Destiny Review 05/01 - 05/08/05

[KenMo]

Wow, what a finish. A couple comments:

Ain't Coki one of the best beaches?

Dominica wasn't our favorite, but you're right, it is lush and very pretty. I think, for us, it was just because it was gloomy and rainy all day. Imagine that, it rained all day, in a rainforest. Who'd a thunk?

You definitely have to get back to see the Boatyard. We had a blast there. Glad you missed the sea lice (babies of one of the jellyfish species, about the size of a grain of pepper, from what I've heard very unpleasant).

JollyPirates could have been worse. The week we went, was the week the original Pirate ship caught fire and sank. Showing up at Moomba at 9am and having Carla tell us the ship was at the bottom of the ocean was really bad.

C&C is just across the street ... and two blocks over. Everybody forgets (or can't remember) to tell you that part! lol You didn't miss much. We went after dinner and the C&C there is so small and so packed with cruisers that it was hotter inside then outside. We got our yards and headed back to the ship.

If you do the Destiny again, get late seating and try the dining room more, we ate way too much, but it was worth it.

And unfortunately I have to agree with you. That have got to come up with a better way to handle debarkation.

 

Hi Mike - Yes, I really loved Coki Beach. I haven't been to any other beaches on St Thomas, but I would definately return to Coki.

 

I can imagine that Dominica would be miserable if it were raining all day. We were lucky, I guess. Just a few sprinkles a couple of times!!

 

Thanks for the info on C&C......that explains it!!! I wanted to go just to say I'd been there, so no big deal that I didn't make it!!

 

Thanks for your comments!!!!!

[KenMo]

San Juan: Post-Cruise

 

We took a cab from the terminal to the hotel. Couldn't check in until 2pm....but no problem. They had a place to store our luggage.

 

First order of business......someplace to get a nice, cool drink! One block up from the hotel, and about two blocks to the right is a nice spot called The Latin Star. We just sat at the outside tables with a couple of beers and decompressed for a little while.

 

Next, we took a cab to El Morro. What an amazing place!!! And huge!! They just don't make buildings like they used to, do they??? The views from the upper level are just beautiful. It was $3 pp admission. For $5, you can gain entrance to both El Morro and San Cristobal. Well worth the price!

 

Well, it's after 2pm so we go back to the hotel. Check in, drop off our luggage, put on swim suits and head to the beach. I believe the website for the hotel states that they are 20 steps from the beach. It might be 30 steps, but it's real close. Here, you can rent a beach chair for $3. We stayed here for 2-3 hours. It's a real nice beach!

 

We walked around, looking for a place to eat some local style food. A couple of blocks down from The Latin Star, we found Godfathers (not pizza!!). We had a very nice meal.....I had the halibut, which was very good! The prices were very reasonable. They happened to have the exact same menu as The Latin Star and the prices were the same also. Either place would have been nice to eat.

 

The rest of the evening we just spent in the hotel room and went to sleep since we had an early flight the next morning.

 

All in all - a nice day in San Juan!!!

 

Final Comments/Things I Learned

 

- Always fly in the day before. Anything can happen!!

- Get to the San Juan airport at least 2 hours early! All luggage must go through USDA inspection (there's a long line). Then you can go to Self-Service check in.....which takes forever! There are 5 machines, but for some reason, people would not go to the next available machine on their own. They had to wait for the ticket agent to holler "next". People....these machines are self-service!

- The first formal night has been changed from St Thomas to Dominica.

- Request late seating for dinner!!!

- Don't be in a big hurry to debark. We probably should have hung out in our cabin or Lido deck for a while longer and let the crowds thin out. Then we could have basically walked right off the ship with out all the waiting.

 

Well, I'm sure I've forgotten something that I wanted to say. If I think of anything later, I will post it. When things were happening that were aggravating to me, I thought, jeez....this is horrible. But while writing this review, I realized that anything negative pales in comparison to the great times we had!

 

Thanks again for all the great advice I received from the people on these boards. It really helped make cruising even better!!!

[o2bonn]

:eek: So, Mona - The formal nights are Dominica (Tuesday) and the first sea day (Thursday)? My family is going in August and I am starting to book tours based upon the schedule of the ship.

[KenMo]

:eek: So, Mona - The formal nights are Dominica (Tuesday) and the first sea day (Thursday)? My family is going in August and I am starting to book tours based upon the schedule of the ship.

 

Yes.....that is correct! I found out on Sunday when I went to the spa to book my hair appointment for Monday. She said no.....formal night is now on Tuesday. So while I was trying to decide what I wanted to do, she said "Keep in mind that Dominica is not a good port". I think this is why they changed it. More people stayed on the ship in Dominica, maybe?? This didn't work real well for me, because I had more planned in Dominica than St Thomas - based on St Thomas being formal night. Put a little kink in my planning.....but, no big deal!!

 

Have a great cruise!!!

[2VaCruzers]

:D Mona...Again, thanks for the review and for the websites for excursions. Gives us a place to start looking. We've got a year to go, but it's always nice to look ahead :D