Destiny 9/2-9/9 Review Part One

[shonandsuzie]

About us- My husband and I are 35 years old. This was our 8th cruise. We have cruised on Carnival, Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean. We don’t have a favorite because there are things that we like better on each. Generally, we love cruising. We like visiting the islands, the onboard activities and meeting lots of new people. We are pretty easy going but don’t get me wrong, we don’t just love everything.

San Juan- We arrived in Friday 8/31/07 so that we could enjoy some time in San Juan. We had been there before and did not like it all so we wanted to see more of the island. We stayed at the Embassy Suites, Isle Verde. It is very close to the airport so it took us about 5 minutes to get from baggage claim to our hotel room. We loved our hotel. It was clean, the staff was friendly, the free breakfast was good, and we had free drinks in the evening. The pool area was beautiful and although it is right next to the highway, you’d never know it. There were palm trees, waterfalls and music playing. It is about 2 blocks from the beach which was a really quick easy walk. Some people had written that it was too far to walk. I definitely disagree. We ate at the Metropol (sp?) one night. We tried new things. I wasn’t crazy about the food at all. I’ll leave that alone with that said. A surprise was the El San Juan. WOW! We stopped there to drop off a few dollars in their casino. The place was wonderful.

Embarkation- On Sunday, we arrived at the port at 11:30. There were no lines and we were in our room by 12:00. I guess there were long lines at around 2:00.

Our cabin- We were in 8332, an aft balcony cabin. When we first opened the door I was so disappointed. It did not look very clean. I took a washcloth and wiped everything down myself. After I was sure it was clean, it began to look better to me J. ( I know that sounds snotty but honestly, I’m not) The balcony was very big. There were 3 chairs and a lounge chair on it. We loved the location. Contrary to what others had said, we didn’t hear a lot of chair scraping from above at all. I would definitely choose the 8th floor again. It was very convenient!

The ship- Overall we loved the Destiny. I was so afraid that it was falling apart and rusted, etc. from other reviews. I didn’t find that to be case at all. We have sailed on the Ecstacy before-that was worn and showed it. This ship was fine. I never have a problem finding my way around the ships but I never heard anyone complaining about that either so I guess it was easy to navigate.

The staff- In general, no problems but not overly happy and helpful either. We really liked the cruise director (Steve) but he said he leaves the Destiny in a month or something. Our wait staff was really good at dinner. They had great personalities. The assistant was Inyoman and I can’t remember the head waiter’s name. Our cabin steward was just o.k.. He didn’t clean very thoroughly and he forgot our beach towels literally everyday and we had to find him to get them.

[jimbug]

This is a start to a great review. I was on the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas last month (also leaves from San Juan), and we were torn between the two ships. In the end, RCCL won out on itinerary (Aruba and St. Maarten), but I would still like to do the 5-port Destiny route at some point soon.

[shonandsuzie]

I will add the rest of the review when I finish it later tonight or tomorrow.

 

If you have specific questions let me know and I'll answer them ( if I can;) ).

[happy cruzer]

The washcloth thing struck me as kinda weird - what were you cleaning? did you have anti bacterial soap or disinfectent? I guess you saw dust or dirt that bothered you.... I've read that washcloths just spread germs sooo I'm just wondering... I admire your take control attitude to fix the issue. Maybe a pack of lysol wipes (travel size) next time.

 

Anyway I'm ready for more cruise review, thanks! How was the food?

[candigirl41]

I got a travel size bottle of that new clorox spray. I was staying in a hotel with my daughter and 2 week old granddaughter and needed a very clean counter for bottles to dry. It doesn't smell real bleachy. It worked good. Will take on my next cruise.

 

Candi

[MzOhioLady]

So far so good Suzie!

[shonandsuzie]

Dining- We requested a large table but were seated at a four seater. Our seating companions had requested a table alone so we ended up dining alone, too. My husband and I happen to love eachother J so that was fine but we do enjoy meeting people at dinner. In the end we talked a lot with the table next to us who were missing some of their dining companions, as well. As always, we enjoyed too much food every night! The highlight for me was the lobster tail. Sometimes it is overcooked but this time it was just right! On the other hand, our steak was overcooked each night. Oh well, you win some you lose some. We had the melting cake and of course it was great but I loved the Cappacino pie. We didn’t have lunch on the ship much since we were always off of the ship….. Breakfast was fine, not great, fine. This was one good opportunity to sit at a large table and meet people though. One issue that I had was people coming into the dining room 30,45, 60 minutes late. How rude! It didn’t affect us personally but I felt bad for the staff. Somewhere in the night we ordered various room service and it came unusually quick! The NY Deli was also good. OOOh, we bought a piece of Big Fat Chocolate Cake at the coffee shop. I could go on and on but it's making me hungry and I have to lose the record 12 pounds that I gained on this cruise!

Entertainment- We love comedians. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one every night. The 2 that we had were pretty good. The shows were good. The games/contests were funny and the cruise director did a good job keeping the tempo up so it never got boring. I loved that there was many different types of music to enjoy throughout the ship. In my opinion, this is unusual. We had a great time in the casino (No, we didn’t win L ) and liked the music at the Destiny bar right next to it. The entertainment was so good that I really wish we had more time on the ship to enjoy it!

St. Thomas: We’ve been here several times so we wanted to use this day for another “sea day”. (Also, I was so sunburned due to my irresponsibility in San Juan that I needed to stay in the air conditioning.) We did get out and walk around the shops for an hour or so.

Dominica: We did a tour with Beno. It was o.k. but not great. Basically, it was just too long for us. I think if it were cut in half we could have seen the highlights and enjoyed it more. Shon did get into the waterfalls which was cool.

Barbados: Excellent excursion-through Carnival- on the Tiami Catamaran. We sailed around with fun music. We “swam/snorkeled with turtles” (but thank goodness I didn’t see any turtles). We went to a nice beach with clear water to swim. We had free flowing drinks. It was as great as others have said. I would gladly do that again.

St. Lucia: A Cosol tour was the highlight of our trip! We read many great reviews before booking with Cosol and honestly, I thought they had to be written by Cosol himself since they were all positive. I am here to tell you that this tour is fun. We went to the drive in volcano and had a guide tell us about it, we went to waterfalls/botanical garden and we went to a resort between the Pitons to swim. Along the way we stopped for snacks prepared by local people and various other things. Cosol paid the entry fees. It was a fun carefree day. We cannot say enough good things about this tour. We are not what I would consider “tour” people. We don’t generally like to drive around looking at things. This tour was very interactive which worked very well for us.

Antigua: First off we had an interesting 30 minute non-air conditioned ride to the Pineapple Beach Resort. This was an all inclusive resort that we bought day passes to. The beach was beautiful there and the resort in general was very nice but I don’t think that I would have paid that much ($49/pp + $32 taxi) for this. We did have drinks and enjoyed fabulous ribs at the “Outhouse” a little shack restaurant/grill at the resort. I think that if we had longer to enjoy the facilities it would have been better. It was a 30 minute ride to the resort from the Port after finding a taxi driver to take us so that cut into our day a bit.

To Summarize:

This cruise could possibly be our favorite so far. We enjoyed the ship and our aft balcony. We enjoyed the ports which were new to us. Most importantly, it was so much fun to be on a cruise with so many diverse people to meet! Of course there were the occasional jerks but for the most part I thought everyone was there to have an enjoyable vacation. The one thing that we really wished for was a sea day somewhere in the middle of the week. We felt like we had to “get up and be somewhere” a little too much.

**I have lots of wonderful pictures and would have liked to do as others and place them throughout my review but alas I find that I am a little deficient in the technological functions of Webshots. L

[kiraryker]

Great review - we also booked a tour with Beno in January should we maybe to with Reno instead??? What about it didn't you like??(besides the length) Also we were worried about getting back to the ship on time - do you think that would be a concern with him??

 

Thanks!

[MzOhioLady]

Suzie - Thanks for writing this review, I can hardly wait to Sunday, when its my turn for the Destiny! 4 MORE DAYS TO GO!

[shonandsuzie]

Great review - we also booked a tour with Beno in January should we maybe to with Reno instead??? What about it didn't you like??(besides the length) Also we were worried about getting back to the ship on time - do you think that would be a concern with him??Thanks!

Beno was a good guide. He had an assistant, Brandon with him who was also pretty good. You'd have no problem getting back to the ship on time. They are very careful about that. We didn't hate the tour so I wouldn't say not to take it. It was very informative. It's just for us, it just was drug out too long.Shon fell asleep a couple of times where in contrast on our tour in St. Lucia we had so much fun that we would have toured even longer.

[shonandsuzie]

Suzie - Thanks for writing this review, I can hardly wait to Sunday, when its my turn for the Destiny! 4 MORE DAYS TO GO!

I know you have to be So excited! I'm looking now for the one for next year. I really might do another Southern. I loved the crowd out of Puerto Rico. You'll have so much fun!

[kiraryker]

Thank You!! I had to laugh about gaining the 12lbs!! My husband keeps kidding me because I am dieting like crazy to lose weight before the cruise but then all I can talk about is the food I'll be eating!!!! He's telling me to pack larger clothes for the trip home.

HA

[shonandsuzie]

Thank You!! I had to laugh about gaining the 12lbs!! My husband keeps kidding me because I am dieting like crazy to lose weight before the cruise but then all I can talk about is the food I'll be eating!!!! He's telling me to pack larger clothes for the trip home.

HA

We usually gain 3-5 pounds that drop off pretty quickly. I don't know what the deal was this time. Maybe the ribs at the all inclusive......who knows but it was all worth it!:D :D :D

[SouthernCaribbean]

I know you have to be So excited! I'm looking now for the one for next year. I really might do another Southern. I loved the crowd out of Puerto Rico. You'll have so much fun!

 

Thanks for the review. Southern is truly addictive. Its bascially all I care to do, but I will do Eastern :) Love all the islands and how close they are to each other..the fact that I have family there seals the deal.;)

[shonandsuzie]

Thanks for the review. Southern is truly addictive. Its bascially all I care to do, but I will do Eastern :) Love all the islands and how close they are to each other..the fact that I have family there seals the deal.;)

That would be so sweet! I am glad that we took the chance to go out of Puerto Rico. The reviews/comments had been so harsh leading up to our booking the cruise that we really took a risk.

[caribbean dreams]

Contrary to what others had said, we didn’t hear a lot of chair scraping from above at all.

 

Just remember, it could happen on any ship.

We had a deck 8 aft on Destiny and never heard a sound from above, our next 2 cruises.....same cabin except on Valor & Conquest, we heard the scapping all the time, Valor to us had the most & loudest, but maybe the next week, no noise was heard at all.:confused:

[MzOhioLady]

Hey Suzie

 

Email me at brownye2001@yahoo.com. Thanks!

[giggster11]

Great review! Thanks for making me even more excited about our trip on the Destiny next month.

[PelicanBill]

Great review thanks.. we go in 25 days. We're doing some similar things as you.

 

If you'd had air conditioning on your ride to Pineapple would you have felt better about it? :D

 

We're also planning to do that also but haven't seen many other choices (we have a child too.)

[shonandsuzie]

Hey Suzie

 

Email me at brownye2001@yahoo.com. Thanks!

You've got Mail;)

 

Great review thanks.. we go in 25 days. We're doing some similar things as you.

If you'd had air conditioning on your ride to Pineapple would you have felt better about it? :D

We're also planning to do that also but haven't seen many other choices (we have a child too.)

Air conditoning would definately have made a difference for me. (We're from Michigan-we melt :p ) If I had it to do again I would have booked our transportation ahead like several people suggested on the Antigua board because we also wasted a good amount of time trying to get a taxi to take us over there. The resort was nice and I think very appropriate for kids, too. Although I only saw 1 while we were there. they had games and things like that to use, too.

[Rural11]

Suzie, if you happen to see this: do you know if they did the On Deck for a Cure walk for breast cancer? There is a lot of interest on the boards about what ships it has already been instituted on and my interest lies in the Destiny for November. Also hope you did not melt too much; will see how we fare in November. :D

[shonandsuzie]

Suzie, if you happen to see this: do you know if they did the On Deck for a Cure walk for breast cancer? There is a lot of interest on the boards about what ships it has already been instituted on and my interest lies in the Destiny for November. Also hope you did not melt too much; will see how we fare in November. :D

 

No we didn't notice anything going on like that. What exactly is it? It sound like something that we would be interested in.

 

And no we didn't melt. ;) Actually, I'm missing those high temps now beacuse Fall has definately hit Michigan.:mad:

 

**Oh I just read that you are in Michigan too. You already know about these low 60's!

[marygal]

Thanks for the review I am looking forward to my turn on the Destiny!

 

Giggster sounds like you will be on the Destiny the same time as us !! Can;t wait to go....

[MDTeacher]

thanks for the review. We leave on the Destiny 9/30.... Can't Wait!!:D

[giggster11]

Thanks for the review I am looking forward to my turn on the Destiny!

 

Giggster sounds like you will be on the Destiny the same time as us !! Can;t wait to go....

 

Yes. Only one month to go! Woohoo!