Carnival Horizon Review: Day 10 – Sea Dayfeatured

After three days of touring Italy, of gelato, espresso, long bus rides, beautiful boat rides and so much shopping, a sea day was everything we couldn’t admit we needed.

I like to think that I can power through anything – that I recognize my own limits and if push came to shove, I’d know when to shut it down. But the truth of it was that I had honestly never felt so exhausted and run down on a cruise before (including last year’s Baltics cruise, which was one of the most exhausting “vacations” I’ve ever been on), and as much ship as there was left for me to explore, as much as I wanted to do and get done, this first week of the cruise was the easy part – the part to ports we’d already been to, the part where we generally tour on our own.

So on our second sea day, my resolve to have a productive day was broken before I even woke up. Instead, I was going to relax, rest, as much as possible ahead of an exciting-yet-grueling schedule of four port days in a row to places we’d never been before.

I didn’t get out of bed until 9:30 AM and when I looked out the window next to my bed, it was nothing but clear blue skies and smooth seas. The air was warmer, too, with our itinerary bringing us into warmer weather. Stephanie had noticed when she woke up that we were already sailing through the Strait of Messina, a scenic cruising passage. When we did our first Mediterranean cruise on Royal Caribbean, it was a big deal – the captain made a big announcement, people gathered up on deck and watched as the ship navigated the channel. The spectacle Royal Caribbean made of it made Carnival’s decision not to mention it on our Vista cruise puzzling, but I didn’t question it too much because we navigated it in the evening hours. But this time, we were sailing though the Strait of Messina in the morning hours, the perfect time to enjoy scenic cruising with a cup of coffee, and still no mention in the Fun Times or any of the Cruise Director talks. So, I’m telling you – give your Google Maps a quick search if you’re sailing into or out of Naples to see when you’ll travel through the Straits. It really is a fun, unique experience!

We could have reverted to our general sea day routine of coffee and pool time, but swimming in temps that barely scratched the low 70s seemed like the recipe for extending the cold I was desperately trying to bring myself over, so instead, we hopped down to the Meridian Dining Room for Sea Day Brunch. It was no where near as crowded as we found it on the Splendor over the holidays, and we were seated immediately at a table right next to the water. We feasted on our brunch faves, we clinked glasses and toasted to the adventure to come in all these new ports and we drank a *lot* of coffee.

Flamin’ Tomatoes Soup

Bagel Breakfast

Eggs Benedict

Mac n’ Cheese

Steak-n-Eggs

Caramelized Cheesecake

Double Chocolate Brownie

Afterwards, we went up to the Serenity deck to see if we could find some loungers so we could get some fresh air while we got some reading done, only to find that every single lounger, day bed and hammock was taken or saved. That was okay though – decks 10 and 11 had plenty of loungers and we found three that overlooked the main pool, which gave us a great view of the Master Mixologist contest later on.

And, side note, just because the weather may be a little cooler doesn’t mean you should forget your sunscreen. Like I did. Because I’m short-sighted sometimes and I don’t live in a warm weather state, so I don’t immediately equate sunny weather with sunscreen unless it’s hot, even though Mom’s bout with skin cancer from a few years back is still topical. That’s a lot of words to say that I forgot to put sunscreen on and I got an awful sunburn, the likes of which was worse than anything I’ve gotten in the Caribbean in years. Wear sunscreen!

We laid out on deck for a few hours with our books and our iPads. Eventually, we headed inside for a late lunch – salads from the Blue Iguana Cantina (which was now stocking crispy salad shells onboard the Horizon!) for Mom and Stephanie and the Fresh Creations stand up on Serenity for me. I wasn’t not sure if it’s new or because they weren’t ready, but the Fresh Creations was build-your-own instead of ordering off a set menu, and it was SO GOOD. Like, the options they had up there – we’re talking pickled red onions and radishes, quinoa, at least half a dozen protein options and more than a dozen veggie options. If the Lido Marketplace was your local grocery store, the Fresh Creations stand was the Whole Foods version.

I have to give props to Carnival, again, too, for the expansive selection they put out for lunch every day. Having sailed routes on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian over the past few years, Carnival is the clear winner when it comers to casual lunch options. On the Lido deck alone, we’re looking at Guy’s Burger Joint, the Blue Iguana Cantina, Pizzeria del Captiano, the Seafood Shack, an antipasti station, a salad bar, a comfort food station, the Carnival Deli, a BYO ice cream sundae station with freshly made, hand scooped ice cream, another dessert station featuring no less than five gorgeous looking (and equally delicious tasting) cakes and I’m fairly certain I’m even missing a few. But beyond the options, only one of those required an extra fee (Seafood Shack) and more than half were made to order options. That’s insanity.

After lunch, we wandered around the ship a little bit, walking around, taking pictures, stopping in the shops. We ended up in the room for a quick siesta to rest up for the main event: Name That Musical.

Musical theater trivia is my jam. I will judge the entirety of a weeklong cruise’s entertainment options solely by if Broadway trivia is on the Fun Times. And it hasn’t been for awhile on many of our cruises, so you can only imagine my excitement to see it scheduled for our second sea day. We even got to Ocean Plaza early to scope out seats close to the stage so we could best hear the tracks, only to find Ocean Plaza crammed with people from the last trivia session. We found seats with two ladies we made quick friends with, but people were getting really testy because others were saving chairs for people who never came, using chairs as foot stools or bag stands and refusing to give them up for people looking for a place to sit. It got so bad that Cruise Director Mike stepped in, and I thought he handled it really well. Instead of scolding anyone or patronizing the crowd, he brought it up in a super organic “Hey, these folks want to join a trivia team! Do you have room on your team for them?” kind of way. And it worked!

But you know what didn’t work? Name That Musical. One, there were only 15 questions. The trivia session before us had 20, so I felt a little gypped. Two, we were asked not to sing along until we went through the answers, but trying to tell a group of people who are playing Name That Musical not to sing? That’s never going to work. Three, the questions were far too easy. The Lion King? Grease? Come on now. But four: I told Mom she didn’t need to come and that she could stay in the room to rest and shower. We lost by one – the only one we got wrong – Jersey Boys. Which happens to be one of Mom’s favorite musicals. To the point where Stephanie can’t hear the name Sherry without a little vein popping out in her forehead because Mom would walk around the house singing Sherry if the movie was on TV. And the only one I got wrong was the only one where it was a dialogue intro instead of a music clip. A dialogue intro to Sherry. I’m still so salty over it, but Mom got a kick out of the story when we got back to the room.

Anyways.

Dinner hours were approaching and we tried making a reservation for Ji Ji only to be told they were booked solid, which makes me happy in that I think Ji Ji is one of the best dining experiences across all the ships we’ve ever sailed on and I really wish Carnival would put it on more ships! So we decided to keep our low key day rolling on and skip any formal dining that evening. I took a shower and another nap and woke up in time to grab a quick bite up at the Lido Marketplace. The food was okay, not as great as lunch, where there are far more options available, and definitely not as good as Ji Ji, but good enough.

A new Playlist Production show, Soulbound, was premiering this evening, so Mom and Stephanie went to go grab seats and I headed up to the Serenity deck to get a few quick pictures of the sunset. We generally do Europe cruises in May, where sunset comes late in the evening (if it even comes at all – the sun never fully set when we were in Russia last year!), but the sunsets were at a normal time traveling in April – around 7:30 PM – but they were just as spectacular.

Mom and Stephanie ended up grabbing us some primo seats for the show. And in the interest of keeping this completely honest, I’m torn on the show. The cast is spectacular, probably one of the best casts we’ve seen at sea. The sets are great. The choreography and special effects are amazing. But the set list is kind of lackluster. This isn’t a WOW show like Flick was. It lacked the emotional oomph in the set list, and I left feeling like a piece was missing. That big song. A big moment. Something.

We popped into the big 90s Music Trivia party in the atrium for awhile. It was high energy, which made it SUPER fun, but I felt something calling my name: Pig & Anchor. We split a couple of apps and a dessert and enjoyed them with some live country tunes.

Smoked Sausage & Cheese

Dragon Chili Cheese Fries

BBQ Chicken Ranch Flatbread

Pecan Pie

I had every intention of going up to the Dive In for the late showing of Coco, but when we got back to the room, Mom and Stephanie went to do a quick round of laundry and the minute I climbed into bed to rest for just a second, I was done for. My night was over. On the plus, though, after such a low key day, I was feeling much more rested and so, so ready for a day of exploring Dubrovnik and all the beauty Croatia could offer!