Destiny Cruise 3/18/07

[dkdoob]

Carnival Destiny 3/18/07 Cruise

 

A little background:

The trip to San Juan required a 12 hour drive through a storm, 4 flight changes, and amazingly securing the last two seats to SJU, that didn’t exist the day before. This was a 3 day affair, and a wicked long story. So, Carnival could have gotten away with serving warm chocolate melting turd surprise and monkey pee goombay smashes, and we would have just been happy to be on the ship.

Not to mention we planned and booked 10 months ago. We were way beyond excited.

The first class seats to SJU took the sting off a little too. Until we got the bill. :)

 

Embarkation:

Arrived at SJU at 4:20ish. Grabbed a cab and arrived at the pier at 5:00pm. There were no lines, and we went right to the Sail and Sign line. A few minutes later we had a bottle of Chardonnay and a liter of Stoli’s in our carry on. The liquor confiscation table was empty. A PAX walked past the girl with 2 bottles in a the duty free bag and she waved her on through. I love this port. I just wish they had more wine choices.

 

The Ship:

Well, it’s 10 years old, but it’s meticulously maintained. Yes, there are signs of wear, and indeed some rust spots, and a few warn seat cushions, but I felt that her design and amenities were well maintained. The Destiny’s layout appears to be the precursor to the Conquest class ships. It seemed very familiar. So, bopping around was a breeze. I, for some reason felt at home on this ship right away. It could have been the Newark-lag too. For those of you concerned on her appearance, fear not. She’s just fine.

 

The Crew:

The staff was always cleaning. Including waiting for us to finish breakfast/lunch to clear the Sail and Sea tables. Almost every crew member I encountered said hello. They have a very different vibe about them. Very proud of their present home. Eager to please. No question, the best crew I have encountered. Bar and waitstaff were attentive. That’s all I need from them. Our Steward "Pawiro", pronounced "dude", kicked butt! I walked out of my room, got three cabins down, realized I forgot my comb, and went back to the room to see it was made up already! He kept my wine chilled. I am forever grateful. Maria at Cheers. Rocking martini’s. 6.5 years with Carnival, loves it. Olga and Woriwot, "pronounced "Olga" delivered the goods. We had 8:00 seating, right by the galley door. Only 2 of us at a four top. We finished dessert before most had their entrees. That was cool. Cuz there’s just so much to do! They were so good to us.

 

The Entertainment:

I guess that’s starts with Lenny Halliday. New to the Destiny. Apparently just off the Imagination. Been around a while. Nice enough. He seemed almost sincere. A CD doesn’t really make a difference either way to us. The shows were good. They work really hard. The comedians were funny. Didn’t need to see the late show either. Piano bar and Promenade were a disappointment. Both were new. (we just missed Damien Brell). Didn’t care for their style. The karaoke bar was packed. Kinda wonder why they have to shut down at 12:00 when the other bars are not doing so well? All in all, we did the shows more and promenade deck less this cruise.

Except for the friggin’ casino. Ouch. Tightest slots evah! I recall numerous times staring at a just missed 3x 7's and crying..."toss me a frickin’ bone here!" Anyway, not good.

 

The Cabin:

We were in 6299. Starboard side just above "Café on the Way". It was selected for it’s proximity to said coffee car. Cap junkie here. It’s also straight below food on the 9th, and just above that intranet thang on the 4th. We heard no late night noise. No hootin; in the hallway. No neighbor issues. Really cool. The cabin was in decent shape. A few cracked tiles in the shower, but it looked better than my shower! The beds are too comfortable. My wife never sleeps until 8:00am. until the Carnival Comfort Bed. Yay, now we have to buy one. The patio furniture could go. It’s seen better days. Still, loved being on board. Oh. Almost forgot. The AC. Too cold. Even with the vent shut down. One morning both of my cameras wigged out when the warm moist air hit them. Don’t tell the wife.........I liked it cool.

 

The Pax:

Great mix of people here. From PR to Canada, to all points US. Very relaxed crowd. I don't recall seeing one instance of boneheadedness. Everyone had a great time and was respectful. Very well behaved crowd.

 

The Ports:

St Thomas:

Played "I’m sorry we won’t make it" to "hey, we can make it" e-mails to Sunny Liston tours. He always responded and was waiting for us after 24 hours notice. He’s got a big red F-450 with the people carousel on the back. Great tour. $25 p/p. You go up the mountain and see both sides. There is a 2 hour beach drop as well. You can pass on that. We did, I was already crispy. But, we got a glimpse of Sapphire beach. Stunning. Sunny will take care of you. We also made a stop at Blooming Things. They supplied my wife’s bouquet at our wedding last year. We needed that lily smell in the cabin again. It was way cool.

 

Dominica:

Did the boat sponsored river tubing. That was a huge amount of fun. The rapids will wake you up. Really enjoyed it. We got a rain shower going down the river with the sun out. Beautiful island.

 

Barbados:

Went to Boatyard Beach. $15 a head, 2 bucks for an umbrella. Taxi guys hate going there. It’s a $3 max ride. The ride back is free. It’s a nice beach. Many opportunities to mame yourself with a piece of motorized equipment. We opted for the cold cervezas, and hanging with the monkey dude. We did see toplessness. I was aghast, and ran off the beach. Right after I tripped over three beach chairs. What does rubberneck mean?

 

St Lucia:

Did the boat sponsored kayaking/pigeon island tour. This was cool. William, our guide was a very good local man. Proud of his island. We kayaked for a bit, then went to Pigeon Island. There is snorkeling, beaching, or hiking to Fort Rodney. The view is amazing. Some 16th century history here. Great tour.

 

Antigua:

No plan here. Last port day. We were kinda numb. Approaching sensory overload. Walked around a little. Grabbed a cab ($12) to Dickinson’s Bay. A public place called , "The Beach". Two chairs w/umbrella were $20. Beautiful beach. Swam, drank, swam, slept, drank, swam, you know, a perfect beach day.

 

Sea Day:

Too cooked to sun anymore. I was approaching my second peel by this time. So, dubbed around the ship. They have a lot of bars. No redemption from the casino though.

 

Overall:

We loved the cruise. The crew made it special. The ship must have been real special in 96. She still had a twinkle. It was a port intensive cruise, but we didn’t over do it. It had a nice pace, and we took plenty of pics to put it all in perspective when we forget. I loved the Destiny. I wish we had gotten our pre cruise night in San Juan. The Sheraton let us cancel the day of, with no penalty. That was way cool.

 

Two Words:

Unforgettable.

 

Thanks to all of CC. Your inputs were priceless.

 

Dave

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/558378261EqmAYQ

[Bru92]

We were on the week before you.

You wrote a nice review.

 

Mike in Ohio

[big_duck]

Nice review.

 

Don't worry about the Sheraton, you didn't miss a thing. Waaay overpriced for what you get.

[TennisLover]

Sounds soooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooood. Hope to be booking this within the next couple of weeks (and then that horribly long countdown). I'm sure I'll be re-reading your review often.

 

(Who was the piano bar player who wasn't so good. Like to keep tabs on the names. I'm due a great piano player on my next cruise!)

[MzOhioLady]

Great Review and Awesome Pictures!

[dkdoob]

Nice review.

 

Don't worry about the Sheraton, you didn't miss a thing. Waaay overpriced for what you get.

 

 

Thanks.

 

I figured the Sheraton was no big deal, but I had researched the crap out of Old San Juan. I wanted to do the forts, Parrot Club, blah,blah. Definitely want to go back. The Sheraton was nice about the cancellation. That was $750 I had kissed off. Now if I can get my money back from Continental, I'll be golden.

 

Thanks again to all the CC'ers. Your knowledge made this such a great trip!

[dkdoob]

(Who was the piano bar player who wasn't so good. Like to keep tabs on the names. I'm due a great piano player on my next cruise!)

 

The Piano bar guy's name was Mike. He was playing an acoustic guitar every time we peaked in. Sounded ok, just not very loud. He was hard to hear.

[TennisLover]

The Piano bar guy's name was Mike. He was playing an acoustic guitar every time we peaked in. Sounded ok, just not very loud. He was hard to hear.

 

Thanks for the info -- now I need to check out your photos!

[LiLBxQt]

I loved the pic with the monkey!!!! I'll be going to the boatyard too and i wanna hold the lil monkey!!!!!!! HaHa He better be there! And the iguana on the beach towel... classic! So they just wander around the beach like that!?!

[dkdoob]

I loved the pic with the monkey!!!! I'll be going to the boatyard too and i wanna hold the lil monkey!!!!!!! HaHa He better be there! And the iguana on the beach towel... classic! So they just wander around the beach like that!?!

 

The monkey belonged to a guy renting jet skis. He was there all day. The monkey was 2.5 months old. Wicked cool. Scared the crap out of me when he jumped on me though. The monkey hides in his owner's shirt to stay out of the sun. When he got under our umbrella he poked out. Then launched himself to me.

 

The iguana at Dickinson's was wild. He didn't belong to anyone.

 

I also forgot a couple of things in my review........

 

The F deck was 21+, and also had some "released from captivity" twins.

 

The Food was awesome! The dining room never diappointed. The New York Deli sammiches were great as well. Lido food was the usual.

[DiverDownAZ]

Great review. Awesome sunrise/sunset shots. The monkey was cool.

[ozgirl96]

You may not know this, but maybe someone will. Is the deli like the deli (same quality/type of sandwiches) on the Valor? I loved those sandwiches. Also, did you try the Chinese food station? How is it? Thanks!

[dkdoob]

You may not know this, but maybe someone will. Is the deli like the deli (same quality/type of sandwiches) on the Valor? I loved those sandwiches. Also, did you try the Chinese food station? How is it? Thanks!

 

 

Hi, The deli was identical to the Valor. The reubens could have been made on either ship. Missed the Happy Valley food, but heard it was good.

[DiverDownAZ]

The chinese place was incredible one day and just ok another. they change there menu and we did not care for teh offerings as much the second time.

 

The Deli was not as good as I had hoped I love a good reuben and I didn't think they were as good as the local Togo's

[Guienevere_Arianette]

Carnival Destiny 3/18/07 Cruise

 

A little background:

The trip to San Juan required a 12 hour drive through a storm, 4 flight changes, and amazingly securing the last two seats to SJU, that didn’t exist the day before. This was a 3 day affair, and a wicked long story. So, Carnival could have gotten away with serving warm chocolate melting turd surprise and monkey pee goombay smashes, and we would have just been happy to be on the ship.

 

Now that's what I call a great cruise attitude! Warm Chocolate Melting Turd Surprise and Monkey Pee Goombay Smashes rock my face off@! Yeah!!@!

[pholter]

Thanks for sharing!!! So sorry about your nightmare trip to get there, but glad you made the best of it attitude wise. Loved reading your review :)

[dkdoob]

Now that's what I call a great cruise attitude! Warm Chocolate Melting Turd Surprise and Monkey Pee Goombay Smashes rock my face off@! Yeah!!@!

 

It's funny how you can plan something for ten months and have a storm like that come in the exact day you planned on travelling. If we hadn't driven to NJ on Friday we would have missed the cruise. By Saturday we were flying into St Thomas on Monday. Then Sat. afternoon 2 first class seats appear on Contininetal.com to SJU for the Sunday noon flight. We were so psyched that we would meet the cruise in SJ, we didn't care about how we got there. We were so happy when that plane touched down, nothing was going to ruin it. And, it was smooth sailing after that. (pun intended)

 

So, if you have a laptop, bring it! After booking the 2 seats online to SJU, it took 3.5 hours on hold with Continental to confirm.

 

If you live in a small hub (like Portland, Me) plan for a drive, just in case.

Only 320 miles to Newark. 12 hours if it's snowing. :)

 

So, you can see why we had a great cruise! Loved the Destiny! Would do her again in a heartbeat.

 

Thanks again for all your inputs. You all not only help with the travelling aspects, but also kill the time while our counters tick down.

 

And thanks Sheraton San Juan for not charging us. And to Continental for getting us there and refunding all our flight change charges.