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First of all, we want to thank all you die-hard review writers, you were very helpful in giving us a good impression of these cruises as well as many tips on how to make the most of the trips.
We have 2 kids (3 & 5 y.o.) and live in south Florida. The Imagination is our second family cruise. The first one was on the NCL Sky in March 2009, with a nearly identical itinerary. The only difference is that on Sunday, the Sky stops at a private island, while the Imagination has a "fun day" at sea instead. We took these 3-day cruises as relatively inexpensive (<$800) weekend getaways. FOR THE KIDS:
Since we have young kids, kid-friendly facilities & activities provided by the ship were important on both cruises. The Imagination has one great attraction: there is a splash park and 2 water slides (must be taller than 42" to ride)on whereas the Sky doesn't have these facilities. However, the Sky does have a hot-tub next to their kiddie pool, allowing us to relax while the kids swam. There is no hot tub or pool next to the water park on the imagination.
The day-care staff on both ships were helpful and friendly,and our kids had fun on both ships. The Camp Carnival had more activities for the kids, some that included parents; they also let kids stay in Camp while the parents hang out in port (we didn't take advantage of this though). Unfortunately, Camp Carnival was also very commercial, selling packages like build-a-bear. But there is no pressure to buy, and we did just fine without them.Camp Carnival also provides a cell phone for emergency use on the ship at no extra charge, which we appreciated.
One of our children has a peanut allergy. Both NCL & Carnival staff were understanding, trained to use epi-pens, and made special accomodations to make sure our children were protected from exposure.
The food quality was just fine for our kids on both ships- but our kids are fine with grilled cheese, pizza and hot dogs, so we didn't sample too deep.
FOR THE ADULTS
Stateroom: We had an oceanview room on both ships. The cabin, bathroom and shower are definitely larger on the Imagination. If you are a large person, you will appreciate the difference. On both ships we had cabins with two bunks, the kids loved to use them as jungle gyms. There is no fridge in the Imagination cabins. Also on the Imagination, we had a lot of problems with cigarette smoke and late-night noises (including a party of inebriated 20 somethings trying to enter our cabin at 3 am - thinking it was theirs)...however,this has more to do with the clientele on our cruise than the facilities.Speaking of inebriation, we took advantage of Carnival's alcohol policy and brought on board two bottles of wine.
PORT AND SHORE EXCURSIONS- both ships want to sell you pricey excursions that you can arrange yourself for much less if you have an ounce of free-will in your blood. Do see the Queen's staircase/fort Fincastle and Atlantis, they are both easily accessible by foot and worth the sweat. We walked to the staircase & fort (make sure you are in shape if you are pushing a stroller), took the taxi to Atlantis/Marina Village (we paid $20 for our own car, you will pay less if you wait for the taxi driver to gather a posse) and took the water ferry back to the port ($3/pp). Hopefully you will get the humorous and informative tour guide that came on board our ferry. We also visited the pirate museum (near the straw market)-the kids found some of the exhibits a little scary, but the parents found them quite entertaining and informative, especially since Nassau is famous in pirate history (adults $12, kids $6, 3 y.o free). The Bahamians that frequent the tourist traps were quite friendly and helpful,we even witnessed them shooing away never-do-wells for the benefit of the tourists.
DINING-Carnival has a decidedly american-centric cuisine, which dad likes, but mom liked the more international cuisine of the Sky. The dining rooms have markedly better food quality than the buffets, unless you are getting something that is normally offered in the buffet (e.g. hamburgers, hot dogs. etc.) This being stated, the Imagination's buffet and dining room seemed to have several overlapping offerings, while the Sky's offerings did not overlap. The lobster tail served on the Imagination's formal night was delicious. The dining room wait staff in both ships were accomodating though the overall service slow, and noticeably slower on the Sky. The difference could be the freestyle dining option we chose on the Sky vs. the scheduled sit-down time we chose on the Imagination. The early dining option on the Imagination was much less crowded than the later option.
ENTERTAINMENT. What we liked about the Sky (and didn't like about the Imagination) was that the Captain & cruise director seemed to work hand-in-hand (sort of like good-cop bad-cop) and were honest about the status of things on the ship. This made a difference on the Sunday part of the cruise. On both cruises, we experienced bad weather. On the Sky, the sea was too rough to visit the NCL private island. The captain announced this on the PA system, took responsibility for his decision, then said he would actively look for better weather (which he found); the cruise director came on next and announced revised activities for the day to accomodate the itinerary changes. We liked the way the situation was handled.
In contrast, the Imagination's captain was silent throughout the cruise. On Sunday, it seemed instead that we were on a slow boat to Miami. Insultingly, the cruise director seemed to be oblivious to the obvious fact that the weather was overcast and cold. He seemed to think that the main reason people cruise in the Bahamas is to hear his fabulous jokes, attend art auctions and gamble rather than play outside and in the sun. A little honesty would have gone a long way.
For evening festivities, we found the comedian/magician on the Sky quite entertaining. The vegas-style stage shows we attended on the Imagination were flashy but lackluster, the only entertaining part (for dad) was witnessing the female dancers expose their undies when they were twirled by the male dancers. Obviously this was not worth sitting through the show for, we left when convenient.
Summary If you are looking for a relatively low-priced cruise, we think you will have a good time on either ship; hopefully what we wrote above will help you decide, and don't worry too much if you have small kids. Since we like variety and like quality rather than quantity, our next cruise will probably be on a more upscale ship with better cuisine.
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