Fresh off Carnival Horizon 8/1 - 8/7 - Ask me anything

[TS4IA]

Just got off the Carnival Horizon. It was a fantastic 6-day cruise to Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay and Bimini. The ship had about 2,800 passengers onboard and it was obvious as there were little to no lines for anything. As others have mentioned there was no social distancing or masking onboard. We went to all of the shows on board (3 playlist shows, 4 different comics throughout doing upwards of 16 shows, etc.). I will say if you are choosing between comedy or playlist, comedy all the way. The vocals from the playlist cast were pretty atrocious, they’ve clearly cast for a specific look and dancing ability but forgot vocals are more important. The Horizon band and vocalists were great. The food was alright, the steakhouse was a bit disappointing, services was not great there. The main dining room was good and the service was very fast, out in under an hour, except formal nights, those were about 1.5 hours. The buffets were trimmed down, usually only running one station mid and aft vs the normal times of two stations mid and aft. Pizza was always available and fresh with essentially no line ever, same for Guy’s and Blue Iguana. 
 

Overall the vibe on the ship was extremely relaxed and folks were happy to be cruising. Also, there were a ton of first-time Carnival cruisers onboard.

 

Last item of note for those that care, there are 3 ways to get a printed Fun Times if you’re looking for one. 1) Guest Services, 2) Print then yourself at Internet Cafe, and 3) Red Frog and Blue Iguana on lido had them available (other bars did as well throughout ship). Finally, the Carnival Hub app worked very well except one night, but it was great for planning the activities as you could favorite what you wanted to see and it would send you a notification 15 minutes prior to it starting. Also, it allows you to see the various activities throughout the week, so you can plan your week out in advance (very helpful for planning around specialty dining).

 

Now that I’ve given more of a review than I planned, I will open it up to any questions. I went all over the ship and did as much as possible, so ask me anything you want to know about being back onboard or the cruise. We also did an excursion in Amber Cove and Bimini, both were a lot of fun!

 

What do you want to know?

[ontheweb]

3 minutes ago, TS4IA said:

Just got off the Carnival Horizon. It was a fantastic 6-day cruise to Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay and Bimini. The ship had about 2,800 passengers onboard and it was obvious as there were little to no lines for anything. As others have mentioned there was no social distancing or masking onboard. We went to all of the shows on board (3 playlist shows, 4 different comics throughout doing upwards of 16 shows, etc.). I will say if you are choosing between comedy or playlist, comedy all the way. The vocals from the playlist cast were pretty atrocious, they’ve clearly cast for a specific look and dancing ability but forgot vocals are more important. The Horizon band and vocalists were great. The food was alright, the steakhouse was a bit disappointing, services was not great there. The main dining room was good and the service was very fast, out in under an hour, except formal nights, those were about 1.5 hours. The buffets were trimmed down, usually only running one station mid and aft vs the normal times of two stations mid and aft. Pizza was always available and fresh with essentially no line ever, same for Guy’s and Blue Iguana. 
 

Overall the vibe on the ship was extremely relaxed and folks were happy to be cruising. Also, there were a ton of first-time Carnival cruisers onboard.

 

Last item of note for those that care, there are 3 ways to get a printed Fun Times if you’re looking for one. 1) Guest Services, 2) Print then yourself at Internet Cafe, and 3) Red Frog and Blue Iguana on lido had them available (other bars did as well throughout ship). Finally, the Carnival Hub app worked very well except one night, but it was great for planning the activities as you could favorite what you wanted to see and it would send you a notification 15 minutes prior to it starting. Also, it allows you to see the various activities throughout the week, so you can plan your week out in advance (very helpful for planning around specialty dining).

 

Now that I’ve given more of a review than I planned, I will open it up to any questions. I went all over the ship and did as much as possible, so ask me anything you want to know about being back onboard or the cruise. We also did an excursion in Amber Cove and Bimini, both were a lot of fun!

 

What do you want to know?

Were there as many activities as usual, specifically trivia contests?

 

When you say little or no masking does that include younger children who obviously are not vaccinated as they are not yet eligible?

 

When you

[TS4IA]

There were a ton of activities, Ocean Plaza seemed to constantly have trivia going on. They had TV Theme Songs, Divas, Guess The Lyrics, Animal trivia, General Knowledge, etc. but probably 5+ trivia contest a day. 
 

I’m not sure I ever saw little kids with masks on, they were definitely not abiding by those rules and they weren’t being enforced. If there were unvaccinated adults you wouldn’t know it either as they weren’t wearing masks either. There were some vaccinated adults choosing to be masked up the entire time though.

4 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Were there as many activities as usual, specifically trivia contests?

 

When you say little or no masking does that include younger children who obviously are not vaccinated as they are not yet eligible?

 

When you

 

[Shakatime]

26 minutes ago, TS4IA said:

Just got off the Carnival Horizon. It was a fantastic 6-day cruise to Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay and Bimini. The ship had about 2,800 passengers onboard and it was obvious as there were little to no lines for anything. As others have mentioned there was no social distancing or masking onboard. We went to all of the shows on board (3 playlist shows, 4 different comics throughout doing upwards of 16 shows, etc.). I will say if you are choosing between comedy or playlist, comedy all the way. The vocals from the playlist cast were pretty atrocious, they’ve clearly cast for a specific look and dancing ability but forgot vocals are more important. The Horizon band and vocalists were great. The food was alright, the steakhouse was a bit disappointing, services was not great there. The main dining room was good and the service was very fast, out in under an hour, except formal nights, those were about 1.5 hours. The buffets were trimmed down, usually only running one station mid and aft vs the normal times of two stations mid and aft. Pizza was always available and fresh with essentially no line ever, same for Guy’s and Blue Iguana. 
 

Overall the vibe on the ship was extremely relaxed and folks were happy to be cruising. Also, there were a ton of first-time Carnival cruisers onboard.

 

Last item of note for those that care, there are 3 ways to get a printed Fun Times if you’re looking for one. 1) Guest Services, 2) Print then yourself at Internet Cafe, and 3) Red Frog and Blue Iguana on lido had them available (other bars did as well throughout ship). Finally, the Carnival Hub app worked very well except one night, but it was great for planning the activities as you could favorite what you wanted to see and it would send you a notification 15 minutes prior to it starting. Also, it allows you to see the various activities throughout the week, so you can plan your week out in advance (very helpful for planning around specialty dining).

 

Now that I’ve given more of a review than I planned, I will open it up to any questions. I went all over the ship and did as much as possible, so ask me anything you want to know about being back onboard or the cruise. We also did an excursion in Amber Cove and Bimini, both were a lot of fun!

 

What do you want to know?

Did you catch Covid or know anyone that has?

[TS4IA]

4 minutes ago, Shakatime said:

Did you catch Covid or know anyone that has?

No one in my party has caught COVID, however, we just disembarked today.  So it’s possible that we could have and we may not be showing any symptoms. Or it may develop once it gets through the incubation period. If I do end up with it, I will be sure to post an update. All members of my party are vaccinated.

[outdoors27]

Just got off same cruise. It was nice, rarely were masks worn that I saw but they did what they had to do and could do as far as keeping kids out of Circle C who were sailing on an exemption or had to wear a mask in the arcade. My daughter was on an exemption with her first shot done, but we made the decession to hold off on second as she could have gotten it the morning we sailed. She did not wear a mask, except for arcade or ports but even as much as Bimini was said to be mandatory no one had them on at our excursion once at the pool/beach area. Mask were encourage for unvaxxed but not mandatory. The only way you'd know someone was on an exemption was the hole punch on their sail and sign card was bigger. I do feel bad for anyone sailing today and inbthe near future as mask are going to be required all the time. We were fortunate to have sailed when we did. Crew was great and had their stuff together. 

[Corl4]

Thanks for taking some questions!  Here’s mine….in regard to “elegant night”, would you say people were a bit more casual on your cruise or still dressing up?  
 

Thanks!

[80sGal]

Also just got off the ship.  It was a great cruise, and the ship never felt crowded.  We saw many of the same guests across the ship on various days.  We saw all 4 comedians and two of the shows plus some trivia and deck activities.  Lots of energy from Donkey and the crew, and the staff were all very attentive.   I liked the productions more than the comedy, but I think DH liked the comedy more, so everyone will differ on that.  No problems with drink service anywhere, including the Casino.  The ship was continually being cleaned, but I've always thought they did a good job with that even before Covid.  The food was typical Carnival quality, and the steward provided superior service.  All that being said, there is NO WAY I would cruise with a mask just to be able to go cruising again, especially this time of the year.  We are regular masks wearers when it is necessary, so I'm not among the anti-maskers in general, but I really believe it would change the entire experience.   Otherwise thanks to the OP for starting the thread and good luck to all of you with upcoming cruises!  

Edited August 7, 2021 by 80sGal

[BoozinCroozin]

Nice to hear you all had a great time. Unfortunately, your experience will be vastly different from cruises going out today. Everyone will have to be masked up almost all the time. Since we will be in that situation, I am going to want to hear how the new protocols play out.

[renza]

2 hours ago, TS4IA said:

Just got off the Carnival Horizon. It was a fantastic 6-day cruise to Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay and Bimini. The ship had about 2,800 passengers onboard and it was obvious as there were little to no lines for anything. As others have mentioned there was no social distancing or masking onboard. We went to all of the shows on board (3 playlist shows, 4 different comics throughout doing upwards of 16 shows, etc.). I will say if you are choosing between comedy or playlist, comedy all the way. The vocals from the playlist cast were pretty atrocious, they’ve clearly cast for a specific look and dancing ability but forgot vocals are more important. The Horizon band and vocalists were great. The food was alright, the steakhouse was a bit disappointing, services was not great there. The main dining room was good and the service was very fast, out in under an hour, except formal nights, those were about 1.5 hours. The buffets were trimmed down, usually only running one station mid and aft vs the normal times of two stations mid and aft. Pizza was always available and fresh with essentially no line ever, same for Guy’s and Blue Iguana. 
 

Overall the vibe on the ship was extremely relaxed and folks were happy to be cruising. Also, there were a ton of first-time Carnival cruisers onboard.

 

Last item of note for those that care, there are 3 ways to get a printed Fun Times if you’re looking for one. 1) Guest Services, 2) Print then yourself at Internet Cafe, and 3) Red Frog and Blue Iguana on lido had them available (other bars did as well throughout ship). Finally, the Carnival Hub app worked very well except one night, but it was great for planning the activities as you could favorite what you wanted to see and it would send you a notification 15 minutes prior to it starting. Also, it allows you to see the various activities throughout the week, so you can plan your week out in advance (very helpful for planning around specialty dining).

 

Now that I’ve given more of a review than I planned, I will open it up to any questions. I went all over the ship and did as much as possible, so ask me anything you want to know about being back onboard or the cruise. We also did an excursion in Amber Cove and Bimini, both were a lot of fun!

 

What do you want to know?

How was Bimini?  We are going on sunrise in a week with a stop there.  Could u go into world Bimini and use pool. What excursion did u do there?  Thank you

[TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail]

In addition to above Bimini question (new port to 99% of Carnival cruisers), any recommendations for shore excursions at these 3 ports is appreciated!

[pc2425]

We will be on Mardi Gras next Saturday.  We have never been to Amber Cove.  Did anyone do an excursion in Amber Cove? If so, which one?  Did you see any random testing being done there?

[80sGal]

1 hour ago, pc2425 said:

We will be on Mardi Gras next Saturday.  We have never been to Amber Cove.  Did anyone do an excursion in Amber Cove? If so, which one?  Did you see any random testing being done there?

We took the Catamaran Snorkel tour at AC.  It was great!   FREESTYLE was the company name, booked thru Carnival.  Friendly crew, helpful with all skill levels in the water, rum drinks and beer throughout, deck dancing and fun all around.  The water was perfect.  Lots of fish although the reef wasn't as colorful as Roatan.  I'll give it an A+!  Ran overtime which was fine with us, and no masks on the boat.  The bus portion was uneventful, with masks.   Still time to shop and walk around the port shops afterwards even with an extra hour (approximately) of the tour.  

[80sGal]

2 hours ago, TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail said:

In addition to above Bimini question (new port to 99% of Carnival cruisers), any recommendations for shore excursions at these 3 ports is appreciated!

See my note to pc2425 for Amber Cove.  HMC -- rented a clamshell and spent the whole aftn in the water.   No excursion needed.   We did not find much to see at Bimini -- stopped at the casino and took a taxi to the downtown area, but it is VERY small.   It is clearly not ready for cruise traffic in my opinion.  Perhaps others took a fun tour and can help out on that port.  

[TS4IA]

4 hours ago, Corl4 said:

Thanks for taking some questions!  Here’s mine….in regard to “elegant night”, would you say people were a bit more casual on your cruise or still dressing up?  
 

Thanks!

Some people were certainly very dressed up, but it is Carnival and people were still fancy casual. Women were wearing dresses, while Men were wearing khakis, dress pants, polos and button downs. Nothing too fancy. Certainly people can dress up or down as much as they want but the dress code is loosely enforced on elegant night.

[TS4IA]

3 hours ago, renza said:

How was Bimini?  We are going on sunrise in a week with a stop there.  Could u go into world Bimini and use pool. What excursion did u do there?  Thank you

My group did the reef shark snorkeling, we really were snorkeling amongst the reef sharks. It was surreal to be so close to them with nothing between you and them. It was a 2 hour excursion, 30 minute boat ride out to the dive site, 35 minutes in the water snorkeling and 30 minute boat ride back. We had to spend a bit of time getting organized, but it was still very fun.

 

You can take the resort world tram from the boat to just outside resort world and to the majority of the other excursion locations. You can gamble at the casino inside resort world and I believe you can buy an excursion for a beach day, but I don’t think it’s at Resort World. The port overall is pretty underwhelming but the views were beautiful, little to no shopping or restaurants to pick from. Many people stayed onboard during the port call.

[TS4IA]

3 hours ago, TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail said:

In addition to above Bimini question (new port to 99% of Carnival cruisers), any recommendations for shore excursions at these 3 ports is appreciated!

In Amber Cove, we did Waterfalls and zip line package. It was a relatively difficult excursion from a physical perspective. We had about a 40 minute ride from the port to the waterfalls. Once there we were quickly on our way to get life vests and helmets for a 40 minute walk up the mountain/hill. The walk was relatively steep and warm, we had people struggling on the walk up. Once up at the top we then slid through 7 waterfalls on our way down the falls. It was really fun, but then there was about a 15 minute walk after the waterfalls back to the truck. 
 

Once done we hopped on the truck and drove 20 minutes to the zip line where we ate before zip lining. They clearly are a little out of practice as things were a little slow and we had to rush back to the ship after the zip lining. While the zip lining is fun, it wasn’t the most thrilling zip line locations. The extreme zip line tour would have been better for that.

 

In Half Moon Cay, be sure to rent either a clamshell or cabana, otherwise the beach is amazing but hot. I wouldn’t worry about planning much, you can rent equipment easily at the beach. The food was subpar on the island but that is a bit to be expected. 
 

A tip for those doing a clamshell, get chair clips and rest your clamshell on the chair clips on the back of your 2 lounge chairs, it will allow a great breeze in the clamshell. If you don’t vent the shell it gets very hot!

[TS4IA]

2 hours ago, pc2425 said:

We will be on Mardi Gras next Saturday.  We have never been to Amber Cove.  Did anyone do an excursion in Amber Cove? If so, which one?  Did you see any random testing being done there?

See other post for Amber Cove excursions. I did not see any random testing for COVID or enforcement of mask mandates to be honest.

[outdoors27]

We ziplined in AC, got a clam shell in HMC (Highly recommended as others have said) and booked last minute excursion to Resort World and just jumped on tram over to there.

[TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail]

48 minutes ago, TS4IA said:

A tip for those doing a clamshell, get chair clips and rest your clamshell on the chair clips on the back of your 2 lounge chairs, it will allow a great breeze in the clamshell. If you don’t vent the shell it gets very hot

Beach towel clips?  Was definitely reserving the clamshell at HMC.  Thanks 

[Enggrl]

1 hour ago, TS4IA said:

My group did the reef shark snorkeling, we really were snorkeling amongst the reef sharks. It was surreal to be so close to them with nothing between you and them. It was a 2 hour excursion, 30 minute boat ride out to the dive site, 35 minutes in the water snorkeling and 30 minute boat ride back. We had to spend a bit of time getting organized, but it was still very fun.

 

You can take the resort world tram from the boat to just outside resort world and to the majority of the other excursion locations. You can gamble at the casino inside resort world and I believe you can buy an excursion for a beach day, but I don’t think it’s at Resort World. The port overall is pretty underwhelming but the views were beautiful, little to no shopping or restaurants to pick from. Many people stayed onboard during the port call.

So this wasn’t a Carnival sponsored excursion?

[TS4IA]

3 hours ago, TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail said:

Beach towel clips?  Was definitely reserving the clamshell at HMC.  Thanks 

Yeah, the beach towel clips. They create a natural holder for bottom bar or the clamshell. The clips also give your legs shade longer as the sun rotates around to the front of the shell. 

[TS4IA]

3 hours ago, Enggrl said:

So this wasn’t a Carnival sponsored excursion?

It was a Carnival sponsored by excursion,  but the waiver signing process and such was a bit of a mess. They had two large groups, the reef sharks and sting rays. They had people getting mixed up in different groups. They sorted it, just a bigger mess than it needed to be. Part of the growing pains of a new port and start for large group excursions. 

[Enggrl]

6 hours ago, TS4IA said:

It was a Carnival sponsored by excursion,  but the waiver signing process and such was a bit of a mess. They had two large groups, the reef sharks and sting rays. They had people getting mixed up in different groups. They sorted it, just a bigger mess than it needed to be. Part of the growing pains of a new port and start for large group excursions. 

Thanks so much. We are going there in Oct but so on the Carnival shore excursion page they only have two activities listed and they are both beach ones. I’m hoping they add some that have snorkeling. 

[tallnthensome]

16 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

 Unfortunately, your experience will be vastly different from cruises going out today. Everyone will have to be masked up almost all the time. 

That is not true. You don't have to mask up at all outside or in your cabin. You only have to mask up in certain entertainment venues and elevators. It also says that no mask while eating or drinking which is most of the time inside. You don't have to mask up if your inside and sitting by yourself somewhere.