"Good Things on the Horizon" a cruisin USA "Long and Lengthy" Cruise Novella

[cruisin USA]

Next thing you know he’s got our veggies on the grill. He then places some shrimp on the grill off to the side. He then pulls out some eggs out of his station. This is where it got pretty cool. He would spin the eggs so that it was spinning at a fast rate on the flat top. He then shoved his spatula under the egg as it was still spinning. Next thing you know, he’s got that egg flipping up and back onto the spatulua like it’s a paddle ball, counting up to 6 times and then flipping the egg up into his high chef’s hat.

[cruisin USA]

Just to prove it wasn’t luck, he does it again, eventually launching the egg, once again right into his awaiting hat.

[cruisin USA]

He finishes the vegetables up, and puts some on everyone’s plates, and then starts making our fried rice. He takes the white rice, adds vegetables and soy sauce and cooks it right on the flat top. He takes another egg. This time he paddle boards it 3 times, and then turns the spatula on it’s edge. The egg lands on the spatula, cracking, and oozing down onto the grill. He adds a couple of eggs, and then says he’s missing a couple. He reaches up into his hat and pulls one out adding it to the eggs already cooking. He reaches up for the other egg. Seems like he can’t find it. Next thing you know, he pulls out a small mechanical walking “chick” and sends it walking over to a lady sitting directly in front of him. Too funny.

[cruisin USA]

He cooks the eggs up into a long roll, then, by using both his spatulas to make it move, he makes it appear to be a snake, complete with shaking tail. He moves the snake towards a few of the guests, and the snake appears happy to see them. Next thing you know, he lays the snake down so that only the head is being held up, and he chops of it’s head with the free spatula. How funny!

[cruisin USA]

  He sculpts the rice into a fish, complete with lemon eyes. He then places some shrimp on each of our plates. Then the entrees go on. Chicken, Lobster Tails, and More Shrimp start cooking on the grill. No sign of my filet yet. The chef takes a knife to the Lobster tails, carefully cutting the shell away from the meat. I start to get worried, the Lobster and rest look like they’re about done. No worries.

[cruisin USA]

He finally puts on the filet. He portions out bowls of the rice as the food is about done. He looks at his guide, and now knows who has what. Starts loading up everyone’s plates. Of course he starts at the other end of the table and worked his way across to us. He gave me just a piece of filet, to see if it was cooked enough, It was “melt in your mouth” delicious. Bring it on. Quiet descended as we all started our meals. There was not a morsel left on my plate. Mary Ann’s either.

[cruisin USA]

The hostess came to take our plates. The chef had left immediately after cooking. Soon, chef was bringing us our boxes with the 6 desserts. Green Tea Ice Cream, various other Chocolate variety dessert complete with a Chocolate covered strawberry in the number 6 slot. What a GREAT meal. Our hostess then handed out the bills, which we had to sign for on our sail and sign cards.

[cruisin USA]

We headed up a deck to the casino. It was hopping pretty good. A few people over at the craps table. We ordered cocktails and found a seat for awhile at the casino bar. People were ambling back and forth threw the Promenades main corridor. We found out that the part of the bar that is adjacent to the corridor was a non smoking area, as to not interfere with people that were on the path. We weren’t quite ready for bed. Mary Ann went over to play some video poker, while I hit the craps table. The dice were on our side of the table. A lady was rolling, and held the dice for about 20 minutes. About $200 ahead, I decided that I would quit. It had been another long day. Mary Ann had held her own on video poker, and was pretty close to even when I came and sat down next to her. We both were tired Time to go to bed. Got back to the cabin. Our Fun Times was in our mailbox, and once again, no towel animal…sniff, GEEZ!

[cruisin USA]

There, with the Funtimes was a letter explaining what the gift card was for…sigh. A little late. Don’t you think??

 

[cruisin USA]

A little consoling voice inside my head said “Let’s go get some pizza”. Asked Mary Ann if she wanted any? Nope. Off I went. There was a pretty long line waiting for pizza. Luckily, they have a mass production system, and the line went fast. Pizza in hand, I walked back to the elevators....

[cruisin USA]

 I saw some people in the buffet. Went in to check it out. Something I haven’t seen for awhile. Midnight buffet. Just a few items in the hot plates of 1 of the buffet tables. Pasta, Meatball sandwiches, Grilled ham and cheese finger sandwiches, along with a few other hot items. On the other side were cookies and such. Heck, I loaded up a plate with a Meatball sandwich and a couple of ham & cheese wedges, along with a couple of cookies. Piled it on top of my 2 slices of pizza, and off I went. Came to find out they did this every night, although this was the only night I ever tried it. Watched a little tv. TV on Carnival is not what it used to be. Just a few stations other than the Carnival stations nowadays. Drifted off to sleep knowing tomorrow we’d be in Grand Cayman

 

[cruisin USA]

OMFG!! I posted the rest of day 3 last night only to find that they switched fonts on me again!! I hate that font. Can’t read it and there’s no way to change it. I will post that entire stanza again with a better “readable”’ font before continuing. A thousand pardons, my dear readers.....

[JazzyInRI]

21 hours ago, cruisin USA said:

A little consoling voice inside my head said “Let’s go get some pizza”. Asked Mary Ann if she wanted any? Nope. Off I went. There was a pretty long line waiting for pizza. Luckily, they have a mass production system, and the line went fast. Pizza in hand, I walked back to the elevators....

Glad to know they’re going to make the pizzas faster. It was a crazy wait on vista last year.

[Jenjer]

Sorry about it being a spa card.....that's a bummer.

 

Thank You for doing this photo review its super helpful

 

We had been thinking about cancelling our "choppy choppy" reservation since we have a great Hibachi local place but I think we will keep it. Its always a fun dinner.

 

I noticed something and hopefully you can clarify it. Are the sodas all canned? Not fountain soda? Do they say at the pool bar give you a cup of ice to go with it?

[d-train]

Enjoying your trip report! Nice chance to relive some of our Horizon experiences from last year!

 

thanks for sharing!

[1cruisingal]

On 2/6/2019 at 12:11 AM, cruisin USA said:

.....It was still pretty coolish. We were expecting better weather/temps, but from a couple from Michigan all we had to do was think of how it was back home to appreciate this weather. Mary Ann was on her Ipad. That reminded me that I would have to call down to the internet café and see how to activate my already paid for account. We made a plan for the day. First off. Seaday Brunch, then we’d explore this new ship.

 

I made my call to guest services about how to get my prepaid internet account activated. Easy Peasy. Just go to the Carnival Hub App. Go to “Internet Plans” Punch in your Folio # and Birthday. I was now connected to the internet. Tried out a couple of things. It was FAST. Loved it!! We finished getting ready, and headed to the Meridian dining room. We were seated at a table and handed menus (good start this time). The menu has changed from our last cruise, earlier this year. They had added a few items. Missing?? Although they will sell you these “fresh squeezed” juices. I didn’t see where you could just get a glass of orange juice on the menu. BOO! A day without orange juice……Note to self to go get some from the buffet before we hit Seaday brunch next time.....

Is that a new menu for all ships or only the Horizon?

[TrqoisWtrs]

 

Sorry about it being a spa card.....that's a bummer.

 

That's not too bad.  The last two times I got one, I was able to use it on products and not services.  Overpriced products😛, but still better than spa services, since I am not a spa person.😄

[cruisin USA]

This is the last stanza written. I am now checking every post with my iphone to make sure that the wonky font won't come out anymore. You will have to go back for picture coverage of the following. Sorry, got to get this review finished.

 

 "We have been here plenty of times. Plenty of shops and bars as you get off the ship. We walked through the duty free shop. Ladies from the makeup area were trying to hand out samples. There was a guy in the jewelry department motioning Mary Ann over. I kiddingly, put my hands over her ears, so that she wouldn’t hear him. We proceeded out of duty free. Right there was “The 3 Amigos” bar to the right, Fat Tuesdays, and another bar are back to back and share a thatched roof building are immediately to the left. All 3 are huge bars, and well capable of handling the incredible amount of passengers from the 6 piers. Must be thousands! Last time we were here, I remembered, that I really needed to use the free wifi to check on things at home. Not so this time.

 

We walked around the shops. Looking back at the pier, we could see the 3 Carnival ships. Lots of people in port today!! The Village was full. They had decorated for Christmas! A tree with Santa flying around it, and a Nativity scene in the center of the square. We went from store to store. Mary Ann has a grandchild, Ollie(and one on the way). We were looking for something for Ollie. After you’ve been here a few times, you don’t really need any more t-shirts, lighters, shot glasses, etc. Just takes up extra room in the bag coming home. On Spirit, with only a 40 lb. weight limit on the bags, you almost have to use the complete 40 lbs. on cruisewear. Can’t even think about buying a t shirt when you’re at 39.75 lbs….hehe. Luckily, we were flying Delta this time(despite our past differences). 50 lbs. on Delta with free carry on makes crusing a LOT easier. Anyway, we were just ambling through the shop village. Decided to walk a bit farther. We had been to Chanakaab park before and we’d also been downtown enough.  We decided just to just hang out around the pier. Wasn’t nice enough to go sunning, although the sun seemed to be winning the cloud/sun war as it got later in the afternoon. We made our way outside the village over to some other shops, and a bar. Stopped for an authentic Mexican Margarita. Mary Ann and I split one. It was strong, but was a real thirst quencher considering all the walking we’d done. Found a sombrero for Pugsly(our dog). Been a tradition our last few times in Cozumel. We had been ashore a couple of hours. That was enough. Time to head back.

 

There were quite a few people making their way back to the ship through the duty free store. We looked at a couple of things. Didn’t buy anything though. There was a line, but it didn’t take long for us to get back aboard. On the way back to the cabin, we found the arcade and the Thrill Ride/Imax theater area. Nice arcade. We never did make it back there for our traditional skeeball tourney. Headed back to the cabin to change into our swimsuits to hit the Havana Jacuzzis once again. Ahh, A couple cocktails and a Jacuzzi after a long day at port. Today, there were quite a few people enjoying the warm water and jets. Still, there wasn’t anyone else taking advantage of the exclusive Havana area. We got pretty “pruney” again. That water felt great!! Back the room to change, and to continue exploring the ship. Worked our way up through the Promenade, stopping for a quick cigarette, and up to the front of the ship to the shops.

 

Went into one of the Carnival Logo shops. I showed the woman running the counter my $50 gift certificate, and asked her if there were any restrictions I should know about. She handed me back the card and said that it was for the spa only…..OMFG!! It didn’t even say the word spa on the card. Bubble Burst…sniff, we worked our way back through the atrium from the Mezzanine deck(4) passing through and checking out the Library and the Piano Bar, as we walked. The Alchemy bar is right here in the center, along with Bonsai Sushi, and Bonsai Teppanyaki. Worked our way past the photo gallery. We stopped at Guys for a second, to find that they had an area sectioned off while they were working on it. Wanted to get a picture of me riding the pig out front, but I knew I’d get into trouble if I did. Back to the room to hang out on the balcony. We were pulling away from the dock as we stepped out onto the balcony. Soon we were underway at full speed. We could still see the outline of Cozumel as day faded into night. I went back inside after a little while. Wanted to check out what was happening aboard in our Fun Times. Well, we missed the Caroling. Fine with us. We were trying to avoid the Holiday best we could. We also missed the Build a bear workshop..hehe. Night 3’s entertainment was Hasbro the Game show at 7:30. Probably not. We’ve seen the Love and Marriage show many times. Although it’s fun and funny, it’s gotten a little “old” for us(although I should talk).  There was a MEGA deck party, which would move over to the Serenity area at 11. Definite Maybe. The only night of the cruise without comedy(we would come to find out). I decided to hop in the shower before dinner. When I got out, Mary Ann told me that she saw Kemmy, and that since we had 9pm reservations at the Teppanyaki, that he wouldn’t be able to service our room tonight, and that he’d just leave our Fun Times in our mailbox. OMFG!! Note to self(and anyone listening). DON’T book the 9pm reservations at the Teppanyaki restaurant if you wish for cabin service that night, since your steward will be off before then. Why even make that time available if that’s going to happen?? I was mad. We got dressed, and headed up to the Teppanyaki restaurant. We arrived just a few minutes early. There was a lady at a podium. We checked in, and she said that it wouldn’t be long. Sure wasn’t. A couple of minutes later we were walking into the restaurant, and taking our seats around the huge flat top grill the chef would be using to cook our food in front of us. We were led to the table by our hostess, who would end up getting behind the grill even before we saw the chef, and explained a little history, and what we’d be expecting at this dinner. Place settings were already in front of each seat. I could see the many sauces that the chef would be using during dinner behind a glass enclosure right next to the grill) Menus were passed out. The woman explains that the first 3 courses are the same no matter what you order. The only choice to be made is the entrée, There were quite a few choices as well as combos that were available. Lobster, Chicken, Filet Mignon, Shrimp. The lady also mentions that you can combo any 2 entrees on the menu! She also mentions that bar service here includes saki and other Japanese spirits that you can’t get anywhere else on the ship. No saki for us! She leaves for a few minutes while we decide. Mary Ann was all about the Lobster tonight. I chose the Filet Mignon. The lady came back, and took our orders. She then puts 3 different sauces in front of us to go with our meal for dipping. About now, the chef steps up to the grill. The lady introduces him. He smiles. He takes the orders from the woman, and off he goes. He comes back with all the proteins that people have ordered. Our hostess comes up to each table setting and delivers the tuna tartare, miso soup, and beef potsticker to us. Not too keen on tuna tartare. The miso soup kinda tasted like a dishrag was involved. I liked the potsticker best! The chef turns the flat top on. While we’re waiting, he starts using his utensils as percussive instruments. He starts singing. “There she goes, just a walkin down the street, singing doo wah diddie, diddie dum, diddie do” We all start singing with him. He goes through a couple more songs, and even the next table is joining us. How fun!! He spurts down some light oil on the grill. Every time he does this, he refers to it as Johnson’s baby oil. Next thing you know he’s got our veggies on the grill. He then places some shrimp on the grill off to the side. He then pulls out some eggs out of his station. This is where it got pretty cool. He would spin the eggs so that it was spinning at a fast rate on the flat top. He then shoved his spatula under the egg as it was still spinning. Next thing you know, he’s got that egg flipping up and back onto the spatulua like it’s a paddle ball, counting up to 6 times and then flipping the egg up into his high chef’s hat. Just to prove it wasn’t luck, he does it again, eventually launching the egg right into his awaiting hat. He finishes the vegetables up, and puts some on everyone’s plates, and then starts making our fried rice. He takes the white rice, adds vegetables and soy sauce and cooks it right on the flat top. He takes another egg. This time he paddle boards it 3 times, and then turns the spatula on it’s edge. The egg lands on the spatula, cracking, and oozing down onto the grill. He adds a couple of eggs, and then says he’s missing a couple. He reaches up into his hat and pulls one out adding it to the eggs already cooking. He reaches up for the other egg. Seems like he can’t find it. Next thing you know, he pulls out a small mechanical walking “chick” and sends it walking over to a lady sitting directly in front of him. Too funny. He cooks the eggs up into a long roll, then, by using both his spatulas to make it move, he makes it appear to be a snake, complete with shaking tail. He moves the snake towards a few of the guests, and the snake appears happy to see them. Next thing you know, he lays the snake down so that only the head is being held up, and he chops of it’s head with the free spatula. How funny! By this time, the veggies are ready. He puts some on everyones plates. He sculpts the rice into a fish, complete with lemon eyes. He then places some shrimp on each of our plates. Then the entrees go on. Chicken, Lobster Tails, and More Shrimp start cooking on the grill. No sign of my filet yet. The chef takes a knife to the Lobster tails, carefully cutting the shell away from the meat. I start to get worried, the Lobster and rest look like they’re about done. No worries. He finally puts on the filet. He portions out bowls of the rice as the food is about done. He looks at his guide, and now knows who has what. Starts loading up everyone’s plates. Of course he starts at the other end of the table and worked his way across to us. He gave me just a piece of filet, to see if it was cooked enough, It was “melt in your mouth” delicious. Bring it on. Quiet descended as we all started our meals. There was not a morsel left on my plate. Mary Ann’s either. The hostess came to take our plates. The chef had left immediately after cooking. Soon, chef was bringing us our boxes with the 6 desserts. Green Tea Ice Cream, various other Chocolate variety dessert complete with a Chocolate covered strawberry in the number 6 slot. What a GREAT meal. Our hostess then handed out the bills, which we had to sign for on our sail and sign cards.

 

We headed up a deck to the casino. It was hopping pretty good. A few people over at the craps table. We ordered cocktails and found a seat for awhile at the casino bar. People were ambling back and forth threw the Promenades main corridor. We found out that the part of the bar that is adjacent to the corridor was a non smoking area, as to not interfere with people that were on the path. We weren’t quite ready for bed. Mary Ann went over to play some video poker, while I hit the craps table. The dice were on our side of the table. A lady was rolling, and held the dice for about 20 minutes. About $200 ahead, I decided that I would quit. It had been another long day. Mary Ann had held her own on video poker, and was pretty close to even when I came and sat down next to her. We both were tired Time to go to bed. Got back to the cabin. Our Fun Times was in our mailbox, and once again, no towel animal…sniff, GEEZ!

 

A little consoling voice inside my head said “Let’s go get some pizza”. Asked Mary Ann if she wanted any? Nope. Off I went. There was a pretty long line waiting for pizza. Luckily, they have a mass production system, and the line went fast. Pizza in hand, I walked back to the elevators. I saw some people in the buffet. Went in to check it out. Something I haven’t seen for awhile. Midnight buffet. Just a few items in the hot plates of 1 of the buffet tables. Meatball sandwiches, Grilled ham and cheese finger sandwiches, along with a few other hot items. On the other side were cookies and such. Heck, I loaded up a plate with a Meatball sandwich and a couple of ham & cheese wedges, along with a couple of cookies. Piled it on top of my 2 slices of pizza, and off I went. Came to find out they did this every night, although this was the only night I ever tried it. Watched a little tv. TV on Carnival is not what it used to be. Just a few stations other than the Carnival stations nowadays. Drifted off to sleep knowing tomorrow we’d be in Grand Cayman"

 

refonted and republished..and now, on with the review....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by cruisin USA

[cruisin USA]

 

Day 4-A Grand Day in Grand Cayman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We woke up to the announcement that we were parked on the other side of the island due to safety concerns. We been here before. The water around Grand Cayman is sometimes rough, and it’s easier for the ships to park on the protected side. Which is fine, but 2 other ships that were here, were parked in the usual spot right at Georgetown(???)…..sigh. We were in no hurry. We had a leisurely breakfast before heading down to the tender. Like I mentioned earlier, we had done “stingray city” the last 2 times we were here. A GREAT excursion, and not to be missed(if you’re not afraid). I had recommended this to people in our group. One gal said she had did it before, and the water was like ice and that it was super expensive…..hmmm. I just think she was trying to talk her friends out of it since she had tried it before….We had a GREAT time. What a cool adventure. Going out to a sandbar in the ocean where the water is at chest level. The incredible turquoise color of the water. And docile Stingrays brushing against you like a cat when it wants to be fed. Pretty incredible!!!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by cruisin USA

[cruisin USA]

  The dolphin encounter was a BLAST, and the photos we got with the 6 in our group were PRICELESS!

 

 

[cruisin USA]

This time, we were just going to hang out downtown. Maybe run into an old friend….. Like I said earlier, we had been to this island many times. Aside from 7 mile beach(which is not even close to 7 miles), to the Stingray/Dophin/Starfish Encounters, and a few trips to downtown Georgetown, mostly when we were anchored right there, and ferried right in to town. Being on the other side of the island meant a $5 per person cab ride to and from. $20.00….sigh. Cause the Captain thought it wasn’t safe. Guess those other 2 ships didn’t give a damn about their passengers……hehe.

 

We went to the lobby to see where we needed to go. Since we are Platinum, we can get off pretty quickly. It’s the getting back on that’s tough sometimes. I will admit that I’ve seen the longest lines coming back to the ship in Grand Cayman. At least we wouldn’t have that to worry about this time. The person at the desk assigned a crewmember to take us down to the area where you could board the tenders. It was a bit of a walk. Felt pretty cool to be escorted. Good thing we had an escort. We would have gotten lost to find the way off. We snaked through a couple of corridors, and were actually in the middle area. We waited with the escort. She had a walkie talkie, and evidently they weren’t ready for us. It was a few minutes, but she stayed until she told us that we could go down. We were the only two….for a minute or two, then people started to board. 10 minutes later, we’re heading for shore. Took a few pictures of the ship. Didn’t take 5 minutes to get ashore.

[cruisin USA]

There were plenty of people trying to get us to take their taxi. We just went where we were pointed, and ended up in a van with 8 other people. The trip to town was twice the time as the ferry from the ship to shore…..sigh. The taxi driver dropped us all off. We just started walking down the sidewalk. Lots of people in town shopping. Tons of shops! It was hot! We’d just go in some shops just to get in the AC for a minute or 2. We were still looking for something for Ollie. Walking into one of the stores, we both saw our old friend “Big Black Dick”. Every time we’ve gone downtown, he’s been somewhere else, Last time, he was in the basement of a trinket shop. We’ve kind of made it a game to look for him. However, rules dictate you can’t say that you’re looking for him(with good reason). There he was. We both saw him at the same time. It was a tie. Got a good chuckle, as always.

[cruisin USA]

We continue working our way down the shops. In the very next shop, there’s a childrens clothing section where we saw another statue, that Mary Ann quickly dubbed “Little White Dick”….Got a little more than a chuckle from that.

[cruisin USA]

We walked pretty far through town. We knew where the taxi stand/area was. Walked back, and stopped at the Hard Rock for a little while. A LOT different than it had been all those years ago when we first came here. Back then, what is now the downstairs area, was the entire bar. Now it’s just the Hard Rock Store. The bar is upstairs, BRAND NEW and MUCH nicer than it used to be. Stopped for a cocktail before heading back. It was nice to get out of the heat, and quench our thirst from all the walking. The Hard Rock is just where the taxis are. It was easy to find one heading our way. Right there, parked in the bay, were the 2 other ships.. OMFG.... and sigh.

[cruisin USA]

At least we didn’t have to wait in that HUGE line getting back. Another van full. Back to the other side of the island, and into the cruise pier area. We’re ready to get onto the dock. Carnival has a tent set up with water jugs for thirty passengers. There handing out water to folks, is Mike Pack, our cruise director!!! Couldn’t believe it. Still not hard to see why Mike got Carnival’s newest ship. Should have got a picture with him. All I could do was pat him on the back and tell him he was doing a “Good Job”. Meant it, and our next cruise director has some pretty big shoes to fill in our eyes.