January 2025
We were on the Horizon from Port of Miami in 2020, and you can find additional ship information in my previous post .
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| View of Carnival ships at Port of Miami from bridge sidewalk |
Arrival and diamond check-in ~ Miami
We walked to the cruise port from the InterContinental, which was farther than we usually walk to a cruise port (just under 2 miles). The walk was pretty easy, although there is a small section when you first get to the port area after crossing the bridge where there is no sidewalk. Traffic is slow, so this did not present too much of a problem. We had planned to take the Coral Way trolley to the port, and then decided it would be easier to walk with our luggage, than it would be to load it on and off the trolley while hoping to have enough room for it.
We did not receive diamond status before boarding this ship, because our Carnival Glory cruise credit from two days before this cruise, had not posted to our accounts yet. I left a voice message and an email with our PVP to inquire about this, and she never responded. Needless to say, we are longer working with her. We worked directly with the diamond desk after this cruise (more information about that experience at the end of this post). The cruise port was packed before we boarded, and we again had difficulty maneuvering through the crowds of people to board when it was our time, just like previous Miami port experiences.
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| Cabin 9201, category 4J, on Carnival Horizon |
Interior picture window cabin 9201 category 4J
We think the front walkway cabins on Carnival cruise ships are a great value. Every cabin we have been in is spacious, and they have a large window. The only thing we missed was a second chair, or loveseat type seating for two. Not many people walked by on the front walkway in front of our window. You can only see through the widow to the inside when it is dark out, and the cabin lights are on. Additional photos for this cabin category (#9203) can be found in my previous Horizon post (link above).
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| Cabin 9206, category JS (junior suite), on Carnival Horizon |
Junior suite obstructed view 9206
We booked a suite for the second leg of our back-to-back cruise, so we we had to change rooms. We packed everything up, and our room stewed pushed our bags down the hall to our new cabin, after it was ready. This was our first time booking a suite, and we loved it! It was a bit pricey, but we had a 25% on board credit, after our 25th cruise, that we used. This was enough to cover our gratuities, drinks, speciality dining, and a few purchases.
I neglected to get photos of the bathroom and closet area in our suite. This cabin has a large walk in closet by the entrance with a full length mirror. The bathroom has a whirlpool tub/shower combination, and a large vanity with a double sink. The suite also comes with two bottles of water.
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| Above: view from balcony of cabin 9206 on Carnival Horizon Below: 9206 balcony and wetness after bridge window cleaning |
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| Bread in Cucina Del Capitano on Carnival Horizon |
Food and beverages ~ specialty dining
We dined in Cucina Del Capitano for dinner the first evening. Lunch dining in this restaurant is included with the cruise, and there is an extra charge for dinner. The food was good, and the complimentary red wine was acceptable, although I do not think I would pay to dine in this restaurant again. It is definitely a great place to visit for lunch with no extra charge.
A few days after our meal, we discovered there had been an incident with my complimentary VIFP bottle of water. When we sat down for dinner, our server asked if we wanted still or sparkling water. We chose still water. She then filled our glasses from a bottle of water and left it on the table. We thought this was odd, and mistakenly assumed that type of water is included in this restaurant. We left the bottle on the table when we departed. When I tried to get my complimentary bottle of water a few days later, I was told I had already gotten it. After inquiring at two different bars, and at guest services, we finally figured out that the bottle of water used to fill our glasses at dinner had been considered my bottle of water! So, if I had been a guest who did not receive a complimentary bottle, I assume the charge would have been on the bill at the end, along with an extra gratuity charge. I thought that was pretty devious. Staff did end up correcting this; however, not until after guest services sent a note to the restaurant, and they replied conceding that they had not told us what was happening.
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| Chef's Table on Carnival Horizon |
Another first experience for us was the Chef's Table. A gift from our son! We had a private table for 15 in the galley area where we could see the food being prepared. The food was amazing, although I did not think the wines were better quality than the other speciality restaurants. I guess I expected the best beverages to match the best quality foods.
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| Chef's Table on Carnival Horizon |
Even though our reservation had been confirmed and paid for before the cruise, we did not get to have our dining experience on the day we wanted it. Apparently, not enough people had reserved the day we wanted, so we had to change to another day. We were not given any other option; just that we needed to change our day. We ended up having to go the day we had also booked the brewery tour, which made things a bit inconvenient for us. I was not impressed with the way this situation was handled, especially considering the high cost for this meal experience.
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| Beverage menu and smoked salmon on Carnival Horizon |
I have shared a couple of miscellaneous photos above. Most of the included dining experiences were similar to our last Horizon cruise, and you can find more information via the link at the start of this post.
Currently, if you are interested in the brewery tour, it needs to be booked in the brewery or via the app after boarding. We booked it on the app, and thoroughly it. I highly recommend this tour.
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Above: animal day at the main pool on Carnival Horizon Below: view of Ocho Rios from peaceful serenity deck while in port |
Pool and outside areas
We did not spend much time at the main pool, other than one port day when margarita pitchers were on special--yumm! We enjoyed peaceful serenity deck on another port day. The loungers on serenity deck are more comfortable than the clamshells, and on port days this area is often uncrowded. There is also plenty of comfortable outside seating on deck 5, such as tables with umbrellas.
We walked the track just about every day on deck 12. The ropes course and mini-golf were easy to find open; however, the sky course was often closed. This was closed on every port day, and it also closed on windy sea days.
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| VIFP Welcome Treats |
Diamond and platinum perks
The VIFP gifts that we picked up at pixels were the same as what we had received on Carnival Glory, a blue Carnival baseball cap. We also picked up Horizon pins. We received an amazing cheese plate for one of our Welcome treats, and a chocolate plate for the other. We only requested one on each leg of the cruise, although we could have requested one each for each leg. The Carnival website now says to request this on day one or two of the sailing.
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| Crab cake at diamond luncheon on Carnival Horizon |
My husband and I both became diamond members on this cruise, and we had a bit of trouble receiving those perks. On the first leg of our B2B, we received platinum cards. We received diamond cards on the second leg; however, our status still said platinum on the printed paperwork. I did not have any success getting things corrected during one of my many visits to guest services (the first time I inquired our Glory cruise had not posted yet, although I did have those key cards and the printed boarding passes and confirmations). During one visit on the second cruise, I specifically inquired about the diamond party, and we then received an invitation to the luncheon, which was fabulous. We did not, however, receive a "welcome to diamond" letter at any time. After disembarking, I called the diamond desk, and learned we should have definitely received our letters while on the Horizon. After many years traveling with Carnival Cruise Lines, we were quite disappointed with our transition to diamond status. Although I was not crazy about wanting to cruise with Carnival again, we ended up booking two more cruises in order to receive two of our diamond perks: free room upgrade, and free speciality dining. It is now up to me to specifically contact Carnival before our next cruise, and trust that they will take care of making sure we get our diamond letter packets when we board again. We need the welcome packet letters to receive our free speciality dining perks. I do not understand why they cannot mail us this along with our luggage tags, which we also did not receive.
Back to back process
This was the first B2B cruise we have been on that had so many guests staying on--160, we were told! The dining room was quite full, and the process was unorganized and miserable. With so many guests needing to disembark and re-board, they should have handled the process exactly like they do in the terminal: guests needing assistance, diamond and suite guests, platinum, faster to the fun, etc. Instead, it was a free for all after the guests needing assistance were taken care of. Everyone stood to stand in line when instructed. After waiting more than five minutes, we began a long walk out to the terminal with several pauses along the way. Then, we stood in line at the bottom of the escalators before re-boarding for over 20 minutes! The entire process, from the time we stood to stand in line, until we re-boarded Carnival Horizon took 40 minutes. Exact timing of B2B process: 8:30 - 9:00 AM, meet in room; 10:30 AM, stand in line to disembark; 10:38 AM, line starts to move; 10:43 AM, standing in terminal; 11:09 AM, back on board. Our place in the line was about the half way point. I imagine the guests after us were standing even longer, since everyone had stood up at the same time when instructed. Our son, who was waiting in the terminal, and has platinum status, said that before he boarded, he was in a private room in the terminal with hardly no other guests. He was on board about the same time that we finished our B2B process.
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| Above: view from Carnival Horizon cabin 9201 Below: one of the stairway mural photos on Carnival Horizon |
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