Horizon Review - 10/19 - 10/27

[lasvegascruising]

beshears, you have made my point.  My carry on never leaves my sight until we both are in the cabin.

[acthorson]

Great review! We’re on Vista in March, but we did this same itinerary in 2018, so I’m curious what you think of all the ports.

[sanmarcosman]

18 hours ago, bnbeyer said:

 

A direct flight is usually fine.  It's connecting flights that I won't risk.

We prefer non-stop flights rather than direct, why stop en-route even if you don't have to get off the plane at the city you stop at before your final destination?

 

OP, thanks for doing this. It's fun being along 🙂 

[Cookie2boys]

OMG...I'm only on page one but I had to stop reading and comment.  This is soooo me.  I wonder if we're related😁.  I'm from VA and will be on the Horizon next year and staying one night precruise at Hampton Inn.  Early is on time. On time is 3 minutes late. I'm the planner and hubby goes with the flow.  I'm not social but that changes on cruises for some reason. Can't wait to read the rest to see what else we have in common😁

[ishap]

12 hours ago, nybumpkin said:

We found that with Havana, the only time we spent on Lido was to eat. It did mean that we missed the towel animal invasion the morning that happened, but we sure didn't miss the crowded pools.

 

Us as well, but frankly the Lido buffet was very underwhelming.  We also missed the invasion, but oh well.

[ishap]

34 minutes ago, Cookie2boys said:

OMG...I'm only on page one but I had to stop reading and comment.  This is soooo me.  I wonder if we're related😁.  I'm from VA and will be on the Horizon next year and staying one night precruise at Hampton Inn.  Early is on time. On time is 3 minutes late. I'm the planner and hubby goes with the flow.  I'm not social but that changes on cruises for some reason. Can't wait to read the rest to see what else we have in common😁

 

Ha!  Then hopefully this will help you!  We certainly do sound a lot alike lol

[missholly24]

23 hours ago, MamaBraz said:

I am enjoying reading your review; however, there are parts of it that give me added stress.  My husband and I are both school teachers.  It is impossible for us to fly out the day before.  We have a very early flight on the day of the cruise.  We have done it before without any incident, but when I read some of your warnings...I do have a bit of anxiety.  I am trying to be calm about it.  We fly out and sail on March 21st.  We have a direct flight from Indianapolis to FLL.

We have flown out 10 of 15 times on the same day have never had one problem. (from Michigan!) We can't have our kids miss more 

than the week of school as well. Its not a possibility. We acknowledge that it is a risk but otherwise we wouldn't go at all. I hate when people fear monger about it. Do what you do and move along. haha!!

[missholly24]

On 10/29/2019 at 6:13 AM, ishap said:

Into the room we go to drop off our carry on bags.  The room wasn't quite ready when we got there.  Our room steward said it would be ready in about 15 minutes, but we removed valuables from our bags, tossed the bags in the closet, and went out to explore some more.

 

If you notice, the towels they give you in the Havana area are brown, unlike the typical blue Carnival towels everywhere else.  Just another thing to separate the Havana from the rest of the ship.

 

While our room wasn't quite ready, our sign and sail cards were at the room, along with our Havana wristbands, so we grabbed them as well before we hit the rest of the ship.

 

 

This cabin type looks awesome! (when will they change those books? I'm tired of looking at Queen Latifa and Shaq!!) Its been quite a long time. 

[MamaBraz]

3 minutes ago, missholly24 said:

We have flown out 10 of 15 times on the same day have never had one problem. (from Michigan!) We can't have our kids miss more 

than the week of school as well. Its not a possibility. We acknowledge that it is a risk but otherwise we wouldn't go at all. I hate when people fear monger about it. Do what you do and move along. haha!!

Thank you so much for your post.  As teachers, we cannot miss more than the week.  There are actually several reasons why we can't, but I won't get into all of them.  Many people have answered me about doing this successfully.  I really appreciate the last couple of sentences of your response.  Hahaha.

[bnbeyer]

1 hour ago, sanmarcosman said:

We prefer non-stop flights rather than direct, why stop en-route even if you don't have to get off the plane at the city you stop at before your final destination?

 

OP, thanks for doing this. It's fun being along 🙂 

 

Living in Iowa, I so rarely have the opportunity for a non-stop flight, I didn't really think about a direct flight not necessarily being non-stop.

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, bnbeyer said:

 

Living in Iowa, I so rarely have the opportunity for a non-stop flight, I didn't really think about a direct flight not necessarily being non-stop.

I think from posts I have read on CC, most people think of direct as synonymous with non-stop. The alternative is connecting.

[Joe817]

"Aviation annoyances aside, it’s likely you don’t think twice about one major detail: the number of stops the aircraft will make. You may know to avoid connecting flights (which include layovers), but confusing a “direct” for a “non-stop” flight may land you with a big surprise.

 

 

If you thought the two words meant the same thing, you’re not alone. But there’s actually an important difference between “direct” and “non-stop” flights. Check out more airplane facts you’ve always wanted to know.

Non-stop flights behave exactly as they sound; you’ll fly straight from one airport to another, with no stops along the way. Direct flights, on the other hand, aren’t quite as convenient. While the flight number doesn’t change, the term “direct” means the plane may make one or more stops along its route."

 

https://www.rd.com/advice/travel/real-difference-direct-non-stop-flights/

[MamaBraz]

33 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

"Aviation annoyances aside, it’s likely you don’t think twice about one major detail: the number of stops the aircraft will make. You may know to avoid connecting flights (which include layovers), but confusing a “direct” for a “non-stop” flight may land you with a big surprise.

 

 

If you thought the two words meant the same thing, you’re not alone. But there’s actually an important difference between “direct” and “non-stop” flights. Check out more airplane facts you’ve always wanted to know.

Non-stop flights behave exactly as they sound; you’ll fly straight from one airport to another, with no stops along the way. Direct flights, on the other hand, aren’t quite as convenient. While the flight number doesn’t change, the term “direct” means the plane may make one or more stops along its route."

 

https://www.rd.com/advice/travel/real-difference-direct-non-stop-flights/

 

[MamaBraz]

I appreciate the clarification.  I think I called it a direct flight when in all actuality ours is a non stop flight.

[Joe817]

5 minutes ago, MamaBraz said:

I appreciate the clarification.  I think I called it a direct flight when in all actuality ours is a non stop flight.

Most welcome. It used to confuse me too! 

[marci4tony]

Unfortunately, being from the great white North West (Idaho) and cruising out of Florida, Texas and Louisiana usually means an overnight somewhere prior to a cruise.

 

Its awesome when we have to fly from Boise to Seattle, and then from Seattle to Miami!  Craziness!!!!!  LOL

 

But we have that ability :)

 

Now the cruise to Alaska was a short 8 hour drive to Seattle

[ishap]

Since we are now at the point of the first day where we went to dinner, let's talk about food for a little bit.  My wife and I always eat in the dining room for dinner and always get the early dining.  While 6pm dinner may be early for some people, it is close to the typical dinner time we have at home.  Plus, 8:15 just seems so late.  While can certainly do "your time dining", we do not prefer this as we like to have the same table, with the same wait staff every night.  I know some people fret over table mates, as do we, but for this trip I emailed the Maitre'd prior to our cruise to request a table for 2 as it was our anniversary.  I can be a social person on a cruise, but if you don't end up liking your table mates, having them for 8 dinners would be a bit much.  Of course, this is where "your time dining" would come in handy.

 

Our wait staff for this cruise was amazing!  My wife has food allergies that we are very careful of so on the first day we always go to see the Maitre'd when he is available in the early afternoon.  Carnival is absolutely amazing when it comes to food allergies.  We did our typical visit at about 1:30, so when we told them about the food allergies, they pulled out the menu for that night so my wife could pre-order her dinner.  This way they could ensure that all her food is prepared without any cross contamination.  Then, every night after desert in the dining room, our waiter would bring her the menu for the next night so she could pre-order.  Since she can't have any dairy, and most of the deserts have some type of dairy, she usually just let the chef come up with a creation for her.  Sometimes is was melting cake, but a few times it was something that wasn't on the menu that they created just for her.  She was never disappointed.

 

I don't typically like to pay more for food, so let me give you the run down on free food:

 

Lido Buffet

I have never been a big fan of the Lido buffet on any ship...at least compared to the food of the dining room.  The buffet food on the Horizon wasn't any different.  They actually seemd to have shrunk the buffet area?  Maybe someone can confirm this, but it seemed smaller to me with a smaller selection of food.  That being said, the only time I actually went to the buffet to eat (lunch or dinner) I ended up not getting anything from the buffet.  I went to another venue instead.  I did not get food from Lido for breakfast either.  More on that later.

 

On additional note about the buffet...they have added a midnight buffet from 11:00pm through 1:00am.  It was a VERY small selection of food consiting of meatball sub, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, macaroni salad, and a few other items. 

 

Deli

I did eat from the deli and it is not too bad.  They have a selection of sandwhiches to choose from, hot dog with sauerkraut, fries, potato salad, and cookies.  I chose to go with a build your own sandwich consisting of corned beef, pastrami, and cheese along with some potato salad.  Sandwich was pretty good, as was the hot dog.  Double chocolate chip cookies not so much.  The other thing I thought strange, they only had a choice of two cheeses:  cheddar and swiss.  

 

Pizza

The pizza is the same here as on all ships.  I did get pizza a couple of time.  Once I was walking by and there was no one in line so I grabbed a couple of slices.  The other time I went, which was late, there was a long line so I opted to pay the $5 bucks to have it delivered.  Just a side note when ordering pizza via the app, if you don't have $1s to tip the delivery person, you can add a tip on the app after it's delivered.

 

Pig and Anchor

I've already covered this place once, so I won't go into too much detail except to say it was great BBQ.  Off the top of my head, I think the meats to choose from were pulled pork, smoked beef, andouille sausage, and chicken.  Sides were mac and cheese, potato salad, baked beans, and collard greens.  Just remember this place at lunch...it's free but costs at dinner.  Most people seemed to think it cost all the time so there was hardly ever a line.

 

Guy's Burger

Do I really need to talk about this place?  Great burgers.  Long lines.

 

Cucino el Capitano

Yes, this restaurant costs extra at dinner, but at lunch its included.  Take the aft elevators up to 11 and it's there.  They give you an order form, you seat yourself, then fill out the form, give to a waiter, and bam!  good pasta.  It's basically a build your own pasta bar, without the bar lol.  On the form you choose the type of noodles you want, type of sauce, extras including sausage, veggies, etc., and if you want bread.  It is pretty good with a pretty good sized portion.

 

JiJi Asian Kitchen

Along with Cucino el Capitano, this is free at lunch and right next to each other.  Similar to the pasta, you get a menu, fill out your options (for mongolian wok), and have some good food.  I don't remember all the choices on the form.  I should have gotten a pic.  As a side note: this place seemed busier than Cucino.  We ate at both and enjoyed them both.

 

Fresh Creations

This is a beefed up salad bar on the Serenity deck.  I did not eat here, but saw some people bring back salads from there.  It looked good but we had so many other options that we just didn't go here.

 

Ocean Plaza

Here is what I feel like is the big secret of the Horizon.  Ocean Plaza is not really advertised as a food spot and is really only mentioned in the Fun Times as having "continental breakfast" in the morning.  First morning I went here just to grab some coffee while my wife was still sleeping.  I don't pay for java blue coffee but I remember Sid saying there was free coffee here as well.  I found that they have a small buffet area but usually when I hear continental breakfast I think of breads and pastries along with coffee and juice.  In the morning Ocean Plaza has a drink selection of coffee, tea, water, multiple juices, milk, and chocolate milk.  For food they had a selection of cold meats and cheeses, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, oatmeal, bread for toast, bagels, muffins, a selection of cold cereal, and more.  And NO BACON POLICE!!!  This was definitely a secret place that seemed to only ever have Havana people there.  Never a line, never crowded.  Oh, and it was open for breakfast on debarkation day, and still just about empty.

 

At lunch that have a light lunch buffet available which wasn't too bad.  This had more people there as Ocean Plaza is an event hub with most trivia and like events being held there.

 

Dining Room Breakfast

So as usual, the dining room had both open seating for breakfast on port days, and the Sea Day Brunch.  We did both at least once.  I was more of a fan of the port day breakfast menu over the Brunch menu.  Just my preference, but both were still good.  However we definitely ate breakfast at Ocean Plaza most days.  

 

OK, I think I covered most food but if you have a question, please ask!  

[ishap]

Here are some food pics to make you all hungry!!

 

I love the cold fruit bisques!  This is strawberry

 

Carnival Melting Cake

 

I am a huge cheese fan so I get a cheese plate every night along with another desert

 

Fried oysters.  These were not very good....very fishy smelling and seemed under-cooked as they were still very slimy inside.  Needless to say, I didn't eat them.

 

Prime rib

 

Lobster tail that I had along with the prime rib on the first elegant night

 

Braised rabbit 

 

Veal parm

 

This may look like a duplicate pic of the strawberry bisque, but it's actually cherry bisque

 

I have a bunch more food pics that I will post later.

Edited October 30, 2019 by ishap

[bnbeyer]

You're right! Now I really am hungry.

 

Thanks for the tip about the Ocean Plaza breakfast.  I can see me doing that.

[ishap]

1 minute ago, bnbeyer said:

You're right! Now I really am hungry.

 

Thanks for the tip about the Ocean Plaza breakfast.  I can see me doing that.

 

You're welcome!  This is one thing I didn't know about that I was glad I learned the first day!

[katstoy]

19 hours ago, ishap said:

 I also would prefer the balcony over the porch, but then again, the porch was very convenient.  We would exit out the sliding back door, walk out to the pool area, and then back to the room without having to walk through the Havana bar.  Also, if you are on the starboard side of the ship, you can take a shortcut to the BBQ restaurant by walking through the door that keeps the Havana area separate on Lanai. 

 

Enjoying the review, keep it coming!  

 

Couple of questions on the Havana Cabana.  Does your key card lock and unlock the patio door when you exit?  That would be sooo convenient for the pool access.  Also on the starboard side is there a door or access from the hallway to the aft end of the bar or pool, or do you have to walk forward in the hallway and then back through the bar to get to the pool?

 

We have a cabana booked on the Panorama and I probably won't leave deck 5 other than to to to the MDR for dinner!  BBQ and beer for lunch and I'm set!

[ishap]

10 minutes ago, katstoy said:

 

Enjoying the review, keep it coming!  

 

Couple of questions on the Havana Cabana.  Does your key card lock and unlock the patio door when you exit?  That would be sooo convenient for the pool access.  Also on the starboard side is there a door or access from the hallway to the aft end of the bar or pool, or do you have to walk forward in the hallway and then back through the bar to get to the pool?

 

We have a cabana booked on the Panorama and I probably won't leave deck 5 other than to to to the MDR for dinner!  BBQ and beer for lunch and I'm set!

 

No, there is no way to unlock the sliding door from the outside.  What we did, and what most people staying there did, is just leave the sliding door unlocked and then walk to the pool.  

 

On both sides of the ship you can access the Havana pool/bar from your cabana porch.  I'm assuming this is what you are asking.  This area of the deck is blocked from access from the rest of deck 5 so no one can accidently access the Havana area of deck 5 without walking through the Havana club and going out the aft revolving doors to the pool.

 

Yeah, we weren't off of deck 5 much lol.

[katstoy]

30 minutes ago, ishap said:

 

No, there is no way to unlock the sliding door from the outside.  What we did, and what most people staying there did, is just leave the sliding door unlocked and then walk to the pool.  

 

On both sides of the ship you can access the Havana pool/bar from your cabana porch.  I'm assuming this is what you are asking.  This area of the deck is blocked from access from the rest of deck 5 so no one can accidently access the Havana area of deck 5 without walking through the Havana club and going out the aft revolving doors to the pool.

 

Yeah, we weren't off of deck 5 much lol.

 

Leaving the patio door unlocked is a scary thought!  

 

If I want to keep the patio locked and head to the pool it's got to be through the cabin's front door.  So from the interior hallway is there a way to get to the back of the bar/pool without going all the way around to the front entrance of the Havana bar?  I hope so as we are in the second room from the very aft!  Maybe on the Panorama they'll change it so we can lock/unlock the patio from the outside!

 

[WashCoCruisers]

"While can certainly do "your time dining", we do not prefer this as we like to have the same table, with the same wait staff every night."   You can certainly have the same table with the same waitstaff when using Your TIme Dining.  We loved our waitstaff the first night and requested them every night when we checked in for dinner!  

We were on the Horizon in March/April.  We loved the ever-changing funnels!  

Our Muster Drill was in various locations thru out the ship.  Personally, ours was at the Alchemy Bar. 

The part about the Stupid people "trying" to use the elevators, is spot on!!  The elevators were great if they were used correctly!!  

[ishap]

1 hour ago, katstoy said:

 

Leaving the patio door unlocked is a scary thought!  

 

If I want to keep the patio locked and head to the pool it's got to be through the cabin's front door.  So from the interior hallway is there a way to get to the back of the bar/pool without going all the way around to the front entrance of the Havana bar?  I hope so as we are in the second room from the very aft!  Maybe on the Panorama they'll change it so we can lock/unlock the patio from the outside!

 

 

Since we keep all our valuables in the safe, the only think to steal in our room would be clothes so we didn't really worry about it.  I know those safes aren't the most secure, but for a normal passenger to be able to break in to the safe is unlikely.  

 

I see what you are saying about the hallway...but no, you have to walk through the Havana bar.  I did look at the end of the cabin hallway once and it doesn't go out there.  That is one reason why we just left the sliding door unlocked and went out that way.