Review Carnival Destiny March 5-10 Caribbean

[mikeyd]

Just got home last night. What a disappointing cruise. This was our 6th cruise and 4th on Carnival. It was, in my opinion, the perfect storm. It was on an older ship which showed it's age, it was during spring break, and it was during a time where the temps and storms were unpredictable and......just weird.

 

Embarkation went well enough. We opted to do something we will always do from now on and we carried our own bags on board. This allowed us to go straight to our rooms and we had all out stuff - very nice!

 

We are in our early 40's and had our college age daughters with us. We quickly noticed the high proportion of spring breakers - which we knew full well we would encounter. What we weren't ready for was the profanity and the "Jersey Shore" classless behavior that the majority of these guys had. The tattoos were plentiful and the poser mentality was in full force.

 

The lack of regard for who was standing in the general area as these guys dropped F-Bombs and acted like jerks was mind blowing. Young kids, old ladies didn't matter - F-Bombs were flying loud and proud.

 

We did our muster drill which suprisingly went pretty quick. We did not need to bring or wear our life jackets as we havle always done before. After the drill we were ready to get underway. There were 4 ships in port and the lead ship left, then the next then...............the ship behind us. What the heck? 45 minutes later a NCL ship came in (not sure what ships come in at 6pm, but whatever). Another 45 minutes of sitting and the dreaded captains voice came on to say there was a mechanical issue with the backup generator and the crew was working as quickly as possible to fix it. Hmmmmmm. About an hour or so went by and the captain came on to say it was fixed and we would have our sea day and make up the time to get to Grand Turk in time for our planned 7am arrival.

 

Dinners were decent. They had plenty of potential but ALL meals came out colder than they should have. Everything! Our waiter was very good however. We chose Anytime Dining and really liked the flexability AND we always had the same server which was a HUGE benefit. This is the way to do it.

 

The next day was so windy they nearly CLOSED DOWN the Lido deck. According to the Captain the winds were 40-50 knots. Not Carnivals fault, but part of the Perfect Storm that led to a less than ideal cruise. We were lucky however because we got up and looking for chairs at 8am and found two lounges in the Solarium. This was the area with the Adults only pool and hot tubs. It was a retractable glass roof which they closed during the entire cruise. It was great since it let the sunlight in, but blocked the wind. It was a nice quiet area. We were getting excited about the next day in Grand Turk.

 

The next morning we woke at 7am to get off the ship and noticed we were not docked yet. Around 7:15 the dreaded Captains voice announced that we were NOT able to make up time on the sea day because of the winds and waves but rest assured we would be in GT at 8am – not 7am as scheduled. Not a big deal and very understandable. We could now see GT off the side of the ship – it was 20 minutes later and the dreaded Captain came on again to say because of the winds we could not DOCK (this is NOT a tender location it has a massive dock) in Grand Turk and we would move on to Half Moon Cay!!!! That one REALLY hurt. Nowhere in my wildest imagination did I EVER consider that GT would be CANCELLED. It had high 30 knot winds and it was a hard pill to swallow. We had great plans for GT and it was truly the ONLY reason we booked this cruise. The stop in GT was the clincher. This was a major let down. Let me be clear that I know this was for our safety – and was more or less out of the hands of the cruise ship. However if we left on time from Miami and arrived around 6am in GT the winds would have been less and we very well may have been able to dock safely.

 

The captain announced as we were going to miss GT that we would proceed straight to Half Moon Cay (HMC) and would be there as scheduled tomorrow morning – why we would not arrive early since we were blowing by GT is a mystery.

 

Later that same day the dreaded captain comes on to say because HMC was a tender location and the winds were strong and forecasted to continue to be strong it was cancelled. However, we would proceed straight to Nassau and arrive around 4pm and spend the night and leave at 4:30pm (as scheduled) the next day. I was now ready to start throwing f-bombs! It was a mix of frustration and reality – since the winds WERE strong.

 

We overheard a man express his opinion that Carnival was doing whatever it could to stay out of the news. If there was a chance that someone would slip or fall and get injured getting off the ship at either port, he felt Carnivals thought better to be safe and stay out of the news than risk it. I think he was right. Carnival has been in the news a lot lately and it’s not been for a good reason.

 

We arrived in Nassau a day early. Figures that my least favorite location is one we were going to have an extended stay at. We hit the straw market and it was nice, but literally and I mean literally the SAME stuff stall after stall after stall. My kids wanted fake designer purses and they were not offering them. We did manage to find one store off the strip with fakes but they looked junky and were over priced. We stopped for drinks (4 bahama mama’s) and apps, conk fritters and crab cakes (two) and spent $65!!

My daughter found a nice silver ring at one of the shops but that was about it.

 

Since the ship was spending the night in port and there was no curfew we suspected it would be a wild night when the Jersey shore kids came back aboard. At 3-4am it was rowdy as all heck. There was a fight outside our room perhaps a bit down the hallway where guys were slugging it out and others encouraging to “kick his ass” as the walls banged. There was more yelling, cursing and just the normal crap drunk college kids do at 4am.

 

The next day we had planned a snorkeling excursion through a private company and we went to two spots. It was awesome!!! It was very cool and there were plenty of fish to see. This ended up being the highlight of the entire cruise. Afterwards we went to Junkanoo beach – the free beach and it was very cool. We entered where there were some huge speakers on a platform and ordered some drinks at the hut near the platform. It was crazy trying to order as money and drinks were flying. I got my wife and kids a frozen rum punch but there was very little liquir in the drink. The blend the drink w/o run and then splash some on top at the end. Get a double shot if you do this or you’ll be drinking an expensive slushie. We really enjoyed this beach. We were going to pay $25pp and go to the Sheraton and glad we stayed here. Back on board for the ride home.

 

The debarkation went well and was smooth. We killed 3 hours at Bayside Market (taxi was $10) which was a nice place to chill. Bags were $4 to check per bag so we lugged them with us as several other families did too.

 

The Ship

The ship is really showing her age. Many structures were paint over rust. Rust showed through in many spots too. Our room was fair. Of the two bed lights only one worked. The hair dryer had exposed and taped wires showing and in our kids room the bathroom light never shut off and the drain on the opposite side of the shower (in the sink area) was always backing up.

 

The Food

Food was good and had potential to be great but was always too cold. During breakfast and lunch the buffet was CRAZY packed and lines were very long.

 

 

Entertainment.

This area needed improvement. The shows were very good but too infrequent. We were bored at nights many times between 7pm and 11pm and there was little to do or see. NCL and Princess had a very nice cadence of things to do and you could start your night at 7pm and one event would lead you into another and into another. It was very nice. We saw the Paris show and it was pretty darn good. We only caught the clean act for one of the comedians and it was also very good. We also came to really like the onboard band Dusot (?) which was extremely good and versatile.

 

Overall

I realize mother nature is tough, and Carnival does not control the weather but this was one of the worst cruises we have been on and will be our last with Carnival for sure. It does draw a more budget conscience cruiser which invariably leads to a rowdier, beer guzzling crowd. That is pretty clearly their demographic (like it or not) and it’s not our crowd. If I were in college or just married I would book Carnival in a heartbeat.

 

Carnival was nice enough to offer us a $40 per person credit for missing HMC and another $14(??) for missing Grand Turk – it was a refund of the taxes we paid since we did not stop.

[cruiseguyforever]

Thank you for the honest review. My wife and I may go on the April 30 cruise on the Destiny. It seems like a good price but we hope it may drop some. Spring break is crazy on the ships we stay clear of it in march,We like to have fun but the drunk stuff gets old.

Thanks again....

[Buffalofirsttimer4]

thank you for the honest review, we are on Destiny the week after Easter- I am hoping it is late enough into April to be after spring break.

[mikeyd]

one other comment on the solarium at the rear of the ship. It got really hot when the sun came out. It is literally a greenhouse, where the sun comes in but no ambient, fresh air is brought in. There is not a single breeze. Imagine being in a car with the sun out and windows rolled up.

 

It became stifling as it approached noon and people began to leave. Otherwise, its a great retreat if it's windy or you want a quite area.

 

Just find the Pizza station and you'll be inside the "solarium".

 

They may open the retractable roof, but during our cruise, even when the winds calmed down, it was shut.

[agc291]

Sorry for your bad cruise, I too would be upset. We were on the Destiny over Thanksgiving and liked the ship, but did see some wear & tear. We are looking to book an end of April cruise and as of now are on the Destiny 5 day to Grand Cayman & Jamaica. Hoping for a great P&G rate this week to secure a booking for something similar if not that itinerary. Hoping to be able to sail her once more before she becomes the "sunshine".