A group of friends have done this cruise every year for the last few years and we decided to join them this time. They selected the Carnival Imagination because that had the right dates that were being sought. Have to tell you it was the worst cruise I have ever been on. Here are the reasons why:

1. Our room on the Empress deck was freezing cold the entire trip. The Carnival website says that each room has a thermostat. Not true. The only temperature control in the room is a fan on the ceiling. Even with it turned completely off it was still frigid in our stateroom. Called and went to guest services to complain. They came by twice, took it apart twice and said it was fixed and that the rooms should all be between 70 and 74 degrees. When they tested our room it was only 68 and never got any better. Being disabled and needing to lay day several times a day, it made it completely unpleasant. Found out when I called Carnival after our cruise that we were compensated $20.92 twice for the "inconvenience". This, to be honest, was an insult.

2. The food was horrible and the hours of the buffet were laughable. The food in the buffet in the morning was pretty much inedible. Scrambled eggs that looked like runny porridge, under cooked bacon and not much of a variety was very sad. While the dining room breakfast was better, the hours that they were open were too short. The buffets on other ships are open 24/7 and they always have things that could be made into a meal. The Imagination closed their buffets from 10:00 to 11:30 and after 1:30 the only lunch I could get was pizza or burgers or something at the deli (which was such a limited menu). Dinner was closed at 9, so if I wasn't able to eat what was in the dining room at the late service, I was out of luck getting something at the buffet. The food was on par with Denny's. Read more