The Ship Features on the Carnival Horizon

There are many features onboard the Carnival Horizon, but while they were free, we found room for improvement in everything that we did.

*The Sky Course takes you around the ship… don’t fall!*

View other posts in this series:

The basketball court is incredibly crowded

As you might tell from when I mentioned all the thumping in a couple of the specialty restaurants, the basketball court is very popular. The hours are daily from 7AM to 5:30PM, which might feel early in the summer. My assumption is that it’s because it aligns with when the specialty restaurants open for dinner.

A couple of other brief notes about the court on the Carnival Horizon:

Correct footwear is strictly enforced (when an employee is patrolling the area).
There are not enough basketballs to go around and other kids might steal your ball.
Sometimes there are pickup games, which is fine. But your eight-year-old kid might accidentally interfere with the game because there’s simply not enough space for all on the court.

This is a stark contrast to the Celebrity Solstice. The basketball court on that ship was hardly touched.

Dr. Seuss Waterworks is entertaining but…

Up on Deck 12 is a fun waterslide area. As you might expect, it tended to be quite popular with the kids. There are all sorts of water jets and slides for all sizes. We stopped by here a couple of times during the cruise. As you might expect, it’s most crowded Embarkation Day and Sea Days.

There are two waterslides: The Cat’s Hat and Fun Things. You can think of one as an innertube slide and the other that you just go down on your own. A couple of notes about this experience:

There are unposted weight limits for the waterslides. The innertube slide doesn’t seem to have a firm weight limit but apparently the regular water slide does. I was denied because “the water level was too low”. But upon checking the water level, it said it was at max. Eight-year-old Alex claimed the weight limit was 250 pounds. I’m assuming he was making that up since I’m nowhere near that weight. He went on the slide with no problems, so it’s not clear why I was denied.
The floor gets incredibly hot and you can’t bring sandals up with you. Get ready to burn your feet if you want to go on this.

There’s also insufficient seating around the area. So if you want to wait for your kids to finish up, you might end up sitting pretty far away from them. It’s fun for a short while but we didn’t hang out here too long.

Family Harbor Lounge

For those staying in eligible rooms on the Carnival Horizon, the Family Harbor Lounge on Deck 2 provides a small gathering area. There are some light snacks and drinks available in the lounge. You will need to be staying in a room that provides access to officially get in. We weren’t in an eligible room this trip but happened to pass by so I thought I’d take a peek.

I’m inclined to believe it doesn’t get too crowded in here given how few rooms on the ship have access. With a ship that’s at 90% capacity, it’s nice to find a way to get away from the crowds. But I also didn’t stop by when food was served, so I don’t have a full sense of how it compares to other places.

Fitness Center (Outdoors)

There are two fitness centers on the ship, both on Deck 12. An indoor fitness center is available by the spa while the other is by the basketball court. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to check out the indoor fitness center.

The outdoor fitness center was… ehh. The machines have no resistance, relying on your own body weight to move. But it’s not comfortable to sit on and I found the machines lacking. I’ve used outdoor fitness machines before at parks, but this seemed worse than I recalled in terms of getting any sort of tone. Other cruisers perhaps agreed as they were lightly used during our time on the ship (and that’s being generous).

Mini-golf and The Clubhouse

Mini Golf

The one good thing I’ll say about the Carnival Horizon mini-golf course up on Decks 12 and 14: it’s always open. That’s more than you could say about the Celebrity Solstice, which only had mini-golf available during set times. There are putters of various sizes and colors with matching balls. While rules are posted, I’ve seen quite a few people not follow them.

The holes themselves are challenging. Hitting par simply does not seem feasible for several of the holes.

Of course, if you’re tired of mini-golf, you can decide to play cornhole or billiards. That assumes there are enough pool sticks because I saw some guests messing around, breaking them for fun.

Oh, and the 8-ball was missing. Perhaps someone was frustrated and decided to dispose of it?

The Clubhouse

Right next to mini-golf is an indoor gaming area. You can either enter from Deck 12 or a staircase leading up from Deck 11. Given its proximity to the kids club, I thought it was part of the kids club, perhaps for older children. But that’s not the case. It’s just a place to lounge.

Once inside, you’ll find table tennis, foosball tables, and a rather large pool table.

The large pool table is intended to be a mix-up with soccer, at least from what I gather. The balls are flat, though, and don’t move well. It also seems to encourage crowds and is full of other kids who will kick these balls all over the place. Watch out for unexpected injuries.

Pixels

If you end up taking pictures throughout your cruise, you might find yourself wanting to stop by Pixels on Deck 5.

There are plenty of self-service machines all over the place where you can review your photos. I’m glad there isn’t a hard sell from staff while you’re looking at the pics. But strangely enough, when we were reviewing ours, we had photos of other guests thrown in. Not sure how often that happens, but it does.

The one thing I’ll point out is that there was a sale throughout our cruise for water shoes. They were only $10/pair after the sale. That’s much cheaper than you could get at any port. Sure, they’re not pretty, but some excursions require water shoes. Best to pick them up here if you’re on one of those.

Pools

Beach pool (central area)

I’m sure what everyone wants to see are the pools. Unfortunately, this was one of the more disappointing features of the ship. You’d think the pool in the center of the ship would be more of the showcase pool. The one that’s large and impressive and easy to use. Well, it’s rather small. Just look at it.

Given its size, this pool tends to be overcrowded. It’s not a place where you’ll be able to move around much without bumping into others. There are no hot tubs out here, just a couple of areas where you can get some shade. The pool water was… pretty gross. Every time we went in the pool, there was almost a film or slimy feeling on our bodies. And we saw the pool closed several times for deep cleaning. Definitely needed.

One last thing: there is a towel hut in the opposite corner of the central pool. You might be disappointed to know that this is the only towel hut on the ship. To get a towel, you need to give your keycard. If you happen to forget to grab a towel before getting in the pool, you will need to walk the long path over here. If you’re coming from a different pool, expect lots of cold wind. If you forget your sandals, I learned the hard way that the floor is excruciatingly hot on the main deck.

Tides pool

The only other publicly-available pool on the ship is back by the Pizzeria del Capitano. It’s slightly smaller than the Beach pool, but at least this one has two hot tubs. This pool has no shade, so in some ways it’s more exhausting when you’re out here in the sun so much. And those hot tubs are way overcrowded with unaccompanied kids.

Still, sometimes you get a moment of peace in the pool and it’s not too bad. We didn’t notice as many problems with cleanliness in this pool, but it did need cleaning periodically as well. But again, bring your towel from the central area or you’re in trouble.

Havana pool

If you’re staying in the Havana rooms, you get access to an exclusive Havana pool and two hot tubs. This is probably the thing you’re paying for the most if you stay in these rooms. Having an uncrowded pool is a luxury on this ship. I have a hunch that towels are available down here since it’s on Deck 5, far from everything else.

Serenity pool area

The adults-only area of the ship is on Deck 15. Given the name, you’d expect this to be a relaxing area. I’d say that’s a bit of a false presumption. We found it extremely crowded and noisy.

There are two hot tubs here but no regular pool. And as crowded as the Tides hot tubs were with kids, the Serenity hot tubs were crowded with adults. We were fine skipping this section of the ship.

Skyride & Sky Course

Two of the appealing features of the cruise ship are the Skyride and Sky Course on Deck 14. There are height restrictions for each:

Sky Course requires participants to be 48″ tall
Skyride requires a height of 52″

There are other posted rules, such as:

Weight must be less than 250 lbs
Clothing must be dry
Pants/shorts and closed-toe shoes must be worn

The shorts thing caught a few women who showed up in a skirt or dress. Attendants would not let them on unless they had shorts on underneath. But there is another rule that seemed relatively obscure that was unknown to many: you cannot have exposed shoulders. That news came unexpectedly to many women in line, causing a big argument and several people storming out in rage.

The other thing that’s unexpected are the hours of the activity. Ask employees when it will open and each will offer up a different time. Turns out that each of these times provided were incorrect, almost like the employees were guessing (official times are 2 PM – 6 PM). Then you wait in line to find out that the attraction is suddenly closed due to weather. The hours of operation are completely unreliable, so do not save these until the last day if you want to go on them.

Thankfully there are small lockers if you need them.

Skyride

Let’s start with the Skyride. You can think of it as sort of an exercise bike that will take you on a track around the aft of the ship. There are two tracks and both bikes must depart at the same time. While kids at least 52″ tall can ride, there are parts on the track where you’re pedaling slightly uphill. That can be tough for them to return on their own. In our case, Alex took about twice as long as normal to make it back to start.

You get a decent view of the area while up here. Though if I’m being honest, there’s nothing much to see than the people below you. It can also get a little chilly with nothing blocking the wind. It’s fine but not worth an hour wait.

Sky Course

Typically the Sky Course didn’t have any wait on our cruise. I think that’s because it’s not for those who are afraid of heights. Technically, the Sky Course is not as high up as the Skyride, but you’re often forced to look down to check your footing. Staff will place a harness on you, and then hook you to a safety rope. You’re able to go around as many times as you’d like in one go.

I found it necessary at certain points to have to hold onto the rope attaching you to the contraption. That’s a little bit of a shame. I’d like to think of it as more of a skill test, but the sheer amount of wind hitting you sort of prevents that.

I was happy to work towards overcoming my fear of heights. Though the rest of the family could do it, no one else was brave enough. No, I’m not going to start tightrope walking across a waterfall. But I am satisfied with myself for having tried this and not be inhibited by my fears.

The Warehouse (Arcade)

On Deck 6 is the arcade called The Warehouse. We stopped in just briefly to check it out, but as you can imagine, the prices were quite high and so we didn’t play any games. Still, that didn’t stop the kids from pretend playing.

If you wanted to play games, your cheapest option would be $20 for 100 tokens (or $0.20/token). The machine claims that the most popular option is paying $100 for 800 tokens (or $0.125/token).

The cheapest activity in The Warehouse is a crane game that guarantees you a lollipop for 6 tokens. That lollipop then costs you $0.75 to $1.20.

The most expensive activity is a VR bike ride that will run you 26 tokens. Translating that to a cost per ride, you’re looking at $3.25 to $5.20.

These costs assuming you’re able to exactly use up all tokens, of course.

Some games will earn you tickets. You can then redeem your tickets for a variety of prizes from the automated machine. The grand prize is a Nintendo Switch at 35,000 tickets while the cheapest items no one needs are 75 tickets each. I imagine not many kids are able to earn the Switch over the course of a single cruise.

Unofficial activity: Finding ducks onboard the Carnival Horizon

One thing the kids really enjoyed was looking around for ducks. One of the pastimes on a cruise is looking for rubber ducks hidden all throughout. Before boarding, we were approached by an enthusiast who encouraged us to help him hide ducks on the ship.

Naturally, we did. We placed them everywhere as a game. Here’s one the kids hid in a planter.

And they participated on the other end. Just look at how well others hid the ducks.

If I wasn’t paying attention, I would have missed this little guy.

You could even find them in the elevator or tucked away in strange places.

We amassed quite a collection over our cruise. And if we’re being honest, I think the kids enjoyed this more than other things sanctioned by Carnival.

Bottom line

We had higher hopes for the activities available on our Carnival Horizon cruise. We thought there would be a few more activities to interest the kids. There are some nice areas to kill the time, but it was hard to find activities that truly captivated the kids for an extended period of time. While it’s nice having features available–and for free–pretty much everything had room for improvement.

Stay tuned for the next installment where we’ll take review the kids club on the Carnival Horizon.

Author

Chris Wada

View all posts

Discover more from food.wada.travel

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

food.wada.travel

experiencing the world via gastronomy with our children