Carnival Imagination Jan 2013

Roger25375 · February 3, 2013

We just returned from a 4 night cruise on Carnival Imagination to Key West and Cozumel. The ship looks amazing and I have nothing to complain about on this trip. This was my 8th Carnival cruise, number 9 is booked for May to Grand Cayman and Cozumel and number 10 is booked for November to the Southern Caribbean from San Juan on the Valor.

We used the Faster to the Fun, it is so worth the $49.95 to be escorted to the front of the line in the check in process, your roomis ready the minute you step on board and your luggage is brought right up as well, plus you can use the Diamond/Platinum line at Guest Services. I did this again for the May cruise so we can get the priority tenderover to Grand Cayman.

This was the first muster drill that I have been to that started in a lounge and then you were escorted to the life boat area. Nice not to have to stand up and outside the whole time, but this seems to add to the time it takes to complete the drill.

Cabin: Outside Oceanview E16 on Empress Deck Portside Forward. Great location and easy to get to where you were going. The only real noise you heard was from the thrusters as the ship went into and out of ports.

Key West: Very charming city, we booked the Ducks of Key West tour on line for a 9am tour so that we would have time for some shopping afterwards. Well at 9am we were told that due to a technical issue and a sickness the tour was cancelled and she did not know how to do refunds, we were welcome to do the 11am tour and still make it back to the ship on time as the tours are 1.5 hours long. We agreed. We still think it was cancelled as we were the only 4 people who booked it. Nice tour saw looks and the drive/boat ride around the harbor was nice. We had 10 minutes to spare to run back to the ship only to see the longest line ever to get back on board so we were good.

Cozumel: We booked a Ancient Culture/Mayan Ruins/Island Sightseeing tour from Carnival. It also was great, best tour guide on any excurision in a long time. He explained looks and really gave us the history of what we were seeing.

After the tour we ate dinner off the ship at Three Amigos, best mexican food ever.

The weather was great the first three days, the sea day back to Miami was rainy windy and all of the upper decks were closed due to high winds, so no water slides, mini golf, running track etc, but there are plenty of other things to do, and besides I was still on a ship.

Staff was friendly and always spoke no matter where they were or what they were doing.

Can't wait for May and the 2nd cruise of the year.

GottaCruz · February 4, 2013

Roger, thanks so much for the great review. We have very fond memories of sailing the Imagination - the one and only time we cruised with my mom and dad and Dad passed away several weeks after. Love the royal treatment you got - especially getting the luggage right away. Sounds like you had a great time . Very nice photos too.

Sarge6870 · February 4, 2013

Glad you enjoyed your cruise Roger!! We love Cozumel and ESPECIALLY the "3 Amigos" located at the head of the dock!! At one time, they showed the movie "3 Amigos" constantly. That place is our first stop when disembarking and the last stop before heading back to the ship!!!

Jan115 · February 4, 2013

Thanks for your review, Roger. We sailed Imagination in 2003 - 5 days to Belize and Key West. Belize was a bust (see my latest blog post), but we loved Key West and still want to get back there some day. We also have fond memories of Imagination and it was a great first cruise for our daughters, who were 8 and 12 at the time. :smile: