WE DID IT.....PRINCESS CRUISERS JUST BOOKED THE CARNIVAL HORIZON

[plunker]

I know its a long way off (aug 2020) but we are very excited to try Carnival and the Horizon.  We have sailed 6 times with Princess and honestly if they had a caribbean cruise during that month we would have booked with them again.  The big factors were the itinerary (abc islands) and the price.  Alot of firsts for us this cruise.  I guess my travel agent quit or got fired so I had to find a new travel agent and this cruise goes out of Miami and all of our cruises have been out of Ft. Lauderdale.  I will have alot of questions for everybody until then cause I havent really started doing any research on Carnival other than watching some vlogs about the ship itself.  Thanks everyone.  Our excitement has begun.

[FLCruise7]

We mainly do Princess ourselves, but will do Carnival when they send a really good offer!    We just did the Horizon in December.  Will be happy to answer any questions you might have (if I can remember all the details!).  I do know that we enjoyed it.

[plunker]

Can you eat lunch in the main dining room after you board?  It's nice to have a sit down lunch and stay away from the packed buffet.

[CA_Cruzing]

8 minutes ago, plunker said:

Can you eat lunch in the main dining room after you board?  It's nice to have a sit down lunch and stay away from the packed buffet.

No MDR on embark.  Avoid the buffet and hit a specialty like JiJi or Cucina del Capitano or the BBQ place or Guy’s Burgers. 

 

Welcome me to the ships that are alive past 10PM. 

 

Which itinerary are are you sailing?

[plunker]

Aruba Bonaire and Curacao 

[CA_Cruzing]

36 minutes ago, plunker said:

Aruba Bonaire and Curacao 

Our fave itinerary. If you like snorkeling, this one is a must do. Our best excursion ever in ABC: https://www.woodwindbonaire.com/

 

We sailed Vista to ABC and had a great time. Ask away. You’re set for a fun trip. 

[bakersdozen12]

Sounds great! The Horizon is my favorite ship so far. Lots to do on that ship. I typically cruise for the itinerary myself, though I admit that I did book the Mardi Gras just for the ship. Anyway, I’d be happy to try an answer any question you have, as would others on this board. So feel free to ask away! 

[mvaughn11]

18 minutes ago, CA_Cruzing said:

Our fave itinerary. If you like snorkeling, this one is a must do. Our best excursion ever in ABC: https://www.woodwindbonaire.com/

 

We sailed Vista to ABC and had a great time. Ask away. You’re set for a fun trip. 

I second Woodwind Bonaire! 

 

We did that itinerary 2 years ago on a Princess ship. We've done several Princess and recently Carnival. Next Sunday we sail the Carnival Vista out of Galveston.

 

In Aruba we snorkeled too but Bonaire was by far our favorite snorkeling we've ever done, anywhere! I think my favorite part was all the sea turtles we saw. We took pictures but they also have an underwater photographer that took some spectacular pictures.

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by mvaughn11

[Rosethorn40]

We have sailed mostly on Princess (Finally became Elite last year), but have enjoyed Carnival too. And while we haven't sailed on the Horizon, we have on her sister ship, the Vista. Forget about Carnival's reputation as a party ship, full of loud-mouthed drunks (Biggest, loudest, nastiest drunk I ever saw was on a Princess ship). It may be true in their shorter 3 or 4 day cruises to the Bahamas, but on 7 day+ expect mainly a mix bag of families, couples, all ages, and groups of friends. Want to party until late at night? You will find many others in the same party spirt. Want a quiet corner to read, or just relax? You can find that too.

 

Our experience is there are more choices for places to eat on Carnival (On the Vista we never ate at the same place twice for dinner), and the food was rather good. Guy's Burgers beats Princess's hands down, but Princess has the better pizza. I personally prefer the adult area on Princess (The Sanctuary, which has a fee) to Carnival's Serenity, which has no fee, but plenty of chair hogs. If you like tropical style drinks, Carnival wins. 

 

Have fun planning and dreaming about this cruise!

[plunker]

Is there a included option like the international cafe on princess that has donuts in the morning and salads and sandwiches the rest of the day?

[plunker]

Do they play anything on the big screen by the pool during the day?  Princess usually plays some movies or concerts or shows trivia or something.  

[BENHANDEL]

On 3/3/2019 at 8:36 AM, plunker said:

Can you eat lunch in the main dining room after you board?  It's nice to have a sit down lunch and stay away from the packed buffet.

 

Never been on princess...only Disney and Horizon...I had very low expectations for CCL following Disney but I was very impressed.

 

As for sit-down/restaurant type meal on embarkation....head to jiji or cucina. They are both customizable noodle dishes at lunch, but you sit and a server takes your order. Our group of 5 was split between the two and all were happy. 

 

Jiji for dinner was our best meal of the cruise. It was amazing. And two in our group generally dislike asian food.