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Mike & Tracy’s Excellent Adventure: B2B2B2B on Destiny, Imagination, Valor, Freedom

MikeyA53

By MikeyA53,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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Imagination has a beautiful library and it happens to be where they have the Chef's Table. They set up a dining table inside the library and it's on the last sea day. I will have a review on it with a couple of photos,(your not allowed to take photos). We could have chosen to have the chef's table on the Valor or the Freedom but we preferred the Imagination because of it's locale.

 

 

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chapps

chapps

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absolutely AMAZING. jealous, but thrilled, that you and your fam were able to do such an adventure and thank you so much for sharing. i would be absolutely mortified if i were your daughter, though...calling out her "special friend" :D :D:D..LOL

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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I have about a dozen more photos to post and then I will continue with the review.

 

 

Mirage Piano Bar

 

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Shusi Bar

 

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Vittorio's Cafe (yummy)

 

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Pinnacle Club

 

I never went inside but it's suppose the be the cigar club

 

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Lisa0719

Lisa0719

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All these photos of my 2 favorite ships make me happy I will be back on the Imagination in 11 days. Keep up the great review and pics:D

 

 

 

think you are on the back of your b2b of our imagination. look for a bunch 21+ of women acting crazy . .. .

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Payd

Payd

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Really looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Out of curiosity -

 

Did your kids notice a big difference in the Club activities from cruise to cruise? My daughter has joined in twice and loved it both times, my son wouldn't go first cruise but loved the second one. Were we lucky or do the kids always have a good time?

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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We spent the afternoon on the sport deck, in front of the funnel, laying in the sun. It’s quiet and secluded, few people go up there.

 

Our anytime dining was in the Pride Dining Room, Atlantic Deck, mid ship. The Spirit Dining Room is located in the aft section of the Atlantic Deck.

 

Our table was by the window and our servers were Adrian from Romania and his assistant I Nyoman from Indonesia. They were very good and we stayed with them for the duration of the cruise. Tracy had the smoked Hudson Valley Duck and the Grilled Marinated Center Cut Pork Chop while I had (2) Fried Shrimp, Lasagna Bolognese and Key Lime Pie.

 

 

Adrian on the right and I Nyoman on the left doing a dance.

 

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You better eat your veggies or else :eek:

 

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Afterwards we went to register the kids in O2 club ages 15-17 (Arielle) and Circle C ages 12-14 (Mitch) .

 

Arielle is very outgoing and easily makes friend, Mitch is the quiet type. While on the ship he mostly spends his time eating and watching TV.

 

He’s a big boy for just turning 14 in July, at over 5'10" and weighing at about 190. He feels like he doesn’t belong in the Circle C club and even tho we registered him on past cruises he didn’t attend any functions.

 

We were pleasantly surprised when we found out he managed to get himself in the O2 club with the help of his sister and a friend he met onboard. He came out of his shell with a newfound confidence.

 

On the following two cruises (Valor and freedom) he got himself admitted in the 02 club again and even got himself voted O2 king by his peers on the Freedom.

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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Then it was off to see the "Gender Showdown" A battle of the sexes in the Dynasty Lounge. In the first event I helplessly watched as the girls destroyed the boys in some sort of spelling bee game.

 

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In the second event I volunteered myself as one of 4 male contestant against 4 female contestants to even the score.

 

The contest involved hula hoops, clearly a gender bias event. One female pitted against one male to see who would out hula the other. Tracy was surprised that the old man could even hula and in fact he easily outlasted his female counterpart.

 

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The final contestants included some sort of female state champ in the hula hoop (ringer) however her male counterpart was up to the challenge. After more than 5 minutes of twisting and weaving our cruise director Tory Testa declared the event a tie and we all received a medal.:p

 

Then it was time to celebrate( any excuse will do). Carrot cake for Tracy ( she vowed not to eat late at night again), Black Forest Cake for Mitch and I had fruit chocolate cake at the Vittorio’s Café.

 

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We finished off the night with karaoke in the Xanadu Lounge.

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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Loving your review Mikey. Can you tell me if there was a band in any of the lounges and were they any good? Also, are any of the lounges NON-smoking? Thanks so much - 10 more days until we are on the Imagination!!!!!

 

Yes there was a band but I did not spend any time listening to them so I can't comment. Practically all the lounges are smoke free except the Casino, Piano Bar and the Cigar Club. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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Really looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Out of curiosity -

 

Did your kids notice a big difference in the Club activities from cruise to cruise? My daughter has joined in twice and loved it both times, my son wouldn't go first cruise but loved the second one. Were we lucky or do the kids always have a good time?

My daughter enjoyed the club activities on all our 5 cruises while my son finally came out of his shell and participate in the last three. I asked Mitchel and he told me that they had similar activities on all the ships.

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Payd

Payd

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My daughter enjoyed the club activities on all our 5 cruises while my son finally came out of his shell and participate in the last three. I asked Mitchel and he told me that they had similar activities on all the ships.

 

Our boys sound about the same - takes some time to come out of their shell.

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MikeyA53

MikeyA53

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Imagination

 

 

Tuesday, Aug 24th : Key West. (Arrival 07:30 a.m - departure 2.00 p.m)

 

Started the day off at the gym again, ordered room service for breakfast. Took about 30 mins to get it delivered. We docked at the US Naval Base on the outskirts of town again and therefore we took a trolley to town.

 

As mentioned earlier, one of the highlight of our trip was for me to surprise Tracy by proposing again and renewing our vows on the Valor. The reason I chose the Valor is because her parents from Wales, U.K and good friends from Canada were joining us on the next cruise, which is the Valor.

 

I’ve been planning this for about a year now, haven’t told a soul. Has mentionned earlier she had her ring stolen years ago I knew what kind of diamond ring she preferred and purchased it in the spring.

 

Then I brought her shopping several times for dresses for elegant nights, the steakhouses, the chef’s table, photographs on the ship, etc. but all along I was thinking about finding the right dress for the renewal. However I was still not satisfied that she had the right dress and therefore we went shopping for a nice long elegant dress in Old Town. It took a while but we found one along with matching shoe of course.

 

 

Tracy and Arielle strolling down Duval Street

 

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Had my key lime pie on a stick again. Purchased a few things for the kids and we were back on the ship by 1:40 p.m. (Departure 2 p.m)

 

 

 

 

Key west toy Factory, Clinton Square Market on Front Street.

 

 

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