Carnival Horizon 14 Day B2B Southern/Eastern Caribbean Review

[Jamman54]

Thanks for posting your review! We board the Horizon tomorrow! 👍😎

[SNJCruisers]

We're on Sunday 8/29 for 6 days.  Our last two Carnival cruises in August of 2018 and August of 2019 were both on the Horizon as well.  Both were 8 days and embarked from NYC and MIA.  Looking forward to reduced capacity and hopefully less unruly kids.

[JaniceB]

Enjoying your review and all the food porn (I’ve been dying to say that for over a year)!

[jam19872016]

On 8/19/2021 at 5:43 PM, Jeafl said:

Wonderful review so far!  I love seeing the pictures of the food.  Most of it looks nothing like I imagined!

Thank you! The presentation on a lot of the dishes has changed and some sauces or sides changed up from what I was used to.

 

 

On 8/19/2021 at 7:28 PM, mamamaga said:

We are sailing on Horizon this Saturday. Loving your review

I left her in good shape for you! Enjoy your cruise this week.

[jam19872016]

On 8/19/2021 at 7:52 PM, tallnthensome said:

Great review. Were you still allowed to order two entrees at dinner? 

Thank you. Yes I had no trouble ordering multiple entrees and my mom who mostly ordered one thing was always asked if she wanted more. Most dishes were smaller than I remember them being however.

On 8/19/2021 at 8:32 PM, audcc77 said:

Yeah. Me too.  Standing in the hot sun is the worst.  
 

I am bringing a little umbrella. Also, I just bought a little handheld fan on Amazon for $15 and is about the length of a cell phone and half the width.  
 

JISULIFE Pocket Handheld Fan

Thanks for your review. I’m following along as I am thinking of sailing on this ship.  

Thanks for following along. This is a great ship if you chose it.

[jam19872016]

On 8/19/2021 at 9:04 PM, Terab85 said:

That's a good idea.  I have a small umbrella that I keep in my car. If the line looks long and/or the sun is bad, I'll just grab that. I'll make sure to have water to drink until we get close to being inside.

I did not hear any complaints about embarkation on week 2 when there were only 2300 guests on board so if capacity is still reduced you should be ok. Fingers crossed for you.

On 8/20/2021 at 2:13 AM, Jamman54 said:

Thanks for posting your review! We board the Horizon tomorrow! 👍😎

I missed Jimbo by a week coming and missed you by a week going! Enjoy your cruise its a beautiful ship and one of the best crew I've ever sailed with!

[jam19872016]

On 8/20/2021 at 2:56 AM, SNJCruisers said:

We're on Sunday 8/29 for 6 days.  Our last two Carnival cruises in August of 2018 and August of 2019 were both on the Horizon as well.  Both were 8 days and embarked from NYC and MIA.  Looking forward to reduced capacity and hopefully less unruly kids.

You should be good, there were very few kids onboard on week 2. There were some issues with unruly adults I'll get into on week 2 but I think Carnival actually did something about it or they settled down. They seemed to at least be investigating the situation which I have never seen them do in the past when this particular problem occurred.

On 8/20/2021 at 9:36 AM, JaniceB said:

Enjoying your review and all the food porn (I’ve been dying to say that for over a year)!

Thanks! I got more food p0rn coming up now 🙂 

[jam19872016]

Day 3:

 

Fun Day at Sea.

 

Today is another sea day and boy the ship is really rocking today. I had submitted and been approved for another comp cruise on Royal Caribbean before I left, and then forgot to pay for it. I bought the 24 hour internet package so I could get that taken care of today. Sometimes I don't know where my mind is going.

 

I slept in a little bit later today so brunch was open when I woke up so I made my way there for a hearty meal.

 

Brunch menu.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Brunch cont.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

I ordered an omelet with a side of brunch potatoes and cheese grits.

 

 

 

Everything was very good and service was extremely attentive. Service has been super so far in the dining room.
 

[jam19872016]

There was another fireball drawing all afternoon in the casino so I popped in every half hour again today in hopes of winning some freeplay. No luck.

 

Since I was rushing back and forth to the casino all day I just stopped in at the buffet for some lunch. Carnival has a ton of great lunch options, but honestly their buffet is not a highlight.

 

My lunch.

 

 

 

Everything was good not great except the meatballs which I couldn't eat. Those were definitely balls of meat scraps rolled together - hard pass. The empanada was excellent make sure to try them even if you skip the rest of the buffet.

 

The cakes for dessert at lunch are also not to be missed.

 

[jam19872016]

With the rocking of the ship I wasn't feeling real great today. I did take some motion sickness pills but they took a while to kick in. I wonder if they expired, this is the first time I've used them since before the pandemic. (I checked and yep, they expired 4/21. New box is good until 1/24 so hopefully those will not get a chance to expire)

 

I did feel well enough for some sauna time before dinner which I did not think I would be up for, that high at the front of the ship is usually pretty rocky but I did ok.

 

Tonight's dinner menu.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

For my starter I ordered the pork slider and the spring rolls.

 

 

 

The pork slider was a new item and it was fantastic. It was very flavorful and I really enjoyed it.

 

The spring roll is an old favorite but the one thing I always thought would make it better was a sweet chili sauce instead of soy sauce. The description still said soy sauce but it was definitely cut with something sweet. This was a huge hit for me!

 

For my main I ordered the stuffed Portobello mushrooms.

 

 

This was okay but suffered the opposite fate of the spring rolls, different sauce that was not as good. This used to be in a parmesan cream sauce which was heavenly. Seriously, I could go for a swim in it. Now it is in a stewed tomato sauce (the red marinara sauce they put in everything). It was ok, but it brought the dish down considerably from where it used to be.

 

For dessert I was reunited with an old friend of mine, warm melting chocolate cake with two ice creams.

 

 

Delicious.

 

Overall dinner was very good and serviced continued to be excellent at under an hour in fact I think we were out in under 45 minutes tonight.
 

[jam19872016]

Back in the room we had...something waiting for us.

 

 

 

This was one of those what is it supposed to be moments for us for sure. 

 

The rest of the evening we relaxed in the room with a movie and some tv. I wandered out for second dinner at some point.

 

Deli menu.

 

 

I got a tomato & mozzarella. It was a little off tonight but I was still plenty full.

 

 

That's going to do it for day three. Another nice relaxing day on the Carnival Horizon. Next up Aruba.
 

Edited August 21, 2021 by jam19872016

[EngIceDave]

HIDDEN MICKEY!!!

[jam19872016]

2 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

HIDDEN MICKEY!!!

Mickey was delicious 🙂 

[jam19872016]

Day 4: Aruba

 

Today we are in Aruba. This is my fourth time in Aruba. The health protocols for each port are listed in the hub app. Here are the current protocols for my cruise, but keep in my things are rapidly changing all the time.

 

 

The dreamscape is a beautiful shade of blue this morning.

 

[jam19872016]

I went to the dining room for breakfast this morning. 

 

Breakfast menu in the MDR.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

I ordered the yogurt parfait and a broken egg sandwich.

 

 

 

Both were very good.
 

[jam19872016]

Next we headed off the ship to explore Aruba a little.

 

Ships in port with us today.

 

 

The first ship is the Scientology ship. The one in the background is the Norwegian Joy on her first sailing back in North America. What's that now? Cancelled? On their die hard fans who booked their first cruises back? Ouch, never mind that's just an empty Norwegian Joy back there.

 

We are not big get off the ship people but we walked around the port area a little bit. My mom enjoys window shopping so that's what we did for a little while before heading back to the ship.
 

IHeartAruba backwards. 🙂 

 

[jam19872016]

For lunch today we went to one of my favorites on ships that have it, the captain's pasta bar.

 

 

My lunch.

 

 

I also got some gelato which is free at the buffet, but it wasn't quite done which is a common problem it seems. It is too popular to keep up with demand. It was still yummy though.

 

Weekend cruises are great for a quick getaway when you live near a port. But my favorite part about longer trips is settling into a bit of a routine after a couple days.

 

After lunch it was back to the cabin for some relaxing followed by a couple rounds of trivia at Ocean Plaza. Today was fact or fiction and general knowledge. I scored 14 and a whopping 4 the winning scores were 19 and 11. I need two more ship on a sticks to fill my trophy stand I am hoping to get at least one this week.

 

I enjoyed a nice afternoon pick-me-up with trivia, a double chocolate frappe.

 

 

These sugar straws are yummy, but struggle to be functional with these frozen drinks.
 

[jam19872016]

Tonight for dinner I went to Jiji's. I purchased three $15 meal vouchers for $38 which can be used at Jiji's, Cucina, Bonsai Sushi, Pig & Anchor, and Seafood Shack. There is also one you can purchase for $60 that includes one meal at the steakhouse.

 

Jiji's dinner menu.

 

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Menu cont.

 

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

Compliments of the chef, I don't really remember what it was but it was good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pork Belly.

 

 

Still one of the best things I've ever eaten on a ship. You seriously have to try this it is so so good.

 

A sake sangria.

 

 

 

Not a big sangria person so I probably would not order this again, but it did taste good and if you like sangrias you will love this drink.
 

[jam19872016]

Peppered beef with Hakka noodles.

 

 

 

The beef with the garnish removed for a better picture of the dish.

 

 

 

This was a new item for me and another great dish. Just a hint of heat with the pepper and all around amazing flavors.

 

For dessert I ordered the caramelized crepes.

 

 

I've tried all the desserts here and to me this is hands down the best one. Again the flavors all work together to create a spectacular dish.