Have you ever cruised without looking at the ship or reviews? I haven't looked yet!

[cruisinthemed]

We are going on the Horizon next month and I haven't even looked at the pictures of the ship, restaurants...anything!

I know where & when I'm boarding and what ship.

I have cruised so many times on many ships over & over that I wanted to be surprised.

I know there are specialty restaurants, not sure if we need a reservation, besides the steakhouse?

We are going to Aruba, Bonaire, La Romana & Amber Cove.  I have never been to Bonaire or La Romana (previous cruise it was a cancelled port due to wind).

This cruise we are meeting friends from England who will be staying @ the Hilton in La Romana, may do an independent excursion...any suggestions for us all to have a great day together?  

 

 

[havanadaydreaming]

Horizon is probably our fave Carnival ship, #2 overall. 

 

Should be tons of fun, some good ports! 

[Guest BasicSailor]

I never read reviews for ship info. I only read the reviews in the Immedient threads to see how much fun people are having.

[cruisinthemed]

7 minutes ago, havanadaydreaming said:

Horizon is probably our fave Carnival ship, #2 overall. 

 

Should be tons of fun, some good ports! 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by cruisinthemed
left out some info

[cruisinthemed]

1 minute ago, cruisinthemed said:

 

I am so excited, too many times on repeat ships.  I think I am going to have to peak.  I don't even know where my cabin is, I know mid ship balcony...that's it.  I will have to take a look at my details 😉  

[cruisinthemed]

4 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

I never read reviews for ship info. I only read the reviews in the Immedient threads to see how much fun people are having.

But, have you ever went without knowing anything about the ship?  I haven't even peaked 😉  I might have to since it's getting so close.  We have been booked for at least a year...I think 😉  I was more focused on our Alaska cruise and all of a sudden, it's cruise time in less than 5 weeks 🙂 

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 minute ago, cruisinthemed said:

But, have you ever went without knowing anything about the ship?  I haven't even peaked 😉  I might have to since it's getting so close.  We have been booked for at least a year...I think 😉  I was more focused on our Alaska cruise and all of a sudden, it's cruise time in less than 5 weeks 🙂 

Sure. most of the ports we have been there and done that sort of thing. I did look at room availability a time or two. 🙃

[kctwinmommy]

Pretty much most of the times we've booked, I only looked at floor plans so I could pick our cabin. Beyond that, never really intentionally looked at photos of the ships. To me, they're mostly the same, at least the ones we've been on. If not, I find it when we get on board. I also don't typically read reviews of our ships, unless it was to read about anything specific that went wrong.

[ZoeyVictoria]

I know a lot about Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships because of the time I spend on CC forums, but I have booked cruises on Princess and Celebrity without knowing a thing about the ships.  Bookings were based on what fantastic deals they were.  I looked at deck plans when selecting cabins, but the rest was unknown.  All three turned out well.

[2wheelin]

All you need to know about Horizon is how to use the elevators.

[cruisinthemed]

3 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

All you need to know about Horizon is how to use the elevators.

Hahahahaaaa...I usually take the stairs unless I'm in heels.  I guess that will be something to learn 😉 

 

[Clarasgrandma]

I usually book based on dates and price. Then I look to see what ports in order to narrow the search down if there is more than one option. If all is a tie, I may look at the ship but really the ship is at the very bottom of the list. I should have looked at the ship prior to booking the Pride for 2023 as I only found out afterward that the layout was different and I booked a room under the Red Frog night club! We’ve switched rooms now but probably wouldn’t have been ideal had I not looked.

[ldubs]

Unless I'm already very familiar with the ship, I always look at the deck plans, just to kind of see what is where.  I might occasionally search the threads for info about the ship or itinerary.   I haven't looked at reviews for quite a few years.   I'm not likely to change my mind based on a review.

Enjoy.    

[Mary229]

I look but mainly so I don’t miss something.  So many times in the past I missed some feature or dining spot that I now look ahead of time and make note of must do.  Once onboard I tend to go with the flow often failing to read the daily program guide.  

[K32682]

Yes I have. I cruise not for the boat but where the boat goes. 

[PG_traveller]

This is pretty much the polar opposite of what I do! 😂

[Tonsoffun44]

First cruise ever took all I looked at was cabin location Nothing else - had a great time. 

[GeezerCouple]

On 10/9/2022 at 8:19 PM, cruisinthemed said:

I am so excited, too many times on repeat ships.  I think I am going to have to peak.  I don't even know where my cabin is, I know mid ship balcony...that's it.  I will have to take a look at my details 😉  

 

This ^^ could lead to a nightmare (or just a "bad situation")!

I learned this the hard way.

 

My first cruise was early/mid '70s, and the second was the next year.

My parents were paying to fly 3 generations to spend the holiday together.  I'm sure they spent more on the airfare than for the shorty Miami-Bahamas cruise.  We just received our air and cruise tickets, and didn't know any better about "checking", etc.

 

The first morning, my father was LIVID.  (He was like that anyway... give him a reason... and !!)  It turned out we were something like under a band where the drums thumped away into the wee hours; we were all early to sleep types.  Surprise, the second night was like that, too!  ... and the next...!  😠

 

However, bottom line, I was absolutely hooked on cruising!

Parents wanted to do it again the next year.  So I promptly jumped in and offered to "try to select the cabins this time", not even knowing yet if this was a thing or not.

 

So I got the big glossy brochure that included the deck plans, and checked very, very carefully... I found some cabins in a little alcove, a sort of dead-end mini-hallway that was perpendicular to the main hallway.  (I've never seen anything like that since.)  We had a few cabins, including two with portholes and a couple of insides, on our own sort of "cul de sac". 😉  That meant the little ones could more easily go from cabin to cabin with less chance of getting lost, though we still kept an eye on them of course.

 

And it was QUIET.  I made sure what was next to us and also above and below.  Big, big difference.

 

So aside from the fact that I *enjoy* things like maps and planning trips, this has made sure that in all subsequent cruises, we've had good locations.

 

Anyway, as they say, "the rest is history..." 😀

 

GC

[ldubs]

We learned to pay attention to where the bow is on boarding day.  That way we avoid the initial confusion of being inside and not knowing which way is forward.   

[pris993]

Yes, in the beginning we booked with a TA, all we had was the brochure... seemed to work out fine.

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, pris993 said:

Yes, in the beginning we booked with a TA, all we had was the brochure... seemed to work out fine.

 

That reminds me of getting those little tri-fold deck plan cards at boarding.  I think it was Princess.  And at each elevator lobby they had the ship cut-outs with the various deck plans. Now it is an interactive screen. Haha.    

[GUT2407]

Just now, ldubs said:

 

That reminds me of getting those little tri-fold deck plan cards at boarding.  I think it was Princess.  And at each elevator lobby they had the ship cut-outs with the various deck plans. Now it is an interactive screen. Haha.    

Yeah I miss those, especially on a ship I’ve never sailed on before.

 

[GUT2407]

7 hours ago, ldubs said:

We learned to pay attention to where the bow is on boarding day.  That way we avoid the initial confusion of being inside and not knowing which way is forward.   

Miss the days of little fish on the carpet to help me, and different colours for Port and Starboard. If they don’t want it on the carpe5 maybe even little stickers on the wall now and then.

 

[ldubs]

3 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Miss the days of little fish on the carpet to help me, and different colours for Port and Starboard. If they don’t want it on the carpe5 maybe even little stickers on the wall now and then.

 

 

I don't remember the fish but I like the idea.     

[GUT2407]

27 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I don't remember the fish but I like the idea.     

It may have been a Princess thing but some early cruises had fish on the carpet (they weren’t even that noticeable in fact I missed them totally on our first cruise but had it pointed out to me on our second cruise) and they always swam towards to fore, the carpet also had red border for port, naturally green on the starboard side, now that I did pick up first cruise. Now if that impacts carpet cost some stick on fish in two different colours could fill the same purpose even in areas without carpet.