Review of the Destiny 7/29

[Chucklez]

This was my wifes and I 4th cruise with Carnival, and 2nd on the Destiny. We took my wifes best friend who stayed in the cabin with us. Not the best of sleeping arrangements, but with 5 ports, you don't spend much time in your room anyways.

 

Arrival in San Juan

We flew into San Juan the day before and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Rooms were very clean, prices very reasonable ($120 per night), and easily within walking distance of the beaches and bars and restaurants. I think the cab ride was 18 dollars from the airport. That was for 3 people with 6 bags of luggage. The cab ride to the ship was about the same.

 

Sunday - Embarkation

This wasn't a nightmare (that came later), just a bad dream. We arrived at the port around 1:30 or so, and stopped by the duty free liquor store on the first floor. The two gentlemen working there were very friendly, and very helpful in their tips of telling us how to get our liquor on board. It was a snap. Word of advice, if you plan on drinking anything, buy it here and put it in your carry on. You will save a ton of money. We dropped our luggage off, and proceeded into the check-in line. At this point, everything was going ok. We received our sail & sign cards and proceeded to attempt to board the ship. Here we encountered several hundred people trying to board the ship at the same time. They began calling out zone numbers, which half the people had no clue about, and those that did couldn't push through the mass of people even when their number was called. As we hadn't received a zone number, we returned to the check-in desk. The lady there said that was for early people, and to just proceed to board the ship. After being jostled and pushed around in the boarding line for an hour, we finally got to the security checkpoint where the security agent asked us for our zone card. We explained to her we were told we didn't need it, and with a sigh, she motioned us to pass through. After that, we boarded the ship and that was done. Later on, after mustering the courage, we left the ship and went to senor frogs just a short walk away. We went there just to say we did. Should have left after the first drink as it was outrageously priced. When we returned to the ship, no lines, and we walked right on carrying a few more bottles of vodka and rum.

 

Monday - St. Thomas

This was our second visit to the lovely Island of St. Thomas. After getting off the boat, we got a taxi and took it to Meghans Bay. The taxi ride there was $8 pp, and entrance to the beach was $4. This beach was voted one of the ten most beautiful in the world, and for good reason. We arrived early, and there were very few people on the beach. It was one of the most beautiful and serene sights I have ever witnessed. I would suggest to anyone, go there. Its magnificent. After swimming for 4 or 5 hours, we called our cab driver, and he took us to the open air market downtown. After following my wife around for several hours shopping (which was a daily occurrence in each port of call) we took a cab to the K mart and purchased a soft sided cooler to keep our drinks cold in the room. If you are looking to purchase any liquor, go to the K mart. Cheapest place we found in the entire cruise. We then took a leisurely 10 minute walk back to the boat.

[url=http://www.avirtualdominica.com/highrideadventures/][/url]

Tuesday - Dominica

As I write this, I have been following the weather reports for the Caribbean. Hurricane Dean (a cat 2 at the moment) is bearing down on Dominica and St. Lucia, and I pray that David and Melanie (Dominica) and Cosol and Yellowbird (St. Lucia) are safe and make it through the storm safely.

 

I had did some research before leaving, and found a ATV tour (I beleive I found it on CC here) on Dominica that sounded like alot of fun. We originally scheduled a 1hr jungle ride for $70, but when we got there, we decided to change it to the 2hr ride for $90. I am so glad we did. One of their agents met us at the pier and shuttled us up the 2300 or so feet up into the interior mountains to High Ride Stables. We were given boots and rain gear, and a 1/2 hour or so lesson on riding ATVs before hitting the trail. Without going into to much detail, it was one of the most awesome tours I have ever taken. We rode for more than an hour, then stopped at a ocean overlooking the Atlantic side of the island and had refreshments. After a brief break, we continued riding through the forest and several local plantations and returned back to High Ride Stables, where we were treated to a local beer before heading back. All in All, it was a great tour, and would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Dominica. We returned to the port and held all the purchases the wife made while shopping.

http://www.avirtualdominica.com/highrideadventures/

 

Wednesday - Barbados

We had booked the Jolly Roger Party Boat tour, but unfortunately, it was cancelled due to weather concerns. So I stayed aboard the boat and did some laundry and enjoyed the quietness of a half empty boat, while the wife and friend joined the 'taste of Barbados tour'. Pictures they showed me was rather nice, but I much rather would've been on the Jolly Roger.

 

Thursday - St. Lucia

Again, I found out about the COSOL tour from CC here, and I am glad we did. Upon exiting the ship, we met with Cosol and his brother Yellowbird, and boarded their vans for aa 6+ hour air conditioned tour of the island. We visited several local fishing villages, a banana plantation, Toraille Waterfall and botanical garden, the drive through volcano, and an absolutely stunning beach nestled between the Pitons. They payed for all entry fees to the sights, and provided refreshments in the form of rum punch and local beer, as well as stopping at several places and allowing us shopping and letting us taste some of the local cuisine. Fish Cakes, Johny Cakes, and fruit spread, and hot creole bread with cheese were delicious. On the way, yellowbird taught us some of the local dialect, and was very informative. There was only 6 of us in the tour bus, and we met the nicest couple and their daughter during the trip.

http://www.cosol-tours.com/

Friday - Antigua

We didn't have any thing really planned in Antigua, so we mainly walked around town for a bit, then took a cab to Run Away Bay. It was hot, and walking through town stunk terribly. Every time you stepped over a storm grate, it smelt as if it had been used as a sewer. In the hot weather, it was nasty. Quite frankly, I would be fine if Carnival would remove Antigua from the itinerary, and insert a 2nd sea day on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

Saturday - Day at sea

Typical sea day. Enjoyed the sun and the sound of the boat, then packed for the trip home that night.

 

Sunday - Debarkation

This is the nightmare I spoke of earlier. Due to us needing to fly to St. Louis, and the fact that both the wife and I needed to work the next day, we had an early flight out of San Juan. I had spoken with a Carnival Rep beforehand, and they had ensured me that we wouldn't have a problem getting to the airport for our 10:00am flight. As I said, we had sailed the Destiny before, and had signed up for early debarkation to leave for the airport and had absolutely no problem doing it then. They told us then to meet in one of the forward stairwells, and escorted the 3 or 4 groups of us off the boat first. We were expecting something very similar again.

 

Now, before going any further, let me say that every cruise so far, we did the self assist debarkation. Not once did we have a problem.

 

I was told by the pursers desk to be at the forward elevator lobby by the Palladium Lounge before 7:00am, and those of us with early flights would be the first off. When we arrived at 6:45, the elevator lobby was packed full of people, and the line wound from there towards the glass elevators and pursers desk, wrapped around towards the palladium, then on past the shore tours desk and then off the ship. And controlling this mess was 2 girls from the cruise directors staff (who probably weighed less than my suitcase) holding intimidating walkie-talkies. We waited in line for Homeland Security to clear the boat. Once they did, the line slowly began to inch forward. Then stopped. At this point, people began coming down and going to the Palladium as they were told to meet there to be the first group off the board for those who chose not to go with self assist. Needless to say, there was nowhere for them to go. This entire time, people continued to come down the elevators with their luggage, and there was nowhere for anyone to move. So the people going to the Palladium literally had to crawl over top of those of us waiting to get off the boat. On more than one occasion, I was pushed, shoved, and took several elbows to the ribs, and 1 to the back of the head by people climbing over us to get to the Palladium. This entire time, people were pleading with the Carnival girls to make an announcement to tell people NOT to come down to the Palladium, and there was noway to get past this wedge of human beings. Nothing was done. People began yelling and screaming at one another, at the workers, and quite frankly, wasn't very far from becoming a very ugly scene. I seen 1 individual who tried to jump into the line, only to be roughly pushed back out. When this was pointed out to the workers, they promptly disappeared. So we sat in the stifling hot line with no air movement without moving for quite awhile. During this time, we spoke with several of the people around us, and very few of those in the line actually had early flights. Alot left the island 4 or later, or even the next day. There was also alot of locals to the island trying to get off. Anyway, we sat in line without moving for quite some time, and my wife began to physically feel ill. A worker then came out of the employee door near the shore desk, and my wife asked her 'Where do you want me to get sick?'. She told my wife to go to the restroom, which with the mass of people, there was no way for her to get back there. Even if she could, we probably would become separated, and slow up our departure even more. Finally, the worker agreed to bring a glass of water to my wife, and a half hour later, right before we got off the boat, true to her word, the worker showed up with the glass of water. We then proceeded down the gangway, and was met by a Carnival security man who insisted the wife return the glass of water to the boat. I got a good laugh out of it as the wife stared him down. We proceeded through customs, and got a taxi and 9:15am to take to the airport. After standing in line 2:30 hours to get off the boat, we had 45 minutes before our flight was to leave.

 

We got to the airport, ran to the AA terminal, and found our flight had been canceled till 2pm or so. Sweet irony.

 

That was how our trip went. We had a ocean view room on the Lido deck, and surprisingly, with the couch that converted to a bed, we had a decent amount of room in our cabin for 3 grown adults.

 

I have read that several people on CC think the ship is run down and decrepit, and we did see some signs of old age, but all in all, the old girl looked pretty good for her age.

 

Most of the staff was very friendly. The only real exception was our drink waiter in the formal dining rooms. He almost acted like he didn't want to be there, and had no care about you what so ever.

 

As far as anything else about the boat, a large portion of the other guests were locals to Puerto Rico. And of those we had the (dis)pleasure of encountering, the majority were some of the rudest people I have ever met, and I have traveled extensively. They cut in lines, let their kids run unsupervised and cared not what they did, and appeared to take every opportunity to speak in Spanish about you. I am not fluent in Spanish, but I do know enough to convey my intentions, and I know enough to know when I am being insulted. And I as well as many other 'gringos' were insulted quite a bit.

 

All in all, the itinerary was good. Carnival needs to add another sea day. Take out Antigua and add a sea day there is my suggestion. The ship was in good shape for her age, the food, while not the best we have had the pleasure of receiving on previous cruises, was pretty good, and friendliness of staff was good.

 

Id give ratings of:

Itinerary: 8 out of 10

Ship Condition: 7 out of 10

Friendliness of staff: 7.5 out of 10

Quality of Food: 6 out of 10 (vary the buffet a bit!)

Embarkation: 2 out of 10

Debarkation: 0

 

 

All in all, the debarkation nearly ruined the entire trip for us, So unless they change something, I would avoid it at all costs If I was you. Take plenty of alcohol on board with you, as it will save a ton of money, and look into the tours I listed above. Promise you wont be disappointed. Its a shame that in order to get so far down to the Southern Caribbean, you have to sail out of San Juan, as the farther you go, the prettier it is.

 

Would we take another Carnival Cruise? After this debacle? Probably, but it wont be from there again. Since returning home, we have called Carnival to complain of our experience, and sent them a letter. Hopefully some good will come out of it.

 

Sorry to make it so long, but I wanted to be complete and accurate, and I guess I wanted to rant a bit :D.

[ShedQueen77]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! We'll be taking Cosol's tour in St. Lucia when we cruise and I'm glad to hear you had a good time. We're looking forward to it!

 

We're still using Carnival Air (haven't beat the price yet), so I don't know when our flight will be leaving yet. I'll definitely keep your disembarkation story in mind though and try to plan accordingly. If you don't mind my asking, in retrospect is there anything you would have done differently to make your process a little more bearable? I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that crap. I hope your wife was able to recover enough to at least not be so ill on the flight home.

[Chucklez]

In retrospect I would have taken the following Monday off and stayed in San Juan another day and enjoyed the beach. Or, I would have called American Airlines that morning to check the status of our flight. If we would have seen at 7am they flight was delayed, we would have eaten breakfast on the boat rather than pay the exorbitant airport prices with less than quality food.

 

Dont get me wrong, I enjoyed the cruise itself, just certain things took away from the enjoyment.

 

As a humorous side note, when we got back, I began looking at employment in Dominica and St. Lucia. Couldn't hurt to look, now could it ;)

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for sharing your info, Chucklez

[SouthernCaribbean]

Friday - Antigua

We didn't have any thing really planned in Antigua, so we mainly walked around town for a bit, then took a cab to Run Away Bay. It was hot, and walking through town stunk terribly. Every time you stepped over a storm grate, it smelt as if it had been used as a sewer. In the hot weather, it was nasty. Quite frankly, I would be fine if Carnival would remove Antigua from the itinerary, and insert a 2nd sea day on Tuesday or Wednesday.

.

Thanks for the review!

 

I think you missed a real treat with Antigua. As with many of the Southern Carib ports, you really have to book an excursion to experience the true beauty of the island.

 

FYI, in 2008 they wont have any sea days on the schedule:p

[fishing_guy]

In retrospect I would have taken the following Monday off and stayed in San Juan another day and enjoyed the beach. Or, I would have called American Airlines that morning to check the status of our flight. If we would have seen at 7am they flight was delayed, we would have eaten breakfast on the boat rather than pay the exorbitant airport prices with less than quality food.

 

Dont get me wrong, I enjoyed the cruise itself, just certain things took away from the enjoyment.

 

As a humorous side note, when we got back, I began looking at employment in Dominica and St. Lucia. Couldn't hurt to look, now could it ;)

Chucklez,

 

We had almost the exacty opposite experience as you. Embarkation took us 2 hours. We were in line on the outside of the building when the carnival worker ran up and stopped the line dead in it's tracks. We spent the next 20 minutes standing outside. Which was much preferable to the 100 minutes we spent inside snaking through lines. We arrived at 2:30 and got on the ship at 4:30.

For debarkation, we had a 4:50 flight. So we ate breakfast on the Lido deck, played a couple of games of Pinochle, and got called at 11:00. We were off the ship by noon. Most of the time was spent in the Paladium, watching AFV reruns. Very relaxing. Our friend's kids did the self assist. Their story was similar to yours. A real nightmare.

[shargurl]

Thanks for the great review! We will be sailing her next year with NO sea days!

[Pugs]

This was my wifes and I 4th cruise with Carnival, and 2nd on the Destiny. We took my wifes best friend who stayed in the cabin with us. Not the best of sleeping arrangements, but with 5 ports, you don't spend much time in your room anyways.

 

Arrival in San Juan

We flew into San Juan the day before and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Rooms were very clean, prices very reasonable ($120 per night), and easily within walking distance of the beaches and bars and restaurants. I think the cab ride was 18 dollars from the airport. That was for 3 people with 6 bags of luggage. The cab ride to the ship was about the same.

 

Sunday - Embarkation

This wasn't a nightmare (that came later), just a bad dream. We arrived at the port around 1:30 or so, and stopped by the duty free liquor store on the first floor. The two gentlemen working there were very friendly, and very helpful in their tips of telling us how to get our liquor on board. It was a snap. Word of advice, if you plan on drinking anything, buy it here and put it in your carry on. You will save a ton of money. We dropped our luggage off, and proceeded into the check-in line. At this point, everything was going ok. We received our sail & sign cards and proceeded to attempt to board the ship. Here we encountered several hundred people trying to board the ship at the same time. They began calling out zone numbers, which half the people had no clue about, and those that did couldn't push through the mass of people even when their number was called. As we hadn't received a zone number, we returned to the check-in desk. The lady there said that was for early people, and to just proceed to board the ship. After being jostled and pushed around in the boarding line for an hour, we finally got to the security checkpoint where the security agent asked us for our zone card. We explained to her we were told we didn't need it, and with a sigh, she motioned us to pass through. After that, we boarded the ship and that was done. Later on, after mustering the courage, we left the ship and went to senor frogs just a short walk away. We went there just to say we did. Should have left after the first drink as it was outrageously priced. When we returned to the ship, no lines, and we walked right on carrying a few more bottles of vodka and rum.

 

Monday - St. Thomas

This was our second visit to the lovely Island of St. Thomas. After getting off the boat, we got a taxi and took it to Meghans Bay. The taxi ride there was $8 pp, and entrance to the beach was $4. This beach was voted one of the ten most beautiful in the world, and for good reason. We arrived early, and there were very few people on the beach. It was one of the most beautiful and serene sights I have ever witnessed. I would suggest to anyone, go there. Its magnificent. After swimming for 4 or 5 hours, we called our cab driver, and he took us to the open air market downtown. After following my wife around for several hours shopping (which was a daily occurrence in each port of call) we took a cab to the K mart and purchased a soft sided cooler to keep our drinks cold in the room. If you are looking to purchase any liquor, go to the K mart. Cheapest place we found in the entire cruise. We then took a leisurely 10 minute walk back to the boat.

 

Tuesday - Dominica

As I write this, I have been following the weather reports for the Caribbean. Hurricane Dean (a cat 2 at the moment) is bearing down on Dominica and St. Lucia, and I pray that David and Melanie (Dominica) and Cosol and Yellowbird (St. Lucia) are safe and make it through the storm safely.

 

I had did some research before leaving, and found a ATV tour (I beleive I found it on CC here) on Dominica that sounded like alot of fun. We originally scheduled a 1hr jungle ride for $70, but when we got there, we decided to change it to the 2hr ride for $90. I am so glad we did. One of their agents met us at the pier and shuttled us up the 2300 or so feet up into the interior mountains to High Ride Stables. We were given boots and rain gear, and a 1/2 hour or so lesson on riding ATVs before hitting the trail. Without going into to much detail, it was one of the most awesome tours I have ever taken. We rode for more than an hour, then stopped at a ocean overlooking the Atlantic side of the island and had refreshments. After a brief break, we continued riding through the forest and several local plantations and returned back to High Ride Stables, where we were treated to a local beer before heading back. All in All, it was a great tour, and would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Dominica. We returned to the port and held all the purchases the wife made while shopping.

http://www.avirtualdominica.com/highrideadventures/

 

Wednesday - Barbados

We had booked the Jolly Roger Party Boat tour, but unfortunately, it was cancelled due to weather concerns. So I stayed aboard the boat and did some laundry and enjoyed the quietness of a half empty boat, while the wife and friend joined the 'taste of Barbados tour'. Pictures they showed me was rather nice, but I much rather would've been on the Jolly Roger.

 

Thursday - St. Lucia

Again, I found out about the COSOL tour from CC here, and I am glad we did. Upon exiting the ship, we met with Cosol and his brother Yellowbird, and boarded their vans for aa 6+ hour air conditioned tour of the island. We visited several local fishing villages, a banana plantation, Toraille Waterfall and botanical garden, the drive through volcano, and an absolutely stunning beach nestled between the Pitons. They payed for all entry fees to the sights, and provided refreshments in the form of rum punch and local beer, as well as stopping at several places and allowing us shopping and letting us taste some of the local cuisine. Fish Cakes, Johny Cakes, and fruit spread, and hot creole bread with cheese were delicious. On the way, yellowbird taught us some of the local dialect, and was very informative. There was only 6 of us in the tour bus, and we met the nicest couple and their daughter during the trip.

http://www.cosol-tours.com/

 

Friday - Antigua

We didn't have any thing really planned in Antigua, so we mainly walked around town for a bit, then took a cab to Run Away Bay. It was hot, and walking through town stunk terribly. Every time you stepped over a storm grate, it smelt as if it had been used as a sewer. In the hot weather, it was nasty. Quite frankly, I would be fine if Carnival would remove Antigua from the itinerary, and insert a 2nd sea day on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

Saturday - Day at sea

Typical sea day. Enjoyed the sun and the sound of the boat, then packed for the trip home that night.

 

Sunday - Debarkation

This is the nightmare I spoke of earlier. Due to us needing to fly to St. Louis, and the fact that both the wife and I needed to work the next day, we had an early flight out of San Juan. I had spoken with a Carnival Rep beforehand, and they had ensured me that we wouldn't have a problem getting to the airport for our 10:00am flight. As I said, we had sailed the Destiny before, and had signed up for early debarkation to leave for the airport and had absolutely no problem doing it then. They told us then to meet in one of the forward stairwells, and escorted the 3 or 4 groups of us off the boat first. We were expecting something very similar again.

 

Now, before going any further, let me say that every cruise so far, we did the self assist debarkation. Not once did we have a problem.

 

I was told by the pursers desk to be at the forward elevator lobby by the Palladium Lounge before 7:00am, and those of us with early flights would be the first off. When we arrived at 6:45, the elevator lobby was packed full of people, and the line wound from there towards the glass elevators and pursers desk, wrapped around towards the palladium, then on past the shore tours desk and then off the ship. And controlling this mess was 2 girls from the cruise directors staff (who probably weighed less than my suitcase) holding intimidating walkie-talkies. We waited in line for Homeland Security to clear the boat. Once they did, the line slowly began to inch forward. Then stopped. At this point, people began coming down and going to the Palladium as they were told to meet there to be the first group off the board for those who chose not to go with self assist. Needless to say, there was nowhere for them to go. This entire time, people continued to come down the elevators with their luggage, and there was nowhere for anyone to move. So the people going to the Palladium literally had to crawl over top of those of us waiting to get off the boat. On more than one occasion, I was pushed, shoved, and took several elbows to the ribs, and 1 to the back of the head by people climbing over us to get to the Palladium. This entire time, people were pleading with the Carnival girls to make an announcement to tell people NOT to come down to the Palladium, and there was noway to get past this wedge of human beings. Nothing was done. People began yelling and screaming at one another, at the workers, and quite frankly, wasn't very far from becoming a very ugly scene. I seen 1 individual who tried to jump into the line, only to be roughly pushed back out. When this was pointed out to the workers, they promptly disappeared. So we sat in the stifling hot line with no air movement without moving for quite awhile. During this time, we spoke with several of the people around us, and very few of those in the line actually had early flights. Alot left the island 4 or later, or even the next day. There was also alot of locals to the island trying to get off. Anyway, we sat in line without moving for quite some time, and my wife began to physically feel ill. A worker then came out of the employee door near the shore desk, and my wife asked her 'Where do you want me to get sick?'. She told my wife to go to the restroom, which with the mass of people, there was no way for her to get back there. Even if she could, we probably would become separated, and slow up our departure even more. Finally, the worker agreed to bring a glass of water to my wife, and a half hour later, right before we got off the boat, true to her word, the worker showed up with the glass of water. We then proceeded down the gangway, and was met by a Carnival security man who insisted the wife return the glass of water to the boat. I got a good laugh out of it as the wife stared him down. We proceeded through customs, and got a taxi and 9:15am to take to the airport. After standing in line 2:30 hours to get off the boat, we had 45 minutes before our flight was to leave.

 

We got to the airport, ran to the AA terminal, and found our flight had been canceled till 2pm or so. Sweet irony.

 

That was how our trip went. We had a ocean view room on the Lido deck, and surprisingly, with the couch that converted to a bed, we had a decent amount of room in our cabin for 3 grown adults.

 

I have read that several people on CC think the ship is run down and decrepit, and we did see some signs of old age, but all in all, the old girl looked pretty good for her age.

 

Most of the staff was very friendly. The only real exception was our drink waiter in the formal dining rooms. He almost acted like he didn't want to be there, and had no care about you what so ever.

 

As far as anything else about the boat, a large portion of the other guests were locals to Puerto Rico. And of those we had the (dis)pleasure of encountering, the majority were some of the rudest people I have ever met, and I have traveled extensively. They cut in lines, let their kids run unsupervised and cared not what they did, and appeared to take every opportunity to speak in Spanish about you. I am not fluent in Spanish, but I do know enough to convey my intentions, and I know enough to know when I am being insulted. And I as well as many other 'gringos' were insulted quite a bit.

 

All in all, the itinerary was good. Carnival needs to add another sea day. Take out Antigua and add a sea day there is my suggestion. The ship was in good shape for her age, the food, while not the best we have had the pleasure of receiving on previous cruises, was pretty good, and friendliness of staff was good.

 

Id give ratings of:

Itinerary: 8 out of 10

Ship Condition: 7 out of 10

Friendliness of staff: 7.5 out of 10

Quality of Food: 6 out of 10 (vary the buffet a bit!)

Embarkation: 2 out of 10

Debarkation: 0

 

 

All in all, the debarkation nearly ruined the entire trip for us, So unless they change something, I would avoid it at all costs If I was you. Take plenty of alcohol on board with you, as it will save a ton of money, and look into the tours I listed above. Promise you wont be disappointed. Its a shame that in order to get so far down to the Southern Caribbean, you have to sail out of San Juan, as the farther you go, the prettier it is.

 

Would we take another Carnival Cruise? After this debacle? Probably, but it wont be from there again. Since returning home, we have called Carnival to complain of our experience, and sent them a letter. Hopefully some good will come out of it.

 

Sorry to make it so long, but I wanted to be complete and accurate, and I guess I wanted to rant a bit :D.

 

 

I was on the 8/5/2007 sailing and would have to pretty much agree with everything you have said.

The butting in lines were really bad on my sailing. I was on the empress deck and she was reallying showing her age there.

 

The way I reated

Id give ratings of:

Itinerary: 9 out of 10

Ship Condition: 6 out of 10

Friendliness of staff: 7 out of 10

Quality of Food: 5 out of 10 (vary the buffet a bit!) I hated the buffet.

Embarkation: 5 out of 10

Debarkation: 5 out of 10

[Pugs]

I posted , don't know where it went.:confused:

[ShedQueen77]

In retrospect I would have taken the following Monday off and stayed in San Juan another day and enjoyed the beach. Or, I would have called American Airlines that morning to check the status of our flight. If we would have seen at 7am they flight was delayed, we would have eaten breakfast on the boat rather than pay the exorbitant airport prices with less than quality food.

 

Dont get me wrong, I enjoyed the cruise itself, just certain things took away from the enjoyment.

 

As a humorous side note, when we got back, I began looking at employment in Dominica and St. Lucia. Couldn't hurt to look, now could it ;)

 

Thanks for the input. I'll definitely keep it in mind!

 

I don't know about finding a job in Dominica and St. Lucia now though, unless you're in to construction or some sort of building repair. :D Dean isn't being very nice to those folks down there. We're praying that everyone stays safe.

[DOTTE]

Thanks for the review.

 

We (DH, DD, SIL) will be on the Destiny on 10/21/07. We were on the Fascination in 2000 when it was sailing out of San Juan and debarkation was terrible then. Was hoping it would be better after all this time. We had a lot of problems with the locals then too.

[Chucklez]

Just an update to our complaint letter. SILENCE. We haven't heard a word from Carnival, and its been more than a month since they have received it.

 

We did get a call several days after returning from a agent from carnival asking us if we were ready to book our next cruise. Very friendly lady she was to begin with. Until I told her of our problem and of our intent to send a complaint letter, then she didn't seem to have as much time for us.

 

I don't want a free cruise out of this. I don't even want a free upgrade. Id just like Carnival to admit that they have some problems that need to be addressed, and maybe a bit of an apology. In reading some more recent reviews, it appears that Carnival understands the problems with the self debarkation as they appear to no longer offer it.

[coco6]

do you think leaving out of barbados to do the southern carribean cruise would be better as far as the rude people goes?

[kiraryker]

How formal were the formal dinners?? I just don't want to be out of place.

[fishing_guy]

do you think leaving out of barbados to do the southern carribean cruise would be better as far as the rude people goes?

Embarkation and debarkation would be a breeze. Not that many entering and leaving with you.

 

I would have to agree with the OP. I thouroughly enjoyed my cruise. Embarkation was another thing alltogether. 2 hours of standing in line to get on the ship. (we sailed 7/29-8/5). We avoided the self debarkation mess. But others in our group did it and they got seperated during the process. As one said to her boyfriend as he got swept away..."Save yourself!"

[Hawaii697]

Thanks for the review!

 

I think you missed a real treat with Antigua. As with many of the Southern Carib ports, you really have to book an excursion to experience the true beauty of the island.

 

FYI, in 2008 they wont have any sea days on the schedule:p

 

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed it. I've sailed on the Destiny twice and had a great time on each sailing. Search for my review, it will give you an idea of what embarkation was like when I sailed her back in 2001. (Gomer Pyle barracks)

 

I have to agree with SouthernCaribbean. True downtown is not the nicest place on the island, however, with 365 beaches, you couldn't go wrong. Our guide took us to Turners Beach. It was heaven. It was about a 30 minute ride from the pier and it was worth the ride. There is a beach bar/restaruant and nice little boutique as well. There was a lady making jewelry on the beach and I needed something to go with my formal dress the second night. She made a nice red and white shell necklace and bracelet for $7.00.

 

Turners Beach