Disappointed in this cruise

Carnival Horizon Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

bryanbarnes

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 45

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5

8 Night Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 27, 2019

Ship: Carnival Horizon

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Terrible food! The spa was wonderful, the game show and comedy was great. The pool side movies were a nice treat but the projection of them had problems. Kids in the Adult pools caused over crowding and regular pools were over crowded. Ship seemed over booked for comfort.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Great getting on but too long of a time before we could get into the stateroom. Crew very polite!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Buffets were very disappointing compared to previous cruises with other lines. Food temperature was not within the Time temperature zones. Main dining room needed to improve the flavor quality of the food. A larger portion of in flavorful food does not make the food better. Specialty dining rooms were much better but the additional cost was a deterrent . We tried three of them at dinner and two of specialty restaurants for lunch. The lunch ones at JJ and Guy’s BBQ were very disappointing. Overall food was poor with the exception of Fahrenheit .

Meridian Restaurant

1 out of 5

Waitstaff was very nice. The food was average with bland seasoning. The same food as steakhouse offered but steakhouse food better taste and quality. The dishes should have been the same in taste but were not the same quality. The quality and taste needs to be improved. The reservations system needs to be improved so you can reserve a table prior to 5:30 to select a table for the day.

Ji Ji Asian Kitchen

1 out of 5

I had lunch here. They got order wrong and very distracted absent waitstaff. I was disappointed with the food and service. I only had drink filled initially and no one refilled drink. The restaurant was no where near being crowded. No excuse for the poor service and mistakes in the order.

Shake Spot

5 out of 5

Wonderful shakes and coffee!!The staff super friendly and always helpful .

Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Best meal on the ship!!!All the service was excellent and food was wonderful.

Lido Marketplace

1 out of 5

Food was not flavorful and buffet was not varied from day to day.

Guy's Pig & Anchor BBQ Smokehouse Brewhouse

1 out of 5

I had lunch at Guys. Food was wrong temperature for safety and not as good as expected. Waitstaff were not helpful and friendly.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Pools crowded and very salty. Sky bike was fun but was broken for most of the cruise. Spa was great, just wish for more seminars without trying to sell products.

Cloud 9 Spa

5 out of 5

Everyone polite helpful and treated you royally. Very personable. Services high priced!

Beauty Salon

2 out of 5

Techs were nice but pushed buying products to hard. When you were not interested in purchase they became cold.

Tides Pool and whirlpools

1 out of 5

Crowded and too salty

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Stage show was good but mostly in Spanish and difficult to follow.

Carnival Seaside Theater

3 out of 5

Fair but projection of movie was having problems several times during the same movie.

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Youth activities were good for teens but hard for 14 yr old to fit in and join.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

All very polite and helpful. Very accommodating .They all worked hard to compensate for quality of food and the rocking of the ship.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Ship was kept very clean. The design was often difficult to maneuver . If you had above head directional signs this would be beneficial to finding the way around the ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Very clean and comfortable.

Ship tip

Learn the layout of ship to save time getting to activities.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida Did not visit port

Research to port transportation.

Thumbs Up 0

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5

Power snorkel food provided was only one choice and too spicy.

Thumbs Up 0

La Romana, Dominican Republic

1 out of 5

Rainy and unpleasant. Transportation to rain forest excursion and back was longer than activity.

Thumbs Up 0

Willemstad, Curacao

4 out of 5

Nice port, did power boat snorkel excursion. Food at port was wonderful!

Thumbs Up 1

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5

Catamaran and snorkel event was wonderful and the crew was wonderful.

Thumbs Up 3

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Very easy and pleasant.

2 Comments

Doggydad196422 5 years ago

You took a cruise in the middle of summer vacation when all the kids are out of school and the parents are taking their family on a trip. This time of year it is double to triple the young crowd and the unruliness is going to happen!thats why many of us book between February till mid June or transatlantic from August to October when there are hardly any young teens .

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

CruzeFan 5 years ago

Seems like cruising may not be for you. Most love it, but it’s not for everyone.

Thumbs Up 4

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Other reviews of this sailing

Everything was great!

Good vacation

S Caribbean on the Carnival Horizon 7/27/19