Destiny Spring Break Review March 10-15, 2012

[ahoys]

A little background: Cruising on the Destiny for Spring Break 2012 are my best friend from college Letha, her mom Anita, and myself (Kathy). Letha and I are both high school teachers and are seasoned cruisers. We've been sailing Carnival since the Holiday in 1986. We needed to get away from a most stressful school year and decided to spend the next 5 days on the Destiny. My wonderful husband Dave gave me this cruise as a Christmas present.

 

Pre-cruise (Friday): I taught the second longest day of the year to high school freshmen and juniors. Itching to get away for a 5-day respite, I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring to end the day. After stopping at Target for last minute necessities, I came home to a wonderful husband who is giving me this trip. He worked from home so he could take me out to an early “linner” before we hit the road.

My wonderful husband Dave:

Letha and her mom Anita met us at Elsa’s Mexican Restaurant in Lutz for a cruise sendoff.

 

 

Elsa's Mexican Restaurant in beautiful downtown Lutz, Florida.

 

We sat down at our favorite table and Letha nudged her mom, saying, “Go ahead, tell your news.” Then she said to me, “Mom’s got news.” Letha and her mom have never been on Cruise Critic, despite having been on many cruises (and Letha and I became platinum years ago). I kind of expected them to call me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that Carnival had called for an upsell offer, but no call.

 

So, I expected that Anita would tell me that she had gotten an upsell offer. No, she did get a call from Carnival, but it was an upgrade offer. Free. As “loyal Carnival cruisers” we would be moving from our ocean view deck 2 cabin to a vista deck 7. Vista? As in aft wrap? Yep. Thank you, Carnival!!

 

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and I enjoyed a relaxing Rapberry Margarita to start my Spring Break vacation.

 

A yummy Elsa's Chimichanga!

 

[ahoys]

Carnival had tried to call me, then Letha, and finally got in touch with Anita while Dave and I were getting the car loaded up. Deck 7 Aft wrap upgrade. Yowza!

Well, THAT news sure made for a great appetizer! After a delightful and excited dinner of chimichanga for me, fajitas for Dave and assorted enchiladas, flautas, and so on for Letha and Anita, we were ready to go. We said our goodbyes to my sweet DH and headed off to Naples. It was about a 3 hour drive to Naples from Tampa and the drive was thankfully uneventful.

We stayed at the Springhill Suites just before I-75 turns into Alligator Alley. It was a very nice stay. The beds were comfortable and they had a nice sofa bed for Anita. We had an early night (no party animal Spring Breakers here) and set the alarm for the morning. End of Pre-Cruise. Tomorrow: Embarkation

 

Springhill Suites Naples:

 

[WoodyWindy]

Nice start, and congrats on the Aft-wrap upgrade! My wife and I (and her two kids) did Destiny for our honeymoon a year ago.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about the Sunshine "upgrade" yet...

[woodsy64]

Hey Ahoys,

 

Missed you on the cruise. Sounds like you had a great start. Can't wait to read more.

[ahoys]

Day One: Embarkation. This morning we woke up and got ready pretty quickly and went down to breakfast. Springhill Suites have a free breakfast buffet and it was actually okay. I made a sausage, egg, and cheese muffin sandwich and Letha and Anita made waffles. Coffee and orange juice for all, and we loaded up the car. After a quick drive through McD’s for diet Coke, we jumped on Alligator Alley and headed for the port. It took 2 hours and again, a nice, uneventful drive. We made it to the port about 10:10.

 

Our first view of the Destiny:

 

 

Letha dropped off her mom and me at the curb and went to park the car. Going through security, Anita and I were both stopped (she had a bottle of Coke in her bag and I had a cooler of 6 soft drinks). A quick check and an “Enjoy your cruise” and we were upstairs and in the VIP lounge. Check in was fast and we were enjoying lemonade and water while we waited with Angry Birds on the ipad.

They began to board at 11:30 and we were onboard about 10 minutes later. Letha and I went right to the Shore Tours desk to book our Behind the Fun tour for Wednesday.

 

Welcome Home!

 

 

 

 

Next we went to Lido deck for a wonderful lunch.

 

 

My first lunch:

 

[re-re]

Yay! A Destiny Review, Bring It On.:D

[Buffalofirsttimer4]

ahoys-thank you, thank you, thank you for the Destiny review. We head out in four weeks and I am so excited :D

[Jgaines]

Im reading the reveiw i have 3 weeks until my cruise on destiny and our ship its sold out with about 5 bc rooms left. how back will the ship be i know there will be tons of kids i will have 3 with me.

[smplyblessed619]

Yay a Destiny review! Great start & I'm looking forward to more... Thanks for taking the time to post.

[ahoys]

It was a relaxing lunch and in no time it was 1:30 and we wanted to check out our cabin! A bit of a hiccup—the room was set up for the guests who had booked that cabin (and who must have cancelled at the last minute, I’m guessing). Our cabin steward, I Made, was a bit confused about 3 women being in the cabin he expected would have a couple. So now he had to set up the beds differently and figure out how to make the small couch work as a bed. He was really worried that Anita would not fit on the small couch, but she was fine. I'm sure a taller person would have definitely been uncomfortable on this short couch/bed.

 

Cabin 7325:

 

 

 

 

 

 

DH Dave ordered room decorations, a Fun Ship Freddy , and 2 dozen cookies sent to our cabin. We were very happy to see that everything was in our new cabin. Those cookies are terrific!

Muster was more serious than it has been in years (as expected) and I was glad that most people were quiet during the safety briefing. Right after muster was over, we were ready to leave. We ran up to our aft wrap balcony to watch sailaway. Loved it. Took a bunch of pictures of the ships behind us, Miami Beach, and the disappearing Miami skyline.

[ahoys]

Let me know if you have specific questions about the Destiny or the cruise itself. While the memory is still fresh, I might be able to answer them!!

[ahoys]

Balcony pictures:

 

 

 

 

Celebrity Millenium was directly behind us:

 

[clskinsfan]

Im reading the reveiw i have 3 weeks until my cruise on destiny and our ship its sold out with about 5 bc rooms left. how back will the ship be i know there will be tons of kids i will have 3 with me.

 

Hey Gaines! My wife, myself and our 2 children 10 and 12 are joining you. Glad to have a Destiny review so close to our departure. I hope the ship is packed. Gonna be a blast!

[Payd]

Great upgrade!!

 

Looking forward to more pictures and the rest of your review.

[mumtopugs]

Thanks for taking the time to review! I can't wait to hear more! PS: Kudos to Dave!!! :D

[trvlqueen]

Great start - and GREAT UPGRADE! Looking forward to the rest of your review. Destiny is one of my favorite ships!

[ahoys]

More photos before and during sailing:

 

Two guys and three scooters:

 

 

Releasing the lines:

 

 

Bow thrusters pushing us away from the pier. Goodbye Freddy!

 

 

Celebrity Millenium and Celebrity Eclipse follow soon after we leave.

[cuted126]

Great start! Looking forward to more!

[teetee6263]

Thanks for the review, looking forward to the rest. I don't sail until June so this will help pass the time.:D

[ahoys]

The Liberty was late getting in this morning:

 

Miami traffic was terrible when we left:

 

The Celebrity Millenium and Eclipse followed us out of the channel:

 

Spring Break on Miami Beach:

 

Leaving Miami in the distance:

[UATLB]

thanks for sharing great review so far we leave on the destiny in 49 days

[ahoys]

Once we left Miami it was time to come inside and get ready for dinner. We don’t necessarily get dressed elegantly each night, but we do dress nicely each night. After all, I’ve spent the last two months gathering outfits and I’m going to wear them!

We have early dining in the Universe dining room downstairs in a booth for just the three of us. It is a great location, and I really like our servers. I think the assistant waiter’s name is Nay, but I never got to talk to him—he was very busy! Our waiter’s name is John. He keeps practicing our names during dinner, so he can remember them. I like that.

Dinner for me tonight was fruit w/mango coulis, escargots, beef brisket, and strawberry cheesecake. I kept forgetting to take pictures of my food, so I’ll make a better effort with that tomorrow.

 

My one picture of tonight's dinner, the beef brisket. It was very tender and very flavorful. I'd definitely choose this again. Everything was delicious on this trip!

After dinner we went up to the casino, and I just became mesmerized by the spinning wheels and swirling lights of those blasted slot machines. We decided that we didn’t really need to go to the Welcome Aboard show, and we were getting really tired.

 

So we headed back to the Lido for a nightcap coffee, stopping at the piano bar along the way. I didn’t stay for very long—I thought this guy didn’t seem to sing very well. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

We went to Lido for coffee, but the coffee was cold! (I had the same problem with this particular machine one other time this week). So, I turned it into iced coffee and went on my merry way. We went back to the cabin and hung out on the balcony for a little while (very windy out there tonight). Finished the coffees, then called it an early night.

 

Anita left us at dessert and went to the casino. We saw her there from time to time. I didn’t know what time she came back to the cabin…

Before I left home, I introduced Dave to the Currently Onboard forum so I could keep in touch. I was able to post an update tonight, but it was awfully slowww…

Tonight we actually lose an hour of our cruise (I think we should all get one soft drink coupon) because of Daylight Saving. So tomorrow’s sea day plan on doing….nothing….will go even faster than it normally would. I should get up early so I can get started on that…okay, maybe not.

[Creole Girl]

Wonderful detailed review. I am an educator as well and will be sailing on my Spring Break in two weeks. I love the Destiny and this will be my fourth time on her, but my first with this itenarary. I can't wait to read more. Fabulous!

[scottsgal]

We sailed on the 3/1/12 Destiny cruise in an aft wrap on the veranda deck. Aside from some groups of college spring breakers we couldn't believe how few kids we saw. It was a very relaxing 4 day cruise, we thought the food was good, and enjoyed our getaway. Aside from some carpet areas and normal wear and tear we thought the ship was in good shape for her age.

 

We had previously sailed the Destiny 10 years ago on our honeymoon so it was nice to revisit her. Looking forward to her upgrades and becoming the Sunshine.

 

Nice review - I'm enjoying reading it.

[ahoys]

Thanks for the nice words. If anyone has questions, I'll be happy to answer them. I'll have to look for the Fun Times, but I might have them all.