My Destiny review -1/20/08

[spivey]

First let me say that this was only our 4th cruise, so we don't have a whole lot to compare it to. We were there with 2 other couples and 2 women who were traveling without their husbands. All in all, it was a fantastic vacation!

However, there were some things that could be improved upon.

 

Embarkation: What a breeze! We arrived at about 1:30 from the airport. We were immediately told that we could board even though it was early. We purchased some alcohol and headed for the ship. Our intent was to get on board, eat some lunch and then go into old San Juan for some culture. Well you know what they say about good intentions.... :) We ate and had a few drinks and just started to relax. Needless to say, we never made it into Old San Juan. Our rooms were ready early and for the most part in good shape. We had one aft balcony (wonderful!!!), one starboard balcony (a little bit of a disappointment) 1 ocean view (HUGE room but had a bit of a sewer smell at times) and 1 inside cabin (tiny and dark, but GOOD sleeping!) Dinner that first night was fairly chaotic! I'm sure that's to be expected with the open dining and people arriving in all states. Food was good, though!

 

Day 2 - St. Thomas: It was raining and cloudy most of the day. We had booked a scuba trip as many of us are divers, but decided not to spend the money on a drab day. (Diving is so much more fun when the colors are bright!) So, we spent the day shopping in town and had a wonderful time with a small shop in an alley that sold jewelry. The shop keeper (Paul) gave us beer anytime someone bought something so we just kept dragging people in to buy so we could drink :D After shopping we hired a taxi to take us around the island and show us what we should see. We thoroughly enjoyed our driver and the folks from Scotland that got stuck on the tour with us. (sorry we were so obnoxious, nice folks!) All in all, it was GREAT ! We can't wait to get back to this island!

 

Day 3 - Dominica: Wow! That's about all I can say for this island. It is simply beautiful! I will always wonder about people who say they didn't get off here. Do you folks know what you missed? This was everyone's favorite in our group- by far!!! We hired a private tour through Sheppee Fun Tours. We ended up with Sheppee's Dad (Hi, Dad!!! ) He was funny and smart. He got us to the sights before the masses and we had a wonderful time. One note here: DO NOT MISS TITOU GORGE! It is truly amazing! We went to the falls, the sulpher springs, the gorge, the gardens, and champagne reef. At the reef, we met a great guy who offered to show us around for only a tip. Let me just say that he was wonderful! We wouldn't have seen half of what was out there without him. What a fantastic day! Back on board we were starving and tired! We ate a late snack and then had a wonderful dinner. It was formal night and we did clean up well.

 

Day 4 - Barbados: We were lazy on this day. We all got up late, ate lunch and then headed out for the beach. We hired a taxi and went to a beach (I have no idea of the name, we were honestly too tired to care!) and settled down with some rum punch and umbrellas. After a while a few of us got energetic and rented a catamaran for a sail. 2 even went to the Mt. Gay factory and had a great time "taste testing." Very nice, easy day. I will say that again we got lucky and had a great cab driver who was honest, fair and fun.

 

Day 5 - St. Kitts: Too windy to dock. Darnit! We really wanted to see this island as it looked gorgeous from the ship. BUT, the day at see turned out to be a blast. We pulled a bunch of lounge chairs together and spent the day eating, drinking, going down the water slide, gambling a bit, etc. I will say that to have that many folks trapped on a ship that size should have seemed claustrophobic, but didn't. I was impressed with how well the crew reorganized and turned it into a sea day. Carnival also gave every person $25 shipboard credit up front and immediately refunded any excursions without question. Basically, they were very helpful. This was also the 2nd formal night. What fun!!!!!

 

 

Day 6 - Dominican Republic: Hmmm...this is a port that I wasn't initially thrilled with, but it grew on me. I went by myself on the first day to Bayahibe beach. I bought a day pass to a resort and had an open bar, use of the pool, beach, lounge chairs, facilities, etc. I spent the day being very lazy and asking for "another banana thingie" (drink) on repeated occasions. I really enjoyed it! Some others in our group took the historical tour through Santo Domingo. They said it was okay. Not great but had some interesting parts to it.

 

Day 7 - Dominican Republic: We all decided to take the Catalina Island beach break because it left later in the day and we're lazy! This was a nice, easy boat ride to a gorgeous island/beach. We had lounge chairs under a sea grape tree, a beautiful beach, a welcome drink, and good facilities. There were shops that had some neat local things at good prices. There were also some ladies selling massages, etc. No one was pushy or obnoxious. If I said no, they left me alone. Some of our group decided to try the snorkeling there and loved it. They actually saw more sea life here than anywhere else. The only disappointment here was the food. They had a buffet available for a price of $20. Wayyyyy too much for the food being offered. Most of us decided to skip it and eat when we got back to the ship. On the boat ride back, they turned up the music and there was dancing and fun. A great day!

 

Now for some overall impressions:

Ship- Definitely an older ship but being refurbished a little every day. It is also due to go to dry dock in September for the rest of the overhaul. For the most part, the worn or stained areas were minimal and didn't bother us. The only real problem we had was that the lower deck did have a sewage smell at times. I'm not sure why. We asked at the information desk and were told that is one of the things they hope to fix during dry dock. To be honest, this is one of my favorite ships (of course I've only been on 4 so what do I know!) I like the layout and the size of it. I found the lounge areas, theater, dining rooms, etc to be comfortable and attractive. The cabins were typical Carnival cabins. (which, in my limited experience, seem to be a little bigger than other lines) and they had nice size showers. (at least our cabin did.) Everything seemed to work well in the rooms and none of us had a noise problem. The temperature was easily controlled by adjusting the little box in the ceiling. The only other complaint we had was that two of our group had a starboard balcony cabin and they were very disappointed in the size of the balcony and lack of privacy.

 

Service: We found this to be excellent. Our dining room staff was great. They were friendly, called us by name, and went out of their way to take care of us. When one of our group wanted lemon for tea, they hunted one down even though there was a shortage due to the fact that they hadn't gotten their deliveries in St. Thomas. From then on, she received lemon with her tea every night without asking for it. The entertainment in the dining room was probably the most fun we've ever experienced. They seemed to really enjoy the whole thing and that made it fun for the rest of us! Room stewards were helpful and friendly. Pursars desk was helpful along with shore excursions desk. No real complaints in this department.

 

Entertainment: We had one member of our group that seems to be a show junkie! He insisted that we go to every show, every night. Some were pretty good, and some were just okay. The cruise director, Skip, was pretty funny and seems to be quick with a sense of humor. The get-to-know you game on Monday evening was funny! The family feud game was great (especially since one of our group got up there - and lost;)) The comedian (don't remember his name, but he was Cuban) was fairly good and the magician was okay. The great thing about a cruise is that the entertainment is included. So, you can try a show and if you don't like it, you can leave without feeling guilty about wasting money!

 

Food: The lido deck buffet was not so hot. None of us liked this much. The grill (burgers, hotdogs, etc) was quite good and moved fairly quickly. The Oriental food was just okay. The deli had some really good sandwiches but needs to add some chips or something other than the weird slaw. The pizza was pretty good and plentiful. We did eat slices at weird times! The dining room food was some of the best we've ever had on a cruise. The lobster was sweet and tender but order two cause they are small! The beef was great except for the last night when our prime rib was way over cooked. But the best for me was the grouper. I have no idea what they did to it, but that meal was amazing!!! Of course, most of our group ate melting chocolate cake every night. I tried hard to eat the low cal deserts but have to say they just didn't have much taste. :o The breakfast buffet was okay, and the omelets were quite good. Breakfast in the dining room was very good.

 

Disembarkation: We did the self-assist and found this to be painless. We were in line for all of about 5 minutes. Customs was a breeze and fortunately (or unfortunately!) we found ourselves at the airport with plenty of time to kill before our 1:30 flight! Let me just say here that while everyone on the ship and in the terminal was very nice and helpful, the folks in the airport were NOT. What a rude awakening back into the real world. I thought we were going to have a fist fight with one lady.

 

Finally, I would like to comment on all the posts I've seen about the large numbers of rude Puerto Ricans on board. We didn't find this to be the case. There were way more Americans and Canadians on board that were obnoxious. Yes, there were Puerto Ricans on the ship. Why wouldn't there be??? I would certainly take advantage of the situation if I were them. They simply didn't act the way everyone said they would I found them to be fun, happy folks who minded their own business.

 

Over all, I would HIGHLY recommend this cruise for anyone looking to explore beautiful islands, relax on a fun ship, and have a good time. If you can overlook some of the minor flaws in an older ship, then take advantage of this amazing deal of a cruise!