Irene225

Bars and Restaurants

The #1 best thing about Carnival is Alchemy. I can’t think of a comparable bar experience... great cocktails, great location and the best staff on the ship. Annamaria is a patient angel of a human being. She really is as great as the hype led us to believe.

One note on Alchemy: so many people have posted about asking the bartenders to make something special for them. They will... and it will be great. However, I think the customization is exhausting the crew... I’m sure they appreciate just making a drink off the menu. We tried not to get too crazy with requests. Also, if you ask for something off the menu, TIP THEM for the love of god.

I appreciated how much Anna took care of her team. There was one night where one of the younger bartenders seemed visibly annoyed and exhausted by all the requests for custom drinks. AM sent her on a break and confided in us “we don’t have enough people working and she was supposed to be gone an hour ago”. She was a mama bear in the best way possible.

Alchemy was our “neighborhood bar” for the cruise. We visited it before dinner (and sometimes after) for most of the cruise. We met some great people here as well... thank you for sharing a piece of your vacation with us!

Our second favorite spot for drinks was the Pig & Anchor. Great beers and you can tell the brewmaster loves his job. They have a great live music spot and did bar games throughout the cruise, things like beer pong, etc. We did not take the tour but heard great things from those who did.

We had most of our dinners in the specialty spots; the main dining room is typically too drawn out for us.

Steakhouse- great as expected. We actually did this twice (once on us, once comped by the casino). Both times were great. The smoked oysters and bone marrow starters were excellent.

We did Bonsai twice for sushi and once for teppanyaki. All three were great. Dinner at Pig and Anchor was also very good, minus the woman next to us who loudly complained about her ribs to anyone who would listen. Her complaints were an obvious attempt for a free meal. Note to her: you cannot complain about your meal, calling it inedible, ask for it to be taken off your bill and then ask for a to go box. Not how any of this works. LOL.

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So far your review is spot on! We cruised on Vista in March and felt the same way, the ship is way too crowded! We would definitely spend the extra $$ on a Havana cabin if it were available.

 

 

 

I also felt the spa was way too small for the size of the ship compared to the Dream class.

 

 

 

It still was a good cruise for us, as any cruise is better than no cruise!

 

 

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

SO CROWDED. The main pool is also backlit at night with a horrible yellow colored light. As my husband said, “well, that was an unfortunate color choice.”

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Casino

We are Casino people. This one is SMALL; for a ship of this size, I was surprised at how tiny it is. It’s also very smoky at times. There is only one craps table and it was constantly crowded. However, we did meet some great people here, so thank you for the fun times! Comps seemed a little lighter than what we are used to. Matt got a steakhouse dinner and I got a bottle of wine. No cookies :(

A minor complaint about the comped dinner. When we had our steakhouse dinner, it included a $50 bottle of wine. Rather than get a basic bottle, we wanted to splurge on a bottle of Caymus and pay the difference ($40). The waiter explained that they had no way to do that... seemed a little fishy. I said “you know I’m going ruing to give you money right?” Lol. They kind of rolled their eyes and apologized.

I did win $1500 on a penny slot so was something! There seemed to be a lot of big payouts on this cruise. Don’t worry, they made sure to put the 1099 in our cabin the very next day!

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Cabin

The cabin itself was very comfortable;I do like that Carnival cabins seem to be a bit bigger than some of the other lines. Plenty of storage space and the bed was very comfortable. I'm a light sleeper, but slept great on this cruise. Only one complaint: the safe is NOT large enough to hold a laptop. In this day and age, that seemed silly to me. We met our steward (I Dewea) on the first day and he was great... always smiling and always asking us if we needed anything. Those guys have the hardest job on the ship... they are ALWAYS working. Thanks to these guys for cleaning up after us all week; I'm sure they have some stories to tell

Public Areas of the Ship

The ship itself is beautiful. I am not a fan of the old-school gaudy Carnival decor, so I like that it has a clean, more modern feel. Everything looks shiny and new. The venues are fine (there seems to be a lot of complaining about the theaters and lounges having restricted views, but those poles are holding the ceiling up so let's thank them for doing a good job :) ) The only thing we noticed that seemed amiss was the AC. Several public areas on the ship were stifling hot. Waiting for the elevators, we could actually see condensation accumulating on the light fixtures and on the ceiling. In the lido marketplace, condensation was dripping all over the floor in places, creating a huge safety hazard.

Something I noticed on this ship that I haven't seen on others: The public areas were MESSY. I don't know if the crew is painfully understaffed, but there was a constant litter of room service items in the hallways, food left on tables in the restaurants, random garbage and empty drink cups on tables. I haven't seen that on other cruises so it was a surprise

(more to come!)

(boarding!)

Good morning!

We are at the waiting for our flight home... I"m going to write a quick over view and then will go into detail about a few areas.

For perspective, I invite anyone who reads this review to consider our perspective. We are experienced cruisers who are not loyal to any one brand; we sail for the itinerary and the ship. All cruises are good cruises.... we had a great time because we can make the best out of most any situation.

I debated not writing anything at all, since I don't like to dwell on the negative or be nit picky. Ultimately I decided to go forward with putting thoughts on paper (digital paper?) so others can learn from our experiences.

As I mentioned in the opener, we are not loyal to any particular brand but have the most experience with the newer ships on NCL. To be upfront, I don't think there are huge differences between Carnival and NCL.... to me, it's a Target vs. Walmart type of situation. Most of my career has been spent in marketing, so I think of the cruise lines in marketing terms: Mass market lines with a few notable standouts/ new offerings, different branding and a difference in philosophy on how customers are treated.

I realize there are some diehard Carnival fans who probably won't like what I have to say, but oh well.... it's my review :)

TL;DR: If you are a fan of the brand, love Carnival and love the experience, you will love Horizon. It's a beautiful ship with a lot to offer. The crew works their tails off to make sure that people have a good time. There were some really GREAT Things about this cruise: The Havana area, the comedy shows, the specialty restaurants and Alchemy.

If you are like us (newer to the brand but curious about the new ship), you might not enjoy it. This is why I'm taking the time to write this review... for the people who are on the fence but curious to see how this new Horizon/Vista/Panorama experiment plays out.

Without further ado, here we go!

Embarkation:

VERY swift.. probably our fastest embarkation out of any port, ever. Our check in time was 1-1:30. We arrived about an hour early and were no the ship having lunch by 1pm. Super fast boarding process and love the new check-in system. Rooms were ready at 1:30 and cards were waiting for us as advertised

Guest Services

Only had to use this once and was relatively painless. We had gift cards to add to our account on Day 1 (Thanks, Delta Skymiles) and the kiosks were not operational when we boarded. We waited a fairly short and painless 5 minutes to get the cards added

Sail Away

Leaving from NY is always amazing. If you haven't cruised out of NY before, it's a great experience. However, the sail away is where we first started to notice that many, many people on this ship are CLUELESS about other people around them. Situational Awareness people... it's a thing. Don't stop in the middle of the aisles when there is a line of people walking behind you. We watched a young girl pull 3 deck chairs right into the middle of the aisle because she decided it was the best spot for her to sit..... everyone else be damned. Don't move my drink off a table so you can sit on said table (seriously). After we passed under the bridge, we had enough of people and moved down to our cabin to enjoy the aft balcony before dinner.

Havana

We escaped the chaos into our Havana aft-facing cabin... this was the single best decision of our trip. I had previously debated if Havana would be worth it. IT IS. If you are even remotely considering it, go for it. This ship was PACKED with people; the main pool area consistently looked like Black Friday at Walmart. It was lovely to have the private Havana areas to retreat to. The feel of the ship changed entirely in Havana. It wasn't perfect (more on that later), but it was a great place to be. This was also our first aft-facing cabin and we loved it. I had been worried about feeling more movement as I get a bit motion sick at times, but no problems at all.

(more to come)....

Hi all! Apologies for the truncated live portion... I decided I needed to enjoy the vacation vs. posting about it. There are so many people on this ship with their faces glued to their phones and I didn’t want to be one of them.

Overall I’m going to give the cruise a C; not our best but not our worst.

I will do a full update with tips and tricks from the plane tomorrow while it’s still fresh.

Have a great night!

Current view:

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We will be on the Horizon next week. Can't wait!! Hope you have a great cruise but hurry back and don't eat all the lobster or burgers. What are the IMAX movies?

I posted a picture of the Day 1 Fun Times earlier in this thread and the movies were listed. I’ll let you know if those change.

John Heald is on this cruise.

Spotted him briefly yesterday but he was surrounded by people asking him questions. Poor guy. I did write him a letter and dropped it with GS yesterday. I want a ship on a stick! Lol

We got off the ship today. I really liked the decor compared to most Carnival ships and it’s a lot more spacious. I did not like the new elevator system. For smart elevators they aren’t so smart! BTW, from KC here. Also, be prepared for the waters of Grand Turk to not be as beautiful as they are most of the year. There was a ton of seaweed close to the shoreline last week.

Hi neighbor! No problems with the Elevators so far!

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Once you get to grand Turks, Can you give me feedback if beaches are filled with seaweed

I can, but it will certainly be different when you sail. Sargassum is very dynamic and has been circulating throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. When is your sailing?

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Quick recap of the rest of Day 1!

We did the sail away party and had our Funship Special. Leaving NYC is one of my favorite ways to start the cruise. People cheered as we went under the Verrazano and we were on our way!

We enjoyed our balcony with some bubbly that was gifted to us by one of my Carnival trade partners then took a little nap. For dinner, we decided to be very lazy and just hit the lido. It was typical buffet, but some of the salads were surprisingly good. Kids running everywhere and total chaos.

Here’s the big fun for the night. We play craps, so we hit the casino to check out the table. I played for a bit, but the vibe was a little weird so I took a break. I put $40 in a penny slot while waiting for Matt to use the bathroom and I won $1,555! Biggest slot win of my life and totally unexpected. It took close to 30 minutes for them to verify the win and pay it out. I had to send Matt back to our cabin for my ID for the tax paperwork. A little annoying but totally worth it!

We went back to playing craps and had a much better time ... easy to do with $1500 in your pocket lol.

The casino waiter service was fantastic. Actually all of the service has been great so far.

This morning we did a slot pull with our Facebook group and got breakfast burritos. I’m now relaxing in the Havana area. I have seen them turn several people away who weren’t wearing the wristbands. Havana enforcement in check!

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Loving the aft facing cabin!

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We have now resorted to calling names one by one because so many jerks think the rules don’t apply to them.

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If you are late for the muster, you should get your sail & sign card taken away for the first night and be forced to ride behind the ship in a dingy. That is all.

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Getting Day 1 our of the way now!

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My answer is probably a lot different from most people. My sister took my elder mother who has dementia on the Horizon on one of horizon's earliest cruise. Even though we try to be with my mother all the time she gets upset and says she does not like to be baby sat because she is not a child. Well one of the times when my mom was by herself she got lost and scared. My sister said two offices one from Food and Beverage and the other from the Hotel director or their assistants, help my mother. They put her in one of the specialty restaurants during lunch gave her a small lunch until they could locate my sister. My sister does not remember their names, but she states if she sees the name she most likely could recognize them. Anyway, if they are on the cruise that I am going to be on, I just wanted to thank them for what they did. Even though they may not remember the incident, I still would like to say thank you.

Excellent answer. My dad struggles with dementia so I completely understand. We actually first noticed it on a cruise because he kept getting lost on the ship. Here’s what I see so far, I will poet again when I see the rest. .

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Embarkation Day!

We went to dinner with my sister and some other friends from my past NY life... suffice it to say, a good time was had by all and I’m desperately in need of some Advil today.

We slept in which is a HUGE treat, took our time getting ready and ordered bagel breakfast from Seamless. Our pre-cruise hotel was Ink48, a Kimpton property on 48th & 11th. If we didn’t have my giant bag and if it weren’t 93 degrees today, we would have walked it.

Check out was 12pm and we decided to just head over. Our boarding time was 1pm, but we are both early birds and would rather just go to the port. We headed to the “too early” line and they called for zones 1-9 to board. We are zone 33. In the 10 minutes we’ve been here, they are already up to zone 21. Going pretty fast!

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So this happened this morning... I promise I wasn’t driving.

Photos courtesy of Facebook. Waiting to see if this will delay our embarkation.

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Welllllll, my checked bag ended up being $175. Lol

Because I used to travel so much, I was used to getting upgraded. In first class, the bag limit is 75lbs on Delta.

In the main cabin (I didn’t get upgraded this time), it’s 50. I had been planning on 75lbs when I packed that snorkel gear. I’d better get $175 of fun out of it now

Off to console my husband with a Bloody Mary.

If I am, in fact, still married.

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This is our sailing also. I'm excited to see if we share similar experiences. We also can't wait for cheers to kick in!!!!

Same! What’s your first drink going to be?

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for joining!

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I am so looking forward to your review. We have our first Carnival cruise booked in The Havana next year. You said you have cruised NCL. You kind of hinted at it but have your cruised in the Haven? I am wondering how they compare with crowds ect..... I know its not the same but the Havens prices have skyrocketed so we are giving this a try.

 

 

 

Looking forward to your live report.

Hello! This is our first Havana trip so I’ll let you know vey soon. :)

We have done Haven and had mixed feelings about it. It’s a great offering, but our Haven sailing was with a group where some were in some were not. If we had just been on our own and would have used it more, I would have had a different experience. Know what I mean? One of the things I like about cruising is that everyone can choose their own adventure. If you want to spend $800 on an interior, cool. If you want to spend $8,000 on a suite, awesome. Everyone gets the vacation they want. I plan a lot of destination weddings and it’s challenging when the couple picks a resort that not all of their guests can afford. Anyway, I ramble....

we will definitely be making a Haven comparison :)

I so agree with this statement. LGA is a beast!

When I moved from NYC to Missouri, I kept my old NY job and flew back and forth every other week. I’ve lived a lifetime inside the walls of LGA. Woof.

:D You just might be talking about me because I just finished packing and if you could see my luggage I am sure the professional packer in you would be horrified!

Well the joke is on me because the carry on did NOT happen. I decided to bring our fins and snorkel for Grand Turk and that was the gateway drug for shoving more crap in our suitcase. Mr ashleyirene225 was not happy with my 50 lb bag LOL.

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As I have already mentioned in a couple of the current Cheers threads, there is no reason to be bummed about the cap reduction from 50 to 20. There are zero drinks included in Cheers that are in the 20-50 price range. There are 2 liquors that are 17, Roca Patron and Grey Goose VX and some steakhouses have a 20.00 glass of champagne. The important thing is that Alchemy Bar drinks are all included.

Oh I know, the marketer in me just liked the sound of it. All good!

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I know you'll probably be talking about me. Hope to see you at the meet and mingle. If not, look for the big guy in the Eagles Super Bowl shirt in Havana on Tuesday. Also have Cheers, can't wait till it kicks in on Wednesday morning when I get my first cold brew coffee.

Lol will do. I didn’t even think about cold brew being on Cheers. That changes everything. I love how much is included in Cheers vs the UDP on NCL. We are kind of bummed about them changing the price cap to $20, but will make it work :).

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Looking forward to your review, however it will not be live for me. I will have to read it later because I’ll be on the ship too!!!

 

 

 

On good, now I can talk about you and you won’t read it until after. ;). KIDDING! Safe travels!

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Following, we sail on her in April 2019. We are like sponges soaking up all the info we can get.

Love your user name! Yes, I have been the same way... I think I have watched every video on the internet. Excited that we will be on our way in less than 48 hours!

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Hello ~ my daughter is a senior at UCM in Warrensburg ! We've been to Whiteman several times. She chose the Horizon for graduation next May. Looking forward to your review ! We've visited New York and loved it but you'll love Missouri too after some time. (Once you get over the culture shock!).

Oh hi, Small world! Yes, I am starting to appreciate it, especially how much more affordable everything is and how much SPACE we have! Everything has pros and cons.... my dog is super excited about all of the nature LOL. We just had dinner at Spin at UCM last week. Nice to “meet” you!

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