait wait!! Thanks again!!

[mom2girls]

Thank you for the great review. Our first cruise was on the Imagination. The picture of the Lido deck bar brought back wonderful memories. DH and I had our very first DOD there:p . My DD said your girls look like they had alot of fun and now she is even more anxious for our cruise in October to get here.

 

I'm so glad you enjoyed my review. Yes, my daughters had a wonderful time. October will be here before you know it. And, your daughter will have a wonderful time too! (I cruised once in October, and really enjoyed cruising during that time of year. I just wish I could take more time off in October.)

 

Thank you so much for your great review! I loved every bit of it and everyday would come back everyday to check out if you added more. You have made me so excited to sail on the Imagination in October. I can not wait wait!! Thanks again!!

As I told bonnys, I'm glad you enjoyed my review too! I've been known to come back every day to check other reviews, so I've been in your shoes before. I figured this might help others who are waiting for their cruise. It certainly makes the time go by quicker when you can read about your future cruise! ;)

[red1der1]

I'm so glad you enjoyed my review. Yes, my daughters had a wonderful time. October will be here before you know it. And, your daughter will have a wonderful time too! (I cruised once in October, and really enjoyed cruising during that time of year. I just wish I could take more time off in October.)

 

 

As I told bonnys, I'm glad you enjoyed my review too! I've been known to come back every day to check other reviews, so I've been in your shoes before. I figured this might help others who are waiting for their cruise. It certainly makes the time go by quicker when you can read about your future cruise! ;)

 

I think what I liked the most is that your review is exactly how I did my Disney review on the Disney MB I belong. I am sure my cruise review will be similar. Can't wait to write it!