WE MISSED THE BOAT! A cruisin USA "LONG and LENGTHY" DESTINY Review

[cruisin USA]

"Up the Waterfall"

 

 

It’s only a short bus ride from the pier to Dunns River Falls. The temp was supposed to hit 89 that day. We did have 2 stops on the way. The 1st was at Mystic Mountain. Here Mary Ann had to get off the bus, and get her wristband(Sorry Mary Ann). The bus driver told us to get out here if we were doing the skylift, and to stay on the bus if we’re going to the falls. I asked “What if we’re doing both?” He didn’t hear me, but then returned to tell us that if we were doing both, that we should go to the falls first, and then come back here. That being cleared up, we stayed on the bus, and continued on to the 2nd stop…..A water shoe shop, where you could buy or rent water shoes. Being on the Cruise Critic, I learned of this, and opted to buy our 5 pairs of water shoes online. Most people also already had their shoes, but a few did

get off. I think that the people who got off bought those shoes instead of renting them. The woman next to me bought ones that had the Jamaican flag colors on it.(Very Cool). Off we went and we’re pulling up to the park(falls) within 5 minutes. They drop us off, and we’re told to meet at a gazebo across the street. There’s people there selling bottle water at $5.00 for 2. They were warning people that this would be the last water because no water was allowed on the falls. I was thirsty, and bought 2 for Mary Ann and myself. After about 20 people gather, we’re greeted by Annette. She says that this group will be traveling up the falls together, and from now on our designation would be “movie stars”. So that when she called “movie stars’ we’d be paying attention to the announcements. We then headed for the entrance to Dunn’s River Falls. Everyone who had a wristband, got a ticket to get in, and it was here that they were scanned.

 

 

 

 

Annette led us to a place where groups gathered to find a guide/guides to take them up the falls. We got 2 guides. Our group was pretty big. The guides told us we could go get a lock for a locker for $8.00 and $3.00 would be returned when we returned the key. We fit everything the 5 of us had in 1 locker. It was jammed, but locked up ok. We were then all led to the beach where the climb up the falls starts. It’s now that I realize that I forgot to put my camera in the locker. Before we make the climb, our guide takes everyones camera(whew), and hangs them from one arm. The first climb up looked a little steep. The water shoes sure did help everyone’s footing throughout the climb. There was a man behind us, who just had knee replacement 2 weeks before. I told him that there were various spots where he could get out if he needed to. Mary Ann and I had been here last year, but just did the walkway. The flow of water was always working against us. At least at the most turbulent spot, they installed hand holds right into the rocks. It took us about an hour. Although we did follow along, there were spots we could stop at.

 

Our "Crew" L-R Dave, Jessie, Myself, Mary Ann(in back) and Nicole

 

 

We stopped for quite a few photos. The guide remembered my camera. And the shots that came out were priceless!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to be continued.......

[cruisin USA]

After the Falls, we headed back to the bus. We tried to go out the easy way, but were railroaded by a park security person to walk through the gauntlet of craft booths that lined the path to the exit. We were asked many times to come see the wares. A quick polite no to each, and off we went. We were on a tight schedule. The ship was scheduled to leave at 3. We went back to the gazebo where we started, and were told that our bus would be here soon. It was. On we get, and off we go to Mystic Mountain.

 

 

 

 

Mary Ann and I had been here before too. Last time we did the Jamaican bobsled, and this is where we were heading again. Mary Ann, Nicole, and I got on the first bench. Picture a ski lift heading 700 feet up through the lush tropical greenery of Jamaica. Jess and Dave followed on the bench behind us.

 

 

 

 

Jess and Dave right behind us

 

 

The ride takes between 10 and 15 minutes. At first we see the ocean to the left of us, paralleling the road. As we get a little higher, we can see the ship off in the distance.(Too Cool).

 

 

 

 

 

Our feet dangle high above the trees. About halfway up there’s a platform. It’s here that the zip line people make their final landing, to make the ski lift going down. We reach the top, and wait for Jess and Dave to join us. The first order of business? The Jamaican Bobsled!!! First we get a locker to put all our stuff in. Then we head to the Bobsled Track. They made me get in first…hehe. I get into the car, and strap in. I’m 3rd in line, and patiently wait for the others to start. What a trip. It’s like having your own person roller coaster in the middle of a forest. This thing whips. I learned last year not to apply the brakes at all, although I was tempted on some of the hairpin turns. Since they space out the cars, you’re out there all alone….ZOOMING along. It only last a couple of minutes, and then you’re on your way back up to where you started. Of course there’s a store at the end. Playing really loud Reggae music. T shirts, Jamaican seasonings, all sorts of knick knacks. Right as you come in from the Bobsled, you can see a picture that was taken of you. None of us ended up getting our pictures. The sled is just moving too fast to get a good shot. We were on a time table, and if the kids wanted to do any shopping we had to go. Otherwise I surely would have opted to get 5 more rides for $40.00. We did go up to the observation tower. Got some good shots of the ship down at the pier.

 

 

 

 

 

Dave ended up doing a “Falcor” down the huge water stainless steel waterslide

 

 

 

 

We didn’t get him on the first shot, and had to tell him he had to do it again. Although the water was cold, Dave kindly obliged. After we walked around the observation tower, we headed for the ski lift, and down to where the bus was waiting for us. We had to wait a bit for the bus to fill up, and then down to the shopping district we went. The bus driver asked us if we knew that Ocho Rios meant 8 rivers? He also said that Ocho Rios only had 4 rivers, and that the people that named the city must have been smoking marijuana, and saw double. He then starts singing the “Day O” song. He would sing the verse and expected everyone to sing “Daylight come, and I wanna go home”. I don’t think too many people knew the lyrics, but everyone was having a good time. The bus stopped in the shopping district. As the bus driver put it. “The shops are about a 5 minute walk away from the ship if you walk like a Jamaican. 3 minutes if you walk like anyone else“. The kids opted to shop. Mary Ann and I wanted to get back to the room, and unpack. It had been a long day already. The bus returned many of us to the pier.(It looked like about a 10 minute walk to me). We had to go back through customs(they had a table, and they were looking through bags) They let us walk right through, and off to the ship we went.

 

 

to be continued.........

[cruisin USA]

Stopping for a BREAK!! I had the last 2 posts all written into one, and when I tried to publish it, they said there's only 6 images allowed per post....sigh

Thank you all for your kind words. It was a VERY stressful ordeal(Especially for Mary Ann who was supposed to celebrate both hers and her daughters birthday on our first day of the cruise).





goodml.....Yes we did fly out of DTW





MacBrokeFoot....There's an emergency number on your travel documents that you can call. You tell them your plight, and they e-mail the ship telling them you're going to miss the boat, and if you're going to meet the ship along the way.





I might get one more chapter in before I call it a night. Remember we're only at the 3rd day, and there's 6 more days to go...I don't kid when I say "Long and "Lengthy"



Gary aka cruisin USA

[CruisnMom007]

Wow what an ordeal! I was holding my breath in this last part already praying that you made it back to the ship before it sailed away again!!!

[cruisin USA]

"Smooth Sailing"

 

 

When we got back to the cabin, our bags were placed inside. We quickly/finally unpacked. My stuff had been in that luggage for over 48 hrs, but everything seemed to travel pretty well. I LOVED this cabin. I picked the lowest level of aft rap because I figured the cabin, and balcony would be the biggest(and it was). There is a small alcove that leads to our cabin and the one next to it that doesn’t exist on decks 7 or 8. The door to the alcove was kept open most of the time. The kids had decorated the cabin door in honor of Mary Ann’s birthday. Like I said, I had the insides decorated. We kept ALL the decorations up through both cruises. I like the triangular shape of the room. It seemed like lot’s more space that a standard room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of the 2 beds that convert to a king size, we had a queen size bed. One BIG advantage to this was that there was space under the bed for our luggage. The 2 windows and door were great to have. We went, and hung out on the balcony while we watch the other peeps coming back to the boat. What a GREAT balcony!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After awhile we get a call on the walkie talkies. They’re back!!. We asked them to come over to our cabin for a leaving port party. Mary Ann and I did find out that we had to attend a safety briefing at 6 pm. “adjacent to the photo gallery”. I found out that the tv remote didn’t work. Being a good CruiseCritic traveler I had a pen and notepaper and wrote our steward a note. The remote was replaced by the time we got back from our muster drill. The kids loved our place too, and soon it became the “gang” hangout. The view was spectacular as we started to pull away from the port. Jamaica is a big island, and it would be well past dark before it’d be entirely out of our sight.

 

 

Pulling Out of Jamaica

 

 

 

 

to be continued...........

[Molly BPOE]

I have Delta booked out of Missoula for our Jan. Cruise. I am some what nervous now, but the nice thing about small airports it there is never 500-600 people in the place at one time:D

Loving the review and glad that you finally met up with the ship!

[cruisin USA]

After awhile, it was time for our meeting. We went down to the photo gallery, but could not find where they were conducting the safety drill. Then these copper doors open, and we see where an officer is talking to some people on the outside “muster station” walkway. We join in. He, like most of the ships officers is Italian. He is very hard to understand, but we keep nodding(We found out on the next cruise that we didn’t have any idea how to find our own muster station). Lucky us, the rest of the trip was smooth sailing(for the most part). We walked around the ship for a bit. There were two things I had to take care of. First, Dave had told me that they had formal night Sunday night. I had ordered a tux(I don’t like to travel with a suit, shoes, etc.). I explained my situation to the lady at formalities. She said it would be no problem for me to use the tux on the second half of our back to back. Cool. The second things was that the bottle that we ordered for our cabin was Seagrams 7, and NOT Jagermeister!! First, I had called the room steward. He came, but told me I had to call information(7777). Information told me to go to the Formalities shop, since they’re the ones who handle it. The lady at Formatlities told me I’d have to take it to the dining room, and talk to the Matre D’. Last year we were in the Galaxy dining room. This year it was the Universe. The biggest difference of the 2 is that the Galaxy had a staircase where the waiters would line up for their show. I ended up taking the bottle(still in the cellophane) to our Matre D’ “Desmond”. I explained the situation. His assistant knew that I had ordered a tuxedo. She took the bottle, and had a bottle of Jager at our table(in cellophane) before we got to our main course. Desmond also took the time(after finding out we were on a back to back) to ask me where we would like to sit on the second half of our cruise. I told him the kids were leaving after the first cruise. He recommended the seats right on the rail of the balcony so we’d have a good view of the shows. That was great by me. He asked for our cabin number, and I saw him program it in his computer. Very nice!! Desmond would speak to us nightly, and throughout the trip I had heard both him(and Gary, the cruise director) refer to “Checking our Carnival Capers“(which is now FUNTIMES..I guess old habits are hard to break). Dinner was great the first night!!(Everyone elses 3rd night)We met our waiter,(whose name escapes me). He was attentive, but not at all pushy. VERY efficient! Our table(318) was in an out of the way alcove downstairs. Definitely would’ve liked to be more in the center of the action. Bar service to the tables was pretty much non-existent as far as I could tell. I guess we could have asked our waiter.(That might be a new Carnival policy..who knows), but ever since I got served goats milk in the dining room on the Chandris line all those years ago, I still bring my beverages with me to the dining room any way. We all ordered dinner. We had eaten late(around 4:30), and weren’t as hungry as we could have been. Even though the bean soup was a little bland. A salad, fruit plate, and Turkey with Sage Dressing, Yams, and Fried Green Beans were FABULOUS!!! I always look forward to dinner in the dining room on Carnival. If you were to go to a restaurant at home for any of these dinners, it’d cost you between $60 and $100 a person. (And the waiters wouldn’t be doing a song and dance for you either!). Mary Ann and I were used to the “O Solo Mio” and the “Hot, Hot, Hot” numbers. Carnival has changed them up though. The first night the waiters sang a song that escapes me for now.

Undeniably the best top off to dinner was the warm chocolate melting cake.

 

 

 

 

We hadn’t had it for a year, and we made sure to save some room. Both Dave and I asked for a cappucino. After awhile the waiter came by and said there were 5 waiters in line at the cappucino machine. I told him not to bother. Dave’s came about 5 minutes later. After that first night the waiter made sure I got my cappucino after each dinner. After dinner, we were full. It’d been such a long day!!! Finally we had made it to the ship, but we were plum tuckered out. We hung out at the casino for awhile. Mambo Caliente(a duet) were playing Reggae music at the Casino Bar.

It was pretty dead in the casino.

. Had a few cocktails, and called it an early night.



to be continued.......

[falkcor]

i just want to say - i started reading this... in part, yes, for the MISS THE BOAT part... i was somewhat curious how that worked out...

 

and because it was a cruise on carnival DESTINY... and for the fact that i sailed, at least this itinerary... and it started to seem that we had a lot of similar experiences...

 

... and have been captivated since...

 

kudos for your style and i really appreciate your detailed and very enjoyable recollection here - i second (or third, fifth, whatever) others in thanking you for sharing... i'm glad you did, it's great so far, and i will be reading until completion...

 

though, i CAN'T BELIEVE what you encountered at the airport! :eek:

 

that IS UNACCEPABLE! :mad:

 

great attitude... i'd like to buy your party a round! :)

[falkcor]

Dave ended up doing a “Falcor” down the huge water stainless steel waterslide

 

 

 

 

We didn’t get him on the first shot, and had to tell him he had to do it again.

 

then, i saw this, and i bust out laughing!!! for real!!! :D

 

now, THAT (!) brings back memories!!!:

 

 

that really made me smile... :)

 

FANTASTIC PICTURE!

 

if i even knew a picture was being taken, i probably would have done the same as dave. so kudos, good form... :cool:

[CanWeGoYet?]

Loving this review! And that is one amazing balcony. I am glad things are finally getting better, and hope the rest of the cruise was good. Don't keep us waiting too long, can't wait to read more. :)

[copper6606]

then, i saw this, and i bust out laughing!!! for real!!! :D

 

now, THAT (!) brings back memories!!!:

 

 

that really made me smile... :)

 

FANTASTIC PICTURE!

 

if i even knew a picture was being taken, i probably would have done the same as dave. so kudos, good form... :cool:

 

These are such GREAT SHOTS!

Really enjoying your detailed review- what a wonderful attitude you have in what must have been a VERY stressful situation...

[copper6606]

I thought it would show BOTH photos :o LOL!

[graphicguy]

Just to commiserate a bit, I'm a million miler with Delta. There was a point in time in the (not so distant past) that Delta was one of the top airlines as far as customer service, on time arrivals, etc in the industry.

 

It's unfortunate that they took over Northwest because Delta has become terrible at customer service (as you witnessed via their total lack of being able to have remotely enough people to handle the slightest lines at an airport) and even worse punctuality.

 

Even being an alleged "elite" customer of theirs, I try to fly another airline whenever I can.....even if it means inconveniencing my schedule.

 

Love your story so far.

[tami60429]

Awesome review and writing style. Even though it wasn't me, I was getting frustrated reading the craziness you encountered in the beginning. You definitely handled it better than I would have. I would still be after the airline for some kind of credit. I started to pickup the phone and then remembered it wasn't my experience. :-)

 

I was not understanding the big deal about the aft wraps until I saw your pictures. I am going to have to look into those in the future.

 

Thank you for taking the time to do the writeup.

[gelboydad]

Without a doubt this is one of the best review I've read. It's like a short novel. Suspense, drama, action. Are you sure your not a writer? I will have to subscribe to this thread to make sure to continue reading.

[cullensmom]

Thanks for sharing. My October cruise stops in Jamaica and I've been a bit apprehensive (after reading stuff on hear). From your review, it sounds like we'll have a blast!

[Jeafl]

Loving your review so far! Can't wait to read the rest. :)

[magic&buddy]

Wow.....fabulous review! Can't wait to read more!!!

[onthehighseas606]

I don't usually read reviews because I find most of them boring and uneventful. Yours however, has me captivated. You write very well and I love the pictures. You seem to take it all in stride and make a good thing of a bad situation.

[laurenpie]

Wow what a fantastic review - you have done such a good job so far of writing it how you have.

 

& good on you for how you handled your cancelled flight issues. I had issues with Delta last year flying out of Miami/Fort Lauderdale, it was horrible - you sure handled it a lot better than I did.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review! :)

[halos]

I am loving your review and TOTALLY admire how you all handled the whole fiasco!!! Bravo!!

[Tapi]

I have Delta booked out of Missoula for our Jan.

 

Are you flying through Minneapolis? Missoula-Minneapolis is one of my routes! In fact, I'll be overnighting in Missoula next week! :D

[Meyer2]

I am really enjoying your review! Wonderful writing! I can't believe all you had to go thru just getting started. You handled it well, shame on the airlines issues.

 

The pictures have been great too & I look forward to the remainder of your review. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[smrn]

One of the best reviews I've ever read! Thanks and can't wait for you to finish! I have a cruise booked on the Destiny and want to hear all I can about her!

Thanks again!

[Cruise Envy]

Great review so far. You have a wonderful attitude. I've had one of those miserable flight days, but you certainly made lemonade out of lemons!