Carnival Imagination?

[mandrews2u]

I have ONLY cruised with my husdand, however I am trying to plan a cruise for a bunch of girlfriends ( young fifties) from Florida round trip for -3-6 days and am having a hard time deciding. Only 5 of the 10 of us have cruised before. I am more interested in the ship and whatr it has to offer than the ports, the carribean would be nice, the bahama's is just ok, any suggestions will be helpful. I had kinda narrowed it down to three ships as I had heard they had all been renovated, "the carnival Imagination, teh Carnival Facination . Royal Carribean Majesty of the Sea's or The Enchantment of the Seas, cheaper is better but........ also wonder if any of these has beter cabins over the others, I have only been on the Majesty in 2001, I thought it was very nice back then, Also a couple nof friends want balconies, any ship better than the other on the balcony size?

[DCcruising]

The Fantasy class ships, which includes the Imagination and Fascination, all have identical cabins. The outside and inside cabins are going to be very similar, give or take different bedding color schemes and such. These two ships don't have many balconies, so go for the ocean view. Just see which islands you want to call on, and which prices are the best for you, and you won't go wrong with either of these ships. I've not been on RCL yet.

[Javacruiser]

The Imagination looks and feels like a brand new ship. We were thrilled with our recent cruise. Cabins are very nice but there are very few balconys, which is typical of the ships that are 10+ yrs. old. We stopped in Grand Cayman & Ocho Rios & enjoyed both very much. I'll be happy to answer specific questions for you.

[mandrews2u]

thanks so much, this hlps, I hadn;t thought about the older ships haeving less balconies, guess I better pick a date soon.

[ommax2]

We had a balcony room on Imagination in 2005, while my folks across the hall had the inside room(cheap one ;)!), we were traveling with our then 5 and 3 year old children and it was nice. We really enjoyed it, and our family(extended too) hung out in our room a lot because of the balcony...but is it worth the $ for adults only....hmmmmm, not sure...we are going on Imagination again in the fall, just dh and I and we are in an inside room this time(saving cash)...but there are very few of those balcony rooms...but maybe if one of you did that and the others had a room across the hall? Then you have the best of both worlds ;)!

 

Have a great trip!

Mary Anne

[mandrews2u]

Sounds like a good ides, thanks. Were the shows good and teh food? I have only been on one carnival ship, we really liked it.

[deputy836]

Hello. I personally would recommend Carnival for their inside rooms. They are bigger than RC and the bedding is unbelieveable...down pillows and down comforters. I have booked inside rooms on CCL and RC and by far was happier with CCL rooms for the price.

[mandrews2u]

Thanks, this is good to know, I could not compare the cabins on the carnival ship I sailed and the carribean ships I sail because my one time on Carnival was a aft balcony as it was an alaska cruise, and we loved that cabin, bigger than RCCI but we were not sure if that was due to the fact that it was a balcony or not

[Bunkie103]

You might want to consider the 5 day Imagination cruise to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau. We have done it before and are taking our DD and her girls in April. Loved the ports...Nassau mainly for shopping. The beaches on Grand Turk and HMC were fantastic. Good Luck with whatever you choose.

[beccadoby]

, "the carnival Imagination, teh Carnival Facination . Royal Carribean Majesty of the Sea's or The Enchantment of the Seas, ?

 

My sugestion is to go with Imagination. Just comparing the ships you named off she is the better choice. ;) IMO

 

Then again, you are young ladies on a "gal's trip". If you are talking about a summer cruise, there might be tons of kids on the Imagination testing out her new water fun park. Something to think about.

 

Good luck!

[mandrews2u]

OK, sounds like the imagination is a fine ship, and I had checked the grand grand turk itinerry already, I am planning June or Sept to avoid summer crowds.Maybe just a porthole is fine, they show square windows instead of a round porthole, I am assuming that is not correct, right, nice size porthole if it is, ha,ha

[MissKegz]

I definitely recommend the Imagination! I just got off that ship on Saturday, & cruised with a girlfriend of mine from college (we're both in our early 20s). We had a great time, plus the ports of call (Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, & Nassau) were fantastic too! There's a lot of nightlife on the boat, if that's what you're looking for, and we thought the entertainment was really good, especially the shows and comedians. There weren't a lot of kids on our cruise, but I do agree with the OP that in the summer months there probably would be. I'm sure you'll have fun on whatever ship you choose, but IMHO, I think Imagination would be a great choice! :)

[Cruise-Crazy]

I have been on Fascination several times and had a good time. I have also been on Imagination once just before the renovation and enjoyed it as well.

 

I will be sailing on the all new Imagination, I'll let you know how how it it is now.

[Cruzmama59]

If considering Carnival cruises as your choice, I would definitely go with Imagination. As you will note on my cruise list, I have sailed Imagination several times already and have 2 more to go on this year.

I love Carnivals newest ships, but they are very large and plenty of walking. Imagination is just right size, has a variety of age groups aboard. Majority of the kids go to camp during the day so you really don't see many kids running around the ship, they have their own fun to do.

The rooms are 175-185sq ft. and are much larger than RCCL.(even tho I love RCCL too)

So far out of the 18 ccl cruises I have been on I think Imagination has the best food. (Pizza too) Entertainment on most of their ships were great too.

I am travelling with my kids and grandkids in 2 weeks, and then again in Sept.on the 4nighter (Thurs-Mon)....As they already mentioned there are very few balconies on this ship, in fact I think the mid Sept on is almost or already booked up....We have the outside cabins.

Hope to helps you,

Marilyn(Cruzmama59)

[mandrews2u]

Wow, I guess the immagination must be nice if you go on it again & again. There are no balcony cabins available for the dates we decided but the outside will do fine, thanks so much everyone for all the help.

[beccadoby]

, I am planning June or Sept to avoid summer crowds.

 

Skip June to avoid the kid crowd. Some schools let out in May. The the rest are out in June.

 

Go with September- I know many families that cruise as soon as school is out to celebrate the beginning of summer.

[Cruzmama59]

We booked Imagination Sept 18th....great time and rates are pretty low.

My daughter & kids have a connecting cabin with me, which seem to be hard to get unless you book way in advance.

Marilyn