Cant wait until March

13 hours ago, JaniceB said:

Thank you for doing the review.  The excursion to the airport looks like a great option. 

 

Yeah it worked out good for us due to our flight time and it was fun to spend the day in Miami.  I would recommend it highly.

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

This was one of the best reviews ever, thank you!  I have a question about the post-cruise tour of Miami.  I showed your photos to my SO and we decided we would really like to take that tour.  We live in Florida and drive to the ports, so the transfer to the airport would not work for us.  Do you remember the name of the tour company, or possibly any advertising marked on the bus that would provide a hint so we could book directly with the tour company?

 

I don't recall the name of the tour company.  They were just regular coach buses.  My wife said that the tour guides name was Lance but that's all she could remember.  I looked in the Carnival book and it doesn't say who the operators are either.  There was a similar tour that we saw in most of the places we went.  It was a double decker bus that said Big Bus on it.  It was a hop on, hop off tour that drove around. I hope this helps, good luck.

 

2 hours ago, cruises42 said:

We did the excursion today. It really wasn’t worth the time or money.

I didn't hate it.  The park itself was nice.  The bus ride each way sucks.  They need to be more specific in their descriptions to make sure people know what they are paying for.

Summary

Pros

1. We had a great time on this cruise and would recommend it to anyone.

2. The ports were all nice and the excursions we went with were also good.

3. For the most part the food was very good.

4. The ships staff was amazing from top to bottom, they tirelessly look after the passengers needs and seem to know what you want before you know what you want.

5. The Horizon itself was a beautiful ship. Well kept and clean.  

 

Cons

1. The up-charging in the dining room in my opinion is a little much.  It feels like Carnival is trying to squeeze every last dime out of you at every turn to maximize their already huge profits.

2. Same thing with the price of pictures from Pixels.  The prices are so high that a great deal of people didn't bother buying any of them.  It's a shame because they do capture some good images that folks may otherwise never get.

3. In my opinion Carnival should adhere to the dress code in the dining room and other restaurants on board.

4. Lastly Carnival should research their tours a little better.  Make mention that out of a 5 or 6 hour tour you will be on a bus getting to the tour and back for 2.5 of those hours.  It may change peoples minds about what they want to do.  

 

 

 

All in all we had a great time and are already planning the next trip.  I just booked us on The Carnival Magic next April.  We are going to take my mom for her birthday.  All 3 of us are excited already.

 

If anyone has any questions just ask and I will do my best to answer.  Enjoy.

Vacation Day 9 - March 17 - Disembarkation Day - Miami

 

Always a bittersweet day that signifies the end of your vacation.  You get up early and have to make your way off the ship and fly home to a place, in our case, likely covered in snow and ice and temperatures well below zero.

 

We weren't sure what we were going to do on this day because you have to be off the ship rather early and our flight out of Miami wasn't until 7:40PM.  We either had to get a transfer to the airport and figure out what to do with our luggage for the day.  This option was about $30 per person and then a charge at the airport to store your luggage.  We don't know Miami that well as I haven't been there in about 20 years so this option was a little daunting.  Our other option was to get tickets for the 10 best Miami tour where you get on a coach bus at the port, they keep your luggage for the day, and they show you around Miami and then drop you off at the airport at the correct terminal for your perspective airline.  This option was about $50 per person and seemed like a fun idea so that's what we decided to do.

 

We opted to just carry our own luggage off the ship because we were supposed to meet our tour by 8:30 AM.  We were all packed and started to make our way down to the Liquid Lounge to get into our group for disembarkation at about 7:45 AM.  We made it as far as the lobby and we were met by Schwartz and 2 more of the ships crew.  They asked us where we were headed, when we told them they said we might as well just go right to the gang way and exit the ship since we were ready.  We turned right in the lobby and were off the ship.  We got through customs in about 3 minutes and were outside waiting for our tour bus. 

 

We met out tour operator and she took our tickets but our bus wasn't there yet so we just sat on a bench for a while.  When the bus came they loaded our bags and we were welcome to wait on the bus.  They were very organized and everyone was loaded and on our way in about 20 minutes.

 

Our guide introduced himself but for the life of me I can't remember his name.  He was very friendly and entertaining.  He was originally from New York but retired to Miami and did this as a part time job.  He said because his wife wanted him out of the house on the weekends.

 

We left the port area and were on our way to South Beach and the Art Deco section of the city.  There was quite a bit of history and information along the way about various parts of the city.  

This is the Holocaust Memorial outside of a convention center.  It's hard to see the scale of this piece because I took the pic through the bus window while moving but it was very impressive.  All of the inward facing walls had the names of the Holocaust victims listed and the statue was about 30 feet high.

 

After that we drove around South Beach and the Art Deco district.  It seemed very quiet and well kept but it was still early in the morning. There were various art installations around the city as well.

Many colourful homes and businesses.

 

On our way to Little Havana we went past what is commonly referred to as millionaires row.  Some very large homes most of which get rented to a string of famous people for 2-3 months at a time.

This place had a water slide from the third floor bedroom down to the pool beside the river.

 

This was a rental luxury barge that these people were living in until their home was finished being built.

When we got to Little Havana we parked and went to this restaurant where you could use the restroom, get something to eat, or just look around.  We were there for about an hour and a half in total.  While we were there we walked down the street to a cigar factory where the gentleman was hand rolling cigars and answering questions if anyone had them.  It was very crowded so I didn't go in.

 

 

The buildings and the landscape was pretty cool in Little Havana.  All of the people seemed very friendly and most folks were trying to get a jump an St. Patricks Day by the look of things.

 

 

 

Sherry and I went back to the restaurant with about 45 minutes to spare and ordered a Cuban sandwich to share.  Good thing we only ordered 1 because it was huge.  Very tasty though.  We sat and ate inside while the lady that owned the place sang some songs on a karaoke stage.  Good food and a little entertainment made for a good lunch.

 

After we ate we had a little time to walk around the neighborhood and then boarded the bus for our next destination, Wynwood Walls.

 

 

 

We drove through a section of town called Overtown and there was amazing graffiti on virtually every building.  Wynwood Walls was right across the street but represented a different section of the city. 

Aside from photography my other artistic passion is painting.  I mainly paint with encaustics which is essentially coloured wax that I melt, paint with on mostly rigid surfaces, and then when the wax hardens I bond it to the surface with heat.  I am not Rembrandt or Picasso but I love to paint.  We go to a number of art shows and tours throughout the year where we live so I was very much looking forward to Wynwood Walls.  It did not disappoint.  Artists come from all over the world and are commissioned to paint here, mostly with spray cans.  It is awesome if you are a person that appreciates art.  My pics do not do it justice.  The scale is unbelievable. The only problem with Wynwood Walls is there really isn't enough room.  It was very crowded and hard to takes photos because there were so many people in the way.  Still wonderful to see in person though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were there for about an hour and then back on the bus.  We drove by a few more places of interest and then on to the airport.  First was Miami's airport and then Ft. Lauderdale airport.  The tour was good.  It was informative, fun, well organized, and more than worth the fee.  We were dropped at the airport about 3 PM and checked our bags soon after that.  We had enough time to get something to eat and walk around the shops at the airport for a while.  There were a number of rocking chairs sitting around looking out over the runways so we sat for a while instead of going to our gate right away.

 

We were supposed to board at 7:40 PM but got on the plane about an hour late.  The plane was finally buttoned up and ready to go.  We taxied to the end of the runway and the pilot made an announcement that we were being grounded by the FAA due to there being a fire at the airport in Toronto.  We would have to wait on the plane until they decided to let us go.  That was almost 4 hours.  Finally we were on our way home.  Better late than never I guess.  We landed in Toronto about 4 AM and got a shuttle back to our car.  After the 2 hour drive home we were both exhausted.  We both called into work and explained that we weren't coming in and went to bed for most of the day.  I was glad to be home to see my dog but was ready to go on vacation again.

 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Thanks. How high up is it? I’m a scared of heights.

It's between 15 - 20 feet to jump in.  Many people just wore their bathing suits under their regular clothes for the day.

2 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Do you have to jump in the water or can you go down a ladder?

There is a set of stairs on the opposite side of the platform you jump from.

Vacation Day 8 - March 16th - Sea Day

 

This was the 2nd sea day in a row.  I wasn't sure I would like having 2 sea days in a row when we booked this trip but it turned out to be a great way to spend a couple of days.  Very relaxing.  

 

I was up early, as usual, and went out and looked around the ship and got a little exercise.  I walked up and down all of the stairs on board and took some pics of the décor.  I liked the photography around the Horizon.  In every stairwell there was a large photo of different ports that Carnival visits.  They were cut into sections and placed over the same photo in the background with lighting in between the two.  It was hard to get good shots of them with the lens I had with me and I didn't want to go back to the cabin to get one and wake Sherry up.

 

 

It's a cool visual that you sort of have to see In person to appreciate.  

 

After a while I went out on deck to see the sunrise.  Our last one on this trip.  The water was fairly calm and the sunrise didn't disappoint. 

 

 

 

After watching the sun come up I walked a bit and decided to go back to our cabin to see if Sherry was up.  When she was up and ready we just went up to the Lido Marketplace for breakfast.  Something simple and quick. 

 

We didn't really plan anything for this day and were just playing it by ear.  We spent a bit of time in our cabin watching TV and were trying to decide what to do the next day in Miami.  Our flight wasn't until 8:40 PM so we were going to have some time to kill.  We went down to the excursion desk and talked to a nice young man about what was available through Carnival.  There was a transfer bus that just took you to the airport and then you were on your own for the day but you would have to find a place to store your luggage if you wanted to do anything, it was about $30 per person.  There was also a Miami 10 best tour that took you on a coach bus around Miami to see various things and then they dropped you at the airport that afternoon about 2:30 PM.  This tour was only $50 per person and I wanted to see a few of the things on this tour anyway.  This way they keep all of your luggage locked on the bus and you were free to look around.  We opted to do that, bought our tickets and were on our way to the Debarkation meeting in the Liquid Lounge.

 

As we suspected there were not many people at the Debarkation meeting and it took about 20 minutes.  It was the same reminders about keep some clothing to put on in the morning and leave your checked baggage outside your cabin that night.  There was also an option to carry your own luggage off the ship if you were in a hurray to get to an early flight, etc.... We had to meet our tour at 9 AM so we decided we would carry our own bags off the ship.

 

By this time I was getting hungry again so we went back to the Lido Marketplace to grab some lunch.  I ended up trying Guys Burgers which was very good.  Excellent toppings for your burger, quick service, and great homemade fries.  I would definitely recommend Guys Burgers.

 

After lunch we walked around a bit and I wanted to try the Skyride so we went up there.  There was an incredible line up for it.  There was a little sign that said it would be approximately a 1 hour and 45 minute wait so I didn't bother.  It looked fun but I didn't want to spend all afternoon in a lineup.  Sherry decided she was going to lay in the sun and read her book for a while so I went and rode the waterslides again.  They are a little short as you can imagine, since they are on top of a ship, but they are fun.

 

There are a lot of activities on the Horizon.  There is the usual mini golf type stuff, water slides, ropes course, skyride, and various other things for all ages. It was well kept, clean, and well organized by the staff to keep things moving.

 

 

 

After my waterslide experience I found Sherry and we went to find a quieter spot to sit and relax.  We ended up going outside on deck 5 by the Pig and Anchor.  It was always quiet and not very crowded on deck 5 on both sides of the ship.  We just sat and enjoyed the ocean going by and had a cold drink.

 

When it came time to have dinner we went and got cleaned up and decided to try the Pig and Anchor instead of going to the dining room.  If you like smoked meats and typical smokehouse sides, this place is for you.

 There are only about 10 things on the menu so we just got some nachos to start and the sample platter for 2 as a main.  This gave you a bit of everything to try and see what you liked.  I also ordered a side of mashed potatoes with brisket tips and gravy.

 

 

The food didn't look like much but it was fantastic.  The platter had brisket, pulled pork, chicken, ribs, and sausage for meats.  There was also grilled corn on the cob, slaw, fried onions, jalapenos, pickles, and an amazing corn bread.  I can't remember the cost but it was less than $20 for both of us, so well worth it.

I was quite full and didn't want desert but Sherry ordered this smoked apple betty with ice cream on top. She said it was amazing.

 

We sat for a while and listened to the live music, they were a duo called Buck and Oz.  They played different country and '70s rock songs.  We had seen them around the ship a couple of times during the week and they were also on out excursion in Aruba.  They were good musicians and they and their wives were very nice people.

 

We went out to watch the sun set for our last time this trip and then tried to catch the show I the Liquid Lounge.

 

 

 

The show was the final Lip Sync Battle and we missed most of it.  We saw the last 2 performers and they were pretty good.  When that was over Schwartz was hosting an '80s music trivia in the Lobby so we went to get a spot to watch that.  It was packed but we found a place along the railing on the top floor of the Lobby Bar.  

As always Schwartz was entertaining and funny.  After the '80s trivia was over we made our way to the casino to try our luck for a while before we turned in for the night.  Surprisingly we won a few hundred dollars so we took our winnings and headed for our cabin.  We were both al little tired and still had to pack for tomorrow.

 

Tomorrow was Disembarkation and Miami's top 10.

Vacation Day 7 - March 15th - Sea Day

 

It was hard to believe that the cruise was winding down already.  We felt lucky to have 2 sea days in a row at the end just to relax and take in some of the things the ship has to offer.  We slept in which is a rare occurrence for me so I missed seeing the sunrise.  We went to the dining room for brunch when we were ready to eat.  We both ordered the frittata with ham served with a side of bacon and toast.

It was very good and after brunch we just went to find a quiet spot to sit down and get a little sun.  It was again a very nice sunny day and the decks were pretty busy.  We went down to deck 5 outside the Guys Pig and Anchor and there was nobody there.  We were able to sit and relax without anyone else around.  Very peaceful.

 

Peaceful enough that I eventually got bored sitting around so I went and got changed and thought I would try out the water slides.  At first I thought that it would be a bunch of little kids and me, the lone adult, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  It was about 80 % adults and 20 % kids.  The slides are both fun although I liked the blue one better.  You didn't have to use an inflatable tube and it was much faster.  I was there for about an hour and had a good time.

 

After a while the captain came on and made an announcement that we had a very sick passenger and had to divert to Kingston Jamaica to offload the sick passenger. He said that it may change the arrival time in Miami at the end of the cruise.  He said he would try his best to get us home on time and not to worry.  There was no sense in worrying about something you cant control anyway.  Plus I have never seen Jamaica.  It was about 200 - 300 km out of out way to get to Jamaica and it took about an hour to get the sick passenger off the ship. This is the Jamaican coast.  By the time the sick passenger was unloaded the sun was starting to set so at least I've seen the sunset over Jamaica now.

 

I hope everything turned out ok for the passenger.  It had to be pretty serious for them to make an unscheduled stop.

 

This was the second cruise elegant night so we went to get ready for dinner and made our way to the dining room. Dinner was good although I didn't get very good pics of the meal because of shadows and me not checking my work.

I started with the stuffed mushrooms.

 

I ordered 2 mains.  The first one was a spicy shrimp in a light sauce with mustard mashed potatoes and broccoli.  The second was the beef fillet with mashed potatoes and green beans.  Both were small meals but together they were very good.

Sherry started with the crab cake.  I fell apart a bit but had excellent flavour and consistency.

She tried something a little different for her main.  It was a spanakopita filled with beef, rice in a roasted pepper and a deep fried okra.  She enjoyed it and said she would try it again.

 

After dinner we went for a bit of a walk around the ship and them went to the Liquid Lounge to see the show.  It was called Celestial Strings.  We had seen the three violin player around the ship a few time during the week and they were very good.  They played a lot of modern music and everyone seemed to enjoy them.  They were the main focus of Celestial Strings with some other musicians and some dancers/singers.  Again a very good show and its hard to believe this is all happening on a boat.

 

After the show was over the three violinists went out to the lobby for a bit of an after show.  Quite elaborate costumes and make-up for tonight's show.  When they were done their after show Schwartz was doing a name that '70s song contest in the lobby bar.  We had seen a couple of these things throughout the week and they were always entertaining and funny.  Also very busy so you have to get to it on time or you won't get a spot with a view.

 

 

After that was all said and done we went to the casino for a short time, won a bit of money, and called it quits for the night.  We went back to our cabin and got ready for bed.  

 

Tomorrow is sea day number 2. 

14 hours ago, AmBear said:

I'm pretty sure those dogs in Grand Turk are the one's that hang out/owned by Jack's shack! Seems whenever a ship arrives, they run to meet the people walking on the beach!

There were posters all over the island about these "potcake dogs".  There is an organization trying to get them adopted out to various countries before the stray population gets even more out of hand.  If I could figure out a way to sneak some back on the ship I would have brought some home. Lol.

11 hours ago, SJNB said:

We are doing the same cruise next year. If you don’t mind me asking which beach would you recommend visiting in Curacao with young children.
Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would say the one for kids that we went to was Kenepa Beach.  The water was pretty calm and there was lots of kids there that seemed to be having a good time.

Vacation Day 6 - March 14 - Aruba

 

Today we arrived in Aruba and were scheduled to be there between 8:30 AM and 4:00 PM.  The ship of course arrived on time and the captain made an announcement that wished everyone well for the day and to warn everyone to hold their belonging getting off the ship because of the wind.  He was not kidding.

 

We were up fairly early and had breakfast in our cabin from the room service menu.  They are very good at getting it to you at the time you request it.  We ate and got ready to get off the  ship for the day.  The excursion we chose was the North Coast Jeep Safari.  We had read some good reviews for it and you get to see quite a bit of the island.  We got off the ship and found our group in the cruise terminal.  When everyone was accounted for we were led to a coach bus and taken over to ABC Tours where we were split into groups of 8 or less and put in the jeeps.  We were lucky enough to be in the lead jeep with the head tour guide Kenneth.  He was highly entertaining and we were always at the front of the pack so we got a lot less dirty than the other jeeps.

 

The man on the left is our guide Kenneth

 

We had read that this was sometimes a very bumpy rough ride at times and they were not joking.  Kenneth deliberately hit as many bumps and pot holes as he could find and even went over a couple of jumps where we became airborne.  I'm not complaining just warning that some people may not like this tour for that reason.  We had a great time.  We zig zagged our way through the city past the airport and our first stop was a donkey sanctuary.  The morning we got there the owner explained that there were some vandals that broke in over night and one of the building was in disarray. We managed to see the donkeys and learn about the operation anyway and the man was very friendly.

 

 

After being there for about half an hour we loaded back into the jeeps and headed for our next stop.  The next stop was a bumpy ride of about 20 minutes to the Ayo Rock Formations.  It was pretty neat.  The grounds were very clean and easy to navigate.  We hiked up and through the rock formations while all of the ABC Tours guys walked with everyone and helped out with whatever they could.  They would take pics if you wanted them together, get drinks for people, and I even saw some of them carrying stuff for some of the older folks.

 

 

 

After leaving here we went on another very bumpy road/trail to get to the natural bridge site on the north coast of the island.  It was much like the rocky coast in Curacao the previous day.  Beautiful scenery but at the same time the water crashed the shore with such violence.  It makes you wonder how explorers survived all those years ago trying to come ashore on that side of the island.  There were a number of fishing huts that were still being used along this coast also, I don't know how they would get to and from land onto the boat to fish.

 

 

 

 

We didn't stay at the natural bridge site very long and were back in the jeeps again to our next destination.  It was about a 15 - 20 minute drive over the roughest terrain we had seen yet to get to the Alto Vista Church.  It was a small church atop a hill surrounded buy what can only be described as desert.  There were cactus everywhere, sand and a lot of lizards. We didn't stop here long, about 20 minutes. There were also a lot of bike trails that started at the church site that were well mapped out and they seemed to be well used.

 

 

These little lizards were all over the place in the underbrush and around the cacti.  They were all the same colour and we probably saw 50 of them in about 10 minutes.

 

From Alto Vista we drove our last rough stretch of road for about 20 minutes to the California Lighthouse where the roads became paved again.  Oddly the lighthouses name has nothing to do with the state of California but the builder named it after a ship that was wrecked off the coast that his family was on.  He built the lighthouse so that wouldn't happen to anyone else's family.

When everyone in out tour was ready we continued on to a pretty little beach down the hill and had about 45 minutes to relax or swim.  They also provided snorkelling gear if you wanted it and had snacks and drinks throughout the day as well.  We elected to go snorkelling a bit and see if we could see anything.  There were a few rocks and coral outside of the roped swimming area so we headed over there.  the water was warm and shallow but the sand was getting picked up by the waves quite a bit so you couldn't see as clearly as you would like at times.  Still a beautiful beach and we did get to see some fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 30 minutes of snorkelling we got out of the water, returned our gear, and got changed out of our wet clothes.  This gave us a few minutes to eat a little something and have a drink before we headed back to the port area.

 

This was a really fun tour and I would do it all over again if we were to return to Aruba.  The ABC guys and Kenneth were awesome.

 

They took us back to the port and dropped us off.  We had about and hour or so before we had to be back on the ship so we walked around the downtown core for a bit.  It's very clean and you can tell that tourism is alive and well in Aruba.  One of the hotels, I think it was the Regency Hotel and Casino, on the main street had this cool water taxi entrance from the bay right into the hotel.

 

 

We went to check it out and there were different iguanas and crabs all over the place.  It's funny that the locals don't even seem to notice them and all of the tourists are fascinated by them.  I wonder if they came to Canada would they be fascinated by our black squirrels, etc...

 

 

We only had a bit of time to get back to the ship so we headed that way and boarded the Horizon.  We took a bit of time to clean up and then found a couple of deck chairs and just relaxed in the sun for a while.

 

As the ship was preparing to cast off there was a ships announcement looking for 2 people.  A man and woman.  They made the announcement in various different ways about 10 times in 10 minutes.  We were watching the gate at the port entrance and didn't see anyone hurrying to get back to the ship.  The gate was locked and they cast off to get under way.  I don't know if anyone got left behind or not.  They pulled up the gang way and we left.  I guess there are worse places to be left behind in?

 

After watching Aruba disappear behind us we decided on dinner in the dining room. Sherry started with a cold soup but I don't remember what kind it was.

 

I started with a broccoli and cheddar soup and a shrimp cocktail.  Both were very good.

 

Sherry's main was crab cakes and something on the side (my old guy memory again) and mine was the grilled tuna with potatoes and veg, and a side of mac and cheese with bacon.  All prepared very well but the portion sizes were small so I ended up ordering 2 of them.

 

After we finished dinner we walked around the ship a little and then went to Liquid Lounge for tonight's show.  It was called Amor Cubano.  About 90% of it was in Spanish but if you don't speak the language it didn't matter.  You would still understand what was going on.  The singing and dancing was very good and the band was great. Again the costume changes in this show were unbelievable and seamless.

 

 

 

The entertainment on this ship was top notch.  We enjoyed every show we went to.

 

After the show was over there was an 80's dance party hosted by Schwarts on the Lido deck where he was teaching the Thriller dance to about 200 people.  Some were getting it and some were not.  It was pretty funny.  We watched that for a while and then went to the casino to donate some more money to the slot machines except this time we both won.  Not a usual thing.  I only ever put in what I am will to lose because we typically do.  This night we walked out with more than $500 between us so all in all a pretty good night.

 

It was getting late and since we had a few sea days ahead of us we went to bed with the intentions of sleeping in.  Easier said than done.

 

Tomorrow: Sea day #1

 

 

 

 

Vacation Day 5 - March 13 - Curacao

 

This was the port I was most interested in.  We had never been here before and everyone tells us that we would love it.  We were scheduled to be in port from 2:30 PM - 10:30 PM.

 

I was awake early but didn't feel like getting up so I just stayed in bed and enjoyed the movement of the ship.  After a while I got up and went for a walk. As we neared curacao it seemed a little hazy and you couldn't see the landscape very clearly. I missed the sunrise this morning, however I did get an interesting shot of the sunlight coming through the clouds.

By the time we got ourselves ready to eat the air seemed to clear and it was a beautiful day.  My wife wanted to relax a little before we got ready to get off the ship so I just looked around a bit to see if anything of interest was happening.  Up on the Lido deck there was a guy doing an ice carving demonstration.  He had 20 minutes to turn this 300lb block of ice into something.  Many people were guessing as he carved and he ended up with this fish.

 

Pretty good considering the time limit and the temperature.  The people that were watching seemed pretty entertained, me included.

 

The ship arrived on time as always and the captain made his usual announcement about enjoying your day in Curacao.  When you get into port it is a bit of a mix of industrial looking places and very colourful and clean buildings.

 

 

We had booked the All West Beach Hopping Tour with a company online called Irie Tours.  We were instructed to meet our tour guide at the end of the pier as soon as we could get off the ship and they would show us where to go.  We met a young lady holding a sign for Irie Tours and she had us wait until the rest of the people got off the ship as we were waiting for 4 more after us.  There was about 20 of in total for this tour.  The lady loaded us on a brightly coloured open air bus and introduced us to our guide for the day.

His name was Eddy, he said he was 71 years old, gave us a brief history of the island as we drove to our first destination.  He was very friendly, entertaining, and knowledgeable.  He was originally from Aruba but came to Curacao over 30 years ago for work and never left.  His only rules on the bus were to be safe, enjoy yourself, and if you wanted a drink you had to say "Eddy, fetch me a drink". Pretty simple rules.

 

We drove for about 20 minutes through terrain that changed from desert like conditions one minute to lush green vegetation the next. We stopped briefly at the smallest Catholic church on the island were Eddy explained it's history and the legend around it and then we kept driving. Not exactly a place with a large congregation.

Our next stop was National Park Shete Boka.  It's on the west coast of the island and quite spectacular.  The waves are crashing into the coast all of the time and there are caves and paths to show you where to go.  It's well marked and very clean.

 

 

 

 

 

There was this great little sign at the head of the first trail that I thought ever national park needed everywhere.

We were hear for about 35 - 45 minutes and then back on the bus.  If you wanted something to eat there was a snack bar here also but we didn't try anything.

 

We drove about 15 - 20 minutes to our next destination which was a place called Playa Piscado.  It was a beautiful little beach that was an old place where fisherman use to come ashore and clean their catch.  The would throw their unwanted fish and scraps back into the water and the sea turtles would come and clean it up.  Now there are turtles there all of the time. We had about an hour to snorkel (equipment was provided) and look around.  This was an absolute highlight for me.  We got ready and went in the water.  We went out about 75 feet and there is a rock wall on one side of the beach that you can follow.  There are fish everywhere and then we came across the turtles away from the rock wall about 30 feet.  There were too many to count.  They just go about their day like you are not even there.  They are amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you can smile while wearing a snorkel we were.

 

After this we got back on the bus and drove for about 5 minutes to the other side of the same cove.  There was a restaurant that they stop at incase you want to use the restroom and there is a place for cliff diving if you are so inclined.  I'm not.  Some of our group tried it and had a good time.  It was roughly a 40 foot drop to the water and 200 foot swim back to a ladder to come back up.

 

 I was more interested in the local vegetation and wildlife that seemed to be everywhere you stepped.

 

We boarded the bus once again and went on to another beach that Eddy said was one time in the top 10 beaches in the world.  It was called Kenepa Beach.

It was stunning.  The water was a brilliant colour and the sand was clean and white.  We had about an hour here to swim, snorkel, or just relax.  We did a little of all three. There wasn't as many fish to see here because it was mostly just sand and no rocks or coral.  Still beautiful though.

 

 

This bird just walked down the beach and was obviously used to all the people being around.  He looked young and a little confused at times.

 

We got back on the bus and went to yet another beach with a little restaurant, restrooms, and change rooms if you wanted to get out of your bathing suit.  It was called Playa Porto Marie. It was a picturesque little place with wild pigs laying around on the beach which they ask you not to feed for obvious reasons.

 

 

Just sleeping on the beach without a care in the world.  Not a bad way to live.

 

We were here for about and hour and 15 minutes and it was getting close to dusk.  Our last stop was a salt lake at St. Willibrodus to see the wild flamingos.  It was getting dark at this time and I didn't get very many good shots.  We were there for a short time and then boarded the bus to head back to the ship.

 

Eddy said he could either take us right to the port or drop us downtown within walking distance to the ship in case we wanted to look around before we got back on the ship.  We opted to see a bit of downtown as we had about an hour before we had to be back on the Horizon.  

 

 

 

 

After a great day we made our way back to the ship and decided to have something to eat.  We ended up eating at the Seafood Shack on the Lido deck, Aft.  It was very good and well worth the money.  I had clam chowder and fried buffalo shrimp, while my wife had crab cakes and the fried buffalo shrimp.  We could have ordered only one order of the shrimp as the portions were huge.  Sorry no pics of it, I left my camera in our cabin.

 

We ate as much as we could and basically got cleaned up and went to bed after a long but amazing day.

 

Tomorrow we arrive in Aruba. 

 

 

10 hours ago, cruises42 said:

Thanks I was wondering if I should take my DSLR or just the underwater one. Now, I'll take both! How about the bathing suit question (above)?

There is a little restroom just before you get to the blue hole where we changed in and out of our suits. It's not the Hilton but it will do.

27 minutes ago, cruises42 said:

Thanks for the review! We are doing this cruise in a week. We are also doing the Blue Hole excursion. Would you consider it safe to leave a camera in the little cubicles? Did you wear your bathing suit for the whole excursion or is there a place to get changed?

You can leave your things in the cubbies.  I left my DSLR, lenses, camera bag, etc and had no problem.  There are employee's watching things and also the space is fairly small so you would see if anyone was messing with your stuff.

3 hours ago, sabhoy said:

Thanks for the great review

Just booked Horizon end of September..question about Pig and Anchor.  Do they cook outside or is the cooking and serving done inside?  The room we booked is upstairs from it.

There are smokers and grills outside on deck 5.  but it's pretty well contained within the little buffet structure so I don't think you would get any smoke on your balcony.

Vacation Day 4 - March 12 - La Romana

 

This is the port I was looking forward to the least out of the 4.  We had trouble deciding what we wanted to do here as far as an excursion went.  About a month before we left for this vacation we had decided to do the Blue Hole Eco Tour and Animal Encounter mainly because we hike quite a bit in Canada throughout the year and enjoy the outdoors.  More about our excursion in a few.

 

I was up early as I usually am so I went for a walk around the ship before Sherry got up and watch the sun come up. 

Sometimes it's nice to sort of have the ships common areas to yourself and explore a little, maybe see something that you would be interested in doing later when the entertainment is in full swing.

I liked the pool at the rear of the ship, not because I like the crowds but I liked the tile work in the bottom of the pool.  Looks pretty good when there is nobody in it.  I also wandered into the Havana Bar.  I think it was 3rd or 4th floor aft.  The horn section that was in the show the night before played here all week along with a couple other musicians.  I liked the décor in the Havana Bar area.  Lots of comfortable seating and a good amount of space. 

This is the entrance to the Havana Bar.

 

As the sun came up we were getting closer to port and La Romana looks a little industrial.  On one side of the ship was a beautiful home with and unbelievable piece of land attached and then right beside that was a place to load cargo ships and a cargo ship.

 

We had arranged to have room service bring our breakfast which is what we do most port days so I went back to our cabin to have breakfast and see if Sherry was ready to get going as we were meeting our tour pretty close to the time we docked.

Ready to go.

 

We got off the ship with no problem and went to meet our tour operator.  You walk through all of the regular store area and duty free shop to get to the buses.  There were a lot of buses and we found a young man holding a sign for out tour.  He took our tickets and showed us which bus to get on.  Our bus held about 25 people and it was full along with another full bus so there were about 52 people on our tour.  

 

Now here is the problem with this excursion.  The bus ride to the Blue Hole Eco Park was not advertised anywhere and after the bus started moving the guide said to sit back and relax because we would be on the bus for an hour each way.  Since it's only a 4.5 hour tour we were spending about half of it on the highway on a bus.  It would be nice if they were to mention that some place because we would have opted to do something else.

 

We arrived at the Blue Hole Eco Park and had a chance to use the restrooms then got in line to get a wrist band.  This wrist band was something that could be scanned electronically to activate gates and cameras around the park in case you wanted to purchase their photos of you.  We basically ran through the bush on manicured trails, stopped at a few signs about the local vegetation and pushed on to the blue hole.

This is just inside the gate.  It leads you into the park through the gift shop and restaurant.

Many of the orchids and vegetation is quite beautiful just don't plan on learning anything from the guide about them.  He was in a hurry to get to the blue hole.  After about a 20 -25 minute walk we arrived.

There are little open cubbies to put you towels and other belongings so you can swim.  The platform is about 20 feet above the water and the water is roughly 40 feet deep.  It's fresh water that comes up through the ground and filter through some kind of mineral to give to the brilliant blue colour. 

 

The rock face that overhangs the water was huge and there were honey bee colonies protruding from the rock all over the place.  Like any honey bee, if you don't bother them they won't bother you.  I'm allergic to bee stings but my dad was a bee keeper for years in his retirement so I was used to them being around.

Really spectacular hives considering the people just leave them alone and don't harvest the honey.

 

There were more than 100 people there and it was getting crowded so our guide advised us to get ready to go.  By the time half of our group was ready to go our guide and the other half of the group had gone already.  We just took our time going back because we knew when the bus was leaving anyway.  We made our way back to the animal portion of the park.  They had some small monkeys, snakes, many different parrots, and a lot of iguanas.  You couldn't interact with the monkeys and snakes, but the parrots were accessible and so were the iguanas.  You could tell the animals were well care for and used to people being around all of the time.

After about 45 minutes with the animals everyone was boarding the bus to go back to the ship.  All in all the Eco Park would be a great place to visit with more time and less people.  This excursion was not exactly what was advertised and in my opinion not worth that money.

 

The hour long bus ride back to the ship was uneventful. Most folks seemed tired and just sat quietly.  When we got back to the port we looked around the stores a bit and then beat the line up and got back on the ship.

 

We didn't do much with the rest of our day after the ship left La Romana.  Took a nap, got ready for dinner and headed to the dining room.  I had the seafood Newberg and my wife had the beef wellington, followed by a chocolate melting cake for each of us for desert.  Both meals were good and the service in the dining room was very good.  

After dinner we went outside to see if we could catch the sunset and we did.

We just sat and relaxed for a bit as the outside decks were unusually quiet.  We had a bit of time before the love and marriage show that we had planned on seeing.

 

We made our way to the Liquid Lounge to watch the show.  It was packed and we were lucky to get a seat.  If we had been 5 minutes later we wouldn't have.  The show was great.  All three couple chosen were pretty funny and did know each other quite well.  After the show was over there was a White Hot Night Party with Schwarts in the lobby.  We didn't feel like attending so we went to try our luck at the casino for a while before bed.  We played roulette a little bit and a few slot machines.   After leaving enough of a donation in the casino we walked over to the sports bar so see what was happening in the world of sports since we have been disconnected from our phones and the internet for the last few days.  Nothing much going on in the bar so we sat and watched a few March Madness game highlights and then wandered off to bed.

 

Tomorrow is Curacao.  Can't wait.

 

 

On 3/27/2019 at 2:45 PM, JaniceB said:

Enjoying your review.  I think you were cruising during spring break which always tends to bring out more of the unruly children and parents who don't care.  We chose to take our children on a spring break cruise on Holland America one year.  There were lots of generations of families and not as many unruly children.  I think they were behaving for the grandparents or else.  

I am loving your pictures.  I am sailing the end of May and plan on visiting the steakhouse.

Yes it was spring break.  It is the only time we can travel as my wife works for the school system and they can only take their holidays at Christmas or spring break.  Next year we are going in April because her new contract states that they can take time outside of those times without pay if they choose to.  

On 3/27/2019 at 11:10 AM, declansdad said:

 

This is the menu from Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse.

 

https://www.carnival.com/~/media/Images/explore/dining/menus/fahrenheit-555-menu.pdf

The plates were quite large and they had an interesting way of serving tableside.  The fillet was a little small for me but my wife is usually sitting there watching me eat well after she is done.  I would say the fillet was between 7-8 oz and the lobster tail was a little small but very well prepared.  The meal was very good overall and worth the extra money.

On 3/24/2019 at 4:12 PM, declansdad said:

Enjoying your review so far, looking forward to the next installment. Curious about your comment about the number of upcharges in the MDR; you have been able to order certain items from the steakhouse for awhile now, are these the charges you are talking about?

 

Also don't forget if you are still hungry you can always order a second entree.

 

 

Yes these charges are what I meant.  It was the better cuts of meat and most of the seafood each night.  Last time we were on Carnival was 10 years ago and they didn't do this.  There seemed to be a lot of this type of thing throughout the ship this time.  I get that there are costs for Carnival which rise but you don't always have to upload it to the customer base to make more profits and potentially chase away customers in the process. I did order a 2nd entrée a few nights. 

Vacation Day 3 - March 11 - Grand Turk

 

We were scheduled to be in Grand Turk form 7 AM - 2 PM.  We docked a little before 7 and the weather was beautiful.  My wife and I hadn't decided on what we wanted to do in Grand Turk in the months before the cruise so we were just going to rent a golf cart and explore the island as it is very small.  This was our plan until the day before when we saw a few excursions advertised on the TV in our cabin that we didn't see on the Carnival website before.  We went to the Carnival Adventures desk in the lobby the night before and signed up for The Underwater Power Scooter, Beach Break, and Lunch excursion.  I think it was around $80 each and we had to meet our tour group outside the port entrance at a numbered booth at 9:30.  This gave us a little time to get off the ship and look around the port and beach before we had to go. You can see that there has been some devastation on the island due to storms.  There were a number of abandoned and boarded up buildings close by but over all it is a very beautiful little island and the people were extremely friendly.

 

We got off the ship and went to the left out of the port and walked down the beach towards a ship wreck.  There were quite a few local people selling beach chairs, umbrellas and horseback rides, etc....  Not pushy or anything you would have to approach them if you wanted anything. There were some stray dogs on the beach that I couldn't wait to pet as the one thing I do miss from home is our dog.

 

We walk about half a mile to look around but didn't want to go too far and miss out meeting time for our tour.  We headed back to the port area and found our meeting spot.  There were roughly 20 people in out group and they led us to an open air mini bus to go to Bajari Beach for the day.   The driver was very nice but didn't say much and if he did we probably wouldn't be able to hear him anyway.  It was about a 15 minute drive and we were set up immediately with our snorkel gear, and lockers to put our belongings.  It did say on the tickets to wear you bathing suit but you probably could change there if you had to.  The tour guide goes through the safety stuff and makes sure everyone has a vest and flippers that fit. He explains what we are doing and where we are going and them he and 2 others get I the boat with you and take you out to deeper water.  Everyone gets in the water and they give you your scooter.  He then guides you to different places on your way back to shore.  The whole process takes about an hour and a half.  It is very organized and once you get onto snorkelling and the scooter it's easy and a lot of fun.  The only thing I would warn you about is don't put too much air in your vest, it's hard to get it out once you are in the water and the waves are washing over you.  If you get too much air I the vest it's a lot harder to dive into deep water.  I got a few pics of fish and coral and a live sand dollar.  I found that the sun coming down through the water made it hard to see the screen on my underwater camera and of course didn't learn until later that I could adjust the screen.  Live and learn I guess.

Once we got back to shore we handed in our equipment and went to enjoy some lunch, something to drink, and the beautiful beach.  We were basically the only people there other than employees so we had the run of the place.  The food didn't look like much but it was very good.  There was jerk chicken, jerk pork, corn, rice and beans, and some mixed veg. 

After we ate and changed out of our wet clothes we looked around a bit and enjoyed the sunshine, sand, and salt water.  Bajari Beach was a beautiful spot and the colour of the water is spectacular.

After enjoying some relaxation on the beach we got our stuff together and went to meet one of the many buses that were constantly going between the port and the beach.  They told us we could get on any one we wanted and that it didn't have to be the same one we came on.  We chose a less crowded one and headed back to the port.

On the way back we took a different route than we came on and there were wild donkeys all over the place.  There were signs that stated to be carful because they would bite.  

We headed back to the port with about an hour to spare before we had to be on the ship.   This gave us enough time to have a quick look around the port to the right hand side of the pier.  The beach was very different there but still beautiful.  there were a lot of passengers that stayed there for the day and snorkelled around the ship.  We spoke to one guy from California that spent the day around there and there was a humpback whale just beyond where the ship was docked.  I wish we had been there to see that but you can't be everywhere.

My wife likes to snap the odd shot of me to prove that I was on the vacation with her as I am usually on the other end of the camera.

And the obligatory selfie of two aging folks in front of a beautiful ocean.

This dock is just to the right hand side of the pier as you leave the ship.  I wonder how many people take this exact same pic?

We got back on the ship and had a bit of a rest as we were having dinner at the steak house this night and didn't want to be late for our reservation.  

 

After our nap we got cleaned up and dressed for dinner.  I was looking forward to this because we had been to the steakhouse on our last cruise and it was quite a good meal.  The steakhouse on the Horizon is quite a bit bigger than the one on the Legend.  It is piano bar adjacent so you can also enjoy the piano player while you dine.  They bring a small starter to tease your pallet and get you interested in what you about to eat.  It was a potato soup in a tiny bowl made out of potato with some cooked parm.  It was very good.

There were three different breads.

I started with the jumbo shrimp cocktail and my wife started with the mushroom risotto.

My main was a 26 oz. rib steak, with baked potato, and a side of mushrooms.  My wife had the surf and turf. Both were prepared and served perfectly.

We both ordered the same desert.  It was this chocolate ball that was about half filled with sort of a malt ball center and some caramel.  They then bring some melted milk chocolate that is still hot and pour it over everything to mix it together.  I'm not a big desert person but this thing was awesome. I tried to post a video of it but it keeps saying this type of file is not supported.  It doesn't look like much when it's finished but it sure tasted good.

After we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner we took a bit of a walk around the ship and then went to the Liquid Lounge to watch a show called Vintage Pop.  Basically it's a show done in the style of the 20's but with todays music. The band was the horn section of one of the ships bands that was usually in the Havana Lounge.  They were very good. 

The show was about 45 - 60 minutes long with non-stop music and costume changes for the dancers and singers. Sometimes it's hard to believe they put this all together on a boat.

Another show that we enjoyed very much.

After the show we looked around the ship and enjoyed some of the other entertainment on board.  We went to the casino for a short time as it was very busy and decided to turn in for the night.

 

Tomorrow is La Romana.

 

 

Vacation Day 3 - March 10 - Sea Day  Continuation

 

Something I don't think I mentioned yet is that we decided we needed this vacation to unwind and get away from everything.  We have had a very stressful year with work and family stuff that we just wanted to disappear for a time.  That being said we left our cell phones and iPads at home and couldn't be reached for 11 day by anyone.  It was very liberating.

 

One thing we decided to do on the first sea day was to go outside our comfort zone and get a couples massage at the ships spa.  It was pretty easy to get an appointment and the girl at the front desk was very helpful and informative.  We made an appointment for that afternoon and returned when it was time.  We had decided on the hot stone massage and it was 75 minutes long for $169.00 each.  A little expensive but we are on vacation so why not.  It was relaxing enough that I fell asleep a couple of times which is very odd for me because for one I'm a terrible sleeper and two, I have horrible anxiety from people touching me.  That being said the massage was very good.  The only thing that made it less relaxing is the 2 ladies doing the massage come back into the room when you are done and dressed, and spend another 20 minutes or so trying to sell you all of the products that they used on you.

 

In my opinion that takes the relaxation out of the whole thing.  Just this man's opinion.

 

Tomorrow - Grand Turk (If I get home from work early enough to sit down and write)

Vacation Day 3 - March 10 - Sea Day

 

I am a bit of an early riser so I was up before my wife and went to look around the ship.  It was pretty quiet so I walk around and took a few pics of the ship without anyone in the way.

This was about the quietest I saw this pool all week.

I was outside just a little to late to see the sun come up.

The Lido Marketplace was just getting food out and some people were trickling in for breakfast.  For the most part I thought the food was pretty good on the Lido deck.  Lots of choices and the sandwich station seemed to be a hit with people all week.  The only thing I did notice was a lack of fruit other that melon, apples, and bananas.  I didn't see any berries, peaches, or pears.  Everything was always fresh and there was more than enough food out and there was no waiting to get something. 

 

I had a little time to sit in the lobby and watch the electronic funnel in the center of the bar change.  It really is kind of cool.  It changes constantly and the two pillars, one at each end of the lobby, change colour to match the funnel as do the circles in the ceiling.  There are two of these on the ship.  1 in the lobby and 1 in the casino.

I figured I had killed enough time so I went back to our cabin to see if my wife was up and ready to eat something.  There was a sea day brunch in the meridian dining room.  There was a good selection on the menu, something for everyone.

My wife had the French toast and some bacon.

I had an omelette and a side of bacon.  Both dishes were good and the service was first rate.

 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the ship.  It got busier and busier around the pools and deck chairs but it wasn't terrible.  If we wanted to have time by ourselves we could always use our balcony or a nice quiet spot outside was on deck 5 on either side of the ship.  Never crowded and comfortable seating areas.

We lounged around a bit, went to the casino and got a bit of good luck out of a couple of penny slots, and then went to watch the sunset.

After that we got cleaned up for dinner and had dinner in the MDR again tonight.

I started with a shrimp cocktail and a spinach salad.

My main was grilled salmon with mashed and broccoli.

And my desert was this chocolate concoction that was really quite good.

 

The food was good again tonight but the portions are getting smaller and smaller and leave you hungry.  After dinner we went to the Liquid Lounge to watch the show. It was called Soulbound and it was really good.  The singers were very good and the dancing was excellent.

After the show was over Schwartz hosted the Motown Showdown in the lobby.  It was very busy but a lot of fun. The DJ played small portions of Motown songs and you had to write down song and artist.  Everyone was singing along and Schwartz danced around the bar.  Oddly a very good dancer.

That is Schwartz on the bar and I don't remember his name but the gentleman in the white tux with the red shirt was a highlight.  He knew all the songs and was an awesome dancer.  It was a definite good time, very interactive, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  After that was over we took a short walk around the ship and then went and got ready for bed.  

 

Grand Turk was our first port and it was tomorrow.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Aplmac said:

.

If it helps any..

this is what we were seeing out here! Glad you fixed it!

.

Thanks.  I think I fixed it in the next segment.  It shows as black letters on a white background on my desktop.

Vacation Day 2 March 9, Embarkation Day

 

We were originally supposed to check in at the port between 12:00 and 12:30 but the only transfer we could fit on was at 10:00 AM.  We got off of our transfer bus and a porter met us and took our luggage.  We walk over to the door and there were 2 lines.  One was for appointment times and the other one said early/late arrivals.  We went in that line thinking we were going to wait for a couple hours but we went straight through security, sent to a lady to check us in, and instead of going to a zone room they took our zone card and just sent us onto the ship.  It took about 20 minutes.

 

We had plenty of time to look around the ship and get something to eat on the lido deck.  My first impression of the ship is "wow this is a big ship".  Everything was clean, the ships crew were busy but friendly, and there were already a lot of people on board.  They all seemed to be either at the buffet or around the lido deck pool. 

 

We got into our room (6391) about 1:30 and most of our luggage was there waiting for us already.  All except 1 bag and it came about an hour later.  We were able to get unpacked and everything put away before muster.  The room seemed to be your typical balcony room but there really isn't a lot of closet space.  Everything was clean and comfortable.  Our room steward, I Gede, was very nice and very good at his job.  He came and introduced himself the first day and asked if we wanted twice a day cleaning or once a day.  We told him once a day would be fine and he was always attentive and the room was always clean.  He remembered our names every time he saw us and was always polite and asked how we were. 

Muster was at 3:30 and it was a process.  Everyone had to go to their muster station and check in with their sail and sign card so they knew you were in attendance.  They announced about 10 names of people who didn't show up on time over and over again.  Eventually they gave up on those folks and went on with the presentation which took about a half hour. Then we were ready to sail.

 

 There were a couple of other ships in port with us, I think one was a Norwegian Ship and the other was Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas.

Schwartz was our cruise director and he wanted everyone at the sail away party to be as loud as possible so the other ship would be jealous that they were not on the Horizon.

 

Schwartz was a very capable young man.  He was visible around the ship day and night and present at seemingly every event we went to.  I'm not sure when he slept.

 

This is the start of the sail away party. It was pretty loud and I'm sure the Symphony of the Seas could hear us when we left. 

We were under way and My wife and I could feel the stress of the last few days start to drain away.  It's funny how some sunshine, warm sea air, and a cruise ship does for the soul.

We continued to explore the ship and find our way around.  I have read a number of peoples complaints about the elevators on the Horizon.  I see what they mean. I don't think these new elevators are more efficient by any means.  Many times it seems like you are waiting long enough that you just get annoyed and take the stairs.  Beyond that its not too hard to find your way around the ship. Its décor is fairly modern and you can tell they are trying to maximize the space to fit as many cabins as possible.  I found the lobby to be a little small considering there are a great deal of activities there throughout the week.  It was always crowded for those things and you couldn't see what was going on if you didn't get there early.

That was one thing about this ship the whole time we were on board.  It was crowded.  You had to choose what shows and activities you want to see well in advance because there were line-ups for everything.  In my opinion the Liquid Lounge was too small for a ship with this many passengers and the comedy shows were all in the Limelight Lounge and we didn't get to any of them because there were always too many people lined up to get into the show about a half hour before the show started.  Carnival is trying to maximize profits by adding cabins and taking away from common areas.

We chose "your time dining" as it seems to work better for us than a set time.  The last time we were on the Legend with your time dining you just walked up to the maître d and they would get you a table.  On the Horizon you had to go to deck 5 aft and check in at a desk.  Give them you room number and how many people were dining and they would give you a ticket with a table number on it.  You then take that ticket to the dining room on deck 3 aft and they would seat you. 

 

On a side note the dress code was a little lax to say the least.  We saw a great number of people in the dining room with ball caps, shorts, bathing suits, and tank tops every night. even the 2 formal nights.  Part of the fun of cruising for me is dressing for dinner.  We both work full time and don't really take the time that often to get dressed up and go out for dinner, so on a cruise its nice to take a little extra time and look our best for each other.  It would also be refreshing if people would look after their children and possibly teach them some manners.  We saw a great deal of kids running around the dining room and crawling under the tables while their parents just sat there and said nothing. It's disappointing.

 

The first night I ordered a simple dinner. I started with a shrimp cocktail.

My main was a pork chop with baked apple slices and mashed potatoes.

and for desert I ordered an assortment of cheeses and they knew it was my birthday the day before so they also brought me some cake and sang happy birthday.

All in all dinner was good but I was very surprised to see all the up charges in the MDR menu.  Is Carnival going broke or are they just trying to squeeze every last dime out of their customers?

 

After dinner we wandered around some more, watched a few musicians, tried our luck at the casino, and then went to bed.  

 

Tomorrow is our first full day at sea.