Comin’ at you LIVE from Horizon 3/7-3/15

[jbethel11]

56 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Congrats, O.C. for winning that trivia medal! 👍

Wait they have trivia medals too? I thought it was just a Ship-on-a-Stick. Guess this was a recent addition?

[BelowDeck4us]

Yes, the trivia medals were a surprise for us, too.  We recently cruised on the Panorama and our group of 10-12 won Trivial Pursuit.  Of course they wouldn't hand out 10-12 ships on a stick, so we each received a Carnival Medal.  

[Organized Chaos]

13 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

PLEASE don't tell me it was the hairy chest contest!

 

Ha! NOOO!! Besides, that isn’t until this afternoon. 😉

[Organized Chaos]

13 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

The beef was so gamey on our Valor cruise. So much gristle, I had to spit it out!

 

I didn’t try the beef. The pork wasn’t bad, but I’ve certainly had a lot better. My chicken was dark meat, which I don’t care for, but even so, it wasn’t that good. The mac & cheese was terrible. Multiple people in our party agreed.

[LMaxwell]

OP any special directives from the cruise line for your return?  What are your plans?  

[Organized Chaos]

13 hours ago, Joe817 said:

Congrats, O.C. for winning that trivia medal! 👍  I'll bet that was fun.

 

Lots of stuff has been happening since you've been away. And lots of stuff has changed. I won't spoil all the dreary news for you. You're still on a cruise and hope you are having a great time! Smooth sailing and calm seas. 🥂

 

Well, I never said the medal was for trivia. 😆 Nope, not trivia. 

 

Our schools have closed. They announced that yesterday. My wife’s cousin, who’s with us, isn’t allowed back to work for 2 weeks since she left the country.

 

Here’s what I don’t get. People not allowed at work for two weeks, kids not allowed at school. Sporting events and places closing for a month or more. When all these things reopen, when kids go back to school, and when people go back to work, the virus still exists. There’s no cure or vaccine yet. For example, a kid is out of school for a month. But let’s say they contract corona during their time off because they’re not technically quarantined. They can then take it to school when it reopens. These closings can only do so much.  They can slow down communal spread for the next month or two, but the virus is still out there when all these things reopen. What then?  It’s not over until they come up with a cure/vaccine.

[kwokpot]

42 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Well, I never said the medal was for trivia. 😆 Nope, not trivia. 

 

Our schools have closed. They announced that yesterday. My wife’s cousin, who’s with us, isn’t allowed back to work for 2 weeks since she left the country.

 

Here’s what I don’t get. People not allowed at work for two weeks, kids not allowed at school. Sporting events and places closing for a month or more. When all these things reopen, when kids go back to school, and when people go back to work, the virus still exists. There’s no cure or vaccine yet. For example, a kid is out of school for a month. But let’s say they contract corona during their time off because they’re not technically quarantined. They can then take it to school when it reopens. These closings can only do so much.  They can slow down communal spread for the next month or two, but the virus is still out there when all these things reopen. What then?  It’s not over until they come up with a cure/vaccine.

You are ABSOLUTELY Right. They aren't trying to eliminate the virus spread, they know that's impossible. What they are trying to do is SLOW DOWN the virus spread so NOT EVERYONE gets the virus at the same time. SO as an example, if one particular community will have 10,000 cases, they rather have 10,000 cases spread over 4 months than over 1 month as not to overwhelm the medical facilities. This is what they mean by FLATTENING the virus spread curve, not ELIMINATING it.

[Organized Chaos]

17 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

Wait they have trivia medals too? I thought it was just a Ship-on-a-Stick. Guess this was a recent addition?

 

My medal wasn’t for trivia, it was for something else. They did SOAS for trivia, and if it happened to be teams, they’d still only get one, two on occasion. I played the least amount of trivia I’ve ever played on this cruise. It was always so full, even in port. 

 

Fun Squad Hailey is normally the comedy club hostess, but she did some trivia this morning. She’s the epitome of what Fun Squad should be, in my opinion. Happy, cheerful, chipper, and interacts great with the people. I hope some of you get to meet her when this mess is over.

[Organized Chaos]

4 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

OP any special directives from the cruise line for your return?  What are your plans?  

 

We weren’t told anything. As far as onboard personnel goes, Carnival has been absolutely silent about coronavirus. Granted, we didn’t go to the debarkation talk, so maybe they said something there, but I would think they’d send out letters to everyone’s cabin if we needed to know anything important.

 

Since we have a very long drive, we usually stop overnight, but we’re seriously considering going straight home. I’m not necessarily worried about being at a hotel, but we’re feeling like we just want to get back under our own roof ASAP.

 

I’ll be sure to mention it if Miami does anything differently.

[grandmarnnurse]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

You are ABSOLUTELY Right. They aren't trying to eliminate the virus spread, they know that's impossible. What they are trying to do is SLOW DOWN the virus spread so NOT EVERYONE gets the virus at the same time. SO as an example, if one particular community will have 10,000 cases, they rather have 10,000 cases spread over 4 months than over 1 month as not to overwhelm the medical facilities. This is what they mean by FLATTENING the virus spread curve, not ELIMINATING it.

Thank you for saying all that! I was just getting ready to post my comment, similar to yours, when I read yours. People need to realize that to let it go unchecked, it is a tremendous strain on our healthcare system. This way, that viral curve is pretty flattened out. It may last longer that way, but safer for those that get sick, as our healthcare system can better treat them. Bravo to you for explaining that. 👏👏👏

[Organized Chaos]

Just FYI, the news channel piped to the cabins sucks. They repeat the same block of coverage throughout the day and it’s not like we’re watching it all day, every day. I also don’t check news websites because, after all, we’re on a cruise and we have to get back to the real world soon enough. So I’m not up to date on all the terminologies, like virus spread curves or whatever, that are being said in the news. My opinion about corona earlier in this thread was just that, an opinion. It was not based on any type of professional healthcare knowledge, nor did I claim it to be. Just a regular guy talking.

 

Let’s face it, all the “experts” on all the news channels for the past month or so haven’t really done much to instill confidence in their knowledge of this either. Just talking heads being used by the media to push one agenda or another. First, for weeks, it was no big deal. So many people here on CC, and the talking heads on tv, lecturing others for weeks that it’s all hype...that flu is so much worse. All the while, I’ve been saying that the two couldn’t be compared accurately considering how new coronavirus is. Now, in just the week we’ve been on this cruise, everyone’s story has changed completely. That’s why it’s so dangerous for the media to push “news” that’s based on ratings and being the first to break a story instead of reporting facts.

 

I never intended to start a debate on the matter. 

[Organized Chaos]

Off to bed. Early day tomorrow to get on the road. I’ll be sure to finish up my review and post more pictures when we get home. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. I hope you found at least some of it useful and/or entertaining.

[jbethel11]

9 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

Off to bed. Early day tomorrow to get on the road. I’ll be sure to finish up my review and post more pictures when we get home. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. I hope you found at least some of it useful and/or entertaining.

I just remembered your cruise is over! Have a great night, and safe driving!

[grandmarnnurse]

6 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

Just FYI, the news channel piped to the cabins sucks. They repeat the same block of coverage throughout the day and it’s not like we’re watching it all day, every day. I also don’t check news websites because, after all, we’re on a cruise and we have to get back to the real world soon enough. So I’m not up to date on all the terminologies, like virus spread curves or whatever, that are being said in the news. My opinion about corona earlier in this thread was just that, an opinion. It was not based on any type of professional healthcare knowledge, nor did I claim it to be. Just a regular guy talking.

 

Let’s face it, all the “experts” on all the news channels for the past month or so haven’t really done much to instill confidence in their knowledge of this either. Just talking heads being used by the media to push one agenda or another. First, for weeks, it was no big deal. So many people here on CC, and the talking heads on tv, lecturing others for weeks that it’s all hype...that flu is so much worse. All the while, I’ve been saying that the two couldn’t be compared accurately considering how new coronavirus is. Now, in just the week we’ve been on this cruise, everyone’s story has changed completely. That’s why it’s so dangerous for the media to push “news” that’s based on ratings and being the first to break a story instead of reporting facts.

 

I never intended to start a debate on the matter. 

Oh, no. You are fine. No debating here. Things DID change dramatically in the week you were gone. A week ago, I was planning on my dream cruise, a B2B, for my 50th Anniversary. I had invested a lot of money into it. Well, at least a lot of money for my retirement budget. ( I know some people pay a lot more for a balcony/suite than I did for my inside cabin that I was able to upgrade—the morning before that cruise was cancelled—to a balcony, but a lot of money to us) Now, I’m down to the one last leg of that B2B on the first day they sail again on April 11, and praying we can all make it. It’s become hysterical back home here. No toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and soap anywhere to be found. It’s been worse than a Black Friday morning in some stores! It’s crazy! And a lot of this hysteria is being fueled by the 24/7 media coverage of it. Then you get the real A-holes on like CNN, that want to start throwing politics into it, and continue their never ending hatred. Sorry, but this is getting to be too much back home. I pray you have a safe trip home, and savor the memories of the wonderful cruise you just left behind. I leave for my drive south 3/29—-if nobody quarantines me before that—LOL! 

[Joe817]

O.C. this is a brave new world we are in....for the time being. Thanks for taking us along. I really enjoyed your review. You all have a VERY safe journey back to home! 👍

[Organized Chaos]

We made it home safe & sound this morning around 5:30am. I was ready to just be home so we did end up driving straight through. It was rough, but we managed. We made pretty good time, if you can call it that. Between 19-20 hours. I doubt we do that again. There was a time when I could do a drive like that by myself without blinking, but those days are long gone. 😩 Temps progressively dropped the farther north we got...leaving temps in the 80's and returning to mid 30's. I still had shorts and a T-shirt on, my jeans & jacket packed away, and let me tell you, our last couple gas stops were cold ones. LOL Needless to say, our first order of business was to take naps and catch up on sleep.

 

Since I couldn't get the Tapatalk app to work the last couple days and post pictures, I fell behind, so now I'm going to have to finish up by memory. Which is what I wanted to avoid because I know I'll leave some things out that I would've posted otherwise. But I'll do my best to cover everything I intended. I apologize ahead of time if I repeat anything. I don't remember everything I posted.

[Joe817]

Phew! What a drive! I know all of you are totally exhausted! Glad you all made it home safe. And certainly there's no need to apologize. We all understand. Take a few days to catch up on your sleep and rest. Take it easy! 👌

[grimpil]

On 3/14/2020 at 3:27 PM, Organized Chaos said:

 

Well, I never said the medal was for trivia. 😆 Nope, not trivia. 

 

Our schools have closed. They announced that yesterday. My wife’s cousin, who’s with us, isn’t allowed back to work for 2 weeks since she left the country.

 

Here’s what I don’t get. People not allowed at work for two weeks, kids not allowed at school. Sporting events and places closing for a month or more. When all these things reopen, when kids go back to school, and when people go back to work, the virus still exists. There’s no cure or vaccine yet. For example, a kid is out of school for a month. But let’s say they contract corona during their time off because they’re not technically quarantined. They can then take it to school when it reopens. These closings can only do so much.  They can slow down communal spread for the next month or two, but the virus is still out there when all these things reopen. What then?  It’s not over until they come up with a cure/vaccine.

you are explaining what is referred to as the second wave

[Organized Chaos]

On 3/13/2020 at 8:51 PM, Joe817 said:

Congrats, O.C. for winning that trivia medal! 👍  I'll bet that was fun.

 

On 3/13/2020 at 9:48 PM, jbethel11 said:

Wait they have trivia medals too? I thought it was just a Ship-on-a-Stick. Guess this was a recent addition?

 

If you haven't seen them, this is my official Congressional Fun Squad Medal of Honor-able Ridiculousness. I'm pretty sure the Captain didn't even have one of these babies...

 

[Organized Chaos]

OK, where did I leave off?

 

Thursday was Aruba. We did the Atlantis Submarine excursion there and, holy cow, it was awesome! My wife had originally picked out Aruba by Land & Sea, where you take a bus to a location, then go down into the hull of a boat and look out windows, but you don't fully submerge. But once I saw the submarine excursion, I put the kibosh on Land & Sea and it turned out to be a great decision. We went on this cruise with some members of my wife's family. They had all booked the Land & Sea excursion. When we got out to the terminal to meet for our excursion, we crossed paths with my wife's cousin & her husband. They had missed their excursion, so we invited them to join us. Luckily, there were two spots left. That afternoon, their daughter, who had gone on Land & Sea with the others, said theirs was very boring and they didn't get to see much on the "sea" portion. A friend of my wife's aunt said the same thing, they didn't like it. So my wife's cousin & her husband were very glad they missed it and went with us, because we all loved ours.

 

We boarded a boat docked right by the Horizon, which we weren't expecting. We thought we'd take a bus somewhere. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise because you first take a 15 boat ride to where they have the submarine secured to another boat near a reef and deeper waters. So that was kind of a mini excursion within our excursion. 15 minutes out meant 15 min. back, a nice little boat ride.

 

We took the 10am excursion, which was completely full. When we got to the submarine, the 9am excursion was getting off, then we got on, and our boat took them back to the port. Theirs hardly had any people on it, I think maybe six, give or take. So if it's always like that, it's better to take the early one because ours was full with 32 (I think) people. We talked to a guy who had gotten off the 9am sub and he said it was great, that they saw all kinds of fish and also a big moray eel. The seats in the sub are VERY close together, so if you do this, be prepared to be up close & personal with your neighbors. There's a laminated card by each window with pictures of all the possible fish you might see. The guide is informative and, at times, cracks some good jokes. The sub captain skims right alongside the reef, then turns around and comes back to let the other side see. Just when I thought it was over, they said they were moving on to deeper waters. After that, we skimmed by another reef. We were underwater for 50-60 minutes. We saw a ton of fish. There were two sea turtles that swam by, one on each side of the sub. We were sitting in the very back and just caught a glimpse of one before it disappeared off into the distance, but others got a much better view of it, so it's luck of the draw. The side opposite us also got to see a stingray. I never did see the moray eel the guy said he saw. So even though you spin around and each side gets to the see the reef, you don't always get to see the same things. But that didn't matter, the excursion was fantastic. Or as my wife's cousin put it, the greatest aquarium in the world. Except I told her we were the ones in the tank. 😆 I highly recommend this excursion. We'll definitely do it again and will probably try it at other ports, too. I said I'd even be willing to do back to backs, the 9am and the 10am. Even though it's one right after the other, the marine life scenery changes and we'd still see different things.

[Organized Chaos]

Aruba

 

On our way out to the submarine...

 

 

 

Thanks a lot, coronavirus...

 

 

We arrived at the submarine...

 

 

Loading the sub...

 

 

The adventure begins...

 

 

 

 

 

Breaking these pictures up into more than one post.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Organized Chaos

[Organized Chaos]

I remember this one. A yellowtail snapper...

 

 

 

The deepest depth we reached was 141 feet...

 

 

Too deep for coral to grow (not enough light & warmth), but these two were hanging out down there...

 

 

After leaving the sea floor, we skimmed by another reef before resurfacing...

 

 

These little blue ones were everywhere...

 

 

And finally, this is what it's like inside the submarine...

 

[Organized Chaos]

On our way back to the ship, we went on the opposite side of this island than when we first went to the sub. So you get a little change of scenery...

 

 

 

 

 

After we got back, we did some shopping. Then took the (free) trolley that goes around part of the town. We sat up top (like a double-decker bus). It's about a 45 min. ride with a 15 min. stop halfway through because it has to let the other trolley get to a point where you can go back to the beginning. This was a spur of the moment thing to do and weren't prepared to sit in the hot sun for 15 min., so yeah, we got a bit cooked.

 

 

We saw a couple of these horses around. Not sure what that's all about...

 

 

Back on the ship after a great day....

 

 

 

More to come...

[Sailin_Pirate]

Quick search about the blue horses (the link won't embed). But its from a page im guessing we can't mention here or something

 

Aruba is at Plaza Daniel Leo.

Ever wondered about the blue horses? They represent the important historical moment where the horses jumped from the ship deck into the Caribbean Ocean and swim to our Aruban Bay 'Paardenbaai “. The 8 Sculptures represents "Strength, Nobility, Grace, Beauty and Freedom".

Edited March 17, 2020 by Sailin_Pirate

[Organized Chaos]

Celestial Strings was the only Playlist show they were able to do a full show for. Vintage Pop & Amor Cubano were "modified" because of rough seas. Having heard the Horizon's Playlist performers a little at the Welcome Aboard Show, some at Vintage Pop, and at Celestial Strings, I'd say they are very good, in my opinion. I would love to hear them sing for some of the other Playlist shows that are on other ships. Ones with themes/songs I enjoy more. I would also like to see the full show for Vintage Pop. We left because it was a lot of slow songs and we weren't in the mood to be depressed, but if the full show was more up-tempo and upbeat, I might've liked it. I also wish they didn't have Amor Cubano. Latin music isn't my thing at all, and with only three Playlist shows on the Horizon, I wish they had something else. Considering the other shows on Horizon are only on Horizon, I'm not sure why they included Amor Cubano instead of making them all new.

 

I just realized that the info. I had also said Soulbound was supposed to be on Horizon, but that wasn't one of the shows on ours. I don't know if that's because of the first port of call change or what. Do they even have Soulbound on any Horizon cruises?

 

So all I can really comment on is Celestial Strings. I'm not sure what to say about it. It's definitely different. I didn't think it was bad, but it wasn't great either. It feels like, with that show, they're trying to compete with some of the other musical shows that I hear a lot about on other lines. The three violinists, who also perform live throughout the cruise, are good, but the Valor had three violinists back in Dec. who I thought were much better. Not to mention, for being a key element to Celestial "Strings," their instrument volumes were far too low. I couldn't hear them very well. Would I go see it again? Yeah, probably once more, then I'd be over it.

 

 

Public Service Announcement: Don't sit with that arbor thingy between you and the stage. They do move all over the place, including in the audience a lot, but it was in our way a few times.