Carnival cruise: Imagination 2018

         

         
kids edition!!!

This cruise went to Mexico, 4 days. We took our  4 year old son with us.

Sailed out of Long beach, California

Here were the stops:

• Catalina Island
• Ensenada, Mexico

We had the Inside cabin that could fit 5 people. 

Let me tell you about Camp Ocean since this is a kids based post. 

Camp Ocean breaks kids up into ages. Since Nash was 4 he was a penguin: ages 3-5. They do learning activities and lots more. If you want them to stay at night, from 10- 1 am i think it does cost extra.

Heres Nash with his crab hat

When you book your cruise you have to register your child to the camp if you plan on dropping them off. When you get on the ship you go and finish your registration. Since Nash is autistic we got a phone so they can call us if something goes wrong. We dropped him off and he was a little scared. Once we left he warmed up to the camp. We went and got him in about 3 hours and he was dancing with the other kids wearing a crab hat. It was adorable!! They camp leaders said "we love this kid!! you need to bring him back!" We brought him back the next day for dinner and he did not like that. They called us instantly they said its because of the atmosphere and no closed in. We tried again after the kids ate dinner. He was doing fine until they were playing with balloons and one popped in Nash's face. It scared him bad!! they called us and we rushed to get him. They felt so bad and said "if he comes back we promise not to bring the balloons out". 

We took him back the next day and he did much better. They immediately brought out the bubble machine since they memorize what each kid favors. About an hour in they called and I can hear Nash in the background saying " Mommy is coming".  We figured out that he does better when its an activity. They were having a bubble dance party so we dropped him off at that time and he was there for almost 3 hours. 
That night we wanted to have a family dinner since it was the last night. He danced with the waiters and saw the baked Alaska display. Than we took him to the show (which he loved). During the show I ran back to the camp to take back the phone. They asked if Nash was coming and I said no. They were pretty bummed that he wasn't coming. They gave him a penguin bag pack and told me how much they loved our kid. 
On our way out of the ship we saw one of the counselors and she was waving to Nash and said " we hope to see him and you guys again".
I gotta say I am pretty impressed with Camp Ocean and the whole staff on this ship. If Nash was having a meltdown (because he was tired and hungry), one of the staff members would come up and try to make him laugh. It was very helpful and made our vacation a lot easier. 
As for sea sickness, this ship was smooth. Hardly any rocking. I did get some dramamine for kids just in case and I never needed it the whole time. Nash did amazing with no sickness the whole time, the ship did rock a little at night but I think it helped Nash sleep. 

First stop was Catalina Island:

Santa Catalina, one of California’s Channel Islands, lies southwest of Los Angeles. It's known for its wildlife, dive sites and Mt. Orizaba, its highest peak. The resort town of Two Harbors lies to the

north. To the south, in the city of Avalon, palm trees and cabanas line Descanso Beach. Avalon’s circular, art deco Catalina Casino is a cultural center with a movie theater, ballroom and museum.(Wikipedia)

We went to the city of Avalon.
This place reminded me so much of Cabo. The way the buildings were up against the hills and the shape of the harbor. Instead of cars they drive golf carts everywhere. It was pretty cool to see and odd haha. The streets were so small that there was hardly any actual cars in town.
I have loved this little town. Right when you get off the boat there were lots of fun things to do. You could rent a go cart and explore. They also had a spot on the beach where you can play water ball and play on the water inflatables. You could rent a small boat and go out and swim or explore.  Shopping and restaurants everywhere. The more you walk in the town the more tours, excursions, shopping and resturants. There was only 1 small beach from what we saw. We really didn't go far because our son was getting tired and hungry. We didn't do much shopping because of how pricey things were and it was mostly junk. But it was all fun to look at. And they did have some cute shirts and hoodies.
We did the bottom glass boat tour for our son since he loves fish. 
It was pretty pricey but still a good deal. 
It was about an hour long and you learn all about the local fish and what you can and cant fish. Our son absolutely loved it!! You could see clear down to the bottom of the ocean and there was a lot of fish. We even got to feed them. One of the stops we did was a spot that is protected against fishing. There was a ton of different fish. From yellow to blue, they were beautiful. 
Here are pics from the excursion and from the island:

This is how small the streets are

The inflatable water toys. 

Fish from the excursion

glass bottom from the excursion

View from the ship

Ensenada, Mexico:

Ensenada is a port city on the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. At its heart is the harbor and waterfront area with the Malecón promenade. Once a casino, the Riviera de Ensenada is now a cultural center. The nearby Museum of History and the Regional Historical Museum trace the area’s people and past. Migrating gray whales visit the waters offshore. Southwest of the city is La Bufadora blowhole.(Wikipedia)

This city was so, so busy. Lots of construction everywhere!!.

We didn't do much shopping here because of the tired and hungry 4 year old. By the time we got done with our excursion we actually all were tired and hungry. There are little shops in the building you go through. Cute stuff, pricey and mostly junk. 

We did the beach excursion.

Let me say if it wasn't for the amazing service, we wouldn't have enjoyed it. The beach they took us too was a little dumpy and it smelt like sewage every so often. There was gold specks in the ocean and lots of trash, not by the water though. 

As for service, holy crap! they treated us like kings. As soon as we got there, there was complimentary juice. Oh and there was only 5 of us on this tour, my family and a cute couple. Anyway they said we could add a shot of rum to our drinks for $2. We passed since we had a kid, but the couple was all over that. Before they took us to our spot they said if we needed anything drinks or food they would bring it to us. Also they had to escort us to the bathrooms. They escorted us to our spot. There were lots of chairs (even a chair for Nash) and a big cabana umbrella, and a volleyball net. They had a big Bluetooth speaker that they said we could hook up our music to. Even though it was dirty we still had fun and it was a nice clean spot they had for us. It was perfect. Nobody was on the beach where we were. They brought out buckets, a football, soccer ball, volleyball, and shovels so Nash could build his first sandcastle. He was a little skidish of the water, but soon grew to love it. We had a hard time getting him out of the water. We build sandcastles, played volleyball, and even threw the football. We saw a bunch of caterpillars and even a baby crab. We were at the beach for 3 hours! it was way worth the money. I highly recommend this excursion just for the service. We got major sunburn ( mainly me and preston) but we were glad we went because Nash learned and saw a lot. 

Below are pictures of the excursion and city:

Pros and cons:

 
Pros-

The Ringer is what I
recommend at guys.

• Staff was very helpful and happy
• Wasn't hard to find a place to sit and eat.
• Guys burger joint and Blue iguana cantina is included and the food is amazing. 
• At the alchemy bar you can create your own cocktail and the menus light up. 
• Bartenders were nice and made fast, yummy drinks. 
• Easy, fast and smooth boarding of the ship
• Coffee was freshly ground every time you got a cup. 
• Camp ocean for kids is something to look into. Its amazing and free.
• Pools were clean
• Room was spacious and nice
• Bathrooms were pretty spacious in the staterooms
• Housekeeping was nice and kept up on everything. 
• Ports; easy getting off and on at ports
• Music was impressive and entertaining.
• Entire ship was clean, not one speck of dust.
• Take advantage of the exotic eats in the diner. I had alligator and it wasn't that bad. 
• Splash pad and slides were nice and hardly any lines. 
• Food in the diner was always delicious.
• They provide life vests for children at the pool
• You didn't need your life vest for muster drill
• Beds were so comfortable!! We all slept so good every night.
• The rock show was really good and well worth going. 
• They would play free movies on the T.Vs in your rooms. Movies like Avengers, black panther, Thor and more. Even newer movies were playing. 

Cons-

• Buffet food seemed like it was the same thing everyday
• T.V channels hardly worked, it would either skip or not work at all. This upset me since they had really good movies playing on a certain channel.
• Bottle water in rooms are expensive
• Had a hard time finding bathrooms around the ship
• Diva show was kinda weird. I did like the music but it seemed cheesy. Although those actors could sing!
• There were little fruit flies in our bathroom for some reason
• Not enough garbage cans throughout the ship
• Debark was horrible! took almost 2 hours to get of the ship. 
• After a certain time they will charge you to watch your kids at camp ocean
• We paid for internet and it hardly worked throughout the cruise. When it did it was extremely slow.
• Buffet had huge lines and they seemed to take forever. Especially during breakfast. 
• Some nights the diner would take a while to get our food. 
• Small ship
• Pools were way crowded 
• Some parts of the ship smelled like sewage and mildew.
• During the muster station thing they had us all squished in a small section of the pool deck and had us stand there for quite some time in the sun. (depending on where your muster station is)

Again I was very impressed with the staff on this ship. I don't think I have ever been this impressed with the cruise staff. Well done to everyone on this ship and thank you for treating us so good and making friends with Nash. 

I could not believe how delicious the burgers were at Guy's burger joint. I think it was the best burger I have ever had. It was juicy and full of flavor. They had a lot of other toppings you could choose from. They had a separate island bar just for toppings. Toppings like grilled mushrooms, bacon, ect.

Now Blue Iguana really impressed me. Fresh ingredients, nice employees, good sized burritos and delicious food. They had a burrito and taco stations. The tacos had either chicken, pork or fish. The fish tacos were delicious, my husband wasn't to impressed with the chicken. He says there were too many bones in them, but the pork ones were good. 

More pics below:


Pics of the kid slides and splash pad

Photo from google

Coffee bar in buffet

Wale tail and water slides

baked alaska