JEANMR1

Spring rolls!

Hello 

I have booked my first massage ever on the Mardi Gras. I’m a little nervous about a stranger touching me but I’m 50 years old and need to get over it. 
I was wondering if I have access to the rest of the spa that day or during the visit. 
Also, can you explain the process? Do they ask where you want to be massaged?  Would it be weird if I only wanted them to do my back for a Swedish massage?

thanks

14 hours ago, May1cruiser said:

On a dark night, lay on a top deck and watch for shooting stars. Free and hard to accomplish with city lights....

 

It seems to me like I can never see stars on a cruise. Not as many as I would expect anyway being far away from land. Just hazy I’m assuming from the ocean. Has anyone ever had a super clear night where you get overwhelmed by how many stars there are?  I want that. 

On 1/19/2022 at 6:33 PM, famof4togo said:

My AM favorites are bloody mary's, mimosa's and bellini's.

 

Pool side  - Miami Vice (half pina colada / half strawberry daiquiri) or sex on the beach.

 

Evening - Pineapple / Jalapeno martini, plain ole champagne (sparkling wine more likely), or a lemon drops...

 

Mmmmmm lemon drops.:..(in Homer Simpson’s voice)

Basically we cruise carnival because we hate dressing up. Our rules for the kids are no completely athletic looking shorts and no oversized logo teeshirts. That might be OK too and I wouldn’t judge, but I like making my kids wear something slightly different. We do dress up for elegant night if we choose to go to it. We decided the next cruise we are not going to it because we hate packing for it. A little known fact is if you really want the lobster tails you can get them in the other restaurants on elegant night if you are on the Mardi Gras

Thanks for the answers. I need to find the ping pong table. It’s about the one thing the kids will still do with us. 

Does anyone know if there’s either ping-pong or shuffleboard on the carnival Mardi Gras? I watched a few walk-throughs of the ship but didn’t notice seeing them.

Thanks

Oh sorry. Hit the big 50 this year - so the AARP app

I understand I missed the deal but I just installed the app and can’t figure out where they have a giftcard section. I would think there is one but I’m at a loss. Any help?  
thanks!

I was on the Horizon this summer and they were on it. I absolutely love them and spent most evenings wherever they were!

Here are my random thoughts/review of Carnival Horizon 7/24/21-8/1/21.  Feel free to ask me anything and I will try to answer.

Overall the cruise was fantastic and the crew was AMAZING. 

Our group was me, my wife, our vaccinated 14 year old, and our unvaccinated 10 (who turned 11 on the cruise) year old.

Embarkation:

Embarkation was easy.  Got to pier at 10:30am and was in the hottub by 11:30 am which included my son getting a covid test.

Food:

We had your time dining which worked incredibly well on the app.  We would check in, get notified a few minutes later, walk to the dining room, then someone would escort us immediately to our seats.  Again, the service was fantastic.  Sometimes too good.  I don’t need everyone who walks by to inquire how my meal is or try and refill my cup or give me more bread.  Hard to complain about that though.  We saw a couple of the dining room shows which just seems painful to me.  It feels degrading to me but that is just my opinion.  I know some people love the shows in the dining room.

The food was average to below average and I am absolutely no foodie.  I love chain restaurants.  I found the scrambled eggs on the buffet inedible but the on demand omelets were perfectly fine.  Do they use powdered eggs or something?  No idea, but gross.  There were a few stand out yummy dishes but overall nothing to gush over. 

Crowd level:

I think the ship was somewhere between 50-75% capacity depending on how you count it.  It felt wonderful – sort of like you would want it to be.  The only time it felt crowded was during disembarkation when people are squished on just a few decks and that is reasonable.  I don’t lay out in the sun but there was always some chairs to be had – though there are chair hogs too.  Why would you leave your stuff in one of the side gazebo things where people sit with their feet in the water?  Just put it on a deck chair for goodness sake!  The comedy shows got crowded but I didn’t notice anyone get turned away.  I didn’t do any of the main shows except half of one so I don’t know how those were crowd wise.  I would assume fine.  Overall the ship didn’t feel empty – but felt perfect.

Drinks:

We had free drinks in the casino but we also bought the Cheers plan.  Casino was crowded a lot so we didn’t get many drinks there and never activated our free drinks thing because we didn’t need to.  Drinks were plentiful and the bartenders were awesome.  Especially loved Jocelyn at the Ocean Plaza Bar and Umi at the Atrium bar.  The bartenders were also nice to the kids as well who had the soda plan.  A number of times they did get the whole can which some people seem to complain about.  The soda was cold and poured in a tall glass each time with ice.  No warm gross sodas that I have also heard complaints about.  Very good experience overall.

Family Harbor Lounge:

We had gotten this in the past and loved it.  We got it again and it was fine but not as important to us.  No more board games.  It was a ghost town most of the time and usually when I walked in I was the only person in there except for the employee.  There was probably a lot of food waste with the morning buffet.  Its great with little kids but mine prefer the main buffet for breakfast.  The afternoon snacks were much appreciated though.  The one thing we LOVED last time was being able to wait there for disembarkation in comfort.  That was not an option this time – it was all closed down.  That was disappointing because we were looking forward to it.

Excursions:

We had to do bubble tours and booked two of them.  In Aruba we did the snorkeling and boat ride with free drinks.  The boat was a catamaran and not the double decker custom one that was advertised.  That was not a problem though.  The kids liked laying on the net.  Snorkeling was fine.  Not amazing but not bad.  Free drinks was fine but it isn’t like it was a party or anything.  The great thing though was the crew.  I’m not a swimmer so I did not plan to snorkel.  The idea of going down the ladder in the open water was terrifying.  The captain(?) Robertson was absolutely amazing.  I can’t go on enough about him.  He coaxed me off the boat and stayed with me the whole time holding my arm and calming me down.  He took my camera and dove down and took some video as well.  If not for him, I would never have done it.  Overall I probably wouldn’t recommend because the price is steep for what it was but for me it was an experience I never thought I could have being afraid of the water.

In Curacao my family (not me) did the turtle snorkel and Cas Abo beach.  Wife said the crew was wonderful and the excursion was fine.  Probably a little too expensive.  Long drive.  Beach was fine.  It wasn’t something they would do again but were fine with having done it.

In La Romana we didn’t get off the ship.

In Amber Cove my daughter and I did the pool and we had a great time.  My son wasn’t allowed off the ship to do this which sucks but I knew this going into the cruise. 

Cleanliness

The ship of course was clean and well maintained.  I was very disappointed with the lack of pushing for hand washing or hand sanitization.  Yes there were dispensers everywhere but no staff member directing you to them or squirting stuff in your hand.  Therefore, very very few people heading into the buffet were washing their hands or sanitizing them.  I would have thought it would be better than that.  We washed our hands and that is all I can control. 

Random thoughts

Probably the best cruise I have been on (somewhere between 5 and 10 cruises).  This is a combination of the fun I had with my family, the amazing service, and the roominess of the ship not being full.  I do think there were some understandable cutbacks such as the library not having the self serve wine, probably a few less or less enjoyable activities, and the food being meh.  My son had to wear masks here and there but nothing he cared about as he is used to it.  It was nice feeling normal without masks everywhere on the ship but I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends with the way things are going. Oh and the teenage hoodlums were still around running around in the evenings but no problem for me.  There were probably less than usual and hung out only on the stairs by the arcade for the most part.

So if you are going on the Horizon soon you should have a great time.

Jean

I’m about two months out from bypass and going on a cruise this Saturday. Everything has gone well for me and I have only thrown up if I have not chewed well enough. I am sticking to the diet but have taken some time to sample other foods to make sure I can digest them properly. I don’t want to find out they are a problem when I’m on the cruise.  It’s vacation and I know I’m going to eat those hashbrowns that I’m dreaming about among other things. I gave myself a little rule though, the first five bites of anything I eat must be healthy protein-based.

2 hours ago, lobster1313 said:

Yes. You can get off if your vaccinated and traveling with someone who is unvaccinated. I have gotten off in both Aruba and Curacao to get charms for my daughter.  The only requirement is that if you take a bubble tour you must board the ship before you explore on your own.  I checked a few times and then again at security prior to getting off in Aruba.

Awesome thanks!!

Does anyone know for sure or where it is stated that vaccinated people can’t get off in a port if they have someone unvaccinated sailing with them?  For example I’d like to go to the pool in amber cove with my vaccinated daughter while my wife stays on the ship with our unvaccinated son. 
thanks in advance. 

On 7/7/2021 at 10:35 AM, JEANMR1 said:

Hi

For any of you lucky people currently on the Horizon or Vista - can you confirm that the family harbor lounge is open? I have no reason to think it’s not but I just want to make sure. We will be on the horizon on the 24th and the kids love that place. Also, hopefully they can make a few friends their since the kids club is not open.

 

Thanks

Can anyone confirm it’s open?

thanks

On 7/7/2021 at 10:24 PM, aadaneboy said:

Awesome!   We are super excited to experience it.   

 

 

Is the breakfast buffet warm foods like eggs and meats, or is it more continental style?

 

 

todd

Warm foods. 

Hey I’m all for vaccines but my son is 10 and can’t get it yet. I understand there are some inconveniences and accept them. None of that is the problem. I have an email from Carnival saying my son is exempted for our July cruise and that he will need to be tested there. The cost is $50 but waived for July and August. I have received nothing from carnival stating otherwise. I expect to not be charged when I get there. If there is I’m going to try and fight it. It’s not like this is a change in protocol - but a change in price. It increases the cost of my cruise by 7.5% (cost of cruise not including gratuities). 

5 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Yes, usually the same movie twice per night. Sometimes only once.

Thanks!  I only thought to ask because it wasnt on the fun times you posted that I noticed. 

Are they having the outside nighttime movies?

thanks. 

31 minutes ago, FloridaMomKW said:

Where can you buy this in the Caribbean?

Where can you buy this in the Caribbean?

On the ship and most ports. Super good. 

How about Sheridan? Can’t buy in the us. 

yum

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

I would post this to john directly.  They cant change it retroactively. 

Ok so I’m completely Facebook illiterate. I tried to post to him but all I did was post it on my page. Sigh. 

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

I would post this to john directly.  They cant change it retroactively. 

1 hour ago, TNcruising02 said:

It's definitely a tough one.  I remember when they said there would be no kid's clubs for under 12 after the final payment date.  Carnival keeps changing things and it must be very frustrating for families with young children. Who knows what else they will add to the requirements by the time you cruise.  I feel bad for those families.  I guess Carnival is doing what they can to prevent any positive cases.  It's too bad they didn't figure this stuff out a month ago.  It's not like they didn't have plenty of time.

Changing protocols I can handle or cancel (probably) without complaint. This is simply changing from free to $150. That is not a protocol change but a money grab. 

So to put it in perspective (I’m an accountant):

total cruise fare not including gratuities for the four of us in a family harbor balcony was $2,018.96. a last minute compulsory fee of $150 increases the cost by 7.4% two weeks out. Probably less than two weeks out because they haven’t informed me I have to pay yet. Who would be happy if two weeks prior to your cruise they were like - sorry we just want more money. 
grrrrr

It was in the exemption email.