Carnival Imagination and Carnival Sunshine - My Back-to-Back Photo Review

[wrigley80]

After we had lunch we decided it was time to walk around for a while and figure out where everything was onboard.

 

First stop was the Ocean Plaza. We spent a lot of time back here through out the week because this is where they had trivia during the day and then live music at night

 

How do ya like the matching shirts???

 

The taste bar is in the Ocean Plaza. During breakfast they will have set-up of Danish, cereal, waffles, and eggs. What they have at the taste bar for breakfast is like a condensed version of what they serve on Lido

 

The Java Café/Shake Spot is on Deck 5 mid. We had a couple shakes over the week.

 

 

Casino Bar

[wrigley80]

My mom is the same way. We can't walk a complete block without her stopping to say hello to someone. It's keeps her happy...

 

 

See now your mom and my dad would be perfect on a cruise sitting in the atrium and gabbing about the cruise. My dad loves to meet new people

 

 

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[wrigley80]

How did you add pictures with your post? When I try I get these tiny pictures. I've been trying for like forever and it never works. I'm cruisecritic challenged LOL

 

 

If you saw the beginning of my review I had similar problems. I couldn't get the photos to post. I see Photobucket as my photo sharing site. Just upload your pics to photobucket then go to cruise critic. Post a new reply by clicking on the icon that looks like a mountain and then paste the picture. I hope this helps

 

 

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[wrigley80]

Well I'm all caught up with your Imagination review! I swam with the manatees at Chankanaab Park on my Fantasy cruise back in 2010. It was brand new back then and had only been around for maybe 2-3 months. I had a blast! Your pictures have got me wanting to do it again. My next cruise goes to Cozumel so maybe I will then. ;) Also the pictures cd was only $40 back then. I didn't buy it though because they let me bring my camera and I had a TON of pictures on my own. I can't believe it's $118 for the cd now! Good lord! :eek: That story about your dad getting lost in the elevator had me cracking up lol. Oh, and I hope you get to move to Key West one day. :)

 

 

 

Ok, I'm ready for the Sunshine review! :D

 

 

The manatee encounter gives you an option for Cozumel. You should have bought the CD then. I couldn't believe it was $118.00 but it's hard to explain to people about swimming with manatees at home without actually showing them the picture.

 

You had to be there to see. Just watching my dad ride this elevator up and down to different floors only to get off and yell my name to try and find me. It was classic. I only wish I would have had the video camera too.

 

If I move to Key West you can come for a visit.

 

 

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[wrigley80]

Wrigley! Wrigley! Wrigley!

 

 

Yes how can I help you Miss Snoopy......

 

 

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[wrigley80]

Your killing me! When are we going to see some Sunshine?:D

 

 

It's here. I made a couple posts. The natives were getting restless. I will post more tonight. Time to eat dinner

 

 

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[hotburner]

See now your mom and my dad would be perfect on a cruise sitting in the atrium and gabbing about the cruise. My dad loves to meet new people

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

They have lots of meeting and greeting people! Its keeps them young lol God bless them:)

[pcrum]

Really enjoying the review. Key West is one of our favorite ports also. We have seen the electric cars and thought they would be fun, but I'm curious as to where you park them when you get out? I've never noticed a lot of parking in Key West.

 

Thanks again for the lovely review.

[Gingee]

Curious why you bought twelve shirts in New Orleans. Twelve for you and twelve for your dad?

[cruse2loose]

Glad to see Ocean Plaza has a cont'l breakfast so I can get my coffee quickly. I have a room on 5th deck, one of the new ones. Loving the review :)

[dotheyes]

Great review

Is there a charge for breakfast in the Ocean Plaza

I am a big woman; how comfy are the chairs in O. Plaza?

dot

[wrigley80]

They have lots of meeting and greeting people! Its keeps them young lol God bless them:)

 

Haha it definitely keeps my dad young :p

[wrigley80]

Really enjoying the review. Key West is one of our favorite ports also. We have seen the electric cars and thought they would be fun, but I'm curious as to where you park them when you get out? I've never noticed a lot of parking in Key West.

 

Thanks again for the lovely review.

 

We were worried about the parking issue the first time we rented an electric car but we have never had any problems. There will be times when one person has to stay with the car while another person goes into a shop, bar, etc. Along Duval Street there are these little pull offs along the street you can park there just make sure someone stays with the car.

 

This past December I was parked out front of a Key West Aloe store along Greene Street. A cop pulled up behind me so I thought I was gonna be in trouble but he never said a word about me parking there. In fact he asked me if we were having a good time on vacation so far and what port we were headed to next. People in Key West are so friendly and it is such a relaxed atmosphere. That no one is going to bother you :)

[wrigley80]

Curious why you bought twelve shirts in New Orleans. Twelve for you and twelve for your dad?

 

T-shirts are my favorite souvenir. We always bring an empty suitcase with us so that when we start to pack to head home we know we will have enough room to bring everything home

[wrigley80]

Glad to see Ocean Plaza has a cont'l breakfast so I can get my coffee quickly. I have a room on 5th deck, one of the new ones. Loving the review :)

 

Let me know how you like those cabins when you return. I would think that would be a great location because you are so close to everything.

[wrigley80]

Great review

Is there a charge for breakfast in the Ocean Plaza

I am a big woman; how comfy are the chairs in O. Plaza?

dot

 

Hello Dot....

 

No there is no charge for the breakfast in the Ocean Plaza area at the taste bar. I don't think many people even realized that it was there. But it was like a continental breakfast

 

The chairs in the Ocean Plaza aren't that comfortable. I was a little tight in them but my dad was comfortable. I think I got another picture of the chairs I will be sure to include it in the review

[wrigley80]

Anyone who has read any of my past reviews will remember that I love sports and sports trivia. Another big reason why we booked the Sunshine was because I wanted to cruise on a ship with an EA Sports Bar. This was definitely one of my favorite locations onboard

 

 

 

This was a sports trivia book that was on all the tables and at the bar.

 

 

[wrigley80]

I thought that the atrium was beautiful. The huge sun that hangs over the atrium bar is a beautiful centerpiece for this ship

 

Once we left the Atrium we headed up to our cabin to put our clothes away before the muster drill. We were in cabin 8169....a balcony cabin on Verandah deck. We got our clothes put away and then it was time for everyone's favorite activity.....the MUSTER DRILL. Since my dad can't stand for long periods of time we were instructed to go to the Library for our Muster Drill. No one ever came in to give us further instructions. I guess its every man, woman, and child for themselves if that tug ever goes down :eek:

 

We headed back up to our cabin to watch sail away from our balcony. My dad was really looking forward to cruising out of New Orleans to see all the barges and other boats in the Mississippi River. When we got back to our room this is what we were greeted with

 

It was VERY foggy and the farther that we pushed away from the dock the foggier it got.

 

See what I mean

 

Remember that bridge you could see. It only took about one minute before you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. IT WAS BAD!!!!!!

 

My dad kept saying "I can't believe that we are leaving port in these conditions." There was no way the captain and officers could see a thing on the bridge. About an hour later I think the captain may have been starting to second guess himself. More to come on that later..............

[wrigley80]

We quickly realized that we weren't going to be seeing anything from the balcony on our transit down the River so we decided that it was time to get ready for dinner. We had anytime dining in the Sunrise Dining Room'

 

 

 

Sunrise Restaurant is on Deck 3 aft. It was a hassle to get to that dining room each night

 

 

[wrigley80]

Now remember when I said that I bet the Captain would be second guessing himself about leaving port when it was so foggy. Were sitting at dinner eating the appetizer and all of a sudden you feel the ship start to list to the starboard side and we STOPPED. Food fell off tables, glasses were breaking, and people were freaking out. The crew did their best to continue on with dinner but you could sense that people were really wondering what was going on.

 

In the middle of all that fog the captain miscalculated and the ship rolled onto a sandbar. For the next 45 minutes all you heard were the bow thrusters and stern thrusters trying to push us off this sandbar.

 

That's it we were going to become the next Carnival statistic that everyone is going to see on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. The only thing missing was Anderson Cooper in the CNN chopper circling above for the next news story.

 

After about 45 minutes we were free from the sandbar and on our way down the river again and dinner must go on.......

 

 

Where's my food...oh that's right it hit the floor when we hit the sandbar

 

This is a beautiful dining room

[christmas]

Now remember when I said that I bet the Captain would be second guessing himself about leaving port when it was so foggy. Were sitting at dinner eating the appetizer and all of a sudden you feel the ship start to list to the starboard side and we STOPPED. Food fell off tables, glasses were breaking, and people were freaking out. The crew did their best to continue on with dinner but you could sense that people were really wondering what was going on.

 

In the middle of all that fog the captain miscalculated and the ship rolled onto a sandbar. For the next 45 minutes all you heard were the bow thrusters and stern thrusters trying to push us off this sandbar.

 

That's it we were going to become the next Carnival statistic that everyone is going to see on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. The only thing missing was Anderson Cooper in the CNN chopper circling above for the next news story.

 

After about 45 minutes we were free from the sandbar and on our way down the river again and dinner must go on.......

 

 

Where's my food...oh that's right it hit the floor when we hit the sandbar

 

This is a beautiful dining room

 

Wow I am sure that was scary. I can't believe that the ship would leave port in that fog!

[wrigley80]

After dinner we headed to one of the comedy shows in the Limelight Lounge. Now I have read a lot of complaints about the layout of the Limelight Lounge but I didn't see a problem with it. The only thing I didn't like was that when you exited from a show you had to leave though the aft doors

 

Limelight Lounge

 

 

 

Bonsai Sushi restaurant on Deck 4

 

Farenheit 555 Steakhouse on Deck 4 Mid

 

Piano Bar

[wrigley80]

Wow I am sure that was scary. I can't believe that the ship would leave port in that fog!

 

It wasn't really scary. I was definitely glad that I wasn't around when it happened because if I was I would have been on the floor. And that fog was CRAZY

[wrigley80]

By now it was around 11:30 pm so we decided to head up to the cabin to get ready for bed. We were both pretty tired plus we wanted to sit out on the balcony for a while before bed

 

 

 

Our Platinum gift was the Tervis Tumbler with the red lid. I was surprised that this was our gift because we received the tote bag on the Imagination

[wrigley80]

This was the look on my face when we went out onto the balcony because I was shocked at what we saw

 

It was now clear as a bell and quite warm outside. What a difference 5 hours will make???

 

 

 

 

 

Ok folks that is the end of Day #1 onboard the Carnival Sunshine. Feel free to ask any and all questions