On the surface, a cruise on the Carnival Imagination from Miami, Florida to Long Beach, California doesn’t seem like a big deal. Ships are scattered through the high seas and there’s always one transiting the Panama Canal.
However, it’s a rarity for Carnival Cruise Line ships to do Panama Canal cruises. The Carnival Imagination will soon be closing in on her 20th birthday. The 16 night cruise, embarking from Miami, Florida will not only her first crossing of the world famous canal, it will be the first time she won’t be returning to her home port of Miami.
That’s right, since entering service back in 1995, Imagination has called nowhere else home but Miami. So, this upcoming cruise is a big deal and the price and availability reflects it. Interior staterooms are all that are left and these are going for $1,542 per person with all government taxes and fees included.
The Current Plan
Currently, Carnival Imagination is alternating three night Bahamas cruises and four night Western Caribbean itineraries.
The three night Bahamas is a straight out and back to Nassau. The ship docks at Nassau at 10am on a Saturday. She then relaxes at port overnight before embarking at 7am on Sunday morning. You gotta think there’s consistently a mad scramble to get back to the ship by late night gamblers and revellers.
The four night Western Caribbean makes two stops. Imagination makes a half day port call at Key West, Florida before heading southwest, across the top of Cuba, to Cozumel, Mexico. After a day at the Mexican tropical island paradise, the vessel heads home to Miami, spending a full day at sea.
The Repositioning Cruise
Carnival Imagination embarks from Miami on January 10, 2014 for a 16 night journey to Long Beach, California. She makes seven stops along the way, including the Panama Canal. Port calls include: Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Cartagena, Colombia; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
This will be just one of two Panama Canal cruises offered by Carnival in 2014. The other involves the Carnival Legend leaving Tampa, Florida on August 17 for a 13 night journey to Long Beach.
The California Plan
For the rest of 2014, Carnival Imagination will get into a routine of three and four night Mexico cruises out of Long Beach. The three night is a straight out and back to Ensenada, Mexico. The four night is bit interesting, also going to Ensenada but stopping first at Avalon, California. Avalon is the only municipality on Santa Catalina Island.
The Ship
Carnival Imagination is a Fantasy Class ship, put in service in 1995. The Fantasy Class consists of eight ships built for Carnival Cruise Line between 1990 and 1998. All eight are still active with Imagination being the fifth oldest.
By today’s standards, Imagination is medium sized with a gross tonnage of 70,367. She’s 855 feet or 261 metres in length and has ten decks accessible to passengers. The capacity on the ship is for 2,056 guests and 920 crew members.
