plunker

If we stay on the ship during a port day will they be open all day then?

We are going on the Horizon for our first carnival cruise next August.   Our kids are excited to go on the water slides and do the ropes course.  Does anyone know the hours they are open on sea days and on port days?  Thanks

Our cruise is in August.   When would we check in?

What happened to the rest of the review

How much more is a Havana interior room compared to a regular interior room?

23 minutes ago, dog said:

With so much confusion I'm getting from the Princess website, I had my TA refare my recent Panama cruise with a refundable deposit and a savings of $850!

Wow  that's great

8 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

You can still book on one of the Great Escape cruises with a RD.  It simply won't be the sale - and since this is a fare discount sale with no perks, you are not missing anything.  I just checked a random Caribbean cruise for this coming winter season which is under this sale and the RD price was only $30/pp more for an Inside cabin.  As usual, just depends what is important to you. 

 

Again, you have to get this from calling Princess, or ask your TA.  My TA's booking pages show all the fare types and I have seen this additional info on selected other sites.  I am sure it depends on who you use, but you can always contact to inquire.

 

I contacted princess last week and asked them about our April 12th cruise that we are thinking of taking and they said the three for free sale does not apply for that cruise. She said the three for free sale is for summer cruises starting in mid-may

We feel the same way.  We have a cruise booked on the Carnival Horizon in August mainly for the ABC islands and because princess doesn't cruise to the Caribbean in August. We would rather cruise with princess but I guess we will try carnival for the first time.

 this sale stinks. We always Book 2 inside cabins next to each other so I put a hold on the two cabins waiting for this sale and now each cabin went up $160 from the last sale. It's a non-refundable deposit and I don't even see anything about onboard credit.

8 minutes ago, Oak City Man said:

I booked an Alaska cruise for next summer under the Landmark sale.  The deposit is refundable and I booked through the web site.

 

The 3 for Free promotion also lets you book with a non-refundable deposit.  You may have to call, but it is available.  See the 3 for Free thread for details.

I did look at the thread and our cruise is not listed for the three for free. I also asked our ta and she said our cruise is not part of that deal.

GREAT  another non refundable deposit. 

That says it's for Great Escapes but then on the bottom it says three for free deposit is nonrefundable.

Does that deal have a non-refundable deposit?

We are cruising April 12th 2020 on the regal and our cruise is not on the 3 for free list. My travel agent says starting September 10th the Great Escapes sale will start for our cruise. What do you get with this one?

Did you do any movies at night by the pool?  If so how was that experience?

I agree.  We went on the Caribbean princess last August which is the only time we can go. Now we are switching to carnival horizon next August mainly for the itinerary. ABC islands.  I'd stick with princess if they had Caribbean cruises in august like they used to.

What about the tv stations in the room?  We're there any free movies to watch?

49 minutes ago, chrislo said:

My family and I just returned from an amazing trip on the August 10th sailing of the Horizon.  We sailed to La Romana, Grand Turk, Curacao and Aruba.  This was our 3rd time doing this itinerary but we still found something new to enjoy. 

The reviews for the Horizon in the months leading up to this trip were not very positive with many complaints about overcrowding and poor food quality.  We did not experience any of this.  Our only small issue was temperature.  Our cabin (Spa cabin 12218) was very warm but I was prepared with 2 small fans which helped circulate the air in our cabin.

We had faster to the fun and arrived at the port around noon.  Check in was fast and we were in our room within 15 minutes.  The longest part was walking up the gangway, it felt like it went on forever.  This was our first spa cabin and while we didn’t really use the spa facilities we though the cabin seemed bigger than the regular balcony cabins.  We also loved the location.  We had the 1st cabin nearest the door to deck 12 waterworks.  Our hallway was empty except for people staying in one of the cabins near us.  During the day you could hear banging from kids running around outside but with the exception of 1 night it was quiet. 

We did not eat any of our meals at the Lido buffet, so I can’t comment on that.  We had reservations for the steakhouse 2 nights and we were never disappointed.  I had risotto and lobster both nights while my son and husband got the filet mignion.    For appetizer my husband had the lobster bisque which he said was good and the bone marrow which he thought was outstanding.  We also had JiJi’s 2 nights and as always the food was good and way more than we could eat.  The other nights we ate in the main dining room.  We had YTD and used the Hub app to make our reservations.  No matter what time we ate a table was ready before we could even walk there from our cabin.  No complaints on the food or service.

For our first stop La Romona in the Dominican Republic we did a Carnival excursion Catalina Island Beach Break.  With all of the trouble in the DR lately we thought it best to stick with a Carnival excursion and we brought a cooler with us filled with water.  I filled 2 zip lock bags with ice and that kept our drinks cold during the day.  We had use of free chairs and an umbrella and the beach was very clean with crystal clear water.  There were the usually vendors selling shirts and other souvenirs but they weren’t pushy.

In Grand Turk we did the Carnival excursion Underwater Power Scooter, Beach Break and Lunch.  We did this last year and had so much fun we decided to do it again this year.  While it was still fun we just didn’t enjoy it as much, maybe the novelty of the power scooter wore off.  Next year we will try something new but if you haven’t done the power scooters I highly recommend you give them a try.

Up next was Curacao.  This is our favorite stop and the 3rd time we are visiting here.  Since we knew what we wanted to do here we rented a car from Advance Carrental for $75 which included all insurance, unlimited mileage, GPS and a phone if we got lost or wanted to return the car early.  We picked up our car right outside the port gate and set off for our favorite beach Playa Jeremi.  This is small local beach with no amenities but some of the clearest water with great snorkeling and no crowds.  We spent a few hours in the water before deciding to head back to the ship.  On our way back we decided to stop and check out another beach Playa Porto Mari.  This beach had chairs, umbrellas and a restaurant with food and drinks but the best part was the wild pigs that wandered the beach.  Since I can’t resist the change to pet some pigs we stopped here for another hour before finally getting back on board the ship at 7:30.

After such an active day we decided to spend a relaxing day at the beach in Aruba.  We took a taxi to Palm Beach this year after visiting Eagle Beach the last 2 times.  It was nice but I think we will stick with Eagle beach just because it is closer to the ship.  We rented 3 chairs and a small umbrella for $55 dollars and set up to relax.  Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there and since we were still tired from the last 3 days of activity we decided to just head back to the ship and relax there.

We spent our last 2 days relaxing on deck 11 overlooking the main pool.  Overall, the Horizon was our favorite ship.

Did they have movies by the pool every nigjt?

365 days tomorrow til we go on our first carnival cruise on the Horizon for my 50th bday.

On 8/14/2019 at 5:04 PM, CeeJayPonz said:

3 days to go on Carnival Vista out of Galveston. CAN"T WAIT!!

 

I do check the pricing a couple times a week.  So far it has gone up 20 dollars per person since I put the deposit down.  That would be great if it went down and we could get some obc.

We have been on 6 princess cruises and really enjoyed most of the dishes we had.  The international cafe is wonderful and open 24 hrs.  I am looking forward to trying guy's burgers tho.

I would say 70 percent of the time I'm excited to be trying the horizon and looking forward to a new experience.   But 30 percent of the time I freak out and go back to the princess website and look at August 2020 cruises again to make sure I'm not missing a Caribbean cruise even tho I know there aren't any. Lol

August works best for our family which is why we chose that month.  I thought i read hurricanes aren't as much of a problem way south by Aruba Bonaire and Curacao.   I guess you still have to get there tho.

We will definitely try to go with an open mind. A couple things I'm looking forward to are the different menu options. After 6 Princess Cruises I find myself ordering the same thing all the time so be nice to try a different Cruise Lines food. My kids are also looking forward to trying the water slides and the ropes course and something up in the air that you pedal around with your feet.  My son and I are also huge muts fans and princess shows the same movie Two Times a night but Carnival shows two different movies most nights. So that should be interesting as well

I guess I didn't realize princess quit going to the Caribbean in August because last year we did a Caribbean cruise in August with them.  We picked the horizon because of the itinerary.  We have done the ABC islands on the Caribbean princess and loved it. We have discussed doing a Alaskan cruise but being from Wisconsin where it's cold 5 months of the year I definitely don't want to pack warm clothes for a vacation.   Plus our kids practically live in the pools or on the beach during our cruises so I don't think they would enjoy a Alaskan cruise. Two of my favorite vloggers are parodeejay and Sharon at sea and they love carnival so I'm trying to convince myself we will too.