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casino-queen

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    Just off the Horizon today. A lot of Giving and a Great Cruise!

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    We Just returned from an 8 day cruise on the Horizon this morning. We had a fantastic time and would consider cruising on her again. This was Carnival Cruise #16 for wife and I and # 13 for our son. Weather for the most part was beautiful and the seas were calm (even around Cape Hatteras which is rare!)

     

    Rather than go into a full detailed review I am going to touch on a few of the highlights of this trip that made it unique as well as some random observations on both positive and negative things about this ship and cruise itself.

     

    Embarkation was as smooth as we have ever done out of NYC. Terminal to ship in about 15 minutes. Debarkation was great as well. Ship to shore in 20 minutes. No more customs forms in NYC and customs basically checked our passports and told us to have a nice day! No questions or anything.

     

    On the second day of the cruise we met our neighbors on either side of our stateroom on deck 10. We found out that they were all part of the same family. Our room had a connecting door to one of their staterooms and I thought it would be really nice if they could all be together in connecting rooms with the balcony divider open. I went down to guest services to see if we could switch our stateroom and sure enough management approved it!! I went back to our neighbors and told them that we would be willing to switch and that management had approved it. They were ELATED! We went downstairs and got new sign & sail cards and then moved all of our belongings. Stateroom steward then went in and cleaned the cabins again for us (after just cleaning them 2 hours prior). of course we compensated him accordingly!

     

    It really felt great that we were able to do a random act of kindness and the tone for the rest of the cruise certainly was about giving - in a BIG way!!!!

     

    On the last sea day was the usual Groove For St. Jude which we always participate in as do many passengers but what happened this year was amazing. The lines for donations started at 12:00PM and the line stretched from Lido deck all the way down to the stairs to deck nine!! While the Carnival team was taking donations there were other folks making substantial donations. first a $1000, Then another, Then a few $1500's then two people with $2000 dollars each. There were also several auctions including $1000 for a signed build a bear by the captain and $800 for a Carnival Horizon jacket. We were told that various staff members would "walk the plank" into the pool if we reached certain levels. We were told that the captain would walk the plank if $20,000 was raised. The most ever raised on a Carnival ship had been $17,000 (I Think on Splendor in 2012). Well that donation line stayed on the lido deck for two hours!! We did not just break the record. We shattered the record!! Total was somewhere around $27,500!! Captain did walk the plank and all I can say after that is WOW!! We are so grateful we were able to be a part of it!!

     

    Okay. So those are the two things that made this cruise so unique. Now onto the positives and negatives. Let's go with the negatives first.

     

    Elevators. Yes folks the elevators really are that bad! My office building uses this technology so I am sure It could work if programmed correctly. Often had to wait at least 10 minutes for an elevator. Did a lot of walking on this ship!

     

    Liquid Lounge. There are very few seats with an unobstructed view in this theater. You need to get to show 20-30 minutes early to secure good seats. Lower level has the better views.

     

    Grand Atrium. Or Lack of it I should say. While the new video screens are nice to look at and make for some nice pictures I just could not get used to not having the atrium that goes to the top of the ship with the glass elevators. I really missed it.

     

    Chocolate Chip Cookies. Maybe it is just me but I used to LOVE the chocolate chip cookies that were in the lido buffet every day (The ones in the bowl next to the cakes at the sweet spot). They are gone now:eek:. They are truly going to be missed. They do have chocolate cookies at the deli but I don't really like those too much.

     

    That is it for the negatives. Now on to the positives :)

     

    Gelato. They now serve Gelato every day in the lido deck with a wide variety of toppings you can add to it. There are two different flavors each day! This certainly softened the blow of loosing the cookies!

     

    Playlist Production Shows. The shows of this ship were all very well done! All the shows had the usual 8-10 singers dancers but they also incorporated live music into most of them that really made them feel less cheesy. for example they used the Latin band for the Latin show, They used the horn section and another band for the Vintage Pop show. and they used the electric strings trio for the Celestial Strings Show. Nothing like the full production shows of many years past but these are actually very good and better that some of the other playlist shows we have seen on other ships.

     

    Scheduling. On past cruises we always missed shows because of the way they were scheduled. Some during dinner, some too late at night (my wife and son are early sleepers). On this cruise we saw...wait for it... 16 different comedy shows and every single production show/other show. what they did was added a 5:30PM Comedy show which we were able to watch each night before dinner. then after dinner a 7:30PM show in the main theatre. then adult comedy at 8:30PM. each comedian had 2 separate PG shows that were repeated twice and two R rated shows that were repeated so 4 total comedians doing 4 shows each.By 9:00PM every night we had done all the shows and I was able to do other things (Casino, Walk around, Listen to music)

     

    Lido Buffet. Much better layout with no lines (except for the usual lines for Pizza, Deli, Omelets). Speaking of the Deli I thought I had read that the sandwiches were pre-made now but it appeared to me that they were making all the sandwiches to order. The Know the wraps were made from scratch since I was able to see them making them. I Still waited 25 minutes for a Grilled Reuben!

     

    Guy's Pig and Anchor Brewhouse. We had to give this a try since this is the only ship that has it. We went for dinner one night and it was arguably the best meal we had the entire cruise! Well worth the small upcharge! it was also nice to try some of the craft beers that were brewed onboard.

     

    Cabin TV's The cabin TV's have a whole new interface. when you turn the TV on there is a greeting to everyone in the cabin. The part I loved the best were the four Ship cams that you could watch (Forward Aft, Port, Starboard). They were crystal clear. You could pick one and set it full screen on your TV Which by the way is large. These TV's are largest we have seen on a cruise ship. I would guess 42" screen. These ship cam channels would be awesome for someone in an inside cabin so that they could always see what is going on outside and even use it to wake up in the morning!

     

    Dr. Seuss Waterpark. Very nicely done with plenty of slides/play areas.

     

    Ship never felt overly crowded considering the size and number of people. Crowds were very similar to the Magic cruise we went on last year.

     

    Neither a positive or a negative I will say that Horizon was beautiful and well layed-out. the décor is definitely subdued by Carnival standards however I really do miss the Joe Farcus designs on the older ships. I would always feel like I escaped into some sort of fantasy land each cruise whereas now I feel like I am on a floating resort.

     

    Everything else on this cruise was similar to other ships we have been on. for example telling you that Guy's burgers are great is the equivalent of telling you the sky is blue. Chair Hogs have been around since the beginning of time and the pools will never quite be large enough (However the main lido pool was nearly 6 feet deep which I don't recall any of the other ships having the pool that deep.)

     

    I Did not do MUTS but the resolution on the outdoor screen looks nicer than other ships.

     

    We did not do the IMAX/Thrill Theater or the Skyride. A couple we met who did the skyride said it was a little tougher than they thought it would be.

     

    That is it for now. Still can't believe I was on the ship on 7 hours ago. Now for the count-down to the next one!!:cool:

     

    Feel free to ask any questions!

     

    Kenny

    Thanks for the review! How was the casino?

     

    Sent from my 2PQ93 using Forums mobile app

    Transport Question-Recent Magic Cruisers!

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I was on the Magic Sept. 16, and I did self disembark. We were off the ship by 8:00 a.m. My flight was at noon, and although I had my sister take me to Orlando airport, I still had plenty of time to get breakfast and was at the gate an hour before I needed to be. There are plenty of shuttle options, and most will book just one way.

    New S&S procedures

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I was on the Magic the end of Sept. out of Port Canaveral, and we received our S&S cards upon check in. We were able to proceed to guest services immediately upon boarding, and load our gift cards onto our account. If they start putting your S&S cards in the mailboxes, will you have to wait until 1:30 to retrieve them? I would think that would really cause a lot more congestion at the guest services desk later in the day.

    Hurricane irma....ugh

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Cruise lines would go out of business if people didn't cruise all year round and who wants to swim or snorkel in January? If you're not booked on a cruise that could be impacted by IRMA, why are you interested in our discussion? It obviously doesn't apply to you.

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    And what about flights being cancelled because of blizzards if you do decide to travel in winter? I agree, if you're not affected by this hurricane then keep your snarky comments to yourself.

     

    Sent from my 2PQ93 using Forums mobile app

    It's hurricane season!

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Here we go again. According to NOAA, Tropical Storm Irma is making its way west and has a 90% chance of turning into a category 4/5 hurricane in the next day or two. It's about 3,000 miles from Miami, and they're not sure if and when it will make landfall here in the states. Keeping my fingers crossed as I sail on the Magic in two weeks.

    It's hurricane season!

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Saw on the news that this year will be one of the most active hurricane seasons in seven years. Curious as to see how many of you have been impacted in the past. I, myself, was supposed to sail out of New Orleans back when Katrina hit. Not only did they get decimated, but most of the ports we were supposed to visit as well. Spent our vacation watching this unfold on TV. Although it was disappointing not to be able to go, it was horrible to see the pain and destruction this storm had on so many others. For those of you sailing this season, I wish you a safe and uneventful cruise. Keeping my fingers crossed as well, as I will be on the Magic Sept. 16th.

    Cabin selection

    in Ask a Cruise Question

    Posted

    I saw a post about a website that you can go on that shows what is above and below your cabin, but I can't seem to find it. Thinking of getting a cove balcony on the Horizon, but I don't want a cabin with a view of the lifeboats. Can anyone help me out with the link I need? Thanks so much!

    Boarding pass / check in question

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Hi, I printed out my boarding passes about a month ago before I chose a check in time for embarkation out of Port Canaveral. Do I have to print them again, or will it show up when they scan the bar code? I'm not sure whether the actual printed time needs to show up on my paperwork or not. Thanks for any help you can give me.

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