We sailed on the Carnival Imagination out of Miami in early November 2009. After looking at cruise critic reviews, we figured the ship would be alright since it was recently renovated. The ship was alright, but the service throughout the ship was far from par on this older vessel. Our 4th cruise on Carnival, we had expectations. The food was less than average on the buffet, and tables were not cleared with any sense of urgency or friendliness. In the main Dining Room, the Maitre'D was fantastic! Her name was Dessi. Unfortunately, her staff was not. Our waiter never bothered to carry a conversation nor attempt to learn anyone's name at the table for 10 we sat at. Drinks were never refilled without us asking and basically the table service was terrible for any restaurant. Service was not only an issue with the dining but within our room as well. The only time we saw our room steward was when we got to our room and he showed us how to call his number on the cabin phone. I tried 3 times to call him and every time the line was busy for more than one hour, then I gave up and called the ship's guest services who saved the day. We had some problems with our A/C which is not a great system. There are no controls for temp, only a vent controlling how much cold air you want coming in. At first with the vent all open it was warm, but they came right away and fixed it. And when the newly cold A/C blew black debris all over our bed, our cabin service was nowhere to be found and we got guest services again to change the sheets. The most confusing elevator/floor labels ever! The floors are numbered, the elevators have no numbers, only letters that stand for the name of the deck. When the doors open you have to guess what floor you have arrived on since the floors themselves have no label at the elevator stations. Everyone that got on an elevator with us complained about it.

Some highlights....the entertainers that came onto the ship such as comedians, balancing act, were very good. The ship's singers and dancers were average at best. In the final show, a musical, the two main singers only sang about 1/2 of the show. The rest was all on a track. More highlights...the ship offered a "behind the scenes" tour as a shipboard excursion at $40 per person. It was worth the money to see everything we saw below decks, behind the scenes, and on the bridge with the Captain. A word about the cruise director. I happened to catch his disembarkation talk on the television. He talked about the comment cards and proceeded to tell people what to put on them. He explained to all of us that in fact if our waiter brought us food, that should exceed our expectations. Because Carnival is so great at what they do, basic service exceeds expectations. He even told the story of meeting a passenger that said she enjoeyd the wait staff and when he looked at her comment card she had said it met expectations since she sailed on Carnival before. He explained that her expectations were not how to fill the comment cards and that there was only 1 passing grade...exceeded expectations. All other levels were failing for the crew and why would we want to fail the crew if they were nice. Seriously? Terrible manipulation of a system put in place by management only to be thwarted by a clever cruise director.