New ship, same old Carnival.

Carnival Horizon Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

brianh57

Contributor Level: Second Mate

28 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 152

Overall rating:

2.9 out of 5

Verified Review

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 13, 2018

Ship: Carnival Horizon

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8461

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

I really expected more from this cruise. I knew that Carnival tends to do it on the cheap but would have thought more effort would have been made with a new ship. They seemed to deliberately guide us to the pay restaurants at the expense of the main dining areas. Entertainment was very average, except for Chris, the Cruise director. If only his enthusiasm could be followed by the rest of the staff and crew. It was very strange that on a new ship we all had to keep away from one side of the ship on a sea day because of the severe paint fumes spreading though.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Arranged Carnival pick up from LGA, eventually stuffed into a GO shuttle and spent 1 1/2 hours going around the hotels first.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Food was very average, rarely hot even in the pay eateries. Service very poor, tables not cleared in buffet.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

The i max was pay per view, trivia was weak, cabin TV was useless unless you want CNN. The World Cup finals were only shown on FS1 in the sports bar. No main games as they don’t have Fox HD on their system.,

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Some staff tried hard but there was ageneral feeling of “Near enough is close enough”. The embarrassing musical skits the dining room staff were forced to perform could have been better utilized by getting the food to the tables still warm.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Considering this was a new ship, the bathrooms were never looking that way. Lots of trays, plates with food and drinks containers laying around all over the ship. The elevator system should work but never seemed to do it quickly. Only the Atrium was impressive, the rest was not as good as many older ships.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

Ports of call

New York, New York

2 out of 5

Good that the ship is relocating shortly, the terminal is hopeless. Diembarking with your bags means having to leave the terminal and cross a very busy NY city road to get to a taxi rank.

Thumbs Up 3

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5

Not much to see but the beach with the provided loungers and umbrellas was nice.

Thumbs Up 2

San Juan, Puerto Rico

4 out of 5

Would have been better if another ship was not in port. Very crowded around the port and the fort area.

Thumbs Up 1

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Traveler Photos

8 Comments

Crazycruiser962 6 years ago

Never experienced what you are saying, so not paying attention to your comments! I don’t think a billion dollar ship or whatever they cost now is cheap!

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garygoods 6 years ago

Was that in the MDR?I have nothing but pleasant servers for dinner. They go out of their way to make sure you have everything and know your names by the second day

Thumbs Up 0

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MrsCooper2 6 years ago

I thought the food was really good except the market place I didn't care for like you said the staff didn't have a good personality they was rude and barley wanted to take a order from you that I didn't like

Thumbs Up 0

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garygoods 6 years ago

I am not sure I understand the comment about someone deliberately guiding you to pay restaurants. I have never seen that once and we have been on 7 cruises. They could not wait for us to come back next day to the MDR. After 1 day they knew everything we wanted or needed

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Frogboo95 6 years ago

Others on same Cruise said it was Fantastic... Sounds like last year when people whined about the Vista... We were worried... Turns out...it was them... Vista was Fantastic... I'm looking forward to Horizon this November...95% say it was Fantastic as well...

Thumbs Up 3

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debbiew57 6 years ago

We were on the Horizon in Spain (April 22...3rd sailing)...we loved the Horizon...great staff... everything was clean...food was good...our CD was Mike Pack.... he was awesome!!! So much energy and spent time meeting and greeting everyone!! We are sailing next May on the Horizon again... The only complaint we had was the shows in the main lounge ... were not as good as others we have seen.... This was our 17th Carnival cruise.

Thumbs Up 0

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garygoods 6 years ago

Someone I know just got off and told me the opposite. They said I am going to love it. Did not really have 1 bad thing to report except being back home

Thumbs Up 3

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kimmydee 6 years ago

I thought it was just me. I took the cruise when it was in Spain and was very disappointed. It was my 10th cruise. I was told to try it when I got back to the states. The atmosphere was very unlike any other carnival ship I have been on. Even the spa was not as good as in the Breeze or the Dream.

Thumbs Up 1

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Carnival Horizon - June 13-21, 2018