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Celebrity Cruise Line

MV Horizon

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Mark S.
# previous cruises: 4
Date of Trip: September 2, 2000
Itinerary: Bermuda

Bermuda is paradise -- but expensive. The most affordable way of visiting it is by cruising there. The Horizon was an excellent choice.

The Horizon first sailed in 1990 before the days of "atriums". So you don't have a lot of places where you can just go sit. Other than the pool and sun deck areas, and the library, all the seating is in a lounge area. It's still fine; no one's forcing you to drink. There is only one pool and one hot tub. But for the size of this ship, it was fine. The casino had one craps table, one routlette table and several card tables. There was never a wait. Slot machines and video poker were plentiful.

Food was outstanding -- the best on any ship that I've been on. My wife and I ate in the dining room six of the seven nights. We ate buffets in the Coral Seas Cafe every day for breakfast (all that bacon!) and lunch when we were at sea. Food was excellent in every part of the boat. The service was good but not great. But when you get great food, everything's okay.

A standard stateroom, inside or outside, is 170 square feet. There is a lot of closet and drawer space. The washroom was very well thought out, more rectangular than square. In fact two people could easily fit in the shower -- not too many boats could claim that. Our room had some unusual noises above us most nights. Never figured out what it was, but we were below the galley. I slept through it but my wife had problems sleeping with all the intermittent banging and cart rolling sounds.

We attended a few of the shows in the Palladium Show Lounge. The female singer, Jennifer Hope, was excellent. There was a show featuring popular music from the 50's to the late 70's and another show featuring broadway music -- fairly standard fare for cruises. The cruise staff were very friendly and approachable. The cruise director Rob and his assistant Derek were excellent in socializing with the guests.

Bermuda is a great place to visit by boat. You don't have to rush back to the ship like you do on other cruises. You sleep in either St. George's or Hamilton for three straight nights. We didn't take any of the shore excursions. We have found them in the past to be a waste of money, and have taken them only when we felt we had to. Instead, we purchased a three day bus pass ($23 per adult) from the guest relations office. This entitled us to unlimited bus and ferry rides while on the island. It is very easy to get around in Bermuda and the buses take you close to everything. We also took one taxi ride and found the taxi to be clean and the driver very polite. The beaches are magnificent. We visited Horseshoe Bay one morning and found a nice secluded stretch before it got busy. There's a lot of history in Bermuda, in St. George's in particular. We highly recommend it, and would consider going again.

The passengers were mainly from the New York area -- probably about 75%. I am Canadian, and we were certainly in the minority on this trip. More Canadians seem to cruise out of Miami. Our dinner companions were wonderful company, and we exchanged e-mail addresses with them at the end of the cruise with the possibility that we may meet again on another cruise.