Using Your Imagination in Belize
Written: Dec 08 '02 (Updated Dec 08 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: All you can eat. Stress free holiday.
Cons: The ship's decor. Belize. Singles scene.
The Bottom Line: Great price, great service and freedom to do whatever you want even if it's absolutely nothing at all.
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| wyu's Full Review: Carnival Imagination |
At the beginning of November this year, I went on a 5-day cruise on the Imagination's new itinerary to Belize and Key West. There were some good and bad things about the trip, but overall, if you can get a deal as I did on Expedia, I highly recommend going on this cruise.
The Ship
As is the case with all of Carnival's ships, the decor of the Imagination leans towards the gaudy. Everything looks fake, like in Las Vegas! The ship, after so many years of service, is showing signs of wear. My bed wasn't exactly flat, but sagged a little in the middle. The upholstery of the room also looked a bit worn. Nevertheless, I found other aspects of the ship to be excellent, which more than made up for the decor.
Service
I really liked the service on the Imagination. My waiter was a veritable chatterbox. The dining room staff sang and danced a couple of nights to entertain the guests. The staff I passed in the hallways always smiled and greeted me. When I came back to my room after dinner, I found my bed turned down and a new creation from my room steward, who was quite a master in twisting towels into animal shapes. I got a seal, a clown and and an elephant!
Food
I ate in the formal dining room most of the time. Food is served the whole day in the buffet-style Horizon Bar and Grill on the Lido Deck, but I found the food there to be greatly inferior to that served in the dining room. I ate breakfast at the Horizon though, since I like their tables out on deck, where you can see the sunrise and feel the ocean breeze.
In the formal dining room, not only is the food much better, but so is the service. You can order as many appetizers, entrees, soups, desserts as you want. It's all you can eat, and the waiters are always happy to bring you more food. A man at my table ordered two entrees each night and finished both without fail. The quality of the dinner is usually quite good; the lunch less so. I had a roasted duck breast dish and a grand marnier souffle that I still think about!
The Shows and Alternative Forms of Entertainment
I didn't go to many of the shows since Las Vegas style entertainment isn't my thing. But I adored taking walks on the deck after dinner to look at the stars. At that time, most people are indoors dressing for dinner and doing other stuff, so the decks are almost empty. The service staff cleans up after the sun-bathing crowd, stacking up the deck chairs and mopping the deck. That's when I would climb to the top most deck of the ship, walk to the prow of the ship right under the radar/antennae, and just stand there and let the warm wind whip my hair back (the wind is very strong when you are that high up on the ship, so you need to get a firm grip on the handrails). If you want to have some quiet time, that was the best place to go. It's always pretty deserted.
There is quite a singles scene on the ship. I went alone on this cruise, but not by design. The people I was supposed to go with cancelled at the last minute. However, I got scared off from the singles parties that the cruise line organized every night after hearing stories from one of the guys seated at my dinner table (they seat singles together at several big tables). If you are into random hook-ups though, those parties are for you!
I also went to a few yoga classes in the spa/gym, although group exercise classes are usually not free, but cost about $10 per class. The gym is small, but well-equipped, and was moderately busy every time I went in.
In the day time, the main deck with the pools are crowded beyond belief. If you climb up to the deck above as I did, it just looked like a sea of people on deck chairs, packed and sweating right next to each other. The pools, as in all cruise ships, are not big and just looked like a bath tub with a lot of people in it. Waiters weaved in and out of the crowds delivering drinks (not included in your fare) and at the end of the deck is the Horizons Bar & Grill where you can eat pizza, burgers, soft serve and hot dogs to your heart's content.
Ports of Call
Belize
Belize City (the capital of Belize) is a relatively new port of call for the cruise lines running a Caribbean route. As a result, it isn't as touristy or developed as the more common Caribbean ports. In fact, it was downright under-developed. You can see how poor that country is, and how needy it is for the money that tourism brings in. I would be interested to see whether these cruise ships transforms this city after 5 or 10 years. If you use your imagination you can see the potential here, but I had to strain mine rather hard.
The coast of Belize is surrounded by one of the longest coral reefs in the Americas. As a result, you have to take these little speedboats into the port and the cruise ships stop a few miles out. You are dropped off at a pretty artificial "tourism village", which is no more than a cleaned-up, fenced-off portion of the city that is filled with little shops selling jewelry, sea shells and souvenirs. Nothing much to buy here, except that I found some fabulous deals on silver (a necklace for US$6!)
If you have joined a tour (and most people do, since the cruise director on the ship actually discourages you from walking around in the city on your own -- imagine that!), buses will be waiting for you at the tourism village. I signed up for the city tour and a tour to a Mayan ruin, called the Altun Ha. Since Belize used to be a British colony, the tour guides spoke decent English (albeit with a heavy accent) and was able to describe the sights along the way.
And what sights! The capital city was depressing. Dilapidated houses that look that they haven't seen a paint brush in the last two decades, unemployed people sitting around on the streets, empty lots strewn with garbage. The city tour gave you a view of a third-world country, struggling to stay alive and provide for its people after the colonizers have left.
The Altun Ha ruin was about 45 minutes away from the city, and was not as impressive as the ruins I have seen in Cozumel, Mexico. It's a pretty small site, and they are doing construction right now for preservation purposes, so most of the structures were under scaffolding when I was there. It was also blisteringly hot, even in November, so be sure to bring a hat. I climbed up to the top of one of the pyramids and got a good view of the surrounding rainforest, but other than that, I didn't think this tour was really worth going to.
I talked to others at my dinner table and it seems that snorkeling tours and biking in the rainforest tours were better choices in Belize. Belize's coral reefs are still relatively unspoiled, and what the country does not have in sophisticated development, it has in natural beauty, so I would encourage you to join tours that take you to those attractions.
Key West
I found Key West to be an absolutely charming port-of-call. The architecture is so different from the part of the US that I'm living in right now, and wow, was it warm during November! Flowers were still in full bloom. I highly recommend the Key West Trolley Tour, which takes you around the city with a tour guide/driver. My guide, a retired school teacher, was a second or third generation Key-Wester and told great stories about the places that we passed. We drove by houses built entirely of coral; beautiful bed and breakfasts (one of which has an enormous Banyan tree stretching from the front lawn to the backyard -- quite a sight!); the Hemingway house; an octagon shaped house in which Calvin Klein lived for a few years; the Southern most point of the US; and many more. My guide also pointed out the bar owned by Jimmy Buffet and another bar that holds an annual Hemingway look-a-like contest, and explained why the houses all have aluminum roofs. He generally added a lot of local color and humor to the tour which I enjoyed immensely.
Other Things Worth Mentioning
Non-US Citizens
If you are a non-US citizen, you should know that you have to give up your passport and the cruise line / immigration officials would hold it for you during the cruise. I think it is part of the post-9/11 security measures, but it made me quite uncomfortable to part with my passport. I had these nightmares of coming back and not being able to get back into the country because they've lost my passport. Anyway, you should know this so be prepared. In addition, in the first US port on the way back (for me, this was Key West, not Miami), all non-US citizens have to be cleared by Immigration before they would let the ship dock. This means that non-US citizens must get up extra early that day (I had to get up at 5:30am) to meet and get this done, so that the rest of the passengers are not held up.
Miscellaneous Costs
The total price of your cruise can sky rocket if you don't keep a tight rein over your pocketbook. The cruise line makes it extra easy to over spend by making cash a no-no on the ship. Instead, they give you a card called the "Sign & Sail", which you swipe every time you make a purchase. With no cash changing hands, you don't feel the "ouch" of spending money until you get your bill. Alcoholic drinks are expensive, at $5-6 each, and soft drinks are not free. Tours range from $30-$90. Tips for the staff start at $15 a day (but I wouldn't cut back here since the cruise line pays the staff very little and they really live on the tips). Surprisingly, one of my greatest expenditures was internet access (over $30), which was quite expensive indeed. They charge you per minute and not in increments of a minute, and while the connection is reasonably fast (faster than my modem at home at least), it is surprising how much time you need to type out an email message to someone. There are no floppy drives at the terminals, so you cannot upload files, such as photos you took with your digital camera or messages pre-typed on your laptop, to email to friends and family. I found that to be a major inconvenience.
Not Quite Perfect, but I Had Some Delightful Moments
The things I enjoyed most about this cruise weren't the tours, the entertainment, the shopping or my fellow passengers. It was the solitude that I found at the odd corners of this remarkably gaudy ship, the sight of the stars so clear in the middle of the ocean and the lack of worry over clean laundry, making my bed, cooking my meals and doing the dishes. I suspect that my experience is a bit different than most of the cruise-goers, but I just thought you should know that a cruise is what you make of it!
It doesn't have to be what others say it is.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
wyu
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
A sporadic Epinionator who wishes that there's another hour each day just for Epinionating.
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