Willdra's Heavenly Carnival Horizon Apr. 29-May 7 Cruise Review

[willdra]

On 7/8/2023 at 9:22 PM, 3smithboys said:

Thanks again for another fun, spectacular review! It’s made me even more excited for our cruise on the Horizon next spring break. It will be our first time trying out the Havana area & our first time on a Vista class ship.

 

We are going on the Celebration next Saturday- can’t wait! (Maybe your review will come out before we leave 🤔😁) 

 

I'm super jealous, wish we were on the Celebration again! It's an awesome ship, you are gonna have so much fun!! 🤗

[willdra]

8 hours ago, peteandpris said:

You made my day, thank you for a great review, I can't wait till your next adventure.

 

Thanks so much, this made MY day! ❤️❤️❤️

[willdra]

5 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

So this is weird...I was up in Charlotte, NC and a couple walked up to me asking me if I knew where something was.  I swear they looked like W and Willdra!  I stared for a second and said "are you on Cruise Critic" which they looked at me like I had two heads and said no.  The woman's hair was different (yellow tips) but I thought, hey maybe she changed up the color.  But no, not you two.

Doppelgangers I tell you....

Thanks for another wonderful review!!

 

OMG that is so weird! The world is not big enough for 2 Willdras. W and I are already tew merch! 😂🤣😂 I low key wish that was us tho. W always gets a kick out of people recognizing us, since he has no clue what goes on here. Nobody tell him. Please! 🙏🏽

[josieallen]

Bravo!!!!!  Before I fell asleep I asked Jesus to send you cruise money. I just need Willdra to cruise. Loved this one a lot. 

[willdra]

1 minute ago, josieallen said:

Bravo!!!!!  Before I fell asleep I asked Jesus to send you cruise money. I just need Willdra to cruise. Loved this one a lot. 

 

Whoooooo from your lips to Jesus' ears! On God, we can ALWAYS use more cruise money! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🤪

[momof3cruisers]

Thank you so much Wildra! Fantastic review as always. 

[atxlady]

Bravo!!!! Another awesome review!!!

[ARcruisin2]

Enjoyed you taking us along on your & W's adventure... look forward to the next one!

[HolySpearit]

Hey Wildra! You are one of my favorite reviewers around these parts, you and W seem like so much fun!

 

Question for ya-I know you mentioned renting a car at MIA and then returning it and catching a cab/uber to the cruise port. If I'm remembering right the car rental place at MIA is off site. Can you pick up a cab/uber at the rental center, or did you have to take the tram thingy back to the main terminal to get one?

 

We're heading out on the Celebration in Nov and haven't rented a car in MIA since they had the free cruise port shuttle that went away with Covid. 

[willdra]

13 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

Thank you so much Wildra! Fantastic review as always. 

Thank you for coming thru! 🥰😘

[willdra]

2 hours ago, atxlady said:

Bravo!!!! Another awesome review!!!

Thanks!! 😆

[willdra]

2 hours ago, ARcruisin2 said:

Enjoyed you taking us along on your & W's adventure... look forward to the next one!

Thanks for joining us! ♥️♥️♥️

[willdra]

56 minutes ago, HolySpearit said:

Hey Wildra! You are one of my favorite reviewers around these parts, you and W seem like so much fun!

 

Question for ya-I know you mentioned renting a car at MIA and then returning it and catching a cab/uber to the cruise port. If I'm remembering right the car rental place at MIA is off site. Can you pick up a cab/uber at the rental center, or did you have to take the tram thingy back to the main terminal to get one?

 

We're heading out on the Celebration in Nov and haven't rented a car in MIA since they had the free cruise port shuttle that went away with Covid. 

Thank you so much! ♥️♥️

 

After we dropped off the car, we walked inside then took the elevators to the ground transportation area. There were cabs lined up out there, and there was a section to wait for Uber/Lyft. It’s pretty easy to get a ride from there. I think the cabs and rideshare companies are cashing in on the fact that there’s no more free shuttle to the port. 😉🤗

[HolySpearit]

13 minutes ago, willdra said:

Thank you so much! ♥️♥️

 

After we dropped off the car, we walked inside then took the elevators to the ground transportation area. There were cabs lined up out there, and there was a section to wait for Uber/Lyft. It’s pretty easy to get a ride from there. I think the cabs and rideshare companies are cashing in on the fact that there’s no more free shuttle to the port. 😉🤗

 

Beautiful thank you!!!!! They'll get my coins so I guess their scheme is working 😁

[pirate4me2]

On 6/24/2023 at 5:15 PM, willdra said:

As we drove into Miami the sky started to look angry. It was dark and ominous. The forecast was for scattered showers, and in FL that usually means they may pack a powerful punch, but they will pass thru quickly.

 

 

 

 

An hour later the sky cleared and all traces of rain were gone. It was about an hour drive to our hotel. We were staying at Hilton Miami. We got there and went to the guest parking garage. It was confusing as to how to get into the Hilton from there. Signs said it was on Deck 7, but it was hard to navigate. We ended up parking on 6, then taking the elevator (and some shady stairs) to 7.

 

We walked out and we found a path on the side-ish of the hotel. Not really a walkway, but it sorta was. And It was raining. Ick. The spot that we were in really looked like it used to be the entrance years ago and they moved it. They also never bothered to change the signs and directions. Brilliant. We walked in thru the first door that we found, and it was actually where the ballrooms were. What the mess? Once in there we really couldn’t figure out where to go. There was a set of elevators, but that wasn’t really helpful, cuz there was no indication as to where the elevators went. Then there was a sign that said "walk around the corner for another set of elevators". Huh? Why is this so hard Hilton? We walked around the corner and figured out where we needed to be. We stepped out of those elevators, and voila. People! I was so glad to see people cuz I was starting to think that we were in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. Not ideal.

 

 

 

 

 

HAHAHAHA your description if this hotel and its wonky entrance brought back my memories from our time there earlier this year. I was so lost after a long travel day trying to figure out where to go. 

[willdra]

On 7/14/2023 at 12:48 PM, pirate4me2 said:

HAHAHAHA your description if this hotel and its wonky entrance brought back my memories from our time there earlier this year. I was so lost after a long travel day trying to figure out where to go. 

So glad to know it wasn’t just us! 🤣😂

[Indiansbaseball]

So another quick question about the hotel. It’s highly recommended here in the FL departures section. What did you really think of the hotel. We are only staying one night but my Canadian BFFs are staying two post cruise. How is the walking to shopping and restaurants situation. I know you said you walked through a homeless people section, but I’m wondering if there are walkable places and do you recommend? 
Please and thank you 😊 

Jen 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:28 PM, willdra said:

My alarm was set for 4 am. Is Jesus even up then? Go time was 5 am. I actually woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm. I slept ok, but I was dreading the drive, and I wanted to make sure that we left on time.

see, we used to do this when we traveled to the port on the day of the cruise, and as a result I got a stress induced migraine for all of our cruises.

 

Now I say - $200 hotel room is totally worth it so I could fully enjoy the entire 7 day cruise instead of being incapacitated by a migraine for the first 2-3 days of it. Add to that the unpredictable nature of Atlanta traffic, storms and airline cancellations, and we have become total fans of traveling to the port the day before. However, we fly in the afternoon so we don't have to get up with the racoons and I can even finish packing in the morning, and the kiddo is not missing most of the school day.

 

Thank you for your review (I am still reading it, but I had to tell you how much I am enjoying it)! We'll be on the Horizon next year - our first time with Carnival.

[willdra]

On 7/16/2023 at 11:44 AM, Indiansbaseball said:

So another quick question about the hotel. It’s highly recommended here in the FL departures section. What did you really think of the hotel. We are only staying one night but my Canadian BFFs are staying two post cruise. How is the walking to shopping and restaurants situation. I know you said you walked through a homeless people section, but I’m wondering if there are walkable places and do you recommend? 
Please and thank you 😊 

Jen 

Overall (excluding the exploding water pipes, The Shining vibes from getting lost trying to find the entrance, and the Tower of Terror elevators) it was a nice hotel. It’s not new but new-ish.

 

Would I stay there again? Absolutely not. I paid for them to scald me then hold me hostage once. Dats it. 
 

As far as I recall, Bayside Market was the closest shopping to it other than the Publix. I wouldn’t recommend walking tho. There’s construction going on down there (at least there was last month) so it would be a dicey walk. 🤗🤗🤗
 

 

 

 

[willdra]

12 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

see, we used to do this when we traveled to the port on the day of the cruise, and as a result I got a stress induced migraine for all of our cruises.

 

Now I say - $200 hotel room is totally worth it so I could fully enjoy the entire 7 day cruise instead of being incapacitated by a migraine for the first 2-3 days of it. Add to that the unpredictable nature of Atlanta traffic, storms and airline cancellations, and we have become total fans of traveling to the port the day before. However, we fly in the afternoon so we don't have to get up with the racoons and I can even finish packing in the morning, and the kiddo is not missing most of the school day.

 

Thank you for your review (I am still reading it, but I had to tell you how much I am enjoying it)! We'll be on the Horizon next year - our first time with Carnival.

 

Yessss!!! Money is no object when it comes to my mental health. Before we started leaving the day before I would behave like a rabid honey badger on travel/cruise day if the slightest inconvenience happened.

 

Then one day I realized I was “still have a pension plan” grown grown, and decided we would always leave at least a day before. I’ve never looked back. Life is so much better on the leave early side. 😍😍

 

P.S. Welcome to Carnival! ❤️🛳️🛳️♥️

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 6/29/2023 at 11:49 PM, willdra said:

I've had those same 2 pairs of sunglasses for at least 15 years.

h-how is this possible? I live in sunglasses (awful photophobia), and I have at least 10 pairs on any given day. They get scratched, they break, they get so worn out or bent out of shape they get retired, etc. They rarely get lost, unless "lost somewhere in the house" counts.

[Kanyon71]

Excellent review as always. 👏

[MistyRo76]

On 7/4/2023 at 6:17 PM, willdra said:

I had a reservation for Build A Bear in Camp Ocean at 5. I walked down there from Serenity. They let us in around 5:03. The Camp Ocean crew member asked everyone if they had a reservation. Some did not have one, but it was ok. They let them in anyway. It was the cutest activity and I was glad that I did it. This was my first time doing Build A Bear. First we sat down and they explained the process. We picked the heart first. There’s some stuff that we had to do with the heart  to make sure our bears would have a good life. After that we were ready to pick out our bear (they have other animals too). Next we picked out the clothes and accessories. Then we handed it over to get stuffed,  making sure that we didn’t  forget to give them the heart cuz that’s important. They sew it up next. Once the bear was stitched back up and dressed, we went back out to the front to pay. It was $29 for just the bear. The clothes that I looked at ranged from $6 to $10. I spent $49 total. I didn’t like the T shirt that I got, but that was all they had that would work. I planned to get a different one at the Build A Bear at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're taking our soon to be 9 year old daughter on a cruise in October and I know she would love to do Build-A-Bear! She is a stuffed animal fanatic...probably has close to 200 of them! Were you able to reserve this online before your cruise or did you have to book it once onboard? 

[CoasterGuy]

Nice review Wildra thank you. Just booked Horizon for next March. 

[willdra]

3 hours ago, CoasterGuy said:

Nice review Wildra thank you. Just booked Horizon for next March. 

Thank you and have fun on the Horizon! ♥️♥️