Horizon / Live / Solo - Sep 21-29-2019

[mjrcruiser]

Loving your review so far!  We did B2B on the Horizon in May and we absolutely loved it!  We had never been to Aruba or Curacao and they turned out to be our all-time favorites!!  Aruba was just gorgeous!  And in regards to Alchemy, I give a special kudos to Anna Maria!  She will make you anything you desire!  We sailed with her on the Vista and to our surprise she was on the Horizon!  We paid homage to her every night!!  LOL..... Enjoy!! 🙂 

[sid_9169]

Conquest parked right behind us... It's starting to drizzle again... Fo shizzle nizzle...

 

[jbhcw]

Great to see you onboard Sid!!  Enjoy....ship looks beautiful!  

[Eli_6]

Oh, yay! I get to experience this one live. I have a Vista and Panorama coming up so the Horizon will give me a preview.

[sid_9169]

 

 

 

Hopefully the cabins open up soon... I want to get rid of these bags...

 

 

 

 

Also, it just started pouring down rain... Cleared out the entire lido deck...

 

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by sid_9169

[ceilidh1]

29 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Going back in time a bit... When I was in the line about to enter the boarding tunnel, a lady comes up to me and says "are you the guy?"  I said, I guess so. What do you mean? She says " you know. The cruise critic?"... I said, oh, well in that case, I am "the guy"...

You're famous Sid! Like a movie star. Or a rock singer. Or a politician.....

[pinklucky61]

so?? 1st drink is? gonna guess something with tequila!

[ceilidh1]

42 minutes ago, pinklucky61 said:

so?? 1st drink is? gonna guess something with tequila!

That's where my money would be, but sometimes he throws a curveball and orders BEER!

[kpark895]

So far, so great!  All the pics and descriptions I would have expected from you so far, Sid!  Hope the rest of the cruise gets even better.

[sid_9169]

2 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

That's where my money would be, but sometimes he throws a curveball and orders BEER!

 

45 minutes ago, pinklucky61 said:

so?? 1st drink is? gonna guess something with tequila!

After unpacking, I finally had my first drink at the atrium bar... A margarita (surprise!) with Patron Reposado...

 

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, sid_9169 said:

 

After unpacking, I finally had my first drink at the atrium bar... A margarita (surprise!) with Patron Reposado...

 

Yahoo! I was starting to think you had gone teetotal on us!

 

[sid_9169]

Sorry for the delay... After cabins finally opened up at 1:30, I went in and performed my cleaning ritual... ) Yes, I know they just cleaned the room. But it's not "Sid clean") I unpacked, and put everything away. From here on out, it's nothing but vacation! My home for the week...

 

And, everything was carefully stored and organized...

 

I went to inquire about my Chef's Table reservation, and ended up having to go to a couple of different places... They offer a new package now for $60, that includes the steakhouse, Jiji, and Cucina del Capitano... It's a savings of 12% they claim... I guess I could stand to save a little money, seeing what I spent just last night...

 

Anyhoo, my Chef's Table reservation is for the night of La Romana... September 24th

[sid_9169]

I'm standing over near the Alchemy Bar right now, and it looks like they're getting set up for tonight. Little do they know what they're in for... On my last Carnival Cruise on the Magic, it took a couple of days to get them acclimated to going "off the menu" for every single one of my drinks. I think I'm just going to tip the bartender $20 on my first drink, and maybe that'll make things easier for them...

[sid_9169]

I just switched over to the Carnival WiFi. I also missed last call prior to muster drill... I'll do a test photo just to see if it's working...

 

Not nearly as fast as my Verizon data connection has been so far today...

[sid_9169]

Everyone's favorite thing to do on the ship... Mustard drill... In this case, just waiting to get into it...

 

[sid_9169]

[pcrum]

2 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Going back in time a bit... When I was in the line about to enter the boarding tunnel, a lady comes up to me and says "are you the guy?"  I said, I guess so. What do you mean? She says " you know. The cruise critic?"... I said, oh, well in that case, I am "the guy"...

Aww, you are famous!!  That's really fun!!  Years ago I did a trip report of a cruise and included our Thanksgiving day stop at Nacchi Cocum.  The next year we ended up on a Thanksgiving week cruise again and were at Nacchi Cocum again and a man and his teenage son recognized us and said they were there because of my review!  He had googled something like "things to do in Cozumel on Thanksgiving" and my cruise critic review popped up.  Have not done a trip report again for several years, I admire those who take the time, so thank you!!

 

I know you sail NCL a lot so I'm curious of your comparison between Carnival and NCL.  We are platinum on Carnival, but it's been several years since we cruised them.  Our last cruise was a TA on NCL Epic and we loved it.  We liked Howl at the Moon over the normal Carnival piano bar and loved the Broadway production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.  I'd be interested in your comparison of the food and entertainment between the two lines.  Another big thing in NCL's favor was the included beverage package.  We have priced out Carnival cruises, but once we add in the Cheers package, NCL always comes out cheaper.  I will be interested in your take on the comparison between the lines.

 

Enjoy your cruise and thanks again for the trip report!!

[sid_9169]

Muster drill in the liquid lounge...

 

[sid_9169]

Just another side note while I'm sitting here bored... I never understood the people who pile a plate full of food from the buffet, and schlep it all the way back to their cabin. There are hundreds of perfectly good tables to eat at, yet you insist upon trying to navigate elevators and hallways, just so you can probably make a huge mess inside your cabin, that the room steward, who's already busy enough, has to clean up... Wow, that was a long sentence...

[pcrum]

Sorry for the rain; I am in Orlando and no rain for us today.  

 

I'm impressed with how you unpack first thing and put everything away.  Very neat!  Enjoy!!

 

Looks like Carnival is following in NCL's footstep somewhat with the three speciality dining package!  Did the $60 include the gratuity too?  Enjoy Chef's Table.  Last time we did it was 2013 (been awhile since we've been on Carnival), but enjoyed it.  I believe the menu has been updated since then, lol!

 

If we end up back on Carnival, I will have to remember to try "off menu" at Alchemy.  Because of you, I now make my margaritas at home with fresh lime juice; so much bette than a mix!  I have yet to ask for it that way at a bar.  

[sid_9169]

And, don't even get me started on those lanyard people...

[pcrum]

2 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Just another side note while I'm sitting here bored... I never understood the people who pile a plate full of food from the buffet, and schlep it all the way back to their cabin. There are hundreds of perfectly good tables to eat at, yet you insist upon trying to navigate elevators and hallways, just so you can probably make a huge mess inside your cabin, that the room steward, who's already busy enough, has to clean up... Wow, that was a long sentence...

Oh no, I'm guilty of this too!  On our TA on NCL, our room was one floor below the buffet, so many mornings I'd go to the buffet and get a tray (had to ask a server for the tray) and make a plate for myself and my husband to enjoy on our balcony.  I don't think hot breakfasts were available from room service (or if they were, there was a charge), so it was so easy to just walk up one flight of stairs for the food.  Our room was close to the stairs, so it was a pretty easy trip.  

[pcrum]

46 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

 

 

Anyhoo, my Chef's Table reservation is for the night of La Romana... September 24th

Sorry for being a pest, but you do know if you can eat at the same restaurant 3 times?  If so, I'd think eating at the steakhouse would be a deal, as it's normally $35/person.  On NCL, we used our dining package to eat at the French Le Bistro for all of our meals because we enjoyed it so much.

Edited September 21, 2019 by pcrum
deleting unnecessary photos

[sid_9169]

They're calling out the names of people who haven't checked into the muster drill. They called aloud proudly for Fook Wang, and the room erupted into laughter... You can't make this stuff up...

[Saint Greg]

30 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Everyone's favorite thing to do on the ship... Mustard drill... In this case, just waiting to get into it...

 

 

Hopefully you didn't get sandwiched between two rotund strangers like I did on the Dream last December. It's best to hold off and grab an aisle or bar seat after the others have filled up.