My wife and I sailed on the Carnival Panorama on Feb 29th –Mar 7/8th (I will explain more on that later). We are experienced mass market cruisers having sailed on Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean previously. This was our 28th cruise. We are senior citizens. Those of you who have read my reviews before know that I might be politely described as picky. I can’t help it. I was born with the glass half empty gene. I know this is not a good way to go through life and I have tried to change, believe me, but I am stuck with my perfectionistic attention to detail. I try to counter this by bending over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt and see things from the other point of view. I usually fail. However, I am balanced by my wife who has a Mary Poppins optimism and sees the good in everything, even me. My wife and I do like cruises for the same reasons. We love being on the ship and enjoy the relaxation and variety of entertainment that it offers. We don’t care where it goes, as the ship is our destination. Since we live near the west coast, the majority of our cruises have been either to Mexico or Alaska. We don’t even get off at the ports in Mexico any more. We shop for bargains and typically cruise during the off season. The things that are important to me in choosing a cruise ship are food, stateroom, entertainment, service, general ambience and activities – pretty much in that order. That being said, the Panorama appealed to me because of two things. 1) It had a trampoline park on board ship – the first and only ship to do so. 2) It had a category of ocean view rooms that had 2 bathrooms or technically, a bath and a half. The half bath had no toilet and smaller square footage but it had its own sink and a 2/3 size bathtub (but deep) and shower combination. The full sized bathroom with a toilet had a standard shower. The last time I was on a trampoline I was 16 years old, 5’8” tall and weighed 135 lbs (maybe). I had fond memories of how much fun I had doing all kinds of gymnastic tricks on the trampoline: twists, flips, every manner of trick. The trampoline and I were one. Everything came natural to me. I looked forward to impressing my wife with my emergence from the couch potato she knows me as into an acrobatic marvel. The fact that I am now 73 years old, have shrunk about 2 inches and gained 85 lbs., not withstanding. As I started my warm up jumping, I noticed that the trampoline and I were no longer one. The bouncing felt awkward and alien to me. I tried a simple knee drop and was unable to bounce back up to my feet – and it hurt my knees and ankles. I bounced some more, I tried a seat drop and landed awkwardly to my right side and fell onto my right arm and shoulder. When I tried to get back up, I found I could no longer use my right arm to push myself back up and had to rely on my left (I am right handed). That ended my trampoline session. My wife, however, was impressed - WITH THE DEPTH OF MY STUPIDITY! For the rest of the cruise, I came to be known as Lefty as I was unable to raise my right arm very far and could not lift with it. But enough about me, onward with the ship. FOOD – A The food in the MDR was great. Not just good – great. I have cruised Carnival before. I am pretty much a meat and potatoes kind of guy. My favorite foods are steak, hamburgers and hot dogs and pizza and any kind of potato. I have the taste of your average 9 year old. According to my wife, also the mentality. The buffet had average buffet food. No better or worse than you receive on any other mass market cruise ship. On some Norwegian ships (not all), Celebrity and Royal Caribbean ships, I have experienced better than average buffets. Although the buffet on the Panorama was often crowded, never had a problem finding a table/seat. One below average thing about the buffet was limited variety of offerings. Much more limited than most ships. Back to the MDR. Since I tend to order meat and potatoes, I often order that flat iron steak which is on the always available portion of Carnival’s MDR dinner menu. In the past, this has been an okay experience but not memorable. The first night on board I ordered it for dinner. It was amazing. More tender than usual but bursting with flavor. It was all good. Never had a bad dinner in the MDR the whole trip. Guy’s Pig &Anchor charged extra for dinner but served complimentary lunch on sea days. The problem was on sea days the was a very long line to stand in before you ever get to the food. Lines tended to be the norm for lots of things. I don’t do lines well. Rather skip the venue than wait in line so we did not eat at Guy’s Pig and Anchor. JJ’s Asian and Cucina Capitan, both extra dollar restaurants, also provided free limited lunch items. We never ate at JJs but did the Cucina for lunch one day. Quite good. Of course, there was Guy’s burgers and the Blue Iguana (Mexican food) with lines for each. On occasion, when there was a short line, I had a Guy’s burger. I know I am going to sound like a heretic, as everyone raves about Guy’s burgers and fries. The burgers are good but not fantastic, IMHO, and I do not like the way the fries are seasoned. I would rather have regular French fries. I find the burgers and fries at Holland America’s Dive In to be far superior. For one thing, they are cooked to order. Second to the Dive In, I favor the burgers available at O’Sheehan’s or the Local (depending upon what ship you are on), the 24 hour dining venue on Norwegian’s line. To each his own. Pizza was good but not my favorite, but again, everyone has their own pizza preference. I think Carnival aims for the middle of the pack, which makes sense. STATEROOM – A+ We had the deluxe ocean view stateroom with the one and a half baths. The luxury of having essentially two separate bathrooms so two people can get ready at the same time cannot be overstated. Did not know what I was missing, but any Carnival cruises I would take in the future would have to be on a Vista class ship that offers this type of stateroom. Much rather have the extra bathroom than a balcony. Nice TV that offered only a few channels and a few free movies. Comfortable bed, adequate storage. Thermostat worked great. I like it cold and lots of times I cannot get it cold enough to sleep. My wife, needless to say likes it warm. Our compromise is she can have it warm during the day and I get it cold at night. Thermostat worked great for both of us. ENTERTAINMENT – B Musicians, singers and dancers were all A to A+. The reason for the B grade was the venue. The main theater, known as the Liquid Lounge, is a hideous monstrosity of a venue. On the main level, the chairs which are not theater type chairs but regular sitting chairs quickly become uncomfortable after 10-15 minutes of sitting on them. The floor is flat and does not slant upwards so the chairs are all on one level. The farther back you are from the first row, the greater your chance of not being able to see what is going on because you are blocked by either one of the people in front of you or a pillar. Sight lines are awful. If you want to see a main room show, better get there an hour before, even though doors don’t open until a half hour before, as there will be a very l-o-n-g line. SERVICE – A+ Every crew member was attentive, friendly, warm and greeted us with a smile despite the onerous duties of their jobs. From our room steward to our dining room servers to the cruise director – just everyone we encountered were above and beyond. I admire and have utmost respect for those crew members. I could never be like that but their attitudes just made the whole cruise that much better. GENERAL AMBIENCE AND ACTIVITIES - A The general ambience of the ship appealed to me. It was nicely decorated and had lots of organic wood and earth tones. It was incredibly clean but it is also Carnival’s newest ship, just put into service in November and this is its inaugural season. Activities rate an A+. The top deck which has the water park, slides, sky obstacle course, sky pedal ride, pool tables, club house, miniature golf, outdoor exercise machines – too much to list, really is incredible. The elevators take a little getting used to, You push the floor on a touch screen outside the elevator banks – not buttons in the elevator itself. Then the touch screen tells you which letter elevator gets assigned to that floor. Sometimes you can wait quite a while for your elevator and it might be packed at peak times, but most of the time it worked okay. Embarkation was relatively easy. We were supposed to disembark on March 7th. We put our luggage out the night before and had our carry-ons with us ready to go that morning. It was announced that disembarkation would be delayed as customs would not clear the ship and the cruise line could do nothing about it, Apparently, there was a woman who had taken ill but clearly had a non-COVID condition. Nonetheless, customs wanted to do a thorough screening before the cleared the ship for disembarkation. Carnival knew what was going on with the passenger and was confident that she would be deemed to not have a condition that was virus related. Being that everyone is hyper vigilant with what is happening these days, customs (I think with CDC input) decided she should be transported to a local hospital and tested. We were advised it would take 6 hours for the test results to come back. At that point, it was pretty clear that we were on the ship until nightfall and probably overnight. Carnival was great about it. They opened up all the restaurants, gave us free wifi, made the pay movies on TV free, put together an entertainment schedule with the entertainment staff and did everything they could to keep us happy, fed and entertained. Hats off to the crew of the Carnival Panorama. Could not have been more accommodating and all with smiles on their faces even though they were under the most pressure of any of us. They also had to deal with the people on shore who were supposed to board for their cruise but could not as we were still on the ship. I could almost hear those poor people yelling as the buffet opened up again –“ Hey, hey – that’s our food. They’re eating our food. I paid for that food.” As it turned out, the results of the testing came back negative, just as anticipated but at that point we were well into the evening and had to stay overnight on the ship until the next day when we disembarked. Such are the risks of cruising in the current climate. The cruise itself was terrific and I would do it again. My only objection was that there were lines for almost everything and I hate lines. Read Less

the boat was 3 hours late. We got on the boat around 12 pm when we were supposed to be on at 8-9am. We stayed at the port until 6pm with nothing to do you couldn’t smoke or gamble while the ship was docked. They said we were delayed because of a medical issue with a guest. They said we had to turn around.we never left the dock! Oh and we couldn’t eat and the pool and two front jacuzzis were not working because they “hit a storm” coming back and things weren’t working. we left the port at 6pm with half a motor working. They skipped amber cove and only gave us 50$ back. The whole trip was horrible food was awful. Our floor always smelled like diarrhea. We docked on time and they set sail for next cruise! Spend the extra money and get a better ship ! Read Less

I have taken 6 Carnival cruises since 2011. My wife is a platinum member so our embarkation and debarkation were fast and nice. Our room was average, the room stewards were friendly. We found an unopened yogurt in our fridge. Our neighbors found dirty underwear in their cabin. The buffets never seemed to be open and the free restaurants always had a long lines. The carnival app never worked right. You need this to schedule ship activities including dinner reservations. The dining room always seemed to be a 2 hour experience. BTW you have to make reservations, no more anytime dining. And if the app was down "which was most of the time" you had to go to deck 5, stand in a long line and make reservations, then go back down to deck 3, stand in another long line to eat in the dining room. The service in the dining room lacked greatly. Very slow service and substandard food most nights. Forget about ordering any side sauces or anther drink, you will never get it. Many times the waiter would tell me " oh sorry, all my help is downstairs". This means NO you can not have that. The buffets were also lacking. Long lines and Cold food. The meats had a chemical taste. The Guys Pig and anchor BBQ was great. I had it twice. The Bonsai Sushi restaurant was good but, you had to pay for it. The taco, burrito and burger spots always had long lines. The room service was nonexistent and laughable at best! The menu was MOSTLY paid items. We tried to order twice and none would ever even pick up the phone. Why not just not have any room service? The mixed drinks on the ship tasted very good and most were moderately priced. We were totally surprised to find out Carnival quit carying Coca Cola and Red Bull in lieu of Pepsi and Monster. WHY???? Because it's cheaper!! The shows were laughable and unwatchable. First we sat thru a show call Flick. Honestly I would rather sit thru a Tony Robbins lecture on insurance policies for time shares. I sat thru the "Rock" show painfully. The bingo, photos, food, and other shopping in the shops were expensive. The movie theater is not a real movie theater. Very limited showing of substandard movies and Yes, you have to pay extra for it. The photos that Carnival's employees take of you as you wander around the ship cost as well. And they are NOT cheap! The digital download of each photo is $15. This is EACH. The Carnival cruises we have taken in the past were for the most part ALL-INCLUSIVE. They are not anymore.You have to pay for everything! Everything is an extra upcharge. We paid for 3 internet packages at $300. "that were either very slow or not working" and we still had to pay an extra $5. each to be able to text each other. The dining room menu had a lot of items you have to pay "extra" for. We tried to schedual a behind the scene tour of the ship, it was $95. per person. This is just wrong. So after this cruise we are probably done with Carnival. Sad we used to really enjoy it. Read Less

I just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Horizon and had an amazing time! It absolutely exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to book another! Embarkation can be hectic as you are carrying your luggage and the attendants want you to keep moving since, of course, there are so many people to board. Once you get on and get settled, its amazing! Public Areas: There are so many places to lounge, indoor or outdoor enjoying a drink or soaking in the sun. There are staff around constantly cleaning and making tables or chairs available for you. Entertainment: There is so much freakin stuff to do on this ship!! Of course the waterslides, sky ride, ropes course, clubhouse, basketball, mini golf, spa, but also the shows and music around the ship was 10/10. The acoustic guy in the Artrium was great, the band that played in the ocean plaza- GREAT, Country band in the Pig Anchor - AWESOME, and the violinist in the Atrium OFF THE HOOK! They hired extremely talented people that I didn't think would be on a cruise ship. The comedian Chris Wiles was OK to me, probably hilarious to others, but not really my type of funny. There is always something to do. Moreover there are seminars for every interest all day long. On the 6 day long cruise, we didn't even get to do everything available on board! And dancing everywhere! So much fun. Dining: The lido buffet is just abut always open with pretty good food. The main dining room is also free and the sea brunch was good too!! Delicious fresh squeezed juice and the chia pudding was my favorite. The lox also tasted good. But, really, the Pig n Anchor BBQ spot was soo good. I can't say enough. Its a great size portion and only $8 for a meal. We also ate at Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse, another delicious dinner and superb service. It is on par with Alexanders steakhouse, and better than Flemings or Mortons. You are treated like royalty. There is so much food on this ship, of every kind. Any kind of food you can think of - its offered. Room: The Havana Premium Balcony room is huge, and balcony even better and spacious. It comes with lounge chairs and gorgeous views. The stateroom steward, Muh, was the most friendly person I have ever met! You immediately feel like best friends with him. He remembered our names the first time. He also knew my BF's birthday and sang a little song; and I did not tell Muh that it was my BF's bday! He just knew and remembered. He took care of us and provided everything we needed for our room. I also loved the towel animals that were in our stateroom every day. Excursions: Unfortunately 2 of our excursions were cancelled (glass boat tour in Grand Cayman and Blue Hole in Jamaica) due to weather/ rain and uncontrollable reasons. I believe we will be getting our money back for those. However we still had an enjoyable time, or came back to the ship early to do more FUN STUFF. Cruises seems like an affordable way to vacation and see new places. I can't wait to do another. Overall Carnival exceeded my expectations and I really felt did a 10 out of 10 in every aspect. I would absolutely choose Carnival AGAIN! Read Less

Very hard-working crew but simply too many people on the ship. At capacity of 3,700 guests, queues remained way too long for food, activities and tendering. Two small, cold pools (one adult only) completely insufficient for number on board and space outdoors and undercover are scarce. Kids/Teens clubs were inaccessible and poor. Visible signs of recent renovation were not obvious – still looked like an older, tired ship with incredibly gaudy, outdated décor catering to an American market. Continued hard sell (on spa, wellbeing packages, photography, alcohol) throughout the trip and unending pestering on guest surveys in the final days. This was our first time on a cruise and we were so disappointed by the experience of the crowds and feeling jammed in like sardines. Perhaps a common cruise experience out there however was definitely unexpected and therefore unpleasant. We will sadly and clearly be telling our family and friends not to ever book a holiday with Carnival. Read Less

1. The crew were fantastic, Rai looked after our cabin really well and kept it nice and clean, Deck 9 Marian and Sukra were awesome, Marian was always flat out cleaning up and Sukra was very attentive in brining me drinks. 2. Cabin was a bit squishy in 1132 and hard for my mother to access with a disability and the wheel chair didn't fit. 3. The ship was beautiful. 4. The food on deck 9 was not the greatest, dry for the best over cooked and not hot. Emporer dinning was restaurant quality food and the staff were awesome. 5. The Island's were beautiful, I really loved Isle of Pines and Mystery Island, Villa was great shopping and even better duty free. 6. Alcohol was far to expansive, didn't really impress me much and internet well over priced. 7. Overall not to bad and I did have a ball Read Less

Crew from the desk service was rude and unapologetic! They had the Spanish music very lower than the other kind of music. Very disappointed. The room service did not changed the linens how they supposed to every other day. When we went to the desk service to do the complain, they were finding excuses instead of fixing the problem. The Shows on the theatre was mediocre. The comedy show was wonderful. Cayman Islands was great. In general the costumer services were not the best, In times some were arrogant, especially the ones from the desk service. Above our dining table was a part of the ceiling broken. Very disappointed for what we expected and even more disappointed after having a great time at Carnival Breeze. Many times we choose the cruise base on the itineraries, but I will recommend to choose the ship first then you won’t have the bad experience we had. Read Less

Chose this cruise because it was departing from Charleston, SC and going to San Juan. The food selections and quality was amazing. The entertainment especially Zack Daniels in the piano bar was great fun every night but Thursday. Thursday is his drinking night and he was not performing. The shows in the Liquid Lounge where really good. The Acoustic Jams with the young couple Unity entertained us almost every night. They sang a variety of songs and he whistles well while she plays the drum. Ketut and Joyce took good care of our rooms and the Omelet Station on the Lido deck in the Havana Bar was my favorite breakfast most mornings. I would recommend this ship to the 50 and older travelers. They made up 90% of the cruisers onboard. If you require a wheelchair to get on and off the ship this port and this ship does it better than any of the more than 14 ships of 6 different cruise lines I have traveled on. I can't wait for our next cruise on this ship in January 2020. Read Less

We choose to get away for a week and to see Mahogany Bay, Honduras, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. The service on our cabin is excellent Darang provided us with everything we needed, clean our cabin and replenishes us with fresh towels everyday. Our Dinning room experience was also magnificent we were served at the Reflection Dinningroom of 3 excellent waiters Wibiyantha, Surya and Joel. Who make sure that our dining experience is a marvelous one and an experience we will never forget. Our friend's birthday and they went and over in greeting her a happy birthday. At the Lido deck Raxel, Manilyn, Joel, Zandra, Carlos, and Levender are excellent in helping us out, clearing and serving us with good food. My friend forgot her cellphone and Levender found her phone and my friend was able to get her phone back. Hows that for honesty. The friendly Raxel was very helpful in providing us future cruise with Carnival. She demonstrated her friendly and willing to serve the customer in the Lido deck and cheering and playing with the kids. The Cruise Director Kyndall Fire is funny and entertained us in the show, and in Bingo. Myra and Cattleya t the Pixel assisted us in our pictures and tolerated our changeable mind and was very patient with us even we went back and fort with the pictures. We end up satisfied with our pictures which we end up getting 40 pictures plus our canvasses. Cloud 9 spa was excellent Tiffany gave me a good service with my Ionithermage. I feel fresh and with more energy and was able to do the gym. Excellent crew We will surely cruise with Carnival Vista again. Read Less

I am a former cancer patient. I entered remission just a few months ago and had my leg amputated. This was my first cruise. I want to start off with the musicians. There was music for everybody’s taste. But I enjoyed ALL of them. Luisa, Juliana and Juan in the Accidental String Trio were just...the only word to describe it was beautiful. Neil was singing and Jammin’ the reggae hits on the steel drums. And Rob was rocking it on the guitar. DJ JD with the hits. The Brassaholics with the amazing Maroon 5 medley. And the Latin Band covering latin hits. Emma, Layla and Francois brought so much energy throughout the whole ship. Vargus Mason with the jokes! T.A. Williams at the Piano Bar. Diana and other bartenders tending the bar at the Lobby very well, including the bartenders on Lido who also bring their energy to the ship. I tipped what I could. Next I want to say how much I really appreciate how kind, thoughtful, and caring the staff was. They always offered help. I don’t usually accept help but I made some exceptions. I also made some friends on the cruise. The whole experience is one to remember. They always had smiles on their faces, and always greeted as we cross paths. And as you’re reading this to all of the staff, I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. I hope I get to meet you all again. Cheers "Let your smile change the world, don't let the world change your smile..." - unknown "My cup is full to the brim, I could go on and on, the full has never been told" - Buju Banton Side Note: Im looking for a job also (galvancromeo@gmail.com) all photos are unedited Read Less

I've cruised with Carnival before, we liked the itinerary, and the price was reasonable. The food was excellent and the wait staff and cruise director were great. Also, we really enjoyed the ship's entertainment. The spa and the showers in the locker room were very nice. The ship itself is pretty warn out. Our stateroom was not clean upon arrival (we found clothing tags, contact lenses, hair extensions and other debris in our room upon arrival. Our in room safe didn't work, but after 2 phone calls it was replaced. (We had to contact your seward as the guest services phone number is never answered) The equipment in the fitness center is pretty old. Several treadmills were not even operational. The basketball court is above the space where they do yoga, and the kids giant slide is right near the adult only "Serenity Area"...poor planning? There were many children on the ship, often not supervised. We called to complain about yelling and crying during the night from the room next to ours...the parents were staying in a different room across the hall. One pool was closed during the last few days of our cruise, and the adult only pool didn't look very clean and was full of drunks. No serenity there. Finally, we could not hear the intercom system in our room, so we often missed out on directions. We had fun, but it certainly has room for improvement. Read Less

I was visiting the gym every day 1-There was no instructor to expelling who to operate the machines and the spa manager offered me guide for 85 $ special 2- many machines was covered with dust , specially the running machine and I wrote my name on the first day and the name stayed there 3- the out side windows was not clean from the first day I informed the spa manager and the guest service but nothing was done, on private talks with staff the impression is that there is short of cleaning workers , but the most important is that if a guest will operate the machine not in a write way he can have a health problem like what happened to me pain in the shoulder till now 4- the entertainment team is not professionals and almost every night there is on main board 10 floor films not dancing like a real Caribbean cruise , it’s good for families and old people 5- the security also not so professional and by mistake my wife left the ship with my card and they did not want to let her back onboard and I got her card 6- I stayed in room 1287 Read Less

First time cruiser excited about seeing Cozumel. I knew beforehand smoking was allowed in the bars and the casino, but I did not know the whole ship would smell like an bar! The lounges and casino do not have physical doors, The entry is wide open and the second-hand smoke travels throughout the ship. I will never go on another cruise unless it is non-smoking or doors and ventilation is installed. Also, there were so many drunk people even though it was not spring break time. I saw one college girl vomit onto a towel on the Serenity deck. The pool was very small and i would never take children on the cruise since there is such a drinking/partying atmosphere. I saw many, many women in the hallways and hamburger restaurant in only bikinis. Appropriate cover-ups were not enforced. The ship was clean and our dining room waiters Eric and Jorge were fantastic. It was hard to find your way around especially since the stairs are not labeled and you never knew which floor you were on. Floor level signs would have been a huge improvement. The onboard entertainment is what I would call cheesy. The bingo was $40 for three bingo cards and lasted less than 10 minutes of actual calling time. The website lists many restaurants, but in reality most of them were in the same cafeteria and each area was labeled as a separate restaurant. For example the ice cream machine was given a separate restaurant name. The coffee shop and sushi counter seemed to be tucked away in a small out of the way area and hard to find. The jewelry and pictures were pushed heavily. The pictures taken were displayed haphazardly and were moved around so much you could not keep up with your pictures to purchase. Read Less

There is not enough room to share how horrible this cruise was. First, the dock member lost my luggage as I checked in, and later found out they wrote the wrong room number on my tag and set my luggage outside the wrong door. It took me 5 hours to find it. Then. I paid $85 for internet service to do grad school homework, but the internet didn't work. The staff was very rude, the ship was old and had signs of floor damage (holes below the carpet), the food was fine day one, but they served the same thing every day. Guys burgers saved the day. The entertainment was extremely disappointing. I could only do kareoke and comedy so many nights and all other entertainment was a 2 day rotation. The ship basically looked like a ghost town. This company basically will nickel and dime you to death. I even had to pay $50 for soda for the week! The excursion times were very short and the communication of the ship was very poor. The only enjoyable moment I had on the ship was playing blackjack at the casino. We also really liked our housekeeper. He was excellent! There was nothing to do for children, and the 3 pools advertised was one short and 2 mini circle children's pools. STEER CLEAR OF THIS SHIP! PAY THE EXTRA FEW BUCKS - I guarantee you will be happy you did. Read Less

This was our 5th Carnival cruise, and our third to the Southern Caribbean in January. We choose this itinerary because the weather is always 80 degrees or above in this part of the world during this month, so "Fun In The Sun" is guaranteed regardless of where you are coming from! Now to the ship. The Horizon is beautiful and well thought out in its design. The transformation of the LIDO deck buffet from the single line concept, to multiple serving areas made for less congestion, and quicker service. My family and I were able to walk up, grab a plate and our food, and immediately sit down for a meal. BRAVO Carnival! We also found plenty of seating available, which made for short meal times allowing us to get back to the fun! The staff in the LIDO buffet were excellent by greeting everyone, clearing tables quickly and even walking around offering to gather more drinks, or desserts. I also enjoyed the speciality restaurants, including Bonsai Sushi and Pig & Anchor. Both are excellent with the full Pig & Anchor restaurant on board offering those amazing Greens and Barbeque at anytime a plus. You can also eat for free on Sea Days for lunch. Normally, my family and I are not MDR folks, because we travel for work often, and are not looking to sit down in a restaurant for a meal for a long period of time. The Horizon is the exception. We had breakfast several times, being served by the wonderful Harlene and Tomina, and used the Carnival app. to reserve a table for dinner, where I had the grilled lobster, which melted in my mouth. Including Pizza, Guy's Burger, Blue Iguana, and other food locations, Carnival provides a meal option for all cruisers on board. The cabins are also one of the reasons why I sail Carnival. If available, I would definitely book a Havana suite. But, I have a beautiful five year old daughter who comes along, so I have to go with another option. Must be 12 years or older to book a Havana room. Here's a tip, the hot tubs and pool in the Havana are open to everyone after 7 pm, so head on down for a virtually private bar, romantic getaway, or family fun time. Carnival handles other customers by offering Family Harbor Suites with a private fun area, and other excellent options. I could afford a balcony, suite, etc., but being the cost conscience guy I am, I always book us in a QUIET, Deluxe Ocean View Suite, located forward of the ship. Why? It has two bathrooms with one being a full , and the other a half. If you are a husband with a wife or daughter, no need to further explain why this is important. Secondly, the square footage of these rooms is 230 square feet, with none of that space being used by a balcony. A definite plus for us. Being a regular cruiser, I am also aware the Family Harbor suites are near the Aft of the ship, and below the galley. It can be very noisy so be careful in where you book here! Our room was clean, comfortable, and our Steward Suli was excellent. There when you needed him, and disappeared leaving you to enjoy your cruise at other times. Entertainment wise, Carnival has it all. We normally don't go to the shows, but speaking to other passengers these were excellent. The Southern Caribbean itinerary is one of the best at sea, which includes Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, and Aruba. Don't be afraid to explore La Romana, we hired a driver for $25 per person and explored the entire city. Just be prepared to say NO to some aggressive vendors along the way. The other ports are quiet, beautiful, and can be enjoyed by walking if you choose. Both embarking and disembarkation were painless and efficient. We always leave our rental car at the Miami International Airport, check in at the Carnival Kiosks located near the baggage claim areas, then the entire family rides in a taxi to the port for a flat fee of $27. Yes, I said $27! Compare this to taking the carnival shuttle, or other travel options where you have to wait for the bus, ride with a larger group, etc. $27 is the authorized fee for taxi service to the port in Miami, and being Florida residents, by driving down in a rental and picking one up at the airport after the cruise, we save a ton of money on both travel costs and parking. Also, by checking in at the Kiosk, you are allowed to go directly to the Security Line at the port and walk right onto the ship during your assigned time. No need to pay for Faster to the Fun and and no waiting in lines at the port! We still travel to Miami and spend the night before our cruise in a hotel to avoid any last minute hick-ups. Highly recommend Carnival, and enjoy your cruise with them! Read Less

I compare this cruise to past adventures on Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC which we love. I blocked out any negative reviews regarding Carnival and ended up loving this cruise. Here is the real lowdown on the Carnival Sunshine. Let’s start with the things I loved. CABIN-The location of our spa room 11030 was amazing. It was steps from the waterfall and the all adults serenity deck. The size of the room was perfect and had down to the water views from the balcony .Access to the spa relaxation room and steam rooms made this room category a great choice. Make sure that you book high floors on this ship. I will explain later. Our very friendly room steward, Dhimas stocked our room with all of the beverages and items we ordered prior to the trip. He also kept the ice flowing. Loved him. He kept that room clean and ready for us. We had no trouble getting around the ship once we found out that you can walk the entire length of the ship on deck 5. That allowed us to always find elevators to our cabin on the 11th floor. FOOD-While the buffet is small and nothing to write home about when compared to other ships we’ve sailed, Carnival offers additional restaurants for breakfast and lunch like Guy’s Fieri’s Burgers and the taco/burrito Blue Iguana Cantina spots as well as the Asian/Italian , MDR and pizza area of the buffet. We never made it to Bonsai sushi which we know would have been great. The food was simply awesome! The specialty JiJi’s Asian and the Cucina Del Capitano were terrific. I am still dreaming about lamb chops and short ribs and a NY strip that was so tender. I am also still craving that rose crème brulet and the melting chocolate cake with the ice cream. The waiters and waitresses dance and sing at dinner every night. That is wayyyy beyond the call of duty but neat to see. If you sail this ship please note all options for breakfast on your hub app. Walk through the very limited main buffet to JiJi’s Asian and the Cucina Del Capitano Italian in the AM to get to wonderful omelette stations. They also open for free lunch also. Most don’t know that they are there for breakfast and lunch. Also try the breakfast burritos and tacos at Blue Iguana Cantina on the deck and there is also a small breakfast served on deck five near the coffee shop. And those Guy Fieri burgers and fries are amazing. We never tried the steakhouse but loved the steak in the main dining room at no extra charge. FRIENDLY PEOPLE-. We made a ton of friends on this cruise. The passengers were comfortable, having fun and willing to share with you unlike other cruises. Mikey the Cruise Director is worth mentioning. I have never met the Director on any ship except this one. He made sure that he reached out , shook our hands and checked on us. We don’t where he gets soooo much energy but we hope they are paying him well! He kept the fun going on this ship. PORTS-We visited Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten and St. Kitts. Getting on and off the ship was fast and problem free. No tenders! Yeah! We loved our ports. St. Kitts requires an excursion. It can be a sketchy port beyond the shops. That turned into a relaxing day back on the ship. All the others were enjoyable with no booked excursions. Grand Turk and St. Maarten have great beaches right off of the ship. We found a beach in Puerto Rico that we walked to near the Fort. So now for the things that certainly didn’t kill our trip but were in our opinion, areas for improvement. We also heard other passengers complain about these particular areas which make them worth mentioning. POOR CONNECTIVITY-Internet is horrible and nonexistent on this ship. I repeat nonexistent! No one is in the fifth floor internet café because there really isn’t available internet with a plan or not .I paid for a plan as well as my husband. It never worked on my Apple 8. He seemed to have text capabilities and facetime on his Apple 7 plus. I asked for a full refund for my portion and received one. We had to search for internet in the ports to post pics etc. You really have to disconnect from the world on this ship. The Carnival HUB app was helpful and provided activity information in a flash with or without the internet plan. That app seemed to be the only thing that worked on my phone. Royal Caribbean has the best internet hands down. Business travelers would be in trouble on this ship. BAD SMELLS AT TIMES-We smelled sewage with deodorizer smells on the 5th floor on down to 3rd which is unfortunate because the dining room is on those floors. We weren’t sure if they were from bathrooms or some other area. I used the ladies bathroom near the MDR and didn’t smell it in there so the source was something else. They must resolve that issue. That’s not appetizing when you are headed for dinner on the same floor and I couldn’t stay in a room with that. Some guests had that issue. Booking a high floor gets you away from this issue. Some also complained about old urine smells near the toilet in cabin bathrooms. We experienced that too. I believe that this is due to the age of this ship. I usually Lysol clean the bathroom anyway when I arrive. Yes, the casino was smokey but aren’t they all? I wish they could vent it somehow or ban smoking there. I still managed to play slots and enjoy that area. PIXELS PHOTO GALLERY- The picture Pixels gallery was confusing. We never found some pics. They throw up pics in no real order and you must search for your faces through hundreds of photos. Who has hours to do that? Norwegian has solved that issue by computerizing the photos and grouping them by room number. They take your picture and attach it to your room number. You can see them all on a screen with no major hunt. We bought no pictures on this ship. It was too frustrating to find them all. ENTERTAINMENT-Entertainment was so-so! Djs on the Lido deck were good. I cracked up at the sailaway party. They had it but we were delayed in sailing away so it kinda fell flat this time. I know Carnival is known for its sailaway parties but the delay wasn’t their fault. I enjoyed the 70s Dance show and the Killer Beaz comedian. Other comedians were weak. We aren’t into audience participation shows and they were really into that. Motown show was messed up with the performers sitting on stools singing with bottles of water. They said a performer was ill and missing. The crew was talented but that was a weaker show. Other cruises have big themed costumed stage shows. The magician was weak too yet was interested in hawking his instructional dvds at the end of the show. Lounge bands were average. The shows kept us busy I suppose. Movies on the deck were more enjoyable or reading on my balcony. DÉCOR- This ship was built in 1996 and was refurbished in 2013. A lot of the neat restaurants were added at that time. The ship décor seemed 80ish to me and reminded me of an old Atlantic City or Vegas Casino .It is an older ship. They have done their best to keep her going. I prefer newer ships but the décor didn’t kill my cruise. It was ok. There was some rocking of the ship during our return due to rough surf. It was nothing serious and there were no signs of mechanical issues that some were still talking about from the listing incident some weeks ago. OVERALL IMPRESSION-The positives outweighed the negatives on this ship. We truly enjoyed our cruise , the spa amenities of the spa room category and the many ports. The food alone and great service would entice us to rebook on one of their newer ships. Carnival will definitely see us again. Read Less

We choose this cruise because it was new to the Carnival fleet and new to Galveston. Wanted to try out the new "Adult Only" cabins (12 and older) with pool and hot tubs. We booked the Havana Patio on deck 5 and loved it. The cruise director Matt Mitcham was the best I have seen in years. DJ Extreme was amazing. The Bartender at the 555 steakhouse really knew his wines. We not only went to Ivan in the steakhouse the first night of the cruise but went to 555 bar each night. He made us drinks based on what we liked. I was like have our own personal Alchemist. Boban our cabin steward was wonderful, and even gave us a business card with his number so we could contact him any time!. We had anytime dinning, but got Ahmad the second night and he remembered all 4 of our names and what we drink. Was so impressed, we kept going back to him. There was so much to do on the ship that we did not come close to doing what we wanted to do and will have to book another cruise on Vista. This is the first ship in the fleet that we would book a back to back on just to relax into it all. Read Less

Convenient cruise- easy getting form the Long Beach airport to the cruise ship- & used the shuttle as only myself traveling, but if I was with a group would have used UBER to get to & from the ship . I wanted a short itinerary, to determine if I would enjoy solo cruising. Was great being able to have cabin to self, able to do what I wanted when I wanted & how I wanted. Totally enjoyed the sauna, steam room & gym. was well taken care of by my room steward, Supron - always had a full ice container, room cleaned as necessary Did the Chef's table & was impressed by all the food that was fixed & served, Learned many interesting facts about the food, preparation & many ingredients for the many foods that was served to us. Even learned some new things about different herbs & spices to combine with different foods. In Ensenada discovered a great place to go for a massage- Massage & Facial Wellness - within walking distance of the ship- and very reasonable priced, then did a chocolate class at the Maya Cacao- learning how chocolate is made form cacao beans- Did I mention that is all organic & they use the profits to support orphanages in the area Read Less

We choose this cruise because of the itinerary to Hondorus and Belize but unfortunately, Hondorus and Grand Cayman was canceled due to weather and we went to Cozumel twice. Entertainment staff of this cruise was not as good as other ships, such as the Sunshine. Our MDR staff was excellent. The design of the buffet and restaurants is spaced far apart. It was nice to have 2 swimming pools. Pools seemed larger on this cruise and there were many more hot tubs. The shows are the ship were good especially the new show Flick. The design of the Lido deck with upper levels was nice for crowd control, as well as, having two pools. Our stateroom was a balcony 9288 and it was very spacious and had plenty of closet and drawer space. We had a connecting room with a connecting balcony which was very nice. Weather was bummer, but the captain tried to steer us around the storms. Read Less

7th cruise on the Pride for us and we have always loved the ship and staff. Pre/post-cruise Hotel: Stayed at the Best Western (Conference center) on Odonnell St which included parking and shuttle service. We have stayed here before mainly for the great shuttle. Hotel was OK, shuttle to the pier was good, coming home they waited until the van was full. Made 15 people wait for 1 spot to fill up even though they had a second, empty shuttle sitting there. Six of us had a 9 hour drive home. Got back to the hotel to find my truck with a nice new dent in the side. First time in 4 stays that my vehicle was damaged. The parking lot was jammed to capacity for this cruise. The Pride Embarkation: We arrived at 12pm, was on the ship by 12;30pm. Really nothing else to say, quick and painless. Staff: As always, the staff on this ship are great! Zero complaints again, their friendliness helped make our cruise enjoyable. Best part of sailing the Pride. Food: MDR food was very good as expected. We always try to eat in MDR as buffet is often tasteless and lukewarm at best. Deli was good, many new options. Pizza is decent and always open. Didnt have a burrito this time but had Guy's burger 3 times and always hit the spot. Stuck with plain cheeseburgers this time and added some tomatoes/onions....stock burgers are good but too much with sauces etc. I enjoyed adding my own toppings more. Cabin: Cabin was big and clean, our Steward was a very nice, hard working guy. He looked tired the entire cruise, was told they now have 35 cabins to clean. We had an aft balcony and enjoyed the views and lounge chair the Steward got for us after we requested one. Cabin noise from engines was pretty loud some nights. I sleep with earplugs so noise was ok but shimmying/movement could be a problem for some folks. Only smelled cigarette smoke on the balcony once. While was looking around for smoke a lady two decks up was also looking to see who was smoking. I loudly reminded whoever it was and no more smoke for rest of the cruise. No door slammers all cruise, if we could just get folks to turn off their balcony lights at night. Several very starry nights were enjoyed and several were spent enjoying light from next door. Overall we reaally got to enjoy the balcony. Ship condition: By day 5 of our 14 day cruise we were calling the Pride "Trusty Rusty." Lots of visible rust, windows seemed to be permanently stained with visible damage to tiles, trim work throughout the ship. Second Pride cruise in a row that the men's steamroom was out of order for almost the entire cruise (12 of 14 days) and sauna was out of order for 2 or 3 days. Spa staff kept telling me that they report to Maintenance but Maintenance doesnt respond. Passengers deserve a better answer to simple questions, these facilities are included in the almost $4000 I paid. Gym equipment never seems to get repaired. I had a pedal fall off a bike in Sept 2017, same bike in the gym is still broken with both bike pedals stuck in forward position. In three recent cruises the middle recumbent bike hasn't worked. This cruise 3 of 5 recumbents worked properly. They have removed some of the resistance equipment on upper levels to make room for their seminar/meetings to sell products/services to give you a flatter belly etc. This is the second pre-dry dock cruise we've done on the Pride. We got the impression on the previous one that they let some repairs slide until the dry dock. Might not be accurate but appearance is perception. Debarkation: Ship docked at 10am, we were in the paring lot by around 10:40am. This is really late for those of us with long drives home. Arrived home at 9pm after night time snow storms. An earlier debarkation would be welcome. Saw several blue, red and gold cards in priority debark lounge. Saw some asked by Staff to head to their waiting area in the theater and they just said no and did what they wanted. Half the folks there left luggage out the night before and then got in line with self-debarkation guests who were carrying luggage off. Lines and crowds were twice the size they should have been. If not carrying off your luggage stay out of the way folks! Wife and I carrying all of our luggage while walking behind 85 year olds with canes and no luggage struggling to walk because thy want to be first of the ship. If everyone followed the procedures set out these processes would go so much more smooth. To their credit I did hear Staff asking people to get out of line when they spotted people walking off without luggage. They make the line longer and when we walked past the luggage area their luggage wasn't even sorted/staged yet. ME-ME-ME Our next cruise is with NCL, while we'll cruise Carnival again I don't think we'll be back on the Pride anytime soon. Time to bring a new ship to Baltimore/NYC. Read Less

2nd time cruiser with carnival. No complaints here. Great value for money. Staff are more than happy to accomadate passenger needs with a smile. Food was prepared, made & cooked daily, entertainment was adequate. Giving a variety of options each night. Plenty of activities to keep anyone occupied during the day no matter the weather. Cocktails were delish. Behind the fun tour I highly recommend, to see how it all works- laundry, kitchen, staff quarters, storage areas & the bridge ( meet the captain ) & more. Cleanliness was of high quality. Staff were consistantly present throughout the ship servicing rooms & cleaning. 1st cruise was with our children, kids club catered for them sufficiently & they loved swimming in the pool & spa. 2nd cruise was myself, husband, a friend his son, nephew & friends who are married. Loads of laughs, good times & memories made. If had the opportunity we would travel with Carnival again. Well done Carnival Tanya & James Read Less

I must say, this was my first cruise and all around it was AMAZING. Everyday, every moment, every seconds I loved it. But what also made my 8 days at sea so wonderful is the amazing staff I came in contact with. First these to amazing people Francisco and Thal in house keeping, always remember there pleasant and genuine smile in the mornings and evening. I should know because I LOVE people and these two they have a very gentleness and pleasant spirit towards them. I pray a special blessing upon them and their family. They were very kind. Next in Pixels is Sinisa (Serbia). He is very pleasant and does an amazing job at what he does in Pixel. He complements a girl's picture when he is in it. Must I also say, he is GORGEOUS. Just a bonus and glad he was on this ship. Now a sets of amazing waiters, Adi, William (Colombia), Esther or queen Esther (India), Edi (Indonesia) and James ( St. Vincent).... These crew made my Church sisters and I laugh so hard and was a great pleasure having them as our waiters. They made dinner in the evenings exciting and with a lot of laughter. I do pray they keep that excitement in them because they help made my first cruise very exciting and a great experience. And to top is off, Mike the cruise director, HE WAS AWESOME and FUNNY. Whatever he does he makes it very exciting and gets the crowd involved in fun and excitment. From start to finish was amazing getting on the ship was all pure excitement for me but leaving I wasn't ready. I am sure there are plenty more wonderful people on board like the few I mentioned, but I must say GREAT STAFF you have Carnival Horizon. Thanks to you and your staff especially the ones I mentioned for making my first experience a memorable one. Read Less

My family frequently travel to the hottest vacation spots. Our last destination, Disney cruise, ship fantasy, was one to remember. Our latest was carnival horizon and is one we need to quickly forget. Be warned, stay away. My son asked me if I received a free horizon vacation would I still go, and I quickly answered NO WAY. Staff here are overworked and are not well trained in service hospitality. Day 5 was the first day I got an hello or a good morning. Common areas are always dirty. It is very common to see wine glasses from last night stacked up and uncollected well into the next day. In cabin is less dirty, but mostly because we complained. Bar service is on caribean time, drinks take ten or more minutes to make. With an Unlimited drink package, Bar tenders make you feel guilty of doing something wrong when you order a drink with an extra shot, which was just to get to a normal undiluted drink. Overcrowded buffet style lunch and dinners have limited selection and food quality may be just below dog food. Ship activity is also not planned out according to quoted time slots noted on everyday event calendar. We waited thirty minutes for the karaoke person to arrive. This was the same issue with the work out trainer we paid money for the class we took, he was late by twenty minutes. Does no one care about our time? We have loud noises in our cabin from outside banging. Rooms 2409, 2411, 2415, 2417 all have the same loud noise issue every morning. Booking execursions is a do it yourself process. The person that can help you offers no expertise or advise on any options. Excursion person at the desk basically asks you to read your options and decide. Don't even know what is the point of having the excursion person there. Dirty dishes are left uncollected at dinner and lunch buffet areas. Bonsai specialty dinning experience was ruined from overly aggressive staff about booking for 20 people but only 18 showed up. They were looking to charge for everything and not accommodating for kids. We had to ask for plastic cups ten times before they realized kids with glass cups are not a good idea. The shows on the ship match our overall experience, poor. Vocals were out of tune and dancers were out of sync with each other. Early comedian show was not that funny either. Also waiting in line for ten minutes or more to get into shows and still not having enough seats for all of us to sit increased our frustration with the ship. Ship set up is all wrong. You have drunken adults mixed in with young children and many adults were too trashy for any kid to see and experience how bad of an adult world can be. Having twerk competition next to the kids slide is plain out insane. Apologies from management were frequent with emphasis of improving our experience and training the staff to do better, but the apologies kept coming for all different things and different sections. Nothing got better, we just stopped complaining. Read Less

Great atmosphere and balance for the whole family! Boarding and disembarking went very smoothly. Carnival Magic was always kept clean at all times. Along with being efficient cleaners, the housekeepers were friendly and welcoming during the entire stay. Great food was provided 24/7. The overall service was organized and very efficient. Each and every member of the crew was very kind and kept a smile on our faces. My husband and I traveled with our two children, which are 16 and 20 years old. They both loved the ship’s entertainment and activities. Every crew member was kind, helpful and always seem to have a smile on their face. Food was great and endless supply of ice cream/frozen yogurt was over the top. We look forward to cruising with Carnival again next summer. Just to reiterate, our vacation was AMAZING because of the fantastic crew....from the Captain to housekeeping and everyone in between!!! Read Less

I wasn't super impressed with the cleanliness of my room, to be honest. There seemed to be some dust, or maybe mold - the first night, my nose was going crazy. Also, aren't cruises supposed to have a ton of entertainment? I feel like I was waiting for events the whole time. The food was okay. The breakfast was great, even though my girlfriend didn't really bother eating most of the stuff that was served. The dinners we found to be great. We weren't exactly "impressed", but we at least enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, so we have nothing really to complain about this. My girlfriend and I thoroughly enjoyed the music! There were live bands, and we actually got to hang out with one of the guitarists after their set. He was super cool, and he kind of made the trip worth it. We also appreciated the nearby parking with Instapark once we got back to the mainland. Overall not a bad time, but not really impressed, to be honest. Read Less