May 2001 Scoop
Written: Aug 09 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Consolidated activities, decent shows
Cons: Not able to see great parts of islands on excursions, ship could use redecorating
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this trip for families or for a group of friends, not for a romantic getaway or for singles.
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| lilly1000's Full Review: Carnival Imagination |
Been meaning to write this over the last couple of months but haven't gotten around to it. FYI, this was my first cruise, so it may not be a fair opinion to those of you who've cruised before and have more to compare to.
Week of May 12, 2001:
BOARDING
My boyfriend, myself, my 2 teenage daughters and his 2 younger children (7 & 10) fly Boston to Ft Lauderdale with a transfer to the Miami port (saved quite a bit flying into Ft Lauderdale). Everything very smooth with shuttle bus transfers. Lines appear long getting aboard ship, but move very quickly, especially compared to lines I've stood in at some carribean all inclusive resorts upon check in. Staff checking us in on the Imagination not very friendly at all, in fact they're having personal conversations with each other while stamping our paperwork - bordering rude.
ROOMS
Key cards to get into rooms aren't typical hotel key cards and doors are tricky to open until you get used to them - when we asked an employee standing in the hall to help us get in for the first time she sent us all the way back to the information desk 3 floors down (with 4 kids and carrying all of our luggage). I don't think she could understand what we were asking her, most of the employees are foreigners and this one didn't appear to speak much English. We were pleased with our rooms when we finally got in. For standard size rooms (ours with a window and the kids across the hall with no window) they were bigger than we thought they'd be, although the bathrooms were small and nothing to write home about for sure. The cleaning staff was great, our rooms were always spotless and they left us cute 'towel animals' each day which the kids got a kick out of.
SHIP
After resting a few minutes and freshening up we walked around the ship to familiarize ourselves with the layout. Decor is glitzy/gaudy, bordering tacky - which is not necesarily a bad thing, depending on what you're looking for. This was pretty much what we expected and the kids thought it was great. However, had this been a trip we'd done without children, I'd have much preferred more tasteful atmosphere. Although a lot of the decor appears outdated and could use an overhaul, everything looked clean and there always seemed to be staff around polishing something.
POOL
If you're looking for a nice big pool, this isn't the ship for you. They do have one waterslide and a 2 small hot tubs (which were always full when we were there), but the pool itself is tiny and no matter where you are in the pool you'll have "close friends" around you, like it or not. There's also a childrens pool at the end of the boat, but unless you have tiny tots it's not really for bigger kids. The deck around the pool is clean, but PACKED with lounge chairs on top of one another. As a helpful hint, get there early and put a towel down or you'll never get one of them. Maybe because I've stayed at resorts with beautiful pool areas, I found this section of the boat to be quite a letdown - kind of drab and boring, no nice plants or flowers or anything to dress it up.
LOUNGES
We did think the lounges were cute, there were several and each kind of with it's own theme - one is sort of a sports bar where you can sit and relax, another has dance music, another live rock bands, etc. There is also a piano player in one of them who's there several nites a week if that's your thing. The Dynasty Lounge is where they hold the shows, which we thought were great. We attend musicals here in Boston quite often and the dance staff on the Imagination was just as talented as some we've seen. Our cruise director played a role in some of the shows, being the MC or running games on stage such as "The Newlywood Game" where they picked contestants from the audience. I'm assuming he was hired as Cruise Director because of his stage presence, because it certainly wasn't for his way with passengers - my daughter tried a few times to strike up conversations with him (she loved his British accent) and he all but snubbed her.
CASINO
The casino was pretty cool, not huge but offering a little bit of everything, and the staff was friendly. We did a little gambling and came out ahead by twice what we spent, so we were wicked happy with that!
FOOD
If you're looking for great food (and you KNOW great food), I wouldn't recommend a cruise, at least not this one. This is the one area where we had such high expectations, because we've heard so much about the food on cruises, how you're eating all day and all nite and that the food is incredible - not. Yes, there's food available most of the day, but it's basically the same food over and over and over, who wants to eat the same thing for a week straight?? If you eat in the dining room you can get something different, but the service is understandably much slower and we didn't want to waste time in a restaurant 3 times a day. Typically, there's a breakfast buffet - which the first day is great, even the second day is great! The 3rd day not so great anymore. The buffets run from breakfast to lunch, and again same foods over and over (hamburgers, salad, etc). We ate in the restaurant every night for dinner, and again were not impressed with the food. It wasn't terrible, but being people who enjoy going to really good gormet, ethnic, etc restaurants, we know what we love and this wasn't it. The presentation was pretty good but the food was never as good as it looked. There's a menu of about 4 of each: appetizers, entrees, salad/soup, dessert, which changes from night to nite. Considering how many people they were cooking for I can't condemn them for the food not being perfect. It was definately acceptable and was certainly a relief from having the same breakfast/lunch everyday. If you're bringing picky kids be prepared for them to eat the same foods over and over - all they offer for kids who don't want to try the restaurant meals is pizza, hotdogs and chicken nuggets (basically the same stuff they'd eaten for lunch). It got to the point where my boyfriend's son didn't want to eat anything at all because he was so sick of the same foods at the end of the week. Our waitstaff at the restaurant was totally awesome, we had the same table each night and the same server. We actually got to know him quite well by the end of the trip and exchanged email addresses!
EXCURSIONS
We stopped at Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Cayman is cleaner than Jamaica and we didn't run into any pan handlers there (we're told the poverty level isn't bad because of the big "banking" business they do). Do yourself a favor and do not take the city bus to seven mile beach and go through the BeachClub Hotel to go swimming. Our stingray swimming tour was cancelled because of harsh waters. I'd heard so much about 7 mile beach that I thought it would be a good idea to just spend the day on the beach and do a little shopping when the sun goes down, rather than to waste a lot of time doing bus tours. I don't know a good spot to swim on 7 mile beach, but it's for sure not at that crummy hotel! We had to get off the bus at this hotel where they allow people to use their beach - the hotel is nasty, filthy and it smells. Kind of took something out of being on the beach, as beautiful as the beach/water was. Unfortunately as we were swimming in this gorgeous water, an older couple came by and told us you must be from the cruise ship, didn't they tell you about the jellyfish larva? Seems that it was all over the news there NOT to swim, that this larva causes a major rash (gee, maybe this is why we're the only ones swimming?). So we had to get out of the water and shower off immediately, thank God none of us developed the rash. I was dissapointed that we had to hear this from strangers and not from the cruise ship - and wondered afterward if that was the real reason we couldn't swim with stingrays, not because of 'harsh waters'.
Jamaica was pretty but not as clean as Grand Cayman, and if you've ever experienced people asking you for money when you go to one of these islands, be prepared for worse. I've been to several islands where this happens but nothing like this, they will not leave you alone and for sure don't know what "no" means. I recommend just take it light and walk on through. I thought our kids would die seeing this, they've never been exposed to it and couldn't believe how bad it was. If you're going to shop this would be the place to do it as items are less expensive than in Cayman, and you can almost always talk them them down on the prices. We also did Dunns River Falls in Jamaica which I would recommend, it was fun, very pretty, good way to cool off in the heat. I've read epinions where people say anyone can climb the falls - I wouldn't go that far. If you're elderly, overweight, or have trouble with walking or balance I would not recommend climbing the falls. It's not difficult but it's steep and some of the rocks are slippery. We had a 7 year old with us who had no problem but he is a pretty athletic kid, I don't think it's something all kids that young could or would want to do.
ACTIVITIES
There were plenty of activities on the ship, some with a lot of participation and some with almost none. You can do as much or as little as you like, which is great. The "CampCarnival" was awesome for the younger kids, they only went a couple of times but they loved it. We weren't looking for a babysitter and wanted the kids with us as much as possible, but they WANTED to be at the Camp Carnival! The only thing I didn't care for about it was that most of the activities were indoors, such as crafts and indoor basketball - I would rather have seen the kids outdoors in the small pool or doing outside activities, they can do crafts at home! But the Camp Carnival staff was great and the kids made a few friends there which was nice. There wasn't much for the teenagers at all. There were a couple of teen dances which my daughters went to, and they were the only ones who showed besides the DJ, so they walked in and walked out! Camp Carnival has a teen program but it's for ages 12-14, so since mine are 14 and 16 there weren't any activities for them (and my 14 yr old felt and seemed much older than the kids we saw in the 12-14 program).
DISEMBARKING
No problems here, but you'll want to make sure you know where your luggage is going to be meeting you before you go through customs - when you get down to the baggage area of the ship there is SOOOO much luggage everywhere that if you don't know exactly where you're going it could take forever to find yours.
CRUISE AGAIN?
I would definately try cruising again, but for sure withOUT kids and on a more upscale cruiseline, so that I have something to compare this to. The nice thing about being on a ship like this is that all of your activities are consolidated and close by - whether you want to go dancing, swimming, catch a show, gamble, it's all right there. The lousy thing (for me) is not being able to walk out my hotel door to the ocean/beach anytime I want to, which I love.
Well, I hope that's about - I hope I didn't discourage anyone, because I believe that no matter what you decide to do on vacation that you are the one who's going to make it great or make it suck. If this is something you've already planned and payed for, and if there are things you don't like, just make the most of it and try to have a great time.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
lilly1000
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Location: Burlington, MA USA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 3 members
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