In a crowded corner of Carnival Horizon's pool deck, I ate my first lunch of the day at BlueIguana Cantina's burrito bar. My made-to-order burrito contained lime-cilantro rice, black beans, charred corn, grilled chicken and a medium-spicy pico de gallo _ no refried beans, thank you very much.
At the Pasta Bar, I ordered farfalle topped with garlic shrimp, mushrooms and pomodoro sauce for my second lunch. At Mongolian Wok, I chose mussels and clams over lo mein noodles with black bean sauce and half a dozen vegetables. Only my fourth lunch _ at the Seafood Shack _ wasn't customized, simply fried clams and french fries.
My goal on this two-day preview cruise of Carnival's newest ship was to sample lunch in every eatery. I didn't quite succeed, but it was enough to get a fair sense of the ship's cuisine.
Lunch may be an afterthought for cruisers, who often are off the ship on a shore excursion or settling in for a combination of poolside snooze, hairy chest contest and a mound of something from the buffet, so a cruise line could get away with serving its most lackluster cuisine at lunch. That most of Carnival's restaurants don't _ my conclusion after dining in seven of the ship's nine lunch venues _ is an indication of the line's efforts to provide quality at a bargain price.
What I like best about Carnival ships is that they're a good deal. Fares are frequently cheaper than Caribbean cruises on the other lines in what the industry calls the mainstream category. A check of prices from two online travel agencies for a cruise from Miami in February found fares on Carnival Horizon cheaper than on Norwegian's and Royal Caribbean's newest ships and about the same as MSC Seaside (Carnival Horizon and MSC Seaside starting around $80 per day per person double occupancy; Norwegian Bliss starting at $102; Symphony of the Seas from $126 eastern Caribbean, $149 western Caribbean). Prices for Carnival's older ships usually rank lowest in relation to other lines' older ships as well.
To keep prices low, Carnival ships don't have bumper cars, sky-diving, surf pools. Their suites are not as luxe, the ship not as roomy for the number of passengers, the entertainment not quite as elaborate, the percentage of balcony staterooms not as high, and the soft-serve ice cream lacks evidence of actual cream. But for first-time cruisers, young adults, big families and those on a particularly tight budget, a Carnival cruise offers value.
Carnival Horizon, which was delivered in March and arrived in Miami after sailing in Europe and then from New York, is the line's 26th ship currently in service. It is the second ship in the Vista class, Carnival's largest, with a tonnage of 133,500 and a length of 1,062 feet. The ship holds 3,954 guests at two per stateroom, up to 4,980 guests with upper bunks, cribs and rollaway beds. At PortMiami, the ship's home port, it sails six- and eight-day cruises to the Caribbean.
It is the second of five ships joining the South Florida fleet in 2018. Norwegian Bliss was the first, sailing from PortMiami, while Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas and Celebrity Edge arrived this month _ Symphony in Miami and Celebrity Edge at Port Everglades. Holland America's Nieuw Statendam is due to arrive at Port Everglades just before Christmas.
Of the five, Carnival Horizon is right in the middle _ smaller than Symphony of the Seas and Norwegian Bliss, larger than the Celebrity and Holland America ships.
The ship is already familiar to cruise fans because it is essentially a clone of Carnival Vista (launched in 2015 and redeployed from Miami to Galveston on the day Horizon arrived in Miami), with a few minor variations:
_ Its water park, although architecturally the same as the one on Carnival Vista, is the first to be Dr. Seuss themed.
_ It has "smart" elevators. In the elevator lobby, push a button to indicate which deck you're going to and the system will tell you which elevator to board. The purpose is to group people according to where they're going so each elevator doesn't stop at every floor. Supposedly it will get you to your destination faster. It's a good concept, but it has a downside: You can't change your mind. There are no buttons inside the elevator. If you forget that you were going to buy a T-shirt on Deck 5 before going to the pool on Deck 10, you have to get off the elevator and start over.
_ There are more of the popular Havana staterooms, tropically themed cabins and suites with exclusive daytime access to the Havana pool complex at the rear of Deck 5, that debuted on Carnival Vista.
_ Inside the Bonsai Sushi restaurant, Carnival Horizon has added Bonsai Teppanyaki, two eight-person tables with a hibachi grill and a chef who entertains as he prepares your meal in the center (both restaurants carry an extra fee).
_ Also exclusively on the new ship, Guy's Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que (by Food Network host Guy Fieri) _ a poolside counter service food stop on four other ships _ has been moved to Deck 5 and expanded to be a standalone restaurant on the Promenade. Guy's serves dinner for an extra fee and free lunch on embarkation and sea days. It took the space where RedFrog Pub sits on other ships, but it kept RedFrog's brewery, where four craft beers are made.
