Mountainbreeze's B2B Destiny review - long w/ pics

[hannibal54]

I know it takes a long time to write a review and post pictures, plus live your life. Just looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for the story so far.

[loltastic]

I am loving this review so far, thanks for taking the time to post it!

[nessz79]

Just found your review. Wanted to pop in to say that I love it! Love your story as a couple and am enjoying reading about the Destiny. I sailed her last year to Key West and Cozumel and this year we are doing the GT, HMC, and Nassau route. Can't wait!

 

We have a cabana reserved for our HMC day and are hoping for either cabana 8, 9, or 10. Yours looked great :)

[tahitidreamz]

Congrats on your nuptuals....Reading and seeing it is like a true love story. I got wet eyes now!

 

tahiti:D

[mountainbreeze]

I'm back with the rest of my review!!! :)

Thanks for being so patient! I spent 6 hours on this last night (from 9PM to 3AM) and another 5 hours tonight, and I was only working on the last 3 days of the trip. I'm finally done writing, sorting and resizing pictures.

I had no idea how long it would take to write a lengthy review. I can now tell you, it takes many many hours. (I'm not complaining, I had a great time writing and seeing the story come to life) Now I can truly appreciate the work that others put into their reviews.

Next time, I will write and sort FIRST, then I'll start a post! See, I'm learning!

I have run into a problem where I have used all the free picture posting that Photobucket will allow. They suggest I pay them $24.99 for a year of picture hosting. I don't mean to sound cheap, but I decided not to pay them.

Of course I didn't want to leave you all hanging, so I posted the ENTIRE wedding and Back-2-Back Destiny review on my personal blog.

In order to save me $24.99, please click here, to read my review.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunsmyers/our-wedding-honeymoon-story

Thanks for reading!!!

[samrothstein]

I'm back with the rest of my review!!! :)

Thanks for being so patient! I spent 6 hours on this last night (from 9PM to 3AM) and another 5 hours tonight, and I was only working on the last 3 days of the trip. I'm finally done writing, sorting and resizing pictures.

I had no idea how long it would take to write a lengthy review. I can now tell you, it takes many many hours. (I'm not complaining, I had a great time writing and seeing the story come to life) Now I can truly appreciate the work that others put into their reviews.

Next time, I will write and sort FIRST, then I'll start a post! See, I'm learning!

I have run into a problem where I have used all the free picture posting that Photobucket will allow. They suggest I pay them $24.99 for a year of picture hosting. I don't mean to sound cheap, but I decided not to pay them.

Of course I didn't want to leave you all hanging, so I posted the ENTIRE wedding and Back-2-Back Destiny review on my personal blog.

In order to save me $24.99, please click here, to read my review.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunsmyers/our-wedding-honeymoon-story

Thanks for reading!!!

 

I love this review, and can't wait to take my own Destiny trip! This post makes me so excited!

 

I'm not sure if this was covered already, but what deck was your balcony on, and did you have any issues with noise from above/below? I'm towards the front of the ship and am concerned about noise coming up from the palladium lounge.

[mountainbreeze]

You weren't kidding about the "interesting" breakfast! We have had a couple of experiences like that also. It's pretty painful. That's why we always try to ask for a table for 2 (or 4 on our last cruise with our kids). We like meeting new people but just don't like chancing it...we like to eat too much. Haha!

 

Great formal pics! I especially loved the 1st one...really good! Can't wait for the rest of the review :)

 

mama 2 boys - Thanks for the compliments on our formal pictures! I love the first one too! :)

 

The rest of the review is finished, FINALLY, just click on the link in my signature.

[cruisingagaininnov2008]

Yaaaaay! I made it through the entire review. It was so wonderful to read it. I have been on the Destiny 3 times (Key West/Cozumel, Cozumel, Nassau/Half Moon Cay/Grand Turk) and am scheduled for a 4th time in November (Ochos Rios/Grand Cayman). It was great to hear someone give their candid impressions of the ports. I now know what to expect in Jamaica. My husband and I will definitely plan an excursion to keep us busy there! I know a lot of it will be unavoidable, but what can you do?

 

Your sand jars are a great idea. My favorite sand is also from Half Moon Cay. It is unbelievably soft.

 

The pictures of the last day are funny - all of the New Kids pictures. We do the Rick Springfield cruises that are organized through the same tour company. But, they are no where near the same scale! It is not a full ship charter as the NKOTB cruises.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to post your review!

Kim

[Lovharvey]

MAY 8 - MOTHER'S DAY - SEA DAY

 

 

Tim and I woke up at 7:00. Well, we were getting a little better at sleeping in! At least it wasn't 5:30!! It was a beautiful morning out on the ocean. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and there were white puffy clouds!

 

 

Tim and I lazed around, and eventually took showers and got dressed. This was a nice start to our day, we had nothing planned except for formal night in the MDR at 6:00 and we were happy about that.

 

 

On this lazy morning, we decided to go to the MDR, and order our breakfast from a menu.

 

We decided to bring along our FUN TIMES for that day and also our little newspaper that listed and explained all of the excursions we could choose from for the upcoming ports. Tim and I thought we could talk about excursions over breakfast, and then go sign up for something after we ate.

 

When we got to the MDR, we asked the hostess if Achmed was there that morning. He was, and we were quickly seated in his section. He was so happy to see us at breakfast for the first time! Plenty of high-fives and smiles going around.

 

 

Soon after we were seated, 3 other couples were also seated at our table. Oh! I forgot that we would be seated with others. Looks like Tim and I wouldn't be going over the excursion newspaper at breakfast. No big deal, we're friendly! I had heard a lot of people meet some really nice people when they share a table with strangers. It might be fun to have breakfast with others, we could meet some nice people.

 

 

I said "Good Morning!" to each couple as they sat down. (some of them looked surprised when I greeted them) I also said "Happy Mother's Day!" to each of the ladies ( a little more surprised looks). After we all ordered, there was absolutely no conversation at the table. Awkward. I started conversation by asking each couple where they were from? and sometimes I asked other questions like: had they cruised before? excited about Jamaica tomorrow!? And soon enough there was awkward strained conversation at the table. It was a little weird.

 

 

The couple across from Tim and I were from Ireland. I loved their accents, but they NEVER smiled. Not once during the whole breakfast. The couple to our right were from Florida. They were closer in age to Tim and I and conversation with them went OK. Much better than with the other two couples.

 

 

The third couple, on our right, was from Canada. Again, strained conversation. At one point, I had said that Tim and I were on our honeymoon, and the Canada lady asked me "Oh! Is that why you are so bubbly and happy??" I answered "Yes!" But I thought, NO, this is pretty much how I always am!

 

 

Maybe I was too happy for these people?? And really, I wasn’t being over-the-top annoyingly happy. I was just being my normal self.

 

 

Hmmm.... This was the strangest breakfast I had ever had. Achmed was our savior each time he came to refill water or juice galsses.

 

 

Breakfast was finally served, and it was good. Everyone was quiet while we ate. Tim and I were done eating first, because Achmed had served us first. We both looked at each other and we knew we were both thinking the same thing. LETS GET OUT OF HERE!!!

 

 

We said goodbye to the 3 somber couples as they were still finishing their breakfast, and we said goodbye to Achmed. We would see him at dinner tonight at 6:00. We practically ran out of the dining room and we both heaved a sigh of relief as soon as we were out of the doors! Man, that was ROUGH!!

 

 

We appreciated our perfect little booth for two so much more after that strained breakfast. Tim and I are sooooo easygoing, we feel we are friendly.......we have always made friends easily (example: Norma, Brian, Sandra, Hameed) and we have NO IDEA what the deal was with the 3 couples at our breakfast table.

 

 

OK, nevermind the 3 couples...........they can have a somber cruise if they want to, but I'm having fun!

 

 

Tim and I spent a few minutes talking about excursions as we walked around the ship. We finally decided we wanted to book the TRANOPY ADVENTURE on MYSTIC MOUNTAIN for Jamaica for the next day. We went to the Excursion kiosk on deck 3, and we had two tickets printed. The cost was $120.00 each, and it was charged to our S & S account.

 

 

We wanted to spend the rest of our morning on the lido deck, with all of the people and the noise, and the music. We went up there, and it was in full swing! People everywhere, and we grabbed the first open table we found. As the morning went on, we hopped over a few tables when a better one opened up. I wanted to be in the sun, but I had no luck. We had a table in the shade, but at least we had a table!

 

 

We sat at our table and people watched, and listened to the band play reggae music. Achmed (our awesome MDR server) was there, helping to get the lunch buffet opened, and he spotted us and came over and talked with us for awhile. We also saw Norma and Brian a few times, they had scored to lounge chairs in the sun on the upper deck overlooking all of the action.

 

 

The highlight of people watching that morning was this family, who all came to the pool that morning with their white bathrobes on. It was a HUGE family and every single one of them had a white Carnival robe on. Very noticeable, and this family was all over the lido deck with the robes on. They were a very happy family, and they were having a great time!

One of the men with the robe family liked to wear his long black dress socks pulled up to his knees while he was in the hot tub. Then he wore them soaking wet all over the lido deck. It was great to watch all this unfold. Great people-watching material.

 

I took many pictures of the goings on and activity on the Lido deck. Unfortunately, almost all of my pictures from that morning were lost because when I added more photos to that days file on my laptop, I deleted the ones already there, including all of my morning pictures from Mother's Day. Yes, It was my fault! I even deleted pics of the family in robes and the man in the socks. Too bad!

 

I did manage to save this picture I took of Noonan, our cruise director. He was out on the Lido deck having that drink making contest.

 

I really liked Noonan!

 

 

 

At noon, the lunch buffet opened up. Tim stayed at our table while I got in line. I ate a cheeseburger and french fries. I was pretty hungry and I actually thought my meal was quite good.

 

 

When I got back with my food, Tim went to the deli and got a sandwich.

After we ate, we went back up to our cabin and we both took a 2 hour nap. It sure was a nice lazy day!

 

 

We woke up in the late afternoon, and walked up to deck 10, then went to the other side of the ship to take pictures of Cuba. We were 13 miles away from the island. Yep, those pics were deleted too!

 

 

Soon it was time to get ready for the second formal night we would have on our cruise.

 

 

At 5:20, we went down to deck 3 for picture taking. We stopped at all of the backgrounds and posed for 2-3 pictures at each background. I was hoping for ONE good picture, and we wouldn’t be able to see any of them until tomorrow night.

 

***NOTE: Since tomorrow's post about our Jamaica day is very long and picture intensive, I am going to include our formal night pictures with this post. But really, we didn't get to see these pics or purchase them until the folowing night.

 

From all of pictures we took that night, we narrowed them down to 3 that we wanted to purchase. They are all 8X10's and they were about $22.00 each.

 

Yes, they are cheezy! I love them! We had great fun playing dress-up and taking formal pictures on the ship.

 

Keep in mind, I took a picture of these photos with my cell phone. They aren't blurry in the real photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though you deleted your pictures from your memory card, there are recovery programs available. My grandson deleted all the pictures he took in NY and I bought a memory card recovery program and recovered every picture he had taken. I found out even if you delete them, they are still there even though you can't see them. I'm not at home, so I don't remember the name of the program, but, just search for memory card recovery programs.

[mountainbreeze]

Great review & pics. CONGRATS on your wedding & finding your brothers. Yes, you & the one brother look like you should be the set of twins. :) So exciting. Thanks for sharing all of your awesome news with us as well as taking time for the review.

 

pacarolinagirl,

 

Thank You for your sweet comments! :) I appreciate it!

[All4fun&fun4all]

Such a wonderful review. I have enjoyed hearing about every part of your vacation/wedding/reunion.

With regards to the photobucket thingy. Its actually only $2.99 a month. I exceeded the bandwith on my photobucket account while I was doing my review as well and figured, for the cost, it was worth it to sign up.

[mountainbreeze]

We have not booked any excursions yet. We actually just booked the cruise a few days ago! We've heard good things about the sting rays in Grand Cayman and the falls in Jamaica.

 

And yes, we braved sitting at a table with other couples. My sister and I were sat with 2 other pairs of girls in their 20s on spring break and the 7th & 8th at our table was my now husband and his dad.... with 6 20-something gals! Lucky them! ;)

 

Love your review. Can't wait for more!

 

Mrs_JS, I'm so glad you like my review! I finally finished!

It is nice to hear about the good times when eating with strangers......For this cruise, Tim and I were happy with our private little booth. :)

[mountainbreeze]

I know it takes a long time to write a review and post pictures, plus live your life. Just looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for the story so far.

 

hannibal54, I had no idea it would take so long! I was sure I could write it in a few days. It took longer to write the review than it did to actually take the vacation! :)

 

Glad you are enjoying it! The rest is posted.....follow the link in my signature

[mountainbreeze]

I am loving this review so far, thanks for taking the time to post it!

 

loltastic ~ Thank You!!! :)

[mountainbreeze]

Just found your review. Wanted to pop in to say that I love it! Love your story as a couple and am enjoying reading about the Destiny. I sailed her last year to Key West and Cozumel and this year we are doing the GT, HMC, and Nassau route. Can't wait!

 

We have a cabana reserved for our HMC day and are hoping for either cabana 8, 9, or 10. Yours looked great :)

 

nessz79 ~ Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed reading about our cruise!

 

I see you are leaving VERY SOON! Lucky You!!! :)

Have a GREAT time!!

[mountainbreeze]

Congrats on your nuptuals....Reading and seeing it is like a true love story. I got wet eyes now!

 

tahiti:D

 

 

Aww thanks, tahitidreamz! How sweet! :)

[mountainbreeze]

I love this review, and can't wait to take my own Destiny trip! This post makes me so excited!

 

I'm not sure if this was covered already, but what deck was your balcony on, and did you have any issues with noise from above/below? I'm towards the front of the ship and am concerned about noise coming up from the palladium lounge.

 

Hi samrothstein ~ I'm so glad you are enjoying the review! :) I think everyone should take a cruise on the Destiny!

 

Our balcony room was on Deck 6 - Port side.

Our room was located just above the Sports Bar, which was on deck 5. We didn't hear much noise from the bar, just occasionally we would hear people cheering when their team scored. It didn't happen very often though.

 

Above us were more cabins, and we didn't hear anything from above.

 

We had originally looked to book a cabin that was just above the Paladium, but I picked a cabin further back (towards the middle of the ship) because I wasn't sure if there would be noise coming from the Paladium or not.

 

We loved the location of our cabin. We seemed to be mid-ship as far as top to bottom. And also mid-ship (or close to it) from front to back. It was a great location for us. After we figured out which elevators would take us to certain areas, we got around the ship fairly quickly. :)

 

Next time I may pick a room on the starboard side, they seemed to have the better views from their balconies when pulling into most of the ports. It might be different for different ports though, so that may not matter.

[mountainbreeze]

Yaaaaay! I made it through the entire review. It was so wonderful to read it. I have been on the Destiny 3 times (Key West/Cozumel, Cozumel, Nassau/Half Moon Cay/Grand Turk) and am scheduled for a 4th time in November (Ochos Rios/Grand Cayman). It was great to hear someone give their candid impressions of the ports. I now know what to expect in Jamaica. My husband and I will definitely plan an excursion to keep us busy there! I know a lot of it will be unavoidable, but what can you do?

 

Your sand jars are a great idea. My favorite sand is also from Half Moon Cay. It is unbelievably soft.

 

The pictures of the last day are funny - all of the New Kids pictures. We do the Rick Springfield cruises that are organized through the same tour company. But, they are no where near the same scale! It is not a full ship charter as the NKOTB cruises.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to post your review!

Kim

 

Hello Kim! I'm really glad you enjoyed reading my review! I keep going back to re-read parts of it, so I can pretend I am there again!

When I was leaving for work this morning, Tim was still home and he was reading my latest entry of the review. I told him I had to leave for work, and he said, "I'm in Jamaica right now". :) (hope he gets back by the time I go back home!)

 

Yes, definitely plan something for Jamaica! (I highly suggest the Tranopy Adventure!) but I think any of the excursions will keep you away from the locals we endured!

 

And the crew was sure dressing the ship up for the New Kids on the Block! I hope someone posts a review of that cruise. I don't really listen to New Kids, but I would have loved to have been on the cruise. I'm sure they had fun! :)

[mountainbreeze]

Even though you deleted your pictures from your memory card, there are recovery programs available. My grandson deleted all the pictures he took in NY and I bought a memory card recovery program and recovered every picture he had taken. I found out even if you delete them, they are still there even though you can't see them. I'm not at home, so I don't remember the name of the program, but, just search for memory card recovery programs.

 

 

Lovharvey ~ Thank you SO MUCH for this information! As soon as I get home from work I will look into this more. I hope I can recover those pictures somehow!! Thanks again for the info, If I do recover the lost pics, I'll post them! :)

[LBumb]

LBumb, Thanks for your sweet comments! I'll be posting more of the review tonight after the house quiets down for the night.

 

I just noticed you are from St Charles, Mo. I'm hosting a HUGE family reunion for myself and my brothers to meet our birthfamily in st Charles this July!

 

We are holding the reunion at the Weldon Spring city hall (our g g grandfather named that town) and the mayor is going to be there at the reunion to name us honorary citizens!

 

Our birthfamily is related to Daniel Boone (he was me and the twins's 6th great grandfather!) and I'm sure you know he lived the end of his life in St Charles.

 

Because of my long and detailed search for my brothers, and my rich birthfamily history in that area (plus, we were all born in St Louis) I have become quite big into the genealogy world. I do family history research, mostly in St Charles, and I run a website for St Charles genealogy.

:)

 

that is awesome. i live in a small town very close to weldon springs named cottleville.

[samrothstein]

Sweet, we're on the starboard side, and hopefully far back enough from the palladium (technically we're over the gift shop) that we won't hear any noise.

 

Hi samrothstein ~ I'm so glad you are enjoying the review! :) I think everyone should take a cruise on the Destiny!

 

Our balcony room was on Deck 6 - Port side.

Our room was located just above the Sports Bar, which was on deck 5. We didn't hear much noise from the bar, just occasionally we would hear people cheering when their team scored. It didn't happen very often though.

 

Above us were more cabins, and we didn't hear anything from above.

 

We had originally looked to book a cabin that was just above the Paladium, but I picked a cabin further back (towards the middle of the ship) because I wasn't sure if there would be noise coming from the Paladium or not.

 

We loved the location of our cabin. We seemed to be mid-ship as far as top to bottom. And also mid-ship (or close to it) from front to back. It was a great location for us. After we figured out which elevators would take us to certain areas, we got around the ship fairly quickly. :)

 

Next time I may pick a room on the starboard side, they seemed to have the better views from their balconies when pulling into most of the ports. It might be different for different ports though, so that may not matter.

[samrothstein]

Lovharvey ~ Thank you SO MUCH for this information! As soon as I get home from work I will look into this more. I hope I can recover those pictures somehow!! Thanks again for the info, If I do recover the lost pics, I'll post them! :)

 

as long as no new data has been written to the card, it should be recoverable. if new data has been written, then some of the data will be lost.

[berwyn]

Hello Kim! I'm really glad you enjoyed reading my review! I keep going back to re-read parts of it, so I can pretend I am there again!

When I was leaving for work this morning, Tim was still home and he was reading my latest entry of the review. I told him I had to leave for work, and he said, "I'm in Jamaica right now". :) (hope he gets back by the time I go back home!)

 

Yes, definitely plan something for Jamaica! (I highly suggest the Tranopy Adventure!) but I think any of the excursions will keep you away from the locals we endured!

 

And the crew was sure dressing the ship up for the New Kids on the Block! I hope someone posts a review of that cruise. I don't really listen to New Kids, but I would have loved to have been on the cruise. I'm sure they had fun! :)

We are not doing any excursions in Jamaica,would you recommend that we don't leave the ship while we are there?

[mountainbreeze]

Such a wonderful review. I have enjoyed hearing about every part of your vacation/wedding/reunion.

With regards to the photobucket thingy. Its actually only $2.99 a month. I exceeded the bandwith on my photobucket account while I was doing my review as well and figured, for the cost, it was worth it to sign up.

 

Hi All4fun&fun4all! Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you enjoyed my review!

 

$2.99 per month isn't so bad......I think I'm just being cheap! This way I can save more for the next vacation!:)

[mountainbreeze]

that is awesome. i live in a small town very close to weldon springs named cottleville.

 

 

LBumb, How very cool! My great Aunts and Uncles all went to school in Cottleville in the early 1800's.......I've done a lot of genealogy research in the Cottleville area. :)

I'm sure you have heard of the Francis Howell School District, or the Francis Howell High School?? Another cool thing......Francis Howell Sr. was one of my great grandfathers, and two of his sons (my great uncles Louis and Frances Jr) were the ones that started that school district in a one room schoolhouse. Can you tell I love genealogy as much as I love cruising??!!! :) Have a good day!