As a preface, I have been on approx. 8 cruises, with companies Carnival, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. Understanding the general quality of cruise ship food and the general cruise ship experiences, I have to say this boat is the worst I have experienced. First, the pre-booking for restaurant reservations system is awful. If you misplace your email confirming reservation, you have to wait to get on the boat to determine your actual time. I spent 45 min on hold to confirm one reservation...the short story is corporate told me that “the boat” would get back to me, which it never did. They also confirmed a reservation for the chef’s table; however, when I got on the boat, told me they had no record. When I showed them the email confirmation they told me they had no openings ( this was for my wife’s birthday by the way). They called me back later to offer me two times, both of which were the most inconvenient times based on the ship’s itinerary ( middle of being in port at Curaçao and on the formal night). The room cleaning service was the worst I have ever experienced on a cruise...by far. My wife and I are low maintenance people. We keep the do not disturb on the door most of the time. We asked to have the room cleaned twice in four days at reasonable times and the room was never cleaned. We left for 6 hrs at Curaçao and when we got back nothing had been done. This is keeping in mind that we had one of the Hanava suites, which is supposed to be one of the upgraded rooms on the ship. As a side note, don’t try to get a drink at the exclusive Havana Bar....the cruise might be over before you get your drink. The entertainment is substandard for a boat of this size. The food is awful in comparison to other cruise lines. Even though it is a “new” boat it is clear that Carnival cut corners for the bottom line. All and all, stay away from this boat and cruise line. We decided on this one simply for the ports; however, I believe people would be much better served with other options. As a final note to emphasize the misery that is this cruise, my wife and I are catching a flight from Aruba to cut the cruise short bc that is better than continuing to stay on this boat. Read Less

This was the first cruise for our family of 5 (kids ages 12, 9, and 6), but I can tell that it won't be our last! When I booked this cruise, it was chosen based on dates that worked with our spring break, the availability of adjoining cabins in our price range, and the ship having many fun activities for kids. After reading many positive and negative reviews, I knew what to expect in terms of crowds, elevators, food options, and entertainment, so I felt prepared for issues that others have complained about and they didn't bother us. Yes, there were times when the ship felt crowded at the pool and the buffet, but it was never unmanageable, and it was expected when there were nearly 5000 people on board! There were always places to go to find some peace and quiet (the deck on level 5 was a favorite of ours). Yes, the elevators were a disaster on the day of embarkation due to people not knowing how to use them and the crew working hard to get everyone's luggage onboard. But we walked a lot of stairs over the 6 days and burned off the many servings of burgers and melting cake that we consumed :). We had 2 adjoining interior cabins forward on deck 1 and this was perfect for our family-the 3 kids slept in 1 while my husband and I had our own space in the other. I'm sure a balcony or window would have been nice, but we spent very little time in the cabin and did not miss them or feel claustrophobic. There was plenty of closet and drawer space for our family. It was great to have 2 bathrooms! We felt very little movement from the ship, and only heard noise on the final day when we docked back in Miami. Our kids ate about a hundred servings of ice cream and thought this was a dream come true! We took them to the main dining room every night-it was nice to take the time to relax during dinner, and it was a great time for them to try out new foods. My son loved the alligator fritters and calamari, and my older daughter ate meat for every meal-lamb shank, prime rib, braised short ribs! My 6yo daughter was happy eating hot dogs and hamburgers for almost every meal (ugh!), but the dining room staff was very nice about getting her raw veggies and fruit to accompany her meal. The food was overall very good-we don't eat in gourmet restaurants often, but had no complaints about the quality of the food, especially considering how many people they are cooking for! The melting cake was terrific the first night, but not as warm and "melting" on other nights, to the point where we sent it back one night, as we found it just isn't very good when it is cold. We promptly received a new melting cake without any questions asked. The crew were all exceptionally friendly and I felt like everyone we saw smiled or said hello, fellow passengers included. The activities on board did not disappoint-the water slides were fun for all of us, the ropes course was terrifying in a good way (I would recommend NOT doing this in 45mph winds unless you have no fear of heights :), the sky ride was amazing, and the mini golf course was great family fun. The pools and hot tubs were crowded with kids on sea days, but some of them were our own (and they didn't care!). My girls checked out club Ocean briefly the first day and were overwhelmed by the number of kids, so did not want to go back. This was no surprise, as all of our kids are somewhat shy and I didn't expect that they would do the kids clubs. We heard from others that their kids liked it so much that they didn't want to leave! We attended the 3 shows-Soulbound, Celestial Strings, and Vintage Pop- and thought these were fun, well done with excellent musicians, singers, and dancing- and perfect length for our family (around 35-40 min each I think). We planned our own activities in port and this worked well for our family and was more cost effective than purchasing through Carnival. I hope this review helps someone else who is thinking about a cruise on the Horizon. If you have a family with kids who are tweens or grade schoolers, I can tell you that you will have an amazing time! My kids are already bugging me to plan our next cruise... Read Less

We just returned from our Spring Break cruise on the Horizon. We wanted to try a Vista Class ship. So far, we have taken 8 cruises with Horizon. Below are the Cheers and Jeers: Cheers Had a Havana Suite. The added balcony room is a treat. The room was very quiet. Exceptional service from the room steward. Got to see the Dr. Seuss Activity in action. The children were enjoying themselves. Shows were good. The singers apparently were rehearsing and we were treated to one song in the atrium (third floor on the steps). Could have listened to them sing all day. The app is nice. We always get good service from the agents when booking by phone. More efforts toward sustainability - pencil instead of a pen, fewer paper handouts each day, straws by request. Cake Buffet had a different, delicious selection each day. Internet connectivity is much better. All you trivia cheaters will love it. Jeers We ordered the Cheers pass knowing that at best, we would break-even. Never again! Carnival has cut staff and it is especially felt in this area. Wait staff rarely come around so we had to go to the ONE bar that was open on the Lido Deck on port days. That bar was two deep so the wait was considerable. For most bars, there was only one bartender even on sea days. Think carefully about ordering the Cheers Pass if you have not been on a cruise recently. It just isn't worth it. (We tip in cash with every drink that is served to us so it is not us, it is them). Carnival needs to revamp the drink menu. Same boring drinks and them seem to be more sugary sweet. We went to Guest Services immediately upon arriving because we wanted to send a gift to someone on another ship. There was one person to handle us lowly cubic-zirconia level members. Diamond and Platinum have their own line. The person that was being helped was not accepting whatever the guest service agent was explaining. I waited for 15 minutes before I asked them to summons another agent. By now, the line had grown to the elevators. I asked the Diamond agent if she could get someone else to help. No one was in her line. "Well, I will go ahead and help you," she said sarcastically. She wasn't pleased to do so. She gave us incorrect information. We ended up calling the 800# on the Carnival website. We found ourselves at guest services twice. Both times, went away feeling like we were at the DMV. They had the warmth of a TSA agent. Main Dining Room - No, we were not able to check-in for ATD on the app. Instead, we had to go to level 5 where we were rerouted to level 3. Why can't we just go to level 3 in the first place? We ate in the MDR on first night. Food/service was good. Again, getting a drink takes awhile. On Elegant Night, we went to the MDR again. This time, we were seated in a dark corridor by the kitchen door/kitchen elevator. It was so dark that it made it difficult to read the menu. We wanted to see the show, so we asked to be seated somewhere else. The waiter spoke to someone and came back and removed the silverware from the table for the other two no-shows and left us there. We didn't return to the MDR for the rest of the cruise. While we enjoyed the Havana Suite, the patio chairs are very uncomfortable. They are low to the ground and are appropriate for a preschooler. The short lounge chair has a back that does not adjust. It is too low to look at sea or to read. Whoever purchased that chair should have to sit in it for a week. TV channels are limited. There is one news channel: CBSN which doesn't cover much. From there, TCM, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Discovery, and a few cartoon channels. To make up from this cost-saving mistake, you get a selection of Pay Per View movie channels. Many are free but they are so bad that you cannot even watch half of it without turning it off. Liquid Lounge Layout - get to the shows early. The Horizon has more passengers but it does not have more room for the Liquid Lounge or Limelight Room. Do not select a seat with a free-standing chair close to the stage.The performers use platforms in this area which means that you will miss some of the performance. Elevators - the destination dispatch elevators increases the wait time. You have no idea where the elevator you have been assigned is at in the hoist way because there are no position indicators letting you know if the elevator is coming or is being held up at another floor. Most floors do not have TV screens showing which elevator has been summoned to which floor to allow you to get on should the door open. There is no longer a PreSale Agent on board stating staff cuts. Carnival really needs to staff this position! Part of enjoying this cruise is booking the next one while on board. Read Less

First the great. Embarkation was a breeze. We (my wife, daughter and her companion) arrived at our allotted time and we were on the ship within 10-15 minutes. It was the best embarkation experience of our 19 cruises. Great job on this! The food was also great! My wife and I were pleasantly surprised to find that this ship had such an array of dining selections and the quality of the food. The main dining room was our choice for 3 of the 8 nights, and all meals were terrific. We ate at the steakhouse twice and the Italian restaurant once, both were very good. Our daughter also ate at the Asian restaurant and loved it. For breakfast my wife and I ate in the dining all but one day and found it quiet and with wonderful service and food. The wait staff remembered our names after the first day. For lunches we experimented with Guys and the buffet. All very good. Our cabin (7305) was a Grand Suite. It was very nice. The balconies on these cabins are very narrow but still nice to have. The service from Agus was top notch. Now the not-so-great. We paid over $400 to get the Thermal Suite. If you are looking for peace and relaxation, do NOT get this. Passengers are rude, noisy, and do not care about anyone but themselves and the staff does nothing to stop it. We also got 5 spa treatments while on board. Most were very good, but the upsell effort was a little too aggressive. Finally, the worst experience we have ever had on a ship was getting off this one. We were supposed to have "expedited" privileges but it was a nightmare. We had our bags checked the night before and waited over 90 minutes to get them the next morning. We missed our flight and had to rebook at our cost. My advice, if you go on this shop and have a flight before 11:30 a.m., do not check your bags. Nobody could seem to help us...we were on our own. Everyone just shrugged their shoulders. I know this is a family ship in the "value" category, so we got what we signed up for. But we probably will not be going back to Carnival even if we are taking our daughter. It's too noisy, too much partying, and that disembarkation experience did it for us. I guess we have officially become old fogies. Read Less

Wanted to cruise on a newer ship. We had sailed the itinerary before. The Horizon is a very neat and clean ship, because it is new. However, I did not find it to be much different than the Carnival Dream. We stayed in a cloud spa balcony room. There were a few perks, but we didn’t feel they were worth the extra cost. We bought several spa sessions, couples massage, facial, double close shave and stone massage. Be very careful and check your bill, they double and over charged us on every service. The elevators are very difficult for most people to use. You can’t just hop on any elevator and you want. You have to enter the floor you wish to go to and then go to the assigned elevator it gives you. We spent a lot of time waiting on elevators. The buffet on Lido deck was horrible. The food choices were limited and not very good. If you have been on one carnival cruise you have been on them all. We like Carnival, but did not see any difference in this ship than some of the others. The decor was very bland and insignificant compared to other ships we have been on. It is mostly just decorated with photos. Read Less

This is not our first rodeo with Carnival. We keep telling ourselves that "it will get better." That is why we decided to book a spring break cruise on their newest and largest ship: the Horizon. Now we can honestly say that the bigger the ship, the worse the service and amenities get. I do have to say that with a ship of this size and about 4,500 fellow passengers, I thought we would have felt somewhat crowded, but honestly we did not. There was never an issue finding a chair by the pool, a wait for a table in the dining room, waiting for service at the bar, etc. The pools were not crowded and activities still felt intimate. The only time you realized how many people were actually sailing with you was when the deck parties happened. Carnival if known for FUN and they did not disappoint in this area. If you are unable to find something to do on a Carnival ship then you are NOT on a Carnival ship. The most memorable part of this cruise and what will probably keep making me come back to the brand is the FUN concept. Our cruise director on this sailing was Schwartz and he was AMAZING!!!! Carnival picked a winner when they brought him on board. Our room was your typical balcony stateroom. The only complaint I had with the room itself is that your key card is what turns on the power in the room. This is fine, but I was quick to realize that when I left the room, all power went out. Nothing could charge, including my phone, camera, etc. while I was gone because I took my key with me. The second complaint is that there is no power outlet next to the bed, but we made do. Ohhh... and the beds must have changed. They were not comfortable at all and you could feel the seam. I don't know if Carnival intended to skimp on the stateroom service, but they did skimp indeed. Granted, we did sleep in until 10 or 11 every day and maybe this is the reason, but our room was only serviced once a day if we were lucky. A few times, not at all. We had to call for towels and toilet paper. Also, I had to call room service for ice after 10:00pm and was charged. However, when our room WAS serviced, an outstanding job was done. Lets talk food... Your best bet is the "for fee" dining. We were only able to eat at the Italian place and the Sushi place because of availability, but neither disappointed. Actually, it was some of the best sushi I have ever had; anywhere. The Main dining room had the same outstanding service and the food was good and nothing was wrong with it, but it just wasn't memorable. I don't care for barbecue so my review of the Pig and Anchor wouldn't be a fair one. Both Guy's burgers and the Taco place are outstanding. If you are able to get a table for lunch for either Ji Ji's or the Italian place, do so. It's free. Some really great looking salads came from the Serinity pool deck for lunch too. Beware of the Lido Buffet for any meal. It is disgusting and there is no variety for any meal. What you have on day one will be what you have days two through eight. The only good item here is the made to order omelets in the morning that you have to wait a hour for because they have one crew member preparing them for 2,000 people. The pizza place is mediocre and you will stand I line here for approximately 30 minutes for 2 slices of pizza. Up to an hour after 11:00pm. Room service, although delicious, is a joke. Everything is ala carte. This can add up. Other lines charge you a flat rate which is acceptable, but Carnival has you reaching deep into your pockets if you don't wait in the hour line for those 2 slices of bland pizza. All of the shows were amazing. The even premiered a brand new show on our sailing and it was a treat. The layout of the auditorium, however, is that of a very poor design. Get there early to get a seat on the main floor, close to the stage, with no pillar. Pools were great. More whirlpools/hot tubs needed. Waterpark was a favorite with the kiddos. All other outdoor activities kept everyone busy during the day. Though my son was upset that they closed the basketball courts during dinner hours. No complaints with the kids clubs. Spa was wonderful. Shops could have carried a few more personal items and apparel. Elevators, though aggravating at first, made perfect sense after a few days. All in all it was a pretty good cruise. I think I like Carnivals smaller ships better. This big ship was, well, Forgettable in some ways. For me anyway. You may think different. Read Less

Good Eastern 8 day trip itinerary , Great ports with off setting departure times . Ship was in Great Shape and crew/staff were terrific ,warm and friendly. Dinning was ok/good with no major flaw's, main dinning was accomplish in less than an hour and a half . Buffet items were also ok and with the amount of passengers that ship ship holds, items seemed fresh and not picked over Wife and I attended 2 shows and found them good, Vintage Pop and Soulbound which was our favorite the best , interaction with the players and audience make the show even better , don't want to spoil it but get there earlier for added extra's We do have issue's with what Carnival Horizon has done with the theater and seating thou, depending on where you are seated the view from the 2nd level is limited to viewing the main level as now there are no more fixed row seating on the first level and the show has extended from the stage onto the main level area . So some of the acting is out of view with the current new design if you are seated on the 2nd level . Show last about a half hour Comedy show's where just ok as we did see all comedies that week both their PG and R rated versions . there were 4 total comedies on our cruise 4900 passengers this week with spring break and didn't find the lines terrible... 5-10 mins before a show and seating was pretty easy Up-Charge restaurants were good as usual We did Pig and anchor with live entertainment while dinning , J.J's Asian and Bonsai Teppanyaki with the chief show very funny as he prepared our meal . We also had reservation set for the Steakhouse and when they called to confirm our reservation they informed us that since it was formal night dress shorts would not be allowed but jeans were ok ? As we have always done formal night's on our previous cruises we decided to pass on this cruise and just be lazy and on vacation, we did find this to be very disappointing as we both were looking forward to the Steak house as we have dine there on several other cruises and they are normally very good and worth the charge and did have jeans also but as they made it an unannounced stipulation to dine prior to our reservation made 6 months earlier that just annoyed us as we were the patrons paying additional for this restaurant . so a tip , make sure that its not a formal night when you make your reservation, as this was the first time we encounter an issue if your not planning on bring formal wear. Casinos seem to be paying with several witnessed good jack pot pay outs also speaking with several people thru out the cruise said the tables were friendly also . So go have a great time if your planning a Horizon trip and don't let the small stuff bother you, as we found on this trip there weren't many at all !!! Good Sailing ! Read Less

Not a fan of port of Miami to start. The parking garage for our terminal was full and we arrived at 11:30 am .we had to drive to another garage and finally found a spot on the very top deck, 3of the 4 elevators were broke . I can’t image the frustration for those arriving later or those who were older folks with difficulties walking stairs and having to carry there luggage . I have sailed on many different cruise lines and this was a complete disappointment. Giving this a mid rating. The ship was pretty, the beds were comfortable. We stayed in a balcony room and it was so loud with all the ignorant people who opened and slammed there balacony and room doors all hours of the night . We complained nightly to the manager and heard from multiple people on the ship it was continuous on every floor. The only food that was good was the BBQ from pig and Anchor & Burgers from Guys Burger joint. However these were only open for specific times . The buffet food and dining room food was gross. Even the Deserts were gross except for the soft serve ice cream. I was also extremely disappointed in the wait staff on the ship , I have never seen such minimal wait staff across a cruise ship to assist with drinks . There was only 2 bartenders per bar, and 2 on the deck . I asked the waitress after standing in line for 30 minutes at the bar if she could get me a drink , The deck waitress refused to get us drinks bc we weren’t sitting in a chair , however after 45 minutes waiting in a chair they still didn’t make it over to take our drink order. When you have 3900+ people on a ship you would think they would allocate more to wait staff. We had to wait in line at the bar for 30-45 minutes to get a drink and they only serve you 1 at a time, which was frustrating due to the wait time to even get a drink. This didn’t matter if you were getting a soda or a alcoholic drink. The plus side was embarkation and debarment, smooth and quick less than 10minutes . The 2 comedians who performed were actually funny. We had 5 kids and The kids were disappointed in the camps and refused to go back. There was minimal entertainment. I won’t get back on a Carnival ship again. I saved for 2 years to bring my family on a cruise that cost over $5K and everyone was disappointed. Read Less

Just returned from a 6 Day Western Caribbean on the Horizon. Everthing from the ship to the service was top shelf. Not a fault of Carnival, the Port of Miami is a mess. There is no communication of closed parking lots and updates. We had to park at Garage G for our ship which was close to 1/2 mile away. Could not find a shuttle to the terminal so we walked. Glad the luggage had wheels. The path was not direct and not pedestrian friendly. Embarkation was easy and the rest of the cruise was wonderful. Stateroom clean, food delicious and the staff was friendly and out going. Only negative of the ship was the smoke in the casino coming out into adjoining public areas of the ship. Not much Carnival could do so we avoided the areas. Waterworks was fun for all. Did not do the specialty dining and we thought the MDR was 5 stars. Debarkation was ok with some snags in the line once in the terminal but we survived!!! Cannot wait for our next trip..... Read Less

We chose the Horizon for the itinerary since we had not traveled to these ports- Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao and Aruba. Each port had it's own special things- Grand Turk, the beach, Jack's Shack and Margaritaville, La Romana, the diverse souvenirs you could get there and the friendliness of the people, Curacao with its beautiful buildings and architecture. Also the good local beer and the wonderful gouda cheese., finally Aruba with its wonderful Catamaran sail. The great views, rum punch, music and people. Now we get to the ship. It was beautiful! The restaurants were wonderful, especially the Steakhouse. I Can't say enough about the bars and he service. Our cruise director, Schwartz was beyond wonderful, such energy! We went nightly to the Havana Bar for the music and dancing. The comedians were fabulous and the shows- WOW! Especially Amor Cubano. Strongly recommend Carnival and especially Horizon- Bravo to the staff! Read Less