One and done with Carnival
Carnival Horizon Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 16
8 Night Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: July 08, 2023
Ship: Carnival Horizon
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 2416
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 8 months ago
Review summary
We chose this cruise because we were not thrilled with our last Royal Caribbean cruise, and we loved the stops (we hadn't been to any of them before), plus we could put all five us in a room together for a reasonable cost. It was our first Carnival Cruise (we had done Princess and Royal Caribbean before). I might add the ship was HOT for 3 days. Like the AC was broken until we docked in Aruba. The first thing we did was take our passports to our room. The housekeeper was in there, and I showed her our tie-dyed envelope and asked if it was ok if I put it in the safe (we had a suite, so we could put our stuff in our room early). She said it was, so we did and left her alone. Later we went back to our room to put our stuff away. My husband went to put stuff in the safe and told me it was open and empty. In other words, no passport. I tracked down the housekeeper, and she told me she had informed our room steward that we had put them in there. We found him, and he told us that he thought they belonged to the people on the prior cruise. So at this point we are worried they might take them off the ship and give them to the port authorities. Our room steward tells us that he will have his supervisor retrieve them. Thirty minutes later he asks if we had gotten them yet. I said "no, your supervisor hasn't brought them." he said "the supervisor can't do that. You will have to go get them." So yes, we stood in line for an hour to retrieve our passports before the ship set sail to make sure we had them in hand. The next thing that happened was that first night. Our daughter had been at the kid's club thing (she is 12), and our son went to pick her up. My husband was sleeping, I Was in bed, and our other daughter was laying in her bed. We heard the kids come in. Then we heard the door open again. My son had stopped to put his stuff in the closet, but had not deadbolted the door yet. He said that he heard a click like the card reader, and a guy opened the door, looked around, and walked in. My son (who is 20) said "wrong room?" and the guy swore and turned around and left. We reported it the next morning to guest services. Later in the day, we were told that they had talked to the guy, and he was drunk and trying different rooms, and they had checked and our card reader had definitely rejected his card, so we must not have latched the door. Fine. I can buy that. BUT THEN, the next day after that, security was paging us overhead and tracking us down in the hallways. Security asked to speak with us. She wanted descriptions and times of exactly what happened. We called our son down since he witnessed it all. Also in the meantime, maintenance was taking our whole card reader apart and messing with it. Then security brings down a computer and has my son go through 500+ pictures to find the guy who did that. So what on earth happened between it was an accident and your reader rejected his card and all of this?! They called back and gave us two different stories about what happened, so the fact is that we still have no idea what allowed this man into our room. At this point, the smaller things (like waiting 45 minutes for a drink and when asking about it was only then informed they were missing one of the ingredients) became bigger than they would have been. The kids on the boat were out of control. We were in the Family Harbor area, and we loved the lounge. But, parents used it as a baby sitter. There were kids in there bullying others and swearing, and when asked where his parents were, he replied "they went to the IMAX movie and told me to stay here until they get back." He was maybe 10 at most. The kids were running up and down the hallways all hours of the day and night, and pounding on doors. We caught them on camera and threatened to turn them in to security, which got them to stop in our area, but I have heard it happened all over the ship.Embarkation
Embarkation was extremely easy and quick. We left our hotel on the shuttle at 1015am. At 1135am, we had boarded the ship, put our passports in the safe (we had early access to our room), completed our muster drill, and were sitting with food and drink in front of us.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was eh. Breakfast was terrible everywhere we went - the main restaurant, the buffet, and family harbor. Lunch was just ok. Pig and Anchor for lunch was DELICIOUS! The buffet had weird hours, and very limited variety. They had four sections, but they all had the same food. And it had a salad bar. The deli was decent, but it closed early and wasn't always available when listed. The pizza was very good, but we went to get gluten free pizza one night after a show and we were told they don't have it. Turns out the guy just didn't want to make it as they made it for my kids the next day. Dinner in the main dining room really was very good for the most part, as was our dining room staff. The magician added a fun component too. We had dinner one night at Fahrenheit 555. It was outstanding! My husband would tell you it is maybe the best steak dinner he has ever had anywhere. They also enjoyed the Sushi restaurant. Other cruises we have been on have bent over backwards to take care of dietary issues for my husband and kids. They would bring menus for the next night and talk about what they want so they can make sure to have it gluten free. They would make things fresh so they could participate. Over and over again on this trip we were told "You can't have that" or "sorry, pick something else" or "nope, we can't help you."
Onboard Activities
The kids enjoyed putt putt and the soccer-pool game. They also played a lot of ping pong. The swimming pools on the ship were mostly unusable. If you didn't get in line right away for the other things (like water slides, Skyride, etc), you were waiting a long time. And they did not open on time. They would start inspecting like 5 or 10 minutes after they were supposed to be open. They did not get to try the ropes course since it was usually shut down. My 12 year old hated the "Circle C" lounge. She went for a couple of hours one night and never went back. We did not attend the parties. The shows were very good. The comedy shows we attended (and we only went to one family and one adult) were just ok. The game shows were fun.
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Service was mostly decent. We enjoyed our dining room wait staff. The family harbor staff were all wonderful. Bar service was hit or miss. The main bar in the center of the ship on deck 3, the servers were all wonderful. In the Liquid Lounge, they were also wonderful. We enjoyed spending a lot of time at the bar at Pig and Anchor, and the bartenders there we so fun. We had heard great things about the alchemy bar. Twice we tried to get service, but they were only interested in serving the people already sitting there who already had drinks. That was a huge turn off. We did eventually get a drink from there and it was fine, but we weren't wasting our time.
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
We were in family harbor suite with a cove balcony. The room itself was fine. It was comfortable enough for the 5 of us (three adults - me, my husband, our 20 year old son, and 17 and 12 year old daughters). The only complaint about that is the bed being up against the wall enough that I would have to crawl on and off the foot of the bed instead of walking beside it. There were two bathrooms, though only one had a toilet. It was nice to have the second shower/sink/changing area with the 5 of us. Our room steward was always friendly and kind.
The bad about the cabin: the location was terrible. Besides the kids rampaging, it was SO loud. On the deck plans, it didn't say what was above us. The answer is the kitchen. So carts were rolling, things were dropping, people were walking constantly. It was somewhat quiet between 130am and 5am and that is it. People would let their balcony doors slam and it would shake the whole bed. We really did not sleep all week because of it. I would never again book a cabin where I don't just have cabins above me. I have never been on a ship with so much clanging and banging. And finally, there was a severe lack of outlets, and none were convenient for the bed (for charging items at night or running a cpap). Fortunately we knew this would be an issue on here, so we came prepared, but it was still a pain.
Ports of call
Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic
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