My take on the Carnival Horizon 8/8 Recap

[tap_out]

With the ship getting a ton of negative reviews I wanted to give my opinion and fill people in on one of best cruises. Instead of writing a full blown review I will highlight some of the important stuff.

 

Embarkation - We had an 11:30 check in, got to the port about 10:50. We were on the boat at 12:30. Very smooth. I dont know how much they are enforcing the timed check in. There were several people ahead of us with 12:00 and 12:30 check in times which shouldn't be the case.

 

Food- We did something a little different this cruise and ate in several specialty restaurants. Steak house was great but allow about 2hrs. JiJi was amazing and probably the best meal we had, especially for the value. We also had dinner in Pig in Anchor, Great meal, pricing was fair and an awesome atmosphere. Despite all of the complaints we never spent more then an hour in the main dining room and had a different team every night. Food was on par with all of our other cruises with Carnival HUB app is a must when checking in. The lines got pretty long to check in on Deck 5. The deli was hand making whatever sandwich you wanted and they were great. The lines were never more then 15 mins at peak times. Mongolian Wok was a miss. It took us almost 2hrs from the time they took are name till the time we got done eating. Always super packed and the food was just okay. Guys is Guys. It was nice having so many options.

 

Cheers- 15 drinks is 15 drinks. No they will not let you buy before or after your 15 drink limit. This wasn't a problem for us but several people we met on board did ask. This is a must for us from now on. We hit 10+ drink every day plus always had specialty coffee and water. So we killed it on the value part. Anna and Zooran I know I butchered his name at the Alchemy bar were the best and we really enjoyed are time there. Pig and Anchor had some great beers and drinks as well and was always pretty dead. Loved the variety of drinks throughout the ship. Havana area could have definitely used some more bar tenders.

 

Havana - We had a sideways interior room. At first we thought it was cool to have something different but it wasn't practical at all. Whenever my wife was getting ready at the table it blocked access to the closet and bathroom. Also the TV was mounted on a side wall and didnt swivel for some reason. The tv was hit or miss and never seemed to connect to the internet. The Havana is a must on this ship and I dont know if we will ever be able to sail without it again. Despite concerns of it being overcrowded with the extra rooms added this was not a problem at all. Another recent concern was them not enforcing the rules. At first we had to mention it a couple times that people didn't belong but they were all over it after that. My wife was hesitant about booking this for the extra money but no problem admitting I was right after we walked up to the main and aft pools. It was a mad house. Even in the aft pool which usually isnt to bad. 10+ kids in the hot tubs at all times literally doing canon balls into the hot tubs.

 

Crowds - The ship does get crowded again I couldn't imagine spending anytime in the main pool. One thing that has changed in the 3+ years since we sailed carnival is they have life jackets available for the kids. So were normally the pools wouldn't be to crowded they are now packed with 5 and under kids. The new theater design is kind of dumb but we had decent seats the first night so we thought it wasn't that bad. Normally 30mins before a show gets you good seats. Not on this ship. We showed up 30 mins early to a comedy show one night and there was already a line half the length of the ship. But again we just rolled with it. We watched dine in movies almost every night and again show up early.

 

Entertainment - The shows were some of the best I have seen. The technology that goes into everything is just awesome. But if you dont have good seats you miss out on a lot of it. They only had 4 comedians the whole 8 day cruise. I thought in the past it was more? They do a lot of 30 min shows instead of the 1hr shows that I was used to. The comedy club is small and we didn't spend as much time as we normally do. Some of the shows are held in the Liquid lounge. We did watch Mission Impossible in the IMAX. The thought of doing that at sea was pretty cool to me and the theater was empty. We also did the Sky Ride just because it was there, I am the type that wants to do everything. Seemed like it was closed most of the week but we waited about 30 mins to get on. The slides were also both fun and never seemed to have crazy lines.

 

Ship - From the first night me and my wife felt more movement then any other cruise that we were on. At the rear of the ship there was a ton of vibration. Which later led to us missing a port and repairs needing to be made. It was so bad one morning at breakfast things were literally vibrating off tables. Other then that beautiful new ship.

 

We loved having all the sea days. Really gave us a chance to relax and really enjoy the ship. I got off a cruise for the first time feeling like I did everything I wanted to do. Between the Havana and Cheers package we had probably our best cruise ever. We met some great friends in the Havana area that really added to the cruise. I am already having withdraws from cruising. Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

[cruisemein]

If you don't mind me asking, what did y'all do on port days?

[Bhern05]

I loved Anna and Zuzana at the Alchemy also. Glad you enjoyed your cruise

[tap_out]

If you don't mind me asking, what did y'all do on port days?

 

We were looking forward to a laid back cruise and have been just about everywhere in the Caribbean several times. Grand Turk we just walked down to Jacks Shack and had a beach day. San Juan we just walked around the city. We had 27 falls planned for Amber Cove but missed the port

[Don Kehote]

Cheers- 15 drinks is 15 drinks. No they will not let you buy before or after your 15 drink limit. This wasn't a problem for us but several people we met on board did ask.

 

This is curious to me. What if I want to order a tube of beer for my companions and myself, at my expense? Or a bucket?

[tap_out]

This is curious to me. What if I want to order a tube of beer for my companions and myself, at my expense? Or a bucket?

 

When we asked they told us no. No saying this is the response you would get from every bar tender but was our experience. This was from the Alchemy bar

[sb4ever]

This is curious to me. What if I want to order a tube of beer for my companions and myself, at my expense? Or a bucket?

 

The bucket are not part of Cheers but I think they do count as one of your 15. We had quite a few when we were playing flip cup and beer pong :)

[NYcruzzer]

Welcome home. Sorry to hear about the layout of the sideways inside. We are in a Havana sideways inside next week. Quick question..We have YTD, if you use the APP to sign-in for dinner do you get an alert/push informing you your table is ready ? Or do you simply proceed down to level 3 and inform hostess that you already "signed in " ?

[tap_out]

Welcome home. Sorry to hear about the layout of the sideways inside. We are in a Havana sideways inside next week. Quick question..We have YTD, if you use the APP to sign-in for dinner do you get an alert/push informing you your table is ready ? Or do you simply proceed down to level 3 and inform hostess that you already "signed in " ?

 

You will get a notification.

[NYcruzzer]

You will get a notification.

 

Nice..thanks for the quick response.

[riclop]

Thanks for the recap.

[SonoranDevil]

Thanks for the review! Sounds like you approached any challenges with the right frame of mind!

[SNJCruisers]

Regarding the comedians....please verify that on the first night they had adult comedy at 1100 in the Liquid lounge. On the next three nights, there were PG rated shows at 530 and 730 and R rated shows at 830 and 1000 all in the comedy lounge. While in San Juan, two new comedians came on and repeated the same schedule.

[SNJCruisers]

We are in a Havana sideways inside next week.

I'll give you 3 guesses as to who is in the other Havana sideways inside next week and your first 2 guesses don't count. ;)

[grima625]

Thanks for the review!

[tap_out]

Regarding the comedians....please verify that on the first night they had adult comedy at 1100 in the Liquid lounge. On the next three nights, there were PG rated shows at 530 and 730 and R rated shows at 830 and 1000 all in the comedy lounge. While in San Juan, two new comedians came on and repeated the same schedule.

 

Yep that sounds right. The shows that weren't in the Liquid Lounge we're only one comedian at a time and only 30 minutes long

[nireg]

Yep that sounds right. The shows that weren't in the Liquid Lounge we're only one comedian at a time and only 30 minutes long

 

 

 

Can you use the hub app to reserve seats for any of the shows or just ytd? Anything else that can be reserved in advance other than dining reservations?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[tap_out]

Can you use the hub app to reserve seats for any of the shows or just ytd? Anything else that can be reserved in advance other than dining reservations?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

No the shows don't have reservations

[NYcruzzer]

I'll give you 3 guesses as to who is in the other Havana sideways inside next week and your first 2 guesses don't count. ;)

 

Lol..7 Days to go. We cannot wait. Been on Vibe a few times on Breakaway. This looks even better !! See you at the pool bar

[CheckersMidwest]

How long did it take to walk to Jack's Shack? How do you get there? (directions) Thanks ! We'll be on the Horizon in May.

[SNJCruisers]

Can you use the hub app to reserve seats for any of the shows or just ytd? Anything else that can be reserved in advance other than dining reservations?

The only lines that I am aware of where you can reserve some of the shows ahead of time are on RCI, NCL and MSC. The lines for the R rated comedy shows on Carnival can start about 45 minutes ahead of time. You basically stand in line longer than the length of the show. It's a shame they don't have a small section of the theater reserved for Diamonds and Plats that have earned their status.

[crewsweeper]

How long did it take to walk to Jack's Shack? How do you get there? (directions) Thanks ! We'll be on the Horizon in May.

Quick answer is 5-10 minute walk along the beach. From the pier, go through the Dufry shop hang left walk through Margaritaville and walk up the beach til you can go no further.

 

Nice review tap_out. we've got a Havana balcony, sea side on Deck 5. Hoping Anna is still on board in January. She was on the Vista when we sailed her. Great barkeep. Nice to know about the wait for the Wok. We love JiJis. Having the deli back making sammies will be a treat. My only quibble will be I'll have to walk up to P&A to grab a craft brew to go with it.