Best For People Who Want:
Non-stop hi-jinks like silly adult games, lively casinos, children's activities, spacious cabins; casual cruising style, lots of good old boys and gals from the Deep South among fellow passengers.
Should Be Avoided By People Who Prefer:
Sophisticated "seen but not heard" service people; cabins with private verandas; mega-ship action; understated elegance in a low-key environment; no children; dozens of varieties of food.
Onboard Experience:
Let's be honest here, Carnival's oldest ship, Holiday and her sister ship Celebration (second-oldest) are two of the oldest vessels still in service in the U.S. cruise market. They are fine ships and were considered state-of-the-art in their day, but so were VCRs, vinyl record turntables and TV shows like "Growing Pains." Today, though these ships are expertly maintained, they inevitably show their age when it comes to things like food services technology or high-tech stage shows. So, while there's always fun to be had aboard these Carnival sister ships, keep your expectations in check and try to look on the bright side of life. Roll with waves, go with the flow.
Mostly reserved for budget cruises, Holiday sails out of Mobile, Alabama, on 4 and 5-night cruises to the western Caribbean. At 46,000 tons, Holiday was considered a mega-liner when she was launched, but now her proportions are regarded as "intimate." At least the ships are substantially easier to navigate than a megaship. During the summer months there can be literally hundreds of kids on board, and at mid-day the Pool Deck can remind you of a public beach on the hottest day of July.
Decor:
Scandalously garish at a time when cruise ships were expected to be elegantly somber, they're now seen as representing chief Carnival interior designer and whimsy-monger Joe Farcus at his most restrained! Holiday appears to be the ship where Joe Farcus discovered one of his favorite color combinations; red, blue and purple. These colors dominate the main lobby and the dining room, but elsewhere the ship encompasses every color of the rainbow, and a few more. Expect lots of chrome, brass, and mirrors, as in a late-'70s disco; keep your sunglasses close at hand even when inside!
Holiday had a multi-million dollar refit a few years back that included redesigned dining rooms and cabins, and cosmetic enhancements to most public rooms. Still, a lot of the ship's glitz is wearing off quite literally, as well as metaphorically. You'll notice lots of dulled or scratched reflective metal surfaces, lots of threadbare or stained floor coverings, and peeling window coatings.
Public Rooms:
Nearly all the public rooms on Holiday are tightly clustered on the Admiral and Promenade decks. The Americana Lounge is the main showroom and the decor reflects (literally) the colors of the U.S. flag. One of the cutest rooms is undoubtedly the Tahiti Bar with its Polynesian Masks and bamboo reeds. The Bus Stop bar, next to the Gaming Club Casino, contains an actual circa-1930s New York City public transportation bus fancifully redecorated in red and orange glossy paint. The Reflections Dance Club is where you'll find young adults grinding their way into the nights.
It will amuse some return passengers to note that the aft-most lounge on Promenade Deck, once a high-tech virtual reality experience, is now Doc Holiday's, a country western bar. What a difference a few years make.
The most you can say for the decor in the dining rooms is that it is consistent with the rest of the ship, and it probably won't spoil your appetite. Glass partitions serve to make the ambience somewhat less clamorous than it might be otherwise.
In all there are seven bars, six entertainment lounges, a casino, a disco, a library, a video arcade, a children's playroom, a beauty salon, and several shops.
Cuisine:
Confounding the scoffers, Carnival actually serves tastier vittles than several of its higher-priced competitors. Holiday's in particular reflects Carnival's renewed commitment to quality ingredients and imaginative and proficient preparation. Such Asian fusion elements as bok choy and lemongrass have crept stealthily into some dishes, to the dishes' considerable benefit, and your steak is likely to be noticeably more tender than Carnival has dished up in the past. Of course, the age of the dining room and especially the kitchen works against the staff (today's newer ships have made serving hot food to thousands of people simultaneously an art), so give your waiter a break if something comes out not as hot as you prefer it, he is doing the best he can.
There is nothing wrong with the menu selections, however, or the freshness of the food. It compares to what you will receive on any other Carnival ship. Lunches offer a wide selection of low cal and low carb options. You can choose among a vast array of salads - all, lamentably, with the dressing already applied.
Carnival pizza, available 24-hours on the aft Lido deck, remains the best at sea.
Restaurants:
Total Choice Dining means passengers are assigned a table for dinner at one of four seatings; 5:45 p.m. or 6:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. The time you select determines which of the four seatings and which of the the two main dining rooms you are assigned. The Four Winds Dining Room mid-ship, and the Seven Seas Dining Room located aft, are both on deck five. Carnival does its best to seat couples with couples, singles with singles.
The Wharf Grill on Lido Deck offers buffets for breakfast and lunch and then, in the evening, becomes an alternative dining venue for those wishing to dine al fresco or just casually � so casually, in fact, that you'll not only get no cloth napkin, but not even an adult-sized paper one!
Every evening between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., the Wharf Grill becomes the Seaview Bistro, offering a dinner buffet with no reservations or advance notice required.
A 24-hour pizzeria and 24-hour room service menu are also available.The dining room offers daily kids' specials as well as a standard children's comprising such delicacies as: chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza, and peanut butter and jelly. There are teen-only shore excursions on offer. A fountain fun card for unlimited soft drinks and juice is available for $16 ($22 for "kids" over 21).
Service:
Oddly, touchingly, Horizon's having unmistakably entered the autumn of her years seems to have inspired the crew and staff with a remarkable team spirit, intent on making your experience aboard this old gal, soon no longer to be with us, as pleasurable as possible. The crew is efficient, friendly, and, in many cases, implacably zany. (note: they take a strange delight in folding towels to resemble animals.)
Tipping:
$10.00 per person (over two years of age) per day is automatically added to your Sail & Sign card. (You may also prepay gratuities for all service personnel at a rate of $10.00 per person per day.) Of this, $3.60 is for the stateroom steward; $5.50 for the Dining Room team, and $.90 for service in the alternative dining rooms. Visit the purser's desk during the cruise to raise or lower these amounts.
On Cruises-to-Nowhere, gratuities of $10 per person per day must be prepaid.
A 15% gratuity is automatically added to all beverage tabs. Tip the maitre d', room service, spa, casino and other staff as you deem proper.
Entertainment:
Entertainment is Carnival's bread and butter. Las Vegas-style floor shows are presented twice on every cruise in the Americana Theater. Or you can choose cabaret-style live music, the piano bar, a hot disco or Doc Holiday's combo music and dancing. Late night, you can count on the casino and disco remaining open until the wee hours.
By day, there's a never-ending succession of pool games, hairy chest and knobby knees contests, bingo, horse races, art auctions, and trivia games.
These ships offer some notable shore excursions. Every ship calling at Cozumel offers a scuba excursion, but Carnival's scuba enthusiasts are able to dive the freshwater Chikin Ha underground cavern. The shore excursion department personnel know their stuff, and enjoy helping, though they sometimes exude an unfortunate tendency to oversell.
Cabins:
Holiday has large inside and outside cabins, the color scheme refreshingly warm with lots of reds, rusts and tans. The framed lithographs on the walls won't make you look for a spare pillowcase with which to conceal them. Most cabins have twin beds that can be put together to form a king.
A toiletries basket is provided, but no hair dryer. Oceanview staterooms and suites have a minibar and bathrobes. Many staterooms are popular with families because they accommodate up to four people with surprisingly little friction..
The standard cabins are pretty nearly identical, differing only in their distance above the waterline. While the 10 balconied veranda suites have whirlpool bathtubs, everyone else has to make do with a stall shower.
Do note that Holiday's cabin walls are very thin. If you don't want your neighbors to hear you, whisper, or pass notes back and forth.
Kids:
There's a playroom for children under three. In-cabin babysitting is available at a rate of $6 for the first child, $4 for each additional child. Group babysitting is free in the children's playroom during selected hours.
Fitness/Spa:
There's abundant open deck space for sunning, and a large pool with a 14-foot spiral water slide. The Nautica fitness center has state-of-the-art equipment, but these ships were obviously built at a time when the idea of working out on a cruise was fairly risible; the facilities are scandalously small by modern standards, and drab to boot. A golf learning center on Lido Deck aft, complete with an onboard PGA pro who conducts clinics and gives lessons, may help to console any golfers aboard. There are a separate jogging track and a spa offering massage and beautifying treatments.
The spa, of course, is run by Steiner's of London, known to impose onerous sales quotas on its staves; don't be surprised if, while massaging you, your masseuse pretty nearly insists on your buying a bottle of whatever oil she's using.
Attire:
Most men opt for dark suits rather than tuxedos on formal nights. By day, dress as though you're on vacation in the Caribbean, which of course you are, in beachwear or even cutoffs. On non-formal nights, tank-tops and shorts are forbidden in the dining rooms.
