Will be sailing on this ship three more times this year as well as her sister ship, Carnival Vista, for Sailabration. Looking forward to seeing if anything improves.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation process was quick and efficient, limited only by how fast you can walk!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Buffet was sorely disappointing with variety as well as quality. MDR was mediocre, good food but nothing memorable, but the service was definitely top notch. The real hit was the specialty restaurants. We ate twice at the Steakhouse, twice at the Asian Kitchen, once at the Italian and once at the Sushi Restaurant. We were very pleased with all of them and decided if it were not for the we would have gone hungry! hehehehe
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
There are many activities available but most of which I did not participate in by choice and not by pleasure. I am a real people watcher so I enjoy watching more than the doing.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The Violin Trio and the Solo Guitar guy were great and fun to listen to. But the rest of the entertainment felt sub par and disappointing. I am a huge piano bar fan, and the piano bar on the Horizon missed the mark. Although he was a talented piano player, his singing and attempts at entertainment were not to our liking and we could hardly get our first drink down before we left and moved on to something else. Most of the theater shows were poorly attended and seemed to be low quality. The Comedians were in a much smaller venue and drew a full house all the time. We were never able to get there early enough to get a seat. Maybe they should put the comedians in the larger theater and the other entertainment in the smaller lounge. And many of the venue entertainers were low caliber.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Other than appearing to be short staffed for the amount of people on the ship, the staff was very friendly and service was top notch, once you got it. They just could not get to everyone fast enough.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship was clean and tidy, but seemed to be lacking in aesthetics and design, almost sterile looking. The Atrium seemed very small and crowded with oversized furniture that did not allow smooth flow for staff and guests alike. The general layout of the ship seemed to be tough to get used to, with some areas still being limited with a "can't get there from here" layout. The restrooms seemed to be randomly located and no intuitive as to where to find them. But I have noticed this to be an issue on most Carnival ships.
And then there were the elevators. This ship has the new "smart" elevators where you select the floor and people, and it tells you what car will arrive to achieve that goal. On embarkation day, it was chaotic confusion while people tried to figure out what to do and how to use these new elevators, with many people loading up to any available car only to find there were no buttons to select and they ended up riding all over until they got to the floor they wanted. Some cars had staff manning them with manual overrides to help get people where they needed to go. But after the first day, as people got used to how to use them, they actually became a very efficient way of moving people.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
My first interior cabin and I was very impressed with the amount of room available. Although I did miss having a view, the TV has external camera channels so you can still get that view. And having a dark room sure made for lot more sleeping than I am used to on a ship.
Ship tip
Learn to use the elevators properly and be sure to always have a floor plan on your phone (or use the one in the app) to help find your way.
Getting called to get off the ship seemed to take forever with the "carry your own baggage" not being any quicker than the tagged luggage as some of the later muster stations were called along with later tag numbers. BUT, once you get off the ship things seemed to move quickly. We did not get called to get off until nearly 10am! And the baggage area is a carousel system that seemed to move slowly. Once you found your luggage it took no time at all to get out of the building.
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