Felt like being in a Walmart

Carnival Imagination Cruise Review to Mexico

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

2.9 out of 5
Carnival Imagination

4 Night Catalina & Baja Mexico (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 11, 2018

Ship: Carnival Imagination

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: M150

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

I heard about Carnival before from friends so I had low expectations. However I was still disappointed by something like the food options and lack of entertainment choices. It didn't help that it was windy and cold most of the cruise so while we still enjoyed our time off, I would rate this cruise significantly lower than Holland America (and Disney of course).

Embarkation

3 out of 5
Embarkation was easy and quick.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Food was well below average. Little selection and the service was poor. Ice cream and beverage machine were constantly out of service. Dishes and cups were smelly. The only decent food we found was the Pizza place but they only had one person working there (taking orders, preparing, slicing and giving out pizzas) so there was always a long line.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Alex the cruise director pretty much ran the entire entertainment program on the ship. He's funny and very energetic but there wasn't much going on the ship otherwise. There is only one small pool on the ship. Mini-golf was cool but that was about it.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
They try but the singers have terrible voices and they ruin all the songs. Otherwise the dance and lighting are pretty good. They had a movie theater that showed a movie, twice a day. Repeated the same movies on alternating days.

Service and Staff

2 out of 5
Stateroom service was fine but the dining room was poor. Servers seem to be overworked or really don't care. Uniforms disheveled and grumpy.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The ship was clean. The design was a bit awkward with different elevators going to different floors and hidden pathways. And the smell of sewage permeated the corridors by our stateroom.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Small but comfortable. Clean and the TV had plenty of channels.

Ship tip

If you enjoy shopping in Walmart, you will like this cruise. You will find some things to be a good value but others will be just plain cheap and it shows everywhere.

Ports of call

Long Beach (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5
Long Beach is great and the Carnival terminal is really nice.

Catalina Island, California

4 out of 5
It's a cool place for a visit. We rented a golf cart and toured Avalon. Otherwise not much to do.

Ensenada, Mexico

1 out of 5
There is nothing here. No beaches and the shopping is mediocre. We didn't do an excursion as the weather was too cold.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Smooth and quick
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2 Comments

sonliberty    6 years ago

I totally agree with you. I won’t cruise with Carnival again.

Msdeedee56    6 years ago

What floor and stateroom did you have. I’m asking because I have a stateroom on level 2

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