This is my second time on carnival imagination. February 3rd-7th 2019. And I have to say that I was disappointed in a lot of things the second time around. My wife and I requested a king size bed and they just threw two twins together and put a big sheet over it. So my wife was slipping into the crack between bed all night. Not comfortable. Also, the hot tubs could hardly be called so. They were kept at a lukewarm bathtub temperature of 98 degrees and filled only to lower chest level so you had to slouch to even get your body in. 2 years ago they were kept at 102. 4 degrees makes a huge difference in a hot tub. The staff would not budge on warming it up either. Lots of the staff in general were very unhappy people. However, the waiters in the spirit dining room were absolutely AMAZING! Just a bunch of really kind and happy to help fellas. The boat was a lot more Rocky this time. They can't help that, it's just the ocean, but when booking make sure to know what the weather is like especially if you get seasick. The comedians were on point most nights and very funny. The love and marriage show was a good time and so was Karaoke. There was a storm when we were trying to reach Catalina island so they didn't port there the night they planned. But it was nice that they did make it happen the next day when the weather was clear. Buffet deserts were usually just dry and not very sweet, but the ice cream dispenser was always delicious. The sit down breakfast in the pride dining room was also very disappointing. I tried the French toast, the waffles, and the pancakes and they were all very sub-par. I enjoyed disembarking in Catalina and Ensenada. Both were fun places to visit and enjoy. Read Less

I chose this ship and itinerary mostly because Long Beach would a convenient meeting place for our group, and the price was right! I went in knowing we were sailing on the “Pink Ship” and that decor was not its strongest suit. I found that to be true, I did not care for the decor but in no way did that negatively impact my experience as I had proper expectations. Embarkation was very smooth. We arrived a few minutes before our assigned time and were on the boat in 15 minutes. We did not purchase FTTF and do not feel we would next time for this port/itinerary. While the ship itself is nothing to write home about, the staff made our trip wonderful! Our group of 14 people included 3 seniors, 2 grade schoolers, 2 high schoolers, 2 nineteen year olds and the parents... there were activities abound for all of the age groups, even though the kids chose not to attend the kids’ clubs. The cruise director Lee and his staff do a phenomenal job of hosting a wide variety of activities with much enthusiasm! The servers in the dining room worked very hard (loved Oscar and Mashudi) but did seem to be stretched thin. There were times we waited for wine and service was a bit uneven. However, I felt this was due to the heavy workload as opposed to the wait staff competence. We all had ocean view cabins on deck 2. Our room steward Roland was very friendly, greeting us by name in the hallways. He kept our room immaculate and I’m fussy with cleaning. The food in the main dining room was very good every night. I never had a bad meal. We only ate in the buffet for lunch and continental breakfast (great banana bread!) and found it was ok. The lines at the Mongolian Wok were always long, though my husband tried it once and thought it was very good. We also enjoyed the Tandoor and pizza place. Everything I ate from there was tasty. I went to the Deli once and ordered a wrap which was meh, but the grilled sandwiches looked great! I had the Cheers package and never had trouble getting a drink. And though I’m not a heavy drinker, I didn’t feel it was too difficult to get my “money’s worth” considering I enjoy a couple of glasses of wine with my dinner, a few other drinks around the pool or at the shows, along with many a latte. As I indicated above, the entertainment aboard was what made our cruise. We saw a movie, some of the musicals (Epic Rock, an 80’ show and Studio VIP) a few comedy shows, the Marriage Show and did a trivia event. The talent level of the performers was amazing. It was always an enjoyable way to spend an hour. The little kids did the Build a Bear and loved their new friends. This cruise stopped at Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. In Cabo, we rented a yacht through Lands End Charters as Carnival didn’t have a similar excursion for 14. I was worried about getting off the boat in time as we didn’t get the earliest tender tickets but they were running ahead of schedule and we made it in plenty of time. Again, I dont feel we missed out not having FTTF. Our excursion turned out to be wonderful! Wonderful food, lots of drinks! For four hours, we watched whales, did a coastal tour and stopped to snorkel a bit. I would definitely recommend this company. In PV, we just took a taxi to town and went to Mango’s Beach Club. We had planned on going to one of the “Monkeys” but gathering our group is like herding feral cats (also missed the cruise critic meet up due to this lol), so we didn’t venture away once we had all found each other. The second day, I had wanted to check out the grocery section of Walmart for vanilla and hot sauce, and my daughter picked up some souvenirs at the little shop just at the port as we were finding it too hot to walk far (we’re from Canada not used to heat). I would recommend this cruise and definitely do another Carnival cruise as this was our first one (we have sailed other lines). I’d do this one again, except Splendor is leaving this port and I’m not sure a huge ship would work for our senior crew with so much walking. Carnival has a great staff and they MAKE your holiday! Read Less

We did not choose this Cruise it was chosen for us. We were part of a group. We always said we wouldn't choosarnival and now we know why. The entertainment on the ship in the lobby was so loud after 10 p.m. that we couldn't sleep. And we were on the lido deck where the entertainment was also very loud. But we didn't hear it from the Lido pool area, we heard it from the lobby,. Being on deck 10, that meant the whole ship heard it. The service was slow and bad. We would something at the beginning of dinner and it would come at the end of dinner. Like a glass of wine. Or perhaps a sauce for the thing that we were eating. There were lines everywhere. Lunch was abysmal. You would have to stand in line after line after line to get your food. We told the room Steward that our shower and sink were both backing up and flooding out. It was never fixed. No one ever came into the cabin during the whole trip. We don't know if the room Steward never told maintenance or if maintenance just never got there. We also noticed down the hall that a fan was continuously going in the hallway. Which meant that there was a continuous flood or dampness in the carpeting. Rather than fixing it they just had a fan on the whole time. The worst is the huge design flaw in Splendor's layout. Who puts a smoking bar, the casino, in the entire middle of the ship? For a family cruise with a lot of children and infants that needed to go through a very smoky casino, this design is thoughtle In order to get from one end of the ship to the other, you are forced to go through a smoke filled area. And going above makes it inconvenient and going below is impossible. . Let''s not forget that the Robusto Bar is advertised as the smoking lounge, but it isn't. Now smoking in a far-off little corner of the ship in a bar that children do not have to pass through would be so much smarter than smoking in the middle of the ship making all your ship smell like smoke. I understand Carnival is a ship for families and kids. But why should families get abysmal service, be unable to sleep because of the loud music and other people, and just have a horrible time. There were many people who enjoyed the Carnival Cruise. For us, as we enjoy good service and excellent food on a cruise, carnival was not the cruise line for us. We would never choose carnival on our own and we hope that in the future we don't have to go on carnival with our group. Read Less

This was my first cruise and I was treated like a king. I am from Las Vegas and I see service and hospitality issues all the time. But, I have never had so many staff members treat me so well. And, I am a low profile person. I went on the cruise by myself and loved it. I didn't want to be a part of a group and so many people wanted me to join there party. I was fine and I only did about 10% of the events offered. But, I still did too many things to keep track of. I loved it so much. I have planned 2 charity cruises already and I just got off of the ship 2 weeks ago. I will be back next January, at the latest. And another cruise that I may be on is in July. You rock!!!! The food was wonderful. The customer service was top notch. The choices of activities was endless. Now that my trip is over, I wish I had taken more advantage of the excursions and activities. Thank You Roxelle and Nanagn and so many other staff members of the Carnival cruise line team. And, thank you to the entertainment staff at the Playlist productions "Studio VIP show". I was part of the show. YEAH!!!! Do you have my video??? In closing. The staff made my first time the best travel I have ever had. And that gives me new dreams and goals to attain on the next trips I plan with them. Read Less

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It was fine for a quick getaway, and even though an older ship, there was a lot to like. However, the corporate cutbacks are really starting to show (especially to those of us who've been cruising Carnival for a while). We can remember actual free drinks for the Captain's toast, then a dollar off any drink, and now just a dollar off Bellinis. The cutbacks in dining rooms and staterooms mean lots of small changes (no pastries unless you ask, long waits for breakfast/brunch, pushing the once-a-day room service, etc.). The other main negative for us was the small number of hot tubs (4), especially since one was always out of service. The ones in the Serenity area were always packed and the Carnival workers just ignored the smoking that we saw frequently on the Serenity deck. The staff overall were friendly, if not consistent. For example, two of our dinner tablemates joined for the first time on the last night and were shocked how friendly and accommodating the dinner servers were since that hadn't been their experience at other meals. Our dinner wait staff were excellent, and the food was mostly good (a few clunker dishes, mostly due to being inadequately spiced). But overall, even on the Lido, the food was fine. There wasn't a lot to do on the ship, but with only one sea day, it was fine. The weather was perfect, which helped. One of the solo guitar players was a Janis Joplin-style performer, who we enjoyed, but the seating in the Atrium where she often performed was very limited and the casino area, also a main music venue, was often set up for photos and was very smoky. The cabin was old and showed it, but was still pretty big given our experience on older ships on other lines, The bed was super comfortable, but the shower was small and slow-draining. Overall, it was a good value for what we paid, and we had a nice, relaxing time. Read Less

My husband and I sailed on the Legend for our honeymoon and loved it! Being on the West Coast, our options were limited for another sailing, and having heard others complain about these 3 and 4 day "booze" cruises on an old ship, we weren't sure what to expect. But the price was amazing and we decided to give it a shot. We're very glad we did. First of all, the November dry dock on the Inspiration was noticeable. Rooms looked very updated (compared to some other reviews we've read before the dry dock). Bathrooms looked practically brand new. Food was good throughout the ship. Didn't love the menu every night, but we were generally pleased with the food in the MDR. Service was good enough, and we enjoyed not having to cook. We really went on this cruise to relax, so found it nice to have options for entertainment when needed, but also were content just sitting around reading or playing games. Enough to do for a 4 night cruise. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good, which is no fault of Carnival. But, I was very impressed that the captain managed to get us a few hours of sunshine. Our itinerary got moved around, and I was convinced there was no way we'd actually get to Catalina with the storm and the need for tendering, but because of the move, we had sun on our sea day, a few hours of dry on our Catalina day, and nearly a full day of sunshine in Ensenada (all while Los Angeles was getting drenched). Very pleased that they were able to do it. All in all, a great cruise. We wish it were longer. While I want to try a mega-ship, we were very pleased with the Inspiration. Read Less

My daughters (ages 12 and 13) and I were also with about 5 other families and their kids. Kids ranged in age from 4-19. We had a family of vegans and a family with dairy allergies. Boarding: We were dropped off at Long Beach cruise terminal. We had the first boarding time of noon, and only had to wait for one group of friends who happened to be ahead of us in security line. We all arrived at almost exactly the same time, so all but one family boarded together. I had given most luggage to a porter when we were dropped off. I tipped him $1/bag. Boarding was easy. Headed to the buffet. Blue Iguana, Guy's and the buffet were all open. I did not check if a dining room was open or not. The vegans got burritos at Blue Iguana and a couple of them went to the Deli and found veggie burgers there. THe rest of us found food and enjoyed our meals. We got drinks(a few had cheers, but I didn't). You no longer get your sign and sail at the check in in the terminal, so you have to use your boarding pass to get drinks until you get to your room and the cards are at your room. HUB App: We had a total of 22 people, so we knew that the adults and tweens would need access to HUB. IN THEORY, the idea is great. However, it appears that Carnival has hired the most inept of programmers to actually execute the App. It is $5/person who uses it. That is $5 too much IMO. They should pay YOU to use it and report the excessive number of bugs. It was slow to load on my phone, so I'd have to shut off my phone in order for it to reboot. I was added on one chat with all of us, but I could never actually see that chat to be able to try to log out of it then back in. I never got the messages on that chat. Then, what was the easiest part, or should have been, would be person to person. Well, I hope you aren't talking trash about anyone, because random people would be thrown into the personal chats! (They were part of our group, so not TOTALLY random people, but....) Some messages never went through at all, so we would check on our kids with no response, get mad at them for not responding, then check their phones and they never got our messages. I hate using walkie talkies, but at least they are instant gratification for checking whereabouts. Circle C- When signing in online, it says nothing about parents needing to check their kids in once on board. I mean, it is come and go as you please, so Ifigured all was well once I signed them up online. All of us with kids in that club were told BY OUR KIDS, not by Carnival staff, that we needed to go check our kids in a tthe club before they could stay. I would have gone there first thing when boarding if I had known ahead of time. Then again, who knows if they would have been open or not. Tanya was the one in charge there. Multiple times our kids went there late (It says they are open until 1am. After 11pm, it seemed if noone was there, they just locked the doors), and the doors were locked. So for anyone who wonders why tweens/teens are just roaming the ship, THIS IS WHY!! Also, she sent one of our kids out for wearing pajama cozy pants in the club. It was 10 pm! She tried to send my daughter out for a skirt that was "too short". My daughter had shorts on underneath it so was allowed to stay. My friends and I saw NO indication of any dress code. I even looked on Carnival's page last night to find one, and no such thing existed. For crying out loud, I had a Grumpy Bear Care Bear onesie on that I wore into the NIGHT CLUB! I was glad my kids went with their own friends. Had they relied on Circle C for their entertainment, i think I would have had 2 grumpy kids on my hands. Just about the only thing in there is a place to hang out and video games and some crafts. Room- R135. It was a great location if you get seasick. Little movement even when it was storming outside and not safe for the tender boats at Catalina Island. 1 set of bunks and a twin against the window. A desk, set of 4 or 5 small drawers(we put swimsuits, socks, and undies in the just fine) 3 closets. 1 with room for long dresses, one a bit shorter because there is bedding underneath and one with shelves) Bathroom is toilet, small(1 shelf) above the sink and shower. Shower had awesome water pressure. Wish i had that at home! Room steward was Made who was great. Got us our robes, bottled water in a timely manner. Only downside was the location for elevators. It only went to deck 9, which wouldn't have been an issue had there been a way to access all of deck 9. It just dumps you off in front of a dining room. And I think it is actually the back side of the dining room! But, the ship is rather small, so a trip to the foward or aft stairs isn't that big of a walk. Food- We enjoyed most everything we got on the cruise. I loved the fish taco I had at Blue Iguana. Was disappointed in the chile relleno the last night. I should have just ordered all apps the last night. The salmon cake was superb. The fruit bisques are a family favorite. Vegan friends ordered vegan chef's choice every night after the first night. The last night was a total miss. Random veggies in a pie crust with some wierd BBQ sauce tasting sauce or beans? We couldn't figre out what it was. They had a great tapioca pudding type dessert that was made with soy milk, a pudding and a fruit compote type dessert. Guys burgers was great. Only complaint we had was that food was virtually non existant after midnight. We were up at 3 am and the ice cream was closed and we wanted dessert. The next night we loaded plates with bread, desserts and other food and carried it around with us. They wouldn't let it into the night club, though, so we devoured it on site. Drinks- Why are the only 2 bars open late at the casino and nightclub??? The 2 places that allow SMOKING!!?? One bar had only 2 wines available. We requested a shiraz, and they said only cab or merlot. They "Ran out of wine". You didn't run out, idiots. We were not born yesterday. We saw the wines we requested on the dinner menu the next night and they were available. You just didn't want to run and get a bottle. Or open a new one. The Alchemy bar was the beacon of light. Samael was my favorite. I ordered all of my drinks of menu, just giving direction like "vodka, fruity, but not really sweet." or "Something with spicy mango syrup". Samael was dead on with all the drinks he made me. Jorge seemed to be newer. His were ok, but tended to be more sour. Ludja (Pronounced Lydia) made me a great one with the spicy mango syrup. If you want a cocktail, but not a sugar laden syrupy mix from most bars, come here! The drinks take a while to make, but they taste superb and are pretty. Just don't get the strawberry one with the rosemary and the 2 rums. 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This was our second cruise with Carnival. Our first was a 7 day Western Caribbean with just me and my husband. For this time around, we wanted a shorter cruise, not too far from home to take our 4 kids. I assumed that since both cruises were with the same cruise line they would be the same in quality and experience- they were not. There were many of differences (sadly, most of them were negative). Things that were the same- - Our cabin was clean and beds were cozy. I love Carnival's Comfort Bed Collection. I have a hard time sleeping away from home and I think all beds are too hard and uncomfortable. These aren't. I slept like a baby. - Food in the dining room did not disappoint- just as great as our Caribbean cruise. The buffet was pretty much the same- mediocre buffet food. My kids loved the ice cream though. - The dining room and housekeeping staff were friendly and did an outstanding job, as usual. Things that were different- - Surprisingly, most of the other staff were very rude and not friendly at all. It was almost painful to get a smile out of them. - The buffet dining area tables were a mess. The staff in charge of cleaning off the tables would clear the tables but didn't wipe them off, leaving them a greasy mess. - I noticed the food staff skimped on the good stuff with this cruise. They had a worker at the sweets table cutting slices of cake and desserts paper thin. And the mozzarella cheese on the pizzas were pretty much non-existent. Normally, I absolutely love their pizzas! Good thing that the guys' burger place was the same deliciousness! - It seemed very unorganized. We didn't leave the Long Beach port until almost two hours after scheduled departure. We had to wait for an hour for our safety briefing in a smokey casino/bar with our kids- not good. - The ship is very small compared to other Carnival ships. There were pros and cons to this: I liked that my kids could make their way around the ship fairly easy and not get lost. However, I didn't like that often times we had to walk through the bar/casino area to get where we wanted to go. Also, because the ship is smaller, I felt like they were more limited on their choices for activity locations. Because of this, the more popular adult activities get priority of locations. For example, they had a Harry Potter trivia activity where mostly families and children were attending, in a bar right next to the casino. That wasn't a good location for a family activity, yet, the other lounges were being used for Bingo and other activities. Also, we had way more seasickness on this cruise. I think the smaller boat and the rougher waters made everything way more noticeable. - I wan't impressed with this cruise director or the "fun squad" at all. The activities were ok- nothing to rave about. They had the usual Bingo and late night entertainment. However, I felt like the activities for families and kids were lacking. The last day on the ship you would have thought because it was a sea day they would have filled it with super fun activities, however there were only a few activities that were actually fun that they weren't trying to sell you something. My sister commented that they call the ship imagination because you have to use your imagination for activities. - The clubs for kids were ok. My 7 and 10 year old went to Camp Ocean. They really liked the free time and made some cute crafts. However, when they went back they hated it because there were so many kids in there that it felt way too crazy and unorganized for them. So that seemed like a hit or miss thing. My 13 year old went to Circle C. He really liked meeting new friends and playing video games, however, for me, it was way too unorganized. I would go to get him for dinner or a family activity and they would be closed with just a sign up saying the club was closed. I had no idea where he was or what he was doing. There were three times I had to go to guest services to try to track him down. I think part of this was my fault. I didn't understand how the CircleC club worked. Because of the age, they are able to just come and go as they please, and sometimes the whole group would all leave to go play mini golf or whatever and just put a sign up and lock the door. For parents who don't mind their kids wandering the ship and doing whatever, it would be fine, but I didn't like that. Overall, I think this would be a great cruise for singles or couples who are just looking for a quick "getaway", or to party. I wouldn't recommend it for families. In fact, because of my experience here, I will be sailing with Carnival's competition on my next cruise. It's too bad because our Carnival cruise last year was so amazing. Read Less

I'll be brief. Our room was U104 and since we'd cruised this ship before knew what rooms were like. There is plenty of room and balcony is nice. The room and bathroom are dated but shower was nice. Room steward was lax on upkeep each day and rarely saw this woman. Our communication were thru notes. The bathroom floor was dirty in corners. One day the toilet was backed up from somewhere else. We had to deal with brown stuff in toilet while we waited for someone to figure out flushing was not enough. I stood there one time flushing 20 times to get rid of it. Nothing disappeared. We called and waited for 3 hours. Each time we called we were told someone was on their way. Nothing. Finally someone did show up and said it was fixed. It was but I had to ask for it to be cleaned. We did receive a 63.00 credit for inconvenience. Staff were not friendly except main dining room. We had room service one morning (after putting out our food choice card on door knob night before) and had to end up calling after they were 30 minutes late. Still had to wait another 45 minutes for service. Then no coffee cups. Read Less