Carnvial Horizon vs NCL Breakaway...FIGHT!

I did the BA 5 times and the Horizon once. I posted my thoughts after the Horizon cruise (June 2018) but I'll review.

Buffet.....you won't starve on the Horizon, but it doesn't compare to the BA. However, the Horizon, at lunch time, included these absolutely delicious cakes. You had to line up for them (cut slice by slice) but the line was never long. I preferred the hard ice cream on the BA.

Entertainment.....most people complained about the seats in the BA theatre; I was fine with them. The Horizon theatre, ugh. There's a lot to complain about. However, I enjoyed the Horizon shows more. Both ships had very talented professionals. I felt that Carnival really upgraded theCir quality of performer over the past few years.

Casino....although it's easy to lose money very quickly on the BA, the Horizon is even greedier. Very high volatility machines. I like to play, but this ship gave me no playtime.

Generosity of cruise line....I don't recall missing many ports on the BA, but when we did the compensation was just the return of fees & taxes for the port. We missed Grand Turk on the Horizon (medical emergency) and they gave everyone a "20% of the fare" compensation for a future cruise, which I thought was extremely generous.

Elevators....no problem and more efficient than the old style

Crowding...I never felt crowded on the Horizon. There was never a problem getting seats in the buffet even at peak hours. We were always able to get lounge change by the pool.

Electricity in cabin....on BA, if you took the card out of the slots...immediately, all the lights etc went out. On the Horizon, the bathroom and outlets were independent of "whatever the card in the slot" manages. If you took the card out of the slot, the main lights would remain on for a few minutes and then go off. But, if you had something plugged in anywhere, it would remain on (nightlights etc). Much better system.....

Didn’t you feel NCL offered more of a Broadway production than Carnival? We were amazed by the entertainment on NCL! We got to see Million Dollar Quartet.

The production of "Rock of Ages" on the Breakaway is awesome. However, there is a big drop off of the production quality of the other shows during the cruise. The other shows are great, but they were very simple. Two acrobats and their various props, but no backgrounds. A mentalist on stage with a screen. A comedian by himself with nothing else going on. All great entertainment, but not huge productions. The Cirque show is great, but you have to pay for that.

I haven't seen Million Dollar Quartet, but I assume it's as good as Rock of Ages as far as production value goes. What about the rest of the shows on the Getaway?

I’m an NCL diehard, but the Horizon was one of my best cruises ever. So there’s that.

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Appreciate your review, but do you have to call people "idiot customers bumbling through the options" because it is taking them a little bit to decide what to order? Really?

MDR and Buffet Food

 

This was probably the lowest point of the cruise. Food at these areas ranged from meh to good. Definitely a step down from NCL. Still, you will never go hungry. There usually something that can be found that you’ll like (assuming it’s OPEN when you want it.) Nevertheless, I was disappointed.

 

Guy’s Burgers

 

I don’t get the complaints about this place. These are REALLY good burgers, REALLY good fries, and the toppings are awesome. The Pig Patty is a dumb idea since there are much tastier bacon pieces available at the fixins bar. Get the Ringer!

 

Pig and Anchor

 

Really good food for lunch on sea days. I didn’t try it for dinner. Some of the sauces tasted a little funky. I think they were left out for too long.

 

JiJi’s (Lunch)

 

The Mongolian wok is usually one of my favorite places to go on a cruise. The quality was lacking. A lot of the meats were overdone. The flavor was off, too.

 

JiJi’s (Diner)

 

Excellent specialty restaurant. Worth the $15. The main courses are a little too sweet. I went twice without a reservation when they first opened. Don’t be dissuaded if there are no reservations listed. They were mostly empty both times I went and I got in without issue.

 

Ice Cream

 

Soft serve is available 24 hours. I can’t speak to its quality since I don’t like it and didn’t have any. The gelato was uninspiring. It takes way too long to make and there are only two flavors available at a time. Usually one is much more popular, which creates a shortage of one and an abundance of the other. Since it’s made on the fly, it doesn’t get a chance to harden and is always mushy. Carnival should just replace it with prepacked ice cream.

 

Pizzas

 

The pizzas are good, especially the four cheese. I wouldn’t call these pizzas great, but they’re available 24 hours, so…

As to the gelato, it's not supposed to "harden", According to articles from NPR and the Food Network explaining the difference between ice cream and gelato:

The first thing you'll notice, she says, is that gelato is a lot creamier. It's smoother and silkier than its American counterpart. It's also denser, yet it has that elasticity and fluidity that you can't get with ice cream.

Now I've questioned that the Horizon and Vista's homemade "gelato" is really ice cream instead. It tastes nothing at all like the gelatos I sampled in several different Italian cities.

I do admit it is not worth a long wait, especially if they run out of the product as they often do, while you were on the line.

Rope course

 

Not nearly as good as the one on the NCL Breakaway. No “walk the plank” option due to the SkyRide.

 

SkyRide

 

Exhilarating on a windy day. Nice to do on a calm day. Not worth a wait longer than 30 minutes.

 

Hours of operation

 

The lack of availability of the food and entertainment options at expected times was an issue that kept happening. There is no breakfast at the MDRs on sea days. Instead, they have a brunch that starts at 8:30AM. That sucks for early risers. Breakfast is served on port days, but if you’re not getting off the ship, chances are you’ll miss it if you want to eat after the crowds die down. Guy’s opens at 12PM sharp. Why not 11 or 11:30 AM? It closes for dinner, so if you want a burger then you’re out of luck. I thought I’d hit the SkyRide on a port day when the crowds will be low. Nope. They closed it and the rope course until the ship was about to depart. They only need 4 employees to staff that entire area. It’s not a huge imposition to keep it open longer.

 

One positive note is that there are more small events like trivia on port days than on NCL.

I did the Sky Ride twice while the Horizon was docked at Amber Cove, once before lunch in the morning, the second time mid afternoon an hour or two before the ship sailed. Perhaps there was another reason why the SkyRide was closed when the OP missed it?

Appreciate your review, but do you have to call people "idiot customers bumbling through the options" because it is taking them a little bit to decide what to order? Really?

Yes. The options are posted. There's no excuse to stand on line and wait until the moment you get to the front of the line to decide what you, and your kids, want in their burrito.

I did the Sky Ride twice while the Horizon was docked at Amber Cove, once before lunch in the morning, the second time mid afternoon an hour or two before the ship sailed. Perhaps there was another reason why the SkyRide was closed when the OP missed it?

The sign and the hub app said it opened at 3:30 PM. The stairs on both sides to the SkyRide and rope course were cordoned off.

The first thing you'll notice, she says, is that gelato is a lot creamier. It's smoother and silkier than its American counterpart. It's also denser, yet it has that elasticity and fluidity that you can't get with ice cream.

Now I've questioned that the Horizon and Vista's homemade "gelato" is really ice cream instead. It tastes nothing at all like the gelatos I sampled in several different Italian cities.

Gelato is supposed to have less air and less fat. It's illegal to call anything with less than 10% milkfat ice cream. A lot of gelato places in Italy use a powdered mix. I don't know what they used on the ship. Regardless, it tasted neither like homemade ice cream nor gelato. OTOH, I can't imagine them going out of their way to NOT use a gelato mix.

I do admit it is not worth a long wait, especially if they run out of the product as they often do, while you were on the line.

What's worse, the lines would get so long, they didn't chill it enough before they started serving. The time it takes to switch between the two machines is ridiculous. Seriously Carnival...drop the pretense and stock readymade ice cream.

I’m a little worried about the taste of the food on Horizon because I strongly disliked the food on Breakaway. *Sigh* I’m pretty sure I lost weight on that cruise but I survived so I guess I’ll manage if Horizon is worse.

Thanks for the review and comparison!

I've sailed 21 days on the Breakaway and just 8 on the Horizon. Throw in another 7 on the Vista. My verdict is that I would sail either ship again in less than a heartbeat.

There are some slight differences between the 2 ships, particularly around the overall "culture" of the parent cruiseline, but they were both great ships and the differences IMO made each ship unique from the other.

I just feel fortunate to have been on both and won't quibble about which one was better since IMO, they both "exceeded my expectations."

Of course, everyone's mileage varies. Vive le difference!

BTW, here's what REAL gelato on a cruise ship looks like:

BTW, here's what REAL gelato on a cruise ship looks like:

 

 

 

OMG! That looks fabulous!!

OMG! That looks fabulous!!

Reminds me of the MSC Divina. Reasonably priced gelato as well.

That looks awesome!!!!

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BTW, here's what REAL gelato on a cruise ship looks like:

 

 

 

Yep, nothing at all like they served on Carnival. Nor is it hardened, just creamy and elastic.

We asked our room steward the next morning and she said that one apparently fell (with someone in it and the person was hurt (not sure how bad, but as they removed them, I guess bad enough).

 

 

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They need to remove those hanging chairs from images on the website then because I was going to book one of these suites specifically so that I could read in it. I would have been livid.

They need to remove those hanging chairs from images on the website then because I was going to book one of these suites specifically so that I could read in it. I would have been livid.

I agree. I sat in the chair for less than 5 minutes on the first day and then POOF! It was gone.

I agree. I sat in the chair for less than 5 minutes on the first day and then POOF! It was gone.

The original concepts had a hammock there. While I understand the comments and would agree having not been in them, to be honest, they were not really comfortable.

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I had a surreal experience on the first night when I discovered my hanging chair had gone missing. Apparently, Carnival is discontinuing them. They’ve been replaced with a plain old wicker chair.

Just as a point of clarification: Carnival is not getting rid of the swings. They had to take them down temporarily until they can replace the hardware used to hang them up.

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Hub app

The app worked reasonably well. We paid $5 per phone for the text messaging capability and it worked fine. However, if you are already planning on paying for WiFi, save your money and use a messaging app that works over WiFi instead.

Alcohol (Duty-Free Shop)

If you plan on buying liquor, GET IT ASAP! The liquor duty-free shop is small and has little stock. I bought my choices on the first night. Good thing I did because popular items like Cîroc vodka and Hennessey White sold out by the second night! The prices on the ship were the best for most items. Don’t be worried about finding a lower price in port. They will price match if you show them proof of the lower price. I almost got screwed by this. The duty-free shop at Turks and Caicos had Hennessy White for $46 and I already paid $57 on the ship. However, the duty-free shop in port PURPOSELY hid the price tag. You could only know the price if you asked. A receipt from there would suffice as evidence, but I didn’t want to buy another bottle. I used my camera phone to record me asking them the price. I was going to use that when I asked for the price match on the ship, but they didn’t even ask me for the proof. They did a return/rebuy for $44 when I told them they had it for lower.

I think it would be a great idea for people to post their liquor receipts here on Cruise Critic so we all can share in getting the lowest prices.

Alcohol (Bars)

The Cheers package wasn’t worth it for me. I don’t drink that much. However, I’m not a teetotaller either. Here are some tips for non-Cheers people like me: Many bars have samplers for around $20. The Alchemy Bar has a 4 small martini tasting the first day and when in San Juan. The Ocean Plaza bar has a mule tasting for the same price. The Pig and Anchor does whiskey and beer. The piano bar does a sampler, too. Also, a second shot is only $3 extra. Make all your drinks a double!

Pictures

Carnival doesn’t offer any discounts or packages for digital pictures on the ship. They’re $15 each no matter how many you buy. A flash drive is NOT included. You are expected to download all your pictures onto your smartphone using the hub app. Oh, you didn’t install the hub app on your phone before you left? You don’t have any space left on your phone because of all the pictures you took using your smartphone? You’re out of luck! Carnival deletes all the pictures when the cruise is over.

All the pictures are AGGRESSIVELY watermarked before you buy them and there’s no way to see what they look like without the watermarking unless you happen to see it show up randomly on display at the Pixels counter. It’s really dumb on Carnival’s part to charge so much for so few pictures. What will people be doing with digital prints when they get off the ship? Posting them on social media. It’s FREE advertisement for the cruise. Why wouldn’t they encourage large digital media purchases by offering a volume discount?

BTW, there are free stuff you get based on the number of pictures you purchase. If you buy all your pictures on the hub app, go to the Pixels counter and tell them what you bought. They will give you all the free stuff that you’re entitled to.

Thanks for sharing all this valuable information.

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I did the BA 5 times and the Horizon once. I posted my thoughts after the Horizon cruise (June 2018) but I'll review.

 

 

Buffet.....you won't starve on the Horizon, but it doesn't compare to the BA. However, the Horizon, at lunch time, included these absolutely delicious cakes. You had to line up for them (cut slice by slice) but the line was never long. I preferred the hard ice cream on the BA.

Lunchtime options is where Carnival shines. NCL has their buffet, but Carnival also has Blue Iguana, Guy's, Mongolian Work and Cucina del Capitano which takes their options up a notch, IMHO. But, as usual, food is subjective.

I loved the Mongolian Wok on the glory back in 2011. I didn't care for JiJi's at lunch, but they're both better than NCL's asian buffet offering.

Really enjoying the format of your review. It is very helpful as trying to make a decision betweens these lines and ships can be challenging to say the least. It's a great problem to have, but I for one appreciate help with solving it! Many thanks!