Carnival Imagination Review
Strictly a Booze and Gamble Cruise with B Team Staff
Rating by category
Additional details
My husband and I had previously cruised on Cunard and Royal Caribbean (11 times total) and were looking for a short "introduction to cruising" cruise experience for his brother and wife who would be going with us. Carnival was a poor choice on many levels.
PROS: The ship's public areas are clean, festive, and lovely. The theater for stage shows is beautiful. It's obvious that the Imagination has been redone recently.
CONS: This is a booze and gamble cruise and little effort was put into any activities that might distract cruisers from that. There was only one stage show in the evening, at 10:15 p.m., and we were too tired after a day of excursions to wait up. The one comic we saw in the lounge (his early "clean" show) was just so-so. No movies shown. No dancing or dancing lessons. Few games. The usual semi-smutty "marriage game" on stage one evening. We felt we'd already seen it and it really wasn't that funny.
Cabin Review
Junior Suite
PRO: cabin had plenty of room and storage, and was kept spotless. The King-sized bed was comfortable.
CONS: Note that all of the junior suites have views that are at least partly obstructed by winches for raising the life boats. Also, the balconies are so small and cramped that you hear loud and clear every word of conversation on the balconies on either side. (In our case it was a couple of women who were loudly drunk before we ever left Los Angeles.) You feel like you're eavesdropping and it's embarrassing, so we ended up not using the balcony. We should have opted for a cheaper room with just a window. There is no value to getting a suite on the Carnival Imagination.
Port Reviews
Los Angeles
Embarkation went smoothly as those with a suite got the short line.