VegasMark

16 hours ago, wiskt said:

Great review and glad you saw the positive side of this ship like I did.  I was also on this sailing and have to agree.  The HORIZON is a beautiful ship and I am already looking to re-book a sailing in possibly DEC for the other itinerary it does.    I just submitted my lengthy review.   It's primarily about the SHIP and what it offers.   I also submit my reviews to the cruise lines as feedback.    

 

My favorite thing aboard by far was the NEW AGE TRIO- Electric violinists.  BRAVO.    They were captivating.  Its nice to see Carnival continuing to add quality side entertainment.

 

I did not particularly like the new floor seating in the theater.  I understand the want to bring the performers into the audience, but the lack of drink tables and tight chair formations.  MEH.      

 

The new SMART ELEVATORS work well when smart passengers take the time to learn and use them.    I tend to use the stairs but I did try the elevators a couple times for my review.    Most of the time there were passengers just crowding in to whatever doors opened up without following the instructions.  Then complained when it was not going where they wanted and/or that there were no buttons inside to choose a floor.   

 

My review should be up once approved in a coupe days.     Safe travels onward everyone. 

Loved the violins as well! Also appreciated that they used the violins in Celestial Strings and the Havana band in the Cuban show. 

16 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

We sailed the Horizon out of NYC for 8 days while it was scarred from taking out a section of a parking garage in Manhattan.  I agree!  I think it's all about perception... do I miss the grander atriums with glass elevators... yes.  But Horizon adds SO MUCH NEW Carnival Fun and better food!  Three of the pay restaurants are FREE at lunch and the quality is GREAT!  The Seuss waterpark, the skyride, other things and don't forget the AWESOME broadway-style/musical performances!  Best I've ever seen on a Carnival ship!  All the new excellent quality pay for restaurants is exactly the direction I was hoping Carnival would take and Horizon made me love Carnival more than ever!  Oh... large flat-screen HD tv's!

Thanks for reminding me of a couple things I forgot to mention in my review. I can't believe I didn't talk about the water slides. I was on those things multiple times every day! On the Cat's Hat (red and white one), you go down on a tube. It is slower than the other, but still fun. The second one is called Fun Things. That one is super fast and fun. These are the best cruise ship slides I've been on. I also like that although Fun Things is completely enclosed and the Cat's Hat is enclosed for the first half of it, you can still see the entire way. Two of the slides on RCL's Harmony of the Seas are totally dark, and for those of us with claustrophobia, that isn't cool.

You also reminded me of the cool video "funnel" in the atrium. Personally, I didn't miss the 8-10 story atrium, which I feel is wasted space. I did really enjoy watching the funnel and seeing the various displays. 

2 hours ago, Jenjer said:

I have another question

 

Is there anyplace or time to get crepes on ship?

I don't recall seeing crepes on the ship. As for entrees, nothing really stands out because it was all so good and I ordered so much! I also really like the port day breakfast menu - there are many good options. 

31 minutes ago, MsMot said:

We sailed the Horizon on September 22nd.  While we were in line waiting to embark, Carnival representatives were passing out letters letting us know the sky ride would be down for the duration of our cruise.  That was very disappointing as I had my grandson traveling with us.  This was the worst embarkation experience I have ever had.  We arrived at the port at our appointed time of 11:30 AM and did not finally get on the ship until 2:30!  We stood in the sweltering heat all that time.  They were still debarking the previous cruise at 2:00PM.  

 

Sounds like you had a better experience than us as far as the food goes.  The food in the dining room was lack luster, most of the time we left most of the food on our plates.  The lido deck food was horrible!  The best things were Guys, the pizza and the tacos.  Those were the only things we ate the entire week.  Like you, I found the staff to be awesome!

It sounds like there must have been an issue with the previous cruise for there to be that sort of delay. 

As for food on the Lido deck, did you try the pasta bar or the Mongolian wok? Both were fresh, made to order, and with simple ingredients that would be hard to mess up. We might have to agree to disagree on the food quality, which is subjective.

1 hour ago, uttu said:

Thanks for the positive review! I would love to see the Fun times too if you have them. We have similar itinerary coming up soon.

Sorry, I did not retain the Fun Times. However, someone did a live review recently on an 8 day with different ports that might be helpful. That person posted the Fun Times for that voyage. 

10 hours ago, NillaB said:

Thank you - we will be on the Horizon in February and I enjoyed reading a positive review. 

May I ask about the airport transfer tour to Everglades (which I am considering for the same reason). Did you get priority luggage tags the last day, or how did that work?

When we first got to our cabin, we had an envelope with tickets, an instruction letter, and #3 luggage tags. You will meet in the assigned location and exit the ship in a group with whatever luggage you didn't check. You will grab any checked luggage, clear customs, and get directed to your bus. We had one full bus that went directly to the Everglades and then stopped at FLL first and then MIA. I assume if they had more than one bus load, there would be a separate bus for each airport. Even with the stop at FLL, we were inside MIA before 1pm. Make sure you dress for the Everglades - it was hot and humid, but no pesky bugs in the daylight (at least on a sunny day).

After reading so many negative reviews, I feel the obligation to post this review here.  I'm happy to answer any questions, and I'd love to hear from those who had a negative experience to see where things went wrong.  My review follows:

 

After reading countless negative reviews of the Carnival Horizon, I feel the need to clear the air.  This was my 29th cruise, and one of my top few.  I traveled with my octogenarian, but very active father.  He's a lifelong Bostonian, and I live in Albuquerque.  We sailed an 8 day cruise to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten on 10/6/18.

 

My Dad stayed for a few nights before the cruise at the Fountainbleu Hotel on Miami Beach.  I can't speak to it personally, but he really enjoyed it, and has stayed there multiple times.

 

The ship was one of the major draws for us, as we like all the cool things you can do on the Horizon.  We were quite disappointed when we got an email a few days prior to sailing stating that the Sky Ride would be down for the duration of our cruise.  We were lucky that they got it up and running on the fourth day, but more on that later.  The bottom line is that the ship did not disappoint.  She is a beautiful ship that was very well maintained.

 

The activities on the ship were many.  If you happened to read my Splendor review from June, you'd know that besides one ping pong tournament, there were no organized sports activities.  I wasn't sure if this was a trend for Carnival, but I'm happy to report that there were several different sports tournaments:  ping pong once, dodgeball scheduled three times but played twice due to rain one day, volleyball twice, soccer once I believe, and basketball knockout twice.  I think there were also pool games one day.  Besides the staff run tournaments, there were plenty of other activities.  The aforementioned Sky Ride was a thrill.  The lines could get long, so I'd suggest either going early or on a port day.  The Sky Course was also a lot of fun.  My Dad and I did each several times.  The wait for the Sky Course ranged from 0-5 minutes.  I'd recommend doing the course without grabbing your harness for support.  Most people did the course while holding their own harness, and it defeats the purpose of the obstacles.  The mini golf course was one of the best at sea.  They also had cornhole, foosball, ping pong, billiards, and soccer billiards (that will be a new one to most, as it was to us).  I also played several rounds of trivia of various subjects.  The staff did an excellent job hosting these events.

 

Service onboard was excellent.  Our room steward was very capable.  We had My Time Dining, and ate at around 6:45 most nights (which I'd consider around the peak time).  We only waited on one night for about 15 minutes (the first formal night).  All other nights we were assigned a table right away.  All of our waiters (and we had different ones each night) were exceptional.  Food was delivered quickly and our orders were always correct.  Food was not always piping hot, but that is to be expected given the circumstances of serving several thousand guests.  

 

Speaking of dining, the food was really great.  Horizon shines at lunch time.  One negative thing that I read about before sailing was that the wait times at lunch venues was intolerable.  I can tell you that for my sailing, we hardly waited at all, and we tried all of the lunch options.  Our faves were probably Guy's BBQ and Guy's Burgers, but there isn't a bad choice in the bunch.  I love the menu options in the main dining room - there are so many good choices that I ate way too much!  I'm a lover of Royal Caribbean as well, and I have to say that Carnival far exceeds Royal in the MDR.  Royal only has a few selections of each category, while Carnival has double the options.  They even have special menu items based on the port you were in each day.  Oh - check out the buffet at lunch, even if you eat elsewhere.  They have 5-6 awesome cakes and a couple types of gelato, all of which are different each day.

 

We stayed in an interior cabin on the 8th deck in the center of the ship.  This was a very quiet area and we were easily able to get to the Lido deck only two floors up and the entertainment decks just a few decks down.  The cabin was simple but very functional with two desktops and two 110v plugs, two USB plugs, and a European outlet.  The fridge in the room was empty (as it was on Splendor), so you don't have to mess with freeing space for your own stuff.  The beds were very comfortable.

 

The entertainment on this ship is arguably the best in the Carnival fleet.  I'd still say that Royal holds an edge here on Oasis Class ships, but Carnival's singer/dancer shows were extraordinary.  I read reviews that said the show venue is too small and has poor sightlines.  This is true, but if you arrive 20-30 minutes before the show starts, you will get great seats.  The performers frequently come into the audience to perform, and it results in a really great show - as long as you get there early.  The same goes for the comedy shows.  For the late night performances, you definitely need to get there at least 15 minutes early to get a seat.  The earlier shows do not fill up, so you can arrive just before showtime.  I do love how Carnival offers so many comedy shows on their ships.

 

We had late flights heading out of town, so we booked the Carnival Everglades trip with airport drop off.  This was a great trip at a very fair price.  The only negative is that you have to meet to get off the ship at 7:45am.  I wish they offered a later option for people with really late flights like us.  We were at the airport around 12:30pm, about five hours prior to our flights.

 

All in all, we had an excellent trip at a great value.  I look forward to cruising the Horizon or a sister ship in the future.

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:29 AM, BNBR said:

Thanks for all responses. FYI, Carnival's Everglades excursion includes transportation from the ship and to MIA Airport, an airboat ride (unknown duration), and alligator show for $50. I used a gift card from AARP's program, essentially making it $45 each - a pretty good deal. I'm sure it will be touristy, but we are tourists after all. I'm sure it won't be the best possible experience, but I think it combines some fun in a fair price.

That's a fair price I think. You'll have a great time wherever you go.

Just wanted to reply again after our excursion this past weekend.  I'd highly recommend the Carnival Everglades excursion.  It was a full hour on the airboat, and we saw several crocs as well as many different bird species.  We got a free photo of ourselves with the river in the background, as well as the croc show (very brief, but cool) and transportation there and to the airport.  All in all, a very fair price for a nice experience.  We ended up just staying at the airport after and watched football and chatted.  Happy cruising to all!

Thanks for all responses. FYI, Carnival's Everglades excursion includes transportation from the ship and to MIA Airport, an airboat ride (unknown duration), and alligator show for $50. I used a gift card from AARP's program, essentially making it $45 each - a pretty good deal. I'm sure it will be touristy, but we are tourists after all. I'm sure it won't be the best possible experience, but I think it combines some fun in a fair price.

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.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

Hello - My Dad and I both have flights at 5:45pm out of Miami after our cruise. We are doing an Everglades excursion, but that will probably still leave us with four hours or so at the airport. I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for a way to kill a few hours near the airport (we can take an Uber or walk). Obviously there is a lot to do downtown or at South Beach, but I'm sure my Dad will not want to venture that far. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I'm on Horizon on October 6th, and I'm sure I'll have a great time. I've read about 100 cruisecritic reviews, and the common complaints are regarding the sizes of the comedy club and main theater and the elevators. You can mitigate the theaters by arriving early and the elevators by taking the stairs to the extent possible. I do wish the theaters were larger, as I like to do a lot of activities, and sitting in a room for 30 or so minutes doing nothing isn't the best use of my vacation time, but it won't ruin the trip for me.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

They have done away with the eCards permanently. I received a confirmation from AARP in August.

Bummer - in this digital age, I wonder why.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

Have they done away with the email option or are they just not stocked presently?

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

How early did you have to get there for a decent seat? I've heard there is not enough good seating. Thanks!

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

So,,, on other ships out of Miami, we have easily made 10 am flights,,,, sitting at the gate at 8:30 am.

 

We cruise a lot. We NEVER plan for worst case scenarios,,,, and just deal with them if they occur. For example, last summer, our arrival was delayed due to the Port of Miami being closed due to fog. When the port opened, there was a long line of cruise ships and cargo ships, all trying to get into the port. We finally docked at 11:00 am with 100% of the passengers clogging the deck pushing and shoving trying to get to the gangway. Yup, we missed our flight. Just went stand-by on the next flight. No problem. Would I ever plan a flight based on the potential that the port is closed due to fog,,,, never.

 

Yes, I agree. If you didn't dock until 11am, I'll bet half the ship missed their flights. If things work the way they are supposed to, then a 10am flight should be fine. If the ship doesn't dock until 11am, then anything before 1pm is going to be missed. I'm with you - I'm willing to take a chance because more often than not it will work out. If it doesn't, I'll deal with the consequences. I was just wondering if anyone had some intel about how Miami will handle the Oasis class ships, but like a couple others have said, they will probably do it the same way as Port Everglades. Thank you!

As others have said, nobody knows since the pier isn't finished.

 

However, I would totally book that flight. I've never been on a single cruise out of Miami that I wouldn't have been able to make a 10AM flight. Even Escape which arrives later and disembarkation after 7AM still had plenty of time to make a 10AM flight.

 

I just can't imagine, with the track record of Oasis-class, that Symphony would somehow be much different than it's always been. And really, are they going to start disembarkation at 9AM or something now? Of course not.

 

This makes sense to me as well - thank you.

I have not seen any news articles about disembarkation but from my experience port everglades and port miami have been pretty much the same, except port everglade has TSA pre-check

/global entry and Miami currently does not. Since the ship is not here yet and the new terminal is not finished there is no way to tell what will happen. The other major difference is that Ft Lauderdale airport is only 5 minutes from the port. In Miami the airport is 15 to 20 minutes away depending on traffic. I will be sailing on Symphony on January 5th so I will have more information then. If you would like to send me your email address I will be happy to let you know how it goes.

 

Oops, just noticed you sail before me.

 

Thank you - I appreciate your helpful response.

How can a local look into the future?????????

 

NO ONE knows what will happen the morning you are scheduled to return.

 

That wasn't my question, but thank you for your input.

I'm local but don't understand what information you are looking for beyond what has already been given.

 

I'm wondering if the ship will be processed the same was as the other Oasis class ships in Port Everglades. Those ships arrive early and allow disembarkation by 6:30am. Most, if not all, other ships do not allow for disembarkation that early. I'm assuming it will work the same way in Miami judging by the arrival time in the port. I was hoping someone has seen a news piece on how the Port of Miami will work with the Oasis class ships on embarkation day.

I think no matter what people say here,you already got your mind made up!

do what you want!!

 

I disagree! My mind is not made up! I was looking for someone with local knowledge!!

It will work or it will not.

 

So many things can happen for it to get screwed up. And so many things have to go right for it to work.

 

Up to you if the stress and possibly missing the flight is an acceptable risk for YOU.

 

And nothing we can say will make it doable. Even if someone did it TODAY, does not mean it will work for YOUR arrival.

Yes, I understand this, as I said in my original post. What I was hoping to learn was if someone (perhaps a Miami resident) saw something in the local news about it.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app

Actually no one can answer your question as the Symphony has never sailed out of or into Miami. In fact, none of the bigger ships have as the pier is still being built.

 

We are also sailing on the Symphony in December however we booked our airfare last year.

 

Thank you. I was hoping that someone read an article or something about how the Oasis class ships will run out of Miami. I wish I could have purchased airfare a year ago, but I just had my leave approved last week.

Hi all - I have a question regarding an early flight option out of Miami after getting off Symphony in December (on a Saturday). I have an option of using miles to return home on a flight at 9:57am. I know most people ask, "Can I make a flight that early?" There are usually two responses: "Yes, but you are cutting it close, especially if there is an issue." or "Why worry about it... just book a later flight." While I appreciate this advice, the Oasis class is a special breed, in that they have to arrive early in order to resupply the ship with far more than any other ship. These ships really can't get in late (although I do understand that it can happen). Also, we are leaving from Labadee with a sea day before docking is scheduled in Miami at 6am. I'm figuring that even if I carry my own bags off and leave the ship by 7:30, I'll be on my way to the airport by 8am, and there plenty early. I also have TSA pre-check. The only real question mark in my mind is whether Miami will handle things the same as Port Everglades. I've read posts where people have gotten off an Oasis class ship and gotten to FLL for flights before 9am. So I guess that was a long build up to ask if anyone has read anything about whether the docking in Miami will follow much the same plan as it has in Port Everglades. Thank you for your thoughts.

We went the first sea day. It is a bowl - choose a noodle, a protein, vegetables and sauce. There's also salad and fried wontons as appetizers. (The wontons are to die for!)

Thank you!

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Forums mobile app