It’s never been said about a Carnival Cruise that there aren’t enough opportunities to eat. But somehow, the new Carnival Horizon manages to pack in even more opportunities to dine than her similarly sized fleet mates.
From buffets to burgers to Asian to steakhouse, Horizon has temptations 24/7. And among the innovations are new and refreshingly refined venues, where you can find treats like sushi boats, teppanyaki showmanship, racks of ribs and oysters that really smoke.
Here’s a look at what’s new, and where you might as well just succumb to temptation:
1) Plan ahead for Bonsai Teppanyaki
This room where chefs do a remarkable show as they cook your dinner is tucked into a corner of the Bonsai Sushi Japanese restaurant. But there are just two teppanyaki grill tables, which limits the capacity to only 16 diners—on a ship that carries over 4,000 guests. Guess what? The tables had all been reserved by the time I boarded my recent cruise on Horizon from New York to Bermuda.
Peeking in, it looked like everyone who does manage to get in has a lot of fun. Diners begin their meal with samplings of five appetizers including miso soup; kabuki salad with ginger dressing, and spicy tuna on the rocks. Four different combination dinners are available, including filet mignon with shrimp, salmon or lobster tail or shrimp and grilled chicken. The dessert of choice is a chocolate bento box with ice cream.
The restaurant is open for lunch only on sea days and for dinner every night of the cruise, with an extra charge of from $18 to $30 depending on entrée choice. Next time I’ll reserve in advance of boarding the ship.
2) Guy’s Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse and Brewhouse
There’s still a complimentary deck barbecue on embarkation day and days at sea. But now you can get Food Network character Guy Fieri’s “Our Smoke is no Joke” slabs of back ribs, 18-hour brisket and pulled pork every evening at a sit-down restaurant. It’s combined with the on-board Carnival brewpub that makes craft beers that mate perfectly to the comfort food of your choice.
Start off with “trash can nachos” and if you’re ravenous, launch into a full rack of ribs and top it off with key lime pie. The menu is a la carte, with dishes from $4 and up to a monster slab of ribs for $18. By the time you’ve finished, you’ll happily sign the tab.
3) Come in and mangia at Cucina del Capitano
You know the checkered tablecloth and old Napoli memorabilia décor if you’ve been on Carnival Vista or Carnival Magic and this room seems somewhat more airy and spacious than on those ships. I’d suggest coming with a group and sharing because everything comes in large portions. Most of the mains involve pasta. Those looking for lighter fare might want to look to doubling up on appetizers, although even the starters include large portions of things like grandmother’s style meatballs or homemade burrata. The cover charge is certainly affordable at $15 per person.
4) New surprises in Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse
It’s the priciest dining option on the ship at a cover charge of $35 a person. But it’s definitely worth a booking because it’s gotten more innovative in its menu while keeping its traditional steakhouse roots.
The showy smoke and ice fresh oysters are served under a glass dome that’s filled with real charcoal smoke. And the new Art at Your Table dessert is a must see, with a waiter creating an abstract art on a platter with chocolates, colorful fruits, ice cream and sauces. It a shame the centerpiece chocolate domes have to get smashed at the finish, so you can sample everything.
For traditionalists, there’s still the 18-ounce prime cowboy steak or rib-eye, filet mignon or surf and turf. Huge lamb chops, farm chicken or Dover sole are options, with choices of sides that include mac and cheese or onion rings for the kid in all of us. Never mind the calories, you’re on vacation.
5) Mex and Tex-Mex at BlueIguana Cantina
With or without meat, you won’t come away hungry from this burrito emporium on deck. Choose your wrap ingredients from chicken to fish to rice, beans and peppers and then sauce them up at a salsa bar with choices from tomatillo to watermelon. The best time to go may be at breakfast, when there are no crowds and scrambled egg burritos and hash browns are an alternative to dining in the busy Lido Marketplace.
6) Authentic Asian at JiJi’s Kitchen
It’s been a hit on Carnival Sunshine and Carnival Vista and this version is a cozy room tucked away on deck 12. Diners are presented with a slate-like menu and a special pen to make selections. Each guest is invited to select an appetizer, entrée and side to be shared as well as an individual dessert. Because the room is small, the chefs are able to lavish a lot of care into preparation and presentation and it’s an authentic Asian experience, at a cover charge of $15.
The room transforms at lunch into a complimentary Mongolian Wok restaurant. I found this less satisfying than the wok stations found on other Carnival ships, where you actually assemble your ingredients and watch them being prepared. Here, you sit down and order from a menu of ingredients and spicing and the chefs do their wokking behind a glass enclosure while you start with a salad. The stir fry that finally arrived had a soupy consistency and I found myself asking for extra spices.
7) No slack at the Seafood Shack
Inspired by a New England beachside lobster hut, this rear pool deck diner’s menu features, clam chowder, of course. Lobster BLTs; crab cake sliders; steamed lobster, crab, shrimp or oysters by the pound; and buckets of fried buffalo shrimp or clam strips are other entrees. Prices start at $4 for the chowder and other items are by the pound at “market prices.”
8) More choice in main restaurants
Meridian and Reflections are Carnival Horizon’s main dining rooms and the menus show more experimentation as well. One evening, an appetizer choice was a duck poutine, something that I’ve never seen on a ship anywhere. It wasn’t exactly like the Canadian concept of poutine (fries, curds and lots of gravy). It was rich in duck meat on mashed potato, so it avoided the heaviness I dreaded. Whatever you choose for an entrée (and the barbecue rib night is one you don’t want to miss) leave room for the melting chocolate cake, a Carnival signature dessert that’s the most decadent fudge brownie you’ll ever eat.
Meridian is open for breakfast, brunch on sea days and dinner, while Reflections is only open for dinner. The dinner menu is the same at both restaurants, but Meridian is the ship’s option for flexible “your time” dining, at which passengers can eat anytime between 5:45 and 9:30 p.m.
9) Guy’s bustling Burger Joint
And what can we say about Guy Fieri’s California road-trip inspired emporium of comfort food that hasn’t already been said? It’s larger on Horizon than on other Carnival ships and has two serving stations that seem to have continual line ups through a day at sea. If the folks coming away with their plates loaded with the cheesy burgers and mounds of fries are an indication, it seems that many in the crowd figure that if they have to wait in line, they might as well get two, even though the burgers are more than ample.
10) Still hungry? Pizzeria’s open all night
Pizzeria del Capitano is pulling rounds from its ovens on the rear pool deck 24 hours a day, with five options for toppings: margarita, mushroom, pepperoni, four cheese and prosciutto. There’s always an audience no matter what time it is.
At the end of a cruise and many a meal, the slogan printed on a shopping bag in one of the Carnival stores summed it up nicely for me: “Take me home. I’m stuffed.”
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