Reveiw of great Destiny cruise, June 18-25

[Marcys]

We just returned from A Date with Destiny, a CC group cruise, from June 18-25. We had a wonderful time with all the people we met and the ship was great. We read many negative reviews, but we had only positive experiences. We sailed with several families we cruised with on a CC group cruise on Valor last year, so it was nice having instant friends.

We have sailed 6 times, 4 on RCCL and twice on Carnival. We have a 14 year old son and a 17 year old daughter.

The ship was in great condition for 10 years old. The décor wasn’t my cup of tea, a little dark and gaudy, but it certainly didn’t impact our cruise in any way.

We had a balcony on the deck 6, 6254, and our kids had an inside cabin across the hall, 6256. We were on the port side and had a view of every port except Dominica, where we faced out to sea.

This is a long review and I have tons of laundry, so I will do it in sections.

Precruise

We flew in the night before the cruise and stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Isla Verde. It’s a great hotel with a really nice pool and ocean front. The staff was wonderful and accommodating. Several families stayed at this hotel and the concierge made dinner reservations for us at Plato’s for some local flavor. It was a very nice restaurant. The meal was very long but I guess we needed to get into vacation mode and island time. The next morning for breakfast, we also ate at a local restaurant and the meal took a very long time. So, while we planned to get to the pier by 11 a.m., we finally arrived at 12:30. The lines moved swiftly and we were onboard by 1:20. Dropped our bags in our room and had lunch. Next stop was the dining room to check on our table. We had linked our reservations so that we would all be sitting in the same area. We had several tables all together and, also by request, sat at a table for 8 with a family we met last year. My daughter and I then went back into Old San Juan to shop. Surprise!! It was Father’s Day and most shops were closed!

Our room was very warm and we reported it to the purser’s desk. The lady who helped us said she would have engineering look at it and she would check back with us. They came and she checked back, but the room was still very warm. Finally, the next day after 2 more visits, they removed the vent from the ceiling and just let the air flow unhampered into the room. That made a great difference.

Had open seating for dinner tonight. Food overall was great. We had very good waiters. Not the most outgoing that we’ve had, but we were never lacking for anything. We were always the last to leave the dining room and they never complained. On our anniversary, our waiter poured our bottle of wine, but didn’t charge a corkage fee. Cappuccino was free.

The hostess at dinner gave us one photo coupon that someone sent us but the one we chose for our 45-day letter wasn’t there. She took the information from us and e-mailed Miami. She kept us informed at each meal about what was happening and I finally wrote the coupon off. About the third night she came over to our table and guess what she had…our coupon. Between her follow through and that of the purser’s desk with the air conditioning, I thought customer service was great.

The teens went to the orientation to Club O2 the first night. My son is 14 and the rest of the kids he sailed with last year are 15 and 16. He just went along with them to the orientation. No one ever asked him for proof of age although the older looking kids had to show picture ID that they were young enough to attend. Except for an incident the first night, the director of the Club was great with the kids. We never experienced any unruly kids. There were over 600 onboard.

After the muster drill, we had our Meet and Greet on the Lido Deck. Derf (Fred) made up name badges for everyone. It was great to finally meeting all the people I chatted with over the past year.

St. Thomas

We had been to St. Thomas before and had gone to St. John to snorkel. This year we decided to do the helmet dive at Coral World. Even though my kids are teens, they really liked Coral World. Before getting in the water, we had a 20 minute safety orientation. We had 8 in our group. Then we went to a ladder where they put the helmet on your head and you slowly climb down a ladder to about 20 feet. There’s a guide as well as a scuba diver with you. It only took a few moments to get used to the helmet and breathing. I wore my glasses and it’s the first time I’ve really been able to see clearly while snorkeling. Walking under water felt like what it must feel like to walk on the moon. We had gloves on and our guide handed us many sea animals to hold. My whole family really loved the experience. Even though we brought under water cameras, we did buy their picture of us for $10 since we didn’t know how our picture would turn out and didn’t want to miss out on capturing this experience. We then had lunch at the outdoor café and went over to Coki Beach to swim and snorkel. The beach is really pretty and the snorkeling was great. They also have a bathroom and outdoor shower. There were plenty of taxis waiting to take us back to the ship to get ready for our first formal night.

Tomorrow will post on next day, Dominica...

[FromHereToThere]

This is very informative, and im going on the DE 07/09, so Im looking forward to more review.

[Marcys]

This is very informative, and im going on the DE 07/09, so Im looking forward to more review.

 

You'll have a great time!! It's a great ship with a great itinerary!

 

All the staff were very friendly, always saying "hello" when they passed us in the halls. If we looked lost, they always asked if we needed help.

[mek]

Thanks for the review - looking forward to more. DH and I will be on the Destiny August 6 with two teen boys - 16 and 17.

[Marcys]

Thanks for the review - looking forward to more. DH and I will be on the Destiny August 6 with two teen boys - 16 and 17.

 

The teens in our group had a blast!! Make sure they go to the Club O2 orientation the first night to get the schedule of events. The club is definately teen-oriented and not babyish.

[marcia014]

There were plenty of taxis waiting to take us back to the ship to get ready for our first formal night.

 

Thanks for the detailed review! I will be on Destiny on 11/12, and I thought the first Formal Night was Dominica. Has this changed recently?

[Marcys]

Thanks for the detailed review! I will be on Destiny on 11/12, and I thought the first Formal Night was Dominica. Has this changed recently?

 

Whoops! You are right, went back and looked in the Capers, formal night was Dominica!

[Marcys]

Dominica

We had arranged a tour with Reyno for 36 of us. He was great to deal with and always answered our e-mails promptly.

It poured most of the day so I’m glad we had an island tour. It’s a beautiful island once away from Rosseau. There’s very little crime and (according to the tour guide) people live to old ages due to unpolluted water and a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables. Mr. Nice’s fruit stand was great. Besides sampling many fresh fruits, they also fried coconut which you put on your banana for a natural pina colada. You could also buy pina colada type drinks, local beers, and soaps made of coconut and aloe (which grow on the island). Next was a hike to the falls (can’t remember the name). I’m glad we had ponchos because it was downpouring. We used ziplock plastic bags to keep the cameras dry. I chose not to swim in the waterfall and natural pool as I didn’t want to sit around wet for the rest of the day. (There were bathrooms there to change in). We headed back through Rosseau to Trafalgar Falls. (This would be a good place to ask to be let out if you wanted to head back to the ship or to shop). Trafalgar Falls was nice but we couldn’t hike to the natural springs because our guide was afraid of flashfloods because of the rains.

So, far only Destiny comes to Dominica and it’s an unspoiled island. I chose not to go shopping in Rosseau after the tour and went back to get ready for formal night. Got formal family pics tonight and ate great lobster.

Entertainment

We enjoyed the shows, comedians, jugglers, and Destiny Idol. We didn’t go to the adult comedy, so I can’t comment there. My daughter spent a lot of time in the Karaoke club and made friends with the hostess, Nicole. The piano bar was always empty. The singer by the Destiny bar in the casino always seemed to have a nice crowd. I didn’t attend the shows on the sea days (such as the newlywed game) and spent most of my time reading on the promenade deck. Took two spinning classes on sea days which were OK.

[chrly]

Great review...we have to book our room since it is a quad. Did you get much noise in the area that you were in....and do you recommend the port or starboard side of the ship for your balcony?

[Marcys]

Great review...we have to book our room since it is a quad. Did you get much noise in the area that you were in....and do you recommend the port or starboard side of the ship for your balcony?

 

Our rooms were quiet. According to the deck plans we seemed to be just off the casino. Our friends had the exact same rooms on the starboard side and did hear the casino singer. I think the port side was great. We saw the islands in most ports, with an absoltuely gorgeous view of Aruba and town. The only port we faced out to sea was Dominica.

[wwakla]

Awesome review. Keep it coming. I'm getting so excited.:)

 

For the helmet dive what did you pay and did you do it through the ship or on your own?

[Marcys]

Awesome review. Keep it coming. I'm getting so excited.:)

 

For the helmet dive what did you pay and did you do it through the ship or on your own?

 

We did Coral World on our own. I booked through their website and they were very responsive to work with. There's also a coupon for admission on the site bringing it down to $15 or $16 pp to get in and $50 for the dive each. The taxi was $9 pp. I believe the taxi driver also gave us a coupon for a discount on admission.

[mek]

The helmet dive sounds like fun, if my husband and I wanted to watch and let the boys dive, is this possible? Would we be able to see them from above the water. Also, I heard mixed reviews of Coral World - can you update what is available there?

[rlowe38742]

This is very informative, and im going on the DE 07/09, so Im looking forward to more review.

 

hey ill be on destiny also on 7/9

 

my email is rlowe38742@aol.com

[wwakla]

We did Coral World on our own. I booked through their website and they were very responsive to work with. There's also a coupon for admission on the site bringing it down to $15 or $16 pp to get in and $50 for the dive each. The taxi was $9 pp. I believe the taxi driver also gave us a coupon for a discount on admission.

 

Great...Thanks so much for the info..:D

 

 

 

 

But please I'm dying here. I need more cruise review....lol:D

[Marcys]

The helmet dive sounds like fun, if my husband and I wanted to watch and let the boys dive, is this possible? Would we be able to see them from above the water. Also, I heard mixed reviews of Coral World - can you update what is available there?

 

We really didn't see everything Coral World had. I would log onto their site to check out all that's available. Since we didn't go to see Coral World but went for the helmet trek, we weren't diappointed with what we saw.

 

You can watch part of the dive by going down into their underwater observation area. Through the windows you can see the first part of the trek and take pics. I don't know how much you'll be able to see from above. I'd e-mail and ask if they would take your kids without an adult going, too.

[Marcys]

 

 

 

But please I'm dying here. I need more cruise review....lol:D

 

OK, OK, I'll try to post faster...trying to get some work done, too!!:D

[Marcys]

Barbados

 

Booked with Thriller tours to swim with the turtles. Took a taxi for $2 pp downtown to meet Thriller tours. They only take out 14 people so the group was nice and small. Stephen drives the boat and has a diver to go in the water with you. Cold drinks and beer were offered immediately. Rum punch was offered after snorkeling. It was very good with nutmeg added to it. Stephen threw food into the water to attract the turtles and we swam with three of them. The turtles came right up to us and allowed us to touch them. We then moved on to a really nice reef and then a small wreck. After the snorkeling, he anchored off shore where we swam ashore and just swam and enjoyed ourselves for a while before heading back to the dock. A very nice day considering that we saw very large ship tours out there and we had a nice small group. If you book with Thriller ahead of time he gives you a discount. Barbados was a nice clean island, twon was pretty, and the shopping had some different things than we had seen before.

[KelliKevin]

I am loving your reviews! We are a party of 8 going on October 1st.

I was going to get a tour operator for the 1st Day, San Juan but now I know to go straight to the ship and shop after I get rid of my luggage.

 

Can you explain what Destiny Idol is and how it works? My husband likes to do Kaoroke and got to be in the Carnival Legends show on a previous cruise.

 

Keep the reviews coming!

Thanks0you so very much!

[Marcys]

Can you explain what Destiny Idol is and how it works? My husband likes to do Kaoroke and got to be in the Carnival Legends show on a previous cruise.

 

Keep the reviews coming!

Thanks0you so very much!

 

The hostess, Nichole, in the karaoke lounge goes up to certain people and asks them to be in Destiny Idol. To increase chances of being selected, I would go to karaoke every night and sign up to sing several songs. She definately had her favorites there. They choose 4 adults and one 15-17 year old. One hint is that they like people who move around and engage the crowd.

 

Nicole is then one of the judges during Destiny Idol. She plays a ditzy judge. She accidentally let the "f" word slip out and the show just stopped dead. She was mortified and I understand severly reprimanded.

[KelliKevin]

thank-you!!

 

I can't wait to hear the rest of your review!

[Marcys]

Aruba

 

This island really reminded me of Tucson, Arizona. Very dry, cactus, palms, stucco homes with red tile roofs. The town is right off the pier and very nice, clean, and colorful. We chartered a boat through Roberto's at Moomba Beach for two families (8 people) to snorkel over the German wreck, the Antilla. It was hot and the sun was very, very strong. The pilot said that even Arubans put on spf 50 several times a day. The wreck was really eerie to snorkel over, but had lots of fish. I think we allhad the same thing on our minds...could the missing young lady be down there somewhere. It's funny how we were all thinking about her, but no one wanted to ask the pilot any questions. We then snorkeled over another reef which was absolutely beautiful and colorful, one of the nicest we've seen in the eastern, western, and southern caribbean. the water felt much more bouyant here and I was able to swim without feeling the need for a life vest.

 

One of the recurring themes on this trip was the world cup. Everyone was following the games and the sports bar televised it. As the attendants were delivering the luggage to the rooms, they all stopped to follow the game and the score for a few minutes. It was fun to see how each nationality was rooting for a different team.

 

One of the highlights of our trip was watching Mexico vs. Argentina at the Mooma Beach bar, completed with a thatched roof, following snorkeling. We sat at the bar with people of all nationalities, sampling the local beers and food. The afternoon was just so nice with the sand, sun, water, and great companionship!

[Fun~N~Sun]

Make sure you look for Alex the waiter in the Karaoke bar! He is awesome! Once you get him talking he is alot of fun and will take good care of you.

[FromHereToThere]

:D What was your dining time, and which dining room was it in? With your review I am very hyped for my cruise. 10 days and countin!:D

[Marcys]

:D What was your dining time, and which dining room was it in? With your review I am very hyped for my cruise. 10 days and countin!:D

 

We had 6:15 dining in the Galaxy dining room. It worked out great for us. Just enought time to shower and change from excursions and able to get to the shows. The only thing we missed was the captain's reception. Had we eaten dinner faster and not lounged we probably would have gotten there on time by 8. Did get to the past guest party and met the captain, had free drinks. We also had a ship sponsored cocktail party the last night before dinner that was for all groups onboard. There were only two small groups that came. And, we were able to get whatever drinks we wanted. The waitress had to go and ask someone, buy we did get our choice of drink...in small glasses.