Trip Introduction: The New Pirates of the Caribbean

~ Chris Wada

For this spring break, we decided to go back on another cruise. This time, we spent time exploring the Caribbean onboard Carnival Cruises.

Posing in front of the Carnival Horizon

This trip occurred in April 2025.

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Reason for the trip

For a couple of years, people were talking about using casino status to generate free cruises. Two years ago, I had Caesars Diamond status and at the time I tried to parlay that into a free Carnival cruise. But no free cruise offer arrived. I had marketing offers turned on in my account, tweaked some of the details as some suggested that forced the offer to arrive, and nothing. I assume it’s because I cruised Carnival (last in 2018) and didn’t gamble at all on that cruise so they had intel on me.

Eventually, I gave up on the thing, expecting failure, and pivoted to booking the Celebrity Cruises Alaska cruise we took last year. Go figure, after booking Celebrity Cruises and a good 18 months after initially applying, the offer arrived in my inbox. After all the effort spent on trying to make the deal appear, I couldn’t just let it go to waste, right?

Posing in front of Konoko Falls in Jamaica

Flights

This is probably the least appealing part of the trip, as it doesn’t involve any weird routings (no trek through Panama this time). It was a simple nonstop flight on Delta in both directions. The only interesting part of the trip, debatably, was amassing quite a few Delta trading cards on the trip.

We checked out the LAX Delta Sky Club before our trip, which is a relaxing way to kick vacation off. I won’t re-review that lounge specifically for this series. In MIA, we also visited the Delta Sky Club there, which was fine enough. I didn’t expect much from it and, at least from that perspective, it didn’t disappoint.

Routing for this trip

Hotels

We only needed two quick nights in total for this trip, as we attempted to squeeze it in so the kids miss as little school as possible. The timing of the Delta flights meant that we would arrive in MIA in the evening of the day before the cruise, and depart in the morning the day after the cruise. Well, we decided to just keep it easy.

Hyatt Regency Miami

Our first night was at the Hyatt Regency Miami. It’s located in the city and is the closest Hyatt to the cruise terminal. So there’s that. But the hotel suffers from some big issues, and we’ll talk about that in more detail when we get to that post. I think it’s fine enough if you’re looking for a one-night stay, but I can’t imagine wanting to stay here on an extended stay (sorry, conference-goers).

Hyatt Regency Miami

Hyatt Regency Coral Gables

Rather than stay at the same hotel twice (a wise decision in retrospect), we instead chose the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables. You might wonder why? Why stay here so far away from the cruise terminal on a one-night stay? Well, the hotel is actually easily accessed from the cruise terminal thanks to the free trolley running this route. I’ve also heard good things about it, which has more of a relaxed feel than the hectic nature of the rest of Miami.

Lastly, it’s closer to the airport than the Hyatt Regency Miami, which works if you need to leave for a morning flight out. The more sleep we get before the flight, the better the flight goes. As for the hotel itself, we enjoyed it so much that we would absolutely consider coming back. We did eat at nearby Versailles for delicious Cuban food, a highlight of our stay here.

Hyatt Regency Coral Gables

Carnival Horizon

We found a trip that aligned perfectly with when the kids would be on spring break, a six-night cruise out of Miami. That’s ultimately how we stumbled upon the Carnival Horizon, a ship that first set sail in 2018. How was it? Let’s call it a mixed bag. There was some good and some bad, and we’ll be sure to share our honest opinion of the cruise.

One evening, our waiter mentioned that the cruise is pretty empty because it was only at 90% capacity. Uhh, 90% capacity is pretty light? This ship can hold about 4,000 passengers at max capacity. And I can’t imagine it being any more packed than it was. I heard that this cruise gets booked to max capacity whenever Florida students are on spring break, so keep that in mind if you’re looking to avoid that.

We heard this cruise was at 90% capacity

Still, we tried to make the most of what we had. And what was most important to Jenn and I was that the kids had fun. They mostly did, which makes things easier for us parents to accept.

Waiting patiently for dinner

While we were supposed to visit Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, choppy waters meant we missed out on Grand Cayman. But the kids still enjoyed Ocho Rios (Jamaica) and Cozumel (Mexico) enough to make up for it. I’m hoping the core memories made on this trip do indeed last a lifetime. If not, I at least paid a pretty penny for the photos to make sure they don’t forget.

Memories that will (hopefully) last a lifetime

Thanks for reading along

We’re always grateful to have others read what we have to write. I guess in some ways, I would still be writing this even if you didn’t read it so I catalogue it for my own benefit. But it’s still awesome to think that others find value in what we pass along. Thanks for that. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey together with us as we explored everything the Carnival Horizon has to offer.

As always, we will give you the good along with the bad to help you make an informed decision for yourselves.

Thanks!

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