Carnival Horizon Southern Caribbean Cruise Review – Day 1: July 4, 2026

Miami Heat!

It’s hot, hot, hot in Miami and usually the pools – especially the Lido Pool – are packed for sail away. But many are hanging out inside where it’s a lot cooler. 

America 250 Free Coca-Cola

It’s America’s 250th birthday and Carnival is celebrating with… two free commemorative cans of Coca Cola!

Stateroom 11263 on Carnival Horizon

Stateroom 11263 is my assigned stateroom for this cruise, and it’s a standard interior located forward on Deck 11.

This block of staterooms is very close to the Lido pool and the Lido Marketplace buffet. In fact, just head down the hall and down one level, and you’re there! I’m not sure how the noise is going to be, but we shall see as the week goes on. There aren’t many staterooms in this particular area, so there shouldn’t be a lot of hallway traffic, but the Lido pool, where all the action is, is just a short distance away, as you can see in the deck plan below.

The room itself is your standard Carnival inside stateroom. It has enough space for your stuff and is just about two inches large enough to keep claustrophobia at bay. It does the trick if you’re sailing solo, but I would have a hard time in here with a second person. I’d have an even harder time with one of the interior staterooms that can hold up to four people. I just don’t see how people make that work with upper berths, but they definitely do.

This particular room only accommodates two guests, as it has the two twin beds that can be combined into a king. There are no upper berths and no sofa bed.

When it comes to power, don’t expect any outlets at the bedside. The only outlets in the room are at the desk: two USB-A outlets, two U.S. power outlets, and one U.K. power outlet. Other than that, nada. None.

The room also has a TV across from the bed, a cooler/fridge, adequate storage, and an in-room safe.

The bathroom itself is your standard Carnival bathroom, with a shower, shower curtain, toilet, and vanity. Dated? Yes. But this isn’t a new ship like the Excel-class ships, which have showers with glass doors and a more modern-looking bathroom.

A Stateroom… Surprise!

Another setback. Another line.

When the announcement was made at 1:15pm that staterooms were now available, I waited for the herds to subside in the elevator lobbies before heading up to Deck 11 from where I had been chilling on Deck 5. After about a half hour, I figured things would have calmed down enough.

Well, the lines for the elevators were still long, so it was up the stairs I went to find my stateroom.

When I got there, surprise! The keycards waiting in the door were not mine. They were for someone else.

I found a crew member, explained the situation, and he said I’d need to go to Guest Services. So, back down I went to Deck 3. And yes, another line. A long line. At 1:50pm.

I got in line for the Diamond/Platinum guests and waited it out. I finally got to see a Guest Services agent at 2:25pm, who sorted things out and printed me a new keycard.

So, back up to Deck 11…

Embarkation

For this trip, I took the Brightline from Boca Raton to Miami. So far, that has been the best part of the trip!

My 10am train left right on time and pulled into MiamiCentral Station in downtown Miami exactly as scheduled at 11am. From there, it was off the train, down the escalators, out front to grab my Uber, and I was dropped off at Terminal F at PortMiami at exactly 11:25am.

Now, normally, I’m not one to arrive this early. But with it being a holiday weekend and the City of Miami already warning about downtown traffic, I wasn’t going to chance taking a noon train that would get me there at 1pm when final boarding was set for 2:30pm. That’s a little too close for comfort on a holiday weekend, and my OCD would never allow me to book that train!

As everyone knows, when you arrive early, there are lines. Long lines. Today was no exception.

The only saving grace here at PortMiami today was that there were only… FOUR ships in port! That’s considered a slow day here. Joining Carnival Horizon were MSC World America, Norwegian Luna, and Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas. So yes, I knew exactly what I was getting into by arriving early, and it was everything I anticipated.

Outside the terminal, the line stretched the length of the building and, at first, it wasn’t moving at all. Eventually, they started letting people inside to begin the check-in process. Since the regular boarding line and the Priority line were about equal in length, I waited in the Priority line since I’m Platinum with Carnival.

Slowly, things started moving.

Once inside the terminal, the check-in stations were manned, but nobody was actually being checked in yet. It was another 10 minutes or so before they finally started the process. When I got to the check-in agent, there it was: oops… my reservation was flagged.

I couldn’t be checked in at the counter, so the agent and I had to go through security together. And, of course, because… Carnival… the drug-sniffing dog was led past all our carry-on bags for the sniff test before we could proceed. Nobody in my group had to do the perp walk!

After clearing security, I was escorted to Guest Services inside the terminal to “have a flag removed from my reservation.” When I asked what the flag was for, I was told it was because this was a last-minute reservation and had to go through some additional verification steps. This isn’t the first time that has happened to me with a last-minute reservation, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Next, it was on to boarding, where once again, all those people who had previously been ahead of me were now waiting in line. A long line.

All said and done, it took 70 minutes… SEVENTY… from the time I arrived at the terminal to the time I stepped foot on the ship. Even with my early arrival, that perhaps goes down as one of, if not THE, worst embarkation experiences out of all the cruises I’ve done.

And here’s where Carnival really needs to take a hard look at things.

If you compare the embarkation experience at Carnival’s Miami terminals to the experience at MSC’s stunning new terminal right down the street, it’s literally third world compared to the 22nd century. No embarkation should take 70 minutes. If MSC can get you from terminal to stateroom in 15 minutes or less, Carnival can too.

Once onboard, it was a quick stop at my muster station to check in, and then off to sit and wait for staterooms to be ready at 1:30pm.

A quick word about the muster: Carnival continues to do the electronic muster, where you simply show up at your assigned station, have your room key or boarding pass scanned, and you’re done. It’s then up to you whether or not you want to watch the safety video once you get to your stateroom.

As Jason noted in his Day 1 report from the Disney Destiny this week, Disney Cruise Line is still doing it the old-fashioned way. You gather at your muster station, listen to the safety spiel, and then, and only then, are you… “dismissed” to get on with your day.

I say it every time: while the pandemic may have introduced some wild things like face masks and one-way grocery store aisles, the one good thing that came out of it was cruise lines switching to electronic muster. Anyone who remembers suffering outside on deck, tripping over life vests in the sweltering heat, knows exactly what a welcome change this is!