As a family that cruises regularly, my husband and I decided to spend our family vacation this year aboard the Carnival Horizon, traveling with our six year old and 10 month old daughters. Worst and most expensive mistake we ever made. Being that we have cruised with Carnival several times in the past and had wonderful experiences I neglected to read the reviews prior to booking with the Horizon.

The customer service experience was horrible. On the very first day and immediately after embarkation I was trying to take a picture of my daughter next to the life size towel animal and because it was with my own camera and not carnivals, I wasn’t allowed to take the photo. Just another tactic to force you into buying the mediocre and expensive photos through carnival instead of being able to capture your own memories. Shortly after that, my youngest daughter and I were rudely kicked out of what I thought was a kids pool because she wasn’t potty trained even though she was wearing a little swimmer. Of course she isn’t potty trained, she’s 10 months old. I was very embarrassed needless to say. I stood in a very long line at guest services just to be told that she isn’t allowed in any pool on any deck and there is no designated swimming or splashing area for babies who aren’t potty trained. You would think that they would have this policy listed on the website or at least somewhere visible but absolutely not. Oh and by the way, she wasn’t allowed in the toddler/baby play area either. So we paid full price for a child to go on a cruise and not be allowed to participate in any fun activities for children. It was Mother’s Day and also my birthday. What a gift.

The ship itself was extremely crowded with no guidance from the service team members who were impersonal and often very rude. I stood in front in the pixels desk for about two minutes without any greeting or acknowledgement of my presence. Once the service member acknowledged me, I was greeted with a crude “can I help you?”. Read more