Pure Imagination: A photo trip report!

[JayMo]

Loving your review so far....I will be doing this same itinerary in December. Can't wait to see your pictures and review of Key West and Cozumel

 

Thanks! You're going to have a blast! Think you can fit me into your carry on? :)

I can't wait to get back to Key West!

[cruzegurl104]

Great job! I love your writing style,, can't wait for more!

 

BTW... I live in ATL, :)small world!

[Elaine5715]

Hmm....that's weird. I had to look on my iPhone just to check to see if the formatting is off....everything shows up on my phone as it would on a computer. Matter of fact, I'm writing this reply on my phone. And that's without the CruiseCritic app...just using plain Safari. I'm sorry about that.

 

I'm sorry , I worded that poorly. Your center formatting might be your style. I just have an older phone and I need to scoll back and forth to read each line. Your style does not fit on my screen whereas this regular style does.

 

 

PS I am back on the Imagination in Sept so I am reading every review. Thanks for taking the time.

[JayMo]

I'm sorry , I worded that poorly. Your center formatting might be your style. I just have an older phone and I need to scoll back and forth to read each line. Your style does not fit on my screen whereas this regular style does.

 

 

PS I am back on the Imagination in Sept so I am reading every review. Thanks for taking the time.

 

I'm sorry! I'll see what I can work out for ya :) I know what you mean. I used to have a Blackberry (Blackberry Pearl) and scrolling on that little trackball WAS NOT FUN! At all! lol

 

And you're going to love the Imagination. something about the coziness of a Fantasy class ship... Have an awesome trip!

[boaterette]

Your formatting and pictures are perfect. I am loving your review. Keep up the good job. Love the suspense you leave us all hanging with.

[cuted126]

Loving your review so far! Love the suspense as well :) Your pics aren't showing big at all! Well, at least not on my computer! Can't wait for more!

[smurfm69]

Really enjoying your pics and review. You are too funny!

[ericadawn2001]

Loving your review! We are doing the same itinerary next month. Can't wait for more!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[JayMo]

Whew! Our first day of vacation and so much happened!

 

We got up and made a 9 hour drive to Miami, ate, got my bottle of liquor found and thrown away, ate, toured the ship, partook in some adult beverages, went to a rainy sailaway party, partook in some more adult beverages, ate, met strangers, didn't wake up for the Welcome show, slept.

 

That hard vacation life I tell you.

 

But it was our “Fun Day at Sea” today on March 19.

 

My phone was on airplane mode and data turned off, so the time on my phone was acting wonky. Malcolm’s time was working, but I don’t remember what time we got up.

 

My goals for the day was eat, drink, and get on the water slide.

 

I’m so ambitious.

 

We peeked outside and it looked cloudy, but we couldn't tell if it was raining or not, so we got dressed for the water slide anyway.

 



 

So we headed up to the waterslides at the top of the ship. It was cloudy and windy. Malcolm took a seat after declaring the water was too cold. Pfftt, whatever, I was going to get on that slide.

 

I was the oldest person up there, towering over the little kids and probably the same age as the attendant working the slide. She looked at me funny haha.

 

The slide: Como se dice “LAME” en espanol?

 

Because that is what it was. I had to push myself down. WOMP WOMP.

 

I dried off and we went off to brunch in the Main Dining Room so I could use my free drink coupon that Carnival gives returning guests.

 

For those who do not know, the drink coupon can only be used in the Main Dining Room during breakfast, brunch or lunch. It can be used for a Classic Cocktail, beer, wine, specialty coffee or soft drink up to $9 in value.

 

So we used it at lunch time, I can’t remember what I got (sorry) but it was good. A shot of Free made it taste even better.

 



 

I also don’t remember what I ate, but I pretty much licked the plate.

 



 

It was some kind of fish. And it was great.

 



 

This is just brunch, so it’s fine to wear muscle tees in the dining room. Just so we don’t start a outrage.

 

(I’m looking at you Cruise Critic) *smile*

 

And for a person with no cell service, he’s in his phone a lot huh? (Scroll back up to the first picture)

 

But I digress…

 

I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking, so that one little drink had me feeling some type of way.

 

So naturally I went back to the room to partake in some more adult beverages.

 

After I started feeling real good, we found the Fun Times/Capers to find out what we would get into next on this cloudy, rainy day at sea.

 

Then I saw it.

 



 

Thriller Dance class. And I was thinking, :”HECK YEAH”.

 

Here’s the back-story, back in June of 2009, my people took me on a cruise to celebrate my high school graduation. There was a Thriller Dance Class on the Promenade deck of the Carnival Liberty. I love Micheal Jackson. Early Saturday mornings, my parents would wake us up by playing Michael Jackson blasting through out the house. We would eat breakfast and clean the house singing and dancing to MJ. My best childhood memories are set to MJ. So naturally, I tried to go to the Thriller Dance class on the Liberty. It was SOOOO packed, I didn’t have room ANYWHERE on the Promenade to dance. I should have gotten there earlier, so I could do it : ( The next day, Michael Jackson passed. People were on the ship crying and they played MJ the rest of the cruise. It was so sad. I felt so guilty for not going to his dance class

: (

 

(Side-story, to my side-story: then my next cruise I took in 2012, Whitney Houston died! Needless to say I was scared to go on this cruise, I didn’t want any major music stars passing away!)

 

Anyways, so we went to the Thriller Dance class that was held in the theater.

 



 

As you can see, I got there early. I would not disappoint MJ by missing out on his dance class again!

 

Malcolm is shy when it comes to those types of things, so he didn’t come on stage.

 

I was slightly, um, inebriated, so that made for an interesting dance session.

 

Malcolm is a horrible picture/video taper, so I nothing to show for my dance class!

 

But it was fun becoming a Zombie.

 

 

 

***continued in next post***

 

 

 

 

[JayMo]

 

Tonight was formal night, so Malcolm and I headed back to the room to take a nap and get ready.

 



 

As we were getting ready, we had Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie” playing. It seemed to fit the occasion.

 



 



 

Soon, we were ready to go…

 

go right to the bar…

 



 

Our favorite place! :D

 



 

I got my favorite, a Miami Vice and we headed to dinner.

 

****next post****

[JayMo]

I love how I re-size all my pictures, and then the very last picture is the only one that re-sizes -___-

 

The dinning room just opened, so we were the first ones at the table.

 

The other couples came in and the only two missing was Tim and Michelle.

 

Oh Tim and Michelle….

 

Michelle came in with her face red and apologized in advance for anything that might transpire during dinner when Tim came…

 

Tim came in moments after her, sat down and looked at us. He was GONE. He was physically at the dinner table…but he was GONE.

 

They had brought a bottle from Carnival and partook in some adult beverages earlier in the day and it hadn’t worn off yet.

 

He tried to sleep it off, but it didn’t work, so Michelle thought food would help.

 

After nearly dropping his plate and struggling to grab his water cup, me and Malcolm had tears in our eyes from laughing. Poor Michelle was embarrassed, and swore off Tim for the rest off the night and asked what me and Malcolm were going to do. We told her we didn’t know, so she could tag along if she wanted.

 

Tim went back to the room after ordering, so Michelle ate both his and her dinner before she told us that she would meet us at our room in about an hour or so. She left to go take care of Tim.

 

Back to our dinner though.

 

Since it was formal night, I was feeling a bit fancy and got lobster.

 

Be prepared for my first food picture y’all.

 



 

It was pretty good.

 

The ship was pretty rocky, so sitting next to the window trying to eat made me feel pretty sick.

 



 

But the weather cleared up, which was good.

 

At the request of my dinner mates who were also feeling not that stellar either, we closed the blinds.

 



 

and we took some silly dinner pictures.

 

We left dinner and took some formal pictures together.

 

They came out nice don’t you think?

 



:D

 

***next post***

Sorry y'all! This one is a long blog post with a lot of pictures! Just trying to keep everything sort of cohesive!

 

 

[JayMo]

 

Then, we went up to the top deck to take some iPhone pics:

 



 



 

Come on, everyone has that picture of them looking out to the sea. Don’t make me seem like I’m the only one who has ever said “Take a picture of me looking at the ocean”.

 



 



 

As a couple that travels alone, you have to find other couples and volunteer to take their picture so they can get your picture too. Tip.

 

I have no more pictures from that night, we were too busy partaking in adult beverages.

 

But long story short:

 

Tim sobered up a bit, he and Michelle came down to our room. We had a little “pre-game” session before going to the comedy show and we got to talking. They have been dating for about the same time me and Malcolm were and we just talked about our home states and stuff. We made a drink to-go and set off. Since Tim didn’t eat dinner, we walked to get some pizza. He ate and we headed to the comedy show. We ended up sitting with our other table mates at the show. Malcolm and Tim went to get some more drinks from the bar. But the rocking of the ship was making me feel really sick, so I didn’t feel like drinking. I was taking Ginger Pills for motion sickness. Yeah right. Those were not working. The comedy show was pretty funny for a cruise comedy show, I would have just enjoyed it more if I wasn’t so sea sick. Tim went to the bathroom and never came back, so Michelle went to find him. After the show, Malcolm and me went to the club/disco and danced (well, I danced around him). We were there just for a bit and then went to play that dreadful game that we spent way too much money on, Casino Vault. We played that for about an hour and kept losing. Ugh. Then we went to the arcade to play for another hour in there before we headed to bed.

 

The next day we were going to wake up in Cozumel! And we were so excited. We decided to get a head start in the morning, so we put in our room service order for breakfast to be be delivered around 6:30 the next morning.

 

But wait…we forgot one important detail. How could we forget!

 

Find out what we forgot, what we did in Cozumel and how I was scared for my life in Mexico in the next post! :)

 

Has anyone ever won Casino Vault?

 

One lady won on our cruise in the split second we went to go get a free voucher to play Casino Vault, so I didn’t see it with my own eyes. And until I see it with my own eyes, I think it’s a trick and undercover Carnival workers are playing to show passengers that it could be done, but it really can’t be.

 

That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it :)

[maddea20]

OMG you look so much like Alyson Felix. I did like 3 double takes. Beautiful couple.

 

Love your writing style. Looking forward to more :)

 

Yeah I knew she looked like somebody. That's it.

[ucfalli]

My husband won the casino vault on our cruise on the carnival dream. He won the I pad and $500. It's either dumb luck or it timed.... who knows. Literally got it on 6th try. Our last cruise on the miracle he didn't win.

Edited July 21, 2013 by ucfalli

[Pellaz]

Enjoying the review and your writing style! Always love to see pics and stories from my first Carnival ship....she's not the biggest ship in the fleet or the newest, but she has her own charm. (I'm from the Atl area, too....almost to Athens.)

[athenasbyshanna]

Loving this review so far!! Please come back and give us more!! :D

[bluejay555]

Great review so far, I love your writing style!

[cruisers without kids]

My wife and I are on the Imagination in November. It will be our first time on Carnival. I love your writing style. It is such a great read. Thank you and I am looking forward to more.

[cjdixon4]

Hello all! I'm in the process of writing a trip report. I always write it first on my travel blog, then copy and paste it here.

 

It's a college spring break trip report on the Carnival Imagination (GASP). If you're looking for a "OMG, LOOK AT HOW DRUNK AND LOUD I AM", you won't find that here. We did a lot of wholesome activities (mostly eating...is being "Food Drunk" possible? I think so.)

 

We took the trip in March, so I'm a bit behind, but I kept a travel journal (thank goodness) so I'm ready to get to sharing!

 

My pictures are currently uploading to Photobucket, so bare with me. This is for all the college students who want to know what a SB cruise is like, for all the people who wonder if cruising during spring break is a good idea, and for all the people who like to have a good time.

 

So I hope you follow along :D

 

JayMo-

You did an extraordinary job of sharing your Imagination cruise. Your very colorful descriptions made it fun to read. I'll be on that ship in January 2014, when it switches itineraries and sails to Mexico from Long Beach CA. I typically sail on Royal Caribbean...it's been light-years since I've been on a Carnival cruise. Hope that me and my girlfriends who are cruising with me will have as much fun as it appears that you had! ;)

[JayMo]

Yeah I knew she looked like somebody. That's it.

 

hahaha I always get that I look like her or Taylour Paige from VH1's Hit The Floor.

 

I was out in LA recently and had partaken in some adult beverages. This lady walks up to me and as I was taking pictures and says: "OMG! I love your show Hit the Floor! You're my favorite!"

Silly me, says "Awww...thank you!" :D

Then it hit me...

WAIT. I'M NOT ON A TV SHOW :confused:

So I told her, "I'm not who you think I am..." lol:o

[JayMo]

JayMo-

You did an extraordinary job of sharing your Imagination cruise. Your very colorful descriptions made it fun to read. I'll be on that ship in January 2014, when it switches itineraries and sails to Mexico from Long Beach CA. I typically sail on Royal Caribbean...it's been light-years since I've been on a Carnival cruise. Hope that me and my girlfriends who are cruising with me will have as much fun as it appears that you had! ;)

 

Y'all are going to have a BLAST! :D:D:D

[JayMo]

Enjoying the review and your writing style! Always love to see pics and stories from my first Carnival ship....she's not the biggest ship in the fleet or the newest, but she has her own charm. (I'm from the Atl area, too....almost to Athens.)

 

G-A in the house! Woop Woop!

[JayMo]

My husband won the casino vault on our cruise on the carnival dream. He won the I pad and $500. It's either dumb luck or it timed.... who knows. Literally got it on 6th try. Our last cruise on the miracle he didn't win.

 

I'm mucho jealous! I got my statement at the end of the cruise and seriously spent $50 on Casino Vault alone!

[maddea20]

hahaha I always get that I look like her or Taylour Paige from VH1's Hit The Floor.

 

I was out in LA recently and had partaken in some adult beverages. This lady walks up to me and as I was taking pictures and says: "OMG! I love your show Hit the Floor! You're my favorite!"

Silly me, says "Awww...thank you!" :D

Then it hit me...

WAIT. I'M NOT ON A TV SHOW :confused:

So I told her, "I'm not who you think I am..." lol:o

 

Ok I've never seen Hit the Floor, though my mother and sisters keep telling me to watch it cause supposedly its so good. But now imma watch an episode just to see this girl you say you look like. :p

 

Yeah in some of your pics you really look like Allyson Felix. I love that girl. I used to run track so she's one of my favorites.

 

Ok girl keep the review going cause my cruise leaves on Sunday. :D

[JayMo]

Sorry I have gotten behind! Get ready for a few posts tonight on Cozumel!

 



When I last left off, Malcolm and I had set the room service sheet outside for breakfast, turned out the lights and went to bed. We wanted to be very well rested for our day in Cozumel! We had to be back on board at 2:30 p.m, so we wanted to get off the ship as soon we docked. We requested for room service to come around 6:30 because we were supposed to dock at 7 ish in the morning in Cozumel.

 

We had one of those lovely porthole cabins at the very beginning of the ship so we let the ship’s anchor wake us up. Once we felt our beds and cabin’s shaking, we rushed to the window, excited to see land. However, all we saw was DARKNESS. OMG, how could I forget! We were on SHIP time! Not island time! So it was really 5 am! I wasn’t getting off at 5 in the morning…NOTHING IS OPEN. WOMP WOMP.

 

Breakfast came as we stumbled around our dark cabin. We tipped the guy and he left and we sat and watched t.v while eating breakfast, angry that we forgotten about the time. Why couldn’t Carnival just pull in at 7 their time? Sheesh. I got the smoked salmon, with a biscuit, tomato, lemon and cream cheese and Malcolm got cereal. We ate, got dressed, and set our alarm for later. WOMP WOMP.

 



 

By the time the sun peaked into our window and we got up, we were hungry again, so we headed up to lido with bags in hand so we could eat and head out to the island.

 

Before we left, I researched a few places to go. I really wanted to hit the beach and Malcolm really wanted to do a tour of some sort. I looked into Mr. Sancho’s, but I didn’t think we would have enough time in port to fully enjoy it and not feel rushed. So we decided to wing it.

 



 

took a picture of the number you’re supposed to call if there is an emergency. I’ve read far too many horror stories on Cruise Critic about getting left and I’ve seen far too many Youtube videos of pier runners in Cozumel. And I was not about to be one of them.

 

We headed off the ship and onto the long pier. It felt really nice out. Not too hot, not too humid, but just right. Felt amazing.

 



 

We walked through the shops, passed all the liquor bottles and came out into the market space area. We found a map and a taxi man asked where we wanted to go. Malcolm told him he wanted to do a tour of the Mayan Ruins. Dude said no problem! It’s just a $70 trip there…UM WHAT? Never mind. We brought just that much cash on us individually…so that was opted out and put on our “Next Time We’ll Know List”.

 

So we asked about my plan of going to the beach and I asked what beach he suggested. He told us that Paradise Beach is a favorite. I had also read about that one as well. So we headed out there.

 

It’s about a 15 min drive and we paid 8 bucks for the both of us.

 

When we got to Paradise Beach, a nice girl came up to us and explained how the beach worked.

 

The beach is free, they just request that you buy food and drinks. Fair enough. It was still fairly early and we had just finished our second breakfast, so we told her we would come find her to place an order.

 

Let me say y’all…Paradise Beach is truly PARADISE!

 

It’s gorgeous!

 



 

This is leaving the pool area and going into the beach.

 



 

Here is the beach, I forgot the add that the beach toys are $12 for unlimited fun all day! Pretty good deal! We wanted to test out the waters first before we decided to do the water toys. We’re not big beach people. But they looked really fun! They had trampolines, an Ice-Burg, Waterslides and other stuff.

 

Oh yeah! Beach chairs may or may not have been $2.00…I can’t remember. I am wearing a wrist band in the later pictures, so we payed for something.

 

We sat in the beach chairs just enjoying our surroundings. The sun was peaking out from behind some clouds and it looked as if it could rain, but we were hoping it didn’t.

 

The water looked really rocky at the main part of the beach near all the water toys, so we walked down the beach a bit to a less rockier place.

 

Fail. The water was pretty dern cold. Gorgous, but cold. Nothing I would really swimSWIM in ya know?

 

*********Continued in the next post y'all!*******