Carnival Horizon 8 day Southern Caribbean Cruise Review

[jam19872016]

1 hour ago, Derbie said:

Are the ducks hidden for passengers to find and keep?

 

1 hour ago, Joe817 said:

It's a game people play:

 

https://cruiseradio.net/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cruise-ducks/

 

My mom is a big kid with these ducks! She found her own later in the week and couldn't wait to tell me about it. Such a cute idea. 

[Jamman54]

Great start to your review! We will be on the Horizon to the Southern Caribbean next year so I'm taking notes! 

[ashley1474]

It definitely was rocky, though I actually enjoy the rocking. Now that you mention it though I haven't felt like I was rocking on land like I normally do after I cruise. My mother on the other hand was struggling with the rocking for a little bit. 

[ashley1474]

9 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

 

 

My mom is a big kid with these ducks! She found her own later in the week and couldn't wait to tell me about it. Such a cute idea. 

 

I actually found one too, but I figured I would let someone else enjoy and grab it. Out of 8 cruises this was my first time finding one

[marcia014]

I'm following along, too!  I will be on this itinerary on 2/22/20 and am SO excited!!!

[cpayne]

Tell me more.....tell me more....

[MamaBraz]

I am following.  Sailing in March, so I am thoroughly enjoying your review.

[miamimere]

They did have a specialty dining package you could purchase for $60 which included the steakhouse and two of the following: Ji Ji's, Cucina, or a $15 voucher at Bonsai Sushi or Guy's BBQ. Normal price would be $68. They also had a lesser advertised package for three $15 vouchers for $38 that could be redeemed at Cucina, Ji Ji, Guy's, Bonsai, or Seafood Shack.

 

Okay, this is great info!  We are on the Breeze in 60 days and I am curious to see if they offer the same package.  I do not see it online, must be only offered on the ship.  

 

We loved the Horizon, sailed her in Nov 2018.  My only complaint was the MDR.. service was SOOOOO SLOW.  And our waiter was just awful.  I have never complained on many cruises, but we actually ended up moving tables around the middle of the week.  I am curious to hear about your experience in the MDR.  Hopefully, it was much better! 

[Leen729]

18 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Great start to your review! We will be on the Horizon to the Southern Caribbean next year so I'm taking notes! 

We will be on this cruise as well in October.  Looking forward to the rest of your review.  I never knew about the ducks!

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Leen729

[jam19872016]

22 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Great start to your review! We will be on the Horizon to the Southern Caribbean next year so I'm taking notes! 

 

Thank you so much! I look forward to reading your review of the Horizon 🙂

 

22 hours ago, ashley1474 said:

It definitely was rocky, though I actually enjoy the rocking. Now that you mention it though I haven't felt like I was rocking on land like I normally do after I cruise. My mother on the other hand was struggling with the rocking for a little bit. 

 

The rocking normally does not bother me but it really got to me this cruise. My mom also. This was her first time getting sick I think maybe our location at the front of the ship so close to the waterline contributed to it.

[jam19872016]

22 hours ago, ashley1474 said:

 

I actually found one too, but I figured I would let someone else enjoy and grab it. Out of 8 cruises this was my first time finding one

 

Thanks for helping our chances of finding one 🙂 I would think as much as I see people posting about hiding these things it would be much easier to find. Both the ones I have found where in the faux plants along Ocean Plaza (I found one on Sunshine in the same spot I found the one on Horizon.)

 

20 hours ago, marcia014 said:

I'm following along, too!  I will be on this itinerary on 2/22/20 and am SO excited!!!

You're in for a great cruise! Enjoy.

[jam19872016]

20 hours ago, cpayne said:

Tell me more.....tell me more....

 

Like does he have a car? Oh wait, that's not what you meant is it 🙂 I'm about to post some more of my review 😁

 

8 hours ago, MamaBraz said:

I am following.  Sailing in March, so I am thoroughly enjoying your review.

 

Thanks for following along. Enjoy your cruise!

[jam19872016]

5 hours ago, miamimere said:

They did have a specialty dining package you could purchase for $60 which included the steakhouse and two of the following: Ji Ji's, Cucina, or a $15 voucher at Bonsai Sushi or Guy's BBQ. Normal price would be $68. They also had a lesser advertised package for three $15 vouchers for $38 that could be redeemed at Cucina, Ji Ji, Guy's, Bonsai, or Seafood Shack.

 

Okay, this is great info!  We are on the Breeze in 60 days and I am curious to see if they offer the same package.  I do not see it online, must be only offered on the ship.  

 

We loved the Horizon, sailed her in Nov 2018.  My only complaint was the MDR.. service was SOOOOO SLOW.  And our waiter was just awful.  I have never complained on many cruises, but we actually ended up moving tables around the middle of the week.  I am curious to hear about your experience in the MDR.  Hopefully, it was much better! 

 

Service was top notch in the MDR. I had YTD and I truly believe service is faster there because in assigned dining the pace is sort of set by those dining around you. This was probably the fastest service I have had yet, very very efficient. The food, however, was hit or miss. More on that later.

 

4 hours ago, Leen729 said:

We will be on this cruise as well in October.  Looking forward to the rest of your review.  I never knew about the ducks!

 

 

Enjoy your cruise. And good luck duck hunting! Very cute for the young and young at heart.

[jam19872016]

Day 2:

 

"Fun?" Day At Sea

 

I awoke in the middle of the night to the ship rocking pretty bad. I was not feeling well so as a precaution I took a motion sickness pill. I've done good not needing them for a few cruises but I was not feeling good so decided to just go ahead and take one.

 

My mom gets up before me  but was back in bed when I woke up. I got ready quietly and made my way to brunch.

 

Today I ordered the cantina burger and resisted the urge to order two items as I was a bit pressed for time.

 

 

 

This was good and I am glad I tried it however I don't think I would get it again. 

[jam19872016]

After brunch I headed to the Ocean Plaza for country music trivia. This is my favorite trivia as I am very very good at it. My weakness, however, is newer country. The first two questions were new songs and I was not able to recover. I got 13.5 points and the winner got 14. No ship on a stick for second place!

 

While playing trivia I enjoyed a double chocolate frappe from the Plaza Bar. I'm only gonna to pass this tip along once for those of you reading the meat of this review, cause I don't want it to become too well known! I'm selfish like that 🙂  Skip the Java Blue Cafe. The line is always super long. If it is open, head right across the promenade to the Plaza Cafe for your coffee. Never a line as long as people don't start finding out. Shhhhh.

 

First they came for my single use straw and I remained silent.

 

Next they have come for my single use plastic cup and still I remain silent. 

 

 

 

But Carnival, seriously this is crazy. It is hard to take you seriously given your environmental troubles. I'll get used to it, but a coffee in a reusable plastic cup is weird. On a positive note, I am in the minority but I enjoy these chocolate straws. Yummy.
 

[jam19872016]

Despite taking a motion sickness pill I was not feeling so good so I returned to the room and laid down for most of the afternoon. I took another pill which I have never had to do, and gave my mom one. She was also not feeling well and had never been effected by the motion before.

 

When I woke up from my nap I felt a little better but I had missed lunch. It was close to dinner time so I just went for a light meal. I ordered a tomato and cheese from the deli.

 

 

 

This was very good but now I was not feeling well again so returned to the room and went back to bed until dinner.
 

[jam19872016]

A little after 6 we headed to dinner although we were both still not feeling well. I was able to check in on the app today which was super convenient. Tonight's dinner menu, still recycled from an old review.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

For my starter I had the tart with braised kale.

 

 

 

For my main I ordered the pasta carbonara and the lobster.

 

 

 

 

I finished off the meal with some butter pecan ice cream for dessert. Everything was good and again the service was excellent.

 

After dinner my mom went to bed as she was still not feeling good. I tried to rally because I really wanted to catch the show tonight (Vintage Pop) but after a few minutes out and about I was done. I went to bed just before 8 and did not emerge from my bed for almost 12 hours.

 

Today was a rough day for both of us. It was not Carnival's fault as they do not control the weather, but the fact remained that today was a very very bad day. If anyone has ever been sea sick, you know it is not a pleasant thing when it hits you and does not go away. Hopefully things would improve tomorrow in Grand Turk.
 

[jam19872016]

Day Three: 

 

Grand Turk

 

Today was our first port of call - Grand Turk. This is my eighth time visiting Grand Turk. I think my mom has been here on every cruise except our Mexico cruise. But we were excited that we were no longer moving after a very rocky day at sea.

 

I checked the weather report before the cruise and it said today would be extremely windy. I knew Grand Turk is an often skipped port in high winds and with the recent incident in Cozumel I thought there was a good chance of skipping the port today but when I woke up we had already docked. I do believe the Elation skipped this port today.

 

After our 12 hour hibernation we were famished so headed to the dining room for some breakfast. I ordered avocado toast and the corn beef hash.

 

 

 

 

The bed of bacon in the hash was far too under cooked for my liking and I didn't eat it. Other than that everything was delicious!
 

[jam19872016]

With full bellies we made our way into Grand Turk.

 

You can get your coke fix at the Dufry shop in Grand Turk.

 

 

 

It was indeed very windy today. Windy to the point that it was almost impossible to walk against it. My mom's sail and sign flew out of her lanyard and I went running down the pier like a madman after it. Fortunately I caught up to it before it was lost to the sea. I heard a story of one man who was not so lucky when his money was literally whisked out of his hand. It was super windy today. I would even say these were tropical storm level winds we experienced today although I didn't bring a wind gauge to verify that claim lol.
 

[jam19872016]

A couple pictures of the ship from Grand Turk.

 

 

 

 

We walked around the shops for a little bit and it started to rain so we made our way back to the ship.

 

 

 

Along the way I spotted a rainbow. Didn't show up very well in the second picture with the ship at the end of the rainbow.

 

 

[jam19872016]

Back on the ship our room was done since we had slept through our evening service the night before. I had my platinum VIFP gift and we each got a $50 spa credit. 

 

 

 

My mom had a towel animal.

 

 

 

I've said it before and I will say it again. I won't complain about a free gift. But I feel like this is a purposeful effort to say they are eliminating the gift because everyone is complaining about it. A better solution, which will still not please all, would be to see guest services if you would like your gift and if not don't bother. This would allow Carnival to maintain an obviously lower gift budget by giving out less gifts to the P&D who sail many many times throughout the duration of the same gift. 

 

Back on the ship I started my ship tour which I will post photos of later in the review. I did that until my low battery started flashing and then went back to the room until lunch time.
 

[jam19872016]

@Snowwhite813, @Subking, and @Katreen13 I was just down the hall from you guys and passed by your door signs on the way to lunch and dinner each day.

 

 

 

 

I especially loved this one from I'm guessing snowwhite.

 

 

 

For lunch I made my way to Pasta Bella. I love this concept on the Dream class (and Sunshine) but it doesn't work too well here. The venue is too small to accommodate the number of people wanting to eat here and since my mom wanted Mongolian Wok we split up. It took a while for the food to arrive and when it did I tried to move over to the Wok since I was now at a sharing table. But she was as well so I just took my food down to Lido to eat.

 

 

 

 

The food was delicious but I probably won't return this week. I am going to have to adjust my strategy to come here for my first lunch instead of BBQ. It used to be the BBQ line that was too long after the first day, but here on the Horizon it was Mongolian Wok and Pasta Bella. Noted for the future. I enjoyed the hand scooped gelato for dessert. 

 

The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the room. I took advantage of the free on demand movies again and spent some time working on this review. I also took another motion sickness pill once we started moving because we were rocking around again.
 

 

ETA that I have no idea how to tag someone so hopefully the three I tried to tag will stumble on this review. I am such a bad millennial. 

Edited January 29, 2020 by jam19872016

[jam19872016]

For dinner tonight the app put us at the same table as yesterday. The guy taking us to our table could not find our table, we ended up leading him lol. The ship was really rocking making it hard to get the pictures of the menu. Some I had to take twice, and finally I gave up so the last picture is a little blurry.

 

Tonight's menu.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by jam19872016
Forgot Port of Call Menu

[jam19872016]

For my starter I got the chicken patties from the port of call menu and the seared tuna.

 

 

 

 

Both were quite tasty.

 

For my main I tried out something different this time and ordered the fish from the port of call menu. I was worried I would not like the plantain crust but I really couldn't taste it and it was very good.

 

 

 

For showtime tonight my waitress dragged me out to the center of the dining room for some dancing. OMG I am way too awkward for that lol but it was all in good fun. She even dressed me in the colorful outfit they put on and got a picture of me. I was going to post it but, ummm, they do not have waiters in my size so me in the outfit reminds me of Chris Farley doing fat man in a little coat. 

 

For dessert I ordered the apple pie.

 

 

 

Dinner and the service were again both very good tonight.