CheckersMidwest

We have had one PVP since 2013.  He is awesome ! If I leave a phone message or email, he either emails back or calls very soon. Very knowledgeable about our Caribbean as well as Alaska cruises. He has a facebook page (that I did just recently find) and is great if I need to book an excursion, add something, whatever. Always professional and available 7 days a week until 10:00 pm I think.

We DO bring formal wear - for the entire family. We dress up some every night and much more on elegant/formal night. My husband & now grown son wear suits/ties on elegant night. The other nights they wear dress pants or kahki's with collared golf shirts or shirts & ties. My college daughter & I wear blingy things from Dress Barn and/or Dillard's. Things like dresses, dress capris with matching tops, etc and on formal night we wear blingy cocktail type dresses.   We leave our nice things in the plastic bag they put them in over the hanger when you buy them. Accordian fold bag & all into your suitcase & they don't wrinkle. I leave those hanging wear we won't forget them along with suit jackets until we're ready to walk out the door to the airport then pack them. Unpack & hang in the hotel & repack for the trip to the port. It works pretty well.

Morning. I would like the bed made and fresh towels after we've showered. I could make the bed myself but I don't want to. (I refuse to cook, clean, or do laundry on vacation. I do 100% of it at home and not doing it.) Our cabin is clean all day.

On formal night, both Lobster and Carbonara are offered. I love both. The server offered an appetizer portion of the Carbonara since I didn't think I needed two full entrees. Perfect.

We were on the Legend to Alaska last August. Casino was open the same hours as previous Caribbean cruises.

We've had a 4J on the Magic . Loved it. So big & roomy. We have one booked again on the Dream this coming fall.

I've stayed in a balcony cabin on the Lido on the Magic. My first choice now almost always!

I am in my late forties. (ahem, clears throat) but we ate earlier even when I was in my 20's. Our age doesn't have anything to do with our time preference. Agree it is interesting to read the 'whys' everyone has.

We always choose Early Seating. At home, we eat between 6:00 & 7:00 pm. I work until 5:30 then immediately start dinner. We're hungry then and if you get late seating at 8:15, I assume it's after 8:30 when your food arrives. For us, that's too late. Even when we go out to eat, it's around 6:00 or so. The only drawback for the early seating for me, is in order to get showered, hair done, etc and to the dining room by 6:00, we have to be in the shower by 4:45. That makes it tough if we're in port and it cuts the sail away parties short.

My PVP told us that their is a 'light breakfast' available at the Havana bar area outside in the mornings. We sail in May, so I can't say this is certain.

We had a 4J on the Magic. (Actually, the kids had a 4J and we had the balcony diagonal from it). Their room was huge. So much more extra room to move around than our balcony had.It did not have a couch but it had the little table and a chair.

Once when we reported to the Guest Services for priority tender, they had us sit in the adjacent waiting area with a lot of other people. I assumed they were also waiting for priority tender. We waited quite awhile then all went together and took up an entire tender.

I take a pop up hamper to keep dirty clothes separate from clean ones.

A collapsible 'bin' (like the square ones you put in the cubical shelves) is nice to sit on the counter for random stuff & folds completely flat to put in your luggage.

We usually travel in 2 cabins - our teenage/college kids in the other. I make a daily schedule and tape it to our mirrors. For example: It will say Tuesday - Grand Turk - Ready to go ashore at 9:00 - take your spending money, water camera,  & specific things needed for an excursion. Dinner: Elegant night.  They go to bed & get up at different times than we do. They can refer to the schedule and know when they're suppose to be ready , what to bring, etc.

Flat tote bag of some sort (Vera Bradley, beach bag, etc) and put it in the bottom of the main suitcase & pack on top of it. It's great if I need extra packing space to bring home souveniers. They usually count as a personal item when carrying on a plane.

Crewsweeper : You said it - I'm on vacation. We treat the boarding day as the first day of our vacation. Like a sea day. Being dropped off at port so no parking needed. We usually arrive 10:30-11:00 , fly through check in. I hadn't seen 12:30 as the earliest option before so thought maybe it was something special with the Horizon. We do have FTTF so like to drop off our luggage as soon as we board and then wander the ship before it fills up with people. Take pictures, grab some lunch somewhere, unpack quickly because our bags are already there and then sitting somewhere on the deck relaxing while everyone else is just now getting onboard.

We will be in port from 1:30 pm until 10:30 pm. I booked a private island tour for the 3 of us through Viator. When you sign up, they email you a coupon. Saved us $36.  (3 adults). We have 4 hours to do whatever we'd like. We want to see the ostrich farm, Curacao distillery and not sure what else. I'm trying to decide if we want to snorkel with the turtles or just make this a land stop. I'd like to see blowholes, maybe the cave. We would like to shop a bit, but don't want to push the tour to start later as the ostrich farm & distillery close at 4:00 & 5:00. Hopefully there will be a few shops open after 6:00 or along the way back to the ship. We could figure that into the tour also I guess.

bup1224: You mentioned restaurants in the Water Arches area. If we have the tour drop us off there, is it far back to the ship? Can we walk back ? For good seafood, pastas, local dishes which is your favorite? (Perla Del Mar, Scampis, or Dal Toro). Any of those have a good view or atmosphere too?   Also....the Curcacao and Dushi signs......what does Dushi mean?

I checked in this morning (along with lots of people on our roll call group) and the earliest was 12:30.  Why so much later than other cruises? Does it just take longer to get all the passengers disembarked?! I do have Faster To The Fun so plan to arrive between 10:30-11:00 like usual and hope to board sooner. I may end up waiting to check in but that's ok. (We're usually onboard before noon so not even checking in until later is new to us!)

Enjoying your review ! We sail on the Horizon in May and in a Havana Cabana. Thanks for all the details !

I feel like part of the decline in people dressing up is our (yes - us on Cruise Critic) fault. New cruisers come here & ask if this or that is ok and we answer to wear whatever you want because Carnival doesn't enforce it.

No Carnival doesn't enforce their dress codes, but we just told them to wear whatever they want. 

If we'd state the specifics of the dress codes with examples, then that's probably what people would wear. If we keep saying to "Dress down, it doesn't matter" then that's exactly what everyone is going to do.

I am a terrible gambler. I walk through the casino and lose money. My husband does play Roulette & does very well. However, on the Legend in August, there was something 'wrong' with the table (maybe extra green 0, something husband didn't like) and he didn't play it at all. He played craps instead. Hoping the Horizon is normal.

Yep, next to Balance due it has a box with 'available check in' date. Mine is Feb 17 for a May sailing. Roughly 3 months in advance.

We have a Havana Cabana on the Horizon in May. It's a college graduation cruise for our daughter. We will all 3 be staying in one cabin. We've always had 2 cabins before (My recently married son always sailed too) so this will be a first. Any tips so it won't be crazy crowded ?

We enjoy dressing up for dinner while on vacation. If it's a land beach type vacation, then we clean up & go out for dinner. Our kids were in high school & college when we first began cruising & they like to dress up also. (A boy & a girl). It's ok if other guests choose not to, we still enjoy it.

Formal night, they guys will be in suits. My daughter & I wear fancier cocktail or evening type dresses. I also have a black pair of chiffon wide legged pants with a beaded black & gold sleevless shirt.  On all the other nights the guys wear dress pants with shirt & tie or a polo. My daughter & I wear 'church' clothes or slightly fancier.  We have a section in our closet that is vacation/cruise clothes. When I see something on sale at Dillard's or Dress Barn, etc I get it then & have it when needed, so doesn't have to be expensive.

I read a review awhile back where they ate dinner on the roof - along the water and could see the cruise ship all lit up. Any suggestions ? (Good food preferred 🙂 )

I like the services our PVP provides. I look online & figure what ship/sailing I want and then call him. He returns messages usually within minutes. He has suggested room locations , told us which ones to avoid because x is above it or maybe too close to laundry , etc.  He always knows the answer to the questions I've asked about the ports as well, how far is the airport to cruise terminal, etc. If there is a price drop, I contact him & he arranges the on board credit.  He told us about pros & cons of staying on the Lido deck & more.

On another note: I use the internet a lot , however, I also like hard copies of things. We put away our phones at sail away & have no interest in the HUB app. We will continue to use the paper Fun Times, I can see where a paper version of a Carnival travel guide would be nice. Maybe show all the ships, what they offer, sections on ports too.

If you are seated at a larger table and tablemates do not show up or are late.....the waiters do wait about 10 min. They want all the courses coming out at the same time. We have also been asked if we know if the others are coming or not and we've been asked if we want to wait before.

If you have an appointment of any kind and are not going to keep it, or if you're not going to work or somewhere where people are expecting you, don't you call them or something & let them know? Or do you just not show up?

We know at the beginning of the cruise if/when we're eating at a specialty restaurant or if we're going to the Lido or elsewhere one night because of port/back on ship times. We do tell our waiter and table mates so they do not wait on us. Even if our family is at a booth for just us, we always let the waiter know. They have a big job to do and they can plan accordingly. For us, it's the same if you had a reservation some place.

You can also decide at the last minute & just speed dial the Mat r de/ dining room and tell them.