MITSUGIRLY sails off into the HORIZON-review & pictorial
Day 2: Getting on the ship
I sat the alarm for 9:30am but was bright eyed and bushy haired by 7:30am. I can never sleep well the night before getting on the ship.
I headed out to take some daylight pictures.
Notice it says no swimming in this area but yet there are pool ladders on the dock coming out of the water (and there were several).
Now I came across this posted (for the hottub, but also by the pool)...pool hours 8:00am-11:00pm but yet down below says dawn to dusk. Hmmmm!
The rest of the family was up by 9:30am and we were on the hunt for breakfast. The other bad thing about this hotel was that there's no free breakfast here. You had to go to the restaurant there (which was around $19 for an omlete) or find other means. Well, we happened to be next door to a gas station and Kendra decided we'd head over there and see if they had any breakfast sandwiches or donuts. That would tie us over until getting on the ship.
We were in luck! They had a variety of things to devour for breakfast at a much cheaper price. We headed back to the hotel with our goodies and wanted to eat outside in the nice warm air, but there were signs saying that we were not allowed to bring food or drinks into the pool area where all of the tables and chairs were. The hubby decided to park it right there as you go into the pool at the tables...which I knew was part of the restaurant and told him so but he said it would "be okay". LOL Once again, never listen to the hubby. We had taken our first bite and along came a lady "I'm sorry, I'm not asking you to leave, but you can not eat or sit here". Hmmm, Ok, the only part my family seemed to hear was "I'm not asking you to leave".... Then another guy came up saying we couldn't sit here...then another. There was absolutely NO ONE sitting out here! At that point the hubby got a little ticked and started complaining...we were unable to use the pool last night at 6:30pm but yet there were quite a few using it around 9:30pm and nothing was said, we are not allowed to bring food or drinks into the pool area and eat at the tables, a can of pop cost $2.66 and we paid over $400 for 1 night and now can't eat at a table outside that no one else is even in the area". The guy said "Well, we don't police the area of the pool and you are welcome to swim now if you want"....oh but you did last night and we were told not to get in and we are leaving today so there won't be any usage of the pool for us!! We finished our breakfast, cleaned up our mess, hanging onto the ladies words of "I'm not asking you to leave", and then went back up to our rooms to get ready for our ride to the port.
On our way back into the hotel, we looked up by the room and seen that Kam and B's elves and pets were on the balcony looking down at us. The kids got a kick out of that.
Once we were packed, we headed down to check out by 11am and called Marco to see what time he would be arriving. He had said the port was about 30 minutes away and I had a check in time of 12:30-1pm and Kendra's was at 1-1:30pm. We were in no hurry and he had told us the day before that he would be taking one family there that morning and would pick us up after that.
Marco said he'd be there around 11:30-11:45am and I told him no worries, we'd be waiting outside for him. He arrived at 11:45 and we were on our way to the port.
Marco said this hotel (the weird one) was the most expensive hotel in the US and designed by someone in Dubai I think? I'm not sure if it's the truth or not and when I googled most expensive hotel, nothing is mentioned for Miami so....who knows.
The cruise ships were in site! It's so neat they are over on the right hand side of us at this point....
Then into the tunnel you go, underneath the ships down in the water, and then back up on the opposite side. Sakari is still finding this very fascinating.
Here is a map of the tunnel and how it passes underwater and under the ships and to the other side. I can still remember before this was built. It just started operation in 2014 I believe. So prior to that, it wasn't there.
And now we are on the other side and the Horizon is in our view!! She's massive and beautiful. The Glory was also in port with us along with several other ships! It was a busy port day.
We arrived at the port, took Marco's card to call him for a ride back to the airport after the cruise (IF he was going to be in the area) and headed to the lines after giving the port peeps our luggage.
There were 2 separate lines and we approached the attendants that waved us into the shorter line. They also let Kendra and the kids in the same line even though it was not her time to board. Once inside, we approached the desk, they took our boarding passes and passports and we were instantly done within minutes. Then on to security with our belongings and they didn't even question on pop or bottles of wine. We were done? Wait, what happened to the area they usually have inside where they ask for your payment, take your picture, and then give you your keycard? Hmmm....
They took our pictures....and my family is goofy of course.
Sakari has developed a habit of sticking her tongue out for pictures lately. Usually every picture I take of her consist of a tongue protrusion from her face! I usually have to take several, after scolding her to stop, just to get a picture of her.
Then up the ramp we went toward the ship....wait...what about our key cards? I would stop to ask someone and they would inform me that "you have a mailbox outside of your room and you will find your cards there now". Hmmm, so this means anyone could get our cards that is passing by? Weird.
That feeling you get when you first step onto the ship..... ahhhh
It felt like we zoomed here and there and zoomed everywhere and we were instantly on the ship! Super quick and super easy.
Since the porters made us carry our own soda on, the first thing we wanted to do was head to the room to drop it off before eating lunch. So...off we went to find the room. We were in room1324 on the first floor (which I have to admit, the last few times that we got the first floor, I'm absolutely loving it) and Kendra was down the hall in 1370. Close enough for comfort but far enough away for comfort. lol
We booked an interior, which we always try to do unless we get one heck of a killer deal on a balcony. We just can't justify booking a balcony because we never spend any time in there. We sleep there and pop in maybe 1-2x during the day to drop stuff off, pick up stuff or change and that's it. To us, balconies are only a benefit when pulling in or out of port. So, interior it was.
Everything was brand spanking new looking and like any other Carnival interior.
Now take a good look at this room from this angle. THIS STORAGE SUCKS!!! Like seriously! There is basically no storage on the desk in front of the beds. There are 3 shelves that are open and deep but once you put anything on the 2nd or 3rd shelf, you can't see it.
Next the desk on the side in front of the beds...no drawers other than the 1 drawer that consists of the hairdryer. Not really much of a space to store anything.
Then look at the closet doors....ONLY ONE OF THEM!!! Not your normal 2 sets of doors (equaling 4 doors total for plenty of storage).
Once you open this storage closet...you'll see there's hardly any room at all.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Here's the configuration of the beds once they drop down the bed from the ceiling for the 3rd person...Now...another mess up because once this bed is dropped (which stayed dropped the entire cruise this time for some reason and normally our room steward puts them up daily) then you can't see the t.v., which happens to be on that side of the room!!!! What the heck went wrong here?????
They have our names on the t.v !!!! haha
At least they wised up and put a section to charge cell phones here with the plugs. That was a nice added feature!
Notice this sign? Well it would light up at night...only problem is, the life jackets are NOT under the bed but in the closet on the floor instead! Under the bed we would find extra bedding and sheets.
Once we dropped the luggage we headed upstairs in search of food. Remember we ate gas station food for breakfast and it had been some time ago. Time to get this belly expansion started!!
Now I know they always have the "special" places open on sailaway day, but after searching a bit, I gave up and decided we'd head to the buffet as every other newbie cruiser does. However, I did notice that Iguana Cantina was open and I saw some interesting things that other people had and knew it had to come from there. Off I went and the family headed to the buffet.
I came back with this....and everyone was envious and wanting to know where I found that.
It was seriously yummy and loaded with shrimp too! (You pick out your own ingredients). Of course, there's nothing like eating more than your belly can hold on a cruise so several of the others decided they'd have one too...even after eating at the buffet.
We had some visitors with a special cruise pass with us this day...
Also, someone was getting a special proposal today as well. I wonder if they were on one of the cruise ships.
We would have our safety meeting inside, which is always nice and you were able to sit down. We sat in the Pixels photo area. However, obviously, so many people do not show up to these safety meetings that they have caught on and kept making announcements that we would all sit here until there was 100% participation. And sat we did.....and sat, and sat. It was about 30 minutes of sitting before they did the drill and released us.
TIME FOR THE FUN TO BEGIN.
We were in port with the Carnival Glory and she pulled out first.
Then one of the NCL mega ships was in front of us and I couldn't figure out which one it was...so I had to ask Sakari. LOL That girl identifies them by their drawings of course!
The Bliss! She's massive, she's new, she has a RACE CAR TRACK on the top! Of course, we all agreed we're going to have to get on that ship soon!
Then we were finally pulling out and it was cloudy but great weather.
The party was popping and everyone was up dancing and having a great time! Only I couldn't find my dance partner! Grrr
This time I decided to pack Sakari's bathing suit. Every time we cruise she begs to swim and we always have to wait on the luggage to arrive. I decided to throw caution to the wind and allow her to swim this time. She's such a water baby and not thoroughly happy unless she's in some form of water. I don't know where she gets this from. 🤣
She swam until it was dark! And loved every minute of developing her wrinkled pruned skin!
These hand washing stations are AMAZING!! If I could buy one of these for my house I would. We used the heck out of them daily.
So, night one. What to do for dinner? We decided to head to the MDR.
Maysae was our waitress and let me tell you she was AMAZING! So attentive and treated you like you were her only table. She was talkative and just plain awesome! She said it took her 2 years to become head waitress and sometimes it takes some 10 years. She was very proud of her accomplishments. She spoke 6 languages and at this point, had no desire to go for manager of the dining room because she knew if she asks for it, she'd immediately get it. However, she planned on having a baby soon and that would get in the way.
She was just great. We would see her around the ship serving from the bar on the back of the ship by the pool and also the main pool but sadly, we never got her table again in the MDR.
The photographer came by and took our picture tonight.
The assortment of bread is always yummy and I LOVE their very soft melty butter. I remember once John Heald asking if people preferred the softened butter or harder butter. Why would anyone want hard butter for their bread? Maybe someone can enlighten me?
Sakari always loves the bread too...so much that I usually have to cut her off from it or she'll fill up on it alone.
Sakari started off with a chilled strawberry soup. It is SO GOOD! We had this last time and I suggested it to her (even though she was hoping for some hot soup). She loved it.
Everything was good and we ordered dessert.
We thanked our waitress for the awesome service and headed out. They now have people at the entrance/exit asking how dinner was, wanting feedback and want to know if you would give it a "10"? It was absolutely a 10 for us!!! At least they are taking the initiative to get inquiries about how people felt about the food and service! That's awesome.
​
Oh, I almost forgot, while we were eating dessert, someone can up to us from Guest Services and asked if we knew "Brayden". My first thought....oh gosh, what did he do this time??? I was scared to answer. I didn't know if this was a trick question or not. Do I acknowledge that we are family or do I play it off like they have the wrong person? Ugh! Ok, I'll accept the consequences of what I'm about to hear. They told us that he was "lost". LOST?!? LMAO....seriously? Brayden lost? Paaaaleeezeee! That boy wonders around and seeks to get lost on his own constantly. He does this on purpose and I'm sure for attention and also to see how far he can push his mom.
Then she says...."no, seriously, he came to guest services and said he was lost and was crying". Um...ok. Weird. I can't picture this at all. First of all, he was upstairs on 10 watching a movie with his mom and sister...but he gets "lost" and can find his way to Guest Services on deck 3? That boy I swear! They told me they were going to go back and bring him to me.
We waited and waited...was finished with our dinner and wanted to catch the welcome show...so we finally left after a while. Like seriously! This was ridiculous. Find his mother. This kid pulls this crap all the time.
Well, we would find Kendra upstairs and her story was...they were watching the movie and Kambriah wanted a snack, Brayden refused to go with her and wanted to watch the movie. She told him where she was going and to stay put. Do you think he did? He left when the movie was over and didn't wait for her to come back. He said he went to the room and she wasn't there (remember the room is on the 1st floor and he managed to find his way there!) and then went to Guest Services to report his unfortunate events of being "lost". Sigh...
So off to the opening show...which was pretty good.
After the show, we met the fam up on the deck and hung out for a while and the kids decided they wanted to go back to the room. So I know Sakari is getting a lot older and she has been gaining our pre-teen trust lately with staying home here and there on her own. She's very responsible and mature...unless she's with Brayden. I told her the only way she was going back to the room by herself is if she STAYED by herself! She agreed and did as told.
We headed off to the comedy show and then stopped by the casino on the way back to the room. I sunk $20 into a machine and managed to walk away that night with around $30 and some odd change. Not bad at all.
Sakari would go back to the room and entertain herself with some phone drawings that night before going to sleep.
We broke open one of the bottles of wine we brought with us and watched a little t.v, with all of the commercials being in Spanish, until 1am and off to bed we went. Oh, we received a stingray on our bed mid-day today (once our luggage was brought) however, it was gone by that night and I can't find a picture of it now.
​
Now onto the ship pic tour...click below