CruizinCutieJulia

Gorgeous sunset pic!!!! I would love to have a print like enlarged and framed on my travel wall.

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Same. But I’m female 🤷🏼

Thank You so much for all the info.

 

Hope your kitchen fix was not to bad.

You’re welcome and thank you for thinking of my dumb kitchen. Luckily, I don’t have to deal with any repairs after the initial cleanup!! It will be completed today :)

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Thanks for the Fun Times! I'm cruising this weekend, and wondered how many kids were onboard. I'm not opposed to kids, they just drive up the occupancy which results in more lines.

 

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On our sailing I believe they said they had 575 or so kids on board. Didn’t seems like very many to me

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DAY 8 AT SEA

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DAY 7 AT SEA

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DAY 6 ARUBA

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DAY 5 CURAÇAO

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DAY 4 LA ROMANA

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DAY 3 GRAND TURK

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DAY 2

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EMBARKATION DAY

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Testing picture posting capabilities.

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Baked onion soup... When she brought it out she said "be careful it's hot" That's the understatement of the year, this s#!+ is absolutely volcanic...

 

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Forgive me I’m just catching up, but the same thing happened to me on the Horizon last week!!! I swear it took me 30 minutes to eat soup — no wonder they tell you to budget 2 hours for a steakhouse meal!

It was nice to drink and re-melt the cheese in the lava broth though.

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Sorry for going MIA — it was a great vacation so of course when I eat home I would find a burst pipe under my kitchen sink and moldy cabinets stinking up my apartment 🤢

I have all the fun times and will get them up ASAP!!

Thanks for following along

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OMG it’s Day 8 and people are still talking about how to use the elevators!!!! [emoji33]

John Heald made a video about this, they talk about it in the welcome aboard show, but people still don’t get it. I would suggest putting an instruction board at each elevator, but those same people don’t read signs either. Let me break it down for you:

1) approach elevator panel

2) select floor you want to go to

3) go stand an appropriate distance from the door assigned to you (this means not in front of it so no one can get out when the doors open)

4) if there are more than 1 in your group, select the floor you want to go to for each person in your group (or like toddlers, let everyone push their own button to select the floor)

5) if you are in a scooter, wheelchair or pushing a stroller: select the handicap ♿️ icon and then the floor.

The elevator will know how many people are in the elevator currently coming or how many people it can hold to stop the number of times it needs to. For example, if 3 single riders come to an elevator on deck 2 and they select deck 6, deck 10 and deck 11 - they will most likely all be directed to the same car.

The system works - you just have to have everyone using it understanding why it really is more efficient. But if someone in a group of 10 on deck 2 selects to go to deck 10 but only push the button once, when someone on deck 5 wants to go to deck 10, the car will come and be full, whereas if the correct number of people were selected, the person on deck 5 would be assigned a different car.

I hope this helps!! Don’t be on your sailing and still not understand on day 8 —- it will only annoy you and others around you.

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Thank you for posting such a detailed review. I plan on reading it tomorrow during our 3 hour ride. Can you tell us why the embarkation appointments for tomorrow’s sailing are delayed by an hour. We received a note last night indicating that we should arrive an hour later than our appointment suggests but with no explanation. Did you hear anything about the delay? Are there mechanical issues with the ship?

 

:confused::eek::( TIA

 

ARRIVAL APPOINTMENT CHANGE

 

CARNIVAL HORIZON

 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

 

 

 

September 28, 2018

 

 

 

Hi Carnival Horizon Guests,

 

We are expecting disembarkation from the previous cruise to run later than usual. So, boarding for your cruise will be running a bit behind schedule. Please push back your Arrival Appointment by one hour (e.g.,11:30 AM - 12:00 PM appointment will become 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM). Kindly arrive promptly within your revised time.

 

In preparation for final boarding and departure, all guests must be on board the ship no later than 60 minutes prior to the published sailing time.

 

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We are looking forward to welcoming you aboard for a FUN and memorable cruise vacation.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Denese Waiters

 

 

 

Sr. Director, Guest Services - Contact Centers

I’ve heard nothing of any kind of delay, but I know embarkation last week was a complete disaster so maybe they are once again trying to eliminate some frustrations but spacing people out more.

There was a rumor that customs was backed up and that’s why disembarkation was delayed then delaying embarkation? If they think that is the case again, they’ll want to keep people from having to stand in line waiting to get into the terminal. The diamond/platinum line was also very long last week so they may see others will be showing early that have priority boarding and that can slow down the “regular” line too.

Hope that helps, I’ll post more if we hear anything about any delays on the ship.

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DAY 6: ARUBA

Torn on how to spend the day in Aruba between having an adventure and going exploring or laying at a beach resort I decided to just wing it, which I should have known better as an indecisive libra. I thought I would look at the tours being offered in port, but I’m always overwhelmed in that gauntlet of people yelling for you and waving maps, I scurried through it and ended up on my own. I had seen in a few vlogs that walking down past the renaissance had a couple good places to get pictures of the ship. So I headed that way and found a nice quiet spot to sit and wandered around for pictures. It was hot yesterday so after awhile I started walking back toward town to shop. A brief stop in the renaissance for pictures and look at the casino and continue on my way.

Stopped at the liquor store to check the price on pure white Hennessy, same as the ship but I knew the ship was getting low the other night, so bought bottle on shore. I had all intentions of going to the ship, checking my bottle and heading back out. Carnival added a last minute excursion “beach escape” that was just a bus to a beach and transport back for $20. I think a taxi would be close to that from what I’ve heard, but for a solo may have been worth it to not have to haggle on waiting for more people or anything. It was still available when I was walking back. And then I stepped on the ship and it was early so they didn’t even have the alcohol table set up yet, so I had to walk back farther and the cool air hit me and I immediately wanted to nap!!!

So I went back to the room and got in a nap, changed and hit the Havana pool which was empty! It’s always quiet, but to have the entire place to myself was awesome! Took a cooling dip and spread out on a day bed and slept for another hour while drying.

Cruising is exhausting! Not a lot going on in the afternoon, and I caught most of amore cubana, which was ok. 80s rock and glow party was fun, but the real win of the evening was the serenity nights which was 90s party. That was a blast! I’m a 90s girl!! We partied late and slept in this morning. Perfect way to kick off the first of 2 straight days at sea!

Cruise critic slot pull is starting in about 25 minutes so crossing my fingers we come out with some cash so I can pay my bar bill from last night! [emoji6]

More later....

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DAY 5: CURACAO

It was a leisurely morning, slept in, had pizza for breakfast because the buffet is just tired... spent time in Havana reading and made it up to lido deck to watch sail in.

I had pre-reserved a beach hopping tour of the west end beaches with Irie Tours. The ship is was cleared around 135pm and I was down the gangway by 2pm. Met the tour and we were on our way. Our first few stops were very short, just 15-20 minutes. Some of our group did a cliff dive, we could snorkel for 15 minutes with sea turtles. But I just don’t like that rushed feeling. All of the areas were beautiful, we spent about 50 minutes at knip beach and then rode to another private beach for the sunset. I think this tour would work better in the morning, we were pressed for time and racing the sun.

The roads and hills in the bus were rough at times. But overall I felt like I got to see a lot and I got a lot for my money. The tour currently costs $65 per person for 5ish hours.

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NIGHT 4

Sorry I disappeared last night... I’ll say a pro and con of the social WiFi package on board would be, being able to keep in touch to friends and family back home. Con being you get news from home that puts you in a funk. So let me just recap:

Not much going on in the afternoon after sailing away from La Romana. I had guys burger when i got back on board because i had late dinner reservations at the steakhouse. I spent the afternoon lounging at the Havana pool reading. There was a playlist production “Celestial Strings” which again the music was good but the theatrics told not story and were pretty cheesy. They have amazing talent in this cast and i think all of the running around the audience took away from what they were doing. There could have been a story told with the music they used, but it seemed all over and they didn’t use the same main characters. Overall, enjoyable music, should be presented in a different way in my opinion.

I had a drink on the lanai before dinner. The steakhouse....

O-M-G

It was so good, the service, the food, the atmosphere.... it was all excellent. A little slow, but OUTSTANDING!!

I was obviously a reservation for 1 and the dinner took nearly all of 2 hours. But I think it could have been shorter if I wasn’t on my phone texting work about an issue nearly the entire time.

First was a small bite compliments of the chef, parmesan 3 ways, a mouse a clan and a crisp. The foam was kind of weird, but I have texture issues.

I order French onion soup and cesear salad for starters and the spice rubbed ribeye with sautéed mushrooms and baked potato for the entree. The soup was sooooo hot, she warned me, I let the steam out and blew on it before I took my first bite and still burned myself. Great flavor and this was the first meal I have had on the ship where I knew the food was fresh and hadn’t been sitting for possibly hours. The salad was ok, but a little heavy on the dressing.

The steak.... I knew it would never be able to eat it all - tit is 18oz of total tummy. The most I’ve ever eaten is 12 oz, but I love ribeye and for a $38 cover, that’s less than a cost of this steak alone at home. The flavors were great, seasoned well, cooked almost perfect, the half I ate was perfect but it was getting just a bit thicker as i went and getting less done than my perfection, but like I said, there is no way I could have finished that much even if it was all cooked exactly how I love it. The Mushrooms has great seasoning and complimented the meat, and I have had baked potato a couple times this trip, but this was by far the fluffiest and most perfect one yet.

I’ve done a lot of comparing to my cruises with NCL, and in comparison of upcharge steakhouses, carnival wins hands down.

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DAY 4: LA ROMANA

“They” say this port is dangerous and you shouldn’t venture off the ship without a planned excursion. I feel like this is probably an exaggeration and more like the port seems very remote and other tourist type attractions are far away. Anyways... I took the $8 shuttle to Altos de Chavon right outside the port. The area was very nice, but it’s just wandering around- there aren’t people there telling you about the replica buildings or significance. Just a lot of people wanting you to take pictures with them for money. If I hadn’t been solo I most definitely would have hiked down to the river. There is a very uneven stone and moss path down. I went down about 10 minutes and couldn’t see how much further it was because of the heavy tree cover. It was so hot and there were no other tourists so I came back up. If ever here again I’m getting to the river bank!!

I spent about an hour walking around. No locals really talked to me except to ask for pictures. The only little hiccup I encountered was getting the shuttle back. They tell you where to meet, but a large group usually gathers. It looks like there are 5-6 workers there but they all ignored us, there is no line to wait it and if you are with a bunch of rude people like I was, when the van or shuttle pulls up everyone rushes forward and no matter if they just walked up or had been waiting. They don’t care to keep it orderly, and so they pack as many people into the shuttle as possible.

The van on the way there was packed so that every time we went over a speed bump (there are more than 20 on the ride) the van scraped the bottom... in the larger shuttle on the way back, the brakes were so squeaky it was so loud every time he had to brake for a speed bump.

They should definitely be charging more and fixing up the transportation. But hey it was $8 round trip and easy... so whatever!!

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Can you see the menus early? We are on the 6-night over Christmas, and have reservations at both the steakhouse and JiJis. I am nervous that we will miss an MDR menu we will really want....and do you know how far in advance you can change a specialty dining reservation?

All of the menus are in the app under dining you just have to change the day. I don’t now about changing reservations before on board, a more experienced carnival cruiser may have the answer to that...

I made my first steakhouse reservation about a week before sailing and never got confirmation, so I stopped by the restaurant embarkation day and they confirmed the space was held. I was able to make the new reservation and cancel GE old on the hub app.

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DAY 3 EVENING ENTERTAINMENT:

Last year on my NCL cruise during this same time frame, I met some experience carnival cruisers who complained that there wasn’t enough to do at night on NCL because on Carnival they are constantly on the go to events.

I think this is true with just 1 caveat. Last night there were a lot things that I wanted to check out, and they started like every half hour and I thought it strange that what I find to be pretty large events overlap. But then i realized even a “mega” deck party only really lasts a half hour. I feel like there is so much night time entertainment it gets a little A.D.D. This was especially true of the mega deck party, I got there thinking it would be like the huge production NCL puts on at the white hot deck party- on the Escape that party went for hours!!! I watched 4 line dances and Mike said it wasn’t over yet the after party was going to go late and the music changed and everyone left. [emoji1361]

Quest was also last night.. I’ve done a lot of quest games and I’m not one to be offended, nor was I offended last night. I did think that Mike took it a little far asking to see women do explicit things, more than twice. I am not offended, I just choose not to participate in that level of vulgarity.

Also, dinner last night was not very good again, and I have heard of better menus coming later in the itinerary so I have cancelled my reservation for night 6 in the steakhouse and made a reservation for tonight.

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I appreciate the detail review. I will be sailing on Horizon October 20, 2018. I will also be in the Havana area. This will be my friends first time on Carnival and only her second cruise ever. I have done many cruises with many lines.

 

As you mentioned that you like NCL, I also tried them last year for the first time when our Celebrity cruise was cancelled two weeks prior to sailing. The officers were amazing on that cruise. All the bar tenders also. When we went back on the same ship the Escape, this year they remembered us. I have not been on Carnival for ages so I am looking forward to cruising again with Carnival and comparing.

 

You mentioned that a lot of the people are leaving to go on vacation. Could you do me a favor and see who the Hotel Director and the Food and beverage director will be on the October 20th sailing. There were two officers from those areas, (it could have been the assistant hotel director and assistant F&B director) that helped my mother when she was lost on the ship and was crying. My mother has dementia, but gets mad at us if we won't let her be by herself on a cruise for a little while by herself. Anyway, if it is the same officers who are going to be on my cruise, I would like to personally thank them.

 

PS I did a solo cruise on Princess and I probably will never do a solo cruise on Princess again. I think NCL is the best for solo cruises. But then I try and make every cruise fun no matter what ship I am on.

Thanks for following along and commenting :) I’m sure you and your friend will have a great cruise. I also believe there is no bad cruise, I always enjoy the ports, I always enjoy being at sea, some ships are just more memorable in other ways too.

I’ve never been drawn to Princess, but I am going back to Royal for a couple cruises in 2019. I would do carnival again for a short or last minute trip, or if the itinerary was absolutely perfect, but as of this moment, I will probably choose Norwegian as my first pick going forward.

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