My View: I See a Cruise on the Horizon! (Semi-Live)

[APDMOM]

Not this horizon:

 

This HORIZON 😀

[MEUB1112]

We do to, next March I think. It will be our first time to cruise on each ship in a class. Already been on the Panorama and the Vista.

[APDMOM]

Hello to old friends and new!

 

We are about to board our 44th cruise - first time on the Horizon.

 

For those who are new to “My View” reviews, I will be posting TIPS in red for the skim-readers.

 

If you have any requests while we are onboard, feel free to ask here.  I will try my best to get information to help fellow-cruisers, as time allows.  

 

Our itinerary includes Aruba, Curaçao, La Romana, and Amber Cove.

 

We have not been on Carnival since 2016, but we look forward to returning to a Cove Balcony and Blue Iguana Arepas 😄

 

I will try to post every day, but am likely to fall a day or two behind for all the FUN on the ship.  

 

Boarding is tomorrow with an arrival time of 11AM.  I look forward to virtually sharing our cruise experience with you! 🍀

 

Edited March 16 by APDMOM

[Jamman54]

Looking forward to your review. We did this same exact cruise on the Horizon in 2021. Enjoy! 😎

[pe4all]

Interested in what you think about CCL after a nearly 8 year break!  And interested in what you think of Horizon in particular.

[APDMOM]

1 hour ago, pe4all said:

Interested in what you think about CCL after a nearly 8 year break!  And interested in what you think of Horizon in particular.

 

Me too!  We have no idea what to expect, but the price was right, the itinerary includes 2 of our favorite destinations, we love cove balconies, and 8 days are better than 7 😁 We plan on enjoying it. 

[nycfa]

We have two cruises this year book on CCL for the first time since 2016 as well. One is on the Horizon in September so I'm going to follow along! 

[pe4all]

2 hours ago, APDMOM said:

 

Me too!  We have no idea what to expect, but the price was right, the itinerary includes 2 of our favorite destinations, we love cove balconies, and 8 days are better than 7 😁 We plan on enjoying it. 

I was on Horizon for 8 days during covid in an Havana aft wrap.  I am sure you will enjoy the ship - you have great ports.  The ship was a bit "big" for us - prefer smaller ships.  However - I think I am in the minority - lol!

[cellfree]

Did Inaugural TA on Horizon in 2018 and just this week came across the ABC Islands in September on her, 8 night cruise, booked it, will be a 53rd Wedding Anniversary cruise, yikes, excited to read your review.

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 1 - Miami, FL

[APDMOM]

Arrival Timeline:

 

10:55 Parked in parking garage by Terminal D.

 

11:16 Entered Terminal 

 

11:25 Walked down the gangplank and onto Deck 2 of the ship

 

 

TIP: Find out where your ship leaves from and arrives.  We are leaving from Terminal F, but arrive at Terminal D in 8 days, so we decided to park at Terminal D garage.  It was an easy walk to Terminal F.

 

TIP: Take a picture of where you park and which garage you use.  

 

TIP: Take a picture of the suitcases you check in, in case ‘they’ lose one.

 

Ready to Cruise!  Is that a Whale Tail I see?

[APDMOM]

TIP: Be sure to bring a hard copy PRINTED boarding pass.  Carnival will not accept the digital copy on your phone. We tried with the digital boarding pass first, but thankfully had the printed passes nearby in our hand luggage. 

[Frank12]

13 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

TIP: Be sure to bring a hard copy PRINTED boarding pass.  Carnival will not accept the digital copy on your phone. We tried with the digital boarding pass first, but thankfully had the printed passes nearby in our hand luggage. 

They need to fix this!  Heck, a lot of venues ONLY accept digital tickets these days.

[APDMOM]

45 minutes ago, Frank12 said:

They need to fix this!  Heck, a lot of venues ONLY accept digital tickets these days.

I agree 🙂  I would love to know the reason behind not allowing a digital copy.  A hard copy can be manipulated just as easily as a digital copy - that is why we are required to bring a passport or other approved travel documents.  It was quite a surprise to me.

[APDMOM]

Safety:  I love that Carnival has a drug sniffing dog prior to embarkation.  

 

Before you walk through security, everyone lines up with bags, purses, etc in front of you, and this beautiful dog makes it look like a walk in the park.  It is a very quick process - super efficient and painless… at least it was at our boarding time of 11:00. (Could not get a better pic without too many people’s faces) 😄

 

 

 

TIP:  They did not check the boarding times.  They have two lines - one for people within their boarding time, and one for those who are early or late for their boarding time.  

 

Despite the fact that we were right within our arrival window of 11:00 to 11:30, we were directed to the ‘early/late’ line.  This may be because the line was not long.  Our boarding was quick and painless.

[APDMOM]

TIP:  Download the Carnival Hub app before you board.

 

 I love that our countdown has not changed to:

 

[APDMOM]

TIP:  They strongly encourage you to do your muster first.  We chose to do this so that it could be out of the way.  Hindsight, we would have done lunch first, then muster to avoid crowds in the buffet.  You have plenty of time to complete muster prior to the deadline.

 

TIP:  They do not require everyone in your party to attend muster at the same time.  You check in, and they show you how to put on a life jacket - very quick, but not as quick as on other cruise lines who have gone completely digital with a video and a single scan at the muster station.  In all, we waited about 10 minutes for the demonstration.

 

Boarding Day Lunch:

 

TIP:  If you want to avoid the crowds, eat at Pig & Anchor, Ji Ji’s, or Cucina del Capitano for boarding day. 

 

We chose Pig & Anchor for this lunch.  The Brewhouse was very empty, with plenty of seating when we arrived.  The line was less than 3 minutes for us, but grew to about 10 minutes while we ate.

 

Coming up… pics of lunch and the menu.  I just have to figure out why they load all black at this time. 

 

 

[APDMOM]

It seems like the pictures don’t want to upload unless I resize them.  If I upload the original, they are all black.  Hope this is not an ongoing issue.

 

Pig and Anchor Lunch:

 

 

 

Brewhouse Menu:

 

 

 

 

 

[Earthworm Jim]

5 hours ago, APDMOM said:

TIP: Find out where your ship leaves from and arrives.  We are leaving from Terminal F, but arrive at Terminal D in 8 days, so we decided to park at Terminal D garage.  It was an easy walk to Terminal F.

 

 

We'd did this on our Horizon cruise two weeks ago because we had a long drive planned debarkation day and wanted to beat the crowd. It worked out well. Almost nobody leaving Garage D yet when we exited.

[APDMOM]

After Lunch Views:  

It has become tradition to call my mom and sister in on WhatsApp for a virtual ship tour… here are a few of the views I shared with them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

After Lunch Views:  

It has become tradition to call my mom and sister in on WhatsApp for a virtual ship tour… here are a few of the views I shared with them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

I don’t know if it is this wifi or CC, but posts are slow, then apparently posting double.  Sorry about that! 

[Getting out there]

Thinking of taking my grandkids. They are 10 and 6. They like to swim, but are not swimmers. The waterworks looks like it is very shallow and the slides look big. Do you know much about this?

Also read the barrier around the ship block ocean breeze especially in the adult area. Is this true?

[APDMOM]

31 minutes ago, Getting out there said:

Thinking of taking my grandkids. They are 10 and 6. They like to swim, but are not swimmers. The waterworks looks like it is very shallow and the slides look big. Do you know much about this?

Also read the barrier around the ship block ocean breeze especially in the adult area. Is this true?

 

@Getting out there Yes, the waterworks area is very safe and a lot of fun. I will take some pictures of height requirements, etc. and post here later this week for you.

 

I will check out Serenity tomorrow when we are at sea. It was indeed very hot there today, with very few people. No breeze when I walked through while in port of Miami. I will report back about how it is while at sea. 🙂

[APDMOM]

Sailaway Views:

 

I love seeing our past ships in port - MSC Seascape (March 2023):

 

Hoping the other three may be in our future - especially Icon!