TonyinMD

I've had the typical Balcony,  L shaped balcony and Cove.

L shape is my favorite simply for the extended balcony,  Cove second (loved the seclusion and shade when facing the sun as well as being lower to the water), and regular balcony is nice as well.

Only thing I didn't like about the Cove was it's distance from the Ledo deck.

Cruised with my kids on 6 occasions in a small blended family.

My wife and I have had signed authorization letters each time...none notarized though.

I was never asked to produce the letters by either the people at security during check in or Customs when getting off the ship.  In fact,  the last cruise was the only one where anybody even bothered asking the kids questions...Security when checking in simply asked my kids what their birthdays were and the names of their parents...Customs just asked the names of their parents.

Others obviously though have had different experiences.

There was last time I was on the Horizon during the last Halloween cruise last year.

Had a Cove on the Horizon...wife and I loved the privacy,  shade and being close to the water.  Didn't run into any of the potential issues others have had regarding any noise from the galley or severe weather.

Only thing we didn't like was when it was time to go to the top decks,  we had usually preferred to have our room aft and high enough to easily walk up and down the steps to Ledo.   Our room was Forward on this cruise so it was a bit of a hike to get to the back of the Ledo and to the room.  Minor deal though...I think unless I were to get a Suite (never had one) or an L shaped room aft (have had that room a couple times...loved the extended balcony),  cove will be our next preference moving forward.

15 is a lot, but I think some arrangements may be able to be made if you advise the Maitre D' when you board.  I've seen some rather large family groups dine together so I think it can be done if you give them a heads up.  I think there is usually 1 or 2 really large tables near the middle of the restaurants for those large parties.

When it's only 2-3 of us,  I always do Uber/Lyft.

When I've traveled in groups of 6-7 or more,  I look into shuttles,  but definitely NOT Carnivals...they are too overpriced.

So this was something my wife and I encountered on our cruise.

She had DOU and for 5 of the 6 days,  she was able to get drinks both while playing and also at the bar (honestly,  this was the only place on the ship that we experienced slow wait times from the wait staff taking drink orders).

The last night,  when she went to the bar because none of the wait staff was coming to where she was playing,  she was told she would have to pay at the bar and she needed to be playing.  So I think it depends on whether they want to enforce or not.

I don't drink soda anymore so this isn't a big deal to me, but when I did,  family and I were pepsi fans so that's good for us lol.

I 've had FTTF for my last 4 cruises.

Only had to wait once...we got to Miami at about 10:15,  breezed through the priority lines for security and registration,  and had to wait about 20 minutes to board at about 10:50.

All other 3 times,  literally did not stop walking until we walked on the ship (minus the actual documentation/screening at security and registration...nobody was in front of me in either priority line) and walked to our room.  Ironically,  each time they were literally just announcing that they were boarding for FTTF.  Also, each of those times (twice at Miami and once at Canaveral),  we got to the terminal at about 10:15-10:25ish.  So I'd say as long as there are no issues with Customs clearances and the ship isn't late returning to port,  you probably can expect to be ready to board around 10:30-10:45

Yeah I agree with the person that suggested if you are ok with not boarding immediately,   you can just wait with them and board with them when their boarding group is called.  You don't have to board with FTTF group if you don't want to/get to the terminal at a later time.

No problem for us on Horizon.  Just be sure to keep app open.

When it was recently rolled out when we cruised on Victory,  wifi reception was flaky but we made it work.  Last year on Liberty was good as well.

We just got off the Horizon 2 weeks ago and it wasn't bad at all.

At no point did I feel it was overcrowded...I mean you knew there were a lot of people on the ship,  but never bad.

Now I will say that I didn't go on Lido during the real "peak" times...ie embarkation day early afternoon, but when I went up there to grab food from buffet/Guys/Blue Iguana,  never had a line that was any longer than the ones I had on the Spirit/Conquest/Dream class ships I've been on.   Never felt packed in the shops/casino/lounges.

Only thing that was noticeably slower and annoying were the elevators,  and that was due to 2 reasons,  first,  people simply didn't properly call the elevators and second,  this could be alleviated with Carnival adding a second step when calling it.

On 10/31/2019 at 9:57 AM, ishap said:

That about wraps up my review.  I am going to end it with some elevator tips to try and help people before they board, and a few random pics from the ship.

 

Using the smart elevators:

• You choose your floor outside the elevator
• Choose the floor you want x the number of people in your party.  If there are 4 of you going to Lido, choose the 10th floor FOUR TIMES.  This lets the elevator know how many people are getting on in order to calculate space.
• Please don't:
  • Choose the floor once and then have 5 people hop on
  • Not choose a floor and just hop on any elevator that arrives 
  • Call an elevator then walk away
• All of those don'ts are going to cause massive elevator delays and frustrate you for the entire cruise.  

Thankfully we only had to use an elevator rarely as we just used the stairs to go to the restaurant and most things we did were within 2 floors of our cabin.

 

Please feel free to ask any specific questions about the ship or ports.  

 

Thank you all for following along!  This was my first long review and hopefully it was helpful!

  Great review. 

I just got off the Horizon today and I agree with everything you said about the elevators.  I hate using the word stupid for people who use them wrong,  I think Carnival should make a software change that requires people to confirm the number of people in their party before giving them a car letter, but yes,  that was incredibly frustrating for me.  During sea days lunchtime I 100% avoided the mid and aft elevators at the Lido...way too often when riding up,  the car you called is completely packed.  When riding down,  you see people with a big group obviously only press their floor button once.

Can't lie,  the first day or 2 I absolutely gave up a couple times, or just didn't bother getting in the elevator I called because it was completely packed...and I started using the elevators quite a bit.

I think at this point,  Carnival sees the complaints.   I think the system is actually a really good idea and if people are using it right,  it's much faster.   To me,  this should be an easy fix...enter your floor,  and then confirm the number in your party,  then you get the car letter.

On 10/28/2019 at 10:37 AM, ishap said:

I just got off the Horizon yesterday and the skyride was open during the entire duration of the cruise.  

Yup,  just got off the Horizon today and the Skyride was open.  Lines weren't long normally. Nice experience.

We typically eat around 6-6:30 as well and have never had to wait more than about 5 minutes for parties up to 7 people.  

It all depends I guess.

Thanks everyone,  trip is in 2 weeks,  looks like I'll check a the restaurants when I board

So I'll be on the Horizon in a couple weeks and waited too long to book a reservation for the Steakhouse (I was waiting to make sure my wife and I felt that our 5 year old would feel comfortable at Camp Ocean while we dined).   Now that we feel comfortable,  I went in our booking to see if I could make a reservation and it looks like the only option is Chef's Table.

I'm assuming this means that they are all booked for all the other specialty restaurants?    Has anybody had success getting a reservation after they look unavailable on the website?  

I'll say this,  IMHO the 109.99 price was too high for this trip.  DW insisted on it though so we got it.

I like being able to roll right on the ship early and being able to go right to my room...the madness that typically happens on the Lido drives me nuts the first day lol.  However,  I was completely willing to go with the flow this time due to price,  but alas,  I was overruled lol.

I paid for FTTF for a 6 day on the Horizon and it was 109.99 as well

I don't believe so.  I've brought gift cards twice and I had to load at guest services when I boarded.

I'll be disappointed if, as expected, the ride is down when I'm on the Horizon in October, but yeah,  I don't understand the demand or expectation of compensation if it's down.  It's something new, and looks cool, but it absolutely will not make or break my cruise.  Apparently it will for some, but not me.

I totally get the disappointment of the ride not being open,  shoot, I'm disappointed that when I'm on the Horizon later this fall that the skyride likely won't be operational as I'm a big kid and I was looking forward to it more than my wife and kids.  I did not choose the ship because of that feature, but it was part of the big picture.  

I also don't think anybody should be expecting or thinking that there should be compensation for the ride being down.  For instance,  my kids and I love the 4D rides at Universal...the Spiderman and Transformers rides in particular (the 4d rides are part of why when I go to vacation in Orlando my kids prefer Universal to Disney).  If they were down during my visit,  we'd be disappointed, no doubt but we'd just have to roll with the flow, still enjoy ourselves,  every resort/vacation area has times when attractions have to close.

I do question whether this coaster they are putting on the Mardi Gras will suffer the same fate.

OP,  enjoy your cruise,  I'm sure you all of you will still have a blast.

1 hour ago, coevan said:

 

 

Don't you know what you are charging? Only you create high balances. 

Of course I do.  I bring in cash all of the money I plan on spending and load as I see fit.  I walk off the ship with no holds or balance on a CC.

I don't like having potential high balances on my CC so I almost always use cash.

If you get to the point where you don't have cash available to cover purchases,  they typically will allow you to go maybe $5-10 over your balance, but will decline further purchases and direct you to guest services.  Never had an instance where I simply didn't have any cash at the end of the cruise but like others have said,  a promissory note sounds like what would happen.  You likely won't be that deep in the red though as cut you off right around your 0 balance.

One additional thing to look at in addition to how long in advance those cruise dates are,  from what I've seen the last couple cruises I've booked,  the longer cruises on the newer ships tend to have more diamond and platinum cruisers than the shorter ones on the older ships...which lowers the amount of available FTTF slots.   Vista and Horizon were the only 2 cruises I've booked where FTTF wasn't available when I booked and I had to check daily to be able to eventually grab one.

What ships are you cruising on?