Carnival Imagination Review
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Additional details
Hello All! Prior to our trip this past December, i was hard pressed to find a lot of reviews for the Imagination. I would like to post mine here to help any people in the future. Also, the reviews that I did find seemed to lean to either "hated it cause the food sucked' or "loved it cause of the pool". I wanted a more all encompassing review LOL :) We have learned first hand that Carnival is not for relaxing, it is for partying " totally our fault for booking on this line as we enjoy friendly people and some partying, but not 24/7.
Overall we were happy with our trip a cruise is what you make of it, and glad we have given cruising and Carnival a try. If you are someone who likes to party, is overly sociable and likes crowds Carnival is for you and I will be recommending this trip along with their fleet to our friends and family who fit this criteria. As for our next cruise, we will be trying a transatlantic in the coming years and will be looking at other Lines offered by Carnival (Cunard, etc) that may cater to the "quieter" set.
The food was equivalent to Vegas Buffet level, or large employee dining room. Not impressed.
Cabin Review
Grand Suite
The ROOM: the room (PH1) of course is amazing BUT (you knew this was coming) the balcony overlooks....the life raft - so for an extra $1500 you get an obstructed view. Also - the living room and bedroom look out onto the Lido deck - which is lovely at sunrise - other than that - not so much. It is also very, very noisy - all day, and all night. They did warn us about it before we booked, so i am not complaining - just letting you know that they are NOT kidding when they say there will be a lot of noise. The jogging track is also directly above you - and apparently a LOT of people on the ship decided to go running at all hours of the day and night (starts at about 5am). Picture laying under a treadmill...that's the noise. The deck chairs moving (both on Lido and Sun) are outrageously noisy as well. Like i said - we were warned by Carnival. The room is about 1000 square feet:
- Full walk in closet with plenty of hangers
- Dual sink bathroom
- Toilet is in room with tub €" bad design for a room that can hold up to 10 people (1 shower, 1 toilet). Even with only the two of us, there were times, in a room this size, there should have been a separate powder room.
- Notice i said tub...its an old jetted triangle tub (its seashell pink, so prob original to the ship) with old worn out fixtures and a pitiful curtain. The shower is in this tub. The tub leaks when you run the shower. A lot - water everywhere. Not a good design, and you must climb OVER the edge of the tub to get in - not good on a moving vessel and a wet floor.
- Living room - very nice - flat panel tv (although ours was on the fritz most of the trip) - Bar - great area with small fridge
- Sitting room - nice but moderately uncomfortable furniture (all-weather type material - odd)
- Bedroom - true king bed (not two pushed together) so triple points for that. Nice TV, but tv remote when in bed is too far from TV to work properly so you have to move forward or get out of bed for it to work.
- Blackout curtains truly keep out the sunlight in all rooms
- The carpets totally need to be replaced. They are covered in every room with multiple stains, to the point I would not walk barefoot in the room.
The Pool: The pool is small for the amount of people on deck, especially on a sunny sea day. Add to that pool a ton of children and you have no pool for adults. I watched as children splashed, kicked, shoved, jumped on and banged into adults just trying to get in for a dip. The water is chilly (not heated).