Unlike the inconsistencies experienced in main dining and in the buffet, we found a better dining experience elsewhere on the Carnival Horizon.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: The New Pirates of the Caribbean
• Review: Hyatt Regency Miami
• Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 1 – Booking and Room
• Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 2 – Main Dining
• Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 3 – Lido Marketplace
• Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 4 – Quick Service Restaurants (this post)
• Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 5 – Specialty Restaurants
• Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 6 – Ship Programming
• The Ship Features on the Carnival Horizon
• Camp Ocean on Carnival Horizon: A Good Kids Club (Mostly)
• Excellent Internet with Carnival Wi-Fi
• A Lackluster Experience with AT&T Cruise Package
• Spin to Win: The Carnival Cruises Casino
• Carnival Drink Packages Are Not Worth The Money
• Is Carnival’s Faster to the Fun Worth Your Money?
• Ocho Rios: Entryway to the Heart of Jamaica
• Cozumel: A Potentially Fun and Festive Mexican Port
• Calm and Relaxing: A Review of the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables
• First Friday Feast: Excellent Cuban Dining at Versailles

The Lido deck (10) is where you’re going to find most quick-service dining options, including the Lido Marketplace buffet. This includes the insanely-popular Guy’s Burger Joint. But there’s actually a hidden restaurant on Deck 5 where you should spend your time.

Some specialty restaurants are free during lunch

Before continuing on, one thing needs to be addressed. Beyond the main dining room, the buffet, and many quick service options, some restaurants that normally cost money are free at lunch. Specifically the specialty restaurants that are free for lunch are:

• Pig & Anchor
• JiJi Asian Kitchen
• Cucina del Capitano

There is a limited menu at lunch, but it will at least give you more variety and a chance to sample something different.

Pig & Anchor is the best-kept secret for embarkation day

Let’s get this out of the way first. When you first get onto the ship, do not go up to the Lido Marketplace buffet on Deck 10. That’s where everyone goes to eat their first meal onboard the ship. Doing so will leave you struggling to find a convenient table and long lines for food.

Instead, why don’t you head over to Deck 5 where you’ll find a far better option both in taste and crowding. It’s hard to find the restaurant because it’s hiding behind Pixels, which itself is in a small maze of hallways. Anyone walking around in the main area of Deck 5 would be unlikely to stumble upon it, at least not on their first day.

For those wondering, there is a full bar at Pig & Anchor, which might appeal to some. They also have the brewery tours located here (for a fee).

You’ll find plenty of seating both inside and outside the restaurant. That’s even true on embarkation day. We had no problem finding a spot to sit down. And there is a large TV here showing sports.

At lunch, the food is outside and to the left. It is more of a served buffet style, where you tell the employees what you want to eat and they will load up your plate.

The food

You’ll find plenty of varieties of meat and lot of fixings that you commonly think of when eating BBQ. Five-year-old Char was also quite the fan of the Mac Daddy Mac n Cheese.

Pig & Anchor has a lot of different sauces for you to choose from. The food itself is pretty tasty and the sauces prevented it from getting dry. The meats had plenty of flavor on their own without the sauce. This was one of the better meals we had on the ship. And, spoiler alert, it was the only specialty restaurant we considered paying to eat when not free.

Guy’s Burger Joint is way too popular

Located up on the Lido deck (10) just outside the Lido Marketplace, Guy’s Burger Joint is probably best known for its incredibly long lines. And when I say long, I mean expect to wait a good 15-20 minutes before you can order. That was about the average wait for the duration of the cruise, but sometimes the lines seemed longer.

What makes this so popular? Well, for one, it serves better food than the Lido Marketplace. I imagine it’s from people who don’t want to bother with the food at the buffet. Or perhaps people are interested in a burger and fries? In any event, the food here is flavorful, so there’s that. You have your choice of burger in five different styles.

After you get your burger, there are toppings you can add to it. Or I suppose you can put it on your fries if you want to dress those up a bit.

You might want to get two burgers if you’re particularly hungry, but it’s a pretty decent burger. Again, this is better than most of what’s served at the Lido Marketplace. The one downside to Guy’s Burger Joint is that it’s only open until 6PM. That means you can have it for an early dinner, but it’s not available later in the evening.

BlueIguana Cantina needs some work

Right next to Guy’s Burger Joint on Deck 10 is the BlueIguana Cantina. While you can get burgers until 6PM, the hours of the BlueIguana Cantina are a bit more limited:

• Breakfast hours
  • Sea Day — 7:30AM to 10:30AM
  • Port Day — 7AM to 10AM
• Lunch hours
  • Sea Day — 12PM to 2:30PM
  • Port Day — 12PM to 3:30PM

This restaurant specializes in tacos and burritos. Tacos are at the counter closest to the pool while the burritos are closer to the entrance to the Lido Marketplace.

We like a good breakfast burrito. Unfortunately, we didn’t find a good one here. Part of that reason is that the eggs are the same unappealing powdered eggs from the buffet. The flavors also just didn’t mesh together despite asking for salsa. And the tortillas were too dried out. Lastly, the meat simply had no flavor. It’s a true shame.

There is a small salsa bar, where you can load up on a variety of salsas. You’ll also find some watermelon, which is refreshing since it seemed hard to otherwise find fruit other than apples, oranges, and bananas.

Pizzeria del Capitano is reliable

The Pizzeria del Capitano is perhaps the most consistent offering onboard the Carnival Horizon. It’s open from 9AM to midnight. The line tends not to get too crazy given how quick the service is.

The pizza itself is fine. It’s thin crust and at the proper temperature with decent cheese pull. The pizza is foldable if the server cuts it into regular slices (sometimes out of haste we saw people get weird shapes). In total, I’d say it’s more than acceptable but nothing we would actively crave. If the other options on the ship are getting you down, head back to the pizzeria for a reliable pick-me-up.

The Seafood Shack

Next to the Pizzeria del Capitano at the aft of Deck 10 is the Seafood Shack. We passed by many times, but most of the time it was closed. I think the reason for that is because of its hours. The Seafood Shack is open for lunch on Sea Days and otherwise open for dinner nightly until 10PM. Generally on Sea Days, we would spend most of our lunch appetite dining at the various specialty restaurants offering complimentary fares.

This is the only paid option on Deck 10. What does it cost to dine here? That wasn’t quite clear as everything was listed as “Market Price”. And I didn’t have a chance to ask staff about the price given they were helping others actually looking to purchase food. Given how the lobster was cooked in the main dining room, I didn’t have too much hope for the food here and so we passed on it.

javablue

On Deck 5, just past Pig & Anchor, is a small coffee shop called javablue. You’ll find potentially long lines here earlier in the day as some guests fuel up on coffee. On top of that, you’ll also find some pastries and cakes you can order along with your coffee. This is another paid option for you. We didn’t try it out in large part because we simply didn’t have room in our stomachs to eat in between meals.

Perhaps it works if you happen to be in the area, want something sweet, and don’t want to walk all the way up to Deck 10.

Bottom line

Amongst the quick service restaurants on the Carnival Horizon, some were a hit while others missed entirely. We would recommend spending your precious appetite budget at either of Guy’s restaurants: Pig & Anchor or Guy’s Burger Joint. If you’re otherwise feeling hungry and want a shorter line up on Deck 10, the Pizzeria del Capitano is the way to go. We would not recommend BlueIguana Cantina and unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to try the Seafood Shack or javablue.

Stay tuned for the next installment where we’ll take a look at the specialty sit-down restaurants onboard the Carnival Horizon.