Carnival Destiny Review, July 17-24

[Creole Girl]

This is a review of the Carnival Destiny sailed July 17-July 24, 2005 with one pre cruise day on July 16. The travelers were a married couple, 29 and 30, with no children. This is the second cruise for both and the previous cruise was a Carnival cruise also.

 

 

Pre-cruise, Saturday, July 16, 2005.

 

We awoke at 4:15 am to shower, dress, and put the bags in the car by 5. That left us 15 minutes to get to my parents home. My mother told me not to call and wake her until I was 3 minutes from the house. I called and she and my father were downstairs waiting when we pulled up. We transferred our bags to their van and off we went. I of course was driving because that was the deal for my mother to take us to the airport at 5:15 am.

 

 

We arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport at 6:05 a.m. The line inside for US Airways was long. We decided to do curbside check-in, which took all about 6 minutes with the line we were in. They do not check international destinations at curbside and we thought we were free and clear because we were flying in to San Juan. The gentleman ahead of us was flying to St. Thomas, USVI, by way of San Juan on the same flight and they made him go inside, which made us nervous. When they asked us if San Juan was the final destination and we said yes it was no problem. Now we were off to the terminal and were the fourth ones at the gate. I wanted to get there early to try and upgrade to first class. The couple before us beat us to it and the remaining 4 seats were for an employee member’s kids who were flying with upgrade vouchers. If they did not show we could have the seats. No sweat. I asked about being assigned to an exit row for extra legroom because I was told they were not assigned until the day of the flight. That is when the attendant informed me the flight was oversold. Oh goodness! This is where my husband informs me that if they offer anyone free tickets for a later flight we are taking them or flying out tomorrow. (Of course I am not hearing that. I had been planning this vacation for 10 months and we were getting to San Juan early enough to see some sites.)

 

The flight was scheduled to leave at 8:10 am and we began boarding at 7:30. The gate attendant had come over to us and told us not to board because neither the exit row passengers nor the employee’s 4 seats had checked in yet. So she is now going through the passenger manifest and tells us that the exit row passengers did check in she must have overlooked it, but we can upgrade. Just as my husband is pulling out the check card here comes the family running to the gate yelling, “Wait!” We just go and board the plane. We pulled out from the gate at 8:30. We got pretzels, cookies, breadsticks and cream cheese. The in-flight movie was Miss Congeniality 2. My husband was sleeping the entire flight, but I put out the $5 for the earphones to watch the movie.

 

 

We arrived in San Juan at 11:40. Twenty-five minutes before our flight was supposed to land. We made our way to the baggage claim and waited for what seemed like an eternity for our luggage. Somewhere around 20-30 minutes. It was easy to spot because I had wrapped all the handles with red duct tape and then did a candy cane stripe with yellow electrical tape. We made our way out of the terminal to the transportation stand and got our ticket to our hotel, The Sheraton Old San Juan. The cost was $16 for both of us and 4 bags and a carry on. I thought that was a good price. The ride to the hotel was about 20 minutes at most, but it seemed a lot shorter than that. More like 10-15. Once we arrived at the hotel it was about 12:50. By 1:05 we were in our room.

 

The room was great. It faced the harbor and you could see everything. It was clean and comfortable. At that point we made our calls to let our families know we had made it safe and went out to get a bite to eat. I had heard a lot of people rave about Senor Frogs and since it was right behind the hotel I wanted to go and see what all of the excitement was about. I knew it was the early so nothing would be going on, but still wanted to go to the landmark. I will say that the service was terrible. The food was horrible. I did not have any of the alcoholic beverages, but my husband did, and he thought they were not good at all. The only thing that came out good from our trip there was my picture with Senor Frog outside of the front door. I must give this establishment two thumbs down. We then went back to our room to lay down for a while because we were tired and wanted it to cool down a little before we walked the streets of Old San Juan. Our taxi driver had told us on the way to the hotel that there was a street concert that they were having that night that actually started Friday night and would go until Sunday night. You could see the vendors set up for blocks.

 

Once we got up we walked around looking at some of the street vendors and listened for a few minutes to a band playing. This was not part of the street concert, but something that goes on regularly in Old San Juan. We went in and out of shops and just saw the sites. It was close to closing time so I saw a few places I wanted to come back to the next day after we would embark. We walked for about 2 hours and came back to the hotel. We were not sure if we wanted to give another restaurant a try or just go to the subway across the street to get a sandwich. We decided to eat at the restaurant in the hotel, Forgata’s. This was the best decision that we could have made. By far this was the best service we have received in any restaurant that we have ever been in. The food was excellent and the ambiance was incredible. The gratuity was well worth over and beyond the usual 15 %. I recommend this restaurant to anyone. Once we left dinner I walked into the casino and lost a quick $10 on the nickel slots and we headed up to our room.

Embarkation, July 17, 2005

 

I awoke at 6:30 am. It must have been the excitement. I just wanted to look out the window to see if the ship was there and indeed it was. I pulled out my video camera and began filming our new home for the next 7 days and mulled around the room. I got back in bed and watched TV for a little while and then got out of bed at 8:45 to iron our clothes (which I did not know would become MY job for the rest of the trip). Once we were all dressed I checked to make sure I had all our papers in my carry-on so I could whip them out when asked. My husband asked when was the earliest we could board the ship and I said we could line up at 11 they would let us on by 12’ish…WRONG (more on that later).

 

We did the automated room checkout on the TV and took our luggage for the short walk across the street to the pier. My husband was rolling a suitcase and garment bag on wheels. I was rolling a suitcase and a small suitcase that I had hooked to the larger one on wheels. The walk was really about a block down if that. Once we arrived there were cabs lined up and charter buses. People coming in and people getting off the ship. We were among the first getting to the ship. We did not need a porter at all. We walked in the gates and the Carnival agents had signs in there hands reading, “Check in this way.” We walked over and handed them our ticket they signed it, looked at our documents and told us to come back at 1 pm because the ship was not ready. Now at this time it is 11:20. I told my husband to ignore this because they tell everyone this. That they will let us in by 12 and that we will just be waiting for security at that point. Well no, they did not let us in the doors until about 12:50. So we just sat around talking to this nice other couple we met who flew in from California, drinking lemonade until then. At least we were in the shade and not standing in the line that had formed.

 

 

Once we got in the doors and up the escalators it was unorganized at first. They put everyone in the same line whether you had FunPass or not. Actually it was one person who was doing that even though they had two specific lines marked. I honestly think she was trying to fit everyone in the ropes to get the process started. It did not effect us because once we walked up she asked if we had done our FunPass. We said yes and she sent us to that line and we were the first ones in the FunPass only line. As soon as we walked we gave our agent the signed ticket from downstairs when we first checked in. He gave us our room keys and our paper for our dinnertime, which was 5:45 the first night. That was it. We were off to take our embarkation photo…”Smile!” Then we stopped in the liquor store and got a bottle of Amaretto for our carry-on and went through security. Next on to put our Sail and Sign cards through the machine to take our photos and finally we see the sign as we board the ship…”Welcome Home”.

 

Upon entering we were greeted by hosts and given a deck plans. We made our way to our cabin. Verandah aft balcony 8337. When we got there it was clean and made up. It was decorated with the Bon Voyage decorations I had purchased. I thought the decorations were nice and made it very festive. It also came with two nice key chains that say Bon Voyage on them. I felt it was worth the $32 that I spent for them. Also there were the cards saying that my husband had drink coupons waiting for him at dinner that night. He was surprised about that. The only thing missing was our champagne baskets. Four of them to be exact. I had redeemed them with the last of my points from my Carnival MasterCard. Needless to say I had the confirmation codes for everything with me so that if there were a problem I would have it. But believe me, I was not going to sweat that at all.

 

We went up one deck to lido to grab a bite to eat and went to see the Maitre’D about our table assignment before leaving the ship. We wanted a table for two. When we got there he already had us seated at a table for two by the window in the Universe Dining Room. I told my husband there was no way I was leaving San Juan without going to the Coach outlet. So lunch we hopped in a cab to take us there. It is in Old San Juan on Cristo Street. It cost us $7 to get there. I found a bag and you could not wipe the glee from my face. The one I truly wanted my husband said, “Are you serious? Would you really pay that much for a purse?” Now I remember why I never take him shopping with me. That bag would have been mine if he had stayed aboard. We left and took in more sites and then went back to the ship where the line to get in was so long. I am glad we just got to show our cards and breeze through. The only line we had to stand in again was security.

 

 

Now it was time for dinner. We actually could not find anyplace to sit so we just sat at our assigned table the first night. My husband got his drink coupons, but we still had not gotten the champagne and the restaurant manager told us that they were out of Korbel right now, which is the kind that they serve with the champagne baskets. My husband told her that we actually prefer Martini & Rossi to that and she said she would have them delivered to our cabin after dinner. Once dinner was over my husband went to the cabin and I walked around the ship. There was a wedding party that was taking pictures when I stopped at the Cheers bar to have a couple of martinis. They were from Bermuda. I sat and chatted with the groom’s brother for a while. He was giving me the whole family history and telling me about Bermuda. Very interesting. By this time it was 9 pm and I needed to go back to the cabin to get ready for the muster drill. The drill was at 9:30 quick and painless. We went back to the cabin where we had a bottle of champagne on ice for sail away. I got out the video camera as we sailed out of San Juan and toasted the start of our cruise.

 

 

St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., July 18, 2005

 

Good morning St. Thomas! I woke up at about 7:15 am and we were already docked. There was a Royal Caribbean ship docked right behind us. We were the only two ships in port that day. I went out on the balcony to get a look around and soak up the sun and the view. At that moment I knew that I would be forever in love with the Virgin Islands. By this time my husband was up and he came out with the camera and we were filming and discussing the view. I still had cell service (Sprint PCS) and I called my mother at work (our ritual everyday since I was a freshman in college…1,000 miles from home). My husband is saying it is too early to call, but I know our talking schedule. I had to fill her in on all that my eyes saw before me. The turquoise blue waters, the white houses dotting the hillside, the boats anchored in the harbor all around us. Magnificent. Plus I wanted to make her jealous since the rest of the family was supposed to be on this vacation with us in the first place.

 

We went back in the cabin and I went to iron my clothes…oh I forgot…OUR clothes. There was a launderette on the same floor so I never had to go up or down stairs to find a place to iron. Once I got back I went to breakfast in the dining room and my husband stayed in the cabin. He did not want to go. I had promised myself that on this cruise I would take advantage of eating breakfast in the dining room when I could. I was seated at a table with four other ladies. It was a very painful breakfast experience. I ate in total silence as they talked and talked. I introduced myself when I sat down, but what made it so bad for me is that the lady I was sitting next to turned her left shoulder inward and I was more so facing her back during breakfast. Oh well. I just listened. I was in St. Thomas so who really cares. It was about to be sun for me. I ordered lox and bagels with a side of hash browns and bacon. It was good. I said goodbye and wished everyone a good day and left the table.

 

 

We had arranged a tour with Godfrey Tours for today. He will pick you up at 9, 10 or 11 to do shopping prior to the tour that starts at 12. I asked him to pick us up at 11 because I know my husband is not into the shopping thing, plus we will be coming back to St. Thomas later in the year on a land based vacation so we just needed a taste. We got off of the ship at about 10:45 am and were waiting outside of the immediate gate for Godfrey’s touring truck. He came riding through with a sign that had my name on it. My husband had left to go back and get the number to the ship because he was a little nervous that we were taking a tour with an independent contractor and not Carnival (on our first cruise everything was through Carnival). So we hop in and off we are to the downtown shopping area. We saw Oprah the mule and her owner dressed alike and a gentleman slicing coconuts selling coconut water. We walked around and I purchased and embroidered St. Thomas tank dress for my mother and 2 big embroidered St. Thomas zip totes in black and navy. It was a shorter shopping time than we thought. It was time to start the tour. We met Godfrey and we were off.

 

 

The tour itself is a total of two hours long. We went to different points along the island and stopped for picture opportunities. We also went to the point where you can lookout over Magen’s Bay and purchase banana daiquiri’s. We got a not alcoholic one to share because we did not want to be drinking out in the heat with no other liquids. It was good and I suggest everyone try it that takes the tour in the future. We got a brief history while out on the terrace over looking the Bay and saw St. John’s and the British Virgin Islands in the distance. Once we left we went to several other places. Godfrey then told us about the three beaches we had to choose from for 2 hours of our tour. Coki (crystal clear water and coral world), Sapphire, and Magen’s. I wanted to go to Sapphire because it was larger, but still had clarity. Now by this time we were running behind schedule because some in our group took longer than they should have with the banana daiquiris. We were now twenty minutes off schedule and Godfrey was doing his best to try and catch things up and make everyone happy. Once we get to Sapphire beach he tells us that he will come back and get us and have us on the ship by 4:15. This is when my husband starts getting nervous about the time. I had a spa appointment at 4:30 so he is saying I am going to miss it and we may be late catching the ship back. Somebody catch me now because I am about to pass out. You mean to tell me we are standing here on this beautiful beach and you want to go back to the ship because you are worried about MY spa appointment. Well back to the ship we went. We thanked Godfrey for a wonderful tour and tipped him. I would tell anyone to take his tour. It is well worth the $20 cost.

 

I went to the lido to grab something to eat, but the buffet was closed. So I grabbed a burger and fries. Went to the cabin and ironed my clothes for the night and then went to the spa. I had a 50-minute neck shoulder and foot reflexology massage. 25 minutes on the neck and shoulders and 25 on the feet. Needless to say that I fell asleep. It felt terrific. The total was $89. It was a special while in St. Thomas. I went back to the lido aft pool to get the drink of the day special for $2.95 and went to the cabin. I took a shower from being out in the heat all day and relaxed for a little while before dinner. I got dressed and left.

 

After dinner we decided to try our luck in the casino. I sat down to the nickel slots and lost a quick $10. I got up from there fast. Then they were having a raffle that you had to present to win at in the casino. I went over and filled out my name and dropped it in. At this time my husband was playing his favorite, craps. And I headed to my favorite, blackjack. It was great. I am a bargain basement gambler. I put $40 up. Once that $40 was gone…so was I. I was winning and losing, but still with the same money I had. The next thing you know they were starting the raffle. Then the dealer dealt me a blackjack and they called my name as the first winner in the raffle. I had to leave the table to get my prize or they were going to give it away. That stinks because I was $60 ahead at this point and the table was full. I went and it was an Ocean Player’s Club bag, and key chain/bottle opener, polo style shirt, deck of playing cards, and a pair of beads to wear for winning. I was hoping for one of the excursions or spa treatments they were giving away. But hey, I got something just for filling my name out so I cannot complain. Back at the table someone had jumped in my spot and when I came back he said he was waiting for me to move because I was getting great cards. Thanks a lot fella. Another seat opened, but I should have just walked away because I lost it all back. I bid farewell to the table and had to drag my husband from the craps table and giving Carnival all our money.

 

We went down to the photo gallery and got our pictures from St. Thomas and then back to the cabin. We had to get up early the next morning to start our adventure in Dominica.

 

 

Dominica, July 19, 2005

 

 

We were up at 7:30 am this morning. We had discussed the night before about where our tour with Reyno would be taking us and I told my husband to bring his suit if he wanted to take a dip. We both decided that we did not want to get in the waters so there was no need for us to put our swimsuits on under our clothing. We got up and showered and went to the dining room for breakfast. I had my pancakes and lox and bagels. I was being over indulgent, but hey I was on vacation. We were seated with a honeymooning couple and another couple from Arizona. It was a great breakfast and the conversation was good. We actually got so caught up in the conversation that we were late getting off of the ship. We were supposed to meet Reyno for 9:30. The ship was still docking at a little after 9 so we knew that 9:30 was not happening. We got off and reached him at about 10:15.

 

 

Let me say that when you first get off of the boat there is a pier that you have to walk across to get to land. Once there you are barraged with tour guides. There was no other island the entire trip that was like this. If you do not have a trip booked you will be sure to get one easy just walking off of the ship. We spotted Reyno by the sign held up in the air that said Reyno tours. I went over and introduced myself. He actually knew me by my online name from a cruise message board. In my email correspondence with him he said that is van fits 8-10 persons comfortably. Well when we got to the van there was already 9 guests, the driver and the tour guide for a total of 11. I must point out that some of the seats are jump seats (fold up on the side and let down, not big enough for and adult in my opinion). We would make thirteen. The van is small. I was very uncomfortable the entire trip as was my husband. Reyno said that if I were uncomfortable he would put me in another van. I appreciated the offer and was going to accept and then he said we would be the only two in the other van and he would wait around and see if he could get other passengers to ride with us. No, no, no. Let’s just go. I wanted to see the island, but then again I should have stayed. We were off. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and the driver was good. We went to the Emerald Pool. We had to pay $2 each to get in. We hiked down to the pool and hiked back up. If you have any major physical difficulties or problems with your knees or such I suggest that you just go to the lookout and not all the way down.

 

 

After Emerald Pool we went to Mr. Nice to Be Nice Fruit Stand. My husband really got a kick out of this. Mr. Nice is very entertaining. The fruit was the best fruit I have ever tasted in my life. The freshest pineapple I have ever had. If I could have fruits and vegetables like this at home I could become a vegetarian. Mr. Nice also used the sugar cane press to squeeze out some sugar cane juice. This instantly took me back to my childhood when I would spend the summers on my great grandmother’s porch in Mississippi eating sugar cane. Those sure were the days. Here you can eat all the fruit that you like. The only thing they would like you to do is leave a tip. We did and boarded the bus. We looked at different sites and finally ended up at Trafalgar Falls. By this point we were both car sick from the trip up to the falls. Very windy and high. I think we had enough of the van at that point. We did not even pay to go into the falls. We just hung out by the dining area and I had a sprite for my stomach. On the way back to the ship we went through the botanical gardens and saw the bus that the tree had fell on in 1976 from hurricane David. Now back to the ship where we paid for the tour, $30 each, and tipped the tour guide and the driver. I was never so happy to see that ship in all of my life. I went and grabbed a bite and laid down before my facial appointment. It was formal night after all

 

 

My appointment for my facial was at 6. I had the hydra rejuvenation and it was $89. It was great, but when I get facials at home I am use to a little more being done with my skin. The view in the treatment room was to die for however. As soon as we started though the ship started moving and I eventually got lulled to sleep. My skin did feel like butter after that. I went to the room to get dressed for formal night, as I had showered before the facial appointment. My husband had just gotten out of the shower and was relaxing with a glass of champagne. We went to dinner and it was terrific. I do not remember all that I had, but I do know that I had the lobster for a main course and it was good. I also ordered a beef dish as well and I did not like it so I had them take it away and I got another lobster. We then went to have our photos done and picked up our pictures from when we got off the ship earlier in the day. We did some looking and were going to go to the midnight comedy, but the waters were very rough and we were feeling ill. I thought that maybe we were just still feeling bad from earlier, but I heard some other complaints about the seas. We headed back to the room took some medicine for the sickness and called it a night because I got drowsy.

 

 

Barbados, July 20, 2005

 

 

Today we had nothing planned for Barbados. We knew that we could take our dear sweet time getting off of the boat. My husband wanted to do the beach scene, and I knew that we could get that at The Boatyard. We got dressed and put our swimsuits on under our clothes and went up to the Sun and Sea buffet for breakfast. It was great. I had pancakes and he had cereal. We got off and took our usual daily photos and headed into the cruise terminal. Here we saw some passengers boarding the ship. It was very few, but my husband made sure to ask me why we did not board here. In one word I answered his question, “Airfare!” We sampled the Punch de Cream drink that was to die for. We also sampled some of the rum cakes. We purchased both on our way back to the ship later. Outside of the terminal we caught a taxi.

 

 

Once at the Boatyard if I remember correctly we paid $12 each to get in and got $5 back in tokens to spend on food and drinks. We went in and picked an umbrella and a spot on the beach. One of the employees dug the hole for our umbrella and we were set. There were other vendors on the beach offering motor sports such as jet skis for $50 for 30 minutes. The Boatyard offers theirs for $1 a minutes. So 30 minutes is $30. My husband did the jet skis and was out for about 40 minutes while they were doing banana boat rides and they only charged him $20. We were out on the beach for about six hours. I was in the sun for about an hour and under the umbrella for the rest, but still managed a slight burn. I also got a nice ankle bracelet on the beach as well because there were people selling things. They will come over and show you what they have. They don’t force anything on you.

 

 

Once we left I knew I had to go to get my father some Royal Barbados cigars. The thing about these cigars is that they are rolled in Barbados, but the tobacco is Cuban. They said during the shopping talks that this was the only legal way to bring a Cuban cigar back into the states because they consider it a product of Barbados. Now we get back to the ship and it is about 6 pm. The boat does not leave port until 10, but we had our fill that day. I was not feeling well from the sun. I had a headache and a low-grade fever. Tonight they allowed shorts in the dining room. My husband wore shorts and I wore a capri set. When we went to dinner our assistant waiter even noticed I was not feeling well because I was not eating my usual dinner rolls. I am so glad that I had made a first aide bag for the trip so I had some medicines in it that I thought could help with my fever and headache. I took them and laid down. I told my husband he could leave me in the cabin. He went out and I have no idea when he returned. I slept and was glad that the next day was a fun day at sea.

 

 

Fun Day at Sea, July 21, 2005

 

 

Finally someone had come to fix the clog in our shower drain. When you would take a shower the water would fill and drain very slow. I only wish they could have gotten to it sooner in the week, but as long as I could stay clean I was okay. We did not do too much of anything today. I think the sleeping bug bit us really hard. We just relaxed all day. Eating and sleeping and I walked around for a little while. We watched a movie and that was pretty much it. Tonight was the second formal night so I got to primp for it a lot longer than the first. We were dressed to the nines and went to dinner. We actually did not take any pictures this night because now my husband was not feeling well and wanted to go back to the room. What is wrong with the two of us? On vacation fighting bouts of not feeling well. He was okay and we made plans to go to the midnight show. He was watching TV and I told him to wake me at 11 so we could go get good seats and chat. Well don’t you know I woke up the next morning fully dressed in rhinestones and makeup? He said I was sleeping so peacefully he did not want to wake me. Oh forget peace, we are on vacation…I want to see the show!

 

 

Aruba, July 22, 2005

 

 

If I thought I loved the Virgin Islands it was only because I had not laid eyes yet on Aruba. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! We got up and went to the Sun and Sea buffet for breakfast. We got off the ship at about 11. By then they were no longer taking photos so I was bummed about that because I had gotten them in every port. We made our way out and had no idea what we were going to do. The only thing I did know is that I wanted to go to Kay’s Jewelry because they were a recommended buyer and specialized in sapphires, my birthstone. Once we were leaving the pier we were asked about doing a tour of the island. The cost was only $10 each and we were told to meet back at 1:15. That sounded good to us so we left. We went and looked at the vendors and made our way to Kay’s. I fell in love with a diamond and sapphire cross and my husband a diamond cross. I really wanted to leave the store with the pieces I fell in love with, but knew I did have to come home to live once vacation was over. I had to drag my husband out of the store. We walked and took in the sites. I went into a store and purchased t-shirts for my Goddaughter and God sister. By then it was time to meet up for the tour.

 

 

When we got back there were others who were touring with us. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the company, but the were wonderful. Their bus was large and air-conditioned and the driver knowledgeable. It was in my opinion worth more than the $10 each that was charged. We went to the natural bridge, by the ostrich farm, the rock formation, the gold mine, the butterfly farm, all the beaches, the oldest church on the island and got tons of historical facts. The guide’s daughter was on the bus and taught us some Dutch words and sang the national anthem for us. During the tour we got out and stopped at Eagle Beach I believe it was. The sand was the texture of baby powder. Oh my goodness. I have never in all of my life felt sand like this. The buildings are beautiful colors and you can see the Dutch influence everywhere. The tour lasted three hours. That was great for only $10. We gave and extra tip at the end of the tour. We were very happy.

 

 

We then walked the streets a little more and walked by Carlos-n-Charlie’s before getting back on the ship. It was 6 pm when we boarded the ship. We went to the bar and got a drink and went to the cabin to relax before dinner. Shorts were permitted tonight while in Aruba. Wouldn’t you know it though? We both fell asleep and woke up at 8:30. We ended up going to the New York Deli and getting something to eat and sat around watching people coming onboard from Carlos-n-Charlie’s. There was another gentleman sitting with us at the lido pool bar watching and we were laughing with the bartender at it all. He said it is the same scene every week. I say more power to you. We stayed up late that night before turning in.

 

 

Day at Sea, July 23, 2005

 

 

Today was our last day onboard. I went to the debarkation talk in the Palladium lounge at 11 am with our cruise director, Skip Lyons. Then I hit some of the shops to see if there were any trinkets I wanted to bring home. Finally I made my way to the auction. I only planned on staying a little while, as I did not think it would last as long as it did. The preview was at 12:30 and the auction was to start at 1:30. It did not start until 2. The auction did not end until after 4. I wanted to go up on deck to get some last minute rays, but if I left I would not be able to get my free art. What a bummer. So I ended up staying. I am glad I did because the art matches my kitchen perfectly. I just need to find a frame for it. It came with a certificate of authenticity as well. The art was selling very far out of my price range and I could tell the auctioneer was getting upset because pieces were being displayed and no one was bidding. The starting price would be $6,000 or so.

 

 

That night we went to dinner and at the end were presented with a picture of the ship. We then went around and took pictures of the ship and filmed for our memories. I went back to the cabin to pack and sit our luggage in the hall by midnight.

 

 

Debarkation, July 24, 2005

 

 

We were told that to qualify for an early flight you must have been flying by 1:30. Our flight was at 1:50. We missed by twenty minutes. I got up got dressed and ordered a BLT from room service and a bowl of fruit. We left the room at 9:30. Our color tag was dark orange, verandah aft. We waited and waited for our color to be called. By 11 still nothing. 11:15 nothing, 11:30 still nothing. So we went to the purser’s desk to ask when we would be called because of our flight. They told us that we would be the last color called and that we should have been let go early. I told her that I asked for this yesterday and was told no. The purser then let us go ahead to wait in the Palladium lounge with the color that was already called. So once we get in there is another wait, which would be another 30-40 minutes. There was no way we could do that and make our flight. I asked one of the employees inside and they told me not to worry they do this every week and we would make it. I told her I was concerned because last week when we were waiting to board there were still passengers debarking at 1 pm. So then we sat down. Someone else came over who had a flight the same time as ours and then another employee said to the one we spoke to, “They act like we don’t know what we are doing.” So at that point my husband walks out the back door and got in line with the passengers waiting to clear customs. He said if we wait then we will miss the plane. I did not want to go thinking I am going to get busted by the Carnival police, but what choice did I have. So we stood there about 5 minutes and went through to customs. We spotted our bags easy and got a taxi to the airport. The taxi charged us $24. We asked why was it $24 to the airport for the same amount of luggage, but only $18 coming. He could not answer the question. We had not time to argue so we hurry in to the line. We got to the airport at 12: 25

 

 

The US Airways line was the longest line in the airport. It stretched from one end of the terminal to the other. We stood in line forever. At about 1 pm they started calling out passengers on our flight out of the line to come and check in. Now at this point we knew that if we had stayed back at the ship we would have missed the plane. We check in and then go through security. We get down to the gate where they are asking passengers if they want to upgrade for $150 each. I told my husband to check if they were sold out and if not was anyone assigned to sit next to us while I go to the restroom. The next thing I know I am back, he has upgraded us and we are boarding us. The plane was not too full, but once on board I saw someone I had went to high school went and coaches’ football in the county I work in. Small world. Once we got home we did discover that we were only charged for one of us to upgrade so that worked out good. We watched Fever Pitch on the way back, or should I say Fever Pitch watched us because we were asleep. We were up long enough for the meal, which was cheese tortellini, chicken wrap, and all the cashews, potato chips and cookies you could eat.

 

 

Summary

 

 

All in all I believe that this was a great vacation and a good value for the money. I would recommend this route to anyone. Puerto Rico is a wonderful island and the people are some of the most hospitable we have encountered anywhere in the world. I strongly suggest spending some time pre or post cruise if you can. We would like to come back and do a land based vacation here. One thing that we have learned is that with all the planning in the world you cannot do everything there is on the ship. Take it one day a time and just go with the flow. Don’t try to stay on the ships activity schedule, but your own.

 

 

The room steward service was fine. There was nothing-extra special done. We received what we expected.

 

 

The dining room service was above and beyond. We tipped them extra at the end of the week and wrote them a great review on the comment cards.

 

 

The food was fine. Some dishes we liked and some we did not. We believe that our likes and dislikes balanced each other out. There is something for everyone onboard.

 

 

We really liked the cruise director, Skip Lyons. He was very entertaining and upbeat.

 

 

[gypsyrose]

Thanks for the great review. I enjoyed reading it. Sounds like you had a great cruise, and a restful one. My first cruise I was always napping. I blame it on the patch behind my ear. I want to try to stay awake more my next cruise.

[Creole Girl]

Thanks for taking the time to read my review. It sure took a while to write it :eek: . The cruise was very restful, but we always had something to do when we wanted to and that is what was important to us.

[pholter]

CG- how did you get your review to post all on one screen?? The thing kept cutting mine off after a certain number of characters, so it had to be split up.

 

Just curious- loved it :)

[Flip2cruise]

Great Review!! Thanks for taking the time to share it.

[jerseygirl3]

Great review. Just a couple of questions. Did I understand you correctly that you were allowed to order room service on the morning of debarkation? For some reason, I thought you could order the continental breakfast that is available every morning, but I thought room service shut down the morning of debarkation.

 

Also, what is a Godsister? I've got Goddaughters and Godsons, but no Godsisters.

 

I'm aghast that USAir put on an employees family in first class before a paying passenger. My dad is a retired USAir employee (worked for them for 40 years), and we employee family members always flew standby. We've actually had to vacate a seat when a paying passenger showed up late. I find it unthinkable that you were denied an upgrade because of an employee. My parents can still travel on USAir passes, but often times they opt to purchase full price tickets because they get bumped so frequently. And they've been holding onto an upgrade pass forever because they never have seats available for the employee/family.

 

Sounds like you had a great time. We're booked on this cruise for next September. I've been hemming and hawing about keeping the booking, because I wasn't thrilled when we sailed Destiny when she was brand new. But we got a great price, so we'll probably keep it.

[hill6]

Great review. Love the detail. I think I would have probably handed my husband my clothes one day and asked him to be a dear and iron the stuff today because you were running late.

[shecat]

Thanks for the great review! Brings back memories of our Destiny cruise last year.

[Cabin8538]

Creolegirl-

 

I have a question about the boarding. . . . you said you were not allowed until 12:50 pm. I thought that I read SOMEWHERE (so many threads, so little time), that it was more like 12:00, like you thought. Were there special circumstances that held it up or should we plan on the later time?

[Creole Girl]

CG- how did you get your review to post all on one screen?? The thing kept cutting mine off after a certain number of characters, so it had to be split up.

 

Just curious- loved it :)

 

I am surprised that I got it all in as well. I thought it would get cut off and I would just pick up from there, but amazingly it all fit.

[Creole Girl]

Great review. Just a couple of questions. Did I understand you correctly that you were allowed to order room service on the morning of debarkation? For some reason, I thought you could order the continental breakfast that is available every morning, but I thought room service shut down the morning of debarkation.

 

Also, what is a Godsister? I've got Goddaughters and Godsons, but no Godsisters.

 

There was a note in the capers for the morning of debarkation that roomservice would end at 8 am. I took advantage and ordered.

 

My Godsister is my mother's Goddaughter. Just like her biological daughter would be my sister. This just happens to be her Goddaughter.

[Creole Girl]

Great review. Love the detail. I think I would have probably handed my husband my clothes one day and asked him to be a dear and iron the stuff today because you were running late.

 

Of course we had several tiffs about that one. I wanted to feel like I was on vacation too! Of course I left my butler at home, but he thought he had brought his maid...:eek: .

[Creole Girl]

Creolegirl-

 

I have a question about the boarding. . . . you said you were not allowed until 12:50 pm. I thought that I read SOMEWHERE (so many threads, so little time), that it was more like 12:00, like you thought. Were there special circumstances that held it up or should we plan on the later time?

 

We were told that the passengers got off late before us because of the change in itinerary due to hurricane Emily. They went to Antigua and St. Maarten instead of Barbados and Aruba. That then did not explain why we got off of the ship so late the following week. I believe that it was due to the high volume of passengers. The ship sailed at full capacity and they had to get everyone on and off in the quickest way they could. There was no way people could get on at 12 when they were still calling luggage tag colors at 12 and people were still going through customs.

[ILuvCruisin']

Enjoyed your review. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Very detailed and informative.

[cruisers14]

Thank you for the detailed review! We have a group of 30 booked for Destiny Feb '06 - this is our 14 cruise but the first time on this old of a ship! Just learned that Destiny is going into dry dock in Sept but I have not learned the extent of refurb/rehab yet.

 

What kind of condition did you find the ship to be in? What ship was your first cruise on?

 

I'm glad to hear such a nice review about this itinerary as I have read a few others that had nothing nice to say about any island except for St Thomas! Very refreshing. Some of our group have been to Aruba and St Thomas (I actually got engaged 7 years ago in St Thomas!) before but no one has been to Domenica or Barbadoes so we are doing our homework to be sure we get the most out of our cruise.

 

We are still debating on whether to go to San Juan a day or two early or not. I am the group leader and we have about 12 first time cruisers - I know everyone will not be able to go a day early because of childcare, etc. So, for the most part we are just hoping we don't have a major snow storm in PA come February 12th!!!

 

Thanks again for the review!

[pholter]

Cruisers14-

 

Dominica and Barbados were my favorite islands of the itinerary, so everyone will see it differently.

 

If you haven't already checked it out, please join us on the Destiny Past and Future cruisers thread here usually on the front 2 pages. There is just loads of information available there and on the Ports of Call boards.

 

CreoleGirl- thanks again for the wonderful and detailed review!!!