Carnival Imagination Review 10/15-10/19

A little background on us before I start. This was cruise #11 for us and our 4th on Carnival. Took a last minute cruise to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. We live about 3 hours away from the port of Long Beach and due to work schedules and commitments, we couldn’t take a longer vacation or fly somewhere so we decided on the local cruise. We had an idea of what the ship would be like since we had already sailed on her sister ship Inspiration.

This cruise was a sort of firsts for us. A first for us in booking in such a short time. We booked about two weeks before the sail date. So since we had booked last minute, stateroom availability was limited. We booked a forward inside porthole stateroom. The positive: seemed bigger than your normal ocean view room. The negative: very very noisy during certain times while sailing. Like engine noisy. Loud enough to be woken up early in the morning. Another negative for us was the movement. Felt it so much more up front and yes, we knew that would happen...just bothered us a couple of nights which seemed just too much.

Here is a picture of the porthole windows in the room:

Food: I have to honestly say that we both felt disappointed with the food on this cruise. We sailed the Freedom last year and thought the food on that ship was much better than on this one. We only had the buffet food twice and didn’t care for either time. The dining room food was a hit or miss but a miss most of the time. :(

Only a few food items even worth mentioning:

The ribs were AMAZING!

Mac N Cheese during brunch in the dining room is a MUST!

We didn’t get a picture of the Pizza but it was another great option on the ship.

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Great start! Will be following along.

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Service:

Our stateroom attendant was Dewa and he was really nice and great. Our dining waiter was Camilo who was fantastic! He had a great sense of humor, great attitude and great service.

Here is a picture of Camilo..

So in case you are wondering why I look funny in my picture, I guess I forgot to mention this was a “Halloween” themed cruise. I’ll touch on that topic in a bit...

Our ports:

We have “been there done that” in Catalina and Ensenada and we weren’t too thrilled to go to either port. Our objective for this cruise was 3 C’s. No Cleaning. No Cooking. No Children. So really...the ports were just part of the cruise.

In Catalina we walked around, shopped and had lunch. From another cruiser’s recommendation and from Yelp reviews, we decided to have lunch on the island (since we weren’t thrilled about having lunch on the ship.) We tried The Lobster Trap and it just wasn’t all the hype we had seen. Another let down for us..

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In Ensenada we did another first. We booked the ATV/Wine Tasting Excursion through the Carnival because we wanted to do something different. We feel too old for the partying/bar stuff there and had been to the blowhole before. Our tour guide Diego and his partner were great! Made sure we all were safe, felt comfortable and took his time making sure we had a great time. The winery we went to was El Cielo. Gorgeous location, beautiful grounds but the wine was blah. Very pretty though!

Entertainment: We saw one of the late night adult comedy shows. Both comedians were ok. Did they change since last year? Was George Lopez involved with them last year? This show just seems kinda negative and “Debby Downerish.” Two middle aged men complaining about how bad their divorce was and how it was awful. Didn’t leave us with the wanting to go back for more.

Cruise director was Alex who was good.

One of his staff named Cookie was HILARIOUS! Really enjoyed him and his humor.

Shows: One was great and the other one was not so great. Divas was eh. Loved the music but the production was so so. The Rock music one was fantastic!

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So let me finish by talking about this being a “Halloween” cruise. We knew before going that it was a Halloween cruise and we both love this holiday. We had come prepared and were excited to see Halloween themed stuff throughout the ship. Unfortunately, we both felt let down with the lack of Halloween decor stuff around the ship. The best part of the Halloween cruise was on the last day they held a costume contest in the Atrium. This event was very fun! Loved the energy, Cruise Director and his staff did a fantastic job on it. We dressed up as Tacky Tourists. We didn’t even get picked as a participant for the contest, but we got lots of compliments on our costumes and had a great time that night. :)

2. A self serve beer dispensing machine?

3. This. (And no it wasn’t ours lol). Only on Carnival right?

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So to conclude, I hate saying this but I’m glad it was only a 4 day cruise. :( Not great food and not good sleep equals two people that were ready to go home. We loved our time together and made great memories, but on most of our cruises we’ve been on, we leave wanting more and on this one I just wanted to get off and go home.

We will continue to cruise and I’m actually excited about our next one on NCL Bliss next year! New cruise line for us and new ship...hoping it will be a great one.

Here is my favorite picture of this cruise and a picture of us without our Tacky Cruise Attire. ;)

Thank you!

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Forgot to mention one more first!

I got a manicure at the Spa during the cruise. $45 got me a Shellac Mani with a very mediocre paint job and no massage of my hands and arms at all. For $25 I get a gel manicure at home plus the massage and better treatment. Another let down for me. My manicurist shared with me during our time how she was just lucky to not have to “promotions” because she hates that part of her job. Sigh...just felt sorta like $45 out the window...

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Enjoying your review including terrific photos.

Keith

Thanks for the review. What cabin were you in?

Great photos, thanks!

Thanks for the review. What cabin were you in?

We were in stateroom R17. Deck 4 Riviera.

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Hi,

Thanks so much for your review. My Mom & I have our Girls Cruise on the Inspiration Four Day Cruise starting next Monday . So, we will be on the ship on Halloween. It's my favorite Holiday!!

We both are going to wear costumes on the 31st. I'm hoping for a better response for this Holiday Contest. Last year the ship was decked out for Christmas. We brought along our Ugly Sweaters for the Contest. Meh ...not a lot of participation.:(

Bobbi

Nice review. I’ve been on the Inspiration and Imagination several times and will be on the Inspiration on 10/31/17. Hubby is looking forward to the (3) Cs also (haha).

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