Carnival Horizon Review - March 9th Sailing - Southern Caribbean

[Cant wait until March]

I will start by saying that we don't get to cruise a lot.  This was my wives 3rd and my 2nd.  We are both in our late 40's and are relatively active and healthy people.  

 

Anything I write here is purely my own observation and feeling.  I will not intentionally try to upset anyone or insult anyone.

 

As far as photos go, I will see if I can get them to upload, I shoot with a Nikon D300 with an assortment of lenses and I also use an Olympus Tough TG-5 point and shoot that comes in handy under water.

 

We chose the Horizon for this vacation for a few reasons, it fit into out time schedule, we have never been to these ports before, and it was supposed to be a big new ship that offered everything you could want.

 

Vacation Day 1 (March 😎

 

We had an early flight (7:40 AM) from Toronto to Miami. We spent the previous night at The Crowne Plaza Airport in Toronto.  It's about 2 hours from our home and they transfer you to and from the airport and you can leave your car in a secured parking lot while you are gone. The airport was very busy as it was the first day of our spring break and everyone is trying to escape the cold even if its just for a short while.  We got checked in and went to our gate.  The flight was a little rough due to turbulence but we got into Miami a little early.

 

We had booked one night in Miami at the Red Roof Plus+ Miami Airport.  It was an inexpensive place we found online that would pick us up at the airport and take us to the cruise port the next morning.  We arrived there a little early and our room wasn't ready yet so we just sat in the lobby for about 20 minutes until they were ready for us.  The staff was very nice, the room was clean, and basically all we were doing there was sleeping and having breakfast.  The 8th was my birthday so my wife wanted to take me to the Miami Heat game vs the Cavs.

 

We got in a taxi when we were ready to go downtown and we were there in about 20 minutes. American Airlines Arena is beautiful.

 

We walked up to the ticket window and were able to get 2 lower bowl tickets 20 rows off the floor for $102 a piece.  This is about a third of the price we pay in Toronto for a Raptors game so it was a nice surprise.  We had a few hours to look around downtown Miami and get something to eat before the game.  A lady that worked at the arena told us about a place called Bayside so we headed there.

Bayside was very nice. There were a number of restaurants and stores, so we wandered around for an hour or so and took in the sights.  There was a father and son in one of the open areas with a number of parrots and for a small fee ($15) they would pose you with them and take your pictures with them.  

 

Then we went to The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for dinner.  We don't have this restaurant in Canada. It was a great atmosphere with energetic young servers and the food was quite good.

I had a really good gumbo for a starter, an assortment of fried shrimp with fries for a main and a desert sampler to finish things off.

After dinner we were off to the Heat Game. It was a good game ( the Heat won), good atmosphere, good crowd. We had a great time.  After the game we got a cab back to our hotel and crashed for the night after a very long day.  Tomorrow we get on the Horizon.

[xostacylee]

Can't wait to read the rest of the review! On desktop it's showing up like the font is black on a highlighted blue background which is difficult to read. Could you possibly change that? I want to read the whole thing! haha

[Aplmac]

1 hour ago, xostacylee said:

 On desktop it's showing up like the font is black

on a highlighted blue background which is difficult to read.

Could you possibly change that? I want to read the whole thing! haha

.

Agreed.

I noticed that right away. Needs to be changed.

 

Maybe this was what you were trying for?

Great photos tho! very sharp.

[BoDidly]

Did that bird bite the top of your head ?  Got a good one going on here.   For me it's time to buy a really good camera . Looking at Jimbos , Aplmac and your photos made my S8 phone photos look shabby .  

[Cant wait until March]

2 hours ago, xostacylee said:

Can't wait to read the rest of the review! On desktop it's showing up like the font is black on a highlighted blue background which is difficult to read. Could you possibly change that? I want to read the whole thing! haha

When I'm typing it just shows up as black words on a white background.  I will try to change it.

[Cant wait until March]

58 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

Did that bird bite the top of your head ?  Got a good one going on here.   For me it's time to buy a really good camera . Looking at Jimbos , Aplmac and your photos made my S8 phone photos look shabby .  

 

It didn't bite me.  the owner just kept telling it to do different things.  They were very well behaved.

[Cant wait until March]

Vacation Day 2 March 9, Embarkation Day

 

We were originally supposed to check in at the port between 12:00 and 12:30 but the only transfer we could fit on was at 10:00 AM.  We got off of our transfer bus and a porter met us and took our luggage.  We walk over to the door and there were 2 lines.  One was for appointment times and the other one said early/late arrivals.  We went in that line thinking we were going to wait for a couple hours but we went straight through security, sent to a lady to check us in, and instead of going to a zone room they took our zone card and just sent us onto the ship.  It took about 20 minutes.

 

We had plenty of time to look around the ship and get something to eat on the lido deck.  My first impression of the ship is "wow this is a big ship".  Everything was clean, the ships crew were busy but friendly, and there were already a lot of people on board.  They all seemed to be either at the buffet or around the lido deck pool. 

 

We got into our room (6391) about 1:30 and most of our luggage was there waiting for us already.  All except 1 bag and it came about an hour later.  We were able to get unpacked and everything put away before muster.  The room seemed to be your typical balcony room but there really isn't a lot of closet space.  Everything was clean and comfortable.  Our room steward, I Gede, was very nice and very good at his job.  He came and introduced himself the first day and asked if we wanted twice a day cleaning or once a day.  We told him once a day would be fine and he was always attentive and the room was always clean.  He remembered our names every time he saw us and was always polite and asked how we were. 

Muster was at 3:30 and it was a process.  Everyone had to go to their muster station and check in with their sail and sign card so they knew you were in attendance.  They announced about 10 names of people who didn't show up on time over and over again.  Eventually they gave up on those folks and went on with the presentation which took about a half hour. Then we were ready to sail.

 

 There were a couple of other ships in port with us, I think one was a Norwegian Ship and the other was Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas.

Schwartz was our cruise director and he wanted everyone at the sail away party to be as loud as possible so the other ship would be jealous that they were not on the Horizon.

 

Schwartz was a very capable young man.  He was visible around the ship day and night and present at seemingly every event we went to.  I'm not sure when he slept.

 

This is the start of the sail away party. It was pretty loud and I'm sure the Symphony of the Seas could hear us when we left. 

We were under way and My wife and I could feel the stress of the last few days start to drain away.  It's funny how some sunshine, warm sea air, and a cruise ship does for the soul.

We continued to explore the ship and find our way around.  I have read a number of peoples complaints about the elevators on the Horizon.  I see what they mean. I don't think these new elevators are more efficient by any means.  Many times it seems like you are waiting long enough that you just get annoyed and take the stairs.  Beyond that its not too hard to find your way around the ship. Its décor is fairly modern and you can tell they are trying to maximize the space to fit as many cabins as possible.  I found the lobby to be a little small considering there are a great deal of activities there throughout the week.  It was always crowded for those things and you couldn't see what was going on if you didn't get there early.

That was one thing about this ship the whole time we were on board.  It was crowded.  You had to choose what shows and activities you want to see well in advance because there were line-ups for everything.  In my opinion the Liquid Lounge was too small for a ship with this many passengers and the comedy shows were all in the Limelight Lounge and we didn't get to any of them because there were always too many people lined up to get into the show about a half hour before the show started.  Carnival is trying to maximize profits by adding cabins and taking away from common areas.

We chose "your time dining" as it seems to work better for us than a set time.  The last time we were on the Legend with your time dining you just walked up to the maître d and they would get you a table.  On the Horizon you had to go to deck 5 aft and check in at a desk.  Give them you room number and how many people were dining and they would give you a ticket with a table number on it.  You then take that ticket to the dining room on deck 3 aft and they would seat you. 

 

On a side note the dress code was a little lax to say the least.  We saw a great number of people in the dining room with ball caps, shorts, bathing suits, and tank tops every night. even the 2 formal nights.  Part of the fun of cruising for me is dressing for dinner.  We both work full time and don't really take the time that often to get dressed up and go out for dinner, so on a cruise its nice to take a little extra time and look our best for each other.  It would also be refreshing if people would look after their children and possibly teach them some manners.  We saw a great deal of kids running around the dining room and crawling under the tables while their parents just sat there and said nothing. It's disappointing.

 

The first night I ordered a simple dinner. I started with a shrimp cocktail.

My main was a pork chop with baked apple slices and mashed potatoes.

and for desert I ordered an assortment of cheeses and they knew it was my birthday the day before so they also brought me some cake and sang happy birthday.

All in all dinner was good but I was very surprised to see all the up charges in the MDR menu.  Is Carnival going broke or are they just trying to squeeze every last dime out of their customers?

 

After dinner we wandered around some more, watched a few musicians, tried our luck at the casino, and then went to bed.  

 

Tomorrow is our first full day at sea.

[Aplmac]

1 hour ago, Cant wait until March said:

When I'm typing

it just shows up as black words on a white background.  ===> Strange!

I will try to change it.

.

If it helps any..

this is what we were seeing out here! Glad you fixed it!

.

[Cant wait until March]

20 hours ago, Aplmac said:

.

If it helps any..

this is what we were seeing out here! Glad you fixed it!

.

Thanks.  I think I fixed it in the next segment.  It shows as black letters on a white background on my desktop.

[Cant wait until March]

Vacation Day 3 - March 10 - Sea Day

 

I am a bit of an early riser so I was up before my wife and went to look around the ship.  It was pretty quiet so I walk around and took a few pics of the ship without anyone in the way.

This was about the quietest I saw this pool all week.

I was outside just a little to late to see the sun come up.

The Lido Marketplace was just getting food out and some people were trickling in for breakfast.  For the most part I thought the food was pretty good on the Lido deck.  Lots of choices and the sandwich station seemed to be a hit with people all week.  The only thing I did notice was a lack of fruit other that melon, apples, and bananas.  I didn't see any berries, peaches, or pears.  Everything was always fresh and there was more than enough food out and there was no waiting to get something. 

 

I had a little time to sit in the lobby and watch the electronic funnel in the center of the bar change.  It really is kind of cool.  It changes constantly and the two pillars, one at each end of the lobby, change colour to match the funnel as do the circles in the ceiling.  There are two of these on the ship.  1 in the lobby and 1 in the casino.

I figured I had killed enough time so I went back to our cabin to see if my wife was up and ready to eat something.  There was a sea day brunch in the meridian dining room.  There was a good selection on the menu, something for everyone.

My wife had the French toast and some bacon.

I had an omelette and a side of bacon.  Both dishes were good and the service was first rate.

 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the ship.  It got busier and busier around the pools and deck chairs but it wasn't terrible.  If we wanted to have time by ourselves we could always use our balcony or a nice quiet spot outside was on deck 5 on either side of the ship.  Never crowded and comfortable seating areas.

We lounged around a bit, went to the casino and got a bit of good luck out of a couple of penny slots, and then went to watch the sunset.

After that we got cleaned up for dinner and had dinner in the MDR again tonight.

I started with a shrimp cocktail and a spinach salad.

My main was grilled salmon with mashed and broccoli.

And my desert was this chocolate concoction that was really quite good.

 

The food was good again tonight but the portions are getting smaller and smaller and leave you hungry.  After dinner we went to the Liquid Lounge to watch the show. It was called Soulbound and it was really good.  The singers were very good and the dancing was excellent.

After the show was over Schwartz hosted the Motown Showdown in the lobby.  It was very busy but a lot of fun. The DJ played small portions of Motown songs and you had to write down song and artist.  Everyone was singing along and Schwartz danced around the bar.  Oddly a very good dancer.

That is Schwartz on the bar and I don't remember his name but the gentleman in the white tux with the red shirt was a highlight.  He knew all the songs and was an awesome dancer.  It was a definite good time, very interactive, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  After that was over we took a short walk around the ship and then went and got ready for bed.  

 

Grand Turk was our first port and it was tomorrow.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Cant wait until March

[dacsmom]

I love your review so far, thank you for all the wonderful pictures

[JAXCRUISER]

Enjoying your review!  Thanks!

[declansdad]

Enjoying your review so far, looking forward to the next installment. Curious about your comment about the number of upcharges in the MDR; you have been able to order certain items from the steakhouse for awhile now, are these the charges you are talking about?

 

Also don't forget if you are still hungry you can always order a second entree.

 

 

[Still Dreaming]

Thanks for taking the time to review!!

[willdra]

So far, so good! Your pictures are stunning! 😁

[Jenjer]

Thank You so much, looking forward to more

[Cant wait until March]

Vacation Day 3 - March 10 - Sea Day  Continuation

 

Something I don't think I mentioned yet is that we decided we needed this vacation to unwind and get away from everything.  We have had a very stressful year with work and family stuff that we just wanted to disappear for a time.  That being said we left our cell phones and iPads at home and couldn't be reached for 11 day by anyone.  It was very liberating.

 

One thing we decided to do on the first sea day was to go outside our comfort zone and get a couples massage at the ships spa.  It was pretty easy to get an appointment and the girl at the front desk was very helpful and informative.  We made an appointment for that afternoon and returned when it was time.  We had decided on the hot stone massage and it was 75 minutes long for $169.00 each.  A little expensive but we are on vacation so why not.  It was relaxing enough that I fell asleep a couple of times which is very odd for me because for one I'm a terrible sleeper and two, I have horrible anxiety from people touching me.  That being said the massage was very good.  The only thing that made it less relaxing is the 2 ladies doing the massage come back into the room when you are done and dressed, and spend another 20 minutes or so trying to sell you all of the products that they used on you.

 

In my opinion that takes the relaxation out of the whole thing.  Just this man's opinion.

 

Tomorrow - Grand Turk (If I get home from work early enough to sit down and write)

[smurfm69]

We are doing this same itinerary in May.  Enjoying your review and pics!

[Cant wait until March]

Vacation Day 3 - March 11 - Grand Turk

 

We were scheduled to be in Grand Turk form 7 AM - 2 PM.  We docked a little before 7 and the weather was beautiful.  My wife and I hadn't decided on what we wanted to do in Grand Turk in the months before the cruise so we were just going to rent a golf cart and explore the island as it is very small.  This was our plan until the day before when we saw a few excursions advertised on the TV in our cabin that we didn't see on the Carnival website before.  We went to the Carnival Adventures desk in the lobby the night before and signed up for The Underwater Power Scooter, Beach Break, and Lunch excursion.  I think it was around $80 each and we had to meet our tour group outside the port entrance at a numbered booth at 9:30.  This gave us a little time to get off the ship and look around the port and beach before we had to go. You can see that there has been some devastation on the island due to storms.  There were a number of abandoned and boarded up buildings close by but over all it is a very beautiful little island and the people were extremely friendly.

 

We got off the ship and went to the left out of the port and walked down the beach towards a ship wreck.  There were quite a few local people selling beach chairs, umbrellas and horseback rides, etc....  Not pushy or anything you would have to approach them if you wanted anything. There were some stray dogs on the beach that I couldn't wait to pet as the one thing I do miss from home is our dog.

 

We walk about half a mile to look around but didn't want to go too far and miss out meeting time for our tour.  We headed back to the port area and found our meeting spot.  There were roughly 20 people in out group and they led us to an open air mini bus to go to Bajari Beach for the day.   The driver was very nice but didn't say much and if he did we probably wouldn't be able to hear him anyway.  It was about a 15 minute drive and we were set up immediately with our snorkel gear, and lockers to put our belongings.  It did say on the tickets to wear you bathing suit but you probably could change there if you had to.  The tour guide goes through the safety stuff and makes sure everyone has a vest and flippers that fit. He explains what we are doing and where we are going and them he and 2 others get I the boat with you and take you out to deeper water.  Everyone gets in the water and they give you your scooter.  He then guides you to different places on your way back to shore.  The whole process takes about an hour and a half.  It is very organized and once you get onto snorkelling and the scooter it's easy and a lot of fun.  The only thing I would warn you about is don't put too much air in your vest, it's hard to get it out once you are in the water and the waves are washing over you.  If you get too much air I the vest it's a lot harder to dive into deep water.  I got a few pics of fish and coral and a live sand dollar.  I found that the sun coming down through the water made it hard to see the screen on my underwater camera and of course didn't learn until later that I could adjust the screen.  Live and learn I guess.

Once we got back to shore we handed in our equipment and went to enjoy some lunch, something to drink, and the beautiful beach.  We were basically the only people there other than employees so we had the run of the place.  The food didn't look like much but it was very good.  There was jerk chicken, jerk pork, corn, rice and beans, and some mixed veg. 

After we ate and changed out of our wet clothes we looked around a bit and enjoyed the sunshine, sand, and salt water.  Bajari Beach was a beautiful spot and the colour of the water is spectacular.

After enjoying some relaxation on the beach we got our stuff together and went to meet one of the many buses that were constantly going between the port and the beach.  They told us we could get on any one we wanted and that it didn't have to be the same one we came on.  We chose a less crowded one and headed back to the port.

On the way back we took a different route than we came on and there were wild donkeys all over the place.  There were signs that stated to be carful because they would bite.  

We headed back to the port with about an hour to spare before we had to be on the ship.   This gave us enough time to have a quick look around the port to the right hand side of the pier.  The beach was very different there but still beautiful.  there were a lot of passengers that stayed there for the day and snorkelled around the ship.  We spoke to one guy from California that spent the day around there and there was a humpback whale just beyond where the ship was docked.  I wish we had been there to see that but you can't be everywhere.

My wife likes to snap the odd shot of me to prove that I was on the vacation with her as I am usually on the other end of the camera.

And the obligatory selfie of two aging folks in front of a beautiful ocean.

This dock is just to the right hand side of the pier as you leave the ship.  I wonder how many people take this exact same pic?

We got back on the ship and had a bit of a rest as we were having dinner at the steak house this night and didn't want to be late for our reservation.  

 

After our nap we got cleaned up and dressed for dinner.  I was looking forward to this because we had been to the steakhouse on our last cruise and it was quite a good meal.  The steakhouse on the Horizon is quite a bit bigger than the one on the Legend.  It is piano bar adjacent so you can also enjoy the piano player while you dine.  They bring a small starter to tease your pallet and get you interested in what you about to eat.  It was a potato soup in a tiny bowl made out of potato with some cooked parm.  It was very good.

There were three different breads.

I started with the jumbo shrimp cocktail and my wife started with the mushroom risotto.

My main was a 26 oz. rib steak, with baked potato, and a side of mushrooms.  My wife had the surf and turf. Both were prepared and served perfectly.

We both ordered the same desert.  It was this chocolate ball that was about half filled with sort of a malt ball center and some caramel.  They then bring some melted milk chocolate that is still hot and pour it over everything to mix it together.  I'm not a big desert person but this thing was awesome. I tried to post a video of it but it keeps saying this type of file is not supported.  It doesn't look like much when it's finished but it sure tasted good.

After we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner we took a bit of a walk around the ship and then went to the Liquid Lounge to watch a show called Vintage Pop.  Basically it's a show done in the style of the 20's but with todays music. The band was the horn section of one of the ships bands that was usually in the Havana Lounge.  They were very good. 

The show was about 45 - 60 minutes long with non-stop music and costume changes for the dancers and singers. Sometimes it's hard to believe they put this all together on a boat.

Another show that we enjoyed very much.

After the show we looked around the ship and enjoyed some of the other entertainment on board.  We went to the casino for a short time as it was very busy and decided to turn in for the night.

 

Tomorrow is La Romana.

 

 

[Cant wait until March]

On 3/24/2019 at 4:12 PM, declansdad said:

Enjoying your review so far, looking forward to the next installment. Curious about your comment about the number of upcharges in the MDR; you have been able to order certain items from the steakhouse for awhile now, are these the charges you are talking about?

 

Also don't forget if you are still hungry you can always order a second entree.

 

 

Yes these charges are what I meant.  It was the better cuts of meat and most of the seafood each night.  Last time we were on Carnival was 10 years ago and they didn't do this.  There seemed to be a lot of this type of thing throughout the ship this time.  I get that there are costs for Carnival which rise but you don't always have to upload it to the customer base to make more profits and potentially chase away customers in the process. I did order a 2nd entrée a few nights. 

[RTR 21-0]

Loving your review.  Hubs and I are flying out April 5th for this itinerary and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of it - hopefully finished before we leave 😉

 

Agree with you about the lax dress and unruly children in MDR.  We don’t get dressed up to the nines but I do like to see folks put a little effort into their clothing choice when dining.  Sometime watching the kids go undisciplined just leaves me 🤦🏼‍♀️

[Jenjer]

How was the steak house? Are the plates HUGE or the potions pretty small? I mean that looks like a 3 oz filet

[declansdad]

7 minutes ago, Jenjer said:

How was the steak house? Are the plates HUGE or the potions pretty small? I mean that looks like a 3 oz filet

 

This is the menu from Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse.

 

https://www.carnival.com/~/media/Images/explore/dining/menus/fahrenheit-555-menu.pdf

[zencruisers]

Enjoying the pictures and review. Thank you for taking the time to share.

 

[JaniceB]

Enjoying your review.  I think you were cruising during spring break which always tends to bring out more of the unruly children and parents who don't care.  We chose to take our children on a spring break cruise on Holland America one year.  There were lots of generations of families and not as many unruly children.  I think they were behaving for the grandparents or else.  

I am loving your pictures.  I am sailing the end of May and plan on visiting the steakhouse.