MITSUGIRLY sails off into the HORIZON-review & pictorial

[mitsugirly]

14 hours ago, maggieq said:

I have to say that this carnival ship looks like a beauty to me. Not offensive and Las Vegas looking like others.  

 

Why cant they do shower doors and not the dreaded shower curtain?

 

great review.  

 

 

It is a beauty and very tastefully decorated. It did remind me a lot of the Breeze and Magic.

 

 

8 hours ago, norwane said:

Great review!   Where can you go to eat (without being charged extra!) once you board the ship?

 

Thanks for doing the review!!

 

 

Just like other cruise lines, there are plenty of places to eat without the extra charge. You have the buffet, the main dining rooms, the pizza shop, Blue Iguana Cantina for burritos, Guys Burgers, there's a deli shop, then on certain days the italian restaurant and the Asian restaurant is open without charge for lunch (extra pay during dinner) and sometimes they have snacks and breakfast in Ocean Avenue area and Pig & Anchor on the outside of the ship (not inside). I may have missed something...but no worries, there's plenty of places to eat that's included in the ship fare just like every other cruise line. 

 

 

54 minutes ago, blarko said:

At the coffee shop where they had the donuts and cupcakes,  I didn’t see prices on the menu. Was there a charge for those items or are they included in the cruise fare?

 

This is a specialty shop and there is a charge for these items at this location.

 

 

14 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Having never sailed the Carnival ships, I am confused.

 

Do they charge a fee for on board activities and movies, and most of their dining places?

 

I know RCI charges for some of their pay restaurants, and some new thing on the newest ships, but movies?

 

Thanks

 

 

See my post above about the dining. Just like other cruise lines, they do have specialty dining that you pay extra for. But, plenty of free food and areas. Some activities you do pay for like the movie theater and thrill theater. Everything else is free. They do have movies playing on the big screen in the main pool area nightly. No charge.

[mitsugirly]

DECK 10

 

MAIN POOL AREA: BEACH POOL

 

Here you will find the main activities going on during the day with contests and prizes, music playing and also a live d.j. at times. This is where they have the movies playing on the big screen at night and they will have fresh popcorn you can get from the bars as well.  They have several dance parties out here on the deck during the evenings too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Towel exchange area and also where they now carry the life vests for those that can't swim.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

BLUE IGUANA TEQUILA BAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

RED FROG RUM BAR

 

This is where you can get fresh popped popcorn during the movies in the evenings.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

BLUE IGUANA CANTINA

 

This place is awesome and has freshly made to order burritos. You pick out the ingredients and sauces and they whip you up a yummy burrito. They are open during breakfast as well and I love their breakfast burritos.

 

Now usually they have a night that they have fresh chips and salsa's during their latin night, but I didn't see it this cruise and could have just missed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

GUYS BURGERS

 

Awesome food and fries with a condiment bar for plenty of toppings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Heading inside to the buffet area.

 

 

LIDO MARKETPLACE

 

This place also reminded me a lot of the Breeze (Dream class ships) with the trees and decor inside.

 

This area is pretty big and there was always places to sit despite how large this ship is and the amount of passengers.

 

In the back (and within the Lido marketplace) you will also find the deli, which is open extended hours and I believe up until 11pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

PIZZERIA CAPITANO

 

Located on the back of the ship with several different options of pizza's. I believe they are open all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will find a beverage station back here too, so no need to walk back into the Lido Marketplace area for drinks.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

SEAFOOD SHACK.

 

This is an extra charge place. I have had it once and it was pretty good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

BACK/AFT POOL:  TIDES POOL

 

Here is a smaller pool than the main pool and usually it seemed less crowded. There are 2 whirlpool tubs here too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staff that watches the swimmers. I started noticing these people popping up a few cruises ago. I know there has been so much talk about drownings and why don't they have lifeguards. They do have "someone" (not sure if they are lifeguards or what their training is) watching all pools at all hours they are open. They switch people frequently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

DECK 11

 

CAMP OCEAN

 

Sorry but we didn't go to Camp Ocean on the first day and that's normally when I would take pictures of the inside. So, I didn't get any this time. However, I noticed there was a little play area, outside, that was attached to this area. Sad to say, I passed by this area a lot and never seen any children playing out there. I'm not sure if they utilize this area or not. Maybe it's during free play for the little kids and when parents can take them in there to play?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

DR SUESS BOOKVILLE

 

Within the waiting area to sign in children at Camp Ocean, they had a book place to go here every Dr Suess book would be found here and there and everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

CUCINA DEL CAPITANO

 

The Italian restaurant (extra charge for evenings and free during certain hours during the day-usually sea days).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Access by stairs leading from the Lido Marketplace or you can come in from the 11th deck aft area.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

JI JI ASIAN KITCHEN

 

Also another pay venue but is free during lunch on certain days and times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

For those that are smokers...you area's are: 11th deck on the aft of the ship above the pool area, along that side 11th deck above the main pool area and around, 5th deck Lanai area, and casino.

 

Here's the area around the aft pool on deck 11.

 

11th deck around main pool area (I didn't get a picture of the rest of the area and just thought this area was neat looking with the tables that light up in the evenings during the movies)

 

 

 

[poffles]

I love your reviews, have read them all along your travels and it didn't matter that I wasn't ever planning on sailing the ship you were on.  I often 'read' reviews and focus more on pictures and fluff over the story, but with yours I do the opposite.  I love your writing style and the way you say enough to make it all relateable.  I try to move quickly past the writing but I just can't do it because I really want to read what you are saying LOL!

 

Thanks for sharing and taking the time to do this, I have done a few reviews myself and I know how much time it takes to write.  Oh and good job on  your masters, school is tough but it sure is sweet when  it's in the rear view.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

DECK 12

 

CLOUD 9 SPA AREA: As always, I don't do spa's so there won't be any pictures of the interior of the spa area. But, here's the area leading into it...spa-like looking tile is all I can provide. lol  Along that area is also the backside to the waterworks area outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

DR SUESS WATERWORKS

 

This place is a childrens (and adults) water heaven. LOL Plenty of water spouting everywhere, 2 slides for the big children (meaning adults as well) and 2 small slides for the munchkins. There's a bucket that dumps water every so often and small little buckets that fill up and randomly dump to those unexpected. The one thing I noticed than was different about this waterworks area, compared to the other ships, is that they removed the ability to control some of the sprays and such. BOO HISS! I don't have a lot of pictures here, but you will see more of the area within my review when we go there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

SPORTS SQUARE

 

Putt putt and games area. You'll find putt putt in this area (which extends up another deck as well), pool tables, twister,  corn hole and so on. Inside the Clubhouse, you'll find other games like ping pong tables and a life size pool table that you play with huge soft balls and your feet. Tons of fun. 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

SKYCOURT BASKETBALL

 

We always love to play a few games during our cruise however...we found that they LOCK this place up after a certain time (after dark) for some reason. WHY???? We have never encountered this on past cruises. It's hot during the day and we prefer to go up and play during the evening when it's cooler and every night it would be locked and closed. During the day there's just too many people there playing or the kids club would have it making it unusable to everyone else. It sucked!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

SKYFITNESS AREA

 

Sakari really loves this area for some reason. Every cruise that has this, she's there. I think she feels like it's a playground but she actually does the workout as you should.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See those vents??? There is ice cold air coming out of them! I would discover them later in the cruise when it was a very hot day and the hubs and Sakari decided to do the skycourse cars and I was waiting for them to go by to take a picture of them...these were a lifesaver and an amazing find! Standing under them meant I was nice and cooled off while waiting!

 

[mitsugirly]

RANDOM

 

 

Part of the skyride bike course but you will see more later in the review

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

DECK 15

 

 

SERENITY-The adult only retreat

 

In the past, we have never hung out here. I had thought that once Sakari became a little older and/or went to the kids club in the evenings, I'd like to hang out here. However, there's no pool to cool off in and only some whirlpools. I'm always on the go and like staying active all the time so just hanging out in a chair or one of the beds would bore me to death. Therefore, we didn't hang out here at all. I guess it's just not the "thing" for me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, let's talk elevators now...

 

The Horizon has this new system that is called "Smart Elevators". I'm not entirely convinced it's better or works the way it should. However, you are supposed to pick what deck you are going to and depending on how many people have pushed that button on the different floors and where everyone is going, it will assign you a certain elevator to get on based on the space and the number of people.

 

There are several screens by the elevators...it's a touch screen and you push what deck you are going to:

 

 

It immediately assigns an elevator to you and tells you which one to go wait by. (They are all alphabet letters). It will give you an arrow to see which direction to look for the elevator and also that particular elevator will blink the letter above it to alert you where it's located. 

 

 

 

On the main floors, you will also have a t.v screen with all of the elevators and what floors they are going to.

 

 

 

Inside the elevator, don't expect any buttons to push a floor...you won't find them. So if you think you are tired of waiting on a certain elevator and another one opens up and you'll get in and just go on that one, it will NOT go to the floor you want and only to the floors that previous people have pushed. 

 

 

There is a display along the side (inside the elevator) that will light up the floors it is going to on this particular ride.

 

Some areas have the t.v. screen with directions

 

 

 

I did read that this system is supposed to make the elevators move people quicker...but like I said, I'm not so sure it worked that way a lot of the times. For instance...we were on deck 1 (our room) and going up to whatever deck. We'd push the button and wait and wait and wait...it got annoying sometimes. We were assigned, say elevator M, but after waiting for quite some time, elevator S showed up. Well....why can't we get on it???? Why would it not have assigned us to that elevator? I'm mean we are on the bottom floor and it can only go up right!?!  But no, it opens, people get out and off it goes back up while we continue to wait. Very annoying!  Deck 11 was pretty annoying with the waiting forever as well. 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

STAIR ART

 

I usually take pictures of all the stair art. I find them interesting. However, on this ship all the stair art was....I guess you can say...in the same type of "form". They were all a huge picture with smaller cut outs of that picture laying over top of it to create a 2D layered picture I guess you would call it. They were neat, but not too interesting after seeing them over and over.

 

Here's just a few.