jdcml

I asked a bartender how the gratuities and Cheers works out. Most of them are moving so fast and collecting so many cards I was under the impression that they got 18% of anything that they rang up. Then I got to thinking that if people are doing the 15 drinks, they 18% won't stretch that far and figured it balances out with those that get 5-6. She provided me with some more insight. All bar staff get an equal split of the 18% gratuities for Cheers. They can ring 100 drinks in a shift or 10 drinks and they get the same equal split either way. She mentioned that the amount is really low and that they don't have any way of actually know what the breakdown is and how it is calculated. I asked her what the incentive was to work so hard (other than some people just have a really good work ethic) and she said it is the extra $1/2 that people leave on the checks. Those are what make the difference to them. She went on to say that she appreciated that we left it in cash because even though the ring up the extra gratuities each day, they don't get any sort of a report at the end of a shift that they can reconcile on pay day. I'm not saying that they don't get all of it, but there is a concern amongst the crew that the possibility is there. So your MDR server gets really nothing from stopping service to go get you a drink if you don't leave them something in addition. Does that mean they shouldn't? No. Does that mean that they are already stretched thin and don't really have time to add it to their list so they won't volunteer to do it? Probably... We stopped at the lobby bar on the way in with our regular bar tender and then one of us would just go out and get another round. She knew all the folio numbers and what everyone was drinking so it was really easy. I don't know the percentage of people with Cheers on an average cruise. My guess though is that even if it is lower at say 20-25%, they still account for something like many 60-70% of the drink orders (or maybe thats a little high). They can get the 18% on non-Cheers drinks automatically, but those are probably a lot fewer and farther between.

Maybe not a jacket as I know we have gone from "formal" to "elegant" night now. Just on a regular night maybe some sort of button shirt, even a golf shirt and decent pair of slacks. Jeans can work in some cases which is where it gets slippery. I don't know, just a lot of sweat pants, silky gym shorts, and logo t-shirts at dinner. I think a lot came right from Lido or the casino and just wandered in to sit down. This is of course marketing and embellished glitz and glamour from Royal, but this is what it "used" to be like. Is this not even close to what Royal actually looks like in the MDR?

In the past we have done long detailed reviews nearly day by day, this one is just a little more of a summary and overview. Miami - 2 Sea Days - Aruba - Bonaire - Curaçao - 2 Sea Days Embarkation was really easy in Miami. For whatever reason this ship leaves from one terminal and then returns to another. We found out about that beforehand and parked at the returning terminal, otherwise it would have been a hassle with luggage afterward. They delivered a letter the last night about a 'change'. It has been ongoing and known about for awhile. Trying to think back 8 days ago and really the terminal area was no issue. We arrived about 11ish and it seems like the only time we stopped was to place our carry on bags on the floor for the drug dog to sniff them but in and on fairly quickly. Oddly enough, the mediocre trip started right on the gangway. For some reason, the gangway was changed to enter on deck 2 as opposed to the main lobby. It wasn't everyone apparently, just some portion of the morning that we were unfortunately part of. There was one person in the hallway trying to direct people to muster stations to check in, but all those people being dropped into a cabin hallway was pretty unimpressive. People don't know there way around the ship after a week, let alone upon boarding so people were going in all sorts of directions dragging carry on items trying to find a direction to go. First food was Pig and Anchor which was solid, then we wandered to Cucina for some of our group and the Jiji after that for some others. It was ok with a limited menu of items to choose from. It was certainly better than the lines at lido buffet or Guys. Rain came in about sail away time and got the Lido wet so they moved the sail away in to the lobby. On Horizon that consists of a pretty small area on 3 and then a balcony area on 4 and 5. We decided it wasn't worth the crowds and went out front to sail out of port. Overall, the ship looks and feels a lot older than 7 years. There were a lot of things like data outlets in the ceilings with no covers, a light literally fell off by pizza and crashed onto the table the last night. There were numerous areas that the condensation from the a/c was dripping on the floor throughout the ship. They placed a sign and then an absorbent pad in various places throughout the ship. It was better than a wet floor, but truly you could typically see one from the one you were near they were so plentiful. Back in Havana they had floor fans trying to maintain some sense of dryness because the roof was dripping so much. They are in the process of some sort of balcony maintenance that occurred throughout the trip. They were banging and scraping corrosion and repainting areas. Maintenance is a requirement and understandable, but it happened so frequently and for so long that it really had an impact on sea days. The noise was consistent throughout the trip. We've sailed Carnival exclusively from well before the pandemic to the cruise the month before shut down, and then this was our first trip post-pandemic. The amount of cuts and changes was noticeable and disappointing. The cabin steward was adequate with no complaints, but nothing exceptional. I don't blame the service on the individuals providing it, they have all been stretched so thin that they don't really have time for 'extra'. Our MDR was similar with adequate service but no longer do they have a drink waiting for you when you arrive or small things like remembering you want coffee with dessert. It has been discussed a number of times on these boards and the changes are here to stay and people say that they'd rather have these changes than higher fares. At some point it seems like enough in enough. We found a few bar servers that we connected with and they were always bright and engaging which was nice. All of the personnel on the ship seem to be working hard to do the best that they can. On many mornings there was only one person behind the counter at the specialty coffee location. The food in the MDR was adequate, but no meal really stands out as "man, I'd like to have that again!" On a number of nights I didn’t finish a good portion of the main just because it was meh. Attire in the MDR has become somewhat laughable with how casual it has become. There may have been a handful of people wearing a jacket on elegant night. I guess I’m part of that minority that what other people wear has an impact on my experience. We spent some time thinking about it and here is why… the lower Carnival sets the bar, the lower people will go to meet it. We went to a Sea Day Brunch and while we were waiting, a guest came in with no shoes on and sat down to wait to be seated. In what world are we in now that guests feel it is appropriate to come to a restaurant without shoes on. I was “that person” and took a minute to say something to the staff to confirm that shoes were required even on an informal sea day. When they asked the guest to go back to their cabin to get shoes she was very put out and couldn’t believe that they would ask her to do that. We did sushi one night which was pretty good. On this ship the sushi is right next to Alchemy which is a bad layout. There was no divider of any sort between the sushi dining room and the crowd at Alchemy. They were having a good time which is 100% understandable, it just made for a very loud dining experience. We also did the steak house. I ordered the ribeye and it was good and very similar to what we’d get at Carrabba’s in town. My wife ordered the filet and hers was significantly better. I blame that one on me ordering the wrong thing and I didn’t ask for any sort of replacement. It wasn’t bad, just typical. There had been some talk somewhere of the sides in the steak house being limited and they certainly were. I had a small spoonful of potato and literally one piece of broccoli. They were quick to mention though that we could ask for any more of the sides if we wanted them. The reality was that we didn’t need it, and the steak was plenty to fill us. We visited the piano bar a few nights with Robbie Peaple. He was super engaging with the crowd and the bar service in there was very good whenever we visited. Robbie and the bar servers were a great team that worked well off each other. I was surprised at how many people would write out a request for a song and not even put a dollar bill with it as a tip. I guess it isn’t a requirement. It just seems that if you are asking for a ‘service’ you should show some sort of appreciation for it. Again, I attribute that to lowering the bar and guests will meet it. Even with several ‘jokes’ about writing a request on the back of a bill will get it at the front of the line, many people didn’t. If you haven’t done a piano bar on a previous sailing I’d really recommend at least stopping in. It’s a great mix of humor and entertainment. The main areas like Lido and Serenity were typically very crowded with towels on chairs on sea days. There were PLENTY of other places to find a chair though on various decks. Deck 5 forward has a number of loungers and there were dozens of empty chairs between mid and aft on 11. Overall, we never really felt crowded on the ship. There were empty seats at any of the main shows we attended. We did comedy a couple of times and those had seats available too. We didn’t do the later showings which may have been better attended. On this itinerary we were in Aruba and Bonaire until 9:30 which was nice. We had planned on going back on the island for dinner one of those nights but by the time we got back and showered from our excursions we remained on board. In Aruba we booked with ABC Tours and did a UTV tour. They picked us up right off the ship and then took us to their location to get the UTVs in town. We drove town for a bit and then went to the National Park and go into a large safari type open air truck. We went to the Natural Pool in that truck. The weather had been rough for awhile and the conditions didn’t allow us to get in the water because the surf was too bad. In hindsight, that was probably OK because then we would have been in wet stuff for the remainder of the day. It was a pretty dusty tour overall, but that’s what you’d expect on a UTV tour! In Bonaire we booked the Twizy tour and we really enjoyed that. They are a cross between a golf cart maybe an ATV or a smart car… it is a little hard to explain. Four wheels with a roof, doors and a windshield, but it is only one seat wide so the passenger sits directly behind the driver. It was a bit unusual when we first saw them and tried to figure out how comfortable they would be. That changed as soon as we got on the road and the air started moving. We enjoyed this tour more than the UTV in Aruba because we could actually talk to each other because of the windshield, and there wasn’t nearly the traffic that we experienced in Aruba. A good portion of the island it was just the 5 or 6 of us on the road. We made a number of stops and made it out to see the flamingos. We enjoyed this tour and would recommend it for sure. Having a tour guide was much better than venturing alone on a golf cart. In Curaçao our group split up with some going to the Dive Bus for a two-tank shore scuba dive, and others were booked on a private tour with Curaçao Dreams. Both of those experiences were very good and we enjoyed them. The private tour we were able to set an itinerary. We left it up to the guide to show us his favorite parts of the island. When we visit places like this we like to see more than the main shops in the terminal and get as much of a local experience as possible. The Dive Bus was very well run and both dives were a walk across the street with easy entries and lots to see with good visibility. Robby was the CD and had been moved to the Horizon very recently. We didn’t really see too much of him other than the few things he introduced or being the emcee of Family Feud. We aren’t one that a CD makes or breaks a trip. Many on the FB group commented though that they felt he was very flat and wasn’t engaging. We don’t attend things like the white party but others did. Maybe it is because he is new on the ship and still getting rolling with the new team he is working with. SO – all said…. We really enjoyed the itinerary, and the ports and the excursions that we booked directly with the providers. Our overall experience though with the trip is that we really think we will either consider a different line, or maybe looking at just doing a destination or maybe an AI somewhere. We’ve thought about RCCL for awhile and may try that before we give up on cruising. RCCL may be very similar, it just seems like maybe they have the bar a little higher. An overall rating would be somewhere between low average and average with us not looking to book another cruise with CCL at any point in the future. Maybe as time passes and onboard experiences fad we will remember the good times and experiences on the islands. For our vacation dollars, we are feeling like we’d rather spend them elsewhere. Happy to answer any questions about the ship or itinerary or our excursions!

Venty for the win on this one for sure. It will run all night on a charge. You can charge it during the day while you are out and about. It oscillates if you want that. The tower can extend high enough to reach the bed from the floor. We have an RV and it goes on every trip. It actually goes on any trip because it is fairly small and makes a difference.

@lazydayz - Are day passes usually only available on board? It doesn't come up to pre-book. We thought we'd give it a go for a day but a week was a lot more than we need. I thought maybe they didn't have day passes with a sailing of 2 sea days, 3 ports, 2 sea days. Then I thought maybe they were limited and already sold out...

Have an upcoming Horizon 8 day trip. We were looking to get a day pass to the thermal suites but they only do the full 8 days. I've looked at some videos and on the Horizon it looks like there are only 6 of the loungers and they are arranged 3 and 3 on either side of a hot tub. My gut tells me that finding 2 of them side by side on any given sea day would be highly unlikely. Has anyone had experience with availability? We don't really steam or sauna much but could a time or two. At an 8 day rate of $179 and times two that seems like more than we'd probably get value out of if we were always chasing an open lounger. Then we thought about maybe just doing a couples massage. Looking at the Carnival site directly the reviews are pretty rough. Even positive reviews talk about high pressure sales, unknow add-ons, and free foot analysis to sell you on orthotics. One review even mentioned that the therapist was point out the flaws in her skin during her massage to try and upsell her on other treatments and creams! The overall theme was that the massage is decent but the add-ons, gotchas, and high pressure sales at the end detracted from the experience overall. Thinking we may end up skipping the spa all together. Anyone have experience with lounger availability or the post massage sales tactics?

It has been a long time since we traveled with small children and they were never quite that young, but close. One thing that you didn't mention in your post specifically although it is apparent is that you were flexible. You weren't locked on one dinning option or time. You were flexible with the shows and how long you stayed. That was probably the most important part of how we traveled with young kids. We were headed to dinner once with two of them in the MDR and the older one completely melted down and was just d-o-n-e. One parent took the melt down back to the room and the other went to the MDR, explained the issue to the server that had already met the kids, and they made an exception to allow it to be "to-go". Its all about flexiblity! Something else for families with young kids to consider... they likely won't remember any of these trips or experiences directly. What they will get from it though is the overall connection, interactions and bonding that takes place during trips like this. These types of things shape their development in ways we really can't know until a lot later. Maybe it was all these types of trips that got us to having 20 somethings that still like to travel with us... fortunately now in their own rooms 🤣

Our first trip on the Horizon. Is this at the Plaza Bar, or is it not marked on the deck plans? Trying to see where this might be but not really seeing anything else other than the Shake Spot right next to JavaBlue.