A Quickie on the Imagination

[Kokomo_Man]

OK… get your mind out of the gutter… a “Quickie” means that I’m doing a “quickie cruise”. It’s a four-day on the Imagination out of Long Beach. And a four-day really is a quickie since you barely have time to unpack. I rarely go for a quickie. I like it to last much longer than this. But even thought it’s short, a quickie is still good… isn’t it?

 

Those of you that know me know that I usually do a “live from”. But this time I’m not going to sign up for internet since it’s only a quickie. If I can pick up free Internet at one of the ports, then maybe I’ll post during the cruise. Otherwise, I’ll just write as I go along and put up the posts when I get back. In my usual irreverent fashion, I’ll tell you the good, the bad or the ugly as and if it happens.

 

[This is being posted completely after the cruise as I did not get to any good internet places]

 

I’m going to start with the Internet on board. I don’t know if this falls into the good or bad category. They have instituted the new Internet scheme here on the Imagination… at least new to me. They have three different tiers of service: “Social”, “Value”, and “Premium”. Social is just access to some of the social networks.

 

[Note I have posted more detailed information in the full story on Kokomo Man's blog By the way, I’ll be posting pics there too since you can’t post pics directly to CC]

 

Thank you very much, but I think I’m going to continue boycotting Carnival’s internet. They’ve come a step closer… but no cupie doll. It’s still at least twice as expensive as it is worth. Carnival likes to claim they offer exceptional value compared to land based vacations. Mostly that’s true, but they need to re-look at the internet charges. Till then my “live from” articles will only be posted when I get internet from ports or after the cruise is over. I guess that means they really aren’t exactly “live from” any more. Well... they are live in the sense that I’m doing the writing during the cruise and not after it’s over.

 

Day 0... make that Day 0h... starts the minute I set my tootsies on board the ship and head off for a drink of the day! I rarely drink any kind of booze during the day… especially early in the afternoon. But there’s something about crossing the gang-plank onto a cruise ship that changes all that. For me it’s straight up to the Lido deck for a snack and a Carnival rum punch. I’m not usually a rum drinker, but there’s something about the “Funship Special” that’s mmmmmm-mmmmmm good. I always have one… or two… or three... or...

 

After boarding, I did a “walk-about” to check things out. I’ve been on this ship once before and on Inspiration (same class ship as this) a couple of times. But they’ve done some upgrades so I wanted to see what has changed. This is a nice ship even though it’s one of the older Fantasy class ships. As usual for all cruise ships, the maintenance is always all on-going. All of the facilities are like the other ships… gym, spa, restaurants, etc. They are good, and inviting places, but just smaller than the latest mega ships.

 

The only noticeable upgrade is the Serenity deck. On this ship, it’s on the faux poop deck. OK… there’s no such thing as a “faux poop deck”, but I just like saying “poop deck”... the highest point on the stern of the ship. On this ship the “faux poop deck” (Serenity Deck) is on the stern, but it’s two levels below the Lido deck. The Lido and the deck below it don’t go all the way to the stern so that makes it a “faux poop deck” because it’s open to the sun and sky.

 

Compared to the bigger and newer ships the Serenity area is quite small, but still has the nice chairs and a couple of hot tubs. I’m surprised they don’t have a bar back there because a bar is always a moneymaker. They did seem to have a waiter in the area, but I’m not sure if that was just for the “drink of the day” during the sail-away or if there will be one there all cruise long.

 

Without saying much Carnival has continued to restrict the areas available to smokers. OK… don’t shoot me here… I’m just your dutiful cub reporter. It used to be that Carnival’s policy was that one side of the ship on all the open air decks were smoking areas. Now just a small portion of the Lido deck, furthest away from the buffet, is a smoking area.

 

Usually I’m in one of the Serenity hot tubs… with a frozen concoction to help me hang on… early on in the cruise. But this time out of Long Beach it’s chilly… in the high 50’s or low 60’s at best. The forecast says it is going to stay that way for most of the cruise. Maybe it’ll be a little warmer when we get a bit farther south.

 

It’s time for the mustard off the hotdog drill, so I’ll stop for now and continue later.

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

[SadieN]

Thanks for the review.

 

How did you like the larger tenders in Catalina? Good for those who need wheels and not so grid if your the first one onboard.

 

FWIW Serenity is on 9, Lido 10, Slides 11. Agree about the Poop deck, the seagulls are relentless.

[vwrestler171]

I look forward to your review, I get on Imagination on Wednesday.

[boaterette]

I always enjoy your reports.

[mikechass]

Seems like a super fun review.

Can't wait to read more!!

[tncap]

Did two four day B2Bs on Imagination last month with another four day booked next month. Love the crew!

[Kokomo_Man]

Day O – part II

 

I’m back (duh). It’s the end of Day Oh. Bloody Mary is in the casino getting rich… yeah, right. While she’s there, I’ll do a wrap up on today.

 

The muster drill is about serious business. I know that. But Carnival continues to loose everyone’s attention. First, we gathered in one of the lounges. A moderator tells everyone to be quiet because this is important stuff. Then we sit there. After a few minutes everyone starts a little chatter. There’s nothing else coming from the moderator nor over the ship’s intercom.This repeats itself several times for twenty or thirty minutes. It gets to the point where it starts to become comical. Well, I’ll stop there because you get the idea.

 

It was nearly dark by the time we sailed out of Long Beach. The harbor and coastline are all lit up and it really sparkles. There’s what looks to be a sea wall with multi-color lights, a Ferris wheel and a bunch of other stuff at some kind of amusement park. Everything adds to the sparkle. If you get a chance you really have go out on the poop deck to see it. It’s quite pretty.

 

I still lament the loss of live bands during the sail-away… especially the one or two man bands on the Lido deck in the afternoons or during the sail-aways. The DJ they now have is OK… but just OK. And on this ship the sound system doesn’t seem to be up to par so it is just becomes some loud background noise. Although Carnival seems to have brought back the steel-drum type band on other ships… not this one.

 

Dining at the “American Table”... This is Carnivals latest scheme for dining on some ships. Dinner was good and the service was what I’ve come to expect from Carnival… which means very good. But… now here it comes… Carnival seems to have hit the height of cheapness. Their “American style” dining sucks. They’ve started by doing away with the tablecloths. That in and of itself isn’t a big deal. But now, instead of a clean tablecloth between the early and late sittings, there’s just the bare table… the table where you can still see the traces of the wash cloth that wiped down the table. EEWWWWWW. Some of the silverware gets put on the table. EEWWWWWW.

 

Doing away with tablecloths isn’t the only bad thing. Now instead of serving bread to each person before ordering your meal, they just put a platter of bread on the table for everyone to share. Last night they sat down the bread by the guy next to me. He decided that he needed to see which pieces of the bread were soft before he chose the one he wanted. Then he passed the platter on to me… EEWWWWWW. I decided I didn’t want any bread.

 

NOTE TO BEAN-COUNTERS: Some things may look good on paper… and they aren’t!

 

The thing I always look to for the first night's dinner is the Chocolate Melting Cake… mmmmmmm-mmmmm good. I don’t usually even take the dessert menu. Tonight I took it just to check things out. There seemed to be fewer offerings than in the past, but I'm not sure on that one. Of course, tonight there was only one thing to consider for dessert... Chocolate Melting Cake. For me, it is always the best dessert of the cruise. Except tonight it was more like soupy pudding… not like cake at all. It was still good, but just not quite as good as when it is 2/3 cake and 1/3 pudding in the middle.

 

Even though this post has seemed a bit negative, I’ve really had a smile on my face since setting foot on the ship. All of the staff has been cheerful and go out of their way to take care of folks. Our “room ninja” came by in the afternoon and like magic, he took care of some stuff we asked for. The bartenders seem to be better than usual... quick, efficient, and the drinks are all “well poured”.

 

That’s enough for now. It’s off to the Piano Bar for me. I’m told the entertainer in there is pretty good so I’ve got to go check it out. I’ve also got to check in on Bloody Mary to see how big of a condo we’re going to buy in South Florida from her winnings.

 

Next up is Santa Catalina Island.

 

[a more detailed version of this post is up on my Kokomo Man blog]

 

Kokomo Man

Still Searching for Kokomo

[GradUT]

Don't keep us hanging, Kokomo_Man! So tell us about Catalina Island.

 

(I'm taking this cruise in August and find your postings so informative.)

[Kokomo_Man]

Catalina Island

 

Sorry for the delay in posting. Sometimes life gets in the way when you're not on a cruise ship. Anyway... here it is.

 

The first time I went to Catalina Island I was a tween-ager… around twelve or thirteen. My parents owned a 16-foot cabin cruiser. One weekend we went to Long Beach to launch our boat for a day adventure. It was a really nice day. As we were launching the boat we could see Catalina. It’s only 21 miles off shore. So, on the spur of the moment my parents decided we would go there and spend the night.

 

Off we went… it probably only took around an hour or a little more to get there. It was a reasonably nice ride getting there… considering it was a 16-foot boat. We looked around the stores and shops a bit during the day and went to the old “casino” in the evening. Even back then it wasn’t a casino. The only thing I remember was it had some kind of stars on the ceiling of what was then a theater. The presentation was something about the universe.

 

When we got up the next day the weather had set in. Visibility was only a mile or two and the seas had risen to 10-12 foot swells. For me, it was a great adventure to head out into the ocean with those swells. I thought, “People pay extra for such thrill rides and I was getting it for free”. And since we couldn’t see land we had to navigate just using a little compass on the dashboard. No GPS or electronic navigation. Yes indeed, great adventure for a tween-ager. I just didn’t understand why my dad seemed so concerned.

 

This time… many moons later, the boat is a teeeeny bit bigger… an 850+ foot long, zillion ton, cruise ship. We sailed from Long Beach around 5:30 P.M. It took about 14 hours to get to Catalina. All the stuff on the island is there just like when I was a kid… well, sort of. I don’t think much has changed in the years since I was first there. But somehow, I remember Avalon as being a lot bigger.

 

Go to my Kokomo Man blog for the pics that go along with most of this stuff.

 

The cruise ships now have large tenders to get you ashore. The last time I was on a cruise here they used boats that were only a little bigger than a rowboat. When we went ashore in those tenders, Bloody Mary was a little nervous... and a little green. These new tenders are large, stable ships and can take maybe a couple hundred people... a vast improvement over the old tenders.

 

I didn’t do any of the tours that are available. Instead, I just did a walk-about. You can walk around most of the Avalon area in a few hours. There are lots of quaint shops to look in. Yes, some are the standard tourist type shops like in a lot of the Caribbean ports, but Catalina is different. Instead of being covered with trinket places, there are a variety of boutique stores with clothing, art, and collectables.

 

I found a nice little place to have a good cup of coffee. I like coffee most mornings, but the coffee on cruise ships is PATOOOOOYYYY. I usually bring some of those coffee bags with me so all I need is just hot water to have something that passes for coffee. But this time I didn’t bring any because this is just a quickie. So... I was really glad to find the Catalina Coffee and Cookie Co. It’s just a little place in the “Metropole Marketplace” with outdoor tables.

 

Even though it was a little cool, I sat outside and used their internet (free with purchase) to check email and such. I didn’t bring my computer with me... I had decided not to post the “live froms”... so I just used my smart phone to check on stuff. What a world we live in today. Anyway. I would have stopped in there for the coffee even if there were no internet. There coffee was really good. I won’t try to tell you exactly where it is because I would only confuse you. But... if you are a coffee lover, Google the Catalina Coffee and Cookie Co. before you go to find out where it is. Oh... I almost forgot, they have fresh homemade cookies too. I didn’t have any, but they smelled good.

 

There are also several ice cream shops. These aren’t the cheapie type… these are the mmmmmm – mmmmmm good places with 453 rich, creamy flavors for you to choose from. I thought I would just have one right after I got off the ship. But as the day wore on, I stopped in three different places. Each had its own character and the ice cream was GREAT. Now that I’m back on the ship, I wish I could have one more. Of course as it is… and with all the chocolate melting cake, I’m going to have to spend an extra 30 minutes in the gym every day of the trip.

 

I also strolled over to the famous casino. It’s the iconic spot on the island. A long time ago it stopped being an actual casino. Today, it’s sort of a history museum about the island. It costs five bucks to go in on a self-guided tour… twenty-five bucks for the whole guided tour. I was getting low on time so I didn’t go. Instead I just walked around and took some pics.

 

If you are a SCUBA diver, there is a dive shop right in the back of the “Casino”. I have never been diving there… or anywhere off the coast of California because the water is so cold. That said, lots of people tell me that the diving in Catalina is great. There are huge kelp forests and the lots of the orange Garibaldi fish the area is known for. So if you don’t mind wearing a 7mm wet suit, it’s probably a good place to dive. I’m told it’s also a good place to snorkel too.

 

It was still a bit chilly today... then anything below 80 is chilly to me. I didn’t expect to see anyone diving or snorkeling but sure enough, there were people there. As I arrived, four snorkelers were just getting in the water at the bottom of the steps. Dressed in their thick wet suits, the first two tippy-toed down into the water without saying anything. Then a third person just leaped in. Remember Chevy Chase in the movie “Vacation”... when he jumped in after a very “hot” Christine Brinkley. Well... after this guy jumped in, he came up hollarin’ “C-O-O-O-LD” (Just in case... here’s a the link to the

:)

 

Of course there are plenty of “watering holes” within easy walking distance. That said, they don’t line the street like Key West or a lot of the Caribbean areas. I did not see any of the big chain watering holes like the Senior Frogs or Hard Rocks typical of the Caribbean. Still you won’t have any trouble finding a place to have a frozen concoction to help you hang on.

 

That’s all for today. Tomorrow it’s on to Ensenada... Ole!

 

Bob

Searching for Kokomo

[SadieN]

Thanks for the review.

 

The Casino was never for gambling.

[Kokomo_Man]

Hola Ensenada

 

Hola desde bonita Ensenada... Hi from beautiful Ensenada. I’m starting this post from the Starbucks within walking distance from the ship. You may be getting the idea that I would rather have a good cup of coffee than a frozen concoction to help me hang on. Usually you would be correct. But... today my quest is to find a place to buy Rancho Escondido tequila. Well, that is, after I have a decent cup of coffee.

 

You see, I visited Cabo on a cruise about a year ago. I should have gone there this year too, because the weather is fifteen to twenty degrees warmer in farther south. Anyway, in Cabo I went to a place called “The Happy Ending”. They had a special: two shots and two beers for five bucks. That price seemed to be too good to be true. I figured it would be a very small glass of beer and a thimble size shot of tequila. But no... these were full size shots and two regular bottles of beer.

 

I didn’t drink the beer, but the guy I was with said it was good. (Bloody Mary stayed back on the boat for this one.) Added to this, I had never done shots before. So, that was a first for me:

 

Ariba - Abajo - Al Centro - Al Dentro... that’s sort of the Mexican version of “Over the lips and past the gums... look out stomach, here it comes”. Lime slices were prepared as was a little salt on the back of my hand. I licked the salt... and then it was “down the hatch”. I fully expected to wretch and gag with some foul, burning stuff going down my throat. Instead, the tequila went nicely. A quick suck on the lime and I let out an aaaaahhhhhhhhh.

 

Yeah, there was a bit of burn, but it was ok. My friend and fellow piano bar enthusiast Laura (AKA Divetrash here on CC) has the motto, “I’ll try anything twice... once to see if I like it. And a second time to confirm my opinion.” Since the first shot seemed pretty good, I needed to confirm my opinion.

 

After the second shot, my opinion was confirmed... this was pretty good stuff. On the day, a number of other shots went down. I have since been told that before making it back to the ship, there were some bikini clad twenty-somethings involved. I plead complete innocence. It’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

Now the point of telling you about that cruise, is my quest today is to find some of that Tequila. Before I staggered out of “The Happy Ending”, we found out that the brand of tequila they used for the shots is “Rancho Escondido”. Ok... I didn’t remember that, but the friend I was with took a picture of the bottle on his phone.

 

It turns out that you can’t buy Rancho Escondido in the U.S. Hence today’s quest. I’ve finished my coffee, so it’s time to get to it. More later...

_____________________________________________________________

 

OK... it’s later.

 

Before I tell you where I found the Rancho Escondido, I need to mention, that I really don’t like Ensenada. The first time I came here, also on a cruise, I decided I really didn’t ever want to go back. Well, this is my fourth cruise back here since. And I still don’t like it. But since I like cruising, this just happens to be where the ship goes. So, the only reason I got off the ship today was for the Tequila.

 

I did take a few pics and you can see them and more on my Kokomo Man blog.

 

You can walk to the “downtown” area (and the Starbucks) from the ship. It’s about 3/4 of a mile from the ship’s gang-plank to Starbucks and a couple of short blocks from there to the “downtown” area. I put the “downtown” area in quotes, because the area I’m talking about is really just a grande tourista trap-o. I suspect it’s what the locals think the Gringo del Norte’s are looking for... barkers from every store trying to pull you in to make a great deal on the junk they have. “Come in... look around... I make you a good deal my Amigo.”

 

Get away from this area and I suspect the rest of Ensenada is quite different. I know there’s a Walmart, McDonalds, Home Depot, Ashley Furnature and an Applebees Neighborhood grill and bar. I’m not making any of that up... it’s all there where there’s normal life. That area is about 3.5 miles south of the cruise port.

 

But for the tourists, there’s “downtown.” It’s interesting the first time, but after that... well, if I wasn’t looking for the tequila I would never go “downtown”. From past trips I knew that there were tons of liquor stores “downtown”... and I went into most of them. But, no Rancho Escondido. All wanted to “make me a deal” on some expensive tequilas, but none had what I wanted.

 

I was about to give up, but something told me to try something else. I was out to the edge of the Grande Tourista Trap-o and spotted a grocery store. I went in, wandered around a little bit and found a section where they had wine and.... ta-daaaaahhhhhh, Rancho Escondido. I looked at the price... did a quick conversion... let’s see... 68 pesos at about 6 cents to a peso... or is it six pesos to a dollar or...

 

Well, it didn’t seem to bad so I grabbed three bottles. When I got to the check-out they translated it into dollars for me... not quite $12.00. In my best Spanish I asked, “?Cada Uno?” The reply came back, “No... por los tres”. No, for all three. I should have brought a bigger back-pack.

 

With that I merrily headed back to the ship... passing back through “downtown”. No, I don’t want any women... no, I don't want any dope... no, I don't want anything else you’re trying to sell.

 

When I got back to the ship, my backpack with the tequila in it went through the scanner. The security guy told me I had to check my booze in at the table and I could pick it up at the end of the cruise. I did check it in... both bottles.

 

Adios, Ensenada

 

 

Kokomo Man

Searching for Kokomo

[RNsoon2beNP]

Loving the review! Thanks for sharing... cant wait for the rest :)

[Specially_K]

OK... I'll bite. What happened to the third bottle?

[vwrestler171]

OK... I'll bite. What happened to the third bottle?

 

Probably just told them he had 2 bottles.

 

I agree with the OP, I'm not a big fan of Ensenada either. I'm planning on staying onboard while in port. Maybe run into town for lunch and cheap tequila, but other than that, I don't care for it.

[GradUT]

We plan to stay on board in Ensenada too. I just hope everyone else goes ashore so we have the ship to ourselves! :)

[Kokomo_Man]

Rise and shine campers... it’s Ground-hog-Day.

 

I know you were probably expecting another post about the “quickie” today, but a far more important event in my life has happened today. Punxsutawney Phil has prognosticated the coming of spring amidst some controversy on what Phil actually saw. So I’ve been working on that today over on KokomoMan. I’ll be posting the rest about the “quickie” tomorrow.

 

Oh... about that third bottle of tequila Specially_K mentioned. Well, you can only take two bottles of duty free booze back into the US. So, let’s just say it didn’t go to waste that night, the following the sea day, or the last night of the cruise. :D

 

Bob

Still Searching for Kokomo

Edited February 2, 2016 by Kokomo_Man

[crusinpsychRN]

I was a little worried about the title of the thread...TMI???

[GradUT]

Kokomo_man, I see that you described the tenders at Catalina as being able to carry a couple hundred of passengers. That's great, but depending on how many tenders they have and how long it takes to load and unload them, I can see that the tendering process could take a long time. Did it? And how was the process returning in the afternoon? We want to maximize our time at Catalina.

 

Thanks!

[Kokomo_Man]

GradUT asked about the tender process...

 

It does take a bit longer to load and unload the tenders since they take a couple hundred people. However, this is a far faster way than trying to do it fifteen or twenty people at a time.

 

Of course, priority is given to those booking tours through Carnival.

 

During "rush hour" everyone is sent to the main theater and given a sticky with a number on it. Platinum and Faster to the Fun people are given #1. Then when a tender is available to start loading, they start calling numbers. When your number is called a "guide" takes you down the stairs to the tender. After "rush hour" they made an announcement that you could just go directly to the tender.

 

I thought it was all quite efficient, and didn't see much of a back-up. But perhaps that was just the time of day I went.

 

For the return trip, they tell you to just show up at the dock. The tender operator gave some warning that there might be long lines if you wait till close to sail-away time. They made a recommendation to be back about 1 1/2 hours before that to avoid the line.

 

I was back ahead of all that and had no line to wait in. We did have to wait for more people to board, but they didn't wait till the tender was all the way full... maybe 10 minutes was all I waited.

 

All in all, I think the tender process in place now is a vast improvement over the little "row boats" they used to have.

 

I'll be making my last NOT "live from" post for the "quickie" tomorrow. If anyone has any more questions, I'll be glad to try and answer them.

[GradUT]

THANK YOU, Kokomo_Man!