Destiny Review 09/10 - 09/17

[serene56]

CARNIVAL DESTINY

September 10th, 2006 to September 17th, 2006

Sunday: San Juan 10:00pm

Monday: St Thomas 7:00am - 5:00pm

Tuesday: Dominica 9:30am - 6:00pm

Wednesday Barbados 8:00am - 6:00pm

Thursday: Sea Day

Friday: Aruba 8:00am - 10:00pm

Saturday: Sea Day

Sunday San Juan 7:00am

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I booked this cruise 18 months in advance to celebrate my 50th birthday is style. Wanted a cruise of course, but wanted to see ports that I have not seen yet. Carnival Destiny and Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas met my criteria. But with Carnival being less then 700 plus a 75.OO cabin credit plus a free upgrade to the highest available category– we booked Carnival Destiny.--

18 months is a long time to wait.

Castaways included me– My favorite SO Joe (43) one of my kids Jason (25) and his friend Melissa (25) Other people were cruising with us but changed their mind over the course of the waiting.

Youngest son Rob and GF Stephanie has my grand baby who woulda been 9 months at the time of sailing. We canceled them because we thought 9 months old is too young. We thought with teething and ears –woulda been a nightmare– she is a fabulous baby–sleeps through the night– no ear problems and no teething problems– too late– they are already cancelled months ago.

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Booked our flights from PHL as soon as they became available. Non stop flights round trip cost us under 300 each. Good thing we got them when we did coz they slowly went up and now cost over 400pp. Our flight is the same day as the cruise...leaving PHL at 7:40am. Normally I would not do this on the same day as a cruise but the Destiny leaves at 10pm so it leaves us plenty of time in case of problems. PLUS there are a lot of flights available to us and I have them printed up and ready to go.

USAir leaves PHL at 7:40 arrives SJU at 11:40 (non stop)

Homeland security level is orange. According to the USAir website it stated to allow 3 hours for checkin– We left the house at 5:00am and were at the airport–checked in and waiting at the gate by 5:46. Its gonna be a long day. I hope coming back home is just as fast and easy.

The coolest thing about the flight– we were on the right side of the plane to see the Hurricane. A bunch of swirling clouds– just like you see in the pictures..but it was amazing seeing it in person this way- Also very happy to see that the hurricane was not going to affect the weather for my cruise at all. Woohoo

Our flight was uneventful-we arrived in San Juan at 11:30am waited for luggage headed out grabbed a cab with no problems (27.00 total for 4 adults 6 pcs of luggage and 4 carry ons) Headed to the ship waited in line for checking in (have your documents, and photo id when you first arrive. They wont allow you access to the pier without this being shown to the personal. Since most people don’t have their documents out this is what causes the congestion getting into the pier.

Up the escalator and there is the checkin- The line to the left is huge...bug the sign for funpass is hardly anyone there... If your funpass is filled out and completed head to the left of the corral line. We were third in line. (I don’t know why those people waited in that line when this line was practically empty. There was a sign there that says funpass passengers enter here.

We checked in-got our sign and sail card- got the assigned dining time we requested so we are happy.. Was informed that dinner is open seating and we have to go to dinner at 5:30 tonight in the Galaxy Dining Room. We were given Zone 5 boarding numbers. The ship was still disembarking when we arrived. Since at this time people were not being let on yet we decided to visit the duty free stores. There are stores on the main floor when you first arrive..but there is a store that sells more of a selection upstairs. The store was not crowded at all since people were just queing up to get onboard and boy was it crowded. Once the security opened up–there was only 2 security scanners for a bit til they opened a third.. What held up a lot of time is the people carrying on their own luggage. I hope that if Carnival is going to implement bring your own luggage onboard they open up more scanners or have a separate line for those people. By the time we got up there the 3rd scanner opened up but they only had two bins.

After going through security you go up the ramp and onto the ship. This is where you wait in another line to get your photo taken to be encrypted onto your sign and sail card. Wouldnt be too bad if the girl on the left who was taking photos knew what she was doing. The people at the check in counter told us we can put our documents away and we will only need the sign and sail card and photo id to get onboard so people put everything away. This girl wanted to see proof in either passport or birth certificate– I have no idea why she would have these people do that–but the line was moving very slow over there. Glad for once we got in the right line. Finally onboard-deck 3. First View is the Artium Lobby . Total time from the time the plane landed and we were on the ship was 2 hours.. We were onboard by 1:30. Bring Patience. It sure felt a lot longer and when I did look at the clock I was very impressed.

 

Took the elevator to deck 6 to drop off carryons- There was a lot of cabins not cleaned yet. Lots of bad smells in the halls. Ship is very warm and I think its because of all the rushing around. We get to our cabin 6350 and its cleaned and cool. Checked out our cabin.. Checked on the balcony. Which is very dirty. Someone from the last cruise took a huge container of the fruit punch and poured it down the whole balcony window–which was one big red mess.– the windows to the cabin looking out were the same way– we left a note for the cabin steward - then headed to the Lido buffet for lunch. Very hot in the buffet at this time. Actually was hotter in the buffet area then it was outside. We took our choices and went out to sit by the aft pool bar. The roof was still half retracted so it was rather warm back there also.

The ship kind of cooled off as the day wore on. The smells were gone by dinner.

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Lido buffet is oped from noon til 4:00

Happy Place (oriental) 3:30- 8:30

Open seating in the dining room at 5:30 in both dining rooms and

at 7:45 in both dining rooms. (You can have your choice to eat alone or with a larger table.)

On the first night you don’t go to you "real" table. You show up and they take you to the nex available table. .

 

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The drink of the day is "Funship Special" 3.50 each or 6.95 in a souvenir cup.

You can buy the souvenir cup the first day and get refills the rest of the week.

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Camp Carnival orientation:

8:00- welcome orientation

8:30-family welcome onboard

8:30- teen orientation (12-14 year olds)

club 02 (15-17year olds) dial 1800 for the teen scene info

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Smoking is allowed on the starboard side in designated areas only

Smoking is allowed in the Disco, Casino and Lido Deck.

C There is no FunVision on Destiny. So we cant check our daily spending without visiting the Pursers Desk. I had to visit the Pursers desk today to place my Funship Dollars gift certificates that I been buying each month since I booked our cruise. I expected it to be crowded and busy. I did not expect it to be disorganized. Missing were the black corral that herds people in the proper line. So people were just congesting all in the front of the desk. One guy told us to stand by the glass elevators to form one single line but that wont work either as people were walking up to stand in que behind the people that were already being helped.. (and were being taken next) Needless to say that people in the line by the elevators were not happy.

Since there is no FunVision you cant view the daily menu either- so you will have to visit the dining room. The dinner menu will be posted outside the dining room after lunch.

Another thing I missed on the Destiny is the Voice Mail. It does help when you are sailing with a large group. But since we don’t have it... We will use post its. . Cigar smoking is allowed in the Onyx Bar only or on open decks starboard side.

Smoking is not allowed in the hallways.--

 

Soda cards cost:

28.00 kids 38.50 adults (Please add 15% gratuity to each amount)

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to call your US home from the ship will cost 6.99 a minute

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Pools are opened: (no lifeguards on duty at any time)

Forward Pool - 8:00am - 8:00pm

Main Pool - 8:00am - 10:00pm

Aft Pool: 8am - 12:01am (adult only pool)

Water slide is opened 10:00am - 5:00pm (weather permitting)

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After lunch we went to the Pursers desk to give up my 525.00 worth of Funship dollars to place on my account. I buy one of these each pay for the last year at $25.00 every other week. It was not missed for me by doing this.

 

Went back to the cabin–our luggage is there..wow what a pleasant surprise. We checked out the capers–saw they had a trivia game at 3:15 and then unpacked. We headed to the Destiny Bar for the trivia and waited— and waited– and waited til 3:20. Quite a few people showed up but no one to run the trivia. Oh well.

Back to the cabin to see about taking a short nap. Its been a long travel day and I prefer to go the day before..for that reason.

Got up to get ready for dinner. Headed to the Galaxy dining room for a 5:30 seating and were taken to a booth in the back for 4 people. (First time ever we had a small table).

Dinner was nice but it took a long time. After a long day we should have went to the Lido.

Checked out the ship area and waited for sail away– turned in about 11pm to sleep in the next morning

[serene56]

Monday: September 11

St Thomas

7:00am - 5:00pm

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Drink of the Day: Goombay Smash

Martini Hour 5:30 - 8:30pm Special Price 4.95 for Martini

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Singles party this night at 10PM broken down by age in different places. This is unsupervised.

18-25 Destiny Bar

25-35 Apollo Bar

35-? Onyx Bar

but at Midnight all the Singles come together and meet in the Disco (where they will have a party with the Social Hosts)

 

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St Thomas is an easy day for us- nothing is planned. I read a lot about staying on the ship on port days. Why? We slept in til 9am and headed to the buffet at 9:30. I was very surprised on the amount of people still onboard. The lines were huge at each station. (Make sure you get in the right line for the buffet. We waited in a line for 15 minutes before realizing it was the line for the omelet station. We decided then to head to the Universe Dining room (aft) for breakast. No wait and we were seated right away. No waiting. Not many people in the dining room for breakfast so it was nice and relaxing.

We only were shopping at the pier stores. We already were in St Thomas before and coming back in February when I can deal with the heat better) Taxis are available as you step off the ship. Every few feet someone will be asking you if you need a taxi. Spent a crap load of money on a lot of trinkets for people at home. Priced a lot of items. Stopped at the internet café at the end of the road. (5 minute walk) 25 minutes for 4 bucks. Connection is great and fast. Alcohol is cheaper in this port compared to the ship by a few dollars. They will box it for traveling. We were very surprised also on how uncrowded the stores were too. Felt many times that we had whole stores to ourselves for a very nice shopping experince.

Back on the ship by 1:30 and again was amazed at the number of people who stayed onboard. Guess many people were tired from the long travel of yesterday–getting to port of San Juan. Partying all day and night. Never really stayed onboard during a port day so I don’t know if this is the way it always is.

Tried the Oriental station for lunch. Joe tried the Deli and got his grilled turkey sandwich which was a panini. They use real turkey and not processed lunchmeat. VERY good.

Went to the cabin to catch a nap. Slept until 4:30 then get ready for sail away at 5pm and dinner at 6:15.

We are noticing that there are not a lot of crew members and wonder if there was a cut in staff. We get a head waiter and asst waiter. The asst waiter we barely see as it is he who goes and gets the food from the kitchen. Dinner for us tonight is very slow. (This is a first for us) a lot of waiting between the time we got our menu til the time we were asked what we wanted to order. Again a lot of waiting in between courses. Total dining time for us was a little over 2 hours and I hope it gets a bit better tomorrow. In the past we always were done by 7:30 and out and about. In the past we also had larger tables. This time we had a small table for 4.

I ordered drink coupons and soda coupons. A note in the cabin when we arrived stated we can ask for AnnaLucia in the dining room in San Juan but we waited til tonight. Gave them to the waiter to find AnnaLucia and received our coupons pronto. (Never had the bar waiter come to our table this night)

We visited the casino and I had 40.00 for tonights gambling. Played roulette and walked away with $35.00 At 8:30 we headed to the Welcome Aboard Show. Nice show. Comedian was funny.

Headed back to the casino– crowded but was able to lose some more money. Played a slot machine and walked out with 50.00 plus one nickel. So I am $10.00 ahead for the day. I am one happy cruiser. At 10:00 we went to the 10 at 10 auction. Then headed to the show lounge for the Duke Daniels show. Even if you are not old and remember the Platters the show was fun. Some singing and interaction with the audience. He is a nutty old man and had a great time.

Its now and hungry–lol For some reason you find yourself hungry a few moments after eating. The only thing opened at this time is the Grill. The Pizzeria or room service. Again the lines are huge and only one person working the grill and pizza. We opted for room service for a BLT. It took less then 15 minutes.

Time for bed coz tomorrow is another early day in Dominica.

[serene56]

Tuesday: September 12th

Tuesday September 12

Dominica 10:00- 6:00

Formal Night

Drink of the Day: Island Delight

Captains Cocktail Party (complimentary cocktails and hor d’oeuvres)

held in the following areas:

Point After Disco (Frank Sinatra Classics)

Apollo Bar (Piano Classics)

Downbeat (Easy Listening)

Criterion Lounge (Party Favorites)

Destiny Bar (Jazz Music)

(Officers will be introduced in the Point After Disco and Criterion Lounge)

This party starts at 7pm. And runs to 8:30-- Which sucks for early diners as we are at dinner. We had a table for 4 and don’t get done til 8:20. Service is extremely slow. Long wait inbetween courses (again) . It took from the time we arrive at 6:15 to 6:45 to get the started. At 8:00 still didnt get dessert and coffee and the waiters must leave to go sing. Its chocolate decadence so I must stay and grin and bear it.) We took the dessert to go as it is now 8:20 and I know the next dining crew will be coming in by 8:30

Very hot in this port. We took a tour by Reyno Tours. No web page but he does have an email address. What Reyno does is book tours and if he gets full he gives his excess to his friend tour operators. I feel that Reyno should let people know this. We booked this tour a year ago. There was 4 of us and another party of 12. He put us with his friend Philip and it was like a private tour. Nice.

We went to Emerald Falls–which is a 15 minute steep hike. I got bum knees and no way was I gonna chance blowing out a knee to look at the falls. There is a lookout place which is easily accessible to look and take photos- this is where we stopped then went back.

Then to Trafaler Falls but again the road to these falls are VERY steep. Philip opted to take us to the Sulfur Springs. Very little walk. This tour is $35.00. This tour comes highly recommended on the Port of Call board and it was very nice and well worth the money.

There are no beaches here. Very little shopping. You need a tour as there is very little to do here.

Every few feet someone will be asking you if you need a taxi.

I cant imagine anyone renting a car–although from reading the boards I am sure that it happens. People drive crazy here..and you cannot bit a timid kind of driver. There are no stop signs or yield sign. People just know to let the other person go. Roads are also very narrow and full or pot holes. If you are renting God Bless you.

Spent a crap load of money on a lot of trinkets for people at home. Priced a lot of items. Stopped at the internet café at the end of the road. (5 minute walk) 25 minutes for 4 bucks. Connection is great and fast. Alcohol is cheaper in this port compared to the ship by a few dollars. They will box it for traveling.

Formal Night tonight. There are photographers all over the place. Seems like more on this sailing then other cruises. And boy is it packed the whole entire time. Even at 10pm there are still lines to have pictures taken. So many photographers, so many people the promanade deck is very hard to maneuver from one place to another. Since this is the main deck to get anywhere it creates bottle necks all night long. The pictures is where Carnival made their money this week. The people who were getting their photos taken were buying LOTS of pictures..not just one or two.

Dinner tonight is the lobster night. Again it took a long time between courses. Got done about 8:10. We were not offered grated cheese for the Caesar salad nor the pepper mill. Ask for one? The waiter drops off our plates and isnt seen again til its time to take them away so waiting and asking is not an option. On past cruises we were always asked if we wanted the cheese or pepper mill. The people in my party who had steak and baked potato were not asked if they wanted the aujus or sour cream or horse radish. (For future reference we will request this when we place our order.

We finally got a drink waiter to come around and were able to order soda. (Did not have a soda card- did have soda coupons which the waiter could get a tip from.)

When it was time for desserts we ordered me a birthday cake and coffee. Its 8pm and its time for the waiters to sing. So again we had to wait. Its now close to 8:15 and I know dinner for the next seating is in 15 minutes. We decided then and there that we will be eating at the Lido deck buffet the rest of the week. Visited the Pursers Desk to take off the remaining weeks tips. I understand where people feel I should just leave them be.. And I for one was always an advocate for waiters and asst waiters....just not this week. Service was so bad that if I was eating in a land based place I would have walked out.

Food in the dining room was very disappointing. I don’t know if it is because of the waiting or what.

I have read reviews from people that say they have had over cooked lobster...now I know what they meant. I don’t know if the lobster was overcooked but I would guess from it sitting so long til we were served it added to the chewy taste. The little butter cups they give you on the lobster night was fulled only a quarter way–for two lobster it didnt go far. (And try to get another one...lol)

Sailing with other people on the same ship-same dinner time different areas of the dining room and they thought that the food was very good) so goes to show you that different strokes for different folks.

Kids have a cabin up on the lido deck. Joe & I did not take the free upgrade. I am glad now we didnt. Kids are saying how people don’t seem to care that other people are sleeping at 2-3am.. Coz as the other people are going back to thier cabins they are having loud conversations with people 6-8 cabins behind them. Whole families have bunches of inside cabins and the doors remain open with families playing loud music all night long. Complaints to the Pursers office come and go–security will take care of the noise but after they leave the noise is right back to where it was.

Joe & I don’t have that on the aft on deck 6. Its very quiet and peaceful here- even on the balcony.

[serene56]

Wednesday September 13

Barbados 8:00-6:00

 

Drink of the Day Yellow Bird

There is a dress code in Barbados: Please be aware theat it is illegal to wear any military type clothing, camouflage shirts, pants, hats, etc while ashore in Barbados. The dress code will be strictly enforced. Violations may result in actions from the local authorities

Tonight is the Bathrobe and Beers deck party: wear your bathrobes. Lido Deck

10pm til 1:30am A Mexican buffet is served from 11:30 - 1:30

This is also the night of the Past Guest Party-. You will need your sign and sail card to enter. (Held from 7:15- 8:00) It is advertised in the capers. (Sucks again if you have early dinner.).

We arrive in Barbados about 8am - Breakfast in the buffet was at 8am– then headed down to deck 0 to get off the ship. Grab a free bus since the terminal is a hike- down the end of the pier. (I thought the pier at Costa Maya was long.)

Get into the cruise terminal– there are stores and little carts with crafts and stuff. For information: www.cruisebarbados.com Great information page if you are still looking for what to do in this port. Great site to let you know your allowances, etc.

Prices are cheaper on the ship for alcohol and cigarettes. You can pick up Coke products for $1.00 a bottle here instead of paying 2 something for a can of soda.

It rained off and on today and the weather is rather cool. Big difference compared to the heat of yesterday. Considering we took 9 cruises and many land vacations since 2000 this is the first time we ever encountered any rain. So we were lucky. We took the tour offered through www.glorytours.org And took the land and sea tour. We were picked up at 9:15 and in the water with sea turtles by 10am. The operator wanted us to get in the water before the sea turtles were too crowded but I rather did the turtles in the afternoon instead of sitting on a air conditioned bus while we were still wet. This tour is not handicapped accessible as you must climb on a boat using the ladder. Since Harrisons Cave is closed for renovations we were taken to another. "Animal" cave(?) Admission to the cave was included in the tour price. (10.00per adult) The view down there was awesome. But its very slippery so wear good rubber shoes. We were back at the terminal by 3pm.. Grabbed some hot sauce at the terminal (2.50 each) Then headed to the free buses to take us all the way back to the ship.

We are back to the ship– drop out wet stuff and carryons back to the cabin and hurry to the lido deck to grab a bite to eat. The buffet is only opened til 3:30 and when they say they close– they literally will close even if people want to grab a bite to eat. Same with the Chinese Place. Only thing opened at 3:31 is the Deli, the Pizzeria, Room Service and the Grill. Lines started building as people were coming back from Barbados.

We are eating dinner in the Buffet tonight as the Past Quest party is at 7pm. Half the passengers will be at dinner in the dining room and will miss the party.

Is this something new carnival is trying? Between the Captains welcome onboard party and the past guest party– Early Diners will miss these. On my past cruises Captains party was always an hour before each dinner. And the past quest party was at various times of the week. Last cruise on the Liberty is was a port day at 3pm and I missed that too as I was on an excursion. We are not drinkers but the parties are nice. I did ask at the Pursers Desk on how its decided on when the parties are held. Was told that it works nicely that way on this ship and rarely get complaints about it. I was also told since there are other options available for dining–skipping a meal in the dining room should not be a problem.

Since this cruise is so Port intensive - I find myself bone tired. Starting with flying in the same day as the cruise- getting up at 3:30 am on Sunday and getting up early every day for tours in Ports and not getting to bed before midnight are catching up on us. Good thing tomorrow is a sea day and we can catch up on some much needed sleep.

 

The bathrobe party is this evening. I forgot the tux accessories so my son could not dress his bathrobe up. LOTS of people out on the deck in bathrobes. This is the Mexican buffet. They had these grilled streak tacos which were very good and put the regular tacos to shame. Also nachos with cheese and other asst foods along with a great selection of desserts. We grabbed some strawberry shortcake which was very good. Eating then heading back to the cabin to call it a night. Its been a long day.

[serene56]

Sea Day

Thursday, Sept 14th

Ahhh, got to sleep in some-I slept til 10am–which is very late for me. Even on weekends I get up by 7am. Got up- took a shower and headed to the lido for coffee. Breakfast is done being served at 10:30 and at 10:15 this place is hopping. I just grabbed a coffee and figured I will wait for Joe to get up and head for lunch-which starts serving at 11:30.

Got my coffee and headed to the Port talk. What to do in the Port of Aruba. I already have a tour booked using ABC tours. But am interested on what other things there is to do. At the Port talk I was surprised to hear that DePalm Island is a private tour and is not opened to outside cruise passengers. Will look that up when we get home because I was looking to go to DePalm for a sunset. The talk made it sound like it you did not book with the cruise lines you cant use it.

Sounded very nice for families. Everything is available for you and the kiddies. Even talked about a recent build with a water park. After the Port talk was a shopping talk. I headed back to the cabin to get Joe up and about.. Im hungry- afterall its been a while since I last ate.

Lunch is supposed to be served starting at 11:30. We are on the lido buffet at noon and were told 15 more minutes. Waited til noon and its still not ready so we went to the grill instead and had burgers and fries.

Went to the art auction as I never seen one of those. A preview is for an hour before the actual action so we went to preview then left. Nothing grabbed my attention although there were a lot of nice pieces. (Art we see do not include those beautiful frames.

Then headed to Name that Tune. 20 piano tunes that Joe won with no problem. Got one out of 20 wrong and got us a 24 carrot gold plastic piece of ship. Whoo Hoo Im a happy cruiser.

Then off to family feud Ladies vs Gentleman. Very funny show.

(All week long we are hounded by drink waiters.. Be it at the pool or at any show.. Even in the casino– isnt it funny that we wanted one while watching the family feud show and there isnt a waiter to be seen)

After the Game we went to the Cornhole contest. They really should change the name as it is a bean bag toss-works like horseshoes. Great contest. Winners get medals-losers must do 10 pushups as a group. Fun and nice.

Off to the casino to lose some money- gave my son 10 bucks and tried to teach him roulette. His 10 bucks grew to 50.... And I lost my 20 bucks in a matter of seconds.. I left him on his own. Grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back to the cabin.

After a quick nap and a refreshing shower we headed to the lido deck for the buffet for dinner. Only a handful of people at 6:15 and was quite impressed on the choice. Chicken Parmesan and a salad. Ate a nice quite dinner. Had coffee and an ameretto cake for dessert and we were on our way by 7pm. Out to the pool deck and up one deck to smoke a quick cigarette. Passed the ice cream machine and noticed the tons of ants running up and down the rail. (Yuck)

 

{There are no trays for passenger. onboard the Destiny. You will have to juggle your bowl and plate. Silverware is at the tables. You will have to drop off your plates then go to the drink station to get your drinks. There is a server going around with a tray with pitchers of drinks if you want to wait. We notice during the week that people tend to load their plates up with enough food to feed a small country. Making me wonder if they think this will be their last meal. We also notice lots of food leftover at the tables. Clean up is not as swift as I would expect.)

Headed to the casino to cash out my winnings from the week so we have it for the casinos in Aruba for tomorrow night.

Survivor premier is tonight so we went to the specialty café for choc milkshakes (3.95) and a fruit cup (2.00) and 5 chocolate covered strawberries (3.00) Head back to the cabin to watch the show and to settle down for the evening.

There is a midnight comedy show tonight– the man was hilarious last night and I can only imagine how his adults only comedy show will be. But since we gotta be ready to get off the ship before 8am I don’t think we will make this show.

[serene56]

Aruba

Friday, Sept 15th

Set the phone for a wake up call for 6:45. (Alarm clock will not keep time in the cabin when plugged in- I have no idea why)

Placed a room service tag out last night for a service for 7am.

Phone woke us up on time and room service came at exactly 7am. I did not get a call to let me know they were on their way but we were up anyway. We don’t have the small table in the cabin -it’s a good thing the vanity desk was cleared off so there was space to put the tray.

We have a tour scheduled with ABC Tours at 8:15 so up and getting ready. Shipped docked and cleared by 8am and off we go. Had no problem finding ABC tours in the terminal by the door. Gabriel was standing there with a sign. There was 6 of us booked from the ship for this tour. He took us to his jeep and off we go to their office. We signed our release and waited. 12 people from various hotels are doing the tour also. 3 jeeps 2 drivers and a guide. We wanted the guide. The other people had to go in with the drivers. They did keep up. Its rough and dirty. For a person who us vain and worried about your hair being out of place–pick another tour. We drove to the natural bridge, The gold mill ruins- saw the wishing rocks. (People place rocks on top of each other and make wishes. ) The natural pool. Joe and I viewed from a distance as it is a walk down 85 steps. I could probably make it down but coming back up I probably needed to be airlifted. The view was amazing and people said the water was nice. After the swim we went to the highest point of the island.–view was amazing. You can see the ship in port and it looked so tiny. Water, reg soda and diet soda is offered through out the tour. Tour lasts from 9am - 1pm. We then get on a bus to head back to the ship but the hotel people needed to get dropped off first. And we hit traffic. Took us to 2:20 to get back to the ship-

drop off our wet stuff- take a quick shower then head for lunch in the buffet. Headed to Palm Beach in the area of the Aruba Resort Club. Stayed and swim and watch the sunset which was for 6:41. Once the sun starts dropping you can actually see it drop. So beautiful. After the sunset we headed back to the cab stand and waited for about 15 minutes for a cab to finally stop and get us- I was getting worried. Cab cost is 10. Each cab each way up to 5 people.

Shops outside the terminal were mostly closed when we got back at 7:30. Kind of disappointing since I thought they were opened while the ship was in port– If I had know this I would have shopped before heading to palm beach-or shopped after our tour. (Stores close at 6pm) I am grateful for the few stores out there so I could grab a magnet. The stores in the cruise terminal is opened til the ship leaves but their selection is limited.

Dropped our stuff in the cabin and off to the buffet to grab something to eat. It is true that people on a cruise seem to eat every few hours. Ate and called it a night. Very tired and tomorrow is another day– a day for packing and getting ready to get off the ship.

 

TV here is a Denver/Colorado stations. For the time being shows are 1 hour after the designated show time. If you want to see a show that is shown at 8pm- it will be on at 9pm. I am sure this all changes when the clocks are changed in October. (I remember being on the Liberty in February and times for our favorite shows were 2 hours after-needless to say on the Liberty we missed a lot of our daily shows.)

[serene56]

Sea Day

Saturday, Sept 16

A lazy day– to a point. A little rough waters so rocking and rolling some. Headed to the Lido buffet while Joe slept in. Drank coffee-read my book. Off to the pursers desk with my plane reservations so I can request early off tags. I needed to show proof of an early flight to get the tags.

Then off to the disembarkation talk at 11am. I have sailed 9 times so I know the drill- just not sure how it works when we need to be off for early flights. This is the first time we booked flights before 1pm... Next flight out would have got us home around 9pm. Work the next day so thats kinda late for us.

Breakfast is served on Sunday starting at 6:30. We must be out of our cabins by 9am. If you have a flight by 1:30 ask at the pursers desk for early off tags- you will need to show proof. Head to the Lounge by 7:45 to wait for the ship to clear. We will then be called out according to rows=with the first row exiting first and working their way back. (Cant wait to see how that works)

Special Needs people will meet in the FlagStaff bar with one other person in the party and wait til their color is called. On this ship people in wheel chairs do not get off first. Nor does the Destiny have self embarkation. The crew tries to tell people do NOT carry off your luggage as we will be called to the lounge when your color is called and that is where you get off from. People who bring in their luggage will hold things up (again, I am curious to how this works and how people manage to listen)

Didn’t do much today- packed some-went out and did something like TV trivia. Visited the club 2o

place to see what its like. Talked to the counselor Veronica onboard. She seems very nice and cares a great deal. Activities for the kids go by participation. She takes pictures of her kids each week. Had over 200 kids ages 15-17 the week before ours but had less then 10 kids for her camp all week. (That will explain the huge amount of kids just roaming around–being bored which causes trouble)

The slide was crowded today–the weather is hot so that should be expected. The pools are equally crowded but not one person in the kiddie pool.

 

 

 

placed our luggage out last night before midnight. Actually it was closer to 10pm. Took off the Upper Aft tags and replaced it with Spa deck. Which is first off for priority.

Woke up at 6am to go to the buffet at 6:30. Surprised how crowded it is considering it just opened at 6:30. (Breakfast is served til 10am in the buffet- 9 am in the dining room. Room service is til 9am also. I suggest a later flight– a leisurely breakfast–hang for coffee.

The flag staff bar is opened for drinks–cash purchases only. The photo shop is also opened for last minute purchases–cash only....no crowds.

We head to the lounge at 7:30 and boy was it packed. By the time we got into the seats we were half way in the middle. They line up from front to back–with the first row getting off when the ship is cleared. Staff is standing through out the lounge so the people in the middle can not walk off with the first row.

Ship finally cleared at 8:35 ( not a bad wait at all as the big screen was playing Home Funniest Videos so the hour went by quickly. ) Went through immigration then to find our luggage. Took almost an hour since someone so kindly ripped every one of our Spa tags off. (You are better off leaving them in the area since all luggage is in one place– we searched all over the spa area for our bags..then went to the Upper aft area– I found one bag and thats when I said the tags are missing. We went to the area that held bags with missing tags– ours are not there==but boy was there a lot of them. Found one bag in the Spa area–it had a tag– one in the TBA area– missing a tag.. And another in the riveria forward.

Needless to say I am very pissed. I mean I can see a tag falling off but to have three bags out of 4 with missing tags is more then a coincidence.

Lines at the airport were huge. If you can book with another line other then USAir– do so. There was not one person waiting in the Delta line at all. Two ships in port and we all are taking USAir.

Going through security was crowded also– since many people feel the no liquid rule does not apply to them.. It really does holdup the lines. But still were at our gate by 11:05 for a 12:30 flight.

3:1/2 hours from start to finish is not bad at all.

Flight was crowded and arrived before time. (4:15 instead of 4:35) Went to wait at the baggage area for our bags. Guess the baggage guys were watching the Eagles in overtime lose to Giants because no luggage for over 45 minutes.– waited 30 minutes more and guess what?? No suitcases for me.. (sigh–) off we go to baggage claim to find out there was entirely too much weight for our flight so they took off all the big bags– and put them on the next flight. We arrived home-which is about 20 minutes from the airport about 8:00. I called USAir to find my luggage arrived about 7:41 and will be delivered to my house tonight between 4- 6 hours later–(are they nutz?? Im tired)

 

 

Basic review- everything in a nut shell:

Although we had a great time on this cruise- the ports were fabulous the activities are plentiful We decided that sailing out of San Juan is not for us.

The ship has too many people onboard. Up til now I was under the impression that the ship can only hold so many people. But have seen too many people in each cabin. Cabins that held 3 now held 4. And cabins that held 4 now will hold 5 people. I found that when people were getting ready for dinner-instead of going somewhere and waiting for the others they will line up and sit in the hall so when we were leaving our cabin we had to step over the peoples legs. Not one time did they offer to move. I cant imagine what it would be like if my mom who is in a wheel chair decided to come with us– and am glad they stayed home

What I found missing on this cruise was the lack of common courtesy and proper manners. (Excuse me would be nice-instead of nearly knocking over someone)

When an elevator is crowded and the people on the back need to get off–why is it a problem for the people to step off for a few seconds. Getting them to move over a 1/4 of an inch was progress on our part.

The slamming of the balcony doors and the cabin doors. There should be signs that tell people having both doors open at the same time will create a wind tunnel and cause a door to slam.

I have sailed ships that were full but not ever encountered the lines I did on this cruise.

The yelling and hollering down the hall for friends that are a few cabins away was ridiculous all week.

 

 

The ship is almost 10 years old...birthday will be in Nov 2006 It is showing its age but I expected wear and tear. What I did not expect was the dirty atmosphere. I sincerely hope that someone gets out there and washed the balcony window before the next cruise. We did bring it to the attention of the cabin steward. Someone on the past cruise dumped a huge quantity of the fruit punch down the whole entire width of the glass creating a red sticky mess. (Next cruise I will take those windex wipes just in case)

Someone scratched "X"’s into the glass atrium door elevators. (How sad is that)

Graffiti was appearing down the hallway on deck 6 and the crew kept up on it all week.

I think my waiter had entirely too many people to serve in the dining room. 2 tables of 8 plus our table of 4. I asked the other people how service was since we didn’t come back and they were done with dining by 7:30. I think the staff if overworked. Our cabin steward has 26 cabins to clean 2 times a day...and not one time did I notice if he had a helper or not. I only seen him all week. (His name is Levi)

 

It was trully a long week. Many ports one right after another following a very long travel day. If you can go the night before you will be better off for it in the long run.

[Barkingowl]

Thanks for the review Serene. I think I'm going to pull my deposit & go on a different ship. I can deal with most of what you've written but I know my DW will go ballistic & I can't deal with that for a week.

[kathy32259]

Hey Serene - Thanks for the review. It sure sounds like the Destiny has it's share of problems now - which is sad because I loved my cruise on her in April, 05.

 

I was interested to hear your comment that it appears they have cut back on the number of crew members. I noticed that when I was on the Triumph in May. It seems to me like the waiters have more tables to wait on than they can handle - and therefore the quality of the food suffered because it took them awhile to get it to your table.

 

Also, our poor room steward and her assistant were cleaning all the rooms port side of the Lido deck. They were bone tired and you could tell. I felt really sorry for them. :( I left extra tips because I observed some things they had to put up with, that I won't even mention here - I just don't understand how some people can be so rude and disgusting.

 

Another thing I noticed - you mentioned the noisy neighbors your kids had on the Lido deck. I experienced the same thing on the Triumph. I believe that groups of people with families and lots of kids love that deck - so I steer clear from now on. They have a right to have their groups together and have fun, I just don't want to be sandwiched inbetween them. I also have a right to have a quiet hallway if I prefer. So now I look at deck plans very carefully before I book my cabin. My PVP knows what to look for too! :)

 

I wrote to Carnival guest relations after my Triumph cruise regarding these two issues. I did not hesitate to also point out all of the good things too - but I hope it helps them to make changes when they hear the same thing from many guests. Especially those of us who cruise often.

[Brneyznfl]

Hi Serene, I was on your cruise and I agree with everything you wrote about the Destiny. Unfortuately I was dissapointed with this ship and it was compounded by the fact that I had little to no a/c in my cabin all week as well as many of my neighbors on deck 8. Yep..many rude and loud passengers..more so than any other cruise I've been on. The Destiny I feel needs better upkeep. Hard to believe it had a facelift several years ago. I did emailed Carnival about my concerns after I got back.

 

The good points about the cruise? The itinerary is great. I did love the fact that you could shop the duty free store after you are checked in and waiting to board the ship. They will not take your alcohol away when you go through securty as long as you put it in your carryon. We had a pretty good dining team, friendly enough and tried hard to please. Service was slow and I'm sure it's because they had so many tables to keep up with. I'm like you, don't feel I will be sailing the Destiny again. It's also a long tiring trip to sail out of San Juan.

[mek]

I was on the Destiny the 1st week of August and posted a long review after I returned. We had an outside and inside for the kids on the 1st deck and never expereinced the problems with the air that those on the upper decks have mentioned - lucky us! Yes, the Lido buffet was way too warm for comfort and always packed. I personally thought the ship was clean and looked good for being 10 years old. Our deck was quiet and we didn't have any problems with noise. I did have problems with passengers in the public areas - something that has never happened in 30+ cruises. While most of the people were very nice, there seemed to be an "attitude" on board with many of the passengers. For the most part I simply ignored it, but twice it was in my face and unpleasant. Oh well, live and learn. I have done several cruises out of San Juan in the past and have never expereinced this before. Sounds like it might be an on-going problem on the Destiny.

[stprdi]

We did the same cruise from Aug.19 and I think we are on the same wave length. We were aware that it was school holiday time but in no way did we expect 700 kids on the ship. I don't mind kids but if you're bringing them look after them. Mind you they weren't the only ones yelling in the hallways in the evening. Many adults as well would stand and yell for their friends. Kids were banging on doors and walls. It was hard to settle to sleep most nights. We even saw young kids playing those quarter push machines in the casino and staff did nothing. Our cabin was kept quite clean but our balcony glass was dirty and their was butts on the floor. I was disappointed in the Buffet on the Lido. Very hot most days, a few eves. at supper time there would be only 1 side open, empty salad bowls. Almost seemed an inconvenience for them if you asked for a refill. There was the one pool that I saw just outside the Lido buffet but was there another? That one was very small for the number of passengers. Anyway that was our first cruise and we'll do another. May not be with Carnival though or we may try and adult only. The ports were certainly nice.

[Fancy_Goods]

Serene, did you or anyone in your family use the spa or spa services?

[EggDropErin]

Thanks for the great review! :)

[serene56]

Serene, did you or anyone in your family use the spa or spa services?

 

I did not personally use it-- but have put together the spa services specials for the week.

We did visit the spa and talked to a few very friendly staff members.

What I never knew is when you make a spa appointment and there is a sale on that particular service= you dont get the sale price.

Sale prices are only good for the day that its held--- so make your reservations accordingly.

Hopefully I will post it all up by tonight

[serene56]

There was the one pool that I saw just outside the Lido buffet but was there another? That one was very small for the number of passengers. .

there is another pool midship -lido pool and another on spa deck that has the slide on it.

Aft pool is adults only area. (or at least supposed to be)

The reason it was probably crowded is because it is the most convenient.

THe grille and pizzeria is located right by the pool area... and its right outside the buffet doors. The pool with the slide rarely had people in it...and the kiddie pool outside the camp --there was not any kids in there anytime I passed the area.

[marcia014]

Hi Serene (and everyone else)!

I so appreciate your detailed and candid review. I am going to be on Destiny 11/12/06. This will be my third cruise out of San Juan, and I am definitely going with a positive attitude. My favorite things about cruising include the pampering in the dining room, being rocked to sleep at night, and being able to just look anywhere and see water! I am going to keep my expectations a little lower while still expecting to have a wonderful vacation. Thanks again!

Marcia

[pholter]

Thanks for posting Serene! I surely hope that Aruba was a very special Birthday present for you :p

[cruzn buckeye]

Thanks for the honest review. We have been on the Destiny twice. The last time was in 2001 and I have to agree. Even then, there was way too much rudeness. I also am one that will not cruise out of SJ again. The ports were great. I really loved Aruba and am sorry that Carnival is removing this port.

You know what would be really great? If Carnival would do say a 9 day cruise from Miami that would get us to the same southern ports. At least 4 ports including Aruba and Barbados, maybe Guadeloupe again, and St. Lucia.

I wish they would consider that. They have to lower those prices in SJ because a lot of people don't want to cruise from that port. BUT, I know a lot of people would love a good, port heavy , southern itinerary that does not go out of San Juan.

[serene56]

How do you think the Destiny will sell after January with only one port day and no Aruba??

If its a hard sell now I can only imagine selling cabins then.

 

I am very happy that I was able to sail the Destiny to see aruba.. but once is enough.

 

I forgot to add that in EVERY port we were the only ship around-which makes nice for getting around.

[hoosiermarty]

I posted another thread in regards to booking on the Destiny and the fact of poor reveiws. I am afraid that even a price of $399 will not keep me on this ship. We will be cancelling.

[DianeB1]

I was doing a search for Cruise critic signs and came up with this thread. After I started reading, noticed that we will be staying in room 6350! Did they eventually clean up the red fruit punch. We also chose the Destiny because of Price last minute and the aft cabin opened up and I grabbed it. We went on the Constellation in January and liked the Itinerary and was already on the Adventurer so deciced to take a chance. My husband now worries about the Air conditioning. Was the room cool throughout the cruise and was noise a factor when sleeping? Was the balcony any bigger for being an aft? Thanks, Diane

[DianeB1]

We will be sailing the Destiny in 3 weeks 10-15-06. Thanks, Diane

[serene56]

Diane- the cabin is cool-- rather cold to me but perfect for Joe. Was really nice coming into the cabin when being in the ports that were really hot.

The red stuff was not taken off the balcony window when we were onboard-- hopefully within three weeks someone will have taken care of that.

 

If you are heading to bed early you will hear the sounds from criterion lounge which goes until midnight. Its not loud and did not bother us-- mostly because we were very tired after being out and about all week.

 

Your steward is Levi-- we barely saw him and I'd be rather curious to know if he got more help as time went by. 26 cabins to clean twice daily seems to be too much work for one person. But our cabin was clean both times although we rarely saw him all week.

 

The balcony is very big compared to a side balcony. We were able to get two lounge chairs out there side by side- (no other room for anything else though) but it was too hot to sit out there when we went--even at night.

[mginsb8256]

Hey Serene..

 

First..HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Hope it was enjoyable.

 

Not going to rehash your review, but nice to see I wasn't alone in seeing things as "not fantastic" I was never trashed for my posts, but I got the general feeling people didn't understand where I was coming from..Thanks for taking the time and effort. It is sure to help people make a more informed choice. One I wish we had made! I didn't see any scrapes in the glass or graffiti, but that is just awful...If I wanted that, I could just ride my subways!

I take several "mini vacations" during the year, but only once a year do we take a full week off. I was dissapointed that i spent my time and money on the Destiny. Of course, there are many more vacations, and hopfully cruises ahead!

Marc