Carnival Imagination Photo Tour and Commentary

Between 1990 and 1998, Carnival Cruise Lines built eight nearly-identical ships known as the Fantasy class. When these ships entered service, they were among the largest and most modern cruise ships in service and were often referred to as “superliners.” As time has gone on, however, cruise ships have become much larger and have added more and more features. Consequently, the Fantasy-class ships are now often referred to as the “small ships” in Carnival’s fleet.
One by-product of the rapid evolution of cruise ships in recent years is that ships start to become outdated in the eyes of the cruising public before they reach the end of their useful lives as ships. This creates a dilemma for the major cruise lines. Do you sell these ships to other companies that operate in the secondary market or do you make the investment to upgrade them so that they remain competitive in the first tier of the market? On the one hand, these are perfectly good ships that could sail for another decade or more. On the other hand, even an upgraded middle-aged ship is not really competitive with a brand new ship.
Carnival Cruise Lines has chosen to upgrade. In a $235 million program called Evolutions of Fun - - much less than the cost of building one new ship - - it is upgrading the amenities, décor and features of its eight Fantasy class ships. While it may not make them the equal of the competition’s latest ships, they are in the same league. Moreover, it allows Carnival to be present in more markets including serving cities not served by other major cruise lines and to provide types of cruises such as short three or four day cruises which would not make economic sense for a new ship.
Carnival Imagination is one of the Fantasy class ships that has undergone the Evolutions of Fun upgrade. The result is a fresh looking ship with interesting features. Thus, while she may not have everything that one would find on the newer Carnival ships, the ship is able to offer a Carnival-style cruise. This makes her well-suited for providing an economical first taste cruise for newcomers and a good vehicle for short low-cost getaways for Carnival regulars.
My profile of Carnival Imagination is at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalImagination-Profile.htmland the photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalImagination-Tour-1.html

Carnival Pride Photo Tour and Commentary

Carnival Pride and her three Spirit-class sister ships are like the high performance sports cars of the Carnival fleet. Longer but yet smaller than Carnival’s Destiny-class megacruise ships, Pride can whip through the water at 24 knots. Her azipod propulsion system makes her highly maneuverable although I must admit that the Destiny-class ships are surprisingly maneuverable with their traditional propeller system. In any event, her technological prowess carries over and gives the ship something of the same feeling of superiority that comes with owning a performance car.

While Pride is smaller than the Destiny-class ships, especially the latest evolutions of that design such as Carnival Splendor, she offers many of the passenger choices that Carnival features. Indeed, there is even a specialty steakhouse and a flexible dining option in the main restaurant.

Inside, Pride is flamboyant. Carnival designer Joe Farcus has made use of numerous reproductions of Old Master artworks in a tribute to the “icons of beauty.” There is probably not another ship afloat that makes such extensive use of the works of Raphael, Van Gough, Michelangelo, and other renowned painters. These are not lined up one after another as in a museum but rather are blown-up to giant proportions or blended into the décor in interesting ways. Not only does it create a fun, Pop-style environment but it leads one to look around at the detail work and say “Hey, isn’t that from . . . .”

Aside from the hardware, I was impressed by the friendliness of the crew during my recent voyage on Pride. Everyone was friendly and confident in what they were doing.

My profile of Carnival Pride is at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-Profile.html and the multi-page photo tour and commentary begins at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-Tour-1.html.

Pride is the 50th ship that I have profiled on Beyondships.com including 10 other Carnival ships, 8 Royal Caribbean ships, 8 Holland America ships, 7 Princess ships, four NCL ships, three each from Cunard, P&O Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises as well as individual ships from three other lines. There is a dedicated section on the website for each ship with a photo tour, copies of menus and daily programs and in many cases interviews with the captain and/or other officers.