Roll Call - Carnival Imagination Dec. 15

[skidawg71]

Greetings from Rhode Island. My partner and I heading out from Miami on the Imagination on 12/15/08. Would be great to find other gay men and women on this cruise. We are easy going, normal, proffessional and happy couple in late 30's and early 40's. I've cruised a few times before but this will be his first to celebrate his birthday. Hoping he will like the experience and meeting others would probably help.

 

If you are booked or thinking of booking on the imagination these dates, drop me a line and say hi. Perhaps meet on board for drink/dinner, or crash the dance floor together!:eek:

 

Peace

[skidawg71]

Hmm... I must have picked the most un-gay cruise :(

[lingoboy]

There is a group of 6 of us coming down from MI for my boyfriend's birthday. He's been on a few cruises before, but it will be my first trip. Glad there will be other family on board =)

[skidawg71]

hey lingo. sound like a great group. we are originally from chicago. perhaps we can meet up for a drink on board. cheers

[lingoboy]

Sounds like a plan! The cruise can't come soon enough... snow is already falling. Will be a great getaway.

[smc0320]

Hey, my name is Stan. My partner and I, along with his sister, will be there too. We're coming from Columbus, Ohio. I'm sure we'll run into you. This is my 2nd cruise, but a first for both of them. We haven't really booked anything for Cozumel, any ideas on what to do? We thought about renting scooters when we get off the ship and do our own thing.

[lingoboy]

We're up to a group of 8 of us now... I'm getting excited! :D

[skidawg71]

Hey Stan.

 

Great to hear you are going also. It's a quick trip, but it's coming at just the right time. We need a break bad! Sounds like Lingo is going to have quite a group. This is pretty much a romantic week getaway for the both of us, but look forward to meeting up with others for drinks and conversation on board. We're booked in Cabin V11. I'm hoping to get a group together for dancing one night. My partner Curt likes to dance, but will be hesitant unless there is other family to join.

 

Ciao

[smc0320]

yeah, we need a break too...and it's the perfect time. We're staying night before in SOBE and then going over to Siesta Key for the weekend after. It started out (in my head) as a romantic getaway for us, but then his sister's luck ran out with people to go with her, so she's shacking up with us for the week. But I love her...and she's SOOOO much fun, so the romance can wait I guess I'm sure we'll see you on board.

[lingoboy]

Me and my partner are going to be in SOBE a couple days before and a couple days after. Definitely will be up for drinks and dancing on the boat. In Cozumel, the only thing we had planned was snuba, so hopefully that will be fun.

 

~Steve

[lingoboy]

Leaving for Miami today. So excited! See everyone onboard :D

 

-Steve

[smc0320]

Nate & Curt - was great to meet you on board. Sorry we never made it for drinks or to hang out or anything. I would love to see pics of your room, if you took any. Patrick loved the size of our Penthouse Suite & balcony, but he also loved the location of your suites...how did you like it? How did you like the cruise in general? Patrick loved this cruise for his 1st.

Again, great to meet you...keep in touch.

[skidawg71]

Hi Stan!

 

I'm bummed we didn't get a chance to hang out also. Just was too short of a vacation. We had a fantastic time though and thought we'd catch you at one of the FOD meetings. It was a great ship, great experience throughout for us.

 

To answer your question about the Cat. 11 rooms.... I was familiar with these rooms from my sailing on the MS Paradise about 5 years ago. Back then they were this sort of "disco" decor. VERY eighties in a sort of fantastic tragic way. I was really pleased with the way they have overhauled the rooms on this deck. Here are some reason why I think this is the best choice rooms on the Fantasy Class Vessels...

 

Number one, it's QUIET. I can't tell you what a difference it makes when there is only 20 or so cabins on the whole deck! Being away from the craziness of the lower decks is worth a smaller suite than the Cat 12. on Upper deck. Another reason, hardly any children. Because these are mini suites, it's mostly just couples. We never went below the Atlantic deck so we never really saw a lot of people during the cruise, we stayed pretty much between the spa and verandah decks, except when going to the dining room.

 

The downsides are of course that it has a VERY small balcony, enough room for just two chairs, but the view is unbelievable. We were in V11. I put a lot of thought into choosing this cabin. There are a couple things to worry about when picking this deck. Above is Spa Carnival. Be sure NOT to get any of the low numbers on the left side of the ship, such as V2 or V4, This is DIRECTLY below the free weight area and people are constantly dropping their weights right above you. It can be miserable. Our room, V11 is right below the Massage Rooms, VERY quiet. The other thing to watch out for is the high number cabins. some of them have an obstructed view. you don't want to get a balcony only to be looking at a lifeboat the whole time. Another point, the muster station for the verandah deck in at the pool, so you don't have cram with a bunch of people for the drill. You just sit down on a pool chair until the drill is finished!

 

To be honest, the verandah Cat 11 cabins are fantastic for the money. We paid $900 total for 4 nights in a mini suite with all the comforts of the larger ones, just a little smaller. For just 2 people it was the perfect cabin. Oh, and don't buy all this crap people tell you about the upper floors moving more. The difference is minimal. When the ship is moving, it really doesn't matter where you are. If you want peace and quiet, all the VIP treatment at a great price, I would totally recommend the Cat 11 on Verandah.

 

I read your review of the cruise. I think you were spot on with everything. I don't know why that was such a long Muster Drill, not sure what going on. The food was actually pretty great. We used the gym a lot. Our favorite part was the yoga and pilates classes. They were fantastic, did them every day.

 

I had only 2 dissapointments during the cruise. One was the lack of good music throughout the ship. The guy at the piano bar was really bad and had a strange style, not what I would imagine piano bar music to sound like. I've been on other cruises where there was great dance music at the clubs and everyone was on the dance floor having a great time. Not this time. The music was so bad the clubs where empty each night.

 

My only other gripe was the CONSTANT attack of the photographers. IT WAS CRAZY! Every minute, day and night, there they were. It was so annoying and almost impossible to avoid. I remember Carnival would only have the pictures set up just for the formal nights. But man, they were EVERYWHERE! The constant interuption at dinner by a cheesy looking Pirate with Mom's Mabeline smeered all over his face or "showgirl" with feathers falling all over was just so weird. They've even slapped the photos all over the promenade deck so you can't avoid them. They used to be tastefully placed on the deck next to the pursors desk and out of your face. I have to say, it is the only bad part of the referbishment and changes to the imaginatation.

 

I'm probably rambling a bit. I did take photos of our cabin and it would give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. No sure how to post them though. If you have any suggestions, let me know. Again, it was a total bummer we couldn't connect. There where a lot of gays on the ship though, more than I anticipated. the last night, there were probably 20 or so of us at the pinnacle bar. We just spent the last night there enjoying a cocktail and chatting. I hope you get this and keep in touch!

 

Nate

[smc0320]

I can't figure out how to email you privately on here so I can give you my contact info. do you know how to do that?

[smc0320]

I am having the worst time with CC lately. It is taking me 4-5 times of trying to login before actually doing so. Anyway, are you able to send a private message on here or is everything on boards, open to the public? I wanted to give you my contact info...and we'd love to see your pics of your cabin.

[metman146360]

Hey,

 

Saw your post. Hope you enjoyed your cruise and hope your friend really enjoyed his first cruise. The Imagination is a pretty nice ship. I was on it late Nov, '08 and had a nice time also.

 

Congrats.

[skidawg71]

Stan,

 

Yeah, Don't know what was going on the CC. Perhaps their server was having problems. Thought if we set eachother up as friends, we could send messages to eachother. guess not. Just drop me an email at nate.watson@yahoo.com