Destiny Review Dec. 9-16 Part 1

[ECP]

This review may be a little different from others you have read about Carnival Destiny since I tried to examine the ship with a level head looking for flaws and how seriously they really affected the quality of one's trip on her.

 

There were three of us on this trip. Myself, born in England of Jamaican parents, they moved back to Jamaica when I was young, then we later moved to Canada. I was looking forward to this trip because I have never been to another Caribbean island except for a short cruise to the Bahamas a year and half ago on the Carnival Fascination. This would be my second trip with Carnival.

 

Lee, my girlfriend, this was her fourth trip with Carnival but all of the islands were new to her as well.

 

Sonya, a friend for a couple of decades, she loves wilderness camping so I knew no matter how rough the trip she could handle it all. Plus this was her first trip/cruise outside of Canada, EVER! And she choose Carnival to be her first cruise line - smart girl.

 

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Last year my friend Sonya booked Destiny for December 9-16 2007. After she told me about this I checked it out on Carnival's web site, noticing prices were higher for both earlier and later dates and that Destiny's routing would soon be changed in 2008, I ended up booked the same cruise for my girlfriend and I.

 

Then I seriously started reading the reviews of Destiny and it's itinerary on Cruise Critic and other Internet sites. The reviews that were good had me looking forward to what was going to be a great cruise with lots of interesting stops, but to say there were lots of bad reviews as well would be an understatement. Still as I read a number of negative ones I noticed a common theme in about 80-90% of these so-called reviews.

 

Don't get me wrong about the reviews, there are lots of things on Destiny that need work and were pointed out in said reviews but in many of the highly negative reviews that I read, people seemed to trying their best to blame Carnival/Destiny for their own mistakes and dislikes. Example one reviewer had a great time the entire cruise but they booked their own flights and could not get off the ship in time for a very early takeoff, so he rated the entire trip as poor. Another complains that the dirty glass of his balcony ruined the entire trip - the ENTIRE TRIP! How dirty glass affects the quality of the meals, the ship, any excursions and the rest of the cabin is beyond me. The really dumb ones complain about Dominica and it's lack of shopping and somehow missed all the warnings/mentions that this is a place for nature lovers, not shoppers. Why are these people paying so much money for a cruise without finding out where they are going first?

 

What I like to see in a Carnival review is info on what Carnival was paid to deliver, if you book flights using Carnival then by all means point out any problems, but if you booked the flights yourself then only mention it if Carnival really messed their de-embarkation times for example.

 

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Anyway, I had booked this cruise as a gift for Lee after my friend Sonya who had already booked it pointed out the great rates for that date of sailing. Originally I got 6266 an 8A balcony cabin at $600pp. But I have a GREAT! travel agent who got me upgraded to cabin 9184 which is a 8D and at only $470pp. Did I mention I love my travel agent?

 

Sonya meanwhile got 2335 which has two large portholes that are more like windows in their size and shape, with only a single bed and thus plenty of room to move around in and she paid less than $500 for her cabin too.

 

Durham Region, Ontario, Canada:

December 8, 2007 - Late Evening: I headed to Lee's house, I arrived early hoping to get some sleep before driving to the airport for a 6:30AM flight, i.e. needed to be there a little after 4AM. She still had not finished packing! We got that done by midnight, please note the smaller blue/red bag with a camera on top and the laptop beside it. That is my luggage, the three black bags are her's. Ok, in her defense my tux was also in the biggest bag.

 

We then took a quick snooze before driving to the airport, we used Park'n'Fly and took the cheapest parking lot. Note: If you go to their web site first, you will find a e-coupon to print out that gives a good discount on your parking charges. I think we saved about $12 using it, not bad for spending an extra five minutes on the Internet at home since I had to print out the map to their parking lots anyway.

 

Toronto:

December 9, 2007 - 4:15AM: Our bus ride from Park'n'Fly to Pearson Airport turned out to be driven by a fellow Jamaican playing loud reggae music to set the mood, unfortunately once we reached the airport it became the classical 'hurry up and wait' routine, plus the ever popular hide-n-seek game called 'Where's my line?' and while the airport employees were pleasant in directing you on where to go, you could see they were already tired of answering the same question over and over. More signs to guide everybody would be appreciated by one and all.

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico:

December 9, 2007 - 1:30PM: Arrived on time, and collected our luggage from the airport carousel. Finding the Carnival reps was a snap as they camp out near the main exit, we just handed them our transportation voucher and minutes later was leaded to a bus to take us to the ship. Important note: they toss your luggage into an unpadded cube van, and they are rough! We had noted when we packed that the cabin tags were just thin cardboard and tried reinforcing with tape, even then one got badly torn. Don't pack anything fragile or use weaker bags that could tear from rough handling.

 

Arriving at the pier at about 2:00PM we did not find the crowd that bad, but quickly got under the shelter leading to the embarkation center as a sudden hard and then quickly gone tropical rain hit (more about the rain later). The center itself is where the crowding really started, but note not only is there a liquor store right besides the stairs leading into the center there is also a long-distance phone store which is handily if you want to make a call home to tell them you arrived ok, or to buy phone cards that work around the Caribbean.

 

Thus we found ourselves in a long line that snakes around inside the center, it seemed that we were asked a hundred times to show our passports and later our sail'n'sign cards. At one point we were asked to show the cards three times while walking along just the final ramp before you board the ship. Despite this the lines were orderly and the only line jumping I saw was a family of six pushing a member in a wheelchair, a Carnival representative was helping them move to the front to board early, which makes sense. The only bright point for us in the line-up was a number of rum vendors plus Bailey's giving out free samples. Not only fun, it was the first time Lee had tasted Bailey's Irish Cream, we bought a bottle soon after coming back to Canada.

 

Once on-board we headed to our cabin to inspected it, the room was clean and had lots of space. While waiting for our luggage to be delivered we unpacked our carry-ons, tried out the balcony (our first balcony trip) and I took a few pictures of the cabin.

 

 

 

This cabin is a great choice, if you looked again at the floor plan for this deck you will notice it is a quick walk out onto the Lido deck, and just above that is the running track. The elevators are very close by but because of a short wall that exists between the cabin door and the elevator lobby you never hear any noise or the people using them. Bonus, the laundromat is also just a few steps away, the iron is free to use and is on a timer so you don't have to worry that somebody may leave it on and start a fire. The washing machines and dryers are expensive to use considering the small loads they handle, it is a good idea to pack some soap powder if you can as soap is as expensive as well. But it is worth it if you pack lightly, this trip I had no dirty clothes or socks when returning home.

 

While we waited for the luggage I called Sonya over the room phone, you can call any other room by just entering it's 4-digit number on the keypad. She was already in, had all her luggage and was just going back out. Unlike us, she had flown in two days early, stayed at Holiday Inn and already has seen a lot of old San Juan and was going out for more before the ship sailed. Before she left we checked our dining arrangements.

 

Opps, we were not surprised that we had been assigned different dining rooms (our respective cabins had the dining area that was closest), but we had also had different dining times! A quick trip to the purser's desk who in turn quickly sent me on to the head maitre'd, who after taking care of someone ahead of me also wanting a change just needed the cabin numbers to make the changes. Fifteen minutes from the time I left my cabin till I was back inside calling Sonya with the revised seating/timing. I don't know why so many others claimed to have problems other than they wait too long by which time the maitre is busy running the staff/kitchens/dining rooms, the purser is clearly not the one with the true power to change seatings.

 

Since we were still in port Lee and I grabbed a quick meal on the Lido deck (did I mention how wonderful it is to just stroll out without need of elevators or stairs), then headed back out to San Juan. Basically we just were looking around as we walked the waterfront. However, it was getting a little later and the main stores started closing up. Lee did manage to buy a rain poncho and I picked up a T-shirt but the timing was tight to closing time, then the poor store owner had to chase me down because I had forgotten my change. Considering how late the ship was leaving we should have just dropped off our bags and got back off the boat. We will know better next time. Anyway, since this was late December the people had strung up lights and Christmas displays everywhere, and the darker it got the brighter the colours. Beautiful!

 

 

As we walked to the fountain that ended this street, we saw a large number of handmade items, lots of food vendors and a full band with a large dance area in front of them plus lots of seatings of others. I wished we had more energy after the plane flight to try and join in, oh well, it was probably for the best as I am a terrible dancer. Upon returning to the boat (far faster the second time around as there were no line-ups), we grabbed some more food and drink, then watched from the balcony as we pulled out of port. Did I mention that we now both love balconies!

 

Then came the Horror of Horrors! Muster Drill! Our station was 4D, we arrived with life-jackets in hand then struggled to get them on. Despite doing it before, both of us had some problems getting to them fit right, Lee's because her's was very loose, me because I think they gave me a smaller model - all claims by Lee that it is because I gained wight are just a ploy to get me to lose some.

 

This is when we saw and heard our first rude person on this trip, a large woman with a strong Southern accent. Here we are surrounded by a ton of people all with their life-jackets which like us they had not problem finding on their own. This woman walks up to one of the Carnival attendants claiming there were no life-jackets in their cabin, the attendant replies they are in the marked closet - I could not hear clearly what tone of voice was used by the attendant because of the number of people talking around us, but the way the passenger reacted you would have thought the attendant had cursed her out, because for sure she had a major fit of cursing and swearing at the attendant in turn. Considering how everyone else had their's and that all the cabins get a check-over before the next round of travelers get on-board, I have a hard time not believing she was too lazy to get the life-jacket/did not want to try and wear (and that would had been hard consider her size)/or thought she did not have to do the drill like everyone else.

 

Then DRILL-HELL started, you know how long it seems as they give you the instructions in English? Try it in English and Spanish - it goes on forever! I well understand why there have been so many negative comments about this, on the other-hand I don't see any other solution when you can't predict your passenger mix. Grin and bear it, then head to a bar or the Lido right after is all I have to say.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention. Our TA also arranged for a bottle of wine to be delivered to our room so back to the cabin, sipping a white wine on the balcony is the way to end the day at sea in my mind.

[qshari]

Thank you for posting such a detailed review. I look forward to hearing more.

[ECP]

Part 2 is already posted, working on part 3 right now.

[jerseagal]

:) Waiting for more......................Thank you for sharing

[PreciousJewel]

YOU'RE MY FAVORITE!!!!! I was just posting for information and pictures about the Destiny...I cruise in August. Thanks so much for sharing! I can't wait to read the rest. We are booked for a balcony as well.

[63Corvette]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review. My Wife and I leave in 6 days, and are looking forward to our trip. Thanks for a great write-up.