Carnival Horizon...DON"T DO IT!!!!

Item: Carnival Horizon
Rating: 3
Author: bclarkson

Carnival Horizon Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

bclarkson

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 23, 2019

Ship: Carnival Horizon

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11256

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Sper dissapointed with the overall experience. This ship is several steps down from Royal Carribean or Norwegian. I would not recommend it to anyone.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Got there early, was pretty smooth, some confusion about bags with porters at the curb.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

The buffet was terrible, the selection was poor and the food bland. Main dining was much of the same bland food, not a step up from the buffet at all. We did all of the speciality dining options. The highlight is the small sushi resturant next to the hibachi resturant. I saw several of the staff eating there the couple times we went so obbviously they know something. Food is great and cheap too. The chef who cooked for us at the Hibachi resturant was excellent although a giant scoop of butter in everything he cooked kind of spoilt an otherwise good evening. Guy's was dissapointing as was the Japanese place. The italian place was OK. The steakhouse was good not great. Overall the food was way below what we have experienced on the Royal Carribean Harmaony and the Norwegian Escape. I was really dissapointed. The specialty drink at the bars are terrible, all are made with syrup mixes that are super sweet. They have no clue how to make a mudslide. Cokes and other soft drinks are brought to you warm in a can with a glass of ice, I guess they don't have adequate refrigeration to store sodas.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Didn't have as many activities as the other ships.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

DJ's were terrible, had no clue how to mix music and entertain the crowd. The Glow party was a joke, Ive seen better on a weekend Bahamas paradise cruise. They should go on one and take a few pointers.

Children's Programs

4 out of 5

Kids said it was OK although the program seemed to lack variety and they didn't spend a huge amount of time there.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Service was OK, there definately seemed to be some servers around the main pool area that were more enthusiastic than others. Our Room steward was great though, always greeted us when he saw us.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

I was shocked. The ship looked dirty from the outside when I arrived and unfortunately it didn't end there. Railings were dirty and the floor around the bar areas in the pool were sticky and nasty. Several areas in the buffet has sticky and slippey floors. We entered the ship at deck 5, the main lobby area. I was super dissapointed, I even mention to my wife, this cant be the main area. The decor and main bar area were so plain, nothing special at all.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Cabin wasn't that clean, not sure if the turn around time was too short but there was garbage under the bed when we slid out suitcases under there and the carpet needed a vacumn. No coffee maker in the room, fridge barely kept a water cold. Pullman bed rattled all night long. Bed was pretty comfortable

Ship tip

Don't do it!!!!! Haing sailed on Norwegian Escape and Royal Carribean Harmony of the Seas the previous two cruise, I was super dissapointed with this one. It is several steps down from those two ships in all areas. I took this cruise becuase I had not done a Carnival since I was a kid and this was Cranival latest and greatest flagship so figured we would give it a try.

Thumbs up