Put a fork in this cruise, it’s done! The final day aboard the Carnival Horizon is being spent at sea as we head back to Port Miami after six days sailing around the western Caribbean, making stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico.
As I do in my last-day reports, I’ll give an overall review and point out what I liked and what I didn’t, but I’ll give you a little spoiler—there wasn’t anything I was really disappointed with this time around that would make me say, “never again!”
While I’ve been on the ship before, along with its sister, Carnival Vista, I pretty much knew what to expect, where things are, and the quirks of the vessel, such as dead ends or stairways that lead to nowhere.
The Vista-class isn’t my favorite class of ships in the Carnival fleet, and that comes down to a simple design/architectural element—the ship’s atrium, or lobby. The three-story atrium is the hub of the ship, where you’ll find guest services and two levels of shopping and dining, all centered around a bar and lounge on Deck 3.
In my mind, when you walk onto a ship, first impressions count. When you walk onto a Vista-class vessel for the first time, you walk right into this area with a centerpiece “funnel” with ever-changing scenes on LED screens.
That’s about it.
The atrium is awash in white. There’s nothing special in the design or decor (except the current Christmas and Hanukkah decorations) and, in my opinion, is very sterile. When you walk in, there’s no “wow” factor—it’s more like the lobby of an office building. Sitting at the bar, I feel like I’m sitting in the front window of Macy’s with spotlights on me.
Compared to atriums on other Carnival ships, the Vista-class atriums just don’t impress.
Sea Day Brunch Menu
Since it’s a sea day, a special Sea Day Brunch was being served in the main dining room in place of breakfast. However, for those looking for traditional breakfast items, the buffet had the usual selection, along with breakfast burritos at Blue Iguana.
Sea Day Lunch Offerings
At lunchtime, quick-service spots were open: Guy’s Burger Joint, Blue Iguana for tacos and burritos, and the pizzeria. For those looking to get a last bit of seafood, such as lobster or crab, the Seafood Shack ($) was open, while the Italian restaurant served a create-your-own pasta bowl, and the Asian restaurant offered a Mongolian Wok lunch menu.
Diamond and Platinum Reunion
As is typical on the last day of a cruise, top-level loyalty program Carnival cruisers are treated to a little cocktail party. The Diamond and Platinum “Reunion” was held at noon in the ship’s main theater. We headed over and were treated to a few cocktails while one of the ship’s musical acts entertained before the cruise director introduced the Captain and the senior officers.
Also on the last day, a special show is put on by the cruise director and the crew called “The World Works Here,” where the many nationalities that work on the ship are recognized with a parade of flags and a goodbye song.
Christmas Holiday Show
The last production show of the cruise was the Holiday Show, led by the cruise director. This 30-minute show featured a special appearance by The Grinch, a few Christmas songs, and the kids and teens from the youth groups doing a little presentation.
Main Dining Room Dinner
Before I get into the overall review, a quick note about dinner. Tonight, we went to the main dining room for the last meal of the cruise to see how a regular dinner stood up to dinner on one of the Elegant Nights, which we tried earlier in the week.
We started out with some Frog Legs and Fried Green Tomatoes. Both were very bland and needed something… ANYTHING… to season them. The legs were soaked in an incredible amount of butter, which made them a greasy mess.
For entrées, I went with the New York Strip off the Steakhouse Selections section of the menu, which was a $23 upcharge, while my friend went with the steak off the regular menu. My steak was cooked to my preferred temperature, medium rare, and was flavorful, with the accompanying sauce.
The other steak wasn’t the same quality and was significantly smaller in size, as expected, but wasn’t bad.
I also went with a side of the Penne Mariscos, which featured a few pieces of seafood mixed in with the pasta and tomato cream sauce. It wasn’t bad either, but nothing to rave about.
For dessert, we both went with the final-night favorite—Baked Alaska—which was presented after the dining room team did their farewell show.
Ok, so it’s on to the summary!
Embarkation
For this trip, we took the Brightline train from Boca Raton to Miami, which is always an exceptional experience and avoids all the headaches that come with taking I-95 to the port and dealing with the traffic leading into the tunnel. After the one-hour train trip and a ten-minute Uber ride to the port, we were met with a cluster of people all checking in at the same time.
As indicated in the Day 1 report, this experience was not the best by a long shot. From the crowded terminal, long lines, and terminal staff not letting us into the Priority lane once we got through security (even though we had it), it was a bit of a mess.
Embarkation for Carnival Celebration, which also sails from Miami, is considerably more organized and faster than this was. I blame most of this on the aging infrastructure of Port Miami, which was not designed to accommodate the number of passengers cruise ships hold today.
Havana Interior Stateroom 5225
This cruise was a last-minute casino offer where I was given a guaranteed inside stateroom. This means that my cabin type and location were assigned based on availability and could be anything. My stateroom was not assigned until I got to the terminal, and I was surprised to find I had been given a room in the Havana section of the ship.
This Cuban-themed area is home to just a handful of staterooms that have upgraded decor, additional cabin amenities such as Elemis bath products, Havana-branded bathrobes, different pool towels, and access to the Havana pool and sundeck.
The room itself, number 5229, located on Deck 5 aft, had two twin beds that converted to a king, a cooler, safe, two closets, a large screen TV, a vanity/desk area, and limited power and USB outlets. On the vanity/desk, there were two USB ports, two US outlets, and one European outlet. There were no other power or USB outlets anywhere in the room, including bedside.
The bathroom was a standard layout with a toilet, small sink, and shower with a shower curtain.
Havana Stateroom 5229 Video Tour
The Havana pool area, where access is controlled by wristbands (though nobody seems to ever check them, even if you’re not wearing one), has a small pool and two hot tubs, along with sunbeds and loungers, which are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There’s also an outdoor bar, so you don’t have to go inside to grab a drink.
On sea days, like today, this area gets very crowded, and there are more people than available chairs, so unless you get there early to claim one, you’re kind of out of luck. However, it is a nice amenity to have as part of the whole Havana experience.
I did have a few issues with my room. First, the Havana Bar, which has a band that plays until 11:45 p.m. nearly every night, is right on the other side of the bed’s headboard. As I’ve noted several times during the week, when the band is playing, it’s like they’re in your room. Between the music and the thumping of the bass, if you’re an early-to-bed person, you’re going to be annoyed by this every night.
The other issue was with the doors. My main stateroom door would not lock unless you pushed on it hard from the inside or slammed it from the outside. We all know how much we “love” people who slam stateroom doors, but I had no choice in order to get it to lock. When I reported it and someone came to check it, I was told it was because “the ship is listing.”
The other door that didn’t close and lock properly was the bathroom door. It didn’t close all the way as it was not aligned properly, so it wouldn’t lock and would open and close with the ship’s movement.
The room’s location provided quick and easy access to the main decks of the ship, 4 and 5, but was five decks away from the Lido.
Stateroom service is only offered once per day on Carnival, as twice-daily service was eliminated post-pandemic.
Carnival Horizon Food
Carnival Horizon has several restaurants available besides the main dining room and Lido buffet. While it’s lacking some options that are on the larger Excel-class ships, it has Guy’s Burger Joint (burgers and fries), Blue Iguana (tacos and burritos), Pizzeria del Capitano, and Seafood Shack for quick service.
Specialty dining locations include the signature Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse, Bonsai Sushi, Bonsai Teppanyaki, Ji Ji Asian Kitchen, Pig & Anchor Smokehouse, and Cucina del Capitano.
The Lido buffet serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night snacks daily. The main dining room provides a limited breakfast menu, a Sea Day Brunch, and dinner each evening. Dinner is organized into traditional early or late seating, or you can choose anytime dining.
When it came to the Lido buffet, with the exception of breakfast, what was being offered for lunch and dinner was not visually appealing and oftentimes just looked like slop in trays. One day in passing, the carving station had a very sad, grayish leg of lamb that looked just horrible.
Guy’s Burger Joint, which people go absolutely crazy over, is one of those “love it or hate it” places. To me, it’s not a place I’m going to seek out to get a burger. We did stop there one day and got one, which was a grease overload accompanied by hand-cut fries that were the best part.
Another day, we hit up Blue Iguana for tacos. Well, Chipotle has nothing to worry about should Carnival choose to expand this concept as restaurants on land. The three chicken tacos I got were average at best on a tortilla that was very gritty.
Both Guy’s and Blue Iguana have topping bars where you can load up your burger or tacos with additional items. These are self-service and dirty as all get out, with slimy handles on the serving tongs and cross-contamination between toppings from guests who don’t know the basics of food hygiene.
If I had to rate the various restaurants, here’s how they would stack up:
- Main Dining Room (free) – **
- Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse Grill ($49 per person) – *****
- Cucina del Capitano (pasta free at lunchtime, $24 per person for dinner) – ***
- Ji Ji Asian Kitchen (Mongolian Wok free at lunchtime, $24 per person for dinner) – **
- Pizzeria del Capitano (free) – **
- Guy’s Burger Joint (free) – **
- Blue Iguana (free) – **
- Seafood Shack (à la carte) – Did not experience
- Pig & Anchor Smokehouse (lunch free on sea days, à la carte for dinner) – Did not experience
Carnival Horizon Fellow Passengers
While Carnival has that whole Fun Ship thing going on, cruises longer than 3 to 4 days aren’t necessarily the booze cruise many expect. For this trip, guests were mostly older—let’s peg it at 45+—and there weren’t many families onboard with small children. Considering it was a few days after Thanksgiving, many families were probably celebrating the holiday on the previous cruise and had to get the kids back to school.
There were a good number of passengers who fell into the 60+ category as well, along with several large groups traveling together to celebrate special occasions.
Despite going to Jamaica, there wasn’t the smell of weed anywhere around the ship, and no fights or incidents to report on. Sorry, social media.
Carnival Horizon Entertainment
Entertainment onboard was typical Carnival fare: stand-up comedians nightly, movies on the big screen at the Lido deck, a few in-house production shows, rotating musical acts in the atrium, and bands in Pig & Anchor and Havana Bar.
The production shows we did experience were not bad, although they weren’t great. All of the musical acts I experienced throughout the cruise, from the violinists to the bands, were excellent.
Since this was the start of the holiday cruise season, special Christmas events, such as a tree lighting, Santa meet-and-greet, and the holiday show, were also put on.
Carnival Horizon Service
Never once did I experience an issue with poor service. Sometimes you can tell if a bar, restaurant, or some other area is short on crew, but I didn’t notice any of that on this cruise.
The crew was always friendly, willing to assist, and happy to answer any questions.
Carnival Horizon Condition
I made a point to be on the lookout for signs that the ship was in need of some cosmetic work as I walked the various decks of the ship. Fortunately, I didn’t find anything that made me say, “Wow, look at that!” The ship is very well maintained and kept clean.
Carpet in some areas is stained and in need of replacement, mainly in stateroom corridors, but most of the public spaces were in very good condition.
However, none of the ship’s revolving doors leading to and from the outer decks ever worked. Some had a regular door next to them that you could use, others you just had to push your way through using brute strength, and some without a nearby regular door were simply roped off. Not sure what’s up with that, but to have every revolving door out of service was quite odd.
Debarkation
Carnival Horizon uses digital debarkation to organize and speed up guest departures. How this works is simple: you use the Carnival HUB app to select a time you want to disembark the ship and choose whether you’re going to carry your own luggage off or leave it out before bed for collection and pickup in the terminal the next morning.
Once your selection is made, all you need to do on debarkation morning is wait for the app to send you an alert letting you know it’s your time to proceed to the gangway.
We selected an 8:15 a.m. departure time, despite having Priority Debarkation as part of our Platinum Status. Since we had a 9:45 a.m. train, it wasn’t necessary to be in the priority group that exits the ship starting at 7:15 a.m.
Carrying our own luggage off, we got the alert that it was our time to debark at 8:10 a.m. Once at the gangway on Deck 3, the line was short, and we were off the ship in under five minutes, proving that this system works and makes what was always a disorganized mess, organized and orderly.
Once in the terminal, it was a quick smile at the iPad, which uses facial recognition to match you with your passport, and you’re good to go!
We got an Uber to take us to the Brightline station, which is 10 minutes away, and boarded our train on time, arriving in Boca Raton at 10:30 a.m.
All in all, debarkation was far more organized than embarkation.
Closing Notes
The Vista-class ships aren’t my favorite, and I wouldn’t go out of my way to book another trip on one of them, but that didn’t impact the overall cruise experience all that much. While the onboard amenities are fewer than the new Excel-class ships, Carnival Horizon still provided a good experience with plenty of things to do over the course of the six days.
The cruise lived up to my expectations for Carnival, including the food, as I don’t expect anything other than specialty dining to be even average. Each specialty dining restaurant we dined at proved that paying more does get you much better food and service.
My next cruise is going to be on Princess Cruises’ Enchanted Princess out of Fort Lauderdale from December 20–30, 2024, which I’m looking forward to, especially since it’s a Christmas cruise!
Thanks for following along on this adventure, and stay tuned for the next.
FunTimes for Day 6:
The Fun Times for December 6, 2024 can also be downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.