Carnival Imagination Review
2013 Birthday cruise & goodbye Imagination.... for now
Rating by category
Additional details
This was my 14th Carnival Cruise (17 overall). I take this cruise as a birthday gift to myself each year. I’ve grown to enjoy the IMAGINATION and her crew very much during the four previous trips and will miss sailing on this ship once it is moved to the west coast in 2014. This time I was traveling with a good friend and left for a relaxing get-a-way from the Northeast cold weather. The price was too good to pass up and I managed to grab a porthole room (E-9) as an added bonus.
EMBARKATION: I arrived at MIA international and easily grabbed a Taxi (Flat fee $24) to the port of Miami. It’s a short 20 ride. We arrived at the port about 11:00 am. Since I am Platinum the VIFP check in was quick and we boarded very shortly after arriving at the Port. My room was ready as soon as I boarded to drop my knapsack before heading out into the ship.
The IMAGINATION is really a nice ship and very easy to navigate. I very much liked the new 2.0 upgrades. It was a nice change mostly noticeable to the Dynasty Lounge performances. I like how all of the performers have a bigger commitment to singing over past shows where there may have been one male and one female lead. The new “Playlist Productions” are shorter and repeat on different days allowing you to choose to take part in other activities on certain days if wanted.
Cabin Review
CABIN: E9 PORTHOLE forward.... The setup with one bed on the bathroom wall and the other bed along the far wall under the window (like a "7") opened the space up nicely. Shift your beds like this it just seemed to create a lot of space. NO FRIDGE, but I knew that. This is your typical stateroom; perfectly located on deck 7, just up the hall from the Main Atrium and service desks. There was all NEW lighting in the rooms. It is also conveniently located just around the corner from the self-service laundry which came in handy after our muddy ATV excursion in Cozumel. One drawback is it is located just above the Dynasty Lounge so does get a loud thumping from the production shows at night. If you are a night owl out and about in the ship, this probably won’t affect you, but if you turn in early you may NOT want to book these rooms up front.