We’re onboard the Horizon, and having a stellar time!

[lensonlife]

First, we we’re grateful to have finally boarded after the issues with airline. Second, after reading too many negative reviews about the Horizon, I began to worry that we booked the wrong cruise. We booked before the Horizon ever sailed and were excited to sail on the new ship (we did the same with the Sunshine). That said, we are having a BLAST! I’ve had zero problem finding chairs, or a spot in the pool. Mostly hanging out at the Tides. I got up at 5:30 am the first morning so I could catch the sunrise and it was worth EVERY SECOND OF LOST SLEEP! The ship is so beautiful and peaceful early in the morning, and obviously- you get your pick of chairs. MDR has been prompt and yummy. I am less of a fan of the Lido Marketplace- that said, I am not a fan of buffets, and even less of a fan of that killer floor. Holy hell. It’s like a venus fly trap. My husband and kids like the buffet, so we are constantly pulling each other in different directions or divide and conquer. They report to be disappointed in both the long lines and quality of Guys burgers. I love the pizza (yesterday I waited 3 minutes for fresh out of oven- day before was much longer). Blue Iguana breakfast burritos also a fast favorite! The salad bowl was disappointing- the shell had become stale from the heat. Filling fresh! We did not buy Cheers, and I do not regret that! Mind you- while we do not drink during the week due to demands of kids and work responsibilities, we do enjoy drinks on the weekends. But the heat just slams us New Englanders lol! A day in the hot sun and we are not eager to “turn up” as they say 😂. We instead added several hundred in cash for credit- and have barely made a dent. We’ve watched two different comedy shows- same guy, different shows- and pee your pants funny! We also went to the Love and Marriage show. OMG! So funny!!! Jacks Shack in Grand Turk was perfect. My family got off in LaRomana for about 1.5 hours and got back on- I did not. We do not have an excursion planned today in Curacao. Any ideas of what we can do? 

[lensonlife]

Some photos I took at sunset and sunrise 

Edited July 3, 2019 by lensonlife

[lensonlife]

Grand Turk at Jacks Shack- so many dogs, a couple belong to the Shack and several others looked to be homeless. One curled up and took a nap under my daughters chair. It appeared to also be covered in ticks (definitely not fleas) 😣. 

 

Photo of of me and a performer on ship after I danced my face off 💃

 

And photos yesterday taken from back of ship at La Romana. 

 

 

[purplephenom]

Your pictures are awesome!  Glad you made the ship after all the stress, hope you have a great vacation.

 

Curacao is an easy port to walk around- go look for the Curacao sign, see the floating bridge, get some Dutch chocolate.  If you want to go to a beach for a couple hours, you could easily get a taxi, then return to the port and walk around the downtown area.  

[pooksma]

Reading this has made me smile. Glad things have improved!

[James4me]

I love seeing the Havana retreat empty!  Can’t wait for our Panorama cruise.  Havana we will be.

[evandbob]

Glad you're enjoying the Horizon, we sailed it shortly after it came to NYC from Europe on its repo cruise.  Horizon is a great ship!

 

The OP is enjoying a quiet, serene sunrise, something I have never witnessed in over 50 cruises, I can't stay up that late any more, LOL.

 

How's the ice cream churning station?  We enjoyed some the 2nd day, after that more cruisers became aware of it andthe lines got too crowded. They were out of the flavor we wanted by then as well.

[Shaded Lady]

So glad you're enjoying your cruise!

[jimbo5544]

12 hours ago, lensonlife said:

Some photos I took at sunset and sunrise 

Great pics!!!

 

[EngineCo52]

thanks for the short review I can't wait ill be on the horizon in February on a back to back cruise 

 

[Watergal60]

Thanks for the review...…..are you located on the port side (even numbers) or the ocean side (odd numbers)?  And does the ship dock on the port side each time you reach a port?

[lensonlife]

7 minutes ago, Watergal60 said:

Thanks for the review...…..are you located on the port side (even numbers) or the ocean side (odd numbers)?  And does the ship dock on the port side each time you reach a port?

I’ll write a lengthier review now that we’ve returned home, but we had inside staterooms (odd- not that this matters). 

 

These images uploaded wonky.

 

Image 1: Grand Turk

Image 2: Curaçao 

Image 3: Curaçao 

Image 4: Grand Turk

 

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of ship in port at Aruba or La Romana (I didn’t get off in LR though my husband and children did for a bit). 

[lensonlife]

On 7/3/2019 at 7:02 PM, evandbob said:

Glad you're enjoying the Horizon, we sailed it shortly after it came to NYC from Europe on its repo cruise.  Horizon is a great ship!

 

The OP is enjoying a quiet, serene sunrise, something I have never witnessed in over 50 cruises, I can't stay up that late any more, LOL.

 

How's the ice cream churning station?  We enjoyed some the 2nd day, after that more cruisers became aware of it andthe lines got too crowded. They were out of the flavor we wanted by then as well.

Do you mean the soft serve station? It was well accessed by my 18 year old 😂- nothing has changed since he was a freshman in high school (now graduated). Those stations are well-frequented (but available). I really wanted to try the gelato, but every time I went (evening), it was closed. I never had any. My daughter told me the toppings (jimmies/sprinkles) are only available at the gelato station so you can only get them for the soft serve when gelato station is open. 

[lensonlife]

On 7/3/2019 at 6:49 PM, James4me said:

I love seeing the Havana retreat empty!  Can’t wait for our Panorama cruise.  Havana we will be.

Havana was often empty- day and night! I spent a lot of time at Tides, so overlooked Havana. Of course, one cruise and one family could change everything. But I would have been very happy to have been in the Havana area! I liked getting to know people, but I went in search of solitude and you’ll find that in Havana. If you’re looking for a party- go to Lido deck 😂🙌💃

[lensonlife]

On 7/3/2019 at 10:20 AM, purplephenom said:

Your pictures are awesome!  Glad you made the ship after all the stress, hope you have a great vacation.

 

Curacao is an easy port to walk around- go look for the Curacao sign, see the floating bridge, get some Dutch chocolate.  If you want to go to a beach for a couple hours, you could easily get a taxi, then return to the port and walk around the downtown area.  

We did a walking tour! I loooooove Curaçao!!!! Pic of me and my 2 daughters in downtown Curaçao 💛

[purplephenom]

6 hours ago, lensonlife said:

We did a walking tour! I loooooove Curaçao!!!! Pic of me and my 2 daughters in downtown Curaçao 💛

 

Cute picture! was the walking tour on your own?  Where did you get the route?  

 

I normally love snorkeling everywhere, but Curacao is the one island I really love walking around downtown- trying to plan a non-snorkel day is weird to me, so I'm gathering all the information I can find

[lensonlife]

1 hour ago, purplephenom said:

 

Cute picture! was the walking tour on your own?  Where did you get the route?  

 

I normally love snorkeling everywhere, but Curacao is the one island I really love walking around downtown- trying to plan a non-snorkel day is weird to me, so I'm gathering all the information I can find

We purchased the tour via a Carnival excursion. I think it was $30/pp and lasted approximately 1.5 to 2 hours. The tour helped to inform us of the history of Curaçao (there is lots), but also lead me down roads and paths that I might not have taken on my own. The tour is one way (although they will walk you back if you wish), so on the way back we were able to take our time and revisit some of these places we quickly breezed by before. There is a lot of art in Curaçao! It’s really quite a fun little place and I would definitely like to go back. I also found this mural of wings in an alley- could have just as easily of missed it (my youngest daughter). Here are also some images I took in Curaçao. Honestly, if I could do it again- I would do both the day and the night tour. Go back to the ship and cool down. I bet it’s pretty at night!