Imagination 4 day Key West & Cozumel Review

[teetee6263]

 

 

 

 

Now I swear when I sat down on the alligator I had on a swimsuit, what happened to it between then & taking the pic, well I guess....What happens in Cozumel, stays in Cozumel ;) It was also rumored that the alligator brought me back to the ship...LOL

[Mommzie]

Nice review.... This was my first itinerary on the Destiny. I'm taking this same itinerary in February with my kids

[teetee6263]

 

Guess my "loving" friends did order me room service, since I woke up to this on my camera. Also explains the crumbs in the bed, but I'm still puzzled by the pesos!!!

 

:D LMAO :D

[Bjcruzn]

Too too funny!!! Love your bathing suit. Glad you had a wonderful cruise. I know how hard it is cruising with friends and trying to do with all and waiting and waiting you handled it with patience!! Hence I travel with my dd 90% of time I'm not that patient. :)

[Navy Sailor]

:DIt looks like you had a fabulous time makes me want to go even more.

[Donna1127]

I too, LOVE LOVE LOVE your bathing suit!!

We just got off the Paradise 2 weeks ago..nothing like being drunk in Coz!!

[LandlockedCruiser01]

This ship and itinerary was my first cruise, so your review brings back memories. Great job! Too bad you missed the deck party, though. I did it on both the Imagination and the Sensation, and had a great time. It basically consisted of line dancing, conga lines, limbo, and other cheesy cruise dances. The food was similar to what you'd find in a land-based Mexican restaurants; I tried the salmon chimichangas and potato sopes, and they were really good.

[asylum575]

Key West and Cozumel are two of my favorite ports.

 

Haven't tried Mr Sancho's yet. If we do shopping on the strip, we end at Pancho's backyard, then try to make it back to the ship. You would love the drinks, if you know what I mean.:)

[gapearl]

Cozumel-1, TeeTee-0 :D

 

This is too funny. I'm jealous you won the mixology contest. I guess I need to start practicing for my next cruise. I sailed the Imagination 3 years ago on this itinerary and had a blast. I guess this little ship just brings out the party girl in everyone. No booty shaking competition when I was on, though. LOL Looking forward to the rest! :p

[BenjiRodney]

Looks like you guys had fun, we did this trip in Jan and loved it as well.

[teetee6263]

Well after last night I slept in late & wasn't up until 8ish :rolleyes: My girls can never understand how I still manage to get up & out early after a night of drinking, I guess practice makes perfect ;) So now its around 9am & I'm starving so I decided to once again leave the crew behind & enjoy breakfast in the MDR. Along the way I met a woman Kristen or Christine from Chicago, we were both trying to find the Pride dining room. A couple of turns later we finally found it & since we were already together it only made sense to eat together. This was her & her DD 10’s first cruise & they were enjoying it very much. Her DD managed to stay up for the deck party, but wasn't up to breakfast so early. Kristen/Christine said her DD did not like the pancakes on Lido & asked the waiter if she could take back an order, he said food was not allowed out of the dining room. Midway through our breakfast, Kristen/Christine's dinner waiter stopped by our table & asked if the pancakes were for her DD, she said yes & he brought her a plate to go. We both thought that was very nice & another example of staff going above & beyond.

 

After breakfast I went up to lido (where I spent most of my day) to check out the seating situation & to my surprise they were invaded by towel animals. Many cool ones that I hadn't seen before *note to self, next time take a few back to my room ;) While up there I ran into Robert, one of my cruise buddies from FB. We chatted up a while & he filled me in on all that I missed at the deck party. I attempted to play grown up & lay out in the Serenity area, well that didn't last longer than 15 minutes…just way to quiet for my liking. So I went back to the cabin & changed into my swimsuit & headed back to lido, surprisingly I found a spot right by pool. The chair hogs were out, but it seemed to be easier finding a single chair. After watching the adult pool games, a bite to eat & the ice carving demo I decided to get into the hot tub since it wasn't crowded. It was time for the hairy chest contest & being in the hot tub I got an up close view of the poll dancing. At that time I noticed the girls made it for Kim to experience her 1st hairy chest contest, cause there was none of that going on Princess. Afterwards Fee & I enjoyed the pool, until they called for 7 people to come on stage & show off their dance moves. Well round 2 for Fee, this time she got a medal along with all of the dancers. We were able to find 2 chairs together so soaked up the sun until time to get ready for dinner. Before going to the dining room I stopped by the Dream bar & caught the tail end of the live Motown & funk music, they were very good & I wish I would've gotten there sooner….damn that lido deck.

 

Tonight the sad realization that this is our last dinner on board sets in. I ordered the crab cake & onion soup, my two favorites for starters, I wasn't really impressed with any of the main entrees & ordered the salmon from the everyday menu…well I’m very picky about they way my food looks & I wasn’t expecting the skin/scales on it, I couldn't even look at it let alone eat it. Our waiter noticed I wasn't eating & insisted I order something else, but once I’m disgusted its hard for me to eat anything for a while. He really felt bad that I wasn't eating so I ordered another crab cake. Dessert time, my favorite course & again nothing screams pick me. I tried baked Alaska for the first time last Oct on princess, so I figured I’d go with that…another fail. Although dinner was not enjoyable, we all know I did not go hungry…I made 2 trips to the taste bar & unfortunately I don’t remember what I ate I do know it was Caribbean & delicious. Sadly its time to buy any last minute gifts & pictures before returning to the room to pack. Let me tell you packing to go home was 100 times worse than packing for the cruise, not only was I going home but I was also 8 lbs overweight, so I shuffled & repacked, shuffled & repacked until I got it right. Well it’s the last night to party & The electric white night party at Illusions nightclub. Before heading to Illusions I passed by the Dream bar 7 enjoyed the Latin Party with Melao Tropical, they were pretty good & not bad to look at either. The ladies & I are in our white & party it up until around 2am. I get my last late night pizza & call it a night.

 

Towel animals take over Lido

 

My attempt at Serenity

 

Hairy chest dancing up close

[teetee6263]

Pool time fun

 

Melao Tropical lead singer

 

Electric White Night - Kim, Teresa, Traci & Felicia

 

Saddest moment of any cruise :(

[teetee6263]

Well of course today is an early day. By 8am I had watched us sail back into Miami, dug throw boxes looking for one last picture, closed out my account at guest services & had breakfast on lido. At that time we went to wait in the Dynasty Lounge for about a half an hour. It was at 8:41am when I heard my final “Ding” L Once again I’m surprised at how quickly my luggage came down the conveyor belt, but whats that I see…a wet spot!!! Well during all my packing, repacking & shuffling I failed to properly pack my bottle of tequila, I don’t know what I was thinking but I just layed it on top of everything. As pissed as I was all I kept telling myself was “oh well guess you gotta go back again for more” Once outside I see the girls off into a cab on their way to Mia airport, I don’t know if I mentioned it before but coming in they took a shuttle from MIA airport to Holiday Inn POM at $27pp!!! I called my shuttle & after circling the port a few times waiting on passengers from NCL, I was at FLL Airport by 9:57am…too bad my flight’s not til 1:40pm. Fast forward to 5pm & I'm in my mothers car listening to “whew that bag reeks of tequila”….thanks a lot for the reminder mom.

 

Oh No..its the pilot

 

Good Morning Miami

 

Killing time while waiting to debark

[teetee6263]

What I learned from this trip…..

 

1. Not all strangers are bad & for the most part everyone was friendly, with the exception of the guy with the confederate flag tattoos that looked disgusted when ever we were around….Oh well guess YOU should have stayed home. 1a. Cruising really relaxes me cause at first I was a little annoyed, but after that I was like whatever & didn't let him ruin my good time!!!

 

2. As much as I love GAPEARL’s solo reviews I always think, I could never do it. Well after spending 85% of my time without the ladies, I think I just might be able to pull it off.

 

3. FOUR DAYS IS NOT ENOUGH!!! There was so much I didn't get to see & do…missed out on bingo (guess I saved myself some money in the long run), didn't catch any shows other than Welcome aboard show, no trivia, no karaoke & missed 60 Seconds or less.

 

4. I understand why people go to Cozumel several times :D

 

5. Holiday Inn POM will be my Miami pre cruise hotel, loved the location.

 

6. I can float!!!

 

7. SAS & MJS are both great shuttle providers, you cant go wrong with either one.

 

8. Take your time & properly pack any purchased liquor

 

9. The Imagination is a great ship.

 

10. And most importantly I love my girls & even though I didn’t get to do everything I wanted while in port…I would do it all over again!!! (Well I really didn't just learn that)

[teetee6263]

Creme of Broccoli Soup

 

Lasagna

 

Shrimp Cocktail

 

Saint Louis Ribs

 

Grilled Ruben Sandwich

OMG, I've read over & over again that the deli is a must & I have to agree, this was propbaly one of the best rubens Ive had in a long time.

[teetee6263]

Too cool towel animal

 

MIAMI VICE!!!

 

Calm Seas

 

Toes in the sand

 

Seagulls greeting us in Key West

 

My last photo that I was "bullied" into taken, as we can see I liked it...just like he said I would!!!

[Bjcruzn]

Thanks you for your day by day review!!! I have 3weeks from today to be on The Imagination and am totally hyped! Normally I fly in/out on same days from Atlanta but opted to drive this time to enjoy Miami day before and 2 days at Harbor Beach Marriott right on Ft Lauderdale beach to extend my vacation on the water. This way I wont be to sad once we debark!!! Glad you had great time. Btw I'm solo w dd11 so she does keep me from feeling 'alone' at dinner and ports..but she enjoys camp carnival and meets alot of new friends.

[HGVGuy]

Thank you for your review! I'm taking my parents on a Christmas cruise this year. I can't wait to see Christmas in Cozumel.

[BallFour4]

With great prices and the Triumph gone we cashed in Southwest miles and tried the Imagination over spring break!

 

Here are some pictures:

 

Edited May 6, 2013 by blusry

[teetee6263]

OK these are just some of the pics I took using the special effects on my camera...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this picture, my DD said "it doesn't look like a nice day, the sky is so gray" LOL

[teetee6263]

OK one last photo & I swear, I'm really done....

 

This is the real reason why people go over board....no one just slips & falls over!!!

 

Well I just wanna thank everyone for the kind words & I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did living it. Now I'm off to read each & everything I can about the Pride for my next trip.

 

Thanks

TeeTee :D

[teetee6263]

Too too funny!!! Love your bathing suit. Glad you had a wonderful cruise. I know how hard it is cruising with friends and trying to do with all and waiting and waiting you handled it with patience!! Hence I travel with my dd 90% of time I'm not that patient. :)

 

I too, LOVE LOVE LOVE your bathing suit!!

We just got off the Paradise 2 weeks ago..nothing like being drunk in Coz!!

 

Thanks, I fell in love with this bathing suit when I saw someone wearing it in a photo on FB. I turned into a bathing suit stalker :eek:, I goggled & binged for days until I found it... Victoria's Secret online!!!

[teetee6263]

With great prices and the Triumph gone we cashed in Southwest miles and tried the Imagination over spring break!

 

Here are some pictures:

 

 

Great pictures thanks for sharing!!!

[melodia75]

Nice to read a BFF's review. Life has been draining the life out of us so my 2 BFFs and I just booked this itinerary last minute. Heading out in 14 days and am completely stoked now that I've read your review. Thanks!!

[battchief1]

Thanks for the review