Just back from Imagination 7-31 to 8-5

Hi Y'all (as Jeff Brrronson would say), I have just returned from my awesome cruise aboard the Imagination. I have lots of info and pics to post, but wanted to let you know it was awesome!!! I look forward to sharing everything with you!!

Bye y'all!!;)

We'll be on the Imagination in Mar of '07- really looking forward to any info and pics you can offer to everyone. Thanks!

i'll be on the imagination next month....can't wait to see some of your pictures :)

thanks

We (family of 5) are going for Christmas. We can't wait.

I'll be keeping an eye out on this thread, I'm going on that ship in about two weeks. Can't wait to see pictures and hear all about it! :)

canT wait for your review. when are you going to do it?

looking forward to any info and pics you can offer us, lyttleone1977.

Hi Y'all (as Jeff Brrronson would say), I have just returned from my awesome cruise aboard the Imagination. I have lots of info and pics to post, but wanted to let you know it was awesome!!! I look forward to sharing everything with you!!

 

Bye y'all!!;)

Does the Imagination have a mini-golf course? Looking forward to your review. We are booked Oct 19th.

i think it does have a mini golf course.....i'm looking forward to your review too

Yes it does have a mini golf - DH and I enjoyed Imagination a year ago in June.

Will have it up shortly, just have to get my pics loaded on to my site!!

To start, I am single mom, full time student and I work full time. I seldom have any free time. This trip was actually intended to be a week away with my 3 best girlfriends, but things did not end up that way. I ended up going alone, which did not faze me the least.

I arrived at DTW at about 5:15am on July 31. My 6:50 Spirit flight left on time, arriving in FLL at about 9:30. I collected my luggage and waited 30 minutes for my Tri-County shuttle to the port. I arrived at the pier by 11:30, and was on board about an hour later. The porter was very friendly, and going through the metal detector was a breeze. The wait to get my paperwork done was about 15 minutes. Then I went up the escalator, got my room key and sail and sign card (Imagination has a separate room key), then went to get my embarkation picture taken (which turned out horrible). Then I went to sit in a designated sitting area so that we could all take a break. I was only there for about 10 minutes when we were aloud to go up the next escalator. I went into the second ramp, got my picture taken again, and was onboard. Took just about an hour. I checked to see what time shore excursions was supposed to open (I believe it was 1 pm), and went to find my stateroom. I booked a 1A, which is the center hallway on Riviera deck. My stateroom was already ready, so I dropped off most of my stuff, locked my important things in my safe (which I discovered was very easy to work), and went to book my excursions. The wait was not long at all, and I was able to book the ones I wanted – Off the Beaten Path Jeep Adventure in Grand Cayman and the Ocho Rios ATV Adventure in Ocho. After going to put my tickets in my safe, I made my way to the Lido deck to have some lunch. The Lido deck has an outdoor buffet, which had hot dogs, burgers, salads and all the fixings. After I easily found a seat, I got my first foo foo drink of the trip, Funship Special, which was the drink of the day. Now, the bar servers were really pushing drinks that day. This was the only day I really noticed then pushing them. The rest of the time I seldom say a server out on Lido deck, but I also did not spend an over abundance of time there. Next, I wondered toward the Horizon Grill. This is just past the buffet on Lido deck, through the glass doors. There were also serving lunch in there, so I decided to eat some more. I had some awesome red snapper and eggplant. The Horizon Grill normally has two sides. One side (it you are out on Lido, looks towards the Grill, or aft, to the left) had American food every day, and the other side (right) had international food, with it changing every day. This is also where the ice cream and Pizzeria is located.

At 4 pm, we had our muster drill. I thought it was a major pain, but I also understand the importance of it. My station was on Promenade, just outside of the dance club. All of the stations are marked with green signs. This was very simple to get to from my stateroom also, just hang a left out of my door, the elevators were right there, go up to Promenade, go out of that little hall way and you are there. After sitting there, hot and feeling very bulky, we were taken up to the boats, which was just up a short flight of stairs from our station. Just as we were finished with muster, we began our sail away. I decided I wanted to see sail away from the bow of the ship, so I went up to the Sports deck and watched as we pulled out of Miami. After sail away, I returned my life jacket to my stateroom (it made a comfy seat while up on the Sports deck), where I discovered my luggage. I unpacked, took a short nap, and then got ready for dinner. I did other stuff in between, but I cannot remember. I know I did go to the sushi bar that night, and it was very good. I had dinner in the Pride dining room, 8:30 sitting. I loved having dinner this late – I was able to get a nap everyday, normally lying down between 5 and 6, rest until 7 or 7:30, then get up, take a shower and be at dinner at 8:30. I also did not see any children, which was great since I left my kids at home that week. For dinner that night, I started out with Hickory-Smoked Alaskan Salmon, Hearts of Romaine Lettuce with Cherry Tomatoes, Filet Mignon, and for dessert, Black Forest Gateau. The food was absolutely wonderful. My waitresses were wonderful. There names were Cristina and Teresa. I had a wonderful conversation with Cristina, she kept me company since I sat alone that night. Yes, you read that right, I sat alone my first night. Two of my tablemates joined me for the rest of the trip, but more then half of the table never showed up to dinner. That’s ok, their loss and more room for me!! After my fabulous meal I headed to the Dynasty Lounge for the Welcome Aboard Show, And this is where I saw Jeff Bronson for the first time. This man is a complete riot!! He had me in stitches for most of the trip. The show was good, except that the male singer needs to “push” it out there a little more. The orchestra was always louder then he was, which became a little difficult at times. That night we were also introduced to Lamar Williams, one of the comedians on the ship. He was very funny, and did a lot of playing off of the audience.

Day 2 – Fun Ship Sea Day

I was very lazy this day. I got up and went shopping first thing. Then I went to the Shop Talk with Super Shopper Rob. This is a very important talk to go to if you plan on doing any shopping. He tells you what your allowances are, etc. He also tells you were to go get all of the great bargains. After that I head off to the Champagne Art Auction. I could not afford much, but I did pick up a small piece for 30 bucks. Now, the art auction is run a little differently now. They are no longer run by Park West. Carnival now does it all themselves. The buyers premium is now 10%, where as Decio (the auctioneer) said it used to be about 20%. Carnival also has a starting big, which many times ranges between 200-300. Retail these pieces are more then 1000. They do 3 bids, then that is it. It prevents bidding wars from occurring. Worked out rather well. After that I just relaxed before I got ready for the Captains Gala It was formal night. Got a free drink and appetizer at the gala, and got to who the Captain was. Then for dinner I decided to pig out. I had West Indian Roasted Pumpkin Soup, Caesar Salad, Lobster Tail, Prime Rib, and Cherries Jubilee. Once again it was excellent. After dinner, I decided to go get out of my dress clothes, and put on comfy clothes before I headed to that nights show in the Dynasty Lounge, “Living in America”. Once again it was very good. After the show I headed for the Xanadu Lounge where funny man Lamar Williams took the stage. I got involved in it when he made a comment about single girls and Myspace. I proceeded to open up my big mouth…. After the show we had our midnight buffet. I went to take pictures before the comedy show, and went to get food after. It was very good, much fancier then I am used to. I took my plate back to my room and had a great midnight snack!!

Day 3 – Grand Cayman

Got up at 7:15 when my room service arrived. I had to be at the Dynasty Lounge at 8:30, and we headed to the tenders. After we arrived, we had to stand in a very crowded pavilion until our tour was called. See the link for that review. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=391885 It was very good!! After that I did some shopping, then called home. The connection was not very good, but I did get 10 minutes to talk to my mom and kids. The lines to get back on the tender was not bad. Neither was the ride back – very smooth. I got back on board and went to get something to eat, and ate out on the back of the ship. While I was eating I watched the rain start to come in. It was very cool to see it come across the water like that. Unfortunately, we had some bad weather that night. The ship rocked quite a bit, but not so bad where I was feeling sick. I could really feel it at dinner that night. Nights 3 and 4 are a little blurry to me in regards to the food, so I tried to remember. The nights may be mixed up…. I had Duet of Gratinated Mussels & Shrimp Provencale, Cream of Sun-Ripened Tomatoes with a Touch of Gin, some kind of seafood and Tiramisu. After dinner I made my way to bed since the ship was rocking so hard and I had an early day in Jamaica!

Day 4 – Jamaica

This was the port I was really looking forward to, and I have to say, I was not disappointed. I got up at 5:30 so I could see the sunrise. It was beautiful. I also went up on the Sports deck to see us pull into Ocho Rios. It is one of the best memories of my trip, it was so beautiful. Please see my review, here at the link. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=392627 The port is much better set up then Grand Cayman was. Each tour operator has a roped off area, then they take you over to the busses. After my excursions I was dropped off at Island Village where I went to Margaritaville and got my free drink thanks to the coupon from the site. I also went into a couple of shops where I got some good deals on “island wear”. I bought a dress and a skirt, both very comfy. I tried to call home again, but I could not find a payphone that worked. So once I got back on the ship I went to the internet café and used that to email home. They have 3 packages, a 60 minute package that was .45 minute, and 30 minute that was .55 a minute, or a straight fee of .75 a minute. I went and took another nap, then got ready for dinner. I wore one of my new dresses, which was perfect since it was Jamaica night on the ship. For dinner I had (can’t remember what the appetizer was), Caesar salad, Penne Siciliana, and Baked Alaska. The Baked Alaska was awesome!! After dinner I made my way to the Dynasty Lounge for the production of Shout, the 3rd big production show. It was also very good. After the show I went up to Lido where the party was happening. There was a lot of dancing going on. The band New Wave was very good. Unfortunately the weather was not the best again. The rumor was that TS Chris was affecting our weather, making it extremely windy and rocky, no rain though. I had heard that the captain wanted to get us out in front of it just in case it did not dissipate, which it did do. At about 2 am, I headed to bed.

Day 5 – Last day at Sea

My last day was an easy day. I went and got my breakfast and went out on the back to eat it. I loved watching the wake of the ship. At 10:30 we had our Debarkation talk. This was extremely informative. This was also the day of the employee of month. From there I went to the last Art Auction to consume more free champagne. I had wanted to make a bid on a piece, but I went to the Information desk and discovered I had spent more then I wanted to, so no more shopping and drinking for me!! After the auction, I was extremely lazy, and decided to start my packing. It was a good thing I brought my suitcases half full – my big suitcase almost was a “heavy” bag. My final dinner was very sad; I had to say good-bye to my waitress Cristina and my tablemates. For dinner, I had escargot, Lobster Bisque, Fettuccine tossed in Mushroom Crème, Delice of the Ocean, Newburg Style and Grand Mariner Soufflé. Then I got up and danced with my waitress one last time before I bid her farewell. Then I went to the Dynasty Lounge for the Legends show. The show was very funny. Ricky Martin was performed by my tablemate Brian, who did a great job. Everyone was very good. The funniest part was when Dolly Parton came out, and she looked a lot of like Jeff Brrronson!! Then I headed back to my room to finish packing and get a good nights sleep.

Debarkation

I got up before the sun did, and watched us pull into Miami and watch the sun come up. It was very pretty. Then I went down to my stateroom, got everything around, and went down to wait with my fellow guests down by the elevator. We arrived at 7, and it took an hour to finally clear customs. Then they opened it up for self-disembark. Total it took me an hour to get out to my shuttle to the airport. Self-disembark was extremely crowded. The empress deck was extremely crowded, the stairs were jammed, but once I got out of the crowd, it was very quick. It did not take long to go through customs, where I was questioned a lot about my traveling alone. I was about to say I didn’t know it was against the law for a woman to travel a lone, but then he let me go. I then boarded my shuttle, booked through Carnival, back to FLL. About 30 minutes later I was at the airport, where I did curb side check-in, went through security, and waited at my gate. My flight home was at 12:15, I got there with time to spare, and I was back in DTW by 3:15.

The ship is beautiful. There is some basic wear and tear, but for the most part it is gorgeous. It is definitely well taken care of. The crew is very quick to fix problems. I had a tile that was broken in my bathroom. I noticed it the first day. There was also some grout missing around some other tiles. I noticed on day 4 it was all fixed. It looked perfect.

My stateroom was great. It was bigger then I thought it would be. I loved the interior room. It allowed me to sleep anytime I wanted, which a OV or balcony would probably not let me do. There was very little traffic down my hallway, and I heard nothing coming from the other rooms. The room had a big closet, easy to use safe, extremely comfortable bed, the other bed folded right up. I had a reading light right over my head, so I had no need for a night light. I found the one plug to be adequate since I do not plug in a whole lot at one time. The dressing table was good size and I had plenty of drawer space. The shower was bigger then my shower at home. The shower also had shampoo and soap dispensers for my convience. The bathroom also had samples for my use – his and her razors, mouth wash, moisturizing lotion with self tanner in it, some other Dove stuff and some pouches of drink mix. If I travel alone again I will definitely book a 1A again.

Jeff Brrronson was awesome. His staff was also exceptional. I read before my trip that they were a little immature, and after I saw them I understood why. Mainly it is because of Babe, the 20 year old British social host who loves to be the life of the party. He is right out there with everyone, making sure everyone is having a great time. The new Assistant CD arrived also while on this trip – don’t ask me his name, but he is in my pictures. Overall I think they all did great.

Well that is about it. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Hopefully I didn’t forget anything. The Imagination is a wonderful ship, and I encourage everyone to sail her!!

Here are my pics

http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/chestr22/slideshow?.dir=/13b5scd&.src=ph

The pics of the ship are spread through out. The excursions are together for the most part, and the Capers and shore excursions are all at the end!! If there is something specific you want to see, let me know. I had over 300 pics that I took just on my digital, plus I have two other cameras that are not developed yet. If I missed something let me know!!

My husband and I were on the Imagination Sept. 11,2005. Jeff Brrronson was are cd as well. He was very good. We enjoyed him very much. The Food was great every night. We went to cayman islands and to ocho rios. In Cayman we went to Hell, the turtle farm, and the string ray sandbar. That was very neat but it felt like they tried to rush you though everything. In ocho rios we climbed the waterfall that was very fun. I would do that again. I would love to go back to ochio rios again someday. We are planing another crusie not sure on what ship or were to yet. But if we deside that we only want to go on anohter 5 day cruise we will proabely go on the Imagination. Have fun those will be on the imagination. Hopefully Jeff Brrrnson is still on the ship and you have a chance to meet him.

Hopefully Jeff Brrrnson is still on the ship and you have a chance to meet him.

I read something on here that he was taking his break shortly. Not sure if that is true or not, but if he is then his replacement arrived while I was onboard. He seems very nice, but not sure how funny. Brrronson was the funniest man I think I have ever seen, at least in the capacity.

Lyttleone1977,

Nice Review and pictures. Do you remember seeing a basketball hoop and half court on the imagiantion. Do you have an email address I can email you some questions I have.

Nita

Great review and great pictures. We will be on the Imagination October 19. I'm ready to go. Glad you went even though your friends didn't make it.

Yes, there is a basketball hoop and half court on the Imagination!

Lyttleone1977,

Nice Review and pictures. Do you remember seeing a basketball hoop and half court on the imagiantion. Do you have an email address I can email you some questions I have.

Nita

Yes, there is a basketball hoop on the ship, I believe it is on Promenade but I could be wrong. My email is chestr22@yahoo.com

Hello, thanks for the great review. We are leaving Monday on the same cruise so it was really fun to read! Just one question. Where did you get the Margaritaville drink coupons?:)

Hello, thanks for the great review. We are leaving Monday on the same cruise so it was really fun to read! Just one question. Where did you get the Margaritaville drink coupons?:)

Go to the Margarittaville website, and look for the lost shaker of salt!

Glad to hear you had a great time, lyttleone1977.

DH and I sailed on the Imaginjation, end of Sept. '05. Jeff Brrrronson was great. The talent show didn't have many participants, so he sang for us (U2's - With or Without You). It was the best performance of the entire cruise, including the big production shows!

I'll be sailing the Imagination again, on a 4 day in 2 weeks! Stopping at Key West and Calica. Cannot wait. I hope that Jeff Brrrronson is the CD. I planned to put in a request that he sing again!

The mini golf is fun. You just help yourself to a putter and ball; it's free and you can play as much as you want.

I do have to say that, on our last sailing on the Imagination, the ship was ranked 2nd in the entire Carnival fleet for Customer Service (so we were told by the staff). We had no doubts. Great service!

Thanks for the review lyttleone1977!

Thanks for the review. I'll be on the Imagination on November 11th. I have been looking all over the place for a recent review. I'm glad you had a great time and I can't wait to sail.

We leave in the am for our 10/14 sailing abord the Imagination...can't wait. We will have a Cat 12 cabin so when we get back I will share photos and my review including if the VIP check in is that much better. We will be doing the Stingray City tour in GC and also intro to scuba diving. I just bought an underwater camera so hope to have some great shots to share.

Carnival here we come!!!!!!!!!!!! AGAIN :D

Im going on the Imagination in Febuary, Great review, thankyou.

I CANT WAIT!!