Carnival Horizon: Amber Cove

The Carnival Horizon is docking in Amber Cove today and it’s a first time visit for both of us. It looks like another lush, green port.

Click to see the entire panorama from our cabin.

Sister T and I decided while having coffee in the Lido to have breakfast in the main dining room when it opened.

I went with oatmeal, ham, banana and toasted bagel.

Amber Cove Excursion

We had meeting time of 9:30 for our excursion, VIP lifestyle experience at all inclusive. Sister T headed off the ship while I finished getting ready. We both took one of the pedicabs available as it’s a long walk on the pier and it was pretty hot already.

She had bought a pretty cover=up by the time I got there. We found our check-in area and got wristbands in exchange for our tickets. Then we waited for the bus to arrive. They took a smaller group in a van but most of us left about 10 minutes or so later to head to the bus.

The resort is very close to the port and it was just a 10-15 minute ride. We had a choice of three resort beaches but decided to go to the VIP beach. We found a beach bed right by the ocean and settled in.

It was very nice but I wish we had regular chairs or loungers to sit in.

If you laid down you couldn’t see ocean. The view was amazing and something you wanted to see. To get to the beach we had to go down stairs. Here is Sister T checking out the ocean.

You could order drinks from a roaming server or get them yourselves at the bar not far behind us. Our first drinks we had a bloody Mary and pina colada.

I did swim and the waves reminded me of the Pacific ocean. After leaving there I climbed the stairs back up the resort. We ordered lunch close to noon and I had a ham and cheese panini with fries.

Sister T had the cobb salad along with bottles of water for both of us.

The food was good but her salad wins out over my choice.

We had asked another person there what his drink was and he didn’t know. A few minutes later he came over with two of them for us.

It was very sweet but tasty (still don’t know what it was). That was so nice of him. There are several spools in the VIP area (spas that are regular water temp) and we both enjoyed one by us at one point.

We left shortly before 2 pm and made the walk back to the bus. We were the first onboard but it left exactly at 2:15 with everybody; some more intoxicated than others. If I did this excursion again, I’d check out the other beaches.

Evening Aboard

Back at the port, we took a pedicab back to the ship and I headed for the Lido for an ice cream cone (no desserts on the “snacks” menu at the resort).

After showering I took a nap before being awakened by a rare in-cabin announcement. Two people are apparently not back on board. Then I heard lots of laughing, yelling as I guess they made it back to the ship and were being heckled by the guests watching them make their way. We still left on time.

We were both hungry after our lighter lunches and moved our reservations at Cucina de Capitano from 6:30 to 6 pm.

Our meal started with garlic bread that was delicious!

I selected the minestrone for my appetizer. Oh my!

I could make a meal of it. Sister T had salad with beets which is the captains favorite (according to the menu).

Then out came our entrees. I had the chicken parmigiana with a side of gnocchi.

Sister T had carbonara and it looked delicious.

She said it was very good. I decided to order tiramisu for dessert (it wasn’t on the menu).

Sister T. had the apple crostata and enjoyed it.

After dinner I went to the 7:45 show “One Night”.

It was a musical performance by three of the acts onboard and really enjoyable. Then I went back to the cabin to watch JoJo Rabbit. Very good weird little movie.

We had invitations to the platinum and diamond party at 3:45 tomorrow.