Review: Carnival Destiny 7/4/09 5 Day Western Caribbean

[Dr. Zebra]

First, I want to say that this was our very first cruise. Second, there will be a few complaints in here but they are minor and absolutely did NOT affect our thorough enjoyment of our vacation. They're mainly in the "here's a place to improve" or "I sure wish I had known before" variety. Third, this was by far the best vacation we've ever had and the cruise on the Destiny was a wonderful, wonderful way to spend our 8th anniversary.

 

Now the preface is done, here we go!

 

This is the executive summary. I'll go into more detail on this later on, and even throw in a few pictures, too. I'll also talk about the ports later, too.

 

Ship's Condition: I keep reading negative remarks about the overall condition of the ship due to age, etc. I have to say it: these remarks are wholly unfounded. The ship was immaculately clean and in great repair. They even applied some touch-up paint before we embarked (you could smell it on deck pretty strongly at first) and again as we disembarked. The crew were just INSANE about keeping things clean throughout.

 

Decor: A lot of people consider it tacky. I'm not one of them. I found it quite understated when compared to the tacky claims.

 

Cabin: We had cabin 9158. Iwayan and his assistants were ninja room stewards. In and out while we were gone, room kept spotless. Anything we wanted or needed, Iwayan was on top of it. It was incredible not having to worry about anything.

 

Dining: I learned a hard truth very early on. The Lido buffet is just a pain in the ass if you happen along at the wrong time (which we always did). The food (the couple of times we actually DID eat there) was certainly good, but not worth the wait. Mostly, we walked out there, laughed at the long line, made our way down to the dining room and got right in.

 

Breakfast is in the lower level of the Universe dining room. This is good stuff, folks. They make an outstanding eggs benedict.

 

We did one lunch in the Universe, and it was good. The other couples at the table sucked, but the food and the service were great. Can't fault Carnival for lousy company. Most other times we ate in port or the pizzeria or burger grille.

 

Dinner (second seating in the Galaxy) was the highlight of the day. Juan was our outstanding waiter and came through on all of our special requests. We also had the best table mates we could have asked for. The other couples were from New Jersey, Philadelphia, Oregon, and Texas. Fun was had by all. The food was to die for, particularly the tiramisu, the lobster, the snapper, and (of course) the warm chocolate melting cake.

 

Entertainment: We did not partake in any of the various activities. But we had a BLAST! We enjoyed Mike Panzeca's R-rated comedy show and had a great time at Brad's R-rated John Valby-esque sing-a-long in the Apollo Piano Bar. Once we found Blood Power, though, it was over. No other acts competed with them. If you're a fan of 70's and 80's rock bands, you will love them. Journey, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Metallica, Def Leppard, Lynrd Skynrd, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top... you name it, they played it, and sounded almost exactly like them all!

 

Overall: GET ON THIS SHIP! NOW! Don't listen to the naysayers. If you've never done a cruise, this is fun the likes of which you've never known to be possible. Also, don't be scared of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Sure, the people can be pushy, but a simple "No thanks, mon. I'm good" will give the vast majority of them the hint.

[Dr. Zebra]

Arrival in Miami:

 

We left from Denver International Airport EARLY on July 3rd. It was a two-leg journey; Denver to Houston, Houston to Miami. The flight to Houston was uneventful. The flight to Miami made us glad that we flew in a day early. As we were approaching, Miami International was closed briefly for a rainstorm and our plane settled into a holding pattern. Then it became apparent that the airport wouldn't reopen soon enough for us to not run out of fuel so we diverted to Fort Myers. After a short layover there for refueling and filing a new flight plan, we took off from Fort Myers and made the 20 minute flight to Miami.

 

We arrived at our hotel exhausted and collapsed soon after.

[hill6]

Great info so far. We are sailing on the Destiny on 10/29. We have an aft wrap around balcony. We are doing the 4 day Western. I can't wait.

[wrighka]

Can't wait for more!!!! Will be on the Destiny on 8/6. Did you use the new kisok check-In?????

 

More soon please!

[pseudochicken]

Glad you had a good time. I am interested to hear the rest of your review. I am interested in possibly cruising on the Destiny next winter for a quick 4 day getaway if possible. The one thing I am concerned about is the rowdiness / party atmosphere on board.

 

I like taking cruises to relax and explore the ports of call and enjoy the open ocean from my balcony or the upper decks. I do not like hairy chest contests, corny theater shows, annoying cruise directors, gimicky cruise shops, bingo, belly flop duels and constant Caribbean Reggae music.

 

I know I sound like an old man at the age of 23, but you cannot argue that I am allowed my own preferences and opinions. Granted, I fully do expect some of those things on a shorter cruise.

 

My question pertains to one's ability to find quiet spots on the ship. Do such places exist? Or is it a party 24/7 everywhere on the Destiny?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Dr. Zebra]

Embarkation Day:

 

At 11:00, we boarded our hotel's shuttle to the port and took the short ride out. Seeing the Liberty of the Seas, the Carnival Destiny, and the Carnival Liberty all lined up in port was an awesome sight and I'm sorry that we didn't get any pictures of them.

 

Once we got into the terminal, we tried to use the self-service kiosk to check in. It was a dismal failure because I wanted to use a different credit card for my Sail & Sign than I originally planned and the machine couldn't reconcile the difference between the name on my Carnival account and the name on my credit card - my middle initial. Finally, we had to admit defeat and go to the counter.

 

All done with that, we waited a few minutes until our zone number was called, and onto the ship we went!

 

Here I am, enjoying my first Fun Ship Special:

 

Finally, we were allowed into our room, cabin 9158:

[Dr. Zebra]

Embarkation Day, part 2:

 

And here's the obligatory pics of the funnel:

 

And the dreaded muster drill:

[Dr. Zebra]

Glad you had a good time. I am interested to hear the rest of your review. I am interested in possibly cruising on the Destiny next winter for a quick 4 day getaway if possible. The one thing I am concerned about is the rowdiness / party atmosphere on board.

 

I like taking cruises to relax and explore the ports of call and enjoy the open ocean from my balcony or the upper decks. I do not like hairy chest contests, corny theater shows, annoying cruise directors, gimicky cruise shops, bingo, belly flop duels and constant Caribbean Reggae music.

 

I know I sound like an old man at the age of 23, but you cannot argue that I am allowed my own preferences and opinions. Granted, I fully do expect some of those things on a shorter cruise.

 

My question pertains to one's ability to find quiet spots on the ship. Do such places exist? Or is it a party 24/7 everywhere on the Destiny?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I can certainly address this for you. We are not much interested in the above things, either. Let me warn you that things DO get a bit rowdy in the main pool area on the Lido deck.

 

HOWEVER... we found that going to the back of the ship (the adults only pool area) will take you away from that kind of atmosphere. We even had a balcony on the Lido deck and could only really hear the party noise on our balcony if we strained our ears. You can get away from the parties. We certainly did.

 

One thing that we loved about the ship was that there is something for nearly everyone. Our balcony was quiet. Aside from embarkation and debarkation, the atrium was fairly sedate. The decks at the back of the ship were quiet. If you don't like going through the parties to eat food, go to the dining rooms. Very peaceful, and you even get windows in the Universe dining room.

 

There was definitely a party atmosphere on board, but it was easy to avoid it and have a great, relaxing time.

[IndyKat]

Great review ! Waiting for more .:) We leave in January, can hardly wait, it will be our first time on the Destiny.

Kath

[Cruisefan1018]

Glad you had a good time. I am interested to hear the rest of your review. I am interested in possibly cruising on the Destiny next winter for a quick 4 day getaway if possible. The one thing I am concerned about is the rowdiness / party atmosphere on board.

 

I like taking cruises to relax and explore the ports of call and enjoy the open ocean from my balcony or the upper decks. I do not like hairy chest contests, corny theater shows, annoying cruise directors, gimicky cruise shops, bingo, belly flop duels and constant Caribbean Reggae music.

 

I know I sound like an old man at the age of 23, but you cannot argue that I am allowed my own preferences and opinions. Granted, I fully do expect some of those things on a shorter cruise.

 

My question pertains to one's ability to find quiet spots on the ship. Do such places exist? Or is it a party 24/7 everywhere on the Destiny?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

My husband and I sailed on Destiny last October and we had a great time! Now, I'm only 22 years old and I don't care for the party atmosphere either, I like to relax without all of that. I will say that we didn't run into much of that while on the ship. We had a balcony room on the 6th deck and it was so peaceful. We would go to the lido deck after dinner almost every night and watch a movie and most of the time it was always pretty quite. Now there was one night they had a robe party and it was definately a "party". Our one and only day at sea got pretty loud at the pool deck, but that was to be expected with all 2,000 people on board with no where to go, and that was the day they had the "hairy man contest"- which by the way was pretty humerous. But overall it was a peaceful experience. This was our first cruise and I wasn't sure what to expect and was a little worried that it would be just one big party, but I was proved wrong!!! Hope this helps!

[Dr. Zebra]

Embarkation Day, Part 3:

 

So after the muster drill, we went to our room and got our swimsuits on. Then, out to the aft pool! A few kids tried to get in, but they were shooed away as soon as they were spotted by a Carnival employee. Kudos to them for enforcing this!

 

Sail away was late, almost 17:30. This made me really glad that we chose the late seating for dinner. Both the Liberty of the Seas and the Carnival Liberty beat us out by almost an hour!

 

Liberty of the Seas setting sail:

 

 

We finally set sail, had a snack from the buffet, milled around for a while, and then got dressed for dinner. We found our table, no problems. Our tablemates were wonderful, wonderful people. I had the shrimp cocktail, the snapper, and the cheesecake and all were excellent. I really have to recommend the snapper to anyone who likes fish. This is good stuff.

 

After dinner, we caught the "Welcome Aboard" show and found it fairly entertaining. We also found out that the replays nonstop on the TV back in the cabins. I tired of seeing it pretty quickly.

 

After the show, we explored the ship and watched a bit of karaoke in the Criterion Lounge. That ended and we tried to check out the piano bar, but Brad had just finished and was cleaning up. We decided to grab some pizza and call it a night.

 

First towel animal:

[falkcor]

thanks for your review :)

 

i still like to read about how she's doin' :D

 

i think that towel animal posted above is my least favorite. it's so open to interpretation :cool:

 

glad to hear you've enjoyed your cruise! ;)

[tommy2811]

thanks for your review :)

 

i still like to read about how she's doin' :D

 

i think that towel animal posted above is my least favorite. it's so open to interpretation :cool:

 

glad to hear you've enjoyed your cruise! ;)

 

 

that would be a seal.;)

[Jeans*Fanatic]

I love the review so far! I will be on her this October!!! :D

[junebug8]

Great review so far! Nice picture of the Liberty--will be sailing on her in Oct.

 

Keep it coming--along with the pictures!:)

[WAcruisers]

Cant wait to see more! We will be on her in September!

[falkcor]

that would be a seal.;)

 

see - i always figured it was a walrus... and i think a case can be made for that (with the tusks and all)... or even a manatee...

 

and, depending on how well it's made... it can very readily resemble something a bit more naughty ;):D:)

[wrighka]

Falkcor!!!!! You naughty boy - LMAO!

[falkcor]

Falkcor!!!!! You naughty boy - LMAO!

 

teehee :cool:

 

what can i say... it seemed rather apparent to me... and i'm SURE i'm not the only one that this thought has occurred to... if you're laughin', i bet you see it too :D

[wrighka]

Oh yeah, definitely! :eek:

[cuyahoga11]

Great review so far! Nice picture of the Liberty--will be sailing on her in Oct.

 

Keep it coming--along with the pictures!:)

 

That was the RCCL Liberty of the Seas not Carnival Liberty

[NascarMommy]

More, more! I leave for Miami in 4 days and depart on the Destiny in 5!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Nice review, thanks for taking the time to write one :)