Absolutely fantastic cruise for the first time to the Med!!

We wanted to finally get to the Med and see Italy. This seemed a perfect trip to celebrate our Anniversary. We booked the 10 day out of Barcelona strictly for the ports we could get to. And boy were we not disappointed!

The ship itself with the new interior designs were contemporary and really a step up from the "vegas" carpeting of the other ships we had been on. We had a Deluxe OV cabin with the 2 bathrooms which was really helpful for ease of getting ready at the same time. Our cabin steward was very friendly and helpful. All the staff were, I can;t remember talking to anyone that didn't have a smile or say hello. Embarkation was super easy, we had done a tour in the AM in Barcelona and didn't check in til shortly after 2 pm and basically walked on. Being able to buy alcohol in the duty free and take it onboard was a huge bonus, glad we knew that piece of info before hand for European sailings and saved some VAT.

Ports were Livorno, Civitavecchia, Amalfi Coast, Dubrovnik, Corfu and Messina. Would totally go back to Amalfi and Taoromina in Messina in a heartbeat!

We used 2 carnival tours which were well organized and ran on time. We did hear that there was a Carnival tour back late in Rome- story was they had to wait and hour and a half on 4 people who had no common courtesy to return to the meeting point on time :(

2 ports we just played it by ear and picked up Ho-Ho busses or wandered on foot. Dubrovik was amazing to wander in! Walked the walls, took the cable car, found a cliff bar!

2 tours we had booked from a fb posting thru a "TA". The tour company that did the driving and was the guide were awesome- word of advise if booking a fb tour, check into the organizer, don't get ripped off. Some will tell you they aren't profiting from booking a group, but ask questions, get the details, do the research on private tours if you don't book thru the cruiseline. If I was to do it again Ide book private directly, or use a toursharing group that books directly, It was disheartening and a bit of a scammed feeling to find out that even tho I was charged 20 or 25 Euros more when you add up 40 people for 6 ports....the "TA" basically profited enough to sail and tour for free. If they are upfront that they upcharge no problem, but don't scam people.

Food in the MDR was really good, we caught both elegant nights, we also used the Steakhouse and Cucina (we both liked Cucina more than the steakhouse). Guys pig and anchor was great, live music and great food, try the trashcan nachos! Buffet was laid out differently in squares you could go right around instead of up against the wall. We found that this layout was easier to navigate and not as busy, but might have been just timing of when we went. Lots of options on the Buffet and the new cake selection instead of the old boring desserts was a great change.

CD Mike Pack is a fireball LOL and so much fun.

Shows were good, we didn't care for the music in the Celsetrial Strings show but that was personal opinion. The Soulbound show was fantastic.

Ide definitely sail Horizon again, even with 10 days onboard we didn't have enough time to try out everything on the ship!