WE MISSED THE BOAT! A cruisin USA "LONG and LENGTHY" DESTINY Review

[cruisin USA]

prelude

 

　

It was last June when I started to think about what we’d be doing for Mary Ann’s birthday this year. We had traveled on the Destiny for her last birthday, and we had a GREAT time. This year I wanted to make it special for her(it‘s a special birthday), so I looked up the Destiny, and it was leaving on a 5 day cruise starting Sat. Feb 27th(right on Mary Ann’s birthday). Grand Cayman and Jamaica(although in reverse order from last cruise). I thought it’d be great to invite her 2 daughters Jessie and Nicole(ages 22 and 18 respectively) to go with us. Interestingly, Mary Ann had Jess on her birthday, so it would be double celebration! We also invited Jess’s boyfriend Dave to join us. To make it even more special, I proposed that we make this trip a “back to back” cruise for us. That way, we would have the kids with us for 5 days, and then continue on with a 4 day trip for ourselves. The 4 day trip consisted of Key West and Cozumel. This would make it the 3rd time we’ve done each of the 4 ports. I talked it over with Mary Ann and she LOVED the idea. The only hold up was that we didn’t know if Jessie, Nicole, and Dave(hereto refered to as “the kids”). could make it based on their school schedules(Jess is a Senior in her last couple semesters and Nicole is a Freshman).I booked Mary Ann and I for the 9 days, and had to wait till sometime in November to find out the kids had the green light. We booked them on a separate flight(by this time ours was sold out), and booked them a guaranteed balcony cabin for the 3 to share..

 

2 things I didn’t mention….(1)We told the kids that we only booked them a “guaranteed ocean view” cabin(after all, a balcony will guarantee you an ocean view. Right?). Were they going to be surprised when they found out they had a balcony!! And…….(2) I had done some homework on the ships cabins, and booked Mary Ann and I cabin 6373. An Aft Wrap!!!! I told Mary Ann we had a balcony too, and I just didn‘t elaborate. We have always LOVE our balconies, and this definitely would help make this cruise EXTRA special. For Christmas I had bought us all “walkie talkies” and “over the door” shoe holders, as stocking stuffers. I also used the Bon Voyage service department of Carnival to have our room decorated. I also bought the “high seas romance pack“, with Champagne, 2 Champagne glasses, a beach towel, 2 visors, and 2 t shirts. I also ordered us a bottle of Jagermeister(Jager-bombs are our cocktail of choice)after I heard that Miami was tightening up security for people smuggling alcohol aboard. The price was $60.00, but compare that with $6.25 a shot it was DEFINITELY worth it. For the kids..I got the girls “memory boxes”(which they liked), and I purchased 2 photo credits for the 3 of them, and a pack of drink coupons for the 2 over 21. I thought I had it pretty well covered. I was surprised that we could register our information online, and that we could print our documents right off our computer!! Then the news came in about the ship propulsion system, and it not making it’s ports. ANGRY people writing nasty reviews,… 1 particular review did catch my attention. It was from someone who stayed in our cabin. And I quote..

 

 

”There were many problems in the cabin that we booked. There were non working items in the cabin – phone (could not call housekeeping or schedule wake up calls, etc), blow dryer, remote control not to mention on 2 occasions that the bathroom floor of the cabin had flooded due to water leakage from the toilet. Since we were not able to use the non working phone I had to track down any housekeeping personnel I could find to assist with the water and clean up. Of course there are no English speaking people in housekeeping so it was difficult to explain what was needed. Waited for over an hour before any maintenance person came and by that time the leakage had stopped and the water did drain leaving a wet floor. I asked him to send someone to clean and sanitize the floor and again another hour wait which no one showed up. I had to finally take towels to mop up the floor in order to use the bathroom. Again I had to hunt down housekeeping to sanitize the bathroom floor. Went through the same situation as above when the floor flooded again. The last straw was early morning on the final full day at sea when we received a notice that we would not be able to use the balcony from 10:00AM to 1:00PM as they were going to conduct “general cleaning.” Again another inconvenience to the passengers who paid extra for any cabins with balconies. Carnival could have and should have cleaned the balconies early the next day when the ship returned to Port Miami. To do this in the middle of sailing was not acceptable or respectful of their passengers. I have to say that the balcony was my only relaxation during this nightmare of a cruise and I used the balcony every day for long periods of time to read, relax and enjoy the water when we were sailing. I am sorry to say, but because of this cruise on Carnival Destiny, I will look elsewhere if I should decide to take a cruise again and would not recommend Carnival nor schedule another cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines. I felt very disrespected by Carnival and they did not take any measures to accommodate their passengers for inconveniencing them."

 

 

Yikes. Definitely food for thought. About a week and a half before the cruise, I saw that the price of our particular class of cabin had gone down. I tried to apply for our early savers credit online, but ended up having to have our TA do it. Ended up that we had a $120.00 onboard credit for the 1st leg, and a $17.34 one for the second. We were all GEEKED about getting out of Michigan. Although other places in the country have been hit harder by snow. Michigan winters are cold!! After much preparation, we were ready, and chomping at the bit to go.

 

With the scene now set, and the characters introduced, please continue on to read…

 

 

 

 

We Missed the Boat!

 

a cruisin USA "Long and Lengthy" review

 

 

"Delta Blues"

 

Our flight was set for 8:45 am. I had got online the day before, and printed our boarding passes, and paid our baggage fee.($45.00 for 3 bags!!). We headed for the airport early, and arrived at the parking garage around 6:15. Mary Ann and I took the elevator up, and when the doors opened, all we could see was wall to wall people trying to check their baggage. We had traveled this terminal many times when it was Northwest. We had NEVER seen the baggage check in so FULL. I’d say 500 to 600 people waiting, all mad. We got into line. It was moving, but very slowly. I couldn’t believe that they’d only have 5 people checking ALL these people in. They had to know how many people were coming in. We were in line for over an hour, and still only a little over half way there. People were getting really pissed off, and I see that peeps are starting to pay the sky caps to take their luggage. The trio in front of us had their luggage taken, and off they went to security. Didn’t seem fair to me. They started piling up luggage and some of the peeps in a new line. All of the sudden people were jumping out of the 5 lines and over to what they perceived as a new line. The sky cap in charge started yelling at these people like they were children. “Get back in your lines, or you’re going to miss your flights” he scowled as he pointed back to our 5 lines. . How could all these people who jumped out of line try to get back to where they were? I didn’t see ANY even try. Now the woman who is handling OUR line is now over checking in all this baggage that the sky caps are bringing over. Our line is totally stopped for 10-15 minutes as she checks in the other luggage. She comes back to us. We’re about 15th in line, with just a little over a half hour to go before our flight. Mary Ann tells me shes worried about making our flight. I look back at ALL those people. I tell her that with this back up they’ll probably delay the flight. Peeps are still filling in the room, and it’s just as full as when we came in. I see this woman in this group of 4 at the front of the line, at the counter. This terrible expression comes over her face. They end up leaving with their luggage in tow!!! Right after they leave, the same mean sky cap jumps up on something behind the counter. He announces.. “If you’re within a half hour of your flight, you have to go upstairs and rebook”…… You’re kidding me, right? We had a ship to catch. Didn’t matter to them. So people, in droves started heading upstairs. We took the escalator, and wouldn’t you know it stopped with us 3 quarters of the way up, lugging our cruise luggage. When we got upstairs, the place was a madhouse. People everywhere!! It took us a few minutes to find the right place. Counter 77. I remember it well. By the time we got there we were about 150 people back in line.

 

　

The line was filling in behind us, and eventually we couldn’t see the end, as it wound back to past the middle of the huge terminal. At this point, we were pissed, but the real kicker was yet to come. At desk 77, for the hundreds of people in line, was ONE person to take care of all it…..UNBELIEVABLE

 

People in the Front

 

 

Directly behind the Front People

 

 

The Line Wrapped Around and Eventually Came to Us

 

 

The Line(to the left)Kept Growing Behind Us.

 

 

The ONE Person Handling the Whole Problem!!

 

 

I really lost a lot of faith in Delta at this point, and I will debate myself if I will ever use them again. It was one thing about not having enough people to check the luggage, but to only have 1 person to help all these people who got screwed by them, is in my book, inexcusable! There was a woman behind us who had Delta’s number. I called, and was on hold for 10 minutes. When someone came on the line, I started to tell them what happened, and I hear “click”. Are you kidding me?(pt II). I called back and waited another 10 minutes on hold. I looked at the time. Our flight had just left. This time when I came out of hold, the operator stayed with me as I explained our plight. If we could just get to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale by 4 we could still make it. Unfortunately, there were no flights, like that. It was at this point, I realized we wouldn’t make the ship. The only alternative was to try to meet the ship in Jamaica. After a brief hold, the operator came back on the line, and said we could get a flight to Montego Bay the next morning, but all they could do was apply the price of our one way to Ft. Lauderdale to the other tickets, and we’d have to pay the difference. What could I do? I got out my credit card, and set it up. I went back to Mary Ann,(I had to take my phone outside cause I couldn’t hear in the terminal). I told her about having to meet the ship in Jamaica. She hadn’t moved one bit in line. I was so glad we could leave now. We had to get our boarding passes again, and more importantly find a place to stay overnight in Jamaica while we were waiting for the ship. As we left the terminal I couldn’t help but feel bad for all the people who hadn’t/couldn’t resolve their own messed up situations.

We went back to my place of business, booted up the computer, and got the boarding passes. I only had 2 seats to pick from. Aisle seats, one behind the other. At least we weren’t that far apart. Then I googled Ocho Rios hotels, and after checking the Cruise Critic message boards, came up with “Rooms on the Beach” I called the hotel, spoke with a miss Denise Patrick. She was accommodating, but explained that I could only book for 2 nights. Again, I explained our plight. She put me on hold. Came back on, and said that she wouldn’t take my information over the phone, but I could see Kishonee at the front desk, and she would be expecting me. The rates were reasonable, and I thanked her. She asked if I needed to have her send a cab to the airport. I said that would be great. She said that she would send a driver, named Raymond, and that he would have a sign with my name on it. After we got this all together, we were really tired. What a stressfull way to start a trip. We went home and passed out for most of the day. It was Mary Ann’s birthday, and we ended up going to one of our favorite places for dinner. We went to bed early. There was no way in our minds that we would miss this flight too.

When we got to the airport (3 1/2 hours early) the next morning. The elevators opened, and there was hardly any line at all at the baggage check in. We did however have trouble with the manual “swipe your passport” to check in. The lady at the counter had to do it manually. That mean sky cap was nowhere in sight.

Got to our gates. The lady at the gate made an announcement to have our passports in our hands as we boarded the plane. We got into our seats and we were so glad to be on our way!!!

 

 

to be continued......

[halos]

Keep going!!

One question.... You were trying to escape snow????? When was your cruise?

[firefly333]

I'm still waiting to hear if the OP really missed the boat.

[halos]

I'm still waiting to hear if the OP really missed the boat.

They must have...they didn't go back to the airport until the following day...their ship had already left (which brings us to NEVER flying in the same day as your cruise leaves!!! :eek:) They booked the hotel in Jamaica for the night....changed their flight to go there instead of FL.

LOL...or did I read that all wrong???

[trvlqueen]

You lived my nightmare - the only thing that would have made that worse is if they had routed you through San Juan - YIKES! Waiting for the rest of the review!

[cruisin USA]

Hey Halos,

Actually that was 2 questions....hehe. That's ok.



1st. Michigan didn't get too much snow last year. I do remember snow being on the ground when we left, but the roads were clear.



2. The cruise dates were Feb 27th-March 6th 2010



I almost didn't post this review....I know how people are on these boards, and I REALLY didn't need peeps telling me "That's why I pre-cruise blah blah blah". Everyone has their own situation. I was just saving some files off this computer, and found the review. I read it, and decided to post it after all.



Gary aka cruisin USA

[addicted2cruizin]

I am biting my nails in suspense:D

[halos]

Hey Halos,

 

Actually that was 2 questions....hehe. That's ok.

 

1st. Michigan didn't get too much snow last year. I do remember snow being on the ground when we left, but the roads were clear.

 

2. The cruise dates were Feb 27th-March 6th 2010

 

I almost didn't post this review....I know how people are on these boards, and I REALLY didn't need peeps telling me "That's why I pre-cruise blah blah blah". Everyone has their own situation. I was just saving some files off this computer, and found the review. I read it, and decided to post it after all.

 

 

Gary aka cruisin USA

Well, it's REALLY good@!!! I'd love to see the rest of it!

[goodml]

Yikes! That's crazy! Did you fly out of DTW?

[gapearl]

Wow, what a horrible way to start your vacation. I hope everything got better when you got to Jamaica. Keep the review coming.

[cruisin USA]

"Jamaican Me Crazy"

 

Although this was the first time in all the years that we’ve been flying together that we haven’t sat side by side, I think we just both felt lucky to be on the plane. Mary Ann especially liked sitting in front of me so she could put her seat back all the way.(sigh). The flight from Detroit to Jamaica is roughly 3 ½ hours. Of course we got off late. Our scheduled 10:00 am flight got off at 10:20. I can’t remember any recent flights where we got off on time, and weren’t told by the pilot that we were going to “make up some time” so that we’d be close to schedule. Landed in Jamaica at 2:10 pm. It took about 5 minutes for the plane to taxi to the gate. We got off, and were herded(as in no other way to go) to customs. The lines were long!! There were many more people here that were just on our flight. LOTS of peeps!! I took us almost a half an hour to get to our customs officer. She took half our custom form(that they had us fill out on the plane). She took the top half and put the bottom part in each of our passports. We also got a Jamaica stamp!! Pretty cool.. Our 1st stamp in our passports. We then had to go to another line. Everyone got through that one pretty fast. The terminal was bustling with people. Plenty of tour operators right off the plane!! We made our way out to the taxi stands. They have this little fenced in area for the cabbies with peoples names on them. I saw my name!! “Raymond?” “No, I’m Jason mon”. Jason was a nice young man. He went to get his cab while we waited by the curb. We loaded the cab and off we went on the wildest cab ride I’ve ever been on. When I booked the flight I didn’t realize that Montego bay was about 100k from Ocho Rios. As soon as we cleared the airport Jason put the pedal to the medal. He told us we’d be at the hotel around 3:45. Over an hour? (I thought to myself). I saw the speedometer hit 100. Then I realized that it must have been kilometers an hour. That’s sixty. Not so bad, until I see it creeping up to 120. 2 lane roads!! Every time that we came up to a slower car, he’d honk his horn, and pass. The landscape almost blurred by. Plenty of farmland, with lots of goats, horses, and cows. The landscape was beautiful. I would have tried to take pictures, but we were going so fast. We’d see these huge, lush green hills to the right of us, and the ocean paralleling us on the left. Jason was playing very “American’ reggae music. Songs that we would know like “Red, Red Wine” “I Shot the Sheriff” I know there was some Bob Marley and Shaggy songs too as we sped along. Lots of people on the road along the way. There were bus stops along the way that we saw people using. There were some spots where he had to slow down, but for most of the trip it was FULL BORE. Scared both Mary Ann and myself, We were SOOOOO glad when we pulled up to the hotel. $120.00 for the cab ride!!! I paid him and gave him a $20.00 tip. Off he went.

 

 

“Rooms on the Beach” was right on beach at Ocho Rios. We could see both piers, right there. We went to check in. There was Kishonee, just as Denise had said. I told her that I spoke with Denise. “Oh, you’re Gary….” Yes I said. She knew that we’d come in to meet our ship. She was very nice, and we had our room keys within 5 minutes. The hotel was only 3 levels(no elevators). We were on the second level. I felt sorry for the bus man who had to lug our luggage up those stairs. One really nice thing was that you needed a room key to access the stairway.

 

 

The View from our Room

 

A nice hotel, right on the beach at Ocho Rios! We got to our room. No sense in unpacking, but we did freshen up a bit. The room was clean, and accommodating. The TV was satellite set up. We had finished freshening up, when I found the US vs. Can hockey game. We tuned in just as the U.S. scored in the last minute to tie it up, and send it to overtime. Mary Ann knows what a fan I am, and graciously let me see the finish. The U.S. did lose, but it was a hard fought game on both sides.

 

 

The Beach Overlooking the Pier at "Rooms on the Beach"

 

 

We walked around the grounds, and beach. There’s a little hotel bar right out by the beach. It was here that we settled for awhile. We ordered a couple of Red Stripes, and just sat there enjoying the scenery, the weather, and the other peeps at the bar. For those in the know, they ordered a bottle of Appleton Dark Rum. A whole bottle was $7.95(U.S). They would give people glasses, and a plastic bottle that looked like Mountain Dew, but was called “Ting”. I stuck with Red Stripe, and Mary Ann told the bartender she wanted something “fruity”.

Needless to say, people at this bar were pretty messed up. There was this gal who’d met the guy she was with online. He lived in Jamaica, she was visiting. I don’t think it worked out. Cause he left her at the bar s**tfaced. (We later saw him walking around alone, and her even later looking like she was looking for him) We also met Ben. Ben, we found out had been married in Jamaica a year before. Turns out that they were on the Destiny on the same cruise as us. We talked a bit, about that cruise and talked about our situation. What were the odds that we’d meet up with someone in Jamaica exactly one year after we’d been on the same ship together. Especially since we weren’t even supposed to be there. Small world, huh? The hotel bar began to clear out. After talking to Ben, we felt that we could venture off the grounds.

It was after nightfall as we walked over to the gate area. I thought to myself that they could put a huge tower in the grassy area we walked through.

We walked past the gate. There were people walking around, and some people just standing around. It was here that we kept getting approached. The people of Jamaica are persistant. Everyone here has an angle to make money. They approach you and act like you’re they’re best friend. They want to know where you’re from. If you walk away they will walk with you. They want to know if you want drugs, or a tour, or a taxi. I’m just not a big Jamaica fan I guess. But we did hit a bar downtown, and struck up a conversation with this English couple. I could understand her, but I had trouble understanding him. She would translate. We both complained about the way our governments were running both our countries. They were very nice, but it was getting late and we had to get back to the hotel. By the time we got back the bartender was playing Uno with the few guest that were left at the bar. We had one more walk by the beach. It was dark. We were approached again. “Won’t these people every stop?” I thought to myself.

We went back to the room, and turned in knowing we had to get up early, and finally join up with the rest of the party.

 

 

 

to be continued.....

[RoadTripFanatic]

ACK!!! I've been there done that! We missed a connecting flight the day of the cruise. Missed the boat. Thank you so much to the fog/computer delays that morning!

[StrangeBrew]

Well, it's REALLY good@!!! I'd love to see the rest of it!

 

I agree , Sorry that occurred to you guys , it is my worst nightmare as well , we are flying in day of departure as well , do to my not being able to get off till then and only allowing 7 days then bck to work the next day after return .

 

I will read the rest tomm , bedtime , work comes early .

[rokinrobin105]

I'm biteing my nails too!

[poptart]

Gary,

you tell a great story. Enjoying the read and the pictures. Glad you found it and decided to post it.

[rokinrobin105]

good grif I hope your still typing

[Tangocherie]

OK. Now don't keep us hanging there. POST!

[1timecruiser]

I'm going on the Carnival Destiny in November and have been looking for more reviews of her. I've read the few that have been written as of late, but tonight I've gotten lucky it seems. I'm enjoying this one thoroughly and can't wait to see your pictures. I understand the delay in posting a review...it can be very time-consuming and once you debark the cruise ship, you tend to get an overwhelming case of "cruise depression" or am I the only one that suffers from this?? :rolleyes:

[3redheads]

I must say you have a good attitude. I would be so stressed out if I ran into problems and had to fly to a port. Can't wait for the rest! Keep it coming!

[cruisin USA]

"Our Ship Comes In!"

 

 

 

We had talked to a few of the locals. They said that the Destiny usually comes in around 7 am. We figured that we’d try to meet the ship around 8:30 so that we’d at least be in line by 9:00 when they start letting people off. We couldn’t see the pier from our room. I called down to the desk to get a cab. The lady said that the ship wasn’t in yet, but she’d have the cab there when it was. We went down to the beach. Sure enough. No ship.

We just hung out on the beach for awhile. Then Mary Ann says “There it is”. It was coming in from the right side, around a bend, still quite far. I had to take some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is pretty rare I guess. Literally, “Seeing your ship come in”. We had FINALLY caught up, and we were going to get on HERE. The ship got closer, and closer. We went back to the room to get our stuff. We had our walkie talkies, and we all had agreed to the same privacy code channels. I had tried to call the kids earlier with no luck. We heard the squawk of the walkie talkie. I hit the button….“Hello”. A voice from the other walkie talkie asked “Mary Ann?….I replied “No, but close”. We had contact. I remember Mary Ann’s daughter saying “Hurry to the dock”. By this time our phone rang. The ship was in, and the driver was here. A short ride to the pier.

 

 

 

 

 

To get in we had to explain the situation to the Customs lady at the gate, showed her our fun pass, and our passports. We got through, got the luggage unloaded, and made our way to the customs building. The Customs lady was nice, especially after hearing about us missing the ship. We were ok’d to go through. It was here where I saw a lot of luggage and people who also appeared to have missed the ship. As luck would have it. We put our luggage nearest the pier, and were soon told we could get aboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost There!!

 

 

We were the second out of about 20 people onto the ship. The lower corridor was FILLED with people ready to leave. The people getting off were all quite mad. The ladies at the front of the line asked why they couldn’t get off. The steward that was sent to accompany us told them that they were giving the people who were boarding priority. The ladies were really mad, saying that they could have waited an hour before coming down. The place was a madhouse with NO ONE leaving. We had to leave our luggage, but I was soooo glad to hit the elevator, and get out of there. We went up to deck 3, where the info/guest desk is. It didn’t take very long to get our sail and sign account. They said that they needed to keep our passports. I didn’t like that, but by now I just wanted to start our vacation. We got to the room. Mary Ann and I went out to the balcony. Totally cool, but a note on the bed said we couldn’t use the balcony till after 12:30 pm(sigh).

 

 

It didn’t matter. We had a waterfall to conquer. We did a quick change that we’d packed in our carry on luggage. Even remembered the watershoes! We made our way back to deck 0. By this time the line wasn’t very long, and we right off onto the pier. As we hit the pier, we hear our walkie talkies. It’s Dave. He’s telling us that they’ve got a spot saved for us on the bus, but we’d better hurry. We passed quite a few people walking on the pier. Most understood as I explained we had a excursion to catch. We made it to the customs office in record time. They only had one wristband left. I had got it, since I ran to check us in. They gave Mary Ann a signed ticket, and told her she could exchange it at our 1st stop.

Directly our of the customs building I see Dave waiting for us in front of the bus. We scurry, climb aboard the bus, and finally we’re all together, and on VACATION!!!

 

 

to be continued...........

[TNM]

Wow reading about your Delta plight stressed me out...can't wait to read the rest and I hope it goes smooth from here on..

[dotheyes]

waiting to hear more

[IMSAILING]

I feel your pain - we missed our boat a couple of years ago thanks to American Airlines and their "mechanical" issues. Our only problem was the next port was Half Moon Cay and we could not fly in there :(. Spent a few days in St. Thomas and met the boat there - made the best of a bad situation but it was a stressful beginning to the trip.

 

Can't wait to read the rest !

[bettysuetraveler]

i have been holding my breathe with suspence and apprehension. :o. i cannot even imagine how you felt in the moment of all this. loving this review.

[MacBrokefoot]

So I don't know if I missed it or it wasn't mentioned, but what happens with Carnival. Do you have to notify them that you will be meeting the ship at a certain port or what?