Overall, a very nice cruise experience on a new ship. The extra day at sea at the end was a nice bonus to not feel that you're rushing off the after the last port of call.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
I'm never disappointed with cruise food. The Carnival Horizon, although sharing the same menus in the main dining rooms as all the other ships in the fleet, has some unique features including a new brew pub (Pig and Anchor) where they brew 4 types of their own beer and serve good bbq for free during lunch, Sushi/Teppanyaki, Homestyle Italian, and Asian. The main buffet on Lido was typical - not spectacular, but very acceptable.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Carnival Horizon has some nice new activities like a Jungle Jim, and a Skyride (hanging bicycle like ride around the perimeter of the whole back of the ship). No more full mini-putt course though, and I found the pools quite small and with only two publicly available (the Havana pool was reserved for a certain group of guests until 7pm), they were crowded. The fitness centre was part of the spa - not that easy to find.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The Playlist Production shows where well done, with live musicians. There was something on every night. Didn't partake in the comedy shows, but I heard they were good too.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Generally speaking, the staff went out of their way to make us happy. This time round, we had a better affinity with the dining room staff than anyone else.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Brand new ship. Nothing to complain about there.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Pleasantly surprised by what the "deluxe" turned out to represent. Our cabin had an extra room next to the toilet, with another tub/shower and sink. Great for larger groups (>2) that want to have more than one person showering at the same time.
Nice beach, but there's not much else to do around the port area. You need to book an excursion if you want to do anything else in this port. We just treated this as a beach day.
This port really impresses me, and it's already the second time here. Great, walkable old city with cobblestone streets, plenty of history, and lots of independent tours/cabs around if you want to see more of the city or island. We paid $90 for a 2-3 hr private tour around the new and old city.
First time to this island, so we decided to take a private tour. Also $90 and we first went northwest to Old Road Town check out the old plantations, rum production facility from the colonial days, and a taste of the rain forest in the Central Forest Reserve National Park, before heading southeast (towards the skinny part of the island) to see the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean in one shot. Dropped off at the Carambola Beach Club where we spend a few hours on the beach before being picked up and headed back to the ship.
This port was very hyped up by all the shopper people on board. We decided to take a tour instead since it was our first visit. Linked up with 5 other people to make a group of eight and the round-the-island tour ended up costing us $25/pp. The tour was so-so; the driver's english was poor (he was from Haiti), and it was quite remarkable how devastated the island still is even 2 years after Irma. The French side in particular was quite behind in the rebuild. Downtown Margot didn't impress. We were dropped off in downtown Philipsburg, and spent a bit of time on the nice beach there before heading back to the ship.
We had to get off the ship fairly early, yet we were still able to enjoy a nice breakfast and the process was quite smooth getting out of the terminal.
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