Imagination cabins

[lcccbeloeil]

Just to confirm what others have said:

 

- there is no hair dryer

- there are two bathrobes

- there is only one single outlet (three prong) so bring a power bar

- there is plenty of shelf space behind the bathroom mirror, but my $1 plastic hanging shoe thingy was so convenient

- there is no mini-barà

- they do provide toothpaste but no toothbrush

- there is shampoo but no conditioner (never did figure out what the blue stuff in the shower was, but I think it's liquid hand soap)

- you have to use a card with a magnetic strip to lock and unlock your room safe

- lanyards are available for free at the casino cashier

- there are no glass souvenir glasses :o(

 

... and the best tip I could ever provide is... bring a set of walkie-talkies (or buy them on the ship... but they're cheaper from home).

[lcccbeloeil]

That's mini-bar... and I have to learn the right codes for emoticons! I meant to put a sad face.

[dpal2208]

Did you just get back? How bout a review? My family is going on the ship on Jan 2nd. Interested in Food, Service, Cabins (2 inside quads booked), and anything else you want to tell.

thanks

djp

[lcccbeloeil]

Hi djp,

 

Yes, we just got back on Wednesday from a 4-night to Key West and Cozumel that turned into a 6-night to Freeport and Nassau.

 

This was my first time on a Carnival cruise (business trip) so my feelings about this cruise ship are based on the fact that my first cruise was on RCI's Empress and my second cruise was on RCI's Navigator. Everything is relative.

 

Carnival is not Royal Caribbean (flame away)... and Royal Caribbean (I'm sure) is not... the Queen Mary II. It all depends on what you're after and the price you paid. A lot of people would not sail with anyone but Carnival.

 

It is a "fun" ship in that there are many places and opportunities to dance, drink, join in the fun, and sing along.

 

Imagination is 10 years old and I went on the Navigator when it was brand new. Imagination is starting to show it's age but that in no way affected the cruise. We had a great time!

 

Some in our group were annoyed by the constant loud music around the main pool, but you can go to the aft pool for peace and quiet.

 

I hate to compare the food to RCI food, but we thought the RCI food choices at the buffet were better, both in variety and quality. My husband missed the smoked salmon in the morning, for example. The scrambled eggs are made with Egg Beaters (which many prefer) but if you want real eggs, you can get them made any way you like. I ordered rock lobster tail on the formal night in the dining room and it was inedible because it was so chewy and hard to cut through. Others had better luck, though. The other dining room meals were excellent and there were many choices. What I didn't appreciate was having a dessert delivered to me that I did not order. Our dining time was 8:30 in the Pride Dining Room. That's the last of four possible supper times on the ship. Once they tried very hard to convince us to take the baked Alaska and once they simply delivered a dessert we didn't want with no option for the dessert menu (we figured they had to find a way to get rid of all these desserts no one had chosen). We didn't appreciate that. To be fair, on RCI we were often given (not offered) drinks to try that we hadn't ordered and, if we accepted the drinks (as we found out later), they were charged to our account (duh!).

 

Service was excellent. I have no complaints. When there was a disaster here at home, they let me use their phone for free (mind you, a couple of friends used the room phone often to call their kids and they were never charged).

 

The cruise director, Jeff, and his staff were a lot of fun and funny and the captain was superb at keeping us informed about the bad weather and what his options were. That really helped because we had no idea when we would be returning to port and ETA changed often. We always felt safe.

 

We had cabin M115 (we were part of a business group and were assigned a cabin). Loved having the porthole to watch the weather and the ports. The bathroom was large, the room space was adequate (it was a double). As I said in another post, there is only one 110 plug and one 220 plug. Bring a power bar.

 

On the night we were chasing Wilma, there were plenty of barf bags available everywhere... in the halls, in front of the elevators. I think they should have made Meclizine available at more places than in front of the doc's office.

 

As I said in another post, bring walkie-talkies. Very practical. The layout of the ship is (to us, anyway) very confusing and it took a few days to figure out where everything was. Carry the map with you everywhere. There really is no main congregating area other than the pool, so it's hard to find people in your family just by walking around.

 

We liked the self-serve ice cream and frozen yogurt (in the buffet room), the pizza bar (in the buffet room), and the hamburger/hot dog bar at the pool. I really liked that you could eat the buffet outside most of the time (sometimes it was just too windy, so they locked the doors).

 

As for the shows: The opening night show involves some audience members dancing on stage and that was a lot of fun. The "Living in America" show was excellent, the "Shout" show was even better, the comedian was not even funny (sorry), and the extra show (because of our extended stay) "Carnival Legends" was also great and involved staff members singing (some had really good voices) or lip synching. It was very funny.

 

That's it for now. You will really enjoy your cruise. How you feel about it overall depends, I guess, on what you compare it to. This is only one opinion and I'm sure you can get other people to show you a completely different side of the ship than I can.

[dpal2208]

Thanks Iccc. I too have sailed many different lines. (rccl, Holand America, NCL etc). I know there are some differences with all. However, when it comes down to it. I'd rather be cruising than working any day.

THanks again for the info.

Looking forward to the cruise.

djp