cruiseguy56

We love the thermal suite. We visit it multiple times a day. Especially like to use it on port days when so many people are off the boat. We've been on enough cruises that we've been to at least some of the ports on each cruise before anyway.

On 12/15/2023 at 4:31 PM, Mosaic said:

Hey, as a male, "wear" does that leave me!???

I often wear thongs on Hal. What Dear?. Oh, DW says they're flip flops, not thongs.

Our favorite excursion is one we do ourselves. In St. Thomas, we get in a taxi and go to Coki beach. Costs $20. each way for the two of us. At Coki we love to feed the fish. You CAN pay about $100. for two of you to take HAL's excursion to Coki. If you do, you get to watch someone else feed the fish, but what's the fun in spending twice the money to watch someone else do that?

On 12/29/2019 at 3:22 PM, sun~ said:

I found out the trick to opening the balcony partitions. A regular key, like a house key or car key. It worked between our balcony and our friend's balcony. We kept asking the cabin steward, he said "later" which never happened. I noticed a row of three balconies were open next to our friend's cabin, so we asked one of the people. They had the same issue with the tardy steward. She told me the trick. It worked.

I wish I'd known that the night we got locked out on the balcony years ago. The steward happened to be in the next room (had already done ours). I banged and banged on the partition trying to get his attention.with no luck. Finally, my wife said hang on to me, I'm going to sit on the railing and swing around. Somehow, we managed it without her going in the ocean and the very surprised steward let her in then came over and let me in.

On 9/9/2022 at 3:48 PM, DaveOKC said:

I have heard that people who prebuy and find the price lower onboard often get a refund.  I have never done this, just passing on other's comments.

We have pre-bought and one time got a refund of the "sale" difference, but one time we did not.

Just found this site with a "cabin checker" feature. Select your deck and your cabin and it pops open a window with what's above and below your cabin

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/cabin-check.php?ship=Carnival-Horizon

You're most definitely under the gray crew access are.

DW and I are on the Horizon in 2297 in 2 weeks. Looking at the deck plans, since your room is aft of the elevators, it appears you might actually be under the gray (crew access only) area in this link- 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/deckplans/Carnival-Horizon-1355/deck03-3958

Carnival adventures is further towards the front of those elevators so you shouldn't be under it.

Here's the link to deck 2 for comparison -

https://www.cruisemapper.com/deckplans/Carnival-Horizon-1355/deck02-3957

Depending on what exactly the crew access area is for, it may actually be quiet as it may not be occupied all the time. Best wishes for an enjoyable cruise!

After checking the deck plans, Looks like you're right under the Brass Magnolia Bar and just aft of the atrium. Being under a bar CAN be noisy as can being under the atrium if any games or dance challenges etc. or being held there. Haven't ever been on Carnival before, Will be going on Horizon in 2 weeks. Hope you enjoy your cruise. Hoping we'll enjoy our first time on Carnival.

On 5/1/2023 at 9:40 AM, topspot said:

We have taken the water taxi.  Go out of the port, facing land go to your left (north). It is near Karel's which is a bar on the waterfront.  The taxi takes you to leave our stuff on the beach (you get like 10 minutes) then get back on the taxi and they drop you off so you can do a drift snorkel back to the spot where you left your stuff.   We did this on a day when there was NOT a ship in port.  I believe on cruise ship days, they just pick up and drop off at the beach.   We are going to Bonaire for a land trip next week.  Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

WE booked a three hour water taxi excursion to Klein Bonaire to drift snorkel. We're curious is there more than one water taxi company? What if we want to come back before the three hours is up (I've seen that the taxis run frequently) Do you know if we can just get back on any taxi when it shows up?

On 6/20/2023 at 5:53 PM, Mary229 said:

You receive one point for each sailing day.  Additionally you receive 1 point for every $300 spent above and beyond the fare except taxes, port fees, airfare and hotels and transfers booked pre or post cruise 

Unless you're in a suite, then you still get two days awarded for every day sailed, right?

On 4/4/2023 at 2:26 PM, staceyglow said:

A little while back, John Heald posted a picture of the crew's mess.  It had a big sign listing all of the available entrees, which, of course had many items from the cremembers' home countries.  Some of them sounded really delicious!

I propose that they should have a "crew favorite" menu item every night.  The supply chain is already in place for those dishes, and it would just be a matter of preparing more on that night.  I think it is also a nice way to bond with the crew members and a good topic of conversation you can literally have with any one of them:  "I see that the crew favorite on tonight's menu is the shawarma.  Have you had it?  Is it good?"

 

That is one thing I loved about  Holland America. There were always an option for some sort of Indian or Indonesian dinner in the MDR and several choices in the Lido buffets. Sadly, in all the cruise lines decisions to cut back on menu items to save money after covid, I've noticed fewer "crew favorites"  available on HAL even though they are certainly still feeding their crew.

14 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival's liability, even if it somehow was their fault, is limited. It's in the ticket contract. That is what insurance is for. 

You're going to find that EVERY cruise line's liability is limited. Anyway, hope you enjoy whatever line(s) to which you branch out. WE have, overall, enjoyed every line we've been on.

16 hours ago, staceyglow said:

Go to either Ji JI's, Cucina del Capitano, or Pig and Anchor for lunch on embark day

 

They are usually uncrowded because people haven't discovered them yet.

I had seen that pig and anchor was only open for lunch on sea days. Excited to hear that it's also open on embarkation day!

Also, Guy's burger joint and blue iguana are open for lunch.

Yay! Happy for you! We're still in the triple digits before our next

We have a cove booked for August on the Horizon. DW is really excited about being close enough to the water to se things like the flying fish we often see on cruises, but have always been 8 decks up so to her they looked like little blurs.  My only concern is the potential for rough weather as, since booking, I've found out that in rough waters the crew will come in and shut a metal door so you can't go ut on the balcony. I don't mind but DW has claustrophobia (why we ALWAYS get a balcony room!).

10 hours ago, Cruising_Addict said:

Sincerely, but how does one pack for what has to be at least a 13 day vacation if it’s a 12 day cruise into just a carryon? I’m not an overpacker and I’m pretty low maintenance in that I can get away with packing only one extra pair of shoes (formal, for elegant night), but there’s no way I could do it. I wouldn’t be able to do more than a few days worth of clothes, my extra shoes and my personal items. 

Depends on what you want to do on the cruise I suppose. We saw a young lady on a HAL cruise go on board with a small backpack-style purse on her back, and after 7 days, saw her leaving the parking lot at the terminal with nothing more than that backpack-style purse. We only ever saw her on the boat wearing a bikini laying by the pool. Could only assume she brought nothing but bikinis and the closthes she wore on and off(same outfit).

On 4/10/2023 at 7:33 PM, opensaysme said:

Are you referring to ShopHQ? I believe that's the one we always watched simply for the INVICTA's. XFINITY just informed me that they are dropping ShopHQ starting May 12, 2023. But anyway, I think I will surprise him this cruise with an INVICTA to make up for my oopsy. 😅

Yes, ShopHQ is the channel. We have since just gone straight to invictastores.com and have been making our purchases there.

On 3/11/2023 at 2:05 PM, DeedeeG said:

Has anyone had any problems finding parking at the port? With so many ships leaving at the same time, I'm worried about getting a spot, with a 1 p.m. boarding time. Thanks!

We have parked there numerous times and NEVER had a problem finding a spot. We normally get to the parking garage about noon and don't ever have to go up on the roof. Usually find a space on the second level.

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

That's crazy. That's the only thing that has surged in price since 2018. 

 

 

Eggs, Gasoline, cars, cell phones all come to mind as having surged in price since 2018. But that said, yes, the hut pricing is ridiculous.

9 hours ago, opensaysme said:

My husband wanted an INVICTA so badly on the ship one year and it was, to me, too expensive. I said to him, "we can find that on land for cheaper." And doggonit when we got back to land he searched for that watch and he did not fail to mention to me that he never did find that exact INVICTA. Oops. 🙊

DW bought me my first Invicta on a ship because it came in the red motorcycle helmet case, rather than a standard yellow Invicta box and I've been riding motorcycles since I was about 6 and driving them since about 11. DW thought that while the watches might be a bit expensive, it was a very cool watch and case. After that cruise, we noticed a tv channel that sold them and started finding out that the ship prices were pretty much the same as the shopping channel which is actually Invicta selling them through their web site. Now she's hooked and we both have multiple Invictas.

1 hour ago, ginabab said:

Hi, I used to like cheap watches in bright colors. Cruise ships seem to have the best selection. 

Now my yellow-cased iPhone is always with me.

Uh oh, another victim of the IPhone "spring color" marketing ploy. If you REALLY love yellow, you could, in about a year, get an SE4 (which is basically everything the 14 is for about $500.) that's actually a NEW phone, not just another color on the almost certainly worst IPhone upgrade ever. But hey, the 14 DOES tell time..

9 hours ago, opensaysme said:

 Also, what are your thoughts on EFFY gemstones?

We have purchased numerous Effy gemstone pieces. Had no issues with the price as we said each time that's too much and got better offers (these were all purchased on another cruise line though). Valuation of the pieces was compatible with what we ended up paying for them and there were no stones that were anything other than as they were described on the ships. The only issue we have is with Effy necklaces on the ship. The ships and most land Effy stores only carry 20 inch necklaces (apparently that is the most wanted length). After returning from our cruise when DW got her necklace, we contacted Effy headquarters in New York. We were able to send the piece to them at no cost and they sent the piece back on a 22 inch chain, also at no additional cost to us.

DW and I have branched out and have enjoyed each of the lines we've cruised. That said, we have also found things we DON'T like about each line. That Includes HAL which is the line we've cruised the most. Still, we've NEVER had a bad cruise. We live by the philosophy that you can be better or bitter. We go with better and have fun regardless of the glitches or inconveniences that may arise.I hope you DO try other lines and I hope you too find your restored happiness in cruising.

On 4/5/2023 at 4:41 PM, CajunOyster said:

 

This is at least the fourth time (in four different threads) you've complained about a chicken thigh being cut into three pieces.  Does that really bother you so much?  If it's a buffet and you can eat as much as you want, what does it matter how many pieces they cut the chicken thigh into anyway?  Do you complain about the number of slices a pizza is cut into when you can get the entire pizza?

I complain when they cut a pizza into eight pieces instead of six. But that's only because six pieces of Pizza is my limit, lol.