Horizon 7/3 review, a year in the making...

4 years is a long time, do not think you will be disappointed in what Horizon offers, thanks for the kind words.

 

 

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I'm glad to hear you say that. I'll be happy to be on a cruise and exploring a new ship, too. :)

Heather

So my wife and I have two jobs, our "regular" jobs and also as TA's, which we got into as a direct relation to our love for cruising. As time got closer to our cruise, we made significant choice that would put more emphasis on this cruise as a celebration. We both decided to retire from our "regular" jobs at the end of June. This change of life milestone added a little stress and and a lot of focus as June progressed before the cruise.

Our group is pretty local to New York (about 90 miles away in CT), so we had arranged a small bus to take us down to the cruise. This 8 day cruise was Tuesday to Wednesday, so we had to deal with normal traffic down to the city and also of where busses can go and cannot go within the city (kind of a pain, if it were just the two of us traveling by car, it would be much easier but...).

We met a common area and loaded up around 8:30 and began the trip. We had estimated that leaving at this time would get us to the port close to our check in time and we were right on with the estimate.

I'm so glad I didn't miss this- I've been waiting for this review, Jimbo!

I'm so glad I didn't miss this- I've been waiting for this review, Jimbo!

 

 

 

Thanks for waiting. Just need an hour to download the pics from 2 cameras and my phone (not like there are hundreds.....), promise to get to the actual review today.

 

 

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So we arrived at the New York port on time. We were dropped off on the lower level, gave our bags to a porter (I was watching loading bags and seeing if he combined priority with regular bags, but it seemed all good) and headed upstairs to check in.

The New York port....by far the oldest we have sailed from, while I do not know, my guess is it goes back to the really old days. It is fine inside, but long and narrow as a result, the main entrance can be congested and a little crazy depending on when you get there.

A bunch of us are priority, a bunch gold and even some blue and red card holders. I bring this up as there are 3 lines and people being directed to different one, which made it a but crazy. Two of our kids and families live out on the island so they came separate. Add to that that large wedding was coming through at the same time and they held everybody so they could go together (which was just fine) which spread out group out even more.

This was out third sailing out of this wonderful city, the pier side workers always seem .... um out of kilter. we checked in and she handed us a zone 5 card (they had begun boarding), I looked down.....mentioned that we were Diamond, she said wow....then said next. We shrugged and moved on. In New York, your sign ans sail cards are waiting outside your door. After going through security, we walked down and someone directed us to board and I handed over the zone 5 card.

Our group was spread out all over the terminal, but once the scanned our boarding documents and we went outside, I called them one by one and some were through coming up behind us and some were still inside, but moving to board. Quicker than quick, we were on the Horizon.

The New York port....by far the oldest we have sailed from, while I do not know, my guess is it goes back to the really old days. It is fine inside, but long and narrow as a result, the main entrance can be congested and a little crazy depending on when you get there,

These piers go back to at least the 1930s - Pier 88 was for the French Line, while Pier 90 was Cunard's. That slip where we were docked? That's where Normandie caught fire and capsized in 1942. DH's grandparents sailed to Bermuda from Pier 94 in 1938. They do have some age...

Once in the lobby, we were being directed either up to Lido or to five to Pig and Anchor. I had read elsewhere that Pig and Anchor was going to be closed because Guy Fieri was filming a commercial there. We never saw him and it was open when boarding began.

We got off at 5, and headed in that direction and as we passed some staff said it was "this way" and we said we knew and were Diamond and heading down to our room to drop off bags first.

Thanks for sharing your review.

These piers go back to at least the 1930s - Pier 88 was for the French Line, while Pier 90 was Cunard's. That slip where we were docked? That's where Normandie caught fire and capsized in 1942. DH's grandparents sailed to Bermuda from Pier 94 in 1938. They do have some age...

Thanks Kathy, (it was nice meeting you at the meet and greet). I do not want to give people the wrong idea, I have nothing wrong with the pier or facilities, it is just the logistics of a long narrow building.

As I mentioned we had a Havana Suite, we headed down to the entrance to the lounge and then bared right, through the door(s) and down the hallway. As we approached the room, we met our room steward Alicia (from Guatamala) and she greeted us by name and said to contact her if we needed anything.

As a footnote before I forget, later she asked us if we needed anything, mentioned the service options (morning, evening, or both), we said evening was fine for us. She also asked if we needed anything special, and we said no.

One of our daughter has 4 kids, so we had her husband listed in our room. She was right on it (the third bed was not made) and we told her we would not need it.

About 5 years ago we were asked by one of our grandkids to travel with Flat Stanley and take pictures during our trips so she could use those when she returned to school. It kind of became a thing, here is Flat Stanley as we entered the room.

and another of the room (more to follow)

We also noticed that there was a meet and greet card on the desk (first time we had gotten one) sorry for the sideways pic

Another thing we noticed right away that was different than the Vista, On the Vista there was a second card given that unlocked the slider (from the outside). The horizon does not have this feature (we found the extra card to be problematic, so it was probably for the best). There was a swing chair outside (as we had expected) but it disappeared during the night, When we asked Alicia, she said one had fallen and a guest got hurt so they removed them. Some of our fellow cruisers were a bit upset, but they brought another regular chair for the patio area later the next day.

We headed out through the slider and down through the brown lover door to Pig and Anchor where we got something to eat. Good stuff and they had different flavors of sauces to add on as well.

We went back to the Havana Bar for a cocktail before muster.....do love the doubles.....

Soon enough, it was time for muster. We headed down, got our cards scanned and waited to begin, to be honest, it was the quickest muster we have had in a good while.

Next up, sail away

Enjoying your review and pictures. We will be on Horizon in a little over a month and i am looking forward to seeing your ship pictures.

 

Would have loved to try the Havana suite but by the time we booked, the only suites were OS and GS, so we are in an OS on 7. I would have liked it just for the walk in shower which looks really nice, we just have the regular tub. I'm assuming you booked some way out? And is it priced higher than the OS?

Enjoying your review and pictures. We will be on Horizon in a little over a month and i am looking forward to seeing your ship pictures.

 

 

 

Would have loved to try the Havana suite but by the time we booked, the only suites were OS and GS, so we are in an OS on 7. I would have liked it just for the walk in shower which looks really nice, we just have the regular tub. I'm assuming you booked some way out? And is it priced higher than the OS?

 

 

 

Thanks for following along, have a bunch more pics to show. The shower was really nice as was the additional rain water shower head. We booked it the first day it opened as well as 5 other Havana rooms (they had at last two price drops along the way.....none for us). This room is priced above an OS but below a GS.

 

 

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I just booked Horizon for my birthday next March so I'm looking forward to this review.

Roll calls, they seem to have a life of their own, some flourishing and other dying on the vine. The one for our sailing was fairly active, as usual it got busier as the time to our cruise got closer. All in all, at over 250 posts, it ranks near the top.

Another interesting point is that ones for new ships are always busier, probably with all the questions that people have, regardless if is the first in a class or not. This one was no exception to that.

 

Whether these continue once everybody boards is another topic entirely. For this one, I did meet a couple of fellow posters, thanks for that. Once of the things we really enjoy about cruising is meeting interesting people, from all over the world.

 

 

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If 250 post on a roll call ranks near the top, then our roll call "Carnival Splendor Roll Call - August 25th 2018" must be the top at 426 post:cool:.

Looking forward for the review. We will be in a Havana Cabana a week from today so give me the scoop on the Horizon!

If 250 post on a roll call ranks near the top, then our roll call "Carnival Splendor Roll Call - August 25th 2018" must be the top at 426 post:cool:.

 

 

 

Lol, I meant for us.

 

 

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Going on Horizon this week so let me start reading. :D

 

It has been a while since we have sailed (almost a year to the day) and as long since doing a review. While there is at least one other review in process, join me as I relive our Horizon cruise.

 

 

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You mentioned that some family were in the Family Harbor Suites. Since those suites are under the galley, did they have any problems with the noise in the middle of the night? Thank you and look forward to the remainder of your review. :)

Going on Horizon this week so let me start reading. :D

 

 

 

I will try and kick it up some for you (time wise)

 

 

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