Review: Carnival Horizon Western Caribbean Cruise – Part 5 – Specialty Restaurants

~ Chris Wada

There are a few specialty restaurants onboard the Carnival Horizon, including a couple that are free at lunchtime. But like elsewhere, it’s inconsistent.

Two specialty restaurants up on Deck 11

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The Lido deck (10) is where you’re going to find most quick-service dining options, including the Lido Marketplace buffet. However, the specialty restaurants are going to be spread out on Decks 5 and 11.

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.

JiJi Asian Kitchen is just OK

On Deck 11, you’ll find one of two specialty restaurants right next to each other. In fact, you can access the front entrance from a staircase inside Lido Marketplace. Unless you’re showing up right at the start of lunch service, expect to find a line. Between JiJi and the next door Cucina del Capitano, JiJi tends to have the much shorter line. Guess people just don’t care for Asian food out of Miami 😉

After a short wait, we arrived at our table right next to the kitchen.

It was also next to the place where they made drinks. I was looking forward to a drink here, but upon seeing that they didn’t have a full bar, I decided to pass.

At lunch, the staff will drop off a checklist for you to complete. Then the server will stop by and take the slips from you. It’s a simple system and works if you’re trying to cycle through guests as efficiently as possible. But wow that Thai iced tea is expensive. Lucky You if you are fine paying more for it than beer.

While waiting for the food to arrive, the issues of the design of the cruise ship came to light. We could hear constant thumping throughout the whole dining room. It took a moment for us to realize that it came from the basketball court upstairs. It’s the same problem in both this room and the Cucina del Capitano next door. It’s no surprise why the basketball court closes so early (once dinner opens up).

Still, we tried our best to not let it interfere with our lunch.

The food at JiJi

First off, let’s say that we could immediately recognize the bottle of distilled black vinegar. So the ingredients themselves are authentic. That’s a great start.

Alex ordered the steak dish in a broth. I’d best describe it as a braised beef noodle soup akin to Din Tai Fung (but with an egg??). The flavor was good, but the dish would probably work better with thinner noodles. It’s also nowhere near as good as Din Tai Fung’s version but no one was expecting it to come close.

Jenn ordered the shrimp dish in a broth. Let’s just say this was close to a Thai yellow curry. Again, the flavor was good. But it was hard to tell this would end up a curry based on the description in the menu. I wish they would do a better job describing the dish or the ethnicity so we could figure it out before ordering.

Char ordered the chicken in a broth. I think this was an attempt at ramen? Unfortunately, this was the worst dish as the egg noodles tasted very undercooked. I also don’t care for the chicken combined with the broth used. Needs a bit more variety.

I ordered the steak dish as a stir fry. The flavor of this dish was fine but these noodles were overcooked.

Overall, the food is fine with decently good flavors. It’s not bad, but didn’t make us want to pay for it at dinner. We’d rather take our chances at the Meridian main dining room.

It’s also far, far better than Stix at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar.

Cucina del Capitano isn’t worth your time

As mentioned above, the wait for the Cucina del Capitano is a lot longer. Perhaps everyone wants Italian food and is too timid to try the Asian cuisine at JiJi?

Just like JiJi, you get a dining sheet to fill out what each person wants at the table. And also like JiJi, the thumping from the basketball court is loud here–perhaps louder. On top of that, the ship’s engine makes the whole dining floor rattle. The ambiance is a lot more strained over here.

The food

To start, we ordered a Caesar salad, which came heavily soaked in dressing.

We also ordered some bread. Would we get garlic bread? No, we ended up with focaccia with sundried tomatoes. Only the bread had no flavor, as if they’re allergic to using any salt. It was also dried out. We simply could not eat it.

Alex ordered the farfalle with bolognese and Italian sausage, which was fine though overcooked.

Char ordered the farfalle with alfredo and grilled chicken strips. We attempted to order a half-order for her but it came out the same size as everyone else’s. That means everyone either got a half-order or a full size. But looking around, it’s the same as what everyone else got. The portion sizes seem just off here. The flavor of the pasta was fine but the chicken didn’t taste too fresh.

Jenn ordered the linguini in a white clam sauce with shrimp. On the plus side, it did come with both shrimp and clams. Though unfortunately, the seafood tasted overcooked.

I ordered the meat lasagna and broccoli. What I received was a plate of lasagna and a plate of broccoli drenched in a meat sauce. Strange that it came on two plates but maybe the lasagna comes ready-made on plates by themselves?

And this had to be the most meat-heavy lasagna I’ve ever eaten. In fact, it seemed like there were no noodles inside the dish. It was purely meat, cheese, and a very light amount of sauce I was eating. Obviously, this was far too much meat (and the meat was dry!). I did not like this dish at all.

And then the restaurants we didn’t get a chance to try

Bonsai Teppanyaki

On Deck 5 is the Bonsai Teppanyaki. There are two parts to this restaurant: the Benihana-style experience and the sushi/noodle bowl section. We debated dining at the teppanyaki table, but paying Benihana prices hits different when the baseline scenario is free food elsewhere. We were tempted to stand by the window to see if the chefs will do creative things as they cooked the food, but not so tempted that we actually would do it.

Jenn and I were also tempted by the sashimi (and only the sashimi). If the ship had problems with cooking dishes to the correct level of doneness, surely a dish where nothing is cooked can’t be botched. But we ended up not doing it. Call me a purist, but I prefer going to a sushi restaurant where the only food available is sushi, nigiri, and sashimi (and no maki rolls). Give me an omakase any day of the week.

Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse

We didn’t get a chance to dine at Fahrenheit 555 during our trip. And if I’m being perfectly honest, we weren’t looking to pay extra for food. That’s partly driven by the specialty restaurants that were free during lunch. If those restaurants couldn’t get us to pay extra for dinner, how could I justify the expense at a restaurant that offered no free lunch? It felt like a gamble that I didn’t want to take.

Bonus: Dr. Seuss’s Breakfast

Disclaimer: we did not eat this on this Carnival Horizon cruise. But it was such a traumatic experience that I felt the need to squeeze it in here. Because we simply cannot bring ourselves to give it another chance.

The main positive is that you’ll get to interact with Dr. Seuss characters. So if you’re a big fan, there’s at least that going for it.

But the food? Simply terrible. There was absolutely nothing here that we could eat when we went. The loads of sugar substances they load up on the food just to make it colorful makes it completely inedible. Some dishes have such an off-putting flavor to them that it still haunts me to this day.

When we went, it was only a $5 surcharge per person to dine at this breakfast. These days, they charge $20 a head. In no way is this meal worth even a $2 upcharge. At $1, I’d be game simply to have the kids meet the characters and not stay for breakfast. Of course, if you really want to meet the characters, you’ll see them at the parade that takes place during the cruise.

Bottom line

Of the specialty restaurants we tried on the Carnival Horizon, JiJi Asian Kitchen had the best flavor but still suffered from inconsistent noodle quality. If you want to dine at a specialty restaurant at lunch for free and can’t make it down to the awesome Pig & Anchor, this is the one to go to. Just hope you don’t mind the basketball thumping.

While it would have been nice to try Bonsai or Fahrenheit 555, we honestly didn’t feel bad about missing those restaurants.

Stay tuned for the next installment where we’ll take a look at the scheduled entertainment onboard the Carnival Horizon.

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