Destiny review Jan 16 - cruise to nowhere

Well, sort of nowhere! As all of you are well aware, this was the cruise that had a complete itinerary change due to those infamous 'propulsion' issues. I do think that I am in the minority here but we had a great time aboard this ship mostly due to the incredible staff it has and that is why I really want to write a review. If I can figure out how to post photos, I will otherwise, I may just end uploading them and posting a link instead.

As a bit of a background, my sister and I took our first cruise last year as part of a big group attending a wedding at sea on the Crown Princess. We fell in love with cruising on that ship and decided that it would be great to take my 8 year old daughter on a cruise. She has autism so it was a big risk but I worked with Autism on the Seas after contacting Carnival myself. I would highly recommend making all of those contacts to anyone who may be thinking about booking a cruise. Everything was laid out perfectly for us.

Our first hurdle was getting through the extra security in the Toronto airport. We arrived 3 hours early as advised, got our boarding passes and started our way through security. First stop was the regular walk through the scanner/take your shoes off deal so no biggie there. It was made especially easy with the no carryon rule. We were allowed a purse or a camera bag or a computer and with 3 people, we had one of each.

Next step was getting to our gate where we had to go through another level of the security - the body check portion operated by TSA and RCMP officers. I was lucky enough to get a very nice RCMP officer who when told about my daughter's autism asked me how she would be with the pat down etc - when she realized my dd was laughing, she started joking with her about it tickling so much. This same officer also had me empty my camera bag (it was big enough to hold my liquids, wallet, ipod etc) and power up all of the electronic stuff. I didn't realize it at that point but she took care of the next line of security for me by doing this bag check as once we finished with her, we saw yet another line. We were able to go right through it since she took care of it for us.

The flight down was perfect. Took American Airlines - they allowed us to preboard where we met the pilot. Since it was dd's first ever flight, he ended up announcing her name as part of his speel at the beginning of the flight as his special guest. Certainly made my flight!!! :D Thankfully dd aced the security and flight so we arrived in FLA just fine.

We had prearranged transportation with QLS and they were waiting for us upon exiting the airport (can I say that Miami International is one seriously big airport? Bring your walking shoes!) where they took us to our hotel for the next 2 days - Newport Beachside in Sunny Isles, Fl. Although a tad 70's decor dated, it was clean and had superb outdoor ammenities. The beach front is right there and the pools were warm. I would highly recommend it to anyone especially if you are staying a few days pre or post cruise. It is about 20 minutes or so (I think) from POM so not the most convenient but a very nice place, nonetheless.

QLS also picked us up on Saturday to bring us the port and it is at this point that our adventure on the Destiny began. As a result of Autism on the Seas, we had arranged for priority boarding and priority it was! I can't say enough about the efficiency of the Carnival port staff. I honestly have no idea what the cruise terminal looks like because from the point when a staff member came up to us and said are you the 'our last name', we were whisked through the security checkpoint, up an escalator to some lounge, given our S&S cards, escorted onboard and then met by the best Carnival employee ever - Aleksandar, Guest Services supervisor! I can't say enough about him and I fully intend on letting Carnvial know what a great employee they have with him. He escorted us onboard, gave me his card with his cell number and told me to call him anytime. Of course it was lunchtime and we were hungry (we had only had coffee knowing we'd have way too much food for the next 5 days) so he then grabbed our carryons (we did pack them in our suitcases in Toronto to have them for the next parts of the trip) and escorted us to the buffet area where he found us a quiet table.

I'm going to end my first section of my review now to go and attempt to learn how to post photos! More to follow ... and more on why I actually quite enjoyed my cruise to nowhere, well almost :D

Miriam

Great job Kerry errr Miriam. :p

Great job Kerry errr Miriam. :p

Did you miss me? :p OK, here is my first attempt at a photo (sorry to make you all my guinea pigs but here goes nothing)

Just in case it does work, it is a shot from our balcony at the Newport Beachside.

<a href="http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae296/kerrytens/Cruise%20Jan%2016%20-%20Destiny/?action=view&current=Hannahscruisejan2010012.jpg

CRAP!!! didn't work. trying again

Great review so far..:)

To insert your pictures click on the direct link tab on your picture page..then come here and click the yellow envelope (insert image) and paste the link in there..;)

Great review so far..:)

 

To insert your pictures click on the direct link tab on your picture page..then come here and click the yellow envelope (insert image) and paste the link in there..;)

Thanks, I'll give it another go since I seem to be pretty useless at it so far! :o

More torture for you guys - here we go again (and I will warn you that I'm pretty darned stubborn so this could go on for a while!)

Sweet, it seems to have worked!!! But I think it is too big ... still a work in progress kids.

Thanks for your work on this review. More Please?

OK, here is another attempt (hoping this is smaller). The hotel is between POM and Port Everglades so we were able to watch ship leave from both ports. This was a Carnival ship leaving on either Thursday or Friday last week, can't remember for sure now.

OK, the photo thing seems to be working now but if anyone could give me an idea of what size I need to get my pics to before posting them, I'd appreciate it. Trying not to use up too much bandwidth here for you guys and I fear I'm not being very successful. Sorry, but bear with me!!

OK, the photo thing seems to be working now but if anyone could give me an idea of what size I need to get my pics to before posting them, I'd appreciate it. Trying not to use up too much bandwidth here for you guys and I fear I'm not being very successful. Sorry, but bear with me!!

Great start:) and the pics are perfect!! Pretty pretty spot!!!:D

One more photo before dinner. I will be back later to add more to my review and maybe get past day one!

We had read that the beach occasionally closes due to rip currents and sure enough they posted the sign on Saturday morning. The waves were wild :)

Well, it is smaller now. Is this too small now? Oh, how to find the happy medium! Anyways, it was a really nice hotel with a fabulous view and nice ammenities. I did forget to mention that there is a Marshall's and a CVS across the road along with a couple of restaurants. On the way to the port, I did see a grocery store that would be within walking distance if you were up for a good walk. Seemed to be a nice area.

To continue, we finished lunch and waited for our room to become available at our table. Finally, it was ready and we were able to get a first hand look at our aft cabin, room 8330. As many of you know it is one of the 2 slightly wider aft balconies, of course not including the wraps. It easily fit 2 chairs, a small table and a lounger with plenty of room to spare. We actually had to bring the little oval table from the room out to the balcony as well in order to fit the beds and the cot - it ended up looking like one big bed! It was fine though for the 3 of us.

Here are a few shots of what we saw in the port itself.

Very pretty skyline!

Two of the ships in port with us - Navigator of the Seas

And Celebrity Century

I think there was one more (Liberty??) in front of us but I was enjoying my balcony way too much to go and get some shots - OK, so maybe I was enjoying a glass or two of wine too but who's checking? ;)

Both engines working here!!!

I was well aware of the issues this ship had experienced late in 2009 so I was watching the water closely. On Sunday afternoon, I happened to be on the balcony mid afternoon when I heard a sound I'd never heard before. I immediately jumped up to look at the water and it was apparent that only one propellor was working. Our speed decreased at that point too.

I won't go into any further details since it has been posted to death at this point. It was later that evening that the captain announced that we weren't going to make it to Ocho Rios. I will say that the change didn't upset me at all since I had heard about the problems and boarded the ship with a very open mind. Not being present at the time of the problem, nor an engineer, I have no idea if our issues were related to any prior incidents so I refuse to add to the speculation. I do know that my heart went out to those who had planned weddings.

My heart also went out to the staff who bore the brunt of some angry pax the next morning too. I walked by the pursor's desk at one point and security was everywhere and the line ups were huge. Personally for me, I was waiting for the excursion desk to open to check out my new possibilities in Nassau. It just wasn't worth it to me to allow this thing to ruin my vacation.

Hi Miriam, Glad you had a good time as well. I was onboard and it was still tons of fun for me! Thanks for posting the review and giving a nice plug to all the great staff, i couldn't agree with you more!

Nick

Hi Miriam, Glad you had a good time as well. I was onboard and it was still tons of fun for me! Thanks for posting the review and giving a nice plug to all the great staff, i couldn't agree with you more!

 

Nick

Hi Nick!

For me it seemed that Monday was the worst day for most folks. After they got over the disappointment of missing ports, it seemed as if everyone cheered up and made the best of it. The staff of the Destiny deserve all the praise we can give them ... they have sadly had to deal with some unfortunate stuff recently and to maintain a smile and a hello says a lot about them. Many came up to me during the cruise to ask how I felt about the itinerary change which meant a lot to me - I mean, why bring up something that could bring a wrath of fury upon you??? But they did and bravo for them!!!

I honestly cannot say enough about Carnival staff. And since we have brought this whole thing up, I will now make my Princess/Carnival staff comparions ... well, there is no comparison to be made. Carnival wins hands down!!! Princess was good but nowhere in the league of Carnival.

So glad you had a great cruise too Nick!!!

Miriam - great review so far. I didn't know about Autism at Sea....I have a close friend that has always wanted to take her son on a cruise. This info might just help her achieve that goal. Can't wait for the read the rest.

I was there! Our staff was less than great. We did get over it and had anticipated it to a certain extent. We were in 8212 and I played witness to the mad pax Monday morning...I stayed up there waiting for an excursion and listening to the others. One of the higher ups said it would take a dry dock to fix.

Food and weather was awesome though!

K

My sister's favourite ... the elephant.

The scorpion

The dog???

And we are calling this one the dinosaur because that is my daughter's favourite thing!!!

Take a look to the far left of this pic and you will someone very special! There he is, Mr. Blue. The much loved, treasured, adored companion of my child!!! We have had him since she she was 3 months old and I often say that I worry more about losing him on outings than her :) I even bought another 'blue' all the way from Australia just in case only to be met with a 'that is not blue' upon his arrival. Oh well. At least we still have the much weathered and filthy original!

Can I say how much I love sleeping on a ship at this point?? The rocking of a ship on the ocean is the best thing!!!! I see the beds in these pics and it just makes me happy!!!

We're booked on the Destiny for 2-8-10.

While it might be disappointing if we miss a port or two, as long as it goes out, comes back, and stays afloat in between, I'll be happy.

Besides, this is a free trip for us. Just costing us the airfare. I won't complain about a thing.

As the title says, here are a few random shots to carry you over until tomorrow (adding pics is way harder than I expected .. not good being lazy!)

Token whale tale shot

Our neighbours balcony (very nice folks BTW!!!! I was even asked to crawl over the divider to join them ... ummm, no thanks but I appreciate the offer!)

And finally passing HMC (????) with a ship in tender??? That is my best guess anyway. Figure that is one of the reasons we didn't hit HMC on our way to Nassau.

I must note that it appears as if there is excessive rust on the balcony in my photos. We were all surprised to see these pics because it isn't apparent at all standing on the balcony.

Do take note of the seas too - this is pretty much what we experienced the entire cruise. The last day was like glass!

I was there! Our staff was less than great. We did get over it and had anticipated it to a certain extent. We were in 8212 and I played witness to the mad pax Monday morning...I stayed up there waiting for an excursion and listening to the others. One of the higher ups said it would take a dry dock to fix.

 

Food and weather was awesome though!

 

K

So sorry to hear that your encounters with the staff weren't as good as ours K. What did you end up doing in Nassau?? Hope you had fun despite the problems.

I did a behind the scenes tour on the last day and the whole propulsion thing was skirted quite nicely (felt bad for the officer who met us on the bridge actually). They did say that engineers were flown to Nassau to board and help with the issue so I do hope they get it fixed up enough again to make it to a drydock (I believe they need this too).

I really like this ship and I hate the bad press she is getting right now. My hope is that a decision will be made soon to get her completely fixed once and for all. She deserves better than she's getting right now! :)

Miriam

My wife and I were on this cruise as well, our first, and we also had a great time in spite of the changes. I joined CC after I booked our cruise and was well aware of the issues the Destiny was having. In regards to the staff, they set the example of how to act under pressure-they were nothing short of wonderful. We had a great first cruise and would not hesitate to sail on the Destiny again.

Great review.

My wife and I were on this cruise as well, our first, and we also had a great time in spite of the changes. I joined CC after I booked our cruise and was well aware of the issues the Destiny was having. In regards to the staff, they set the example of how to act under pressure-they were nothing short of wonderful. We had a great first cruise and would not hesitate to sail on the Destiny again.

 

Great review.

It's great to hear that others had as a good time as my family did too. And you are so right about the staff, they were very professional. I'm just sorry that they had to deal with the stuff they did.

I, too, would book this ship again without hesitation.

Miriam

Miriam, keep up the good work! We sail in a few weeks and like you are very aware of the problems but have decided we just don't care. We did book the Destiny as a B2B because of the ports but hey we've got one of the L-shaped cabins with a big balcony so as long as the weather is good I'm happy! :) As I have a place to hide from all the unhappy people...:p Would really like to see HMC and Grand Turk but we're pretty good about understanding as it took us three tries to finally see Key West! ;) Always a good reason to book another Cruise to try again and see a missed port! :D Looking forward to the rest of your review.