Horizon 7/3 review, a year in the making...

[jimbo5544]

After dinner, the kid wanted a little evening swimming so we headed up for that. They went off to bed and we headed down to catch the last comedy show before turning in for the night.

 

[jimbo5544]

[jimbo5544]

Next up......San Juan, cocktails with the captain, and Italian dinner for 34.....

[reno3]

Thanks for the kind words, I have not seen you around in a while.

I haven't posted in awhile....Now that we are cruising on the Horizon I have been watching the posts and saw yours :D

[nybumpkin]

Here is the end result.....

 

 

What a great memory. Our first formal background was theTitanic staricase.

[BlerkOne]

Sadly no, he left after the first 4 day to Bermuda. He had been on for eight months (Pride and Horizon) and on much needed r&r. Pretty sure I am not betraying a confidence, but he went over to Moscow for the World Cup. I believe that he will be going back tot he Pride sometime in the fall.

 

 

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Ken posted a number of pictures from the World Cup. I was thinking sometime in August he would head for Pride, but maybe not.

[SenatorsFan]

That's an adorable picture of you two with your grandchildren; what a nice looking group. :)

Congratulations too on being retired; I'm sure you will enjoy having more time to relax and cruise.

Heather

[Silent Penguin]

Here is the end result.....

 

 

 

Priceless. I love the "CHEESE" smile on your granddaughter to the left.

[BoDidly]

 

 

 

Absolutely beautiful , you can actually see the family resemblance . I see a proud family .

[jimbo5544]

I haven't posted in awhile....Now that we are cruising on the Horizon I have been watching the posts and saw yours :D

 

 

 

Ask away if you have any questions, thanks for following along.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Ken posted a number of pictures from the World Cup. I was thinking sometime in August he would head for Pride, but maybe not.

 

 

 

I am not positive, but when we talked to him in April, I think he said he was coming back in the fall. I read into that September, but it may be all me. He was over in Moscow for a good while at the World Cup.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

 

 

 

Absolutely beautiful , you can actually see the family resemblance . I see a proud family .

 

Thanks Bo!

[jimbo5544]

OK, I lied...well not really lied, but need to correct myself. The port day was in fact not San Juan, but instead Grand Turk. It was an early day here, docking they said at 7 but when we walked out the slider at 6:35, we were already docked (or at the least I could not feel the thrusters) and our neighbors had coffee and were talking looking in on the tiny island.

My the time we showered and headed upstairs, they had announced an all clear, and people were heading off. This was the 4th trip in a row to GT out of our last 4 cruises and the weather had been iffy the last two times and proved to be the same for this trip. One of our daughters had gotten a cabana (for the young ones) so she had gotten off early. Back on te ship time was 2:30, which all in all must have cut into the bar tabs around the pool, but they set the schedule..... We chose seats and had the cabana over by the flowrider. We had thought we would walk down to Jack's Shack for a drink but the grand kids kept me busy n the pool and even on the beach and it just never came to be. My liver thanked me afterwards.

[jimbo5544]

Here are some pics from GT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

and some more....

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

Chris had made mention during his announcement that the lines at 2:30 would be long and suggesting many head back at lunch time, which I thought was interesting. As it turned out what we saw when on the island was a very staggered debark and embark. Fairly atypical from our past experience.

For what it is worth, we headed back on at a little before one, got something to eat and then the kids went down for a nap and we headed back to Havana.

[Hogladyrider]

It doesn't look over crowded on GT. How many ships were in port during your visit.

 

We find when there is more than one ship in port GT is way too crowded.

On our Vista cruise in March a HAL ship docked same time frame as us talk about lots of people on GT. We opted to stay on the ship as we had just been in GT in January.

 

Ports are definitely more fun with fewer ships!

Susan

[jimbo5544]

It doesn't look over crowded on GT. How many ships were in port during your visit.

 

 

 

We find when there is more than one ship in port GT is way too crowded.

 

On our Vista cruise in March a HAL ship docked same time frame as us talk about lots of people on GT. We opted to stay on the ship as we had just been in GT in January.

 

 

 

Ports are definitely more fun with fewer ships!

 

Susan

 

 

 

We were by ourself there and in Amber Cove. There was a royal ship in San Juan (could not read the name across the harbor), but think it was the one leaving that night (as in she is home ported there), so we were lucky in that regard.

 

 

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[sb4ever]

There are 4 courses, the only one you have a choice in is the main course. I thought it was kind of pricey and ended up costing about what the Steakhouse cost us (for two). Here are some pics from the night....

 

Would you do it again? We currently have a reservation for our sailing in two weeks, but we are on the fence. If it is similar to the one we could go to in town, we would rather opt for the steakhouse.

[jimbo5544]

Would you do it again? We currently have a reservation for our sailing in two weeks, but we are on the fence. If it is similar to the one we could go to in town, we would rather opt for the steakhouse.

 

 

 

Probably not, we enjoyed it and glad we did it. That said, it was much like similar land based and we thought it pricey. There was also a small issue with two of my kids. They were staying in family harbor suites and were told they got free kids in for pay restaurants other than the steakhouse. Teppanyaki was not included either. When we tried to take them off the reservation (it was the same day) they said they would charge them anyway. I even tried pulling some strings at GS but they would not budge.

 

 

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[BENHANDEL]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post so many specific details on your trip experience. We are sailing The Horizon over Christmas. It is our second Cruise ever (first was Disney) and first time on Carnival. I have seen so many negative reviews that I have been starting to worry about our trip. We will be staying in the family Harbor Suites and cannot wait to learn more about your kids perceptions of that area. My kids are tweens and teens.

 

Your family is adorable. What a gift that you are able to travel with them and have these kinds of experiences! Thank you for sharing.

[jimbo5544]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post so many specific details on your trip experience. We are sailing The Horizon over Christmas. It is our second Cruise ever (first was Disney) and first time on Carnival. I have seen so many negative reviews that I have been starting to worry about our trip. We will be staying in the family Harbor Suites and cannot wait to learn more about your kids perceptions of that area. My kids are tweens and teens.

 

 

 

Your family is adorable. What a gift that you are able to travel with them and have these kinds of experiences! Thank you for sharing.

 

 

 

Thank you for the kind words. Traveling with our families is a joy that does not happen as much as we would like, thy grow so fast. Much more to come on the family harbor area.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

So we returned to the ship a bit before one and there already was a fair size line to get back on that went fairly quickly. After dropping stuff off we went up to Lido, Grabbed a quick bite and and ate outside on aft floor 10 around the Tides bar and pool.

Then we went down to Havana area and went out to the pool and caught up with our new and old friends there.

[BENHANDEL]

Still following and keep thinking of questions...We will be in a family suite next December and it is our first time on CC. Wondering if you could answer a couple questions:

 

-I have read some A/C concerns. Did anyone in your group have an issue with that?

 

-Smokiness...anyone in your group sensitive to smoke? If so. How did they find the ship to be in this regard?

 

 

-Can you give any info on the growler at the pub? Price? Refillable? Good value?

 

Thanks for any insights!

[jimbo5544]

Still following and keep thinking of questions...We will be in a family suite next December and it is our first time on CC. Wondering if you could answer a couple questions:

 

-I have read some A/C concerns. Did anyone in your group have an issue with that?

 

-Smokiness...anyone in your group sensitive to smoke? If so. How did they find the ship to be in this regard?

 

 

-Can you give any info on the growler at the pub? Price? Refillable? Good value?

 

Thanks for any insights!

 

I bring a little digital thermostat wit me when we cruise (OK, so I am a bit anal on certain things). The Vista and Horizon are unique, at lease in terms of Carnival ships when it comes to A/C. They have individual A/C units in each room (that support an all over ship system). These take the place of one of the closets in the entryway. The coldest I recorded on either ship was our first balcony room on the Vista that got down to 64.1 degrees. All the others got it to around 69.

Smoking - the casino def had a smoke smell and the only other place I noticed it was starboard side deck 11 (outside Camp Ocean. By far not the worst Carnival ship in that regard.

I cannot give you any price on the growlers, sorry. We did get a yard of beer one night with some apps in Pig and Anchor, but I did not buy so cannot help you there either. They were making beer during our cruise and the brew master (sure there a real title but it escapes me) was the same one we had on the Vista. Hope all this helps.