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July 4th on Imagination, with a trip Behind the Fun! A pictorial.


DarthGrady
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Intro:

This was a hastily scheduled cruise, booked about one week in advance. My wife and I were previously booked on a 7 day cruise on Carnival Legend in November, but it had to be cancelled due to my wife’s employment changes. So to make it up to ourselves, we took two 3 day cruises before the start of her new job. One was on Monarch of the Seas on June 18, and the other on Carnival Imagination on July 2, 2010.

It has been a running joke between us that the Imagination is our “stalker” ship. This came about since she has been in port with us at least once on many cruises we have taken. So it seemed like a good time to give her a try and be able to say that we have “been on that one too”.

My wife and I drove down to Fort Lauderdale the night before the cruise and stayed at the Mariott North hotel. My labor union has held conferences there in the past, so I was happy when Hotwire gave us a great rate for the night. For anyone looking for a hotel in a decent area, I recommend the Mariott North Lauderdale. It’s a nice place right off I-95 with a big pool area, plus there are many restaurants near by. The drive to the pier the next day only took about 40 minutes.

 

Our view of Laudy from the room

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Embarkation:

As I have before, I will continue my praise for the VIP embarkation at the Port of Miami. We got to the terminal around 10-ish and were in the VIP Lounge in no time. As soon as they began boarding we got right on and were some of the first on the ship. It is such an easy and pleasant process; I just wish Miami was closer for us.

 

VIP Embarkation Lounge

 

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The Ship:

Having done so many of my cruises on other Fantasy Class ships, it felt like coming home when I stepped onto Imagination. The ship’s interiors are still in good shape after her fifteen years in service. There were several places where the carpet had become tattered and needed replacing, but she was very clean and in mostly good repair.

Central on Empress Deck is the lobby of the ship, which is also the bottom floor of the expansive Grand Atrium. A lobby bar, guest relations (the Purser’s desk), the shore excursions desk and the internet café can all be found there. The crew also hung a huge American flag in the atrium in honor of Independence Day.

 

The lobby bar

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Shore tours

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Guest services

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The art gallery, right off the lobby

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One floor up on Atlantic Deck one finds both of the main dining rooms (Pride forward, and Spirit aft), a piano bar, library, shopping area, and the first floor of the main theater. I usually make it a point to visit the piano bar frequently on a cruise, but for some reason we never made it in there this time.

The piano bar

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The ship's library

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hey grady, welcome back! looking forward to this, i always love your reviews! :D

 

i tried an impromptu cruise for the 4th too, but it didnt work out due to TS alex :mad:

 

seems that the imagination is awfully colorful inside! lol... glad you made it on your stalker ship... forgive me if this is jumping ahead, but did it have the deck lights strung up? ;)

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The Dynasty Lounge main theater

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Laser tag setup on the stage

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The "secret door" that leads to the lower observation deck, which has apparently been redesignated as a "crew only" area on all Fantasy Class ships. For those new to Carnival, it used to be for guests.

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hey grady, welcome back! looking forward to this, i always love your reviews! :D

 

i tried an impromptu cruise for the 4th too, but it didnt work out due to TS alex :mad:

 

seems that the imagination is awfully colorful inside! lol... glad you made it on your stalker ship... forgive me if this is jumping ahead, but did it have the deck lights strung up? ;)

 

Thanks Mark!

 

Sorry your cruise didn't pan out, d@mn tropical storms!

 

No rope lights on Imagination, even the cable that used to hold them (and the flags) was gone. The strand in front of the bridge was still in place oddly enough. I asked the Captain why they were taken down while we were on the Behind the Fun tour, he said they were probably taken down for repair. But since the Fascination has also lost hers, I'm betting it will be done fleetwide sooner or later. Probably some Vice President trying to save a few bucks and didn't think anyone would notice. :rolleyes:

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Moving up from Atlantic is the Imagination Promenade. This is the main entertainment area and is home to the casino, two dance clubs, a cigar bar, and the main theater’s balcony. A smaller theater is located aft on this deck, which is used mostly for karaoke and comedy shows. At the very back of Promenade Deck is the Serenity area. This is an adult only sunning deck with its own hot tubs. The staff generally does a good job kicking out interloping children. The exception was at night, when the area was still open but there was no attendant to be found. Once the crewman was gone, I saw several teens in the hot tubs.

Photo gallery

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Video arcade

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Club O2 teen disco

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No rope lights on Imagination, even the cable that used to hold them (and the flags) was gone. The strand in front of the bridge was still in place oddly enough. I asked the Captain why they were taken down while we were on the Behind the Fun tour, he said they were probably taken down for repair. But since the Fascination has also lost hers, I'm betting it will be done fleetwide sooner or later. Probably some Vice President trying to save a few bucks and didn't think anyone would notice. :rolleyes:

 

sounds to me like the captain didn't know what he was talking about... probably... :rolleyes:

 

it'd be very lame if they took them down to save a few bucks... the ship makes its own power!

 

it'll be interesting to see how this one pans out...

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Sorry, I forgot the dining rooms while we were on Atlantic Deck:

 

The forward Pride Dining Room

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The nearly identical aft Spirit Dining Room

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One would assume that they are named after the Carnival Spirit and Carnival Pride, but one would be wrong. They are actually named after the Seabourn Spirit and Pride. Models of those ships adorn the entrances to both dining rooms.

 

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sounds to me like the captain didn't know what he was talking about... probably... :rolleyes:

 

it'd be very lame if they took them down to save a few bucks... the ship makes its own power!

 

it'll be interesting to see how this one pans out...

 

I got that impression as well. Probably something that came across his desk as a memo, and forgotten just as quickly. Not a huge issue for someone responsible for 2000+ lives and 300 million in hardware. But I figured if anyone would know it would be him.

 

Speaking of saving money, I wonder how much they wasted on paint to cover up the Carnival "widget" on the sides of the ships? :D:rolleyes:

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