LONG! Carnival Destiny Review & Photos ~ 6-14-10 ~ 5 days to Grand Turk, HMC & Nassau

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Please note: I just noticed that the time stamped on our photos is wrong (behind by one hour). So, for those of you keeping track of the time of day we were at various locations, the correct times are: We arrived at the Port of Miami just before 10:30 am. After parking our car and passing through security, we made it upstairs into the Main Terminal just after 11 am. We got checked in, waited for our zone to be called and were onboard by 11:35 am. We made our way into the atrium, booked our tours at the Excursion Desk and had our drinks in hand by 12:30 pm. We made our way up to the Lido just before 1 pm, ordered sandwiches at the deli, carried them back down to the Atrium and devoured them by 1:15 pm. After that, we took a few pictures outside on the Promenade. Okay... that brings us back up to date. Sorry for any confusion!

One other note: I must confess that DS & I made several attempts within the first hour of boarding, to find a way to get to our room early, to drop all our luggage off. Carnival crew members were stationed at all the elevators (and the stair-wells, which were blocked). They were sending all the elevators directly to Deck 9 and were instructing all the passengers to enjoy the buffet lunch on the Lido deck. We hopped on one of the elevators and rode it up to Deck 9, and then pushed the button for Deck 2 and crossed our fingers. The elevator did go all the way down to 2, but the fire doors to the cabin hall-ways remained closed. We tried this tactict on the forward and middle elevators. Bummer! There was no way to get to our cabin to drop off our luggage early. Oh, well... we would just have to wait patiently!

And, now... back to the review... already in progress! LOL!

So... after coming back inside from the Promenade, we sit for a few minutes to people-watch and enjoy to solo-musician (Michael) playing his guitar on a stage behind the Atrium Bar. He is quite good! At a few minutes before 1:30 pm (yes!) we gather our luggage and make our way to the forward elevators. Wow! Pandemonium is the only word to describe the choas in front of the elevators. We decide to carry our luggage down the one flight of stairs, instead!

We make it safely down to Deck 2 (Main) and find a hidden alcove located behind the glass elevators, full of beautiful paintings. This must be the Art Gallery... indeed, it is! The hallway doors to the cabins are still closed, so we enter the Gallery to take a closer look. Here's the view looking up at the glass elevators:

And... looking up to the starboard side of the Atrium:

And looking up, to the Port side:

DH & DS are standing on the Port side of the Art Gallery in this photo. Don't they look handsome, framed by all that artwork? I think so!

 

The hallway doors to the cabins are located just outside the Art Gallery. We notice a couple of passengers open the doors and enter. We hang back, not wanting to barge in on the Cabin Stewards making the last few preparations to the rooms. Then, another passenger opens the door and attaches it to the magnet on the wall, so that it will remain open! We just look at each other in disbelief. The time is a few minutes past 1:30 pm, but no announcement has been made that the cabins are ready. We do the polite thing and wait. Just a couple of minutes later, a female cabin steward peeks her head out and instructs us that we are clear to enter. Yay! We make our way down the hallway and easily find our cabin, which is close to the mid-ship elevators. We are staying in Stateroom #2250, which is an Oceanview Category 6C.

DS uses his S&S to open the door. We step in... and check out our "new" home, at least for the next few nights! We are pleased by the room configuration. We notice the sofa does not convert to a bed, but we find the makings of a trundle bed hidden under the main bed. When we meet our cabin steward, we'll ask if the sofa can be "made into a bed" using the trundle mattress, so we don't lose precious floor space. The room appears to be wider and longer than similar cabins we've had on other CCL ships. Nice! And, the mirrored wall helps to exaggerate the spacious feel of the room, which is another plus! Here's the view of our cabin from the front door:

Please do not be alarmed by the messy comforter in the cabin photo above. I assure you that the linens are clean and the bed was made neat & tidy when we entered! All our cabin photos were taken after the Muster Drill, and after we had completely unpacked... thus the crumpled bed! I just wanted to give you a peek into our room!

Here's another view of our cabin, from the window looking toward the door (please forgive all the spots from the dust on the camera lens!):

We waste no time in starting the unpacking process. DH puts the suitcases on the bed and starts handing me the contents, which I stack on the sofa. The cabin has 3 closets, 3 drawers, 2 cabinet doors and 2 nightstands for us to fit all our belongings. After sorting and stacking the clothes by person, it is easy to spot who gets the largest of the drawers: DS, who has the most clothes, by far! The middle drawer goes to DH. And, for the first time EVER in the history of cruising, I get the top drawer... which is the smallest! Woo! Hoo! I am either going to run out of clothes before everyone else, or take home the least clean clothes at the end of the cruise! LOL! We'll just have to wait & see! Next, we start hanging our casual evening attire and dress clothes into the closets. Before we know it, an hour and a half has gone by and it's time to proceed to the Muster Drill. No life jackets required! Yay! We leave the rest of the packing for later and head out to find our Muster Station!

Up next... Muster Drill and more Cabin photos!

[oncruisecontrol]

More, more, please. I'm really enjoying your review!

[gaylensgigi]

Woohoo,I am loving your review. Destiny holds a special place in my heart,and I love that itinerary.Good score on the cabana,11 is our favorite as well. And I dont know if its because Im always on a ship when I have it,but tha Turkey on a Country Roll is the best thing ever:).Cant wait fofr the rest of your review

[ExcitedCruzer]

Can't wait to read more!

[Sarah@Sea]

Nooo...behind the Fun is on the last day....ugh...I'm starting to think I'm not meant to sleep in on my b-day....lol...I decided to do a spa day rather than Nassau so I could sleep in...heheee...please tell me what time the tour began?

[cuted126]

Enjoying your review!!! Can't wait to read more:)

[tmt218]

Where is Grandpa's? I am wanting to try it after all the talk about it. Yummy! :D:D:D:D

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Nooo...behind the Fun is on the last day....ugh...I'm starting to think I'm not meant to sleep in on my b-day....lol...I decided to do a spa day rather than Nassau so I could sleep in...heheee...please tell me what time the tour began?

 

 

Hi, and Happy (upcoming) Birthday! The BTFT time was written on the tour tickets, which of course we don't have anymore! But, if I remember correctly... we met at the Library at 8:45 am and the tour started at 9 am. So, not too terribly early. Besides... if your port times are the same as ours, by Friday you will be used to waking up early! LOL! (We docked in G/T at 7 am & at HMC at 9 am.)

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Where is Grandpa's? I am wanting to try it after all the talk about it. Yummy! :D:D:D:D

 

Hi! It's just south of the Fort Lauderdale Airport in Dania Beach. We saw it on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives with Guy Fieri and knew we HAD to eat there. We went out of our way to find the place on our next cruise out of FLL, and now we're hooked! Best pancakes in the world, I promise!

 

Check out their web-site at www.grampasbakery.com!

[Fall Cruiser]

Your review is so wonderful it's almost making me cry! I am so excited to sail on the Destiny is October (yes, I realize I still have quite a wait) that I'm beside myself reading this and looking at all your photos. Thanks so much!!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

Your review is so wonderful it's almost making me cry! I am so excited to sail on the Destiny is October (yes, I realize I still have quite a wait) that I'm beside myself reading this and looking at all your photos. Thanks so much!!

 

Awww! Thank you so much! I have been wondering if I was going into too much detail, and if I should shrink the size of the pictures. Thanks to all of the encouragement, I will keep going forward without changing a thing! I should have several more installments posted today... thanks again, everyone!

[As You Wish]

I am loving all the great detail in your review and the photos are perfect, so please don't change a thing :D. Looking forward to more today. Thanks again for sharing.

[SenatorsFan]

We're not sailing Destiny, but I'm loving your review anyway!:) And thanks to you, we will now be trying Grampa's in Aug., either before or after our Liberty cruise as we fly from FLL airport. It looks too yummy.:D I have 2 DS, one 12 and one 17 who are getting very excited. Love your pictures, too; don't change the size.

Heather

[rksmom]

I am loving your review and can't wait for more.:D I'm booking this for 2 of my DDs and myself in Jan 2011. I can't wait. More review please.;)

[done it]

Your review is so wonderful it's almost making me cry! I am so excited to sail on the Destiny is October (yes, I realize I still have quite a wait) that I'm beside myself reading this and looking at all your photos. Thanks so much!!

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

[CruiseVacationQueen]

So, it's now a few minutes past 3:30 pm and we still haven't heard the announcement to proceed to the Muster Drill (err.. now called the "Safety Briefing"). I snap a few pictures of the cabin before we head out...

 

Notice the old-fashioned hairdryer above the toilet and the ashtray above the roll of paper ~ haven't seen those Carnival "touches" in a while! LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

The vanity is generous in size, but has no shelving above and only a narrow ledge below:

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! The shower is the full width of the bathroom! Nice and roomy... with adjustable shower-head, small shelf, soap & shampoo dispenser, clothes line & towel rack:

 

 

 

 

 

Big enough to avoid that dreaded "shower curtain cling" dance!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm standing in the shower for this shot! The clean towels are hanging on a rack attached to the bathroom door:

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another relic from the good 'ole days of sailing on Carnival... when you were allowed to bring "a reasonable amount" of beer onboard:

 

 

 

 

Up next: more cabin photos, then off to Muster Drill!

[kevinwe]

We have never cruised and I am looking at the Destiny for June 2011 for a 4 day cruise to Key West and Cozumel with my wife and 2 sons. Thought about going down early and hitting Disney for a couple days before the cruise. One son will be 2 1/2 and the other will be 6 1/2. We are about your age and I was wondering if you thought this would be a good vacation. Will Kids this age enjoy a cruise and will my wife and i be able to have some fun as well? Your input is greatly appreciated.

[CruiseVacationQueen]

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

Fall Cruiser (and others!), please ignore this post. This poster is not here to add to the community, but rather to detract.

 

Please consider yourself ignored, "done it", and I kindly request you leave this thread. At CC, we share an enthusiasm for cruising and use this forum to share positive messages. Thank you.

 

.

[CruiseVacationQueen]

We have never cruised and I am looking at the Destiny for June 2011 for a 4 day cruise to Key West and Cozumel with my wife and 2 sons. Thought about going down early and hitting Disney for a couple days before the cruise. One son will be 2 1/2 and the other will be 6 1/2. We are about your age and I was wondering if you thought this would be a good vacation. Will Kids this age enjoy a cruise and will my wife and i be able to have some fun as well? Your input is greatly appreciated.

 

YES! At least that is our experience with our son. We have combined a short stay at Disney with our cruises, several times. For us, cruising is a great way to travel with our son. The kid's camp provides DS time to be with peers his age and time for DH & I to spend alone. That makes our family time together even more enjoyable, because everyone is having fun on vacation!

[Frequent Floater]

Great review Leah, looking forward to the rest of the story =)

[katieandaron]

Thanks for posting such a detailed review- great pictures! I still have 9 months before I sail on the Destiny, so I love these reviews! Can't wait to read the rest!

[Maple_Girl]

Loving your review and all the big photos!

[CruiseVacationQueen]

A view of the 3 closets in the hallway, which are right across from the bathroom:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first closet has a clothes bar (hangers included) and one high shelf, which we use to store our laptop. We store our shoes on the closet floor. Not shown in this picture: we hang our "shoe organizer" on the inside of this closet door (the hanging shoe organizer is one of the best tips we found here on CC! We use it to store all the little things that would normally clutter the desk... like medications, vitamins, band-aids, q-tips, deoderant, cologne, perfume, brushes, etc.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second closet has 2 clothes bars and a full-length mirror. All the shirts on the bottom bar are on hangers we brought from home. The rest of the clothes are on Carnival hangers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last closet contains the in-room safe and two shelves. Note the extra duvet... nice touch! We also like that the safe uses a number combo, instead of a credit card. No more hunting for that card!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some posters here on CC have complained about the old TV's on the Destiny... but this one works just fine for us! We do miss not having the navigation channels and the web-cam views available on the modern ships, however. And note: the room folio cannot be viewed from these TV's. Not a big deal... we don't plan on watching much TV, anyway!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The couch is not a true "convertible", but the arms come off and it will be long enough for DS to sleep on. Note the two, plush robes for us to use through-out the cruise:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up next: one more cabin photo, then off to Muster!

[done it]

Fall Cruiser (and others!), please ignore this post. This poster is not here to add to the community, but rather to detract.

 

Please consider yourself ignored, "done it", and I kindly request you leave this thread. At CC, we share an enthusiasm for cruising and use this forum to share positive messages. Thank you.

 

.

why in the world would you single me out for using the "shocked" emoticon in response to that post? It shocked me that someone could be so moved:confused:. Wow! The pics of the bathroom are simply awesome! Thanks for posting. I too, am moved.;)

[tmt218]

Hi! It's just south of the Fort Lauderdale Airport in Dania Beach. We saw it on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives with Guy Fieri and knew we HAD to eat there. We went out of our way to find the place on our next cruise out of FLL, and now we're hooked! Best pancakes in the world, I promise!

 

Check out their web-site at www.grampasbakery.com!

Thanks a bunch. Oh I can't wait to try it. DD loves pancakes and I love french toast. We both love Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.