lensonlife

RIP sweet pup. We met Topher and Calypso in July of this year. Visiting them and Jacks Shack at Grand Turk was a very special memory for us. ❤️🐾

We sailed in July on Horizon out of Miami and had a little usb fan that we quite liked for noise! Was breezy, too- but it was the noise I needed.  No issue at all. Purchased fan from Amazon- very inexpensive. 

I didn’t know you could request some of the main dishes, like pastas, as appetizers- that’s good to know! 

We sailed Horizon over this last 4th of July holiday, and had YTD- we ordered additional entrees and sides every night (party of 6 with some fussy eaters). One night my son only wanted a couple sides of the Mac and Cheese and our server brought him FIVE!! They are very happy to oblige! The only negative is a crowded table 🤗

We were there in July and Topher was very busy jumping for sand- he was actively playing with this one little girl. It was very sweet. Didn’t know he was in pain 😔❤️

10 minutes ago, tw67 said:

Now this has me thinking, we are celebrating my son's 21st birthday on our next cruise.  How much fun it would be to write in permanent marker on the top something about his birthday, and then see the comments that people write!  I think I need to add something else onto my packing list! 

Do it! Bottoms up! 🍻 

7 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

With the internet, I don't think there's much they haven't seen nowadays. Ours is 18, so no worries about what he might read on there.

 

 

That's pretty much what I was told. A particular part of the male anatomy, to be more specific.

 

Now if I could only find a motion-activated camera that can take pictures through the peephole. 😁

I won’t forget the time we bought our youngest a Kindle for the first time. I think she might have been 9/10. I neglected to put a control on her being able to purchase media from Amazon, and she went straight there and purchased the unrated version of Stepbrothers- a popular movie amongst her adolescent siblings. Next up, we hear the drum set scene coming from her room! 😳 😂 Not our finest parenting moment, and remedied pretty quickly. Thank goodness she’s in high school now! 

6 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

I have seen "art work" on every whiteboard pretty much daily.  

Oy! We really didn’t have much in the way of drawings. But I can see where that can be a thing. We had lots of script. People telling you s where they were from, favorite thing they did that day, best part of their trip thus far, etc. 

11 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

You should have the option to choose right way. Have you looked in the "Booking & Order Details" section of your Cruise Manager? Then click Edit Dining.

Thank you- I just found it (wasn’t looking deep enough), and actually had selected YTD. Didn’t remember doing that! 

27 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

LOL I can hear the little *screech screech* of the marker in my head. I'd probably be looking out the peephole, waiting for them to leave so I could read it.

 

I asked about this on here a long time ago for our summer 2018 cruise and everyone told me not to do it because there would be some pretty crude things on there. Not that that would stop me, but we decided against it. Might have to reconsider the idea though.

There wasn’t anything I didn’t think was over the top. That said, we have a good sense of humor! And my youngest is 14, and the last of 5 kids- so  there isn’t much she’s not seen or heard! 

I don’t even see an option yet to choose YTD, or early or late seating for our June 2020 cruise (we too like YTD- eat at varying hours, sometimes very late). I assume it’s just not available for selection yet? Or am I just not looking in the right spot? 

The after hours messages were always a hoot! Sometimes we’d be in the cabin, and you could hear someone writing- it was so much fun! 😂

Anyone do it? We sailed the Horizon over this last July 4 holiday week. We didn’t decorate our door as planned, but we did put up a 12x17 magnetic whiteboard along with some magnetic dry erase markers and eraser. Actually, our door wasn’t magnet- so we put it on the wall next to the door- but, instant fun!!! Everyday, we had TONS of messages! My 14 year old would sometimes write a QOTD/question of the day, and so many people wrote responses- crew included! Some were hysterical! I totally wished we’d taken photos. Probably an idea I grabbed here, and a good one 🤗

Grand Turk and the dogs at Jacks Shack- one just plopped itself under my daughter’s lounger and took a long snooze. Horizon July 2019

Eagle Beach, Aruba on 4th of July 2019- Horizon 

(my daughter and her guy pictured)

A visit to Curaçao while on the Horizon over the recent 4th of July holiday. I loved it there! 

On 3/14/2019 at 8:52 PM, N7786W Flyer said:

 

Ha!  Absolutely, no doubt!  She's beautiful isn't she?

 

Here we are, 40 years and two children later...on the Freedom in January.

 

 

She absolutely is, and congratulations on your 40 years of marriage! These photos you’ve shared are stellar!!! 

While I’ve never been in a room next to an elevator, I recently had the same question when prior to selecting a cabin and after reading a gazillion reviews learned that rooms next to elevators are actually, more often than not- preferred! It was the opposite of what I had thought! 

We loved Aruba, Grand Turk, and Curaçao! And will visit Saint Maarten next summer. I really want to go to Barbados and St. Lucia too- I think you made a great choice! Happy sailing ⚓️

I have only ever cruised inside cabins. I have cruised the Sunshine and Horizon only via Carnival. When we cruised Horizon recently, we spent the majority of our ship daytimes at the aft Tides overlooking the beautiful Havana area that was ALWAYS empty or sparsely used. I don’t think that would sway me from booking a Havana area (to the contrary, I would be inclined to book it because it didn’t have the crowds). But I am left to wonder why guests are not spending their time there? Maybe because they meet up with friends and family who can’t join them in the area until after-hours (we utilized it after hours). Anyway, in your position- I would opt for the longer cruise! ☀️

I booked the cruise last month- just a couple weeks after disembarking the Horizon. I don’t regret our decision! We’re excited to go 🤗. Honestly, how bad can it REALLY be!!! Beautiful ports of call, an refurbished ship, time away from my crazy life with my guy of 25 years 🙌. I truly am just curious about what we have to look forward to, and what we can plan to “live with” (having had just about everything we needed on the Horizon which we thought was a great ship). Also, this cruise is literally a penny in the bucket compared to what we paid when we schlepped everyone to Miami to cruise on the Horizon for 8 days. 

When they do big overhauls like this, do they update the staterooms? Bathrooms? Pool areas? That said, I have never been on this ship- so I don’t even know if it’s an issue! I’ve cruised the Sunshine and just cruised the Horizon. This will just be my husband and I this time- usually we have our teens (only one teen now- the others are now 18 and 20- they were on the Horizon with us). I actually thought the Sunshine was quite a nice ship- (we had cruised Disney several years prior to that). We were very happy with the Horizon and spent a lot of time on the aft Tides deck- I’m probably going to miss that a lot this next time around. 

We’re cruising in June. I cruised on the Sunshine after its renovation and name change, but was new to Carnival and so had no comparison. I know they will be adding some restaurants. I assume they will be upgrading the staterooms. Do they also upgrade the stateroom bathrooms? How about the pool areas? The itinerary and the fact that we can drive to NYC for boarding were why we booked- the ship was the 3rd. I’m only curious about how much was actually renovated on previous ships. 

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

At least it's in the atrium. On Conquest class ships, they hold it in the night club and I don't think it gets much attention. I've never gone in there during, but walked by and it didn't seem like it was very happening. But I've seen a few pictures of it in the atrium on Horizon and it looks like they make a much bigger deal out of it.

 

We'll be on Horizon next March. My wife had a dream not long ago and I was wearing white pants. I've never worn white pants in my life. A day or two later, I saw someone's picture on here and realized they hold the white party in the Horizon atrium. I'd be more likely to go to it since it's held there. I told her maybe it wasn't a dream, maybe it was a premonition. LOL Not! I'd wear a white shirt, but I ain't wearing white pants. 😝

After the atrium, many went to the club to dance to some 90’s music- they had a great DJ there! It was fun, but nothing like what was going on in the atrium. Also, my husband would NEVER wear the white pants 😂

We are sailing the Radiance next summer and were offered an upgrade from an interior to an ocean view at $152 pp- it would have taken us from Lido to Deck 1. It was a quick, no. 

Life is way to short to not enjoy the things that make you happy. I would do it in a heartbeat, and I think my only concern would be my safety when traveling alone when in ports- which can be navigated (or you can choose to stay on the ship if you don’t have a good plan). I actually saw plenty of single diners in the MDR! But I might ask to be seated with a group like the OP mentioned so that you have the opportunity to converse over a meal (should you choose to).