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We capped off the night with a trip to the French Quarter, specifically to Brass Magnolia and The Fortune Teller. Brass Magnolia has a beautiful decor with an awesome jazz band. We sat there over an hour listening to them play as we each tried a cocktail from the bar. Not very busy here, which seemed to be the theme here all week. A cool, low key spot. I went with the Hurricane while the wife sipped on the Praline Truffle. Neither were a favorite for us, but drinkable nonetheless. On the other side of Brass Magnolia was The Fortune Teller. This place has that dark magic type vibe, which Carnival was shooting for and hit. This became our favorite bar on the ship, which is usually reserved for Alchemy. The bartenders were great, the people hanging out there were fun, and the drinks were on point. The bar was often busy, but there were always seating available either at the bar, high tops, or lounge. We stopped here almost nightly and tried several drinks off of the menu. I won't mention all of them, but my favorite was The Third Eye, while my wife loved The Bog Juice. Speaking of Alchemy, this has been a favorite of ours on other ships. However, it was so busy and rocking nightly that we often skipped it and went to The Fortune Teller instead. On the last night we did finally get over to it. We cashed in our "free drink" credit (up to $11) and got a couple of our favorite cocktails. Still as good as I remember.

We made reservations for Fahrenheit 555 for the first night back before the price increase. Even though it was 8:30pm, I expected it to be busy, but it was actually very empty. I maybe saw 3 or 4 other parties having dinner there. Needless to say, the service was excellent having to tend less tables. We took advantage of the 50% off wine bottle. We both ordered the filet mignon with mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms on the side. Wife got the risotto and I went braised pork belly for our apps. Everything was very good. Service here was much better than last year on the Horizon. Only issue is I ended up with a baked potato instead of the mashed, but no biggy, I like both. Still worth the price of admission. Oh, and the cheesecake was decent.

Sorry, I didn't get the internet on this trip.

Definitely worth it! I should mention the line moves fast, even when it was long.

Definitely worth it! I should mention the line moves fast, even when it was long.

Red Frogs Tiki Bar was where we got our first drinks. We kept with our tradition of starting our vacation with funships. We were pleased to see they were making them from scratch, which we prefer over the pre-made batch. We tried a few other cocktails from here over the week. We enjoyed all them except for a drink called the Zombie. I decided to order something else after a couple sips. When I went to pay though, the bartender said no charge because she saw I barely touched the Zombie. Very cool of her. The tiki bar did get pretty busy during the day, but I never had to wait more than 10 minutes to be served. Getting a seat at the bar was almost impossible, but seats with tables right next to it were attainable each time I wanted to sit at RF. Our first bites came from Street Eats. My wife and I split all three the first day. I can't remember what was served, however they were all delicious. We made a habit of checking it out almost every day (missed 1 day). This was an awesome addition. Great little dishes that change everyday. Another great new addition was Big Chicken. After reading reviews, we had BIG expectations for this place, and it did not disappoint! Over the week we only hit up twice, but so satisfying each time. Would love if Carnival expanded this one to every ship if they could. So good, didn't have time to grab a pic for this one lol

Before reviewing our initial drinks and food, I'll get the stateroom out of the way. On this sailing, we had an interior stateroom, on deck 14, mid-ship. The location worked out well. Centralized and not too far from anything in particular. A bit of climb from 3 to 14, but nothing we couldn't handle. The room itself is what we typically expect, however it was noticeably smaller than the interior staterooms on Horizon. The space between the wall and the mattress on either side was tight. The bathroom too was smaller, although the glass door was a nice upgrade. That said, the room was comfortable and served it's purpose. It also provided ample closet space. We met our room steward, I Ketut, almost immediately after entering our room. He offered either morning or evening service (morning for us). He was very friendly and readily available if we needed anything. Our room was always taken care of in a timely manner. No complaints.

Embarkation We used the 10:15am hotel shuttle ($8 per person) to get us over to the port. We had a 10:30am check-in and we were walking into the terminal at 10:30 on the dot. Checking in was a breeze and we quickly made it to the waiting area. They were somewhat delayed and only started the boarding process around 10:45. That went smooth however and by 11:15 give or take we were on the ship. Our first stop was our Muster Station in Chibang which lasted a total of 30 seconds. Hopefully Carnival keeps this setup. It's convenient. Next stop, drink time!

We had a table out on the deck.

Pre-cruise We live in Connecticut and flew out the day before on an early morning flight from Hartford to Orlando. First time flying JetBlue and had a positive experience. After arriving and getting our luggage, we used an Uber XL to get us to our hotel, Country Inn and Suites, on Cape Canaveral. That was about $83, not including tip. Check-in was at 3pm, but the hotel allowed us to check-in at noon for a $20 fee. Nice hotel and amenities, close to everything, and friendly staff. We would definitely stay there again. We used Friday to bounce around Cape Canaveral. First, we grabbed lunch and drinks at Grills Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar. Decent food, good drinks, good service, and a great view of the aft of Independence of the Seas. Afterwards, we checked out Cocoa Beach. Enjoyed our time there. We wrapped up the first day by getting dinner at Preacher Bar. Good food, drinks, and service there as well.

Hello everyone! My wife and I are freshly off of the Mardi Gras and I figure I'll try to post a review and thoughts of our sailing around the Western Caribbean. I'll try my best to cover our experiences and what we did on and off the ship. Plus I'll add some pics along the way. Also, I'll do my best to answer any questions. We are both in our late 30's and this was my 8th cruise and her 7th, all with Carnival. This sailing was a 7 day Western Caribbean with stops in Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. This was my first time in Roatan since 2007, and our first time in Cozumel since 2010. Neither of us have been to Costa Maya, so essentially it was a new itinerary for us to experience. We originally booked Mardi Gras for February 2021, but obviously that didn't happen. Jump forward 2 years and we finally got to experience Mardi Gras. This was the most hyped either of us have been for a ship. Bigger than anything we've ever been on. We watched a bunch of YouTube videos about Mardi Gras to get a head start on learning the ship, plus it's fun to do when it's cold out 😆.

Just got off Mardi Gras on Saturday and they had them. I ate several 😀

Just got off the Mardi Gras and had the exact same experience. I noticed it a lot in Serenity, which defeats the whole purpose of that area. A loud, personal playlist playing over the intended soothing music destroys the vibe. The staff (who were great btw) did not intervene. Probably trying to avoid confrontations.

We've sailed the Horizon twice (2019, 2022) and have another sailing booked on her in 2023. My wife and I really like the ship. We had a Havana room last time and loved everything about it.

That is only airing in the tri-state area, so I doubt it'll air on the ship's feed.

Great pics, thanks for sharing.

I normally lean 8 day almost every time, but in this case I prefer the Celebration itinerary (plus newer ship can't hurt). I recently booked a NYE 24/25 cruise on the Vista. 8 day Southern Caribbean.

I haven't been on Celebration, but Horizon is my favorite ship so far. My wife and I did the Southern Caribbean itinerary last March and loved it (especially Aruba). When our Vista 2024 cruise was cancelled, we rebooked Horizon for the same itinerary again. Eastern Caribbean is great too though (love St. Maarten and St. Thomas).

Great review, thanks for posting!

Awesome live review! Thanks for posting, I finally caught up! My wife and I will be sailing on the Mardi Gras early March 2023 and doing a family New Years cruise December 2024 (Vista). This is basically getting a preview of 2 cruises in one for me lol. BTW, hopefully the ankle is better.

My wife and I stayed on deck 7 on Horizon and feel the same way. Having that stairwell in the back made getting to all of the Havana amenities very easy. Except for a family NYE cruise on Vista, we will always try to book in Havana.

Is a 2:15p flight too early? The airline moved my original 4:15p flight out of MCO to 2:15p.

My wife and I prefer January and February. We live in the northeast so getting a break from winter for a week is a nice treat. We did cruise in late March this year (originally booked for February). Initially we were a little worried about cruising during spring break season, but fortunately it wasn't a bad experience at all. There were definitely a lot more families with children on the sailing, but for the most part it didn't seem much different than our non-SB cruises. (To be fair, we did have Havana and spent most of our time in there).

This past March my wife and I booked a day pass for Ocean Osasis. Beautiful place with loungers, shade, and excellent service. However, the water entrance is very rocky. I skipped swimming that day, so not sure if there is a spot to comfortably walk in.

No reason to think it's better to wait. I've since explained the advantages of booking early and will book as soon as the family confirms they are in. Yesterday it didn't occur to me to book asap and I didn't want to rush anyone into a decision. Ended up saying we have plenty of time to decide without thinking if a holiday trip books faster than usual.