Carnival Destiny 1/6-1/10 Long and loaded with pix!

[richbum]

I'm totally enjoying your cruise details and pictures also. I too enjoyed the Destiny and I'm returning to Miami to sail her again on June 4th. This time will be the Western Caribbean. I had so much fun on the Eastern. I will continue to read your adventures...:)

 

 

Thanks for reading! I had a really good time. I hope your next trip is just as fun!!

[richbum]

Thanks for posting, seeing the photo's brings back good memories...we really enjoyed our trip on the Destiny :)

 

 

 

 

Barry

 

 

Thanks for taking time to read my review. I am sorry for all of the technical difficulties, hopefully all is fixed now!

[richbum]

Hello Fellow Mainer! Great review and I too, had the same problem viewing your photos. Once you posted the photos to webshots, I was able to see those.

 

We too, stayed at the HoJo's in Portland (by Friendly's) last year. Great hotel and would recommend and stay there again. Great service and the manager indicated to me they have many families coming all the way from New Brunswick to save $ flying out of PWM.

We left our car there (as most do) and used the hotel shuttle.

 

I have looked in the Destiny for March - not sure if we are going to book for this year. Know it's always a nice time. We love to do a couple of days before the cruise on South Beach and a night after. DH loves it and it's a great way to destress and get in real South Florida mode prior to cruising. We have stayed a few times at the Richmond Hotel. Great location and near all the shopping, restaurants, etc., in addition to being right on the beach. SB hotels are not the greatest since they are older but it's still much better than staying home, right??

 

We live 30 minutes south of Bangor and love Ellsworth! We go through there to Bar Harbor a few times a year.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Hello to you to fellow Mainer! We didn't go to South Beach. I really didn't have any desire to go, and told the kids that if they wanted to, they could feel free to leave us behind and have fun there. Rachel really didn't want to go either, because of the "size 2" mentality. She felt like she would be way out of place, and didn't want to start her vacation that way. I don't blame her...I know how she feels. We loved going to Bayside and just people watching...There are a lot of different people there than there are in small town Maine! I hope you guys have a great time if you decide to book. Anything is better than these cold temps!

 

When you go to Bar Harbor, you probably drive right by my office! We go down once or twice a year and play tourist! Usually if we have family visiting or a night out with friends!

 

Again, have a great cruise!!!

 

Robin

[richbum]

I still can't see the earlier pics :-( I hope you can figure out how to re-post them again, I want to send this link to my brother, who I'm taking on his first cruise next month on this itinerary!

 

 

Hopefully you can see them now. If not, please check out my webshots page. Thanks for looking!:D

[richbum]

I have sailed on the Destiny 3 times and will again in November. You mentioned that you used Priceline and got the Marriott Biscayne Bay. What did you enter as your amount, stars and location? I have never used Priceline, but am considering it. We have stayed at the Marriott before and loved it.

 

 

This is what I got:

 

Date: 1/5/11

Number of nights: 1

Hotel: Marriott Biscayne Bay

Rating: 3 stars

Area: Miami Downtown

Site: Priceline

Winning Bid: $105.00

Taxes & Service Fees: $22.32

Total Charges: 127.32

 

(I am glad that I posted it on the winnng priceline sticky on the Florida page, cause I never would have remembered!:cool:

 

I hope that you can get the Marriott! We loved it!

[richbum]

I didn't mean to put the post about S.A.S on here, it was to go on another thread....I apologize!!!

 

 

No problem. I thought that you were responding to the person who questioned ride sas earlier in the review. :D

[richbum]

Time for a few more pix:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[avenger71]

This is my first review, so please bear with me. Some background info…There were 5 of us from Maine. Me (38) Hubby (39) Son (21) Sons girlfriend (20) and daughter (13). We booked this cruise last February when my sons National Guard unit was told that they were going to deploy next month for Afghanistan. Luckily, now that has been put on hold. We left after work on Tuesday (1/4) and drove to Portland, Maine (2 ½ hours from home, but 5 mins from the airport) since we had a 6am flight. A couple days before the cruise, I low balled a room on priceline ($35) and got it. I figured it is just a place to sleep for a few hours. I got the Howard Johnson, and it was fine for what we wanted. Wednesday morning (1/5) we got up to 13 degree temps, and were really looking forward to our upcoming trip. We got to the airport around 4:45 and got through security with no problems…which was expected since it is a small airport. Our flight left on time, and after a layover in Newark, we were on our way to sunny skies and warm temps in Fort Lauderdale. Once we arrived, we called Carlos from SAS and got our shuttle to Miami. ($13 each plus a $15 tip). Carlos was wonderful. He loaded and unloaded our luggage, and helped us in and out of the shuttle. I highly recommend him.

 

We stayed at the Marriott Biscayne Bay (Highly recommended). I got it for just over $100 on priceline. Once we arrived, I asked for a balcony room (they gave it to me for no extra charge) and a rollaway ($10 extra). We were all exhausted, but figured that we only had a few days of vacation, so we had better not waste it! We took the Metromover over to Bayside Marketplace (I know, cheesy tourist trap, but we are cheesy tourists, so it fit us well) The kids wanted to go to Hardrock Café, so we had a late lunch and did some shopping. By this time, hubby was getting a bad headache (dehydrated) so we went back to the hotel. (took the metromover again). The kids and I went and hung out at the pool/hot tub for a while, then walked around and took some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this next sign was funny....this was as we were walking into the Hardrock~~

 

 

 

Looks like the same view we had! Did they FINALLY finish the repairs on the hotel? We stayed there in July last year and it was a nightmare!

[richbum]

Food Porn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richbum]

 

 

 

 

 

[richbum]

Looks like the same view we had! Did they FINALLY finish the repairs on the hotel? We stayed there in July last year and it was a nightmare!

 

 

I didn't see any construction going on while we were there. It was a great hotel, and I would definetly recomend it to anyone!!!!!

[avenger71]

I didn't see any construction going on while we were there. It was a great hotel, and I would definetly recomend it to anyone!!!!!

That was the second time we stayed there. The first time they weren't doing construction and I loved it. But during the construction they had golf carts pick you up on the side of the hotel and drive you and your luggage to a door in the garage, the nice restaraunt with the view of the bay was closed and the seating area outside that overlooks the bay was closed off as well. So our last visit there wasn't as pleasant as our first unfortunately.

[richbum]

That was the second time we stayed there. The first time they weren't doing construction and I loved it. But during the construction they had golf carts pick you up on the side of the hotel and drive you and your luggage to a door in the garage, the nice restaraunt with the view of the bay was closed and the seating area outside that overlooks the bay was closed off as well. So our last visit there wasn't as pleasant as our first unfortunately.

 

 

Wow, that stinks! Like I said, I didn't notice anything. We were dropped off right in front of the hotel, and our luggage was delivered a few mins later. The only thing that I saw that was even remotely construction orientated, was if you looked straight down from our balcony, there was a lunch wagon selling food to workers, but I don't know where they were working.

[avenger71]

Wow, that stinks! Like I said, I didn't notice anything. We were dropped off right in front of the hotel, and our luggage was delivered a few mins later. The only thing that I saw that was even remotely construction orientated, was if you looked straight down from our balcony, there was a lunch wagon selling food to workers, but I don't know where they were working.

 

Oh well good then! Rates for the hotel were a little high for our cruise next weekend so I had to book elsewhere unfortunately. Thanks for your review, we are boarding next Saturday, can't wait!!

[tropical.dreams]

I just got off the Destiny yesterday, and found your pictures and descriptions accurate and terrific!

 

You had asked earlier, and I'm not sure if anyone responded or not, as I just skimmed the post, but the pineapple building is Bongos Cuban Cafe, owned by Emilio and Gloria Estefan.

[richbum]

I just got off the Destiny yesterday, and found your pictures and descriptions accurate and terrific!

 

You had asked earlier, and I'm not sure if anyone responded or not, as I just skimmed the post, but the pineapple building is Bongos Cuban Cafe, owned by Emilio and Gloria Estefan.

 

 

Thanks so much! Someone did tell me about the pineapple, maybe I will have to going there on our next cruise! I hope that you had a great time on your cruise.

 

I wish that I could post the funtimes, but for some reason, they are not posting, so here they sit on my computer all scanned in....Oh well, if anyone needs them, email me at imarichbum at hotmail dot com:D

[mnsawyer]

Robin - too bad you and your family didn't go to South Beach. It is so beautiful! Yes, there are a lot of people there that look like what you would think (size 2) but many that are just average like the rest of us. Once I get a little tan, I feel much more comfortable and no one else knows me so who cares! We like to go down a couple of nights prior to the cruise and the first day out in our bathing suits is pretty scary since we are Mainer winter white!

[BlueHerons]

Great review Richbum! I really enjoyed it!

 

Just a heads up, South Beach is anything but a size '2'. Those people go out all night and sleep all day. The models and agencies have pretty much moved out or gone out of business. It's a fun place for everyone.

 

The people you see on South Beach are a lot of European and South American families.