Day 6 - Start of second cruise

It's usually sad to get off the cruise ship, but that was not the case this morning as we have the second (and longer) leg to look forward to! We were able to get off the Imagination about 10:30 am and queued up to clear customs in Miami. What you may not know about us is that we have a knack for getting in whichever line moves the most slowly, however, today our line was moving along at a steady pace. We were not at all surprised when, about 8 people away from the front of the line, a woman ahead of us fainted and everything came to a screeching halt while paramedics were summoned. After about 20 minutes, they routed us to another line. Unfortunately, they forgot to also relocate a customs agent to that same line so we waiting another 15 minutes before someone figured that out. Finally, we cleared customs declaring a $4 magnet.

Next, it was on to the Miami airport to pick up our rental car to drive back to Ft. Lauderdale. We made a quick stop at Target on the way to pick up some wine (yes, wine in Target in Florida!) and a few other items, then dropped off the car and took the shuttle to the cruise terminal. Because we have a suite on this cruise, we had VIP check-in so breezed through without incident. We're now in our cabin and, though we were perfectly content in our porthole cabin for the last 4 days, this is the "suite" life! We have had this cabin before on a few other ships and love it. We love the large balcony, the big bathroom, and the separate living room and bedroom areas. Photos are below.

We'll sail away about 3 pm, EST. Tomorrow is a sea day and our first port will be Grand Turk on Sunday. We're scheduled to dive there but Andrew is having some problems with one of his ears being plugged after our dive in Cozumel, so we may have to cancel. Stay tuned!

Double sinks in the bathroom...

...and big shower with a ledge to put your foot on when you shave your legs!

Dresser and TV in the bedroom.

Bed

Walk-in closet

Dressing table/atrium area

Living room

Entrance hall looking from the door in to the living room

Ahhh...the giant balcony!

Day 5 – Sea Day

Our last day aboard the Imagination was a sea day. After breakfast, we headed to the “Serenity Deck”, which is the adults only section with lovely padded lounge chairs. Unfortunately, it was overcast and cool so we only stayed about an hour. Andrew was able to get in a few more runs on the waterslide before it started to rain and we had to move inside the ship. We spent the rest of the morning in the library reading and waiting for the rain to pass. We had a light lunch at the buffet and then Andrew went to the cabin to relax and I went to the gym for a few hours. The day didn’t clear up much so the rest of the afternoon was a lazy one.

At 6:30 pm we headed out to the atrium bar to meet for our Chef’s Table booking, something new being offered by Carnival at an additional charge. We were greeted by the Chef du Cuisine, Luis, and the other 10 guests in our party. We were given a tour of the galley, treated to a series of wonderful appetizers and champagne, and then escorted to the library for our private dinner. To say dinner was amazing would be a gross understatement. There were 7 courses: beef carpaccio, calamari, tomato and poblano bisque, Mediterranean salad, Chilean sea bass with lobster foam, filet mignon, and finally a dessert trio. All courses were accompanied by bread and wine and each was more delicious than the last. We posted some pictures but, although the presentation was breathtaking, they also don’t do the food justice. We were given a group photo, a signed copy of the chef’s cookbook, and copies of the menu for the evening. The company was also wonderful and we spent nearly 4-hours total eating, drinking, chatting, ooh’ing and ah’ing.

After dinner, we waddled back to our cabin to pack up our suitcases. You have to put all your bags that you want taken off the ship outside your door by 11 pm the night before you disembark. We’re now packed up and, except for the fact that we’re still groaning from our large meal, ready to hit the hay. Tomorrow morning we’ll get off the ship, pick up a rental car and drive back to Ft. Lauderdale to board the Miracle for the second leg of our adventure!

Day 4 - Cozumel

What a perfect day we had in Cozumel today! The ship didn’t dock until 1 pm, so we had a lazy morning to enjoy. Unfortunately, we are not lucky enough to be able to sleep past 6 am, so we were up early. Andrew lounged in the room and I had a great 3-mile run. We had breakfast in the dining room where Andrew was tortured by being seated with a large group. Typically we ask for a “table for two” so he does not have to interact with other humans, however we forgot to say that this morning. We sat with three couples from Florida who talked about their golf carts and how they were likely to be kidnapped in Cozumel. They all agreed that their children would not be likely to post ransom. I supposed that, if their children don’t like them enough to sell a golf cart for ransom, kidnappers are unlikely to want to keep them long either. However, in the spirit of social niceties, I kept this thought to myself.

After breakfast we laid out on the deck reading and sunning. It was a great day for it, warm but a bit overcast. After being appropriately crisped by the Mexican sun we had a light lunch, rounded up our plentitude of scuba gear, and made our way off the ship. After a short cab ride we arrived at the dive shop and headed out on the boat to our first dive site inside one of the National Marine Parks in Cozumel. The first dive was 70 feet along the beautiful Santa Rosa Wall. The water was so deep on one side of the wall that you could not see the bottom. It’s a little anxiety-provoking if you think too much about what could swim out of there, so I chose to focus on the amazing reef wall instead. On this dive we saw two stingrays, parrotfish, and many other fish I don’t know the names of. We also got to swim through a reef cave/tunnel, which our dive certification instructor in Minnesota said we should never do, because the risk of being trapped is too high. Oh well, we lived to tell about it. The 45-minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and we headed back to the boat to change tanks for dive number two.

Dive number two was 45 feet along a flat reef. For this dive I took the camera so we have a few photos. Yes, more fish photos for those of you who have missed them! If you look carefully, you’ll see a Morey eel, a spotted eel, and a turtle. Again, the dive was over too quickly and we reluctantly headed back to the ship.

By the time we showered and rinsed all our gear, it was time for dinner. We were both famished after the diving so were happy to eat! Andrew had shrimp and mac & cheese (from the kids menu); I had chilled mango soup and flat-iron steak. All delicious, as usual!

Now we’re back in the room relaxing and will call it an early night. Tomorrow is our last day and it will be a full day at sea, so more doing nothing will be on the agenda! We’re looking forward to exploring the rest of the ship, checking out the shops on board, and working on our books.

Day 3 - Key West

Today we docked in Key West for about 6 hours. Because we have been to Key West for a land-vacation before, we opted to just wander around and see some of our favorite sights. We always enjoy the Key West cemetery – many of the graves there hail back to the early 1800’s and, as you can see from the pictures, some of the Key West residents have a sense of humor, even when it comes to death.

They were displaying a section of the Names Project (AIDS) memorial quilt in one of the shops on Duval, so we also stopped in to see it. Key West has a large GLBTQ population, with a significant HIV memorial on one of the public beaches. I always like to take a moment to view the quilt if I happen to be where it’s on display. It reminds me of the many, many friends and patients I’ve known over the years who have passed. They have each touched my life in a significant way.

For lunch there was only one option – B.O.’s Fish Wagon! When we stayed in Key West last year, we ate there every day and it still is one of my favorite places to eat, anywhere. You can see from the photo (the one with the boat floats hanging like garland) that it’s less than glamorous, but their soft-shell crab sandwich and fresh limeade can’t be beat!

After lunch it was time to meander back to the trolley that would take us back to the ship. On the way we stopped at Kermit’s for a piece of key lime pie – chocolate dipped on a stick, please.

Back on the ship we changed in to swim suits and beat back the six-year olds to ride the waterslide. Andrew had never been on a waterslide before (yes, he has lived a sheltered life) but loved it just the same. We chose to ignore the fact that we were the only people over 4-feet tall.

Once we laid out on deck and dried off, we headed back to the cabin. Andrew closed up the portholes to create his preferred cave-theme nap, and I headed off to the gym. This ship, though smaller, has the best gym facilities I’ve seen on a cruise ship. Great equipment and lots of it, and the view at the very front of the ship can’t be beat. They also have a great cushioned running track on the deck above the gym. It’s lovely to run outside on a cruise ship with looking at the water!

Tonight was formal night in the dining room so we dressed up a little more than usual. Between the two of us we had stuffed mushrooms, curried pumpkin soup, strawberry bisque, lobster and shrimp. For dessert, Andrew had a vanilla soufflé with Grand Marnier sauce and a I had Black Forrest Cake. I typically have the cheese plate for dessert but let Andrew talk me out of it tonight. Fear not, I will not make the mistake of listening to him again!

After dinner we went to see a comedian perform and now we’re back in the cabin. Tomorrow we dock in Cozumel, but not until after lunch so we will have a leisurely morning to enjoy!

Day 2 - Boarding the Imagination

We're on the ship! We had an uneventful drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami - about 45 minutes total. Returned the rental car and took the free shuttle to the Port of Miami to board. Boarding was also fairly painless and we were on the ship shortly after noon. We had lunch at the buffet and, while waiting for our cabin to be ready, wandered around a little to explore. This is a much smaller ship than we are used to. It has a passenger capacity of about 2,000 as opposed to about 3,200 on the Spirit class ships that we typically sail. It's nicely laid out, however, and is in good shape for one of the older members of the fleet.

Here are a few photos of the water slide (which we're going to slide on right after the muster drill takes place this afternoon) and pool area.

The main pool area. There is also an "adults only" area that has 2 hot tubs and lounge chairs. We'll likely be hanging out there as there seems to be a lot of kids on this particular sailing.

The Carnival Water Works. Looks like fun - can't wait to try it out later today!

We were able to get in to our cabin about 1:20 pm, and our luggage arrived about 30 minutes later. We unpacked everything and stowed the empty suitcases. We are in a porthole cabin, which is technically an inside cabin with two small porthole windows. We have never sailed without a balcony before, so weren't sure we were going to like this cabin. However, at $159/person for 4 days, we thought we'd give it a whirl. It's a perfectly lovely cabin, and it's brighter than I thought it would be. The room has lots of storage and we both agree it was well worth the money! Here are some photos...

The view from the doorway looking in to the room. You can just make out the portholes, which can be covered up with large metal doors if, like Andrew, you want to take a nap mid-day.

A better picture of the bed and portholes.

Looking back at the doorway (standing next to where the portholes are). The door on the right is the bathroom, on the left are 3 large closets.



The cute little bathroom. Toilet is on the left, just out of the shot.

Dinner tonight will be one of the more casual evenings, because it can take hours for them to get all the luggage on board and distributed to the cabins. We took a peek at the menu - will likely be lasagna for Andrew and BBQ ribs for me.

Tomorrow we'll dock in Key West about 7 am, and spend the day there just wandering around one of our favorite travel destinations. I can't wait for my soft-shell crab sammich and fresh limeade!

Day 1

Well, it's technically the morning of day 2 but we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale too late last night for posting. Yesterday was our travel day. We had a 4 pm flight out of Minneapolis, so we had lots of time in the morning to get ready. We were up early and took the dogs for an hour-long walk in the 10-inches of snow we got on Saturday. After that, I was able to go to the gym and then meet Michelle for coffee while Andrew finished up some chores around the house - what a great deal for me!

Finally, it was time to head to the airport. Check-in was uneventful and, even though we had prepared for it by removing every scrap of lint from our pockets, we were not ushered through the new full-body scanners now in use in most US (and Canadian - I encountered on in Calgary this summer) airports. Because I am fairly clueless about our travel plans (Andrew is the travel agent in our household), I was completely unaware that he had upgraded us to business class for both legs of our flight to Ft. Lauderdale - what a pleasant surprise when I finally looked at my boarding pass just before we were called! We flew first to Atlanta, where we had just enough time to swim upstream through the crowds and find a burger for dinner. Then back on the plane to our cushy seats for the short leg to Florida. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around midnight, picked up the rental car and made the short drive to our hotel. Andrew always does a great job with Priceline and our hotel is a lovely mini-suite for which we paid about $50.

Now, we're up at our usual time (it's 5:30 am in Minneapolis as I type this), despite my best efforts to sleep in. We will need to make the 1-hour drive to Miami late this morning to get on the ship so I have time to hit the gym! We'll be on the ship about 2 pm today, sailing at 4.

Gearing up!

We're gearing up for our upcoming trip, and wanted to remind everyone to check out our blog while we're sailing. This trip is comprised of 2 cruises, back-to-back. The first is a 4-day that stops in Key West (one of my favorite places on earth) and Cozumel.



The second is an 8-day that docks in Grand Turk, La Romana (Dominican Republic), Aruba and Curacao.

As many of you know, we were able to get scuba certified this summer so we will be able to do 2 dives on this trip - one in Cozumel and one in Grand Turk.

We fly out on Sunday afternoon and board the first ship on Monday afternoon, so look for posts starting on Tuesday the 16th. We enjoy having you all travel along with us virtually, and hope you'll join us in person soon!