"Hey! That's not my port!" -- A Carnival Destiny Photo Review

[sanmarcosman]

OK, I'll bite, do you have a picture of the shower to share with the group? :)

[gapearl]

Great review so far! Looking forward to the rest. :)

[labsnabys]

I am enjoying your review so far!

[tinkerbell_82]

OK, I'll bite, do you have a picture of the shower to share with the group? :)

 

Haha I was just thinking the same thing! You can't talk the shower all up like that and not share a pic!

[crystalies]

Really enjoying this!

[DeloreanGirl]

OK, I'll bite, do you have a picture of the shower to share with the group? :)

 

Crap! I loved it so much and never took a photo of it!

 

Hmmm.....

 

Here is a link to someone else's picture though, lol....

http://i.usatoday.net/travel/_photos/gallery/cruise-ship-tours/tr120221_carnival-destiny/83x-large.jpg

 

Glamorous? No?

 

Actually this photo is outdated. The new "look" has a bright blue sink with glass areas to hold your stuff. I don't remember seeing all that tile on the walls. The shower basically spans the length of the bathroom instead of being a tiny tube. You have room to stand in there and move around. Also, the water pressure was amazing!

[luvsviola]

Loving your review!

[sanmarcosman]

Thanks for the link, that looks like a h/c room but I guess I'll have to book a cruise and see for myself!

[cantwait2cruise]

Bummer on the port situation, but so far you all look like you are making the best of it!:D

[hayesktrm]

Great review! Can't wait to hear more. Love your attitude.

[For love of cruising]

I don't typically give a review of a cruise and this will be short. Despite ship problems that changed our ports we still had a great time in celebrating my 60th birthday. I booked it just to be at my fav private island carnival half moon cay and also grand Turks I really don't care much for other ports close to Fl. We always love the larger rooms shower and stoarge in carnival versus royal Caribbean or princess and thankfully no sewer issues compared to our only princess We love the beds so comfy! We also love all the staff from room to dining areas and lounges etc. they are all so friendly and helpful. I know they tried even harder since they knew many upset over port changes. And I believe they did their best to make up happy I know they kept telling me happy birthday and Percs of past guest added presents and just knowing they cared about my birthday and about my disappointment of changes. As always we will sail Carnival again when price and local works with our timing. We love eastern Caribbean and maybe someday get southern. See how we have no use for any Mexico or Jamaica again. And hopefully some day we will get back to Alaska. Best of all we made new friends because of being on Destiny and they all helped to make my birthday special along with the Carnival staff !!! So thanks Carnival and friends. You made me feel special for most of a week and catered greatly to me !!!! That's all !!!

[ShellyV]

Awesome review!! We had an updated room and was so much nicer than when we sailed on her in '07!

[Breezy72]

Dang it! I feel as if I'm watching my favorite show and have to wait a week to see the next episode! :p

Great review and loads of fun to read! Keep it coming!!

[Marinegal]

Loving the review!! I do have to ask, where can I find a Bon Voyage countdown clock like that??

[DeloreanGirl]

“So This is What Miami Looks Like at Night”

 

We spent the afternoon roaming around the ship once our rooms had opened and we were able to drop off our stuff. I remember grabbing lunch at the buffet and remarking how I seem to always have prime rib on embarkation day, no matter what cruise line. First day on Disney? Prime rib. First day on RCCL Freedom? Prime rib. What is it with them slicing prime rib on the first day? Maybe they want to show off the best meat right up front. But I digress…

 

We made note of where our muster station was on the back of our stateroom door. I believe ours was Muster Station F on Deck 4. I had heard that Carnival has their musters completely outside. Other lines allow guests to muster in lounge areas if they’re on the right area of the ship. I didn’t mind the outside muster area since it was January and the weather (aside from that crazy typical Florida humidity) was perfect. I checked the Fun Times and I believe it said that the drill was at 3:15pm. As that time drew near, I didn’t hear any announcements about it. I freaked out and thought perhaps we had missed it. I opened our stateroom door to look down the hallway and catch a glimpse of anyone carrying a life jacket. It turns out Carnival doesn’t require you to wear or hold your life jacket for muster. {Hmm, nicely played, Carnival. I’ll note this as the first entry in my “Good Job, Carnival” list.}

 

At some point Noonan, the Cruise Director (whom apparently everybody loves), came on the loudspeaker and told us about muster. We made our way down to Deck 4, section F and stood in military lines with others from our area.

 

I’ve noticed that there are two types of muster drill passengers. First, there are the types that fidget and sigh heavily with disgust and gripe about how long it’s taking. Or you can get really lucky and stand with a group who has already hit the pool bar, sometimes with drink in hand, and they are upbeat and excited and woo-woo’ing their way towards a great vacation. Our group, luckily, was patient and nobody got grumpy. But I was secretly thankful that it wasn’t July or August and 90 degrees outside during this procedure, because it’s still a cramped 15 minutes. The cheerier you are, the faster muster goes by, I promise.

 

I found some of our Cruise Critic buddies up top on Deck 10 and introduced myself. At sailaway, we had all planned to meet up on Deck 10 aft wearing our beads to distinguish each other from the crowd. There were about 30-40 of us total and we hoped to get a sizable group photo. It would be exciting to put faces to names after all these months!

 

Sometime around 4pm (you know, that time when all the other boats leave) is when the captains voice came on the loudspeaker.

 

“Greetings….eh…..Carnival….eh… Destiny passengers. I regret to… eh… inform-eh-you….that we will not be departing until we get … .eh…. clean water onboard. Once we get the clean water … eh…. onboard, we will depart. This will not affect the cruising schedule. We will….eh…..depart at approximately seven thirty. Thank you.”

 

Did you like my suave Italian accent? That’s pretty much how he sounded.

 

So not only was it a kick in the pants to have broken thrusters and be rewarded with a completely different vacation itinerary than we wanted, but now we had to sit tied up at the port while all the other cruise ships rolled by us. From our balconies, we waved to them. We could hear their party music echoing in the afternoon air. Passengers waved to us as they floated by, probably chuckling at our misery under their breath.

 

And so, we sat.

 

I was especially embarassed because I had just e-mailed my parents and in-laws the day before about our runt boat and jokingly typed, “If you watch us on the Port of Miami webcam and all the other ships sail by and we don’t…something is wrong.” I said this half-jokingly until I realized they were probably glued to their computer screens worrying that we weren’t moving.

 

It dawned on me that we were supposed to have our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet behind the whale tail. I ran up to find the Meet & Greet spot only to become incredibly confused.

 

Wasn’t there a pool here? Where are the jacuzzis? Wait, am I turned around?

 

It turns out that the aft pool has a retractable roof and they had closed it due to the fact that, gee, it started POURING rain at the moment. It looked completely unfamiliar with the roof closed so I could’nt tell what deck I was on. Luckily, I found a few couples from Cruise Critic and said hello. Only 6 out of the 30 of us were there and the rain pushed us inside to the top level of the Sun & Sea Restaurant. Plus, our botched sailaway time probably confused everyone else, so we considered it a wash.

 

 

 

I realized that our sailaway would be beautiful and quiet against the city backdrop. The skyline was beautiful at night, even moreso than the day, and we had nothing ahead of us except green twinkling marker buoys and a black sea. As expected, our tug showed up and pulled our rear away from the dock while the forward thruster paralelled it.

 

 

{Tip: The Secret Deck} I had heard from past cruise reports that there is a “secret deck” on Deck 6 and 7. You have to walk all the way forward down the stateroom hallways until you reach the door on the left hand side. Open both doors and you will find a peaceful area at the bow of the ship. This is where we watched our nocturnal sailaway and it was beautiful!

 

It was dead silent as the ship glided out of the port. No jet ski’s, no motor boats, no crazy people on Miami Beach -- just the sound of waves lapping and the low hum of the Harbor Pilot skimming alongside us.

 

 

Our peaceful moment ended when a group of ladies headed up front to celebrate sailaway by hooting and hollering. These ladies seemed like a lot of fun and must have been on a girls trip. Whoever you are, you gave us “sailaway and a show!”

 

 

Our group had Anytime Dining in the Galaxy Dining room. I’m so glad all of the cruise lines stole this idea from NCL because it is so awesome. I love you all dearly but I don’t know if I’d want to be at an 8-person table with strangers. We did it once and it wasn’t for us. Usually we wait for a 2-person table but were thrilled to dine with our friends at a 4-person booth every night.

 

{Good Job, Carnival #2: They have actual padded full booths in the dining room!}

 

The food in the dining room was great. We had a lovely waiter from India who was attentive and sweet. I don’t remember what we ate (and I didn’t take a photo of it as most hardcore trip reviewers do) but I do remember that it was delicious and our friends who were cruising with us for the first time were certainly impressed with the quality and the fact that you could order anything of any quantity.

 

I believe this was the night that the maitre d’, Klaudio Vukic, introduced himself by doing a fun dance with the wait staff. I love this guy, don’t get me wrong, but the volume of the speakers in the restaurant were crazy loud. Maybe it’s because we were on the second level closer to the ceiling. But we had to plug our ears over the piercing volume of his microphone.

 

{Good Job, Carnival #3: Dancing in the dining room. I know Princess and Royal wouldn’t be caught dead doing this, but I thought it was fun! Minus the whole “I’m trying to eat. Just let me eat in peace, please…” part. At least they kept it to only one song or dance a night.}

 

This is also the night we all discovered the Warm Melting Chocolate Cake. I had heard so many people rave about it here on Cruise Critic that I told our friends they had to try it. Thankfully, they did, because they fell in love so badly with it that they ordered it ever single night for the rest of the trip.

 

Dude… try the ice cream! The tiramisu! The pie! The bread pudding! Nope… it was Warm Chocolate Melting Cake or nothing for them. We walked around the atrium to settle our stomachs and stopped by the photo gallery to buy our cheese-tastic embarkation photo.

 

Also, whoever was the acoustic guitar musician in the atrium was FANTASTIC! He played soft versions of rock songs all week and his voice was great as well. I was really impressed.

 

{Good Job, Carnival #4: I really like the layout of Carnival’s photo library, or at least on this ship. On other ships, we would always be crowded around one area frantically looking for our photo. But Carnival’s layout is great because it’s one long side of the atrium. This gives you enough space to find your photo without creating a traffic jam. I also liked that the photographers would give you a number and you could go to that numbered section on the wall to find your photo. Also, the prices were decent. They didn’t force you to buy “packages” like Disney and I surely don’t remember paying as low as $9.99 on Royal.}

 

Our evening concluded with a pattern that would be set for the rest of the cruise: the wives go to bed, and the husbands go to the casino. And despite my being on Pacific Time (It’s only 7pm PST! Time to party!) my body revolted and wanted sleep. The traveling and food coma had caught up with me and I was out cold.

 

Up Next: Sea Day Free Day!

[DeloreanGirl]

Loving the review!! I do have to ask, where can I find a Bon Voyage countdown clock like that??

 

Hi! I got mine on eBay. I basically Google'd "countdown clocks" and there is a company that makes them with interchangable face plates. Mine came with 3 plates to put on the front: one said "Vacation", another one had palm trees, and the third says "Bon Voyage". I bought it about 6-7 years ago but it's still out there, I believe.

[BeagleOne]

I see from your cabin photo that you brought your sunglasses this time! :)

[DeloreanGirl]

I see from your cabin photo that you brought your sunglasses this time! :)

 

Wow, great memory! You are correct!

 

And, awwww, I love your profile. We have a beagle too and she is our world. :)

[crusinpsychRN]

Crap! I loved it so much and never took a photo of it!

 

Hmmm.....

 

Here is a link to someone else's picture though, lol....

http://i.usatoday.net/travel/_photos/gallery/cruise-ship-tours/tr120221_carnival-destiny/83x-large.jpg

 

Glamorous? No?

 

Actually this photo is outdated. The new "look" has a bright blue sink with glass areas to hold your stuff. I don't remember seeing all that tile on the walls. The shower basically spans the length of the bathroom instead of being a tiny tube. You have room to stand in there and move around. Also, the water pressure was amazing!

 

Thanks for the BR pic. I know this isn't your pic but I sure do wish people would put the seat down for a picture!

 

Nice colors in the cabin.

[DeloreanGirl]

“Sea Day, Free Day!”

 

Gosh, I love sea days. You get to sleep in, eat whenever you want, take your time strolling the ship, attend activities, lay out by the pool, and eat whenever you want (wait, I already said that…)

 

Our sea day started at 9:30am when my husband shook me awake. Sure, this would have been 6:30am California time (also known as an hour of the day that should be illegal) but we had friends to entertain, things to do, and free food to eat!

 

Today would be the first day that we would encounter the buffet for breakfast. Here comes my first gripe of the trip (I mean, other than the missed ports and botched sailaway): the queue. Not the fact that you have to wait in a queue, but the layout of the queue. The design of the Sun & Sea Restaurant (ahem, buffet) on Destiny is initially large looking and open, but during mealtimes it becomes a wishbone-shaped nightmare. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Princess and Royal had such small buffet areas with smaller lines, yet this ship had a larger buffet area with 2-story seating and longer lines.

 

My hubby eventually figured it out. It seems that Destiny’s layout forces you to stand in one long single-file line on either side of the ship to mosey by all the foods. Then, both lines smash together at the cereal/salad bar area before dispersing. On other ships, you would wander around and put whatever you wanted on your plate. With Destiny’s layout, you had to stand in line and pray the person in front of you didn’t want every single slice of meat along the line. In other words, you were held captive at the speed of those picking things off of each tray in front of you. It’s hard to explain but also poitnless since she’s getting an overhaul.

 

I’m usually never picky about cruise food. I’m not a “foodie” at all and I’ll eat pretty much anything as long as it’s not curry, stinky cheese, or peanut sauce. I’ve dealt with dinners on other ships that I thought tasted great while others slammed them as awful. I’ve had frothy, small square-shaped “desserts” that all tasted the same. But, oh lord, nothing compared to the eggs I was about to eat on Carnival.

 

They. Were. Awful.

 

For me to say this is a huge deal. They were powdered, of course, but they seemed to have twice the water consistency in them which basically made them mushy. They were like tapioca pudding. No, that’s too nice, because I love tapioca. Anyway, it was bad. And I knew I was screwed because I’m an egg-for-breakfast eater.

 

Luckily they had “omelets” nearby (and I put that in quotes because I’m still not sure what was in it) which made the breakfast more bearable. I also noticed the Bacon Police were on patrol. And you all were right when you said the bacon there was greasy. Holy moly! We finished our breakfast and told ourselves that brunch was only 2 hours away should we go hungry. I told our new cruising friends, “If you get hungry on a cruise, it’s your fault.”

 

The afternoon consisted of warm, sunny skies and many, many trips to the free soft-serve machine. There hath no quicker way to my heart than free chocolate soft serve ice cream. I believe we hit up the buffet a few hours later for lunch (I have no idea what it consisted of but thank God it wasn’t the eggs) and enjoyed the views of the blue water.

 

 

 

I saw on the schedule that there would be a “Hairy Chest Contest” at the pool. It looked really fun and I made a note to try to catch it. Kristen went to go find an open chair to lie out and tan and the boys hit the casino again. I found a spot up near the big screen the DJ and watched the whole thing. It was hilarious! Before, I feared Carnival was all about wet t-shirt contests and risque, drunken pool activities, but I must say that the whole ordeal was really fun to watch and done with good humor.

 

 

 

They had three women judges: one whom had to dance with the contestant, another who had to feel up his chest (eww…) and a third who I suppose had some other job. What really made the contest funny were the music choices by the DJ. The “Sasquatch” song was a particular favorite and is still stuck in my head to this day! It soon deviated from the hairy chest part and turned into a booty-shaking contest followed by best-pickup-line contest. Either way, it was amusing for an hour and the men were all very brave.

 

 

Don’t hate me, but I was browsing through the Fun Times for our sea day and thought that there actually weren’t a ton of activities to choose from. Maybe I’m picky. Maybe I’m spoiled by Royal Carib’s overflowing schedules, or maybe it’s how 5-day cruises are. They had a decent amount printed on the page but not enough where I felt I could plan my day around it.

 

They did have a “Putting Challenge” which sounded interesting. My hubby and I have zero knowledge or ability in sports but our friends were golfers. We decided it would be fun to try. I thought maybe they’d have it near the mini-golf course but we later found out it was in the atrium (what?)

 

The “Putting Challenge” consisted of a lazily rolled out piece of fabric with a hole and you had to get 2 out of 3 in to win a keychain. If you got more than that, you won a medal. We all tried and failed miserably -- even the golfers that were with us! The activities director was trying to throw my hubby off by “being the windmill.” She was from England and I liked her immensly. But this could aso be that I’m an Anglophile.

 

 

We all met up at 2pm in the Rotunda (is it a Rotunda or an Atrium? I’m so used to calling it an atrium) while the boys grabbed a drink at the Rotunda/Atrium bar.

 

{Small Gripe:} Carnival, I get that you’re all about selling drinks and whatnot, but a bar in the atrium? Really? It just made the interior look that less classy. I could go on about how hideous the interior of the ship was, but I was going to try to avoid that whole paragraph. Let’s just say I’m thankful she’s getting a complete overhaul. Destiny is probably the ugliest boat we’ve ever been on aside from the new, pretty staterooms. I felt bad that the classy guitarist and pianist were surrounded by bottles and glasses.

 

Did you know if you stand on the highest deck and stick your arm out, you can actually touch the elevators as they pass by? If you have teeange boys, don't tell them I told you this.

 

I can’t remember what the rest of the day consisted of, but I’m guessing it involved sunshine and food and sitting out on the balcony. Dinner in the dining room was great. The maitre d’ came on the microphone and made everyone sing “That’s Amore” while waving their napkins. We were tucked away in a corner so we couldn’t see what was going on, but it looked to be a good time.

 

The flat iron steak was great and we ordered it a few times during the cruise. Oh, and watch out when you order cold soups. The servers play a “joke” on you by serving you a bowl with a 1”x1” square of compact fruit which looks about the size of a supermodel meal. They leave, which they think is funny except you’re starving. Then they come back and jokingly say, “Oh, you want more?” and then they pour in the cream or whatever it is that makes the chilled soup. It would’ve been cute if they paused a few seconds, but to completely leave the table was odd and it made our table and tables around us look at my plate with shock and sympathy! The rest of the meals were great and we enjoyed our time wandering around the deck at night. We were having a great time and were excited to see Key West the following day.

 

 

What’s with the blue lights? It’s so random. But we were giddy that there was nobody else out there on that deck. We had the whole deck to ourselves! Throughout the cruise I noticed a lack of people. I’m not sure if it’s because a bunch cancelled with the cancelled itinerary, or because it was January, or because the ship is laid out well (except that darn buffet!)

 

The “Welcome Aboard” show was replaying on the television that night and I spotted some of our Cruise Critic buddies on stage. The boat was going so incredibly slow that you couldn’t feel a movement even if you tried. Two days to go from Miami to Key West is a bit silly, but I’d rather be on a fun, slow-moving ship if that was my only way to get there.

 

 

 

Up Next: “Six-toed Cats and a Big Oil Drum”

[DeloreanGirl]

Down with a cold. Will try to get the next chapter up on Monday....

[2 cruzen]

Down with a cold. Will try to get the next chapter up on Monday....

 

Oh no! Feel better soon.

[LuvEnDisney]

Feel better! Thanks for sharing. We were on the Destiny too and it's fun to read your report.

[DeloreanGirl]

Those on our sailing who were furious about the itinerary change will probably hate me at this point as I let the secret slip that my husband and I were a tiny bit excited to see Key West for the first time. It sounded like a cool place -- far enough south to feel Bahamian but still technically the United States.

 

Destiny was tied up at an active Naval base and we had a view of a Coast Guard ship and various little trams scurring about the port area. These “complimentary and mandatory” little trams take you a mile or so from the port (which is not walkable) into the heart of Key West.

 

The view on the tram ride into town is quite nice. There are cottages, apartments, and rentals that are downright beautiful. I’m a sucker for two-story houses with shutters and shingles with palm trees.

 

Since we didn’t have time to book any private excursions, we figured we’d walk around the town. My goal was to take a photo at the Southernmost Point buoy and eat Key Lime Pie, while our friend Kristen had an interest in Hemmingway’s house with his six-toed cats (she's a cat person.)

 

The tram drops you off in the heart of town and it is a mile walk down Whitehead Street to the buoy. Really, you can’t miss it. You literally stay on that street all the way down. It was a great walk, too, since we were able to see a lot of the pretty homes with their front yard roosters and chickens.

 

 

There was a bit of a line to take photos with the buoy, but we didn’t mind. The weather was great (it was actually a pinch chilly) and the folks in line from the cruise ship were all patient and sweet.

 

 

Did you know that technically the Southernmost Point buoy isn’t even a buoy? It’s actually “an old sewer junction” painted to look like a buoy. Nonetheless, it’s cool, and we now have a photo with it. This marked me inadvertently visiting of all four ends of the USA: Southern California where we live; Seattle on our Alaska cruise; Maine, where my in-laws live; and now Key West. Ta-da!

 

As we walked back up Whitehead Street, we needed to use the restroom and tucked inside a cute lighthouse museum and gift shop. It was there that Mike and Sim discovered the bronze ladies on the bench…

 

 

Across the street from the lighthouse museum was the Hemmingway House. Normally it looks like something that would bore us to tears, but the six-toed cat story sounded intriguing. Sim checked the TripAdvisor reviews on his phone as we were waiting in line to buy tickets. People gave it a high number of stars, so we figured we would give it a try.

 

I’m glad we did, because the house was really neat! And the six-toed cat story wasn’t from the past, oh no, it was current! The cats (and there are 25 of them on the property) really do have SIX toes! The guy at the ticket booth said most of the proceeds from ticket sales go towards the vet bills.

 

 

The grounds of the Hemmingway House are equally beautiful. It’s like being in a tropical rainforest.

 

 

 

 

After visiting the house, we headed back up the boulevard to the hustle and bustle of the “downtown” area. Most of the stores sell R-rated shirts and cheap souveniers, none of which we bought. Instead, we decided to eat lunch at a Carnival-recommended restaurant, the Roof Top Cafe.

 

{Tip: The Roof Top Cafe has great food, a nice view, a beautiful interior, and lovely employees. But it is priiiiicey. Just a heads up.}

 

Between two margaritas, one beer, a crab cake appetizer, a salad, two chicken sandwiches, wahoo fish tacos, a coffee and two desserts (between the 4 of us), it was well over $100. The waitress was very sweet and gave us a free slice of key lime pie for the delay with our food coming out. We thought that was really nice.

 

Oh! I forgot to mention that we ordered conch fritters! I was excited to try conch at Grand Turk and since we weren’t going there, I figured I’d get it here. They were great, though I have a sneaking suspicion that anything with the word “fritter” will taste like a yummy fried food.

 

 

We wanted to visit the Shipwreck Museum but didn’t have time. Instead, we did some shopping through Mallory Square and our friends got Key West t-shirts at the Ron Jon surf shop. I must say that Key West impressed me and I can see myself visiting again in the future. It reminded me a lot of Catalina Island here off the coast of California.

 

We waited in a short line for the tram back to the ship. Our tram driver was “BJ” and I truly need to find the company that owns the trams (I think it’s Trusted Trams?) and leave a comment because BJ was AWESOME. He totally yelled at this teenage couple who tried to “jump” on the tram as it was moving away, he told hilariously awful jokes the entire ride back, and he seemed to actually like his job. He made a 10-minute tram ride one of the highlights of our day.

 

And that, folks, is Key West. The time in port was so short that it really only leaves you just enough wiggle room to see some sights, eat a lunch, and head back. I really liked Key West’s laid back island lifestyle.

 

Dinner in the dining room was good and we were treated to the waitstaff doing the dance “Low”, which was downright awesome. I had seen the video on YouTube before we left and was secretly looking forward to seeing this dance in person. It did not dissapoint! Here is a quick clip I took with my camera of the servers gettin’ down….

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aww9Q-88ItY

 

I realized after I got home and watched this clip that two of our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet friends are dancing along in blue and white shirts. (Hi Alan and Gayle!)

 

Because, really, how can you not enjoy that? It’s so freakin’ cool and pretty much what I expected from this company. It made me laugh. Oh Carnival, you young fun cruise line….

 

 

 

Up Next: “Where’s The Beach?”

[RavaRiles]

Hi there, this post is related to your british isles cruise you did, I am from liverpool and was very happy that you found the city really amazing and had a great time and that you managed to see the lamb bananas !!! I think in general british isle cruises are not as popular ( weather being the main reason!) but your review has made me want to do one and I am sure other people want to do this cruise as well. Glad you had a good cruise, excellent review as well

Kind regards

Ian:)