Imagination 2/7-2/11

[ducker]

First time on Carnival for myself and two teenage daughters(16) while the men in our house went skiing.

We chose to fly into Ft. Lauderdale and spend the night figuring it was cheaper and most likely a little safer. We rented a car and drove to Miami the next day and were at the port by 12:30. There was no line up so we were on the boat relaxing in the sun with drink in hand by 1:00. We had an inside room (M79) with two pull down bunks. The location of the room was great, centre of the ship and close to the elevators. My only complaint with the room was it did not have a blowdryer, first time I have gone to dinner with wet hair luckly I have short hair! The new beds were very comfortable. The girls visited club O2 but since it was not springbreak only a handful of teenagers were on board so the club did not offer much. Welcome aboard show was just ok, the dancers are marginal, women singer very good, male singer marginal, the comedy act of Roman Murray was good.

 

First day was Key West and we walked around town then rented an electric car for an hour, should have rented it sooner but still had fun. Don't miss getting a Chocolate Covered Key Lime Pie on a stick from Blonde Girraffe. The ship set sail at 2:00 so we spent the rest of the afternoon on deck taking in the rays. Livin in America show was good especially the fastistic dancers from Russia. I stayed up late and caught the late night comedy special with Roman Murray and it was quite good.

 

Second day we arrived in Cozumel a hour earlier (12:00) then expected so that was a bonus. We headed by taxi ($15 including tip) to Paradise Beach where we had no trouble finding three beach chairs together. We paid the $10pp for a wrist band and I spend most of the afternoon on a swim mat while the girls climbed the iceburg and hung out on the trampoline. This is a great place to enjoy the beach, water and cold beverages. We left around 5:00 there were lots of taxis waiting to take us back the ship. Because we were parked at the pier in town we were able to shower and change on the ship and then head back to town without having to take a taxi. We walked around town a little and the girls wanted to check out the excitement at Carlos and Charlies, they can't wait to go back when they are 18! We were back on the ship by 8:30, grabbed a bite to eat on the lido deck and then watched the drunks board the ship at 9:30.(very funny)Entertainment tonight was a ventriloquist and comedian and it was outstanding. The girls attended the Deck party late at night and said it was a lot of fun.

 

Third Day was at sea which was very windy so it was hard to get chairs because everyone wanted to get out of the wind. This boat has the same problem as everywhere lots of chair hogs. People would put their towels on chairs and never use them. The show this evening was good and we were again lucky enough to see the amazing dance pair from Russia. I again caught the "R" rated comedy show at midnight which was very funny.:D

Debarkation was the same waiting game as on all ships but we had breakfast and then found comfy chairs to sit in the sun while waiting for our deck to be called.

 

Pros for this ship:

lots of different entertainment at night

lots of stations to get food so lineups are shorter

Pizza 24hrs

 

Cons for this ship:

No Blowdryer

Smoking rules not enforced, there were a lot of smokers onboard:eek:

 

 

I have now cruised on Carnival, Royal Carb. and Disney and I would say Royal Carb. is still my favorite but all cruiselines have something unique to offer so I would not hesitate to go on any of them again. :)