While cruising remains one of the most cost-effective vacations, they are getting less and less so. Likewise, bigger is not better. In our case the recent cruise on the Carnival Horizon was the second worst cruise we have experienced. The crew was rude, the arrangement of the cabin was not well thought out, and the service is far less that we have come to expect from Carnival.
We are not new to cruising – we are gold Carnival members with 9 carnival cruises, one Royal Caribbean, and one Costa under our belts. Carnival awards customers based on the total number of cruise-days and type of cabin that a customer sets sail on a Carnival cruise. It does NOT Include cruise-days on their sister ships like Costa. You can identify fellow passengers and the number of cruises they have been on based on the color of their Sail-and-Sign card: Blue – First Cruises; Red – 2nd cruise up to 24 cruise days; Gold – 25 to 74; Platinum (silver) – 75 to 199 cruise days; and Diamond (white) – 200+ cruise days.
We no longer feel like "guest" but more like sheep being led to the "money pit" that Carnival created to appease stockholders or Executives.
The Horizon is Carnival’s largest ship – at the present – and it calls Miami its home port – at the present. The Horizon is 1,055 feet in length or the length of over 3 football fields; it has 1,450 crew members onboard and can carry 3,974 passengers. It boasts two water slides, a water park, SkyRider, SkyCourse (suspended rope course), and more.
On the Horizon they introduced a new elevator system. We were told you choose your floor and it assigns you your elevator. Once on you cannot select a deck and it is supposed to go directly to the deck you selected. Not true - they stop on multiple decks to let people on and off along the way. In addition, all the elevators are smaller, even though they apparently increased the actual number of elevators.
The Horizon fell far short of that standard. First – the crew. For the most part the crew was rude and inattentive to the needs of the passengers. For example, on past cruises there have been beverage waiters/waitress' walking around on the Lido deck asking passengers if they wanted something to drink.
Since we have been on several Carnival cruises, we thought we knew what to expect in the way of accommodations and services. The Horizon fell far short of that standard. First – the crew. For the most part the crew was rude and inattentive to the needs of the passengers. For example, on past cruises there have been beverage waiters/waitress' walking around on the Lido deck asking passengers if they wanted something to drink. On this cruise, they were either notability absent or few and far between. This meant that it was difficult, if not impossible, to order a drink without moving from your lounge chair or favorite seat. When you did leave your lounge chair and go to one of the bars to get a soft drink, you were ignored or treated abruptly by the bar tenders, and upon return to your lounge chair or seat found it was taken by someone else. Often, we had to wait 5-10 minutes just to get someone at the bar to ask what we wanted to drink.
Other staff members on the ship were also rude, including the customer service people. On one occasion, we over heard the customer service representative tell a guest who was disputing a charge, “Sir, you have already disputed a number of charges already on this cruise” to which the guest said, “Yes, and I will continue to do so until you get the charges right.” There were a lot of incorrect charges posted to guest accounts. They had us order a drink from 5 Aft when we were on the Lido deck watching a movie. In all fairness, they did correct the charges, but it was not “with a smile.” There was a notable exception and that was our team waiter during sit-down dinning.
For breakfast on other Carnival cruises, we have been able to order overnight breakfast, and have it delivered to the cabin. The order could consist of virtually anything that would be available from the breakfast buffet including eggs cooked to order and the delivery was free. On the Horizon, you can only order breakfast sandwiches for breakfast at an ala cart price and there is a $5.00 cabin service fee.
Likewise, you can no longer order a pizza, and have it delivered to your cabin for free. What Pizza Hut chares $2.50 for delivery back home, Horizon charges a $5.00 delivery fee for the pizza.
FOOD
One of the best parts of this cruise was the food. We have to say, Carnival did an excellent job on preparing the food, selecting a variety, and serving it warm. Guy’s Burger Joint is usually one of the highlights of the trip, but we are not sure what happened on this cruise. The first time the burgers were great; the second time, however, they were overdone. Another place was the JiJi Asian Kitchen restaurant. During lunch it is complimentary and during the evening it costs $15.00. For lunch, you select one or more meats, noodles, one of more vegetables, rice, and sauces and they prepare a stir fry that is great.
Guy’s Pig and Anchor Brewhouse works like the Chinese place did, $15.00 for dinner; lunch complimentary. In this case, however, lunch was a disappointment. The BBQ just did not have the flavor. One notable exception was the potato salad – it was great!!
There is also Cusina Del Capitao, an Italian restaurant offers a complimentary lunch time pasta meal while the evening there is an ala cart charge for the meal.
The Blueiguana Cantina offers a fantastic selection of Mexican dishes including a made to order taco salad with a bread bowl that is so light and fluffy it is a meal unto itself. The burritos are also made to order plus you have a topping bar that you can add different toppings to your burrito or taco.
The Blueiguana Cantina offers a fantastic selection of Mexican dishes including a made to order taco salad with a bread bowl that is so light and fluffy it is a meal unto itself. The burritos are also made to order plus you have a topping bar that you can add different toppings to your burrito or taco. This place is often overlooked for breakfast as they serve a great breakfast burrito as well. This is inclusive of the cruise. Tucked into the corner of the Lido Restaurant (buffet) dining area there is also the The Carnival Deli, Fresh Creations (salad bar) and more. There is also an excellent salad bar on the Serenity deck which is reserved to adults only.
We did noticed that Carnival offered a dinning package where you could choose Fahrenheit 555 (steak and sea food) or Bonsai Teppanyaki (Asian) plus two other paid restaurants for $60.00 but no one really pushed it and we didn’t see or hear about it until more than half way through the cruise. They also offer a Japanese Style eating experience but the seating a very limited and reservations need to be made early on the cruise. In addition, there is Bonsai Sushi, the Seafood Shack, and Chef’s Table all at an additional cost.
DIVEIN
Movie on the deck. One of the great features for carnival. Saw Coco, Crazy Rich Asians, Aquaman and others. You lay out on lounge chairs, grab a blanket, grab some popcorn, and sit back and enjoy. The Horizon also have a Centaplex IMAX for an extra charge. More recent movies are shown, like Capt. Marvel, Dumbo along with some documentaries at the IMAX.
CASINO
Another name for Robin Hood in reverse...steal from the poor and give to the rich...
As for the $3000-$4000 BINGO games. It’s a stretch of truth because it borders on a lie. What they don't tell you is you have to get a cover all with in the first 49 balls. If it takes more than that to call BINGO then the pot is reduced substantially. To get into the game you must pay between $20 and $40.
SHIP LAYOUT
This is one of the worst lay outs for a ship. Despite its size, the hallways are narrow. The buffet counters are in the middle with narrow spaces between tables and the passageways. The new elevator system is also smaller than previously even though there are more. The net result...nothing.
The individual destinations and excursions will have their own blog entry as they are not technically related to Carnival Cruises.
FINAL COMMENTS
(Additional comments concerning excursions and destinations will be added in the very near future)
We have come to expect higher standards from Carnival but sadly the atmosphere you get now is “give us your money and we will give you less value” which was a sentiment we heard over and over from gold members and platinum cruisers alike. There was almost always a line to customer service with no less than 5 and as many as 35 people. We no longer feel we are getting our money's worth and they don't care if you are happy or not. They have your money and you are a captive on board and your input is mute. Probably because they know that people want to cruise and will pay out their hard-earned dollars. Time will determine if greed has overtaken Carnival like so many other companies. We no longer feel like "guest" but more like sheep being led to the "money pit" that Carnival created to appease stockholders or Executives.
As the ships get bigger the cost to the consumer increases based on the premise that there is more to do on these larger ships. Which is true. But the consumer must decide if you want these waterslides, cliff climbing, surfing, ice skating, skyrides, etc. and pay for them, or you don't want to use them, and you get on the smaller ships and back to the basics.
RECOMMENDTIONS
The Horizon does not live up to the reputation of Carnival cruise lines and overall is so disappointing, it may not be worth sailing on Carnival ever again. It is a perfect example that bigger is not better. Unless you have some children that would enjoy the extracurricular activities at a premium price, then the Carnival Horizon is not on the top of the list to take a cruise on. Carnival needs to revamp the layout and send their crew to “How to deliver customer-service school.”