Carnival Imagination Review

[baylovesduke]

Hola Amigos.

 

This review is old (May 2011), but I was inspired by recent reviews to write my own. Hopefully it will help me to relive my vacation. I will be cruising again this summer (Fantasy in July), and I plan to write a review ASAP this time around. :) This was a 4 night sailing on the Carnival Imagination from Miami, FL.

 

Background Information: This was my college graduation present from my parents. My boyfriend and I (both 22 at the time) are from NC. It was his 1st cruise and my 2nd. We both like to party and enjoy a few drinks while relaxing in the warm weather.

 

Day 1:

We flew from RDU to MIA. We caught the Carnival shuttle at the airport. Embarkation was a breeze. I don't remember much about check-in, but that was because it only took about 15 minutes. We were literally on the boat, drink in hand, by noon. We didn't try to smuggle anything this time (probably because my Mom wasn't with me this time. Last cruise, she had about 8 airplane bottles in her bra. But that's another story...), but we did bring on a bottle of champagne each.

 

 

 

We had planned ahead and packed our swimsuits in our carry-on bag. First things first though--- lunch on the Lido deck. My culinary-school boyfriend was anxious to try the food (and by anxious, I mean nervous. Apparently going to culinary school makes you a food brat!)

His face gives away nothing, however he has a CLEAN plate in front of him! :) I was also pleased, especially when I snagged my favorite drink--- a kiss on the lips.

After lunch, we changed into our swimsuits and hit up the WATERSLIDE. We are definitely like kids when it comes to waterparks.

 

Coming up--- the evidence of the 500 times we went down the waterslide. Seriously though- who doesn't enjoy a good waterslide? Especially when it's the first day, you're still in port and no one has discovered the slide yet, and you're about 5 bud lights deep. That's what I thought...

[baylovesduke]

Here are some waterslide pictures. I don't care how old you are, a waterslide never gets old.

 

 

 

 

 

After all of that excitement, we grabbed a chair on the deck by the slide and just relaxed. We had some awesome servers on this side, and it was never full. If you have a hard time finding a chair, head over to the waterpark!!!

 

We eventually made our way over to the pool deck. Imagination has a pretty small pool, but there was hardly anyone in it on the first day. I'm telling you--- we don't waste time! We met a couple of awesome girls from NY (photo shout-out to them later on), and we had a few drinks with them before muster. Our muster drill was in the place where they had all of the shows, so we sat in the back and talked to some of the staff. They were really cool and even gave us a few drinks while we were waiting! They led us out to the boats, and we sat for probably 10 minutes. We were at the very front of the ship, so we had an amazing view for sail-away.

 

[baylovesduke]

Another picture from sail-away...

 

After sail-away, we proceeded back to our room to get ready for dinner. We found our first towel animal!

 

 

SOMEHOW when we were getting ready for dinner, my boyfriend managed to poke me in the eye and my eye turned blood red.

Ridiculous! I was injured/intoxicated the first night at dinner, and here's the proof...

 

I didn't take any food porn pictures this time, except for the key-lime pie. Because that's my favorite and that's how I roll.

I order key-lime pie every single night for desert.

 

 

PS- We sat at a table with a bunch of new-cruisers. Everyone absolutely loved the wait staff dancing to "Low".

And I loved this guy--- because he broke it down AND he brought my key-lime pie every night.

 

We had a few more drinks at dinner, and then decided to be lazy and hit the sack.

We had an early parasailing excursion planned for Key West in the morning, and we didn't want to miss our tour.

[cruisenanny]

Nice job so far!

Key lime pie!!!! Is that by special request?? YUM

[baylovesduke]

I had never been to Key West before, so I was really excited. I had also never been parasailing before.

I was a little disappointed that the ship didn't dock right in Mallory Square, because I have heard that is amazing. Anyways, here's a picture of our ship from the free trolley...

 

 

We booked a parasailing excursion through Fury Water Adventures. It only cost us $36 per person. The staff was great and very professional.

They also sold us a DVD of our parasailing trip for $20. I would highly recommend this company. Their website is fury cat dot com.

 

Check us out!!!

 

 

It was amazing. Our captain also gave us the choice of dipping our legs into the water. Of course, we obliged. We had a wonderful time!!!

Oh, and here is a view of our beautiful ship from the boat.

 

 

Next up--- our own personal guided bar crawl.

 

 

[reerun25]

Really enjoying the review so far!!

[baylovesduke]

As I mentioned before, we love to party and have a good time.

We decided not to join the "official bar crawl" but to start our own!!!

First stop: Flying Monkeys

 

Flying Monkeys is a fun little outdoor bar. They have sprinklers overhead that keep you misted and cool. They sell drinks in those awesome bottles with their own coozies!

 

 

 

Next Stop: Fat Tuesdays!!!

 

 

Fat Tuesdays also sells mixed drinks in those special cups/coozies. I swear we went back on the boat with one from each bar.

Word to the wise- you can bring those cups back to the bar for a discounted drink price.

 

Next Stop on the Crawl: Margaritaville (cheesy, I know. I would like to claim that I have been to every Margaritaville at least once. The one in the Cayman Islands is my favorite!)

 

 

We didn't even have margaritas here. Definitely had to switch it up and have a Landshark for my man, Jimmy B.

 

Next up: The Bull. Note about this picture--- that is NOT a gang sign. My boyfriend and I are both from Durham, NC (you know-- Bull Durham) and that sign means BULL CITY!

 

 

Last stop on our bar crawl: Sloppy Joes

 

This picture is kind of dark and fuzzy, but you get the picture. We had multiple shots and listened to some awesome live music!

 

 

After this crazy day, we decided to head back to the ship for a snack before dinner (Formal Night).

 

I will continue posting tomorrow. Heading home from work (very productive day, I know!)

[ladyluck27]

Thanks for your review! I'm heading out on that ship in 4 weeks. I was thinking of doing parasailing in Key West, but I wasn't sure.. it looks like fun though!

[baylovesduke]

Nice job so far!

Key lime pie!!!! Is that by special request?? YUM

 

 

I believe that it is listed as a dessert at least one night in the MDR. I just always request it because it's my favorite!

[baylovesduke]

Thanks for your review! I'm heading out on that ship in 4 weeks. I was thinking of doing parasailing in Key West, but I wasn't sure.. it looks like fun though!

 

 

I would highly recommend it. It costs alot more if you go through Carnival, so you may want to consider that company. Plus it leaves time to explore Key West when you're done!

[baylovesduke]

We got back on the boat and hit the pool for a bit before it was time for dinner. I'll post a picture of the pool so people can see. It's not HUGE, but it often was not crowded at all.

 

 

After relaxing in the pool with a drink (although you are not supposed to have drinks IN the pool--- sometimes they will ask you to leave the pool if you have a drink)... we headed to get ready for formal night dinner.

 

Here's a picture of us all fancy (except for my busted eye)...

 

 

I'm sorry--- I didn't get any pictures of the food. I promise I'll do better on our upcoming cruise.

After dinner, we hit up the casino just to pass time before the comedy shows. Here's my nerdy boyfriend gambling...

 

 

We were super excited about the Adults comedy show. We had heard awesome things about Percy Crews II.

The comedy club on Imagination is called The Punchliner Comedy Club. It's a very cool layout, but it fills up fast. Make sure you get there early for a good seat!

 

Here we are waiting for the show to begin---

 

 

I cannot say enough about Percy Crews. He was hilarious!!! We actually went back to see him the next night.

If you see his name on your Daily Fun Times, you have to make time to see him.

 

 

More "Kiss on the lips"--- our favorite! And we also got to see our friends from the pool. Shout-out to our NY friends!

 

 

....

[NKsDogWalker]

Love the review and photos! :) I was on the Imagination in 2010 and LOVED the water slides. The racing slides were my favorite. :)

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[LandlockedCruiser01]

I'm going on the same cruise in less than a week. Great review and cool pictures!

 

Looking forward (no pun intended) to the Cozumel and the Fun Day at Sea portion of it.

[reerun25]

Don't let work get in the way, keep posting!!!

[baylovesduke]

Here's a picture of our towel animal from the 2nd night...

 

 

Day 3- Cozumel, Mexico

 

The best thing about coming into Cozumel is that it's a late arrival. We had time to wake up, eat breakfast, and hang out before we got there.

Of course we had to hit the water slides again. I thought he ruined my camera on this go-round....

 

 

We also hung out on the serenity deck some. It wasn't too crowded, and there weren't many chair hogs.

 

 

It was awesome to see Cozumel as we approached. Viva la Mexico!

 

 

We got off the boat and walked through the little duty-free shops. There's a ton of liquor and sunglasses and purses here.

We wanted to go a little further into Cozumel though, and we enlisted the help of a cab driver- Jose. Jose was awesome!

He took us to the shops in Cozumel and walked into each store with us, bargaining in Spanish for us.

He ended up getting me two pairs of Ray Bans (that look pretty real) for $5 a pair. He then took us to grab a beer at a local bar.

 

 

He then took us to a great beach break called Paradise Beach. The website is paradise - beach - cozumel dot com.

This place was amazing and gorgeous. There was a gorgeous beach with all of the water inflatables, an amazing pool, and cheap drinks. We really enjoyed this place.

 

[baylovesduke]

Pictures from Paradise Beach...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed here until they closed. We were hungry and tried to order food. I would NOT recommend the jalapeno poppers (they were that orange nacho cheese- gross), but the nachos were great!

 

Coming up--- the rest of our stops in Cozumel

[baylovesduke]

Here's the best part about Jose. He WAITED until we were done at Paradise Beach, and then he drove us back into town. He dropped us off at Senor Frogs, and charged us $20/each. Seriously? $40 for the entire day (at least 6 hours) to show us around, get drinks with us, bargain for us, and wait while we got tipsy and tan? We LOVED Jose! He's the short guy in the last post drinking a dos equis with me, and I highly recommend him.

 

Ahhh Senor Frogs--- another cheesy tourist place that I like to visit. We got a couple of the yard drinks and some popcorn.

 

 

 

 

We then met up with another couple from our cruise ship. They were from Chicago! We had a few shots with them.

 

 

We then hitched another cab back to the ship. It was about $5 a person. We had an awesome view of the ship and some sloppy drunk viva la mexico pictures of the ship. Check it out!

 

[baylovesduke]

A few more pictures of the ship docked in Cozumel...

 

 

 

And our towel animal...

PS- those are a pair of the new ray-bans I bought. Aren't they cute?

 

 

We didn't make it into the MDR on the last night. Mostly because we were drunk. We ordered room service and then went to see Percy Crews again. Room service was fast! All I remember is how good the veggie plate with the dip was--- definitely order this for a snack. We ended up falling asleep on the serenity deck after the late Percy Crews show. We woke up around 4 AM and struggled back to bed.

[baylovesduke]

Fun Day at Sea!

 

We slept in (I'm a teacher so that means 9 AM)... and woke up for bloody marys on the Lido Deck. We ate Mongolian Wak for lunch... yum! It was delicious.

 

 

We went to check out the other areas of the ship we hadn't explored yet. We ended up at this bar for a martini.

 

 

We then decided to play mini-golf up on the top deck. You have to check out the clubs and the balls from a guy on the pool deck.

It was fun but very windy. There were also a lot of families up there.

 

 

 

My boyfriend has poor mini-golf form. :/

 

You do get a great view of the pool from the top deck. Here ya go!

As you can see, they had already started to clean up and stack chairs.

It was also very windy and a little chilly, so the hot tubs might have been good on this day!

 

[baylovesduke]

We skipped dinner again! We're bad, I know. Instead we went to the piano bar, which I was dying to see.

I'm a huge piano bar fan! Anyone ever been to Rum Runners or Crocodile Rocks? good times :)

 

It was kind of quiet, but we had fun. He was taking requests, so come ready to sing (don't forget to tip!)

 

 

 

These guys brought us that huge bottle of liquor from the store on-board. We found out that they were allowing you to take any liquor you bought back to your room.

What a great plan! We bought a bottle of rum and proceeded to hit up the comedy show once more.

(Did I mention that we really loved Percy Crews II?) We mixed the rum with juice from the bar.

 

I kind of forgot my camera in the room at this point. The very last picture that I took was of our last towel animal.

 

 

 

[baylovesduke]

Well, that's all. I will be happy to answer any questions that y'all have. Here are my tips for a great cruise!

 

1. Explore the ship! Get to know your surroundings for the next however-many days.

2. Get a drink! The DOD's are usually a fun way to try new drinks. On my very first cruise, I was handed a Kiss on the Lips the first minute I walked onto the ship! And I was 17... oops.

 

 

3. Go down the water slide! Get in the pool! Relax in the hot tub!

4. Get off the boat! Sure, it's fun to have the boat to yourself while everyone else gets off, but cruising is a great way to experience new places.

5. Order room service! It's free! Don't forget to tip!

6. Don't stress out about time or planned activities (unless it's a spa appointment). You have ALL DAY to do whatever you want. Enjoy yourself.

7. Eat in the MDR at least once. Especially on formal night. It's so fun, and you get to dress up!

8. Let yourself witness the Hairy Chest contest, ice-carving, or master of mixology at least once. It's fun!

9. Go to a show! We really enjoyed the comedy shows (duh!)

10. Get to know the staff. We made friends with several bartenders (I wonder why?), and we got the hook-up.

 

I hope I did okay with my first review. I will be cruising again in July out of Charleston, SC on the Fantasy. I promise to take more food porn pictures and pictures in general this go-around. Enjoy your cruising adventures!

 

 

[purplemusik]

LOVED your review! Looks like you had a blast!

[sharecruises]

Grrrrreat review, thanks

 

Very cute couple, great pics and tips. I love love the Imagination

 

Hope you cruise again soon, have a great time and give us another great review

[SoundDawg]

Great review! Looks like you two had a blast. I love the fact you slept on serenity till 4AM!