Here we go! Saskatoon to Miami! Sailing Carnival Horizon ABCs - Sept 17th

[lesters]

Hey fellow Canuck’s we are I. The final days of preparation and packing for our cruise to the ABCs!

 

I will do my best to post a fairly live account of travel from Saskatoon via Toronto to Fort Lauderdale with an Uber to Miami 😎 and then boarding Carnival’s Horizon for an 8 day adventure!

 

This is our first cruise post well you know what.  
 

We are flying to Pearson on WestJet, spending the night going to a Jays game (psst we are Tigers fans but will enjoy it anyway]  getting up the next day and flying to Fort Lauderdale then heading to South Beach for the evening and morning before boarding.

 

Why all the stops?  Well for one we always fly in at least one day ahead.  And two we are travelling on WJ companion flights and you can’t code share on those, so it’s taking an overnight in TO to make it work.  But hey it’s holidays and an adventure!

 

Hoping for smooth sailing / flying with no issues or delays that we heard about over the summer months.   

 

 

[canadianbear]

I’ll be following along!  Especially interested in your experience at Toronto airport.  We’ve only flown YVR to Calgary then Montreal twice in last couple of months avoiding Toronto.  We also use WJ but haven’t used our companion ticket yet.  We haven’t ventured outside Canada yet. 
 

We had considered a cruise and to fly from Montreal to Florida at Christmas but decided against it.  
 

We love cruises to the ABC’s!  Have a wonderful time.  Looking forward to your posts (and photos?) 

 

 

[Victoria_BC_Mom]

LOVE the ABC's.  By far the most interesting of the Caribbean cruises.  I'm sooo jealous, but still too wary to get back into cruising.  Enjoy.

 

[lesters]

A bit more about us and this trip - sailing on the Horizon will be myself and my DH. First time just us - leaving our daughter home this trip.  She starting her second year of University so not a great time for her to miss.  
 

This  will be our 7th Carnival cruise, 8th total.  Since travel started to open back up we’ve been to Mexico twice and once to Vegas.  We do love to travel and we have been super careful on those other trips and stayed healthy on them all.  Hoping our past practices will help us out on this one as well. We are fully vaxed and boosted.  We will be taking our masks and will pop them on as situations arise that make us feel they are warranted.   This approach has worked and fingers crossed it continues to. 
 

As noted earlier we are staying one night in Toronto and one. One night in Miami (South Beach) before we sail.  It will be our first time sailing out of Miami. I am super excited to check out South Beach and some Miami Vice vibes. 
 

For the cruise we staying in a Cove Balcony cabin for the first time - always have sailed in a regular balcony so looking forward to trying it as well.  We are on the Any Time dining and have booked a few specialty restaurants - the steakhouse and JiJis. 
 

Starting on my packing tonight!!   Getting so excited 😆 

 

 

 

[DirtyDawg]

If you were a Blue Jays fan I'd follow your adventure. But the Tigers? 🤢

 

Do you root for the Lions too - the Detroit ones or the BC ones over your Roughriders too? 😱

 

Have a great cruise. As a Tiger's fan you need it! 😉

 

 

[lesters]

We are officially 2 sleeps away from holidays beginning!!  

 

We are starting our adventure with a night in Toronto and a Blue Jays game.  Staying at the Westin Airport and on my Bonvoy app I have already checked us in - requesting an early check in as well!   Hopefully by the time we land our room will be ready and waiting for us.

 

We are finishing up our Verifly stuff over the next day as well to speed up boarding - will share how that works out as well.

[lesters]

18 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

If you were a Blue Jays fan I'd follow your adventure. But the Tigers? 🤢

 

Do you root for the Lions too - the Detroit ones or the BC ones over your Roughriders too? 😱

 

Have a great cruise. As a Tiger's fan you need it! 😉

 

 

LOL

 

Long story why the Tigers but it has to do with finally having cable as a young person and watching them win with Sparky 🙂  its been a very rough season(s) LOL

NOT a chance with the Lions - we are an NFL house not CFL, but not the Lions.  We are split between the Packers (DH)  and the Steelers (me) LOL

 

 

[lesters]

And we are off!!!!   Waiting to board our flight to Toronto. 
 

In typical fashion no line ups at the Saskatoon airport.   It’s a full flight to Toronto this morning as well! 
 

Now all my fingers and toes are crossed that our checked bags are at the other end of this flight 😝

[slhull54]

Just got off Horizon September 11th, and tested positive for covid Wednesday, did do buffett, dining 2 times, steakhouse once, and casino(rather not say), no shows.  Of course could have gotten it at airport or onshore.   Be safe!

[lesters]

Well we arrived in Toronto. 
 

We were delayed by almost 3 hours out of Saskatoon because of fog 🤦‍♀️
 

When we finally arrived in TO there was a giant line up for folks dealing with connections but as we are overnighting it here no problem

for us.  Bags arrived quickly and no issues at all at Pearson!

[canadianbear]

Glad you made it to Toronto with luggage, lol.

Too bad about the fog delay.  Enjoy your overnight there.  Great decision not to have to make a connection tonight. 

 

 

[lesters]

We are through to the lounge in Pearson 

 

Great stay at the Westin Airport would go back there again. 
 

Hopped on the shuttle to the airport at 7:30 and less than an hour later we were through bag drop, security and US Customs.  Having Nexus was very helpful.  
 

There were some lines but nothing crazy. 
 

Hanging out in the very subpar lounge in Terminal 3.   If we didn’t have passes I would be so mad if I’d paid for this spot.  It’s crowded, way too bright, loud and they make you pay for tomato juice for a Bloody Mary and sparkling wine for a mimosa??!!  That is a first with all my travels and airport lounge visits.  
 

Oh well. It’s a free breakfast and coffee. 
 

1 hour until boarding!

[LHT28]

Is that the Plaza Premium lounge?

It always looks  frantic 

[bookbabe]

Ugh.  The T3 US departures Plaza Premium lounge is the worst.  If it wasn’t for the fact that there’s very little else in that terminal, we wouldn’t bother, even if it is free.  Small, crowded, mediocre food, indifferent service.  The lounges in the domestic and international sections are much better.

 

BTW, if you are Gold or above on WJ, you can use the Delta SkyClub lounges in the US.

[lesters]

35 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Is that the Plaza Premium lounge?

It always looks  frantic 

Yup.  It was not the relaxing lounge experience I had hoped 

[lesters]

We are on board a very full WestJet flight to Fort Lauderdale. 
 

Overhead space is packed.  Happy we were zone 2 with Silver status to get our on board with no issues.  
 

Almost go time!!   

[canadianbear]

4 minutes ago, lesters said:

We are on board a very full WestJet flight to Fort Lauderdale. 
 

Overhead space is packed.  Happy we were zone 2 with Silver status to get our on board with no issues.  
 

Almost go time!!   

Do you get the free wifi?  We used it last time we flew and it worked pretty well.    Although our WJ flights were within Canada, they were packed too & ran out of overhead space.  Way too many people took way too much carryon & we’re not challenged at check in.  

[lesters]

We are here in Miami Beach!!!!

 

I couldn’t get the site to load yesterday for some reason when I wanted to post. 
 

Oh well. 
 

Checked bags arrived with no issues. 
 

We took an Uber from Fort Lauderdale to our hotel in Miami Beach.   That was an a frustration as the driver couldn’t find us - his GPS kept taking him to the spot a level above us and he didn’t speak English so communication was a challenge.  But we arrived at the Courtyard Inn and had a an amazing evening walking along Ocean Drive having amazing food and some drinks!!

 

Boarding the Horizon today so any posts will move over to Carnivals board. But will post here our return back to Saskatoon!

 

 

[Keata]

Have a safe & wonderful trip!  What was the cost of the Uber from FLL to Miami Beach?  We may do the same in the future. TIA

[canadianbear]

Any chance you can post a link here when you do your reports?  I’m not so great on the website.  Have a great cruise!

[lesters]

On 9/17/2022 at 8:46 AM, Keata said:

Have a safe & wonderful trip!  What was the cost of the Uber from FLL to Miami Beach?  We may do the same in the future. TIA

It was $107 with a tip because we hit surge pricing - extra $38 FFS.  Would have been $55

[lesters]

Our trip home was super uneventful - which is nice for a travel day!

 

Our debarkation was delayed a bit as police came aboard and made some arrests apparently - saw on a FB group post pictures.

 

We had taken the last zone tags available - 27 - as our flight was not until 2:30 from Fort Lauderdale.   Enjoyed a breakfast and then hung out for a bit before being called at the end - off the ship and in an uber by 9:45 am. 

 

Walked through the line at customs for Canadian Passport holders - but it also had American's using a birth certificate so it was a bit slower than those able to use the facial recognition.  We noticed too late that at the far far rightest lane there was a Global Entry/Trusted Traveler lane.  Not sure if our Nexus could have been used there or not but will ask next time before commiting to a line.

 

As noted, we were in an Uber by 9:45 - we called for it and it arrived in less than 10 minutes.  I had pre=booked one for 11:00 as I wasn't sure what time we'd be off by so was able to cancel and rebook very easily.  Arrived at the airport 10:40 am and had to wait for the WestJet counter to open - it opens 3 hours before a flight.  

 

It was another jam packed flight but left on time with no issues.

 

Customs in Toronto was quick with our Nexus and we had no issues using the ArriveCan app - which is now on its way out anyways.  I never found it to be any sort of big deal to complete at all.

 

Another 4 hour layover in Toronto and we were on our way back to Saskatoon.

 

Any questions please go ahead and ask.  I will be working on a proper review of our trip and will share a link as requested too.

 

 

[lesters]

For those that were interested here is my summary of our Horizon cruise  -