Carnival Horizon 8 day Southern Caribbean Cruise Review

[jam19872016]

For my starter I ordered the Michigan pasty.

 

 

This was very yummy, much better than the last time I ordered it.

 

Next I ordered the beef wellington which I had also tried previously and not cared for.

 

 

Also much better tonight.

 

For dessert I ordered the chocolate and cheese brownie.

 

[jam19872016]

After dinner I took in a little more TV until 10 when it was time for the fireball raffle in the casino. This was every 30 minutes for two hours which is quite a time commitment but I don't want to have my name drawn and not be present. My name was not drawn.

 

I know I've mentioned it before but I really really love the stairway art. I took a picture of this one because it is the next ship I will be on, Carnival Liberty.

 

 

Once I was done in the casino I turned in for another night. Next up, Curacao
 

Edited February 11, 2020 by jam19872016
bad spalling

[jam19872016]

Day Five:

 

Curacao

 

Of all the ports I have been to, I think Curacao is my favorite. I had such a wonderful time there my first trip here back in 2016 with my good friend and cruise buddy M. Before the cruise it came up in conversation where we would want to move to in retirement if we chose to move away from the US. During our time here, we both agreed this would be the place. It is such a breathtakingly beautiful island and not surrounded by the devastating poverty that you see on so many of the islands. Of course that also means realistically we won't be able to afford to retire here, but hey, one can dream.

 

We had an afternoon arrival so we had a slow start to the day. I started my day off with a breakfast burrito from Blue Iguana.

 

 

This was OK. I used to love these but have not enjoyed them as much my last several cruises.
 

[jam19872016]

I swear some time passed before I ate again and I took this picture 🙂 For lunch I went to the BBQ.

 

 

 

I don't know why I was slacking with the towel animal photos but here is a cute frog. Ribbit.

 

[jam19872016]

After lunch we headed into port. We were in port today with P&O Arcadia.

 

 

 

 

Carnival Horizon from Curacao.

 

 

The shops in Curacao.

 

 

[jam19872016]

We walked around the shops like we do, my mom bought a few things then we headed back to the ship. This is a port that you really need to get out and see the island. It is so beautiful and you just really don't get a chance to take that in just walking around the port.

 

Back on the ship I took part in some trivia. First up was slogans trivia. I scored 8 out of 15 which is not good at all. But it was good enough.

 

 

Next was board game trivia and I got 5 out of 15. This was definitely not good enough for a second trophy. That's ok though, one is enough for me to add to my collection.

[jam19872016]

After trivia I finished my my ship tour that I posted earlier.

 

Some pictures of Curacao while I was touring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Cont.

 

 

Sunset over Curacao.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Dinner tonight, as you might imagine having an evening port, was very quiet. I forgot to take pictures of the menus. What a slacker. I am reusing some old photos so I am missing the port of call menu for Curacao.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

For my starter I ordered the shrimp cocktail.

 

 

For my main I ordered off the port of call menu. This was called carni stoba funchi.

 

 

 

Basically it was beef on top of grits. Simple but very flavorful.

 

For dessert I ordered the strawberry ice cream.

 

 

The food and service were again very good tonight.

 

It was quiet around the ship tonight so we took it easy in the room. It was nice being in port during the evening as it meant for the first time this week not being rocked around the ship all evening. It was pretty smooth that night as well as we only had a short distance to our next port of call. Next up, Aruba.
 

[marcia014]

Thanks for this trip review - I leave next Saturday so I am anxious for any information 🙂

 

[jam19872016]

22 hours ago, marcia014 said:

Thanks for this trip review - I leave next Saturday so I am anxious for any information 🙂

 

 

You're welcome. Have a great cruise!

[jam19872016]

Day 6:

 

Aruba

 

Today we were in Aruba. This was my second time in Aruba. We were not getting off the ship right away today because I had an 11 appointment in the spa. I would be using my $50 spa discount for a haircut.

 

I made my way to Lido where I had another burrito. It was still a little off today. While on Lido I noticed the towel animals had invaded. It is a bit foggy because every time I wiped my lens the fog would just come back. Eventually I just gave into the humidity.

 

 

 

 

At 11 I went to my appointment then we headed out into Aruba. Again we walked the shops. My mom bought a couple souvenirs and then we returned to the ship. 

 

Today's towel animal was a new one to me. A bird in it's nest.

 

[jam19872016]

For lunch I was struggling a little. I enjoy both the pasta bar and the Mongolian wok but don't like how crowded it is up there. So I ended up going with a burrito and some fries from Guys. I wish I had done the pasta bar because it was not crowded today. I'm usually pretty good at going against the crowds but got some work to do on the Vista class.

 

After this it was another nice relaxing day on board the Horizon. Around 6 we made our way off to dinner.

 

The dreamscape was very pretty tonight.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Tonight's dinner menu.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

For my starter I ordered the schul ps y camarones en platano off the port of call menu. A lot of words but it was basically shrimp and scallops. 

 

 

I would not order this again. It was very fishy tasting and had no other real flavor. Needed at least a sauce of some sort.

 

For my main I ordered the grilled beef tenderloin.

 

 

This was the first time I'd ordered this. I have seen it raved about on here before but don't pay it much attention since it is on the portion of the menu with the everyday items. It was okay but nothing special. I discovered I don't like polenta.

 

For dessert I ordered the bitter n blanc.

 

[jam19872016]

This was very good and an excellent finish to an otherwise average meal. Service was great as usual.

 

After dinner we retired to the cabin. Looking back I think maybe I took it a little too easy and should have tried to do a little more activities with my mom to keep her better engaged. But I was not feeling 100% and could feel a cold creeping up on me plus after a couple nights of calmer seas we were rocking pretty hard again as we made our way back to Miami so I spent the evening enjoying some TV in the room.

 

I spent a little time in the casino as well. I wanted to try my luck one more time. I played for a little while but no big wins and I called it quits for the casino this trip.

 

Next up, two days at sea.
 

[jam19872016]

Day 7: "Fun" Day at Sea

 

Uh oh, I have put the word fun in quotation marks again. I spent the first sea day mostly in bed with a terrible case of motion sickness. Today it was not the motion getting to me, but instead I had come down with a cold and a terrible cough to go along with it. I did not sleep well as I spent most of the night coughing so it was pretty late before I got out of bed.

 

I made my way to brunch and I seriously considered leaving as I was coughing pretty badly. If I had been any of the people around me I would be thinking to myself "why is this guy here coughing all over the place". In the end I was probably a bit selfish and I hope I did not get anyone sick with my constant hacking.

 

(I wrote that weeks ago, before the current state of panic people are in over Covid-19. It was irresponsible to be out around others trying to enjoy their meal while I was coughing up a lung. I was careful to cover my cough and everyone was courteous enough to not confront me on my bad judgement. But I wonder in today's heightened state of fear, if I would have started a riot.)

 

I ordered the voyage burger to round out the new burger options.

 

 

This was ok and I would probably try it again, but it was greasy and messy and just not what I needed to be eating right now. I also ordered a parfait which I always enjoy.

[jam19872016]

Back in the room I had a new towel friend waiting for me.

 

 

 

There was an afternoon of drawings in the casino every half hour from 1230-330. I made sure I was there for the drawings but other than that I did not stay. I spent a little time outside today and the fresh air and sunshine made me feel a little bit better and kept me from spending another sea day in bed. Not 100% but at least I felt a little less crappy and stopped coughing everywhere.

 

I had a light lunch today since I ate breakfast so late. I got a tomato and mozzarella sandwich from the deli. It was very good and always my go to when I just want a small bite to eat to hold me over till the next meal.

[jam19872016]

Tonight was the second elegant night. I briefly thought we were going to go to Guy's BBQ for dinner since my mom had mentioned it the night before but today she had zero interest so it was back to the MDR.

 

Tonight's menu recycled from another cruise.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

For my starter I ordered the stuffed mushrooms.

 

 

Although this was good it was mostly spinach with just a hint of a mushroom somewhere in there.

 

For my main I ordered the teriyaki salmon and the jumbo shrimp.

 

 

 

 

The shrimp were okay. That fish though....BLECH. I needed to drink some ocean water just to get the taste of salt out of my mouth. I can say I very rarely don't at least attempt to finish what I order but that fish was bad tonight. A usual favorite so it was disappointing to see it so bad tonight.

 

For dessert I had the grand marnier souffle.

 

 

 

This was excellent. I also almost got the key lime mousse but was glad I didn't. I tried a bite of my mom's after she pushed it away in disgust and agreed, something went horribly wrong here.

 

Service was an A+ again, but tonight's food was a train wreck. This is one of Carnival's stronger menus and it was unusual to see such a poor execution tonight from the chefs.

[jam19872016]

After dinner I made it to the theater for showtime. Tonight's show was Celestial Strings. I did not get a great seat tonight even showing up a half hour early.

 

 

 

The seat itself wasn't horrible, but they had props set up in seating area below. This caused there to be less seats in an already small theater, but it also meant that although I could see the stage I could not see any of what was going on in the "spillover" show. 

 

I understand the entertainment department has no control over Carnival's odd design choice here, but this show was created specifically for Horizon. They have to know that most of their audience cannot see the show they have created and just don't care.

 

The show itself though was fantastic. Very good effects and the singing was phenomenal. To tell the truth it is usually the singing that puts me off on these shows. The song choices seem to always include a few songs that are difficult to sing and the performers just don't have the vocal range to pull it off. The singers on Horizon nailed it! Highly recommend this show but do make sure to show up about 45 minutes early. It is worth it at least one time.

 

After showtime I wound down in the room with some TV for a couple hours and turned in for the night. Tomorrow would be our final day at sea.

[jam19872016]

Thanks for reading along everybody. I'll be back tomorrow or Tuesday to finish up this review.

[SunNFunCruzer]

59 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Today it was not the motion getting to me, but instead I had come down with a cold and a terrible cough to go along with it. I did not sleep well as I spent most of the night coughing so it was pretty late before I got out of bed.

 

I made my way to brunch and I seriously considered leaving as I was coughing pretty badly. If I had been any of the people around me I would be thinking to myself "why is this guy here coughing all over the place". In the end I was probably a bit selfish and I hope I did not get anyone sick with my constant hacking.

 

(I wrote that weeks ago, before the current state of panic people are in over Covid-19. It was irresponsible to be out around others trying to enjoy their meal while I was coughing up a lung. I was careful to cover my cough and everyone was courteous enough to not confront me on my bad judgement. But I wonder in today's heightened state of fear, if I would have started a riot.)

 

 

Dang!  Hope you feel better !  And Thanks for reporting and enjoy the end of what sounds like a Fabulous cruise!!!  :-)  :-)  :-) 

[grandmarnnurse]

On 1/26/2020 at 4:53 PM, jam19872016 said:

I next made my way up to Lido for some hand scooped gelato which I buried in toppings. I ended up with a slice of cake and an empenada also.

 

 

 

 

 

The empenada counter at the buffet was a nice addition. It was good but a bit too salty. I will try it again with some of the sauces available to tame the salt a bit.

 

The cake was fantastic and I had intended to skip it in favor of the gelato since the cake is on all the ships but when I saw it I could not resist.

 

The gelato was also good. The flavors today were mango and coffee. The flavors are always a bit odd but if you don't like the options, the topping bar is still great with the soft serve.
 

I just sailed the Glory, and they had BBQ, but it was not the same as Guys was on the Breeze. I can’t wait to have the Guys BBQ when I sail the Magic April 5 for my B2B. Also, your cake choice is my favorite, and just had it on embarkation day February 2. I know I will be having that again. (I am currently trying to lose the 7lbs I gained on that cruise before the next! 🤣🤣🤣)