Carnival Horizon 7/3-7/11/18: An Accidential Havana Cabin and Lots of Creme Brulee

We've been back a week, and I finally got most of the review written and most of the photos edited and uploaded. There are a lot of photos, but most of them will appear later in the review.

 

About us: DH 57, me 58, and our two younger sons, Matt 22 and Steve 18. Oldest son is 27 and a Navy Lieutenant. He hasn't sailed with us since 2009 but as you might imagine has long since passed us in days at sea. This was our 24th Carnival cruise. Eight days out of NYC, with port calls in Grand Turk, San Juan, and Amber Cove. We just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary and Steve just graduated from high school. He’s off to Buffalo State College in the fall. Matt completed his coaching certificate at our local community college and has one course left to complete his physical education degree. So lots to celebrate – not that we need an excuse to cruise. DH teaches at the community college, so our work schedules pretty much limit us to cruising in July and early August. As I’ve tried to do in prior reviews, I do a “what we did” review followed by a “what I thought” section. Your mileage may vary.

 

So why the “accidental” Havana cabin? We booked this cruise last year, while Horizon was still in the yard in Italy. Go back three years - when we booked the Mediterranean cruise on Vista that we sailed in 2016, we had a chance for a Havana cabin, but given the limited time on the ship (only 2 sea days - and one of those happened because we couldn't port in Turkey) and the extra airfare we were already paying for, we felt it wasn’t the right time to splurge on a Havana cabin. This time, our main interest was a cruise that allowed us to drive to the port, and we just wanted an aft wrap. We booked the boys in the adjoining “bowling alley” cabin with a balcony that opens beteen the two cabins; we would have the entire aft corner of the ship. After we booked, Carnival decided to expand the Havana cabins – and lo and behold, our aft wrap was now a Havana cabin. Totally unexpected, and no extra cost to us. (The boys weren’t so lucky – their cabin wasn’t included. They survived.:D) I’ll expand on Havana throughout this review, but for now I’ll just say this: we’re spoiled now.

Hey Kathy! Looking forward to this one. Thanks for doing this review. :D

Day 1: NYC, Here We Come!

 

We started our cruise history with a 5-day NYC-Canada cruise aboard Carnival Victory in 2004. It was the cruise that got us hooked. Since then, we did an additional six NYC-Canada cruises aboard Victory and Glory as well as two 8-day NYC-Caribbean cruises aboard Legend and Miracle. This would be our 10th NYC cruise. NYC sailaways are wonderful, and we’ve never tired of them. We left our home south of Albany a little after 8, dropped the dog off at the kennel, and were parked at the pier around 10:30.

 

001 Horizon Pier 88 by baxted, on Flickr

We have arrived.

 

Check-in was fairly painless and after the wedding parties boarded around 11:30, it was our turn. Since we’re Platinum, we were able to go directly to our cabins to drop off our belongings. We had 8465 and the boys had 8461.

 

Horizon Welcome Aboard by baxted, on Flickr

Welcome Aboard!

 

Our previous comparable aft wraps were all on Victory and Glory, also deck 8. This cabin is smaller than the other aft wraps we’ve had, with less storage space. One closet and one set of drawers/shelves. Our sons’ bowling alley cabin had much more storage space. The Havana features were nice – special soap, shampoo, and body wash. The balcony also had Havana furnishings – we had a lounger, two chairs,two tables, and a lounge with ottoman. The boys’ balcony had two tables and four chairs, although not Havana-style. We also had Havana-branded beach towels and wristbands that identified us as Havana passengers, as well as a sticker on our sail and sign cards. (Note to the more enterprising readers: they switch out the Havana wristbands by the week. Not an E-bay market.)

 

065 Cabin 8465 by baxted, on Flickr

Cabin 8465. I'm afraid I never got a picture of the inside of 8461.

 

058 8461 Balcony by baxted, on Flickr

8461 Balcony

 

085 8465 balcony by baxted, on Flickr

8465 Balcony

Hey Kathy! Looking forward to this one. Thanks for doing this review. :D

Thanks for following! There's a lot to go. I haven't even made it to lunch the first day. :D

Hey Kathy, looking forward to it. Try not to leave me in the dust.... Love the balcony

 

 

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After we dropped off our belongings, we headed to Lido for lunch. My choice was a Guy’s Burger and a Funship Special. We unpacked and explored the ship until muster drill. Met our steward, Arturo, who asked whether we wanted morning, evening, or twice daily service. We’ve always opted for twice daily, but this time opted for morning only. He took good care of our cabin. We used the Platinum laundry service twice and he had our laundry back to us faster than we’ve ever had it returned before. Our towel animals were always waiting for us in the afternoon, and in the evening our Fun Times would be waiting in our mailbox.

 

002 Guy's Burger by baxted, on Flickr

Guy's Burger. We tried to limit them during the week.;)

 

003 Fun Ship Special by baxted, on Flickr

Funship Special. The darned things are addictive.

 

 

004 Horizon Atrium by baxted, on Flickr

Lobby Dreamscape, embarkation.

 

 

005 Intrepid Pier 86 by baxted, on Flickr

Dockside balcony view: USS Intrepid, USS Growler and Concorde. The space shuttle is in the enclosed area on Intrepid's deck.

Hey Kathy, looking forward to it. Try not to leave me in the dust.... Love the balcony

No worries there! I just realized that I didn't upload some of Doug's sailaway photos that are much better than mine.

A few more photos while docked....

 

003 Concorde by baxted, on Flickr

Concorde, up close (well, via telephoto) and personal

 

006 Hudson River at Pier 88 by baxted, on Flickr

Circle Line and NY Waterways ferry

 

02 NYPD by baxted, on Flickr

NYPD keeping an eye on us

Looking forward to your review. We will be on the Horizon in a Havana Cabana on Monday.

Sailaway!

 

New York has the best sailaway experience, in my opinion. When you sail from Manhattan,you have the Empire State Building and Lower Manhattan to your left. To your right you have some really great train/ferry stations on the Jersey side along with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Further down the harbor you have the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. (Microsoft Word is insisting that I spelled “Verrazzano” wrong. Apparently it’s not aware that the New York State Legislature spent some important time this year decreeing that “Verrazzano” is the correct spelling.) This was our tenth New York sailaway and we never get tired of it. Unfortunately the weather was not the best for us; we managed photos between the raindrops. And if you have early dining booked, there’s a good chance that you’ll miss some of the sailaway, since the ship doesn’t sail until after 5 and it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to reach the bridge. We knew that, but still wanted early dining – we’re just not big Your Time Dining fans. We tried to book the steakhouse for 6:30 the first night, but it was already booked – and that was a month out. Then we tried to book Cucina, but never received a response – the steakhouse really wanted to book us at 9:30, so their reservation system seemed to get completely confused. No matter – we never would have been able to stay on deck for the bridge, given the weather.

 

 

011 Pier 88 by baxted, on Flickr

Leaving Pier 88

 

 

021 Hudson River Southbound by baxted, on Flickr

Southbound Hudson River. You can see that it was getting ready to rain.

 

030 Lightship Frying Pan by baxted, on Flickr

Lightship "Frying Pan." She was built in 1929 to serve off Cape Fear in North Carolina. She's now permanently moored at Pier 66 in Chelsea as part of a bar and grill.

 

031 Chelsea Piers by baxted, on Flickr

Chelsea Piers. In the early 1900s these were the piers used by many ocean liners docking in New York. The Titanic would have docked there, and the Lusitania departed from there on her last voyage in 1915. Today it's a sports complex with a number of restaurants, and harbor sails depart from there.

 

028 Erie Lackawanna Terminal by baxted, on Flickr

Erie Lackawanna Terminal. Today it's used for ferries to Manhattan.

 

 

035 Jersey Central Terminal by baxted, on Flickr

Jersey Central Terminal. Today it's the terminal for ferries from Liberty State Park in New Jersey to the Statue of iberty and Ellis Island.

Looking forward to your review. We will be on the Horizon in a Havana Cabana on Monday.

Thanks! I hope to have this finished by the time you sail Have a great cruise!

Thanks in advance, have to wait 3 weeks for our Havana cabin so look forward to your review.

Thanks for sharing.

I read that your son went to Buff State.. cool!! UB class of 2009 here. Are you guys in WNY?

I read that your son went to Buff State.. cool!! UB class of 2009 here. Are you guys in WNY?

We're near Albany. Son is going to study Mechanical Engineering Technology and learned of Buff State through a football camp he participated in last year. He's looking forward to it!

Liking your review booked in Havana vista for 9/5 sailing. Looking forward to your critiques and suggestions

 

 

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I am not a fan of paying for more than an interior, but I think I will have to try a Havana. Those seem worth it!

Great review and fabulous pictures! I love your review format, not having to read tons of tiny posts over days to read a review is a real treat! Thanks!!

Another Buffalonian here! Going on the Horizon in November. Looking forward to more!

We're near Albany. Son is going to study Mechanical Engineering Technology and learned of Buff State through a football camp he participated in last year. He's looking forward to it!

 

Oh cool - congrats! And sorry, I was speaking in the past tense but forgot it's your youngest son who just graduated H.S.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Where do you recommend is the best place for sailaway? Hoping to get good pictures of Freedom Tower, Statute of Liberty, etc.

Where do you recommend is the best place for sailaway? Hoping to get good pictures of Freedom Tower, Statute of Liberty, etc.

My personal favorite is deck 5 forward; there are similar foward decks on decks 6 and 7. It wasn't crowded and I was able to get pictures from both sides (Freedom Tower is on the left, Statue of Liberty is to the right). You also can get some neat shots looking down river toward the Verrazano. The railings are lower, so you're not trying to shoot through glass.

 

DH took pictures from our aft wrap balcony, which made for some good pictures of lower Manhattan looking up the East River toward the Brooklyn Bridge. It's the view you would have if you were on deck returning to NYC after the cruise if the ship didn't arrive so darned early (we were docked by 6 a.m.)

 

While we weren't able to get Verrazzano pictures on this trip due to early dining, most people recommend going up as high as possible to sail under the bridge, where it looks as if the funnel just makes it under.

More Sailaway: Lower Manhattan, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty

 

045 Lower Manhattan by baxted, on Flickr

Lower Manhattan and the Freedom Tower. "Freedom Tower" is not an official name; the legal name is "One World Trade Center." I have difficulty with that name - 1 WTC was the North Tower of the original WTC, destroyed on 9/11. I went to Windows on the World on the top of 1 WTC twice, and can't imagine another 1 WTC. So it's "Freedom Tower" for me.

 

041 East River by baxted, on Flickr

East River bridges

 

051 Statue of Liberty by baxted, on Flickr

Statue of Liberty

 

036 Ellis Island by baxted, on Flickr

Ellis Island

 

033 Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island by baxted, on Flickr

Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

 

054 Lower Manhattan by baxted, on Flickr

Bye, New York!

Dinner - Reflections Dining Room

 

Set dining is in the Reflections (midships) Dining Room on deck 3; YTD is in the Meridian (aft) Dining Room on decks 3 and 4. Check-in for YTD is on deck 5 near Pixels. Reflections is only one level. We had Table 141 on the starboard side, witha terrific wait staff led by head waiter Darma. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you may recall that the older son of the two sailing with us is a very picky eater; on many of our cruises he’d stick with either a hamburger or a pizza, with a side of fries. This time he ventured out of his comfort zone and would order a Caesar salad and grilled chicken (still with a side of fries). However, Darma’s assistant, Giralma (sp?) was able to convince him to try a few other things – some successfully, others not quite as much. (Shrimp is still out of question.);)

 

After dinner DH headed back to the cabin, while I went to the Welcome Aboard Show, hosted by CD Chris “The Flying Scotsman” Williams. Chris was substituting for Mike Pack, who was on vacation. He’s amazing. Funny, great voice, and you won’t see him without a kilt.

On the Horizon in Oct. Thanks for sharing this report. Looking forward to it!