pirate4me2

Oh, and meet my new friend and my favorite towel animal each cruise. Ruffy is his name.

This afternoon has been a whole lotta nothing! We sat on the “patio” and read, then moved into the room when it got hot. Around 2:30 mom had a freak out moment….she wanted to go get a Diet Pepsi, and her sail & sign was NOWHERE to be found! I went around retracing our steps from the morning (Tides Bar, Ocean Plaza Bar, deli, Blue Iguana)…nothing! Called Guest Services to see if it got turned in there…nope. Finally, after tearing apart the stateroom for the second time, we found it under her bed. How the heck did it get there? To celebrate finding it, and calm my frazzled nerves, we went and got drinks at the atrium bar. I got a chocolatini (yum, dessert in a glass!) and then a Bluemoon martini (again, yum!). We sat and people watched for a bit.

Haha that’s what I do!! “Hey, how’s your cruise going?” Welcome aboard!!

Lunch from the deli: tomato & mozzarella, add bacon. Delicious! All wraps & sandwiches were being made fresh to order.

There is a divider with slats, then this little “fence” toward the walkway. Honestly tho, I’ve only seen 1-2 couples using their patios so far, I’m suprised…I guess more people are out in the pool area maybe. It is a more social vibe tho, at least feel, in this area. I personally don’t mind chatting with people as they go by!

Some people were sitting at the bar, or there are 5-6 tables there that they would sit at. It wasn’t crowded at all tho, and the barista (I gotta get her name tomorrow) was super chatty and nice! People were constantly walking by too, so you might get some good people watching!

Not many pics so far today, I ditched my phone (on purpose) to relax some. I got up at 7:50 and went to get go-go juice (aka coffee). Christian at Java Blue had a LINE, but Ocean Plaza bar only had 1 person ahead of me. I hated to “cheat” on Christian, butttttt…patience isn’t my strong point. And honestly…my iced caramel latte from Ocean Plaza was stronger and yummier than Christian’s. Uh oh, I may have a new go-to spot in the morning…. I went back to the cabin to collect Mom, and we decided on Blue Iguana for breakfast. Nomnomnom!! At 9:00 they are not terribly busy, and it was delicious. On the way back to the cabin I got an espressotini from the Ocean Plaza bar, which was delicious, then went to the casino to load & play my $25 FunPlay. I lost it quick, oh well. We headed to change and have some balcony & Havana area time after that. Manuel at the Havana Bar is my new BFF, his La Buena Vida and Hotel Nacionel (that’s not spelled correctly, but gives you the idea of the name) were both strong and delicious. We got in the pool & hot tub for a bit, then decided to come back to the cabin to chill in the a/c for a while. It’s HOT with no breeze and the calmest sea I’ve seen in a while! So far tho it’s a WONDERFUL, relaxing day! oh yeah! And a tip if you have a mini fridge in your cabin….to help it get more air circulation and stay a bit cooler (ours was hardly cool to begin with)…prop the cabinet door open with a boca clip. 🙂

Welcome onboard! You’re in for a treat, I love Horizon and the Havana experience!

Alright, Barbie was kinda dumb (in my opinion) but made me laugh. It was a good relaxing “first day of the cruise” activity. After that, so about 8:45ish, mom and I came back and changed into our swim wear and hopped in the empty Havana pool. It felt glorious! I swam some laps, then we hopped into a hot tub for about 15-20 minutes. Perfect ending to the day!

It was delicious!! I’ve had it twice now and loved it.

Finally checking something off my to-do list: watching Barbie. 😂 I couldn’t get Chris to watch it in December, so I conned mom into coming to the Dive In Movies with me.

Found a duck!

Mom and I hung out in Havana area until sailaway just reading and chilling. When we reached open waters, we headed to Alchemy to enjoy some pre dinner drinks. Zoltan worked his magic and mixed mom up a “something fruity and disguising the alcohol taste” and mixed me up an almond joy, then a thyme, coconut & cucumber drink. Yum! Right at 5:30 we checked in for dinner. In less than 5 minutes we had a table, 717, which was right by the window. Score! Nino and his team took EXCELLENT care of us. All food arrived piping hot, except the salad of course. The salad was great, crawfish strudel yummy, and bbq salmon delicious!

I will try to remember to! 🙂 He worked on MG November 2022, that was when I first met him.

At 1:08 we went back to our cabin, 5239, to unpack. We are now settled in to our home for the week!

It has been!!

Once onboard, we dropped our bags off in the room, went to our muster station (aft dining room level 3, took a painless 2 minutes) and then I went for my first drink of the cruise: a blackberry bourbon fizz from Pig & Anchor. Ahh, vacation has started!! We sat at the bar for probably an hour chatting with the servers and each other, then moved on to get some lunch. We decided to go get sammiches from the deli and bring them back to the Havana lounge to eat. When we exited the elevator on Lido deck, I told mom “wait, right quick let’s go outside to the Tides bar.” She was like “Why? Are you already thirsty AGAIN?” but I just kept walking. Dont ask questions or judge me mom, just follow! I got reasons! She understood when I walked up to the bar and said “Zoltan!” and a familiar face smiled and said “welcome back!” I introduced him to mom and ordered a bottled water and a Cruiser. He told me he would see me at Alchemy later, and then Mom and I went to get our lunch. I opted for a Southwest Chicken wrap (delicious!) and we headed to the Havana lounge to eat and chill.

The beds at Intercontinental Doral are phenomenal y’all…I slept like a baby, it was sooo comfortable! The location, comfy beds, and cleanliness make it a hotel I am saving for future reference! The only negative experience we had was the neighbor next door to us apparently had too much to drink last night and was banging and rattling on our door trying to get in at 11:00 at night, but after pounding back on the door telling them “someone’s in here! Wrong room!” they stopped. We had breakfast (included in our stay) at 9, and it was great for a hotel breakfast…spinach & cheese mini empanadas, eggs, bacon, potatoes, cottage cheese, fruit, pastries, assorted cereals, smoked salmon, cheese and other options. The coffee was good & strong too. Our pre-arranged Uber arrived at 10:25 (5 minutes early, I like it!) and we were at PortMiami terminal D at 10:45. From here things were a whirlwind…we never quit moving from the time we got into the “cattle line ropes” where they check your arrival appointment to the time we got onboard…there was NO WAIT at all in the terminal for any step of the process! When we got off the escalator at the upper level where you normally sit & wait the room was empty! We walked to the escalator, onto the gangway, and stepped onto Horizon at 10:57. Easy peasy!

Your wishes for smooth boarding came true…this was the quickest and easiest Carnival boarding I’ve had in 26 cruises with them!! I make my own raw food for my cats & dogs 100%. Started after a former dog was diagnosed with cancer and her oncologist vet said to get her off all “commercial crap” he provided a list of foods (veggies, fruits, meats) that they can and cannot have. The social site I cannot name has a WONDERFUL group called Raw Feeding Advice and Support (PMR) and they were a great resource as I was learning! As far as what I think of the raw diet…my current dog poops way less than on a commercial diet, her coat is so much softer and shinier than it was, her energy level increased, and she was overweight but trimmed up so nicely! The cost honestly isn’t much more than buying a good quality commercial food, and when pet food recalls happen I’m not panicking…she eats food I would be eating myself!

Thank you!!!

Welcome aboard! 3 weeks on the Horizon, I’m so jealous!! We are from Hendersonville.

F

After dropping our junk off, mom and I decided to hike to the Fatty Crab for dinner. It was a quarter mile from the hotel, and stretching our legs was much needed! I got a hurricane to drink, which was delicious, and the calamari basket with shrimp added. The calamari were perfectly cooked, as well as the shrimp. Mom got the chicken & shrimp pasta, and said the pasta was perfectly done, chicken tender and flavorful, and shrimp good. Whoo hoo, dinner was a success! While at dinner, I went ahead and arranged for our Uber tomorrow morning, just in case it’s crazy or prices skyrocket. I arranged for a 9:30 pickup, since our check in time is 10-10:30. Looks like it’s $37.96, so $12.96 out of pocket after the credit from the hotel. After dinner I checked and saw there was a Walmart about a half mile away, and I needed to get something for my lingering cough from my pneumonia I had a few weeks ago. We hiked there and ended up buying a bunch of stuff we don’t need (2 new natural deodorants to try, a cute nightgown with anchors on it, gum, jolly ranchers, razors, mouthwash) and finally left around 7. It was dark out, but I still felt safe walking back to the hotel, and we commented again to each other how handy this location is! I will be booking it again for next May when mom and I cruise World America.

Made it to our hotel at 5:05. Check in was super quick and easy and staff is friendly. Our stay & cruise package allows us to leave the car here for the duration of the cruise, a $25 Uber credit to get us to the port, and breakfast in the morning. The hotel is super clean and seems to be in a good part of town. I absolutely will stay here again in the future!

Jacksonville, FL. It’s the Hart Bridge