Carnival Imagination Cruise Review
Just The Facts
Ship: Carnival Imagination
Sailing: February 16, 2020 - 4 day cruise
Captain: Giuseppe Strano
Cruise Director: Benjamin
Ports: Long Beach California, Catalina Island, CA, Encenada, Mexico, Long Beach, California.
This is my 2nd time on the Carnival Imagination, my 76th Carnival Cruise Line cruise, and my 153rd cruise overall. I am sailing with the Dear Wife and many of my good cruise friends.
Day One—Sunday—February 16 — Embarkation
We are staying on the Queen Mary located next to the Long Beach Cruise Terminal so no rush this morning. Check out is 11:00 am so we'll just walk over to the ship. Although the most direct route was blocked by a temporary fence for the Festival we rolled our bags over and checked them without trouble. Then into the terminal for our check-in and security. No crowd at all and we were on the ship by 11:30 am. Easy Peasy. We had a forward port hole cabin, E-7 on deck 7, the same I had when I sailed previously. Not as big as the corresponding porthole on the Panorama, but nice. We went up to Lido and all the friends began to arrive. I had a double meat Guy’s Burger and it was excellent. Best Guys in a long time…they actually cooked the meat as it is supposed to be…smashed on the grill and with a light crust. Really proud of the chef, most don’t cook it long enough. Ten of the thirteen friends sailing this cruise came by so all is well on the Imagination. It will be fun. They just caulked our shower and DW was put off by the smell but that was almost remedied by the time we had a cocktail in the lobby. Thank you Housekeeping. We unpacked and made ready for Boat Drill that was between 5:00 - 5:30 pm. We were muster station A4 and met in the Theater on deck 8. It went well and easy to return to cabin afterward. We went to the Alchemy Bar about 7:00 pm and the group showed before dinner. For the second straight cruise they screwed up the dinning reservations. Ten have a very good round top in center of MDR, and three a banquet a long way away. Were adding one to the main table, and DW and I will make do on our own. It’s fine, as a vegetarian DW prefers the Lido Marketplace anyway. For dinner tonight I ordered: the Roasted Tomato Soup, the Lasagne as a starter, and the Honey Glazed Pork Loin entree. For dessert the Strawberry Creme. Entree was good, the rest just so-so. We retired after dinner to the cabin…I had some business with Guest Services then started this review. GS offered us a small upgrade due to the smell problem with the new caulking, but we passed, they did give us some drink vouchers…thanks are appreciated and we are good. It was an interesting day with some hiccups, but overall a good first day on the Carnival Imagination.
Day Two—Monday—February 17th—Catalina Island, CA
I slept very well with the smooth seas overnight. We arrived and anchored off of Catalina Island early this morning. I went to the Pride Dining Room about 9:15 for the best breakfast of this trip. I ordered Danish, Banana & Melons, Avacado Toast with Poached eggs, side of Bacon & Hash browns, and a short stack of Pancakes. It was great! We debated wether to go ashore since this is a tender port, but the weather was nice so we did decide to go about 11:30. Unfortunately there was a delay about the time we were going due to the evacuation of a guest who had passed earlier in the morning. We made it to Avalon about noon and walked into town and stopped at the Marlin Club. The entire group stopped by with most of the girls continuing on to shop in the quaint town of Avalon. Myself and some others stayed at the bar. It was a very interesting group who came in this afternoon…some serious partiers. We walked back to the water about 2:30 and there was a long long line to return. We waited 75 minutes to get on a tender, but it was a beautiful day. It was a fun day, but I may question debarking here in the future although we could have left earlier and returned earlier and avoided some wait times. I had a very nice Guy’s double cheeseburger about 5:00 pm that will be my dinner for the day. We had invitations to the Diamond Guest party at 6:30 pm. in the Shangri La Lounge on the Imagination Promenade. There were only about 20 guests in the room and 18 were in our group or friends so it was friendly group for sure. They normally only get 3-4 Diamonds a cruise on average on this smaller ship, but they had plenty of servers for the hors d'oeuvres and bar servers for cocktails for us. We had a group photo taken with the Captain before the officers left. DW went to the MDR with most the group, but I had four extra coconut shrimp at the party so I retired to the cabin to watch a movie and work on the review. It was a very interesting day in Avalon and on the Carnival Imagination.
Day Three—Tuesday—February 18th—Encenada, Mexico
Smooth seas overnight and I slept very well. I enjoyed yesterdays breakfast so much I again went up to the Pride Dining room for breakfast about 9:00 am. I ordered all the same plus Tomato Juice and Corned Beef Hash (fried) and since that was a feature of a Breakfast Bowl I had another poached egg. Only thing was the bread was tough under the Avacado Toast, I’ll try to request it on regular white bread in future. It was a lot to eat but need the protein with todays plans. At noon nine of our group met in Lobby and we took a shuttle into downtown Encenada. We walked the two blocks to Hussong’s and had our choice of tables. We sat up a nine top in the center. By 1:00 pm we all had our first drinks. It was 2-for-1 beer so I had two Bohenia (clara) Cervesas to begin. By 2:00 pm it was full of locals (Siesta time?). Soon with the refills and a large bag of peanuts the party really began. The thing about Hussong’s is that it is genuine and very eclectic…you never know what your going to get. We had groups of businessmen, rugby team, girls day out groups, a few tourists, bikers, and more. Entertainment included strolling mariachis, flower vendors, shoe shine boys, caricature artists, and the feature in most opinions: a rodeo roper. The Roper was very surprisingly great and I’ve seen my share in Texas. We had set an escape time of 4:00 pm, but blew past that and returned by taxi about 5:00 pm. Probably good as we avoided lines before the 5:30 back on board time. More than enough to drink and entertainment already today so I retired to the cabin to hold down the bed. Room service a great option. It was a good day at Hussong’s and on the Carnival Imagination.
Day Four—Wednesday—February 19th—Fun Day at Sea
Smooth seas overnight and I slept very well. I was up about 7:30 am and checked accounts and paid some bills. Today is Seafood Brunch day on the Imagination so both of us went to the Pride MDR for brunch. We had a bunch of friends set next to us or with us so fun. We used our Diamond drink vouchers on Bloody Marys. DW ordered the French Toast and it was the size of a 1/3 loaf of bread…tasted great too. I ordered the Steak & Eggs with side of Bacon and Hash Browns. All good. I had the Banana Creme Pie for a dessert. About 11:30 am they evacuated a guest by Coast Guard medical evac helicopter, unusual on a four day cruise you would have two major medical emergencies. We watched a movie on the cabin TV then went up to Lido deck and sat of the aft watching the wake. I had a nice Guy’s Burger & Fries and DW had Guy’s French Fries with Ranch Dressing. Good. We then each enjoyed a Mudslide for dessert. Stopped by the Lobby Bar for a refresher as well. We met the group for apéritifs before dinner at the Alchemy Bar for farewells. We ate in the Lido, I had promised the Captain that I would try the pizza so I intended dinner to be Salad and Pizza tonight. It was OK, but not near the pizza on MSC ships. I did also sample the Leg of Lamb from the carving station and the Chicken Parmesan…both good and they had more selections than I anticipated, but Royal Caribbean is king of the Evening dinner Lido buffets. We retired to the cabin to finish packing and set out our large bags for pick up by 11:00. It was a nice relaxing sea day on the Carnival Imagination.
Debarkation—Thursday—February 20th—Long Beach, California
Smooth seas overnight and we were sitting just off the pier by 3:00 am. and docking about 6:00 am. We stayed in the cabin until 8:35 then took the Diamond Shortcut off the ship to the terminal where we picked up our checked bags and cleared U.S. Border Control. A very easy process. We were on the Carnival Airport shuttle by 9:00 am. Airport was a smooth process too. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then our flight was at 2:30pm landing at 7:15 pm local time at DFW. A two hour drive home to the ranch by 10:00 pm. A very easy travel day.
Ship
Tonnage: 70,367 GT - Length: 855 ft - Beam: 103 ft - Draft: 25 ft 7 in - Decks: 10 - Speed: 21 knots - Capacity: 2,056 passengers (lower berths) 2,634 passengers (all berths) - Crew: 920 - Carnival Imagination is a Fantasy-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on July 1, 1995
Cabin
We had cabin E7 an interior porthole cabin located on Empress deck 7 far forward on starboard side. The same cabin I had on my previous cruise on this ship. The cabin is a standard Porthole/OV space, with twin or queen bed. It has a swipe type safe, three-section closet, one chair, one electrical outlet, Telephone on desk, Small Stool at dresser/desk, Hair dryer, and small flat screen TV with the interactive features. There is no refrigerator. My cabin steward, Lu, was very good, the cabin was always clean and ice container filled.
Dining / Food / Bars
Upgraded two years ago to Carnival’s now standard 2.0 upgrade she has all the dining and bar options one would expect on Carnival: Guy’s Burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina, Alchemy Bar, Red Frog Rum Bar, and more. The Horizon Lido Buffet is much improved as well. I found the food adequate and really like the 2.0 additions. We didn’t eat in the MDR for dinner. The Guy's Burgers were cooked properly...when they are they are the best at sea.
Crew / Other
Crew were friendly, helpful, and efficient. The Carnival Hub iPhone App is wonderful, especially for checking your account balances. I found the internet Wi-Fi worked very well.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CRUISE
Sailing with our Snoozemate’s Friends
Hussong’s
Diamond Party
Catalina Island
Guy's Burgers
Ship: Carnival Imagination
Sailing: February 16, 2020 - 4 day cruise
Captain: Giuseppe Strano
Cruise Director: Benjamin
Ports: Long Beach California, Catalina Island, CA, Encenada, Mexico, Long Beach, California.
This is my 2nd time on the Carnival Imagination, my 76th Carnival Cruise Line cruise, and my 153rd cruise overall. I am sailing with the Dear Wife and many of my good cruise friends.
Day One—Sunday—February 16 — Embarkation
 |
| Lobby elevators - Carnival Imagination |
Day Two—Monday—February 17th—Catalina Island, CA
Day Three—Tuesday—February 18th—Encenada, Mexico
Day Four—Wednesday—February 19th—Fun Day at Sea
Debarkation—Thursday—February 20th—Long Beach, California
Smooth seas overnight and we were sitting just off the pier by 3:00 am. and docking about 6:00 am. We stayed in the cabin until 8:35 then took the Diamond Shortcut off the ship to the terminal where we picked up our checked bags and cleared U.S. Border Control. A very easy process. We were on the Carnival Airport shuttle by 9:00 am. Airport was a smooth process too. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then our flight was at 2:30pm landing at 7:15 pm local time at DFW. A two hour drive home to the ranch by 10:00 pm. A very easy travel day.
Ship
Tonnage: 70,367 GT - Length: 855 ft - Beam: 103 ft - Draft: 25 ft 7 in - Decks: 10 - Speed: 21 knots - Capacity: 2,056 passengers (lower berths) 2,634 passengers (all berths) - Crew: 920 - Carnival Imagination is a Fantasy-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on July 1, 1995
Cabin
We had cabin E7 an interior porthole cabin located on Empress deck 7 far forward on starboard side. The same cabin I had on my previous cruise on this ship. The cabin is a standard Porthole/OV space, with twin or queen bed. It has a swipe type safe, three-section closet, one chair, one electrical outlet, Telephone on desk, Small Stool at dresser/desk, Hair dryer, and small flat screen TV with the interactive features. There is no refrigerator. My cabin steward, Lu, was very good, the cabin was always clean and ice container filled.
Dining / Food / Bars
Upgraded two years ago to Carnival’s now standard 2.0 upgrade she has all the dining and bar options one would expect on Carnival: Guy’s Burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina, Alchemy Bar, Red Frog Rum Bar, and more. The Horizon Lido Buffet is much improved as well. I found the food adequate and really like the 2.0 additions. We didn’t eat in the MDR for dinner. The Guy's Burgers were cooked properly...when they are they are the best at sea.
Crew / Other
Crew were friendly, helpful, and efficient. The Carnival Hub iPhone App is wonderful, especially for checking your account balances. I found the internet Wi-Fi worked very well.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CRUISE
Sailing with our Snoozemate’s Friends
Hussong’s
Diamond Party
Catalina Island
Guy's Burgers
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