Just off of the Horizon, mixed feelings

[BlerkOne]

Agree they need to be monitoring the elevators and adjust as needed. Or post directions somewhere! Half the time we gave up and walked.

 

What kind of directions do you need?????

 

There are deck plan maps available and outside of most elevators are you are here deck plans.

[quickrate]

We were on the Horizon TA and had amazing service both in dining room as well as room steward. found food to ne above normal, on Lido as well as in dining room. This was my 30th Carnival cruise, so not a newbie! found the elevators to be a great innovation, people just don't know how to deal with change. You walk up ,select your floor, it tells you what elevator to get on. It doesn't stop on every floor, it actually is much faster than before.

PAT

[Psweets]

Agree they need to be monitoring the elevators and adjust as needed. Or post directions somewhere! Half the time we gave up and walked.

 

 

 

What time did they start checking people in?

 

 

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[Psweets]

What time did they start checking people in?

 

 

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[nicole9s]

We had YTD and lucked out with a great team on the first night, and sat with them every other night we went to the MDR. We enjoyed the food we had; the only things I didn't care for were the poached eggs on avocado toast that came out with hard yolks, and the lobster roll from the Seafood Shack. We didn't do the Lido too much, but did do the small breakfasts/lunches in Ocean Plaza that we enjoyed.

 

As far as our room steward, we asked him on the first day, twice, for an extra pillow. He said yes, yes, but it never came. I asked again the next day and he said there were NO more pillows on the entire ship, maybe tomorrow. The next day was a sea day, so I'm curious to know from where the pillow was materializing. Next day, same thing. Finally, on San Juan day we went to guest services and said something (by now the pillow wasn't the only issue, he wasn't replacing items we were using up, like drinking glasses and some bathroom items, despite my leaving notes). They sent the floor supervisor to our room, we explained what had happened, and he told us flat out that the room steward lied to us about the pillows. He immediately brought us one and then, of course, there were another 2 in our room that night. The next day, the steward stopped us in the hall and apologized and said 'the ship finally got more pillows yesterday'. So there was either a major communication issue where this guy thought there were no pillows on the entire ship, or he was really committed to his story!

 

Don't get me wrong, I understood how to operate the elevators. We just continually experienced delays in their arrival, and when we did get on, they seemed to stop at nearly every deck but often there wasn't anyone there. The general consensus was that people rang for it, but got tired of waiting and took the stairs instead. Maybe it was in fact people not understanding how to work them, who knows?

We were on the Horizon TA and had amazing service both in dining room as well as room steward. found food to ne above normal, on Lido as well as in dining room. This was my 30th Carnival cruise, so not a newbie! found the elevators to be a great innovation, people just don't know how to deal with change. You walk up ,select your floor, it tells you what elevator to get on. It doesn't stop on every floor, it actually is much faster than before.

PAT

 

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Edited June 6, 2018 by nicole9s

[Joebucks]

I am very interested in booking a future Horizon (or Panorama) cruise. Am I correct in reading this as elevators and difficulty in getting extra pillows is what turned this into a mixed feeling cruise?

[Sillyjilly]

I am very interested in booking a future Horizon (or Panorama) cruise. Am I correct in reading this as elevators and difficulty in getting extra pillows is what turned this into a mixed feeling cruise?

 

OP also said there were some very rude crew members and passengers. That seemed to be the most problematic from what I read.

[mets123]

I was on the cruise as well and had mixed feelings as well. My wife uses a scooter and we had a full accessible room. About an hour after we boarded, I got a call asking if we really needed the accessible room, that someone else could use it. I said no, that my wife was a stroke survivor and it was essential we have it. I thought it was in poor taste that they even asked.

 

The scooter we rented was broken. I asked to have it repaired and was flat out told that they do have to do repairs. I had to call special needs at sea who then told customer service that it was the ship s responsibility.

 

I didn't know that the entire casino was a smoking area. I went in there for ten minutes one day and the smoke was so thick my lungs bothered me for two days. You would think a ship so technically advanced could provide a smoke free area. I questioned the casino staff and they copped out saying it was a corporate decision.

 

I asked the excursions department if they had any accessible tours and was told none were available. That was disappointing to say the least.

 

I thought the entertainment staff did a great job.

 

I don't want to come off as a complainer. I have over a hundred days at sea with Carnival and know issues when I see them.

[nicole9s]

OP also said there were some very rude crew members and passengers. That seemed to be the most problematic from what I read.

 

It definitely was not pillows and elevators. It was more the lack of training of certain crew, the attitudes/treatment (brushing off, total miscommunication several times, example- times or locations communicated for an event being totally incorrect or changing without any notification) and some of the passengers attitudes/actions. I was able to brush off most of the passenger BS (although the 14 year old that cursed me out because I told her my husband was sitting next to me was a little much) but if this is Carnival's flagship, I thought they wanted the best and brightest of crew staffing it. Some of the crew seemed like they got on the ship with us...or were ready to get off with us when we got back to NY, lol.

[nicole9s]

I was on the cruise as well and had mixed feelings as well. My wife uses a scooter and we had a full accessible room. About an hour after we boarded, I got a call asking if we really needed the accessible room, that someone else could use it. I said no, that my wife was a stroke survivor and it was essential we have it. I thought it was in poor taste that they even asked.

 

The scooter we rented was broken. I asked to have it repaired and was flat out told that they do have to do repairs. I had to call special needs at sea who then told customer service that it was the ship s responsibility.

 

I didn't know that the entire casino was a smoking area. I went in there for ten minutes one day and the smoke was so thick my lungs bothered me for two days. You would think a ship so technically advanced could provide a smoke free area. I questioned the casino staff and they copped out saying it was a corporate decision.

 

I asked the excursions department if they had any accessible tours and was told none were available. That was disappointing to say the least.

 

I thought the entertainment staff did a great job.

 

I don't want to come off as a complainer. I have over a hundred days at sea with Carnival and know issues when I see them.

 

The asking you to move rooms and telling you they couldn't help with the scooter are good examples of the issues I witnessed. I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

As far as the casino, I think they do actually have a non-smoking area, it was just definitely not being enforced and the crew is either powerless to say anything, or don't care to. I agree, I could not find the NS area, it was very, very smoky.

[BlerkOne]

I did not not find the casino overly smoky. Of course, if you are in the smoking section and seated next to a smoker, it is going to seem smokier. When that happens, I move. Carnival doesn't have non-smoking casinos and I have been in a lot smokier casinos on Carnival and other cruise lines. Some of what I read in this thread are people repeated what they had read, and not something they personally experienced.

 

Again, I did not have any issues with the elevators other than an initial, brief, learning curve. Something else I liked about them was there was no elevator bingo - where you looked at which floor each elevator was, and trying to guess which one would arrive first on your floor. Then watching the people shuffle around jockeying for position near the one they were betting on. With the new system, you know which elevator is coming for you.

[evandbob]

The asking you to move rooms and telling you they couldn't help with the scooter are good examples of the issues I witnessed. I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

As far as the casino, I think they do actually have a non-smoking area, it was just definitely not being enforced and the crew is either powerless to say anything, or don't care to. I agree, I could not find the NS area, it was very, very smoky.

 

 

The non smoking section in the casino of the Horizon (and most other Carnival ships) consists of a bank of 3 machines back to back or a row of 4 or 6 machines, both situated in the midst of the smoking area, in other words, the rest of the casino.

 

It is only designated by a tiny non smoking symbol on the machine itself, which gets mainly ignored or overlooked.

 

I've heard it said that having a non smoking section surrounded by the smoking section is like having a peeing section in a pool.

[nicole9s]

i've heard it said that having a non smoking section surrounded by the smoking section is like having a peeing section in a pool.

 

so true!!! :'):'):')

[nicole9s]

I did not not find the casino overly smoky. Of course, if you are in the smoking section and seated next to a smoker, it is going to seem smokier. When that happens, I move. Carnival doesn't have non-smoking casinos and I have been in a lot smokier casinos on Carnival and other cruise lines. Some of what I read in this thread are people repeated what they had read, and not something they personally experienced.

 

Again, I did not have any issues with the elevators other than an initial, brief, learning curve. Something else I liked about them was there was no elevator bingo - where you looked at which floor each elevator was, and trying to guess which one would arrive first on your floor. Then watching the people shuffle around jockeying for position near the one they were betting on. With the new system, you know which elevator is coming for you.

 

I'm not sure if you are misunderstanding me, or just challenging what I personally experienced. My family understood, quite well, how the elevators worked, even my 5 year old. It did not preclude us from having to wait a long time for elevators, or from stopping on many decks once we were on it - oftentimes to find an empty lobby. Again, I'm not sure if this was due to operator error on others' parts, or if Carnival should have some other programming in place that assigns more than 1 elevator at a time to a floor if multiple people have requested it.

[BlerkOne]

I'm not sure if you are misunderstanding me, or just challenging what I personally experienced. My family understood, quite well, how the elevators worked, even my 5 year old. It did not preclude us from having to wait a long time for elevators, or from stopping on many decks once we were on it - oftentimes to find an empty lobby. Again, I'm not sure if this was due to operator error on others' parts, or if Carnival should have some other programming in place that assigns more than 1 elevator at a time to a floor if multiple people have requested it.

 

Your experience was different from mine. You keep repeating your experience; I am repeating my experience. Others have also indicated no problem with the elevators. Not doubting you, but you do not speak for all.

[nicole9s]

Good grief, at what point did I say that all 4,600 people on board individually came up to me and said they hated the elevators? I said that the people I spoke with, as well as the ppl on my FB group that posted, indicated they did not have a good experience with the elevators.

 

Incidentally, were you on the 5/28 sailing? If not, you're essentially comparing apples and oranges, as the passenger makeup, understanding and actions could clearly be different from one sailing to another.

[geaux_aces]

We were on the same cruise. I thought the staff was wonderful. We had the best MDR waiters we've had in 10 cruises and a top-notch room steward.

 

I found the frustration with the elevators to be more a people issue than a program issue. I understand there being confusion on day 1, but when people are getting in an elevator on day 3 and asking you to press a button (which don't exist)- well, there's no fixing stupid. We found the wait for an elevator to be longer, but the time you actually spend in the elevator is cut down a lot (stopping way less). We didn't encounter any rude passengers, but we tend to do things on our own most of the time.

 

I really liked the new buffet layout (compared to the Vista) but having the same food on 8 stations seems a little redundant. We did think the food was good. I hated the new deli.

[Mike C]

What time did they start checking people in?

 

 

10 AM

[Mike C]

As far as the casino, I think they do actually have a non-smoking area, it was just definitely not being enforced and the crew is either powerless to say anything, or don't care to. I agree, I could not find the NS area, it was very, very smoky.

 

 

There was a lot of hype how the casino had a great air filtration system. Actually what they've done is keep the smoke from entering other sections of the ship. The area over the bar is glassed in and there is an air curtain at each entrance to keep the smoke in. It was particularly bad during the basketball game when the bar area was full of smokers watching the game.

[BlerkOne]

 

I found the frustration with the elevators to be more a people issue than a program issue. I understand there being confusion on day 1, but when people are getting in an elevator on day 3 and asking you to press a button (which don't exist)- well, there's no fixing stupid. We found the wait for an elevator to be longer, but the time you actually spend in the elevator is cut down a lot (stopping way less). We didn't encounter any rude passengers, but we tend to do things on our own most of the time.

 

 

Agree.

[Alaskan Joe]

Don't get me wrong, I understood how to operate the elevators. We just continually experienced delays in their arrival, and when we did get on, they seemed to stop at nearly every deck but often there wasn't anyone there. The general consensus was that people rang for it, but got tired of waiting and took the stairs instead. Maybe it was in fact people not understanding how to work them, who knows?

 

FYI, If I am wanting to go down on elevators and A they are slow or B they are full I will go up then back down (hell I at least on it).

[nicole9s]

FYI, If I am wanting to go down on elevators and A they are slow or B they are full I will go up then back down (hell I at least on it).

Yes, but if you do that, there's no guarantee once you're on it will stop at the floor you want. We did this once or twice and got lucky that someone in the interim chose the floor we wanted.

 

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[BlerkOne]

FYI, If I am wanting to go down on elevators and A they are slow or B they are full I will go up then back down (hell I at least on it).

 

There is no guarantee that if you do that, it will stop at your destination deck. That would be pure luck.

[ceslovesmes]

Thanks for your review, I really appreciate it. I usually take the stairs and will try to avoid the elevator..lol

 

Quick question, what time did they started letting people disembark after self assist?

 

Diamond met in dining room at 6:30am and we walked off at 7:00am.

[Badfinger]

The guy in the top picture is Mike Pack. Seems like a genuinely nice person. Was the CD on our last two Breeze cruises. Sorry to know he won't be on the Breeze this year. He must be Carnival's #1 guy to get that ship.