Imagination Wedding Cruise Review 6/21/2015

[bigpuma]

My now wife and I got married last Sunday 6/21, Father's Day, on the Carnival Imagination in Long Beach and we had a nice little cruise too. This is my 2nd marriage and my wife's 1st. She wanted a simple wedding and not to have to do too much planning so a cruise wedding was perfect. We sailed with my two kids (9 and 6), my brother, his wife and son (6), my cousin, her partner, their twins (8), and my parents. In addition we were joined by 33 non sailing guests.

 

Embarkation day and Wedding:

Embarkation day was a whirlwind in which we had to get up early and be completely ready and at the port by 10:30am. The one exception was my wife was able to use our stateroom to get dressed. We were met by the officiant and wedding coordinator at the port and my wife and I were directed to the Captain's Lounge while all of our guests were directed to a waiting area outside. We were the first group allowed to board around 11:15am. This gave us time to grab a bite to eat at the Horizon Bar and Grill on the Lido deck before the ceremony, while my wife, daughter, and bridesmaids went to the stateroom to get ready.

 

We had a brief rehearsal at 12:30 minus my bride then it was time for the ceremony at 1pm in the Shangri La Lounge on the Promenade Deck. The ceremony was fairly short, about 15 minutes but very nice. After the ceremony we took a few family pictures followed by the reception nearby at the Illuminations Dance Club. We were very well taken care of at the reception. We were introduced to the Lead Hostess and she took care of everything at the reception and again later in the dining room on the cruise. The food was very good but I really didn't eat much of it. Everyone seemed to have a great time. At 3 the reception ended and all of our non-sailing guests departed. The photographer took my bride and I all around the ship for more photos. We were very happy with the photographer as well. I will post some pictures later. All in all I am very glad we decided to get married on the cruise and it was a great wedding. I can't say enough about our wedding coordinator Barbara and officiant Eric.

 

We finally finished photos around 4:30 and headed to the stateroom to change and relax before dinner. My parents had taken my kids to the pool while we were taking photos so we had a little time to relax before dinner. We had a 6pm early seating dinner due to the kids so we headed to dinner in the dining room. Once again the Lead hostess Aphina was there to greet us and congratulate us. We got a table for 13 (8 adults and 5 kids) for all of us that were sailing. For the most part we found the food in the dining room to be very good with a few exceptions. After dinner we were completely exhausted so we made it an early night.

 

 

Ship and Stateroom:

After reading reviews of the Imagination I was very concerned about the condition of the ship but when we got onboard I was pleasantly surprised. Sure it isn't the greatest cruise ship but for the short cruise it got the job done. Everything looked dated but well maintained.

 

We booked a grand suite with a connected ocean view for the kids which worked out quite nicely. My cousin, her partner, and their kids got the same rooms directly across the ship. My parents and brother's family booked ocean views on the same deck. The suite was very nice to have, even for a short cruise.

 

Day 2 Catalina:

We were still pretty tired from the day before but we also woke up early. We got an early breakfast and headed into Catalina. We only spent 90 minutes on the island walking along the main street and doing a little shopping. We headed back to the ship while most people were still getting off and headed to lunch in the Horizon Bar and Grill. We were not impressed with the food in the Horizon Bar and Grill. The pizza was decent but a lot of the food was disappointing. We spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool and watching the kids on the water slides. The kids really like the water slides and waterworks area in general. They had a great time all cruise playing in the water.

 

This night was formal night and once again the food in the dining room was very good. The lead hostess arranged to have our wedding cake for dessert which was excellent. After dinner we dropped the kids off at Camp Carnival and we headed to the comedy show and just relaxed at a bar for a couple of hours. The kids were not impressed with Camp Carnival so we didn't send them back there.

 

Day 3 Ensenada:

In Ensenada we ended up getting off the ship then paying for an excursion to La Bufadora. More for the shopping than the blow hole but both were good. We had a decent lunch in La Bufadora but nothing special at Habana Banana. We made it back to the ship around 3 and headed for the pool. At 5 we had our appointment with the photographer who had a lot of very good pictures some of which I will add later. We had a long meeting with the photographer that we didn't get to dinner until 6:15 but it was no problem. That night we took the kids to the Hasbro show but waited too long to get seats on the lower level. Our kids were very dissapointed they couldn't be picked to go onstage. Even so they really enjoyed the show. After the show we headed off to bed.

 

Day 4 Sea Day:

Our Sea Day was spent hanging out by the pool and relaxing. The weather was overcast but still warm which suited us fine. The kids had a great day by the pool and water slides. There was another Hasbro Show and this time we made sure to get there early even sending my parents early to get seats. Our kids decided the best strategy to get picked was to split up so my daughter and her cousin sat by us while my son and his other cousins sat on the other side of the room everyone in the 2nd row. The strategy worked as my daughter was picked in the first round and her cousin was picked in the second round on the other side of the room. :D After the Hasbro show it was time to get ready for dinner and after dinner we all headed to the PG comedy show which was very funny and my nephew even got called up on stage to show off his dance moves. After the show my parents agreed to take all the kids to our suite while the rest of us hung out in the bar.

 

Overall:

The entire staff from the wedding staff to the waiters, cabin stewards took incredibly good care of us and made our wedding and cruise a wonderful experience.

 

We were very happy with our photographer Prajesh who got some excellent shots of the wedding and around the ship. We ended up spending quite a bit on photographs but we are very happy with the shots.

 

The cost of the wedding, grand suite, ocean view cabin, and photographs was still less than half the cost of my first wedding and frankly I had a lot more fun this time. :D

Edited June 27, 2015 by bigpuma

[Inklight]

Congratulations! Thank you for posting your wedding experience, I have always been curious how they work on the cruise ships ... especially those ships that don't have a Chapel. Looking forward to seeing some of your photos.