A Taste of Italy
Carnival Horizon Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 94
7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 15, 2018
Ship: Carnival Horizon
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 7416
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
There was a serious problem with returning to the ship in Cagliari, Sardinia. With several ships in there were 1000s of people trying to catch the required shuttle + zero organization = near riot. Carnival has changed out this port now. The options in Naples were so much that I wished we had an extra day there instead of Cagliari! Rome was fabulous!! As was Florence but there are several public transport to be aware of: shuttle to bus area of port (required and 5€) then get public bus tickets and take public bus to train station (1.30€) to get into Florence or Pisa on your own. So add that 1/2 hr+ to your timetable! The public bus back to Piazza Grande (Grande 4) will be packed!! The shuttle to downtown Marseille was 17€ but heard from other cruisers that there was a free city shuttle a short walk down the pier. We did a private tour to Aix-en-Provence and Cassis and loved it! The views overlooking Cassis are awe-inspiring!! Cassis (Cass-ee) is a beautiful marina village. You deserve a glass of some wine or drink outside in the pier !!Embarkation
This was the fastest embarkation process I’ve ever experienced!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate mainly in the dining room - the food was ok but not as good as it’s been on past cruises. We had breakfast mostly on the Lido and it was very good with many options. The coffee was so much better than in past cruises - thanks for that!!! The pizza is fantastic and Guy Fieri’s burgers weee really good too.
Onboard Activities
There were lots of activities to choose from and although I stayed away from the gym🙄 I did walk though and saw they had a nice setup, but much smaller than other cruises. My focus was mainly hot tubs after the 7-10 miles of walking that hubby and I did daily! They were not as hot as I like. But I liked the 24-hr library (with wine bar!!) because after standing in queue for a shuttle bus, having some downtime is nice!
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Our steward Marko was fantastic!! Our cabin was always prepared while we were out and he was very friendly. He was the best steward we’ve had over the past few cruises. Our MDR waitress/waiter were very nice and super friendly. They took good care of us ( and our wine which we cellared)!
It seemed we had to wait often when trying to get drinks except in the BBQ restaurant.
Ship Quality
It was very clean - it was the 3rd outing for the ship. I liked the layout especially where I didn’t have to walk through the casino to get places. I have asthma so that was a big plus. I wished for more of a promenade but it gets chopped up with new restaurants and tables. The one thing i missed was a front lounge with a view. The Serenity lounge was up top but no public lounge for watching the seas or ports.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin was bright with the lights on and dark (as I need it to be) when lights out. I like the idea of using pass card for lights - our hotels in Barcelona did the same. The bathroom was smaller than in past ships as was the closet space. Not exactly a deal breaker as we rarely are in our cabin except to sleep .
Ship tip
Get back from shore a little early if you want to get a lounge in Serenity
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We had an extra day here due to flights and walked around the city. We used the metro but my husband got snookered at the entrance gate by a couple who “helped” him. Instead they got his 10-card ticket and almost his wallet. Not in love with the city! Our experience with taxis was either fantastic (Barcelona City Taxi) or awful (regular black and yellow taxi). The regular taxi couldn’t find the port!! I had to give him directions!! But the parks up on Montjuic are very relaxing and a cool place to walk. The flowers were out and it smelled of lilacs Great views of the city and port from the castle. They are doing repairs at Park Guell so are limiting entry to 30 people at a time. I was done with queuing up so we just walked around.
The views from the top of the city were very nice, the buildings were pretty but I could have skipped this port. We weren’t in long enough to really go outside the city so just did a city tour so that was 1-hr. We took a city bus (PQ or PF) our to the city beach which was to be very nice but was covered in mounds of washed up straw. Not yet “prime season” so it wasn’t yet cleaned up. Still the water was clear and I can see this being a nice beach in the season.
I love this port!! So much to do it was hard to decide. Luckily I’ve been here before so I’m not hating myself for skipping Capri! We took a tour along the Amalfi coast, first stopping in Sorrento for a limoncello tasting. Basically a shop stop ( but ok - wish I had picked up the sandals I saw there). We then drove to Positano - my objective! It was beautiful but since we were a larger bus, we couldn’t go into the village which was a huge disappointment for me. We then had about an hour or so in Amalfi - which is a beautiful city on the coast. The dri e up through Ravello is vertigo-inducing!! If you want the views, sit on the right side. If you get vertigo sit on the left! Our final stop was Pompeii, and being near the end of the tourist run we had much less crowds. We only had 1 1/2 hrs here and there’s so much to see that we wished for more. Our guide at Pompeii was very informative! We made it back to the port with enough time to deal with the queues through security again. One shop owner started to sing Italian opera to entertain us!
I love Rome! We had a layover before the cruise here so got to see even more than if we just had this one day. So we spent more time at the Forum (hubby almost got pickpocketed by a teenager her - watch out!) and the Colosseum, but did get a chance to toss a coin into the Trevi fountain. We had gelato stops but not enough time for a relaxed lunch so we just waited. The Bocha del Veritas (Mouth of Truth) is opened only for a limited time, which I had forgotten from a past visit. It closes at 2 pm - we got there at 3 pm. Been here 4 times and I still have so much left to see!!
Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy
We loved Florence ! I had been here before so bee-lined to Mercato Centrale for my spices that I was running out of at home. Now loaded up we headed down the back way towards the Duomo and Santa Croce to see Galileo and Michelangelo. We crossed the Arno and walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the amazing views of the city. A nice lunch and we headed to Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Reppublica, David, more gelato (expect 10€ cones near the Piazza Republica and Duomo ) and a walk to Santa Maria Novella before catching the train back to Livorno.
This was a fun stop. We had a private tour with Fabrizio who was very animated and loved to talk about Provence. In Aix-en-Provence we walked the Cours Mirabeau on farmers market day and heard about Cezanne and the fountain histories. We had a little time for shopping and then headed to Cassis. Since it wasn’t windy, we could go up to the cape lookout over Cassis. Scary but beautiful! There were a group of rock climbers who had just scaled the promontory. The beach and village were gorgeous!
Disembarkation
Since we had an extra day in Barcelona we waited till 9 am. It was extremely smooth and fast. Very organized! We got in a taxi line and it took maybe 1/2 hr before we were on our way to the hotel, and this taxi driver knew where it was😊