My review of Horizon 8 day cruise (February 23)

[mdin]

Hey everyone, I'm just off an 8 day cruise on the Carnival Horizon. I figure I'll give it a review based on my experience. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, I'll try to answer the best I can.

 

On this trip, I traveled with my wife, my parents, and my aunt and uncle. For the first time, we flew in the day before instead of the morning of. Others on CC have mentioned the benefits of doing that, and they were right. We stayed at La Quinta Inn in Hollywood. It's a nice hotel with large rooms and located near a large shopping center. I would stay there again if sailing out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale. 

 

Embarkation 

We used SAS Transportation to get from the hotel to the port of Miami. They picked us up promptly at 11:30am and had us at the port right at noon. After handing our luggage over to the porters, we headed to the terminal where we had a 12:30-1pm check-in. They directed us into the early line, where I figured there may be a wait, however that was not the case. There was no line and we were quickly processed and it was a non-stop walk right onto the ship. Great embarkation experience. 

 

Food and Dining

Lido Marketplace - I only ate there once and it was right after embarkation. I wasn't too hungry and only tried a stuffed mushroom and the buffalo chicken lasagna. The mushroom was meh, but the lasagna was something new to me and very good.

 

Pig and Anchor - I ate here at lunch time. The line was somewhat long, but it took less than 10 minutes to be served. I tried a little of everything and and enjoyed it all.

 

Guy's Burger Joint - I ate here a few times after port days. I've always liked their burgers. They are not gourmet burgers by any means, but better than most fast food places. The burgers always hit the spot with me.

 

Blue Iguana Cantina - I only tried the tacos. One chicken, one pork. They were very tasty and perfect for around lunch time. If they were open past 2:30 I probably would have eaten there more times. 

 

Pizza - I tried it a couple times late at night. It's decent. Obviously there are great pizza places on land, but this place does a good job. A little bit of wait, but that's because they can only make so many at a time.

 

Breakfast - On port days, my wife I ate breakfast in the Meridian Restaurant. They have a nice menu option called Port Day that gets you in and out in 25 minutes. Eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. I chose that a couple times and was never disappointed. The restaurant was also not very busy and there was no wait time. We also had the sea day brunch there once. The 12 hour French toast was delicious. 

 

Mongolian Wok - I only ate here once on the last day for lunch. There was a line, but it moved quick. You select your choice of food by building your own dish. It was cooked to perfection. Easily one of my favorite spots I ate at.

 

Farenheit 555 - $38 per person and still a great deal in my opinion. My wife and I ate here on the first night. She got the crab cake and I the pork belly for our apps. We both enjoyed them. We both ordered the Wagyu beef with wasabi mashed potatoes. Very, very good. The cheesecake for dessert was average at best. I almost tried the free wine bottle, but after reading reviews on here and being told it was either free or 50% off, I decided to take the 50% offer instead. 

 

Reflections MDR - Mostly good. The staff was very friendly and worked extremely hard. I have no complaints from any of the dishes I ordered. The food was always between warm and hot, I was never served cold food. The food was tasty, and the portions were a good size for the most part. My favorite dishes were the ox tongue for an app and the jerk pork loin. My one complaint is it took a very long time to get through dinner. We had late seating (8:15), and most of the time we weren't out until 9:40. Normally, being on vacation I don't really care, but in this case dinner crossed into the 9:30 production show. I guess I could have attended the 7:30 show, but I figured that was for the early seating diners.

 

Service and Staff 

No complaints here. The entire staff works hard and always say hello to you with a smile. They do a great job to keep the ship clean and the passengers happy. We were given the choice of morning service, evening service, or both by our room steward. We chose morning. The only issue we had was our room wasn't serviced on day 4. I spoke to the steward and for some reason he thought we had evening service. Not sure what happened there, but it was cleared up and no issues after that.

 

Entertainment 

There was so much to do on the ship, there wasn't enough time to do it all. Schwartz was our cruise director. He brings a lot of energy and is very approachable. He did a great job.

 

Usually my wife and I skip the production shows, however after seeing the trailers for them on the lido big screen we figured we should give them a chance. We missed Soulbound because we got out of dinner too late, but fortunately we caught Vintage Pop and Celestial Strings (had to skip dessert, but whatever). Both shows were amazing. Everyone involved did a great job. Hopefully Carnival brings these productions to their other ships.

 

We attended the comedy shows a few times. Jorge Salano(?) was hysterical. The rest of them were OK, but nothing memorable. The lounge did get pretty packed for the shows. The last comedy shows started at 10pm (except for one 11pm show). 

 

Stateroom

We had an interior room on the 8th deck, mid-ship. Big enough for us, comfortable, and fairly quiet. Very clean.

 

Ship

The ship is huge, and even though there were a lot of passengers on it, it never really felt crowded. On sea days, both pools were packed, as well on all the lounger areas. We would walk around and eventually we would find a couple of empty chairs, most of the time in Serenity, which was our favorite area anyways. The hot tubs would get full as well, but again, if you are patient space will open up.

 

One negative thing that did happen on a couple of occasions was when a couple of guests busted out their portable bluetooth speaker and played their music loud on it. It kind of killed the atmosphere in Serenity, which has music playing that fits the theme. It didn't ruin our vacation or anything, and became a non-issue when we got up and found loungers in another area. I just feel it is very inconsiderate. At the beach it's one thing, but on a ship I suggest stick to headphones. 

 

Debarkcation

It was very easy. The night before we put our luggage outside our stateroom for pick up. Because we had some time before our flight, we booked an excursion through Carnival for the Best of Miami tour. Great tour and very entertaining. We met up at 7:30am in the Liquid Lounge and by 8am had our luggage and were on the tour bus.

 

That's it for now.

[plunker]

Is anything playing on the screen by the pool during the day?  Movies or concerts.....

[mdin]

Just now, plunker said:

Is anything playing on the screen by the pool during the day?  Movies or concerts.....

 

Only movies shown on lido were at night during Dive-in Movies. 7pm, 10pm, and one time a 12:30am showing.

 

During the day it was just pictures showing the port of calls, messages, or videos promoting Carnival things like their production shows for example. 

[Bikkek]

We were on this cruise.  We had a similar experience to yours.  We very much enjoyed it and did a lot of relaxing.  We had the best weather that we have ever had on a cruise.  Calm, sunny and hot.

 

[plunker]

Is there a included option that has donuts and pastries in the morning and sandwiches and salads later in the day like the international cafe on princess?

[BIGA961]

Cool, quick review, thanks!  Just booked this cruise for October, can't wait!!!

[mdin]

57 minutes ago, Bikkek said:

We were on this cruise.  We had a similar experience to yours.  We very much enjoyed it and did a lot of relaxing.  We had the best weather that we have ever had on a cruise.  Calm, sunny and hot.

 

I agree 100%. The weather was great as was the ship and I really enjoyed the port of calls. Experiencing Maho Beach was something else. Honestly, I would book Horizon with this itinerary again.

[mdin]

37 minutes ago, plunker said:

Is there a included option that has donuts and pastries in the morning and sandwiches and salads later in the day like the international cafe on princess?

That I'm not sure about. Horizon does have a cafe that sells coffees, donuts, and pastries near ocean plaza on the 5th deck. I believe the drink package includes specialty coffees. 

[30scruiser]

32 minutes ago, mdin said:

That I'm not sure about. Horizon does have a cafe that sells coffees, donuts, and pastries near ocean plaza on the 5th deck. I believe the drink package includes specialty coffees. 

On the Pride the croissants were free in the morning but the rest of the pastries cost money. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Theres really no equivalent to the international cafe although there is a deli that makes made to order sandwiches including paninis from 11a-11p

[RWolver672]

We were on this cruise too.  The one thing that really stood out was the elevators.  You are suppose to choose what floor you want, then enter for how many people.  Then it shows which elevator to enter.  People would just hit the floor once, then the whole group would go to that elevator.  By the time the elevator shows up, there would be fifteen people waiting to get on it.  They need to put signs up that when you call for an elevator, you have to say how many are in your party that want to board it.

 

We are use to cruising on the Conquest class of ships.  We found it quite hard to navigate this ship.  Everything seemed more scattered.  For smokers, Deck 11, Starboard side is mostly smoking. (Open areas).  Lots of chairs and ashtrays.  It was full most of the time.  

 

We did the Thrill Theater.  It was well worth the $5 each.  Lots of screams and laughs.

[mdin]

1 hour ago, RWolver672 said:

We were on this cruise too.  The one thing that really stood out was the elevators.  You are suppose to choose what floor you want, then enter for how many people.  Then it shows which elevator to enter.  People would just hit the floor once, then the whole group would go to that elevator.  By the time the elevator shows up, there would be fifteen people waiting to get on it.  They need to put signs up that when you call for an elevator, you have to say how many are in your party that want to board it.

 

We are use to cruising on the Conquest class of ships.  We found it quite hard to navigate this ship.  Everything seemed more scattered.  For smokers, Deck 11, Starboard side is mostly smoking. (Open areas).  Lots of chairs and ashtrays.  It was full most of the time.  

 

We did the Thrill Theater.  It was well worth the $5 each.  Lots of screams and laughs.

Good points. I forgot to mention the elevators. I showed my group how they work the 1st day and they had no issues figuring it out. When used properly, it works great, but many were doing as you mentioned. Either only call it for 1 passenger, or just hop on an elevator going to the floor they want.

 

One fix could be having the touchscreen ask how many passengers after pressing the deck option.

[RWolver672]

8 minutes ago, mdin said:

Good points. I forgot to mention the elevators. I showed my group how they work the 1st day and they had no issues figuring it out. When used properly, it works great, but many were doing as you mentioned. Either only call it for 1 passenger, or just hop on an elevator going to the floor they want.

 

One fix could be having the touchscreen ask how many passengers after pressing the deck option.

 

That's funny.  We said the same thing.  

[JaniceB]

Thanks you for the well written review.  I like your suggestion about a touchscreen, that might help the elevator situation.

[bjd2]

Thank you so much for your great review! We will be trying out the Horizon this Saturday. I hope our experience is as good as yours was.

[aaalynn1]

I wonder if we could order our desert at the same time as our meal? Just trying to find a way to avoid an almost 2 hour dinner on nights we want to see a show.

[Terboy63]

Thanks for the reviews. We cruise on the 23rd. Question...did anyone purchase the bubbles package? Just wondering if we'll scan our card or if they issue a cup with a sensor. I'd like to bring my own cup but not if they'll give me one to use. Also, any wall hooks to hang drying swimsuits in shower area?

[RWolver672]

8 hours ago, Terboy63 said:

Thanks for the reviews. We cruise on the 23rd. Question...did anyone purchase the bubbles package? Just wondering if we'll scan our card or if they issue a cup with a sensor. I'd like to bring my own cup but not if they'll give me one to use. Also, any wall hooks to hang drying swimsuits in shower area?

 

You show your card to a server and they give you your soda in a plastic cup.  Bring your own and pour what they give you into your cup.  

 

There are three hooks on the inside of the bathroom door.  More like three knobs.  There is a retractable clothes line in the shower.

[Terboy63]

Thank you so much. Very helpful to know.  Another question, I've seen some not so positive reviews about the bubbles package now after we've purchased it.  One mentioned it's just a warm soda poured into a cup. What was your experience?  It sounds like it's not a soda machine. My plan was to purchase a bottle of liquor from them to have with the soda.  Not sounding very appealing if it's not cold.

[RWolver672]

13 hours ago, Terboy63 said:

Thank you so much. Very helpful to know.  Another question, I've seen some not so positive reviews about the bubbles package now after we've purchased it.  One mentioned it's just a warm soda poured into a cup. What was your experience?  It sounds like it's not a soda machine. My plan was to purchase a bottle of liquor from them to have with the soda.  Not sounding very appealing if it's not cold.

 

It's not a soda machine.  All sodas are in a can and warm.  They pour it over a glass of ice.  Your best bet if you want cold sodas for your liquor is to bring it with you when you embark and keep it in the refrigerator in your cabin.  You can each bring on a 12 pack as long as it's in your carry-ons.  You can also re-stock at any of the ports.

[RTR 21-0]

Thanks for the review.  Was this the Southern Cruise?  We’re booked on the April 6th sailing and would love some info on the ports and excursions if you took any.  

[TravelLots]

On 3/5/2019 at 1:38 PM, mdin said:

SAS Transportation to get from the hotel to the port of Miami

 

Hi,

Thank you so much for your review.  How much did it cost to use SAS Transportation?  Did you do a one-way or round-trip ticket?  Was the vehicle comfortable?

[mdin]

4 hours ago, TravelLots said:

 

Hi,

Thank you so much for your review.  How much did it cost to use SAS Transportation?  Did you do a one-way or round-trip ticket?  Was the vehicle comfortable?

I did a one way trip from the hotel to the port. It is $15 per person for a one way trip. The driver had a nice, large van. Very roomy and comfortable. 

[mdin]

5 hours ago, RTR 21-0 said:

Thanks for the review.  Was this the Southern Cruise?  We’re booked on the April 6th sailing and would love some info on the ports and excursions if you took any.  

It was an Eastern Caribbean cruise with stops in Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. 

 

In Grand Turk we did a snorkel and beach getaway through Carnival. We got to snorkel in two different locations before being taken to a beach. It's very well run and a lot of fun.

 

In San Juan we did a private tour with Charlie's Custom Tours. This was a great tour with the owner. It can be customized to your groups liking. 

 

In St. Kitts we did an excursion with Thenford Grey's. It was the Capital City Tour and Beach Splash. We toured around the island for some photo ops before being dropped off at Carambola Beach Club. Another great tour.

 

In St. Maarten we did the Orient/Maho Beach tour with Bernard's tours. Excellent excursion. We spent about 2 hours at each location. Orient is a beautiful beach, and Maho Beach was a phenomenal experience. Everyone should experience it at least once. 

 

I wouldn't hesitate doing any of these excursions again.

[CChamp]

4 hours ago, mdin said:

I did a one way trip from the hotel to the port. It is $15 per person for a one way trip. The driver had a nice, large van. Very roomy and comfortable. 

Do you happen to know if they will pick you up after the cruise and drop you off at the Ft Lauderdale Airport?

[TravelLots]

Thank you mdin!