Our cruise on Carnival Destiny from Miami 2/23-2/28

[jeepchick444]

My husband and myself both 52 left NJ for Miami two days early to stay in South Beach. We took a cab from MIA to the hotel a flat rate to South Beach area $32. We stayed at the Nassau Suite Hotel, Collins Ave one block from Ocean Drive and the Lummis Park/Beach entrance. Hotel was nice, centrally located however next time we would like to be further down and right on the beach! The beach there was absolutely beautiful surrounded by Art Deco hotels, shops and restaurants. We cannot wait to return to Miami for another cruise!

We left our hotel Monday at noon and got caught in quite a bit of traffic going to the port as there were 5 ships there and a super quick traffic light at the port entrance! Our cabbie said Mon and Tues are the worse traffic days! Our driver was very friendly so all the chit chat made the wait go faster, before we knew it we were unloaded at the pier by 1pm . The entire embarkation process went smooth and quick, staff very friendly and we were on board, up to the Lido Deck and drink in hand by 1:30! Sitting in a lounge chair under the Miami sun listening to the music! Heaven after leaving freezing temps back home!

The Carnival Destiny was a very nice ship, we were on Verandah deck 8 balcony room 8204, decent size cabin with balcony, big shower and plenty of hot water! TV, usual sitting area, hair dryer, shampoo and bath gel in bathroom. No frig but cash bar sodas and water, and ice bucket filled daily. Our balcony was a great spot to take pictures of South Beach as we were leaving! We liked the ship very much it reminded us of Victory in size and layout.

The ship was very clean, people here and there doing touch ups every day, all staff we came in contact with was very friendly, we saw our room steward every am and pm as we were leaving our cabin he was friendly, attentive and kept our room spotless! Our dining room staff was amazing they were very professional and FUN!! Food was great only complaint was breakfast on the Lido deck, mornings were chilly and windy so I feel that may have hindered the warming trays effort to keep the food warm!?!? I feel like this was not really an issue when we cruised in the hot summer?!? Probably would have gotten our food from the inside buffet where it was warmer?!?!? Not sure, either way did not affect the fun we were having! The rest of the meals were good!!!!

Entertainment was good, comedians were funny, especially the Juggler!!! We had a blast at the Past Guest reception! We met very nice people at dinner and on deck. Wide range of ages of the people on board, nothing out of control or crazy, just people having fun!!! No issues with smokers, cell phone abusers, loud teens, noises from other floors, etc……………………Just one great relaxing week!!! Never got to check out the movies under the stars but the new jumbo tv outside is very cool!!

NASSAU-Sunny~78 degrees -we’ve been there before a few times so we did the Blackbeards Beach Break reg not deluxe it was cheaper and got us on a beach to relax which is all that we wanted to do on this trip….you could feed the stingrays, snorkel etc all for an addition excursion fee. Also drinks and snacks available to purchase!

HALF MOON CAY-Sunny ~80 degrees-wow what an amazing beach/water view!! This is a tender so if you want chairs close to the children’s water area best to be one of the first off, the people with shore excursions and cabanas get off first. The chairs fill up in order of the tenders unloading so if you get off later be prepared to walk towards the end of the beach for chairs! It’s so beautiful though you won’t mind the walk! The BBQ was good, there were nice covered areas with pretty flowers and picnic benches to eat at! Drinks available from bar and waiters! You won’t want to leave this beach!!! But when it’s time to actually leave don’t be shocked by the long line back to the tenders, it actually moves at a decent pace, just chit chat with people around you to kill time! It was between 25-30 min wait so if you have small children you’re probably best either leaving earlier or maybe being one of the last?!? Also the bar area in the courtyard seems to be a good place to wait for the last of the tenders.

GRAND TURK-Mostly Sunny ~80+ degrees-another beautiful beach, smaller but nice!! 3 Rows of palm trees with loungers between them for sun/shade, it was quite warm already in the sun in the am so the shade was nice! Still many chairs in the sun! Lots of stores to browse around in, Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville is the party place!! Very nice pool with swim up bar! Everyone was having fun there, we watched people on the flow rider and just relaxed on the beach!!!

Disembarkation was super simple, set our alarm for 7, grabbed breakfast upstairs, ate in our cabin and waited for our number to be called we were #9. We checked our luggage the night before. Our number was called at 8am, we were on the shuttle to the airport by 8:30, drove to MIA, checked in (some computer probs), bathroom breaks, etc and was at our gate by 10am. (We usually do the self assist but the wait for the elevators can be time consuming as only so many people and luggage can fit together in each elevator, if you check your luggage walking down to the gangway ends up being way faster and retrieving the luggage from the turnstiles was very organized by your # so it really depends on what your time table is when leaving.)

We had an amazing time on this trip, there was not one thing about Destiny that would keep us from booking another cruise on this ship, if we had the time to do a back to back on her we wouldn’t have hesitated a BIT!! Enjoy!!

[HawaiiFiveOh]

Thanks for the review! We will be sailing on her next month. I can't wait. The only questions that I may have would be about activities on board. Other than that I am looking forward to a nice fun time.

 

Thanks again!

[Annie44]

Thank you so much. I just booked this weekend for 2 weeks from now. I can't wait to get on that ship and then to the beach!! My son is bringing a friend who has never traveled much and I think he is so excited he can't stand it. Thanks again. I'll be watching in case you think of any more advise or things we might want to know.

[momsoftwins]

great review!!! i will be sailing on her in july...really looking forward to it

[cruizer7]

I am on this ship in 13 days. I can't wait.. thanks for the review....

[mom2girls]

Thanks so much for posting. That's the same itinerary I'm doing. So, I'm tarting to get excited!

[jeepchick444]

hope everyone has as good a time as we did!! we look forward to these trips SO much that we always have nothing but happy thoughts going in, so short of a hurricane or something we would always have fun, we loved all the cruises we've done with carnival so far!

 

this is my first attempt at attaching photos so hopefully the link will work i did test it a couple of times first!

 

http://www.photoworks.com/albums/pictures.jsp;jsessionid=8AAF6F7175C7DB4A7DDC2552103592E3?id=56086411&cb=PW&toh=&svr=web16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just copy and paste in the address line! : )

 

i did one header for each section of photos from miami, through the port, leaving the port past south beach and on to nassau, half moon cay and finally grand turk and then home! : (

[tumh20]

Great photos! Thanks so much for sharing!

[David148]

Thanks for posting your review! i love reading reviews on the Destiny! Will be on her in SEPT! Sounds like you had a nice relaxing beach kind of a trip , and thats what we hope we will have in SEPT. One question, Was the beach in Grand Turk free? And was it in the port area or what? I am excited about Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk, i've only heard good things about these ports! :D Nice pictures also! :D Thanks Again!

 

-David.

[jeepchick444]

david, yes the beach is free, when you get to the end of the pier you'll come into the main courtyard where all the shops are and the beach is to the left of jimmy buffets....there are rentals of the topup cabanas but there are so many palms its not really necessary....glad you enjoyed the pics have a great time! :D