Pick My Birthday Cruise: Horizon, Pride or Vista

[keels81]

Me and two of my BFFs will be taking a cruise in April for my 41st birthday and we are torn. Each of us has picked a cruise and we can't come to a decision, so I'm leaving it up to you, Cruise Critics.

 

Cost of the stateroom and travel to port is no issue (thanks, Players Club and my terrible, terrible, terrible luck at the $5 craps table last month). Would prefer not to spend a fortune on excursions/beach clubs (see previous comment about craps table).

 

Would you pick:

 

Horizon - out of Miami - 8 days to Aruba, Curacao, etc.

Pride - out of Tampa - 8 days to Lìmon and the Panama Canal turnaround

Vista - out of Galveston - 7 days to ... well, let's face it, the itinerary will likely end up being Cozumel, Roatan and Belize.

 

These are all three ships I've never been on. My mindset is fun above all, ship after that and itinerary if the first two are boring. This will be the second-ever cruise for my shipmates. Their first was October on Mardi Gras.

 

Let's hear it!

[SNJCruisers]

Easy.  8 days on Horizon.  Southern route to Aruba and Curacao is the best, even more so if it stops at Bonaire.  Take it up a notch by staying in the Havana area.

[keels81]

4 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Easy.  8 days on Horizon.  Southern route to Aruba and Curacao is the best, even more so if it stops at Bonaire.  Take it up a notch by staying in the Havana area.

 

Not doing Havana. It's three adults in a stateroom and there's no value in it. Cloud 9, yes. Havana, no.

[Jamman54]

For us the choice would be Horizon. 😎

[kruise runner]

Hi

   We have been checking out similar cruises .First we like the eight day cruise, next the itinerary ,ships. We settled on  two choices for  our cruise in Feb 2023 .Carnival Horizon,  Royal Caribbean. Harmony of Seas. For us it looking like the Harmony Seas. Both 8 night cruises Southern Caribbean. Either way you can't go wrong .At least it's a get away. Happy cruising  which ever you pick

 kruise Kat, kruise runner

[x lindsay x]

Which one did YOU want? I mean it is to celebrate your birthday, right?

 

I would pick the 8 day Horizon. Here's my reasoning.

- 8 days > 7 days

- The Horizon is probably my favorite Carnival ship. 

- Miami > Galveston, unless you're driving getting to the port in Galveston is a pain in rear. 

- I would love to do the PC trip but you have to really like sea days to do that trip since there are only two real port stops outside of the partial transit day (which could fit into your plan of not spending that much on excursions)

 

 

[sunonfire]

The Pride out of Tampa regularly has an older crowd. 

[ugagal07]

Some of it depends on travel. We swapped a Panorama cruise for an East Coast trip due to the cost of airfare.  It was waaay more than the cruise. 

 

Pride has some huge balconies to relax on, if that is important to you.  I would pick Pride or Horizon because 8 days is better than 7 and both of those sets of ports are a change of pace from the usual Western Carib route. 

[firefly333]

My bucket list is colon Panama though the excursion to see the locks I heard was like $350. If you dont want expensive excursion you probably dont want colon Panama you want a partial to the locks included. I'd pick this but not if I was counting pennies on excursions. 

 

8 days on horizon I guess I'd pick. Vista is a nothing ports to me... horizon 8 days any time or dream 8 days not on your list for ports.

[firefly333]

7 hours ago, keels81 said:

 

Not doing Havana. It's three adults in a stateroom and there's no value in it. Cloud 9, yes. Havana, no.

Cloud 9 on vista or harmony a nothing. Not like on dream class. Pride doesnt have cloud 9. 

[ninjacat123]

Starting out from Miami sounds like more fun than Galveston or Tampa.  Aruba, Curacao etc sounds more exotic than the other itineraries. Horizon sounds like it has more bells and whistles and votes from CC people.

Sounds like you have a fun decision to make.  Have a very happy bday🎂!

[MzOhioLady]

I would pick the Carnival Horizon hands down. My Husband and I did an 8 day on the Horizon back in September and LOVED IT!! Aruba is now our favorite port. The ship is wonderful and there are many things to do on it as well as some reasonably priced excursions for the Southern Caribbean.

[sunshower9]

Another vote for Horizon.  I'm doing an 8 day Southern Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) on the Horizon in April (65 days!).  I haven't been on the Horizon before but I've been on the Vista and really enjoyed all the newer things it had to offer compared to older ships.  I also went to Aruba and Curacao on the Vista and had a great time.  So yeah, I'd pick the Horizon.

Edited February 23, 2022 by sunshower9

[wgeddings]

Hands down the Horizon is my favorite ship with Carnival.  It wins the most awards.  Tried many other ships (recently the Elation and the Liberty and even MSC Divinia) and each time I spent most of my time complaining about how much better the Horizon is.  IMAX theatre, better restaurants, not crowded, etc.   Have not been on new Mardi Gras yet but talked to people who have been on it and they all say that Horizon is better and less cramped than Mardi Gras with better fun options (Mardi Gras has no IMAX too).   

 

Port of Miami is a pain but worth it to me to be on the Horizon again. 

 

 

[Indytraveler83]

Another vote for Horizon.  We actually just made that same choice for a birthday celebration this coming fall.  Very nice ship, very cool itinerary.

 

Second choice would be the Pride.  Panama Canal would be fun, but as previously mentioned, too many sea days for me.

 

Vista would be a distant third for me. It's a very typical itinerary. Add in that it's a day shorter, and I don't see any advantage (Horizon is Vista's younger sister, so ships are a wash there).  That's the cruise you do when date/time is very restricted and this one is available or super cheap.

[Lisa3635]

Another vote for the Horizon, my son and i are doing the same ship in June, we love that itinerary.  

[keels81]

8 hours ago, x lindsay x said:

Which one did YOU want? I mean it is to celebrate your birthday, right?

 

I would pick the 8 day Horizon. Here's my reasoning.

- 8 days > 7 days

- The Horizon is probably my favorite Carnival ship. 

- Miami > Galveston, unless you're driving getting to the port in Galveston is a pain in rear. 

- I would love to do the PC trip but you have to really like sea days to do that trip since there are only two real port stops outside of the partial transit day (which could fit into your plan of not spending that much on excursions)

 

 

 

I can't decide between the three!! 🤣

 

My two girlfriends I cruise with would be coming from Fort Worth and I'd fly in from New Orleans, so that's kinda why Galveston is in the discussion.

 

I don't mind sea days because my cruise mode is max chill, so that's why PC is still in the running. I may save this one to do with the husband because I don't think I can keep him on a ship longer than eight days and try to do the full canal with the girls next year. 

[SNJCruisers]

12 hours ago, keels81 said:

 

Not doing Havana. It's three adults in a stateroom and there's no value in it. Cloud 9, yes. Havana, no.

There is zero value in the Cloud 9 on the Vista Class ships.  It's much better on the Dream Class.  There are 3 person capacity cabins in the Havana area, just not inside ones.  

There is no value to Havana for you, but others would jump all over it.  No hassles from kids in the area, which constitutes value to many.

Enjoy whichever cruise you choose.

[keels81]

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

My bucket list is colon Panama though the excursion to see the locks I heard was like $350. If you dont want expensive excursion you probably dont want colon Panama you want a partial to the locks included. I'd pick this but not if I was counting pennies on excursions. 

 

8 days on horizon I guess I'd pick. Vista is a nothing ports to me... horizon 8 days any time or dream 8 days not on your list for ports.

 

It's funny you brought up this excursion because it's the one thing all three of us decided would be worth the $$. 

 

It's not counting pennies so much as it is that I'm paying for the whole thing and I'd rather get value for my excursion money other than shelling out $350 each port for the three of us to do the same snorkeling or dolphin meet. 

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, wgeddings said:

  Have not been on new Mardi Gras yet but talked to people who have been on it and they all say that Horizon is better and less cramped than Mardi Gras with better fun options (Mardi Gras has no IMAX too).   

Need to 100% disagree about the opinions of those who have been on the Horizon as well as the Mardi Gras.  Was on the Horizon two different times for 8 day sailings and stayed in the Havana area.  Recently got off of the Mardi Gras for 14 days.  The MG is a game changer for Carnival and since she has had the highest occupancy percentage of any ship in the fleet many people must agree.

If the IMAX is so important, then why did Carnival eliminate it on the Panorama, the third ship built in the Vista Class?

[lazydayz]

We did the eight night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Horizon and loved it.  So the Horizon gets my vote.  

 

We are doing the Pride in December, but I live in Tampa and that was the only reason we choose that cruise.

 

[atxlady]

We are sailing on the Horizon on April the 29th. We have an inside Havana cabin and are so excited about this trip. The 8 day and the ABC Islands grabbed our attention. We live in Austin, and had a cruise set for end of Jan out of Galveston (easy drive). We saw the Horizon and quickly made arrangements to change cruises. We are so glad we did, counting down the days until we sail.

So, another vote for the Horizon.

[sunshower9]

17 minutes ago, atxlady said:

We are sailing on the Horizon on April the 29th. We have an inside Havana cabin and are so excited about this trip. The 8 day and the ABC Islands grabbed our attention. We live in Austin, and had a cruise set for end of Jan out of Galveston (easy drive). We saw the Horizon and quickly made arrangements to change cruises. We are so glad we did, counting down the days until we sail.

So, another vote for the Horizon.

I'll be on that one too, and also in the Havana area.  It's going to be a great trip! 🙂 

[DramaQueen22]

5 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

There is zero value in the Cloud 9 on the Vista Class ships.  It's much better on the Dream Class.  There are 3 person capacity cabins in the Havana area, just not inside ones.  

There is no value to Havana for you, but others would jump all over it.  No hassles from kids in the area, which constitutes value to many.

Enjoy whichever cruise you choose.

No hassles from kids is THE value of Havana in my opinion.  I love the Horizon and only book Havana there.  Totally worth the cost.  And I agree about the Cloud 9 rooms too.  

[redsox1584]

Definitely the Horizon. I did the Southern Caribbean back in September and it was amazing