Destiny Review 6/22-6/29

[reallynow]

Hi all – this cruise was a family group trip for my mother & brother’s birthdays (they are on the same day). We had 13 people total in the group ranging in age from 79 -21, DH and I are in our mid 30’s and 40’s.

 

DH and I planned to go down the day before and my G-Father liked that idea so he tagged along. We were able to get rooms through price line at the Marriott Stellaris. Our flights were fine, no delays, no issues and exit rows!!! We arrived at the hotel about 1:30 pm and our rooms were not ready-no biggie. We went to the bar, had some drinks and got a recommendation for a Puerto Rican lunch. We ended up going to Café Angel, right down the street from the hotel. Solid food, we each got the special of the day, the rice and beans were great as was the service. After eating we were dead people walking, luckily on our way back to the hotel, our buzzer went off letting us know our rooms were ready. G-Dad had some issues with his room, but Marriott handled it and put him in a presidential suite-he was more than happy with that. After a long needed nap we met up for a late night snack/dinner. Luckily for us “The Taste of Condado Beach” was going on. Huge street party with food and drink vendors, bands and lots of people. We ended up at an Argentinean restaurant, Umm-O-great food and wine list. We snagged and outside table and people watched until the rain forced people inside. We decided to be leisurely the next morning since we had all day.

 

Sunday – DH and I hit the pool early then met up with G-dad about noon for lunch. Had lunch at the hotel and headed for the ship. We dropped our bags and headed for the ferry to take us over to the Bacardi Factory Tour (a must see for G-dad). The tour was cool, DH and G-dad wanted to actually see the inner-workings of the plant, but for free, plus free drinks they didn’t complain too loud. After that we headed back to Old San Juan and I got the call that the rest of the group was on board. DH and I wanted to do a tour, but G-Dad was ready to get on the ship so we walked him back to the ship and we found a taxi driver to give us a tour. We hit the highlights and had the driver drop us off at the street market, we walked around, danced to the great band, I checked out the knock-off bags, DH bought some PR cigars and then we figured we’d head to the ship. No lines, we made the duty free liquor shop right before it closed so we stocked up-loaded DH’s back pack and were on our way, just in time for dinner.

 

St. Thomas – The birthday day. The plan was to meet on the pier at 9am. Well one in our group had missed her plane to SJ so she was meeting us in St. Thomas. My G-Ma got the call that she was on her way so everyone felt they had to stay and wait on her. DH and I were outside at 9am when this call came in. Needless to say I saw the writing on the wall and DH and I headed to Megan’s Bay. We were able to get some good beach time in before a shower hit. Headed to Cuzzins for lunch and then did some shopping. While we were waiting on some of our purchases, we had drinks at the Buzzard Café and people watched. DH also hit the internet café Beans & Things, solid coffee and nice set up. As I predicted the rest of the group was able to do some shopping but not much else. My G-Dad and brother cornered me that night at dinner to make it clear that they would be hanging with DH and I the remainder of the cruise, lol-more on that later.

 

Dominica – The plan was to book Bumpiing Tours, but months before the cruise someone in the group said they had arranged something, not true, so when we found out (the night before at dinner) we decided to get up early and get tickets for the Dominica’s Favorites through Carnival. It was a solid tour, Emerald Pool, Trafalgar Falls, etc. Everyone enjoyed it. It was formal night so we took some extra time getting ready for dinner. DH and I took pictures with the plan to only buy two if they came out nice – more on that later too. We ended up lounge hopping that night and found a good jazz group stayed there.

 

Barbados – Beach day!!! Our foursome was invaded on Barbados (and the rest of the cruise J). We ended up finding a driver to take my G-Ma and G-Aunt on a tour and drop us off at the beach. We went to the Blue Monkey and had a blast. I loved all of the “entrepreneurs” on the beach. Chairs and umbrellas were brought out immediately, offers of jet skis and snorkel gear were thrown out and once we were settled the “waiters” came by to take drink orders. I didn’t feel like anyone was pushy and when we said no thank you it was respected. My brother jet skied, we had our fill of Banks Beer and Mango Rum Punches (that packed a punch) and DH ended up buying me a necklace and himself a wire sculpture, as did my mother and G-dad. The water was beautiful, even with the coral and the weather was perfect. G-Ma and G-Aunt enjoyed their tour and the driver was back to pick us up at the appointed time. We lounge hopped again that night, spent a little time with the salsa band and then hit up the jazz band again before we called it a night.

 

St. Lucia – the Cosol Tour! So I booked the tour before we left for four (I knew that our twosome was going to quickly become a foursome so I planned ahead), well the night before once again we were invaded. Because I know my family I had already warned the private tour operators that this may happen. So a total of 8 of us went on the tour. When we got off the ship I saw the sign right away and explained the situation, Cosol showed me the note by my name, “may be adding more persons”, so we were good to go. Our driver was Yellowbird and he was fantastic!!!!! I can not say enough about this tour, hands down the best one of the cruise. If you are on the fence about booking, have no fear. Again check out our age range, everyone enjoyed it-plus the rum punch and local beer was great. DH loved the beach at the Jalousie Plantation and is already trying to figure out when we can go back. I think we got the luggage express forms that evening.

 

Antigua – DH and I were a bit brain dead at this point. I was tired of being the “cruise director” so we just told the crew we were going to the beach, thinking that they would want to do a tour or something-we were wrong, but no worries. We had a good day at Turner Beach. Little Bro jet skied, G-Dad got some conch fritters and local beer, plus our driver was very nice and gave us some good island facts. We did a bit of shopping in the market, everyone had the same things. Second formal night, more “just for fun” pictures, and Motown Night in the Disco which was a lot of fun.

 

St. Kitts – Thenford Grey’s tour was planned ahead of time, again for two. Wednesday evening when I saw how our tours were going to play out I e-mailed Thenford from the ship (easy and quick) to remind him and give him a count of our additional persons. So the 8 of us were on our way. Another great tour, highly recommended. Spectacular views, we saw plenty of monkeys, birds and a mongoose crossing the road. The ladies spent way too much money in the batik factory. Thenford was a great guide and he was very patient with my G-Ma and G-Aunt who like to inspect every flower, item, rock, etc. at length.

 

San Juan – DH and I had a leisurely morning. Our plane didn’t leave until 3pm and the only thing we wanted to do in OSJ was find a nice hat shop. We ended up having a nice breakfast, getting off the ship with no hassle and finding a great hat shop - The Cigar Shop/ The Doll Shop on Fortaleza had a great selection of very nice men’s hats and cigars. DH came away with a few and I was able to sneak a nice floppy beach hat on the counter too. The store is family owned and they were great.

 

All in all we had a great cruise. Is the Destiny showing its age-yes, but it in no way hindered our trip. The food wasn’t great but I didn’t go hungry. Our steward was amazing-Jorge; he had our wants/needs down by day two. Our waiter was just OK, he was finally getting it by St. Kitts, but hey he worked hard daily so it was not a big deal. We had breakfast in the dinning room every day-the lido deck was just a bit too much for us in the morning with everyone trying to get in and out. I like to order room service on tour days but there was no meat on the menu so DH wasn’t thrilled with that. We ordered room service and took sandwiches with us on Barbados and Antigua (don’t forget extra zip lock bags). After Dominica the foursome was no more, it was all about eight is enough! I tried to do all of the planning prior to the cruise but no one wanted to commit so there was a lot of adding and juggling, but it worked out. Oh yeah and those “just for fun” pictures ended up being the most money we spent on the ship, but hey they came out nice and we had nothing recent of the two of us, c’est la vie!!

DH and I had a great time and would love to do the itinerary again, just on a different ship. I forgot to add that my G-Ma and her sister found some long lost cousins on the cruise, how amazing is that!!

[phinfan63]

Thanks for the review. We are doing this same itinerary on the Victory, March 1, 2009 ~ come join us.

 

We have booked the Cosol tour since everyone on these boards just rave about the excursion.

 

Glad everyone had a great time!

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review...........We are also looking at Cosol for St. Lucia........We have one of our party that is on crutches, can Cosol accomodate? Is there a lot of walking on the tour? Thanks............