Destiny Halloween Cruise Review

[samrothstein]

Myself and my DF took our first ever cruise on the Carnival Destiny sailing October 31st – November 5th. We had the awesome itinerary of Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.

 

Here is a link to all the pictures I uploaded. I'll sprinkle a few throughout the review as well.

http://Http://www.djjgriffin.com/cruise/cruise.html

 

Travel day:

 

We departed Chicago O'Hare around 800pm on Sunday the 30th on United. Fairly uneventful arrival and departure from the airport. We did online check in and prepaid for our one checked bag. I highly recommend doing this, as it saved a lot of time waiting at the check-in counter. We arrived in Miami close around 1am, and took a taxi to La Quinta Miami Airport East. Something I didn't know about the taxi's in Miami, is that only “Blue” cabs go in short local runs, and “Yellow” cabs go further out to the city and elsewhere. The hotel was nothing special, but it was clean, the staff was friendly and the bagels in the lobby for breakfast were good. We booked it for free using reward points through work. Would book again for same purposes. I also called ahead in the morning to get our name on the list for the 10am shuttle to the port. Luckily they allowed me to do this, as I doubt we could have gotten on the early shuttle when we arrived at 1am!

 

Embarkation Day:

 

We woke up around 830 to enjoy the free continental breakfast, which was kind of crowded, but it only took about 5 minutes to grab some bagels and head back to the room. After rearranging items in our bags, we had a speedy checkout, and were one of the first people waiting to get on the shuttle. After a brief issue with the original bus that showed up, the replacement bus came and everyone got on board. The shuttle service was really quite efficient, and speedy. We arrived at the port about 1030, dropped of our bags to the porters, and headed in. We got Zone 2 boarding cards, hit the kiosks, grabbed our S&S cards and began the wait in the terminal. We probably got on board around 11/1115, headed to the lido and grabbed a seat. We enjoyed lunch on deck overlooking the city, and relaxed and watched people file into the area. The weather this morning wasn't great, but it was still much warmer than back home in Chicago! After eating and relaxing, we went to explore the ship, and enjoy the warm drizzling weather!

We went to our room at 115, and were happy to see it was ready, with all of our luggage waiting for us! We had balcony room 7315, Starboard side, and really loved it. You've all seen pictures of the rooms and balcony's, so don't expect them here ;)

After some quick freshening up, and unpacking, it was time for the muster drill, which I won't bore you with. After muster it was back up to the Lido deck to grab a lounger, and a DOD!

It was quite nice relaxing on deck listening to the band and watching everyone enjoy themselves. It was also nice watching land melt away in the distance.

[samrothstein]

Embarkation Day continued:

That evening we went to the Welcome Aboard Show, which was really quite fun. The CD Noonan was very fun and entertaining throughout the entire cruise. Here's a bad picture of the Palladium Lounge with some Halloween Decorations.

After the show we stopped back in our room to change and freshen up for dinner, and found our first towel animal!

We had Your Time Dining in the Deck 4 Galaxy room. Our Head Waitress Monica was very friendly, and took great care of us. We sat with her every night, and had single table for two either along the rail overlooking the lower dining room, or along the wall. This was great for us as we prefer to have a nice quiet dinner and enjoy each others company. We aren't anti -social though! ;) After a wonderful dinner we wandered the ship some more, and ended up in Apollo Piano Bar for some sing long time. Had a delicious “The Cruiser” in there, and the DF even got up and helped out an impromput “Rockettes” dance line!

http://djjgriffin.com/Cruise/Day1-28.jpg/img]

We wandered the ship a bit more, and then headed to sleep after a fun, but long first day on the ship.

[samrothstein]

Day at Sea:

 

We slept in a bit, and headed up to the Lido for a great breakfast before going to the “Fun Ashore & Fun Aboard” Show at 1030am. It was a fun and informative show, even more so for people who've never been on cruise critic before! Afterwards we went to find a hot tub to relax in, but they were all still cold, or luke warm at best! So we laid out by the adults only hot tubs/pool area, and swam a bit. Note: only the two hot tubs all the way at the rear of the Lido deck are “adults only”. The pool is open for all ages. We did see security ask several kids to exit the hot tubs though. It was much more peaceful and relaxing back here than at the mid-ship pools where everyone was partying. We had lunch in the MDR today, and it was pretty good. The only item of the entire cruise neither of us liked was the fish that DF got this day. It was the Pan Fried Fillet of King Clip Nicoise. There was a trivia game at some point that we went to, and had a great time at, even though I only got 15/20 right. We watched the ice carving demonstration, and was shocked when it was an Indian Head. DF decided to take a nap, and I went to find the “secret” doors. All the way forward on decks 6 & 7, on either side of the ship, is a door that leads outside to the very front of the ship. It's very serene up here with no people, no music, no distractions. The view is quite spectacular.

After a little more time exploring, and a few minutes in the casino it was time to get ready for formal night in the MDR. Before that, we enjoyed a stunning sunset from the balcony.

One quick surprise for my lady before we headed to dinner, a proposal on the balcony! She thankfully said yes, and wanted to show off her new bling :p

We enjoyed a great dinner that night. We had the prime rib and lobster of course. The full and happy couple:

When dinner was over we wandered around and avoided the photographers, and eventually made our way to Palladium for Voila Paris. The show was pretty good, and all the dancers and singers performed very well. In preparation for an early docking time at Grand Turk, we called it a night and hit the bed early. A elephant greated us in the room!

[samrothstein]

Grand Turk:

 

We woke up around 6am and headed up for a big breakfast in the buffet. We zipped through, headed back to the room and got ourselves ready for this beautiful island! Getting off the ship was a breeze, and soon we were out in the morning sun, and walking along the beach.

We wandered around the port area for a bit, then took a taxi to Bohio Dive Resort for snorkeling. The drive there was a bit depressing as it passed through some impoverished areas. It made me feel good about spending my money locally and doing a small part to help the economy there. The resort is small, but nicely maintained and right along the water. Somehow my camera never made it into my hand when we were at the resort, so no pictures to show you. The reason we went with Bohio is from the reviews on this site, and the fact that it's a smaller operation than the other operators mentioned. When we arrived at the resort, a worker there advised us to pay for the trip, $40p/p for a 1 hour snorkel along “the wall”, and that the boat would leave soon. I paid, got our masks, snorkels and fins, and we relaxed on the beach, and did a little snorkeling from the shore. Maybe 20 minutes later it was time to get in the boat and head out. A nice young couple from Mexico joined us, and we all had a great time snorkeling. The view under the water was magnificent, I believe we were in the area known as “the library”, and the drop off from 25 to 7,000 feet was breathtaking. Mind you, earlier that morning when we got off the ship was the first time my feet had ever been in the ocean, and here I was snorkeling along a 7,000 foot drop! The tour operator tossed in some bread crumbs to get the fish near the boat, and the moment DF put her foot in the water a curious fish decided to get a taste, which freaked her out at first. Being that it was my first time snorkeling, I was the last one out of the water, and earned myself a prize

Back at the resort, I had a fantastic Bahama Mama (or whatever it was called there, can't remember), and we shared a taxi back to Jacks Shack with a nice Canadian couple we met earlier that morning. I'm terribly bad with names, so if you're reading this, it was nice meeting you guys! When we got to Jack's Shack it wasn't busy at all, which we loved, and Jack and Janet and Topher were all very nice and friendly. I ordered a Rum Punch and Jerk Chicken, DF ordered a hot dog and sprite (she's not much a drinker and can't do spicy food). Apparently we arrived in the midst of a rolling brown out, but luckily the drinks and chicken didn't require electricity to make! The jerk chicken was delicious, as was the Bahama Mama. We lounged there for a while, and took turns jumping in the beautiful water. I grabbed a Turks Head beer, and a beer coozie ($5) and we slowly headed back to the ship. I believe our total bill at Jacks was $35, which beats the hell out of the prices at the resort, and Margarittaville. It probably took is 30-45 minutes to walk back, but we took our time and I couldn't stay out of the water! We wandered through Margarittaville when we got to that end of the beach, and jumped in the pool for few minutes to check it out. The flowrider looked fun, but also looked like my neck wouldn't have survived! It wasn't as “wild” and out of control party atmosphere as I expected, but overall we had an older more relaxed crowed on the ship. At least that's the impression I had.

We finally made our way back to the ship

and said good bye to Grand Turk

http://djjgriffin.com/Cruise/GrandTurk026.jpg[/img]

[samrothstein]

Grand Turk continued:

 

We headed up to our rooms to shower and change, then grabbed a bite to eat in the Lido. After some snacks we took a nap to recharge after a fun busy day in port. Both DF and I work in the casino industry, so we wanted to try our hand at the blackjack tournament. I placed first in my round with $6,000 in chips, but when we went back before the final table, I was knocked out by people with $13,000 or more! Tonight was the opening of the Punchliner Comedy Club, which we were very excited about.

There were 2 comedians doing a total 5 shows tonight, and we saw 3 of them. The two comedians were Carl Rimi, and Carl Strong. The first act we caught was the all ages show for Carl Strong, and we were both left gasping for air cause we laughed so hard. We had dinner in the MDR, then went to the Game of Love Show which was really really fun. Then we caught the adults only show for Carl Strong, and even though it was a lot of the same jokes from earlier, with more adult language, we still laughed very hard. He was very good at keeping the crowd into it and had a great energy the entire night. We hung out in the piano bar for some more sing alongs before the final act of the night, Carl Rimi. I won't say that he sucked, but I only laughed a few times. The audience seemed more nervous about the performance than anything. He had a few fairly funny jokes, but overall it was a so-so show. The midnight Mexican Buffet was in full swing by the time the show let out, and we got some munchies and headed to sleep.

[samrothstein]

Half Moon Cay:

 

We were up early again and enjoyed another breakfast in the buffet. Back to the room to get our things together for the beach, and off to the Palladium to get our tender ticket. I saw someone comment that the process was long and unorganized, but we had no problem with it, and got group 2 tendering, which put us on the first boat out! Half Moon Cay really lived up to the hype, and we both fell in love with the place.

We trekked down the beach and claimed a spot between cabanas 9 and 10, which was right near restrooms, and pretty close to the food pavilion. I relaxed in a hammock for a bit, while DF relaxed in the sun.

Not much to write about for HMC, as we just relaxed on the beach. Rather DF relaxed on the beach, and I played in the beautiful water all day. The lunch from the pavilion was good, I had more jerk chicken, which was very tasty. On the way back to our beach spot we stopped at the Captain Morgan Rocks pirate ship bare and got some HMC exclusive drinks which were both very good.

DF pulled her chair up into the shade and took a nap, and I strolled the walking trails and explored more of the island. It truly is an island paradise, and mostly unspoiled by humans.

We headed back towards the ship around 330, and waited about 20-30 minutes in line to get on a tender. It wasn't that bad of a wait, as the people around us were friendly and chatty. In all, the tender process was very smooth and easy, and it was neat riding up to the giant Destiny in what would normally be considered a decent sized boat.

Back on ship we, of course, grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to the room to shower and refresh. It was there we discovered that we forgot to apply sunscreen to the backs of DF's legs, and she was quite red! My lower back was also pretty red from snorkeling the day before, as were the tops of my feet! I had to wait an hour before the gift shop was open, so we showered and napped. I was prepared to pay a bit for some aloe gel, but $14.50 was a bit much! Oh well, live and learn and pay a lot for what you need I suppose! Even if it was $25 I would have got it. We took it easy this evening, due to our burning bodies (lol), and had a quiet dinner in the MDR and went to the Game Show Mania in the Palladium. The show ran a bit long, so we ended up missing out on the trivia game, but oh well. There wasn't much else we wanted to do on the ship this evening, so bedtime came early.

[samrothstein]

Nassau:

 

We had the Carnival Fantasy and Sensation as well as the Disney Dream in port with us. The Disney ship was very pretty, and I loved the little details I could see from outside of the ship.

This was the morning of the Behind the Fun tour, which I was excited to do, and DF slept in. The tour was $55 p/p, and lasted about 3 hours. It was very fun and informative, and our guide, Chris, kept it entertaining and moved right along. We checked out the laundry room, galley, store rooms, crew cafeteria, back stage in the Palladium, the engine control room, deck 5 forward where the extra anchor is stored/crew recreation deck, and the bridge. I was impressed with every area we went to, especially the engine control room. I have no photos to share, as no cameras or cellphones are allowed – they actually wand you with a metal detector to make sure you don't have anything on you before the tour starts!

After the tour is when our day in Nassau started turning sour. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, and by the time we got off the ship into the port, it was pushing 1pm. My original plan was to take the jitney to the Sheraton on cable beach and para-sail.

So we walked around the port area for a bit, making our way to the pickup location for Jitney #10, hopped on and immediately notice the parking lot, I mean traffic headed back towards the port area. At this point we knew time was an issue, as it was already 1:30, so we decided to jump off the jitney at Fish Fry, and walk back to the port. Yes, we actually walked back faster than the traffic was moving. Once back at the port, we took a water taxi to paradise island to see about finding a para-sailing operator there. My frustration level was growing by the minute, as I knew it was going to be inevitable that the one thing we both wanted to do it Nassau wasn't going to happen. By the time we got to Paradise island, it was 230, and we had no luck in finding what we sought., so we took the water taxi back to port area, and as we got off the boat, we saw a smaller speed boat pulling in with big letters saying “PARASAIL TOURS” on the side. I was so frustrated at this point, knowing I could have asked around and found this operator, all I wanted was a stiff drink! Sharkeez was the best sounding option, Senior Frogs looked way too crowded for my mood at this point, but when I got the drink menu, there wasn't anything that sounded appealing. I'm sure it was just my frustration at the overall situation, so don't take this as a bad review of Sharkeez, I'm sure it would have been nice under normal circumstances. So we headed back to the ship, and stopped at the atrium bar. I had a Thirsty Frog Red, which was delicious, and DF had a pina colada, and we headed to the room to watch the pier runners.

I know we left at least once person behind, because as we were about 5 feet away from the dock, a golf cart came racing around the corner, and a girl jumped out and started running towards the ship waving her arms like crazy. As they said in the Fun Ashore show, I hope she had a credit card and a camera! On our way out of the harbor, we passed the Carnival Dream, which apparently was diverted there due to a medical emergency.

Tonight was the show Nightclub Express in the Palladium, which was very entertaining. We headed to the MDR after the show for our final meal with Monica. It was also the second night for the Punchliner Comedy Club. After seeing 3 shows on the previously, we decided we only wanted to see the final show for Carl Strong, as he said he would have different material for this show. We were not let down at all, as Mr. Strong was as hilarious as we expected, and used about 80% different material from the other two shows we saw of his. After the show we had one last late night snack before heading back to the room to pack and get ready to say good bye.

 

Disembarkation in Miami:

 

Woke up early to watch as we pulled into the port, and it was cool to see the city all lit up.

We headed up and had our final breakfast in the buffet, returned to our room and gathered all of our things. After a final farewell to our cabin steward, “Tattoo”, who was great to us the entire cruise, we headed down to deck 5 and lounged outside of the casino until about 930 before we finally made our way off the ship. After waiting a short while in the taxi cue, we were off to the airport to await our 2pm flight. Hey, better a late flight and wait, than an early flight and miss it! For some reason the United counter at MIA decided it would be a good idea to not open until 10am, so there was quite a long line by the time we got there around 1030. Even though we were already checked in, and prepaid for our checked bag, we still had to wait, which I supposed was no big deal since we had time to kill. After what seemed an eternity waiting in, we dropped off our bag, and headed to wait in line at security. Once we cleared security we were hungry again, but the only options for food in the terminal were unappealing cold sandwiches, so we went BACK out of security and found a Chili's to sit and eat it. Cut to a few hours later and we're back home in chilly Chicago.

 

All in all we both had a great time on the ship, and would cruise again. The overall experience was very fun, and relaxing. There was always something to do on the ship, and if you were bored, it wasn't for lack of something going on! I was a little nervous about the lines in the buffet, but the longest we waited was when we got back in from HMC, and even then it was only a few minutes. Overall the food was great, and we had food from everywhere except room service, and MDR breakfast. As mentioned previously, the only thing neither of us liked was the Filet of King Clip Nicoise, and not because it was prepared badly, it just wasn't something we liked. I didn't take any food porn, but I'll try to recall what we had each night. We usually had 2 or 3 appetizers a piece that we shared, an entree and desert.

1st night: beef and barley soup, cream of garden fresh broccoli, caesar salad, lasagna bolognese (starter portion), pan seared fillet of tilapia, grilled marinated pork steak. Both the soups were pretty good, the lasagna was very good, DF said her fish was great, and the pork steak was fantastic. WCMC for desert was awesome.

2nd night: greek farmer salad, black tiger shrimp cocktail, west indian pumpkin soup, spicy alligator fritters, spinach and artichoke dip, duet of broiled main lobster and shrimp, prime rib au jus, bitter and blanc, banana gateau. The pumpkin soup was outstanding, the fritters was decent, shrimp cocktail wasn't great. The lobster and prime rib were both fantastic, and the deserts was amazing. The banana gateau was actually one of our favorites.

3rd night: fried shrimp, old fashioned chicken noodle soup, casear salad, spinach and artichoke dip, broiled fillet of mahi mahi, jerked pork loin, tiramisu, WCMC. The jerked pork loin was off the chain, and the tiramisu was great as well.

4th night: chicken tenders marinated in thai spices, lobster bisque, corn chowder maryland, penne siciliana(starter), chateaubriand with sauce bearnaise, bacon mac n' cheese, grand marnier souffle, WCMC. The lobster bisque had a very strong brandy taste to it, but the corn chowder was great. Chateaubriand and BMC was great as well. The chicken tenders were also fantastic.

5th night: crab cake x2, wild mushroom cream soup, vipe ripe beefsteak tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella, gratinated onion soup, casaer salad, penne mariscos (starter), grilled fillet of norwegian salmon, veal parmigiana, meatloaf with gravy, amaretto cake, WCMC, cheese plate. Pretty much everything this night was fantastic, except the meatloaf, which was just ok. The onion soup might have been one of the best onion soups I've had!

I also had a cappuccino most nights after dinner, which was always very good.

 

That's about as much as I can recall from the trip, if you have any questions about anything else, please ask!

[matondo]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. Congratulations on your engagement!!!

[samrothstein]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. Congratulations on your engagement!!!

 

Thanks!

[imluvncruzn]

Congrats on your engagement! We love the Destiny and will be sailing on her again for the 4th time in May!

[samrothstein]

We also took two aluminum water bottles with us that we kept filled with water and tea/Lemonade. We took them off the ship each day, and security never once looked at them when we came back on. The water on the ship was good, and I saw no need to ever wonder about bottled water. The tea and lemonade when mixed together was quite good as well, but the guava/passionfruit/orange juice they had for breakfast was very delicious!

[gapearl]

Nice review! Congratulations on the engagement!

[LBumb]

great job

[smitty89]

We arrived in Miami close around 1am, and took a taxi to La Quinta Miami Airport East. Something I didn't know about the taxi's in Miami, is that only “Blue” cabs go in short local runs, and “Yellow” cabs go further out to the city and elsewhere. The hotel was nothing special, but it was clean, the staff was friendly and the bagels in the lobby for breakfast were good. We booked it for free using reward points through work. Would book again for same purposes. I also called ahead in the morning to get our name on the list for the 10am shuttle to the port. Luckily they allowed me to do this, as I doubt we could have gotten on the early shuttle when we arrived at 1am!

 

Can you tell me how large the shuttles were? We are staying at the Airport East next weekend and are planning on using the shuttles to get our group of 7 to the port. I just want to be sure that all of us will be able to fit (luggage and all) on the same shuttle.

 

Thanks for the great review!!

[luv cruising 007]

fun review thanx! Great pics as well, brings back my memories of the same cruise! congrats on your engagement!

[swimmom32]

Thank you for your great review..Congrats on your Engagement...:) We were on the Destiny Last December for our 1st Family Cruise and had a Blast :) Would Def sail on her again..We have a Picture with Carl Strong OMG he was beyond Hysterical to the point we almost Peed our pants...lol

 

the family show of his was good too the kids enjoyed it...

[re-re]

Enjoying the review,Congrats on the Engagement,You guys take a lot of naps to have just gotten Engaged,Hmmm,lol.:D

[samrothstein]

Can you tell me how large the shuttles were? We are staying at the Airport East next weekend and are planning on using the shuttles to get our group of 7 to the port. I just want to be sure that all of us will be able to fit (luggage and all) on the same shuttle.

 

Thanks for the great review!!

 

they were big coach/tour bus sized, so maybe 50 people or so, with tons of storage space below for all your baggage. When you get on the bus, they separate everyone into which ship they are going to, so your luggage is also separated into individual compartments as well. it was very smooth and easy. the company that does the shuttle also offers rides from the port to the airport, but I forget how much it was. The taxi from the port to the airport was $25, which I think was cheaper than the price of the shuttle.

[samrothstein]

Enjoying the review,Congrats on the Engagement,You guys take a lot of naps to have just gotten Engaged,Hmmm,lol.:D

 

lol, trust me, after the sunburn in HMC, the naps were strictly naps! lol!

[smitty89]

they were big coach/tour bus sized, so maybe 50 people or so, with tons of storage space below for all your baggage. When you get on the bus, they separate everyone into which ship they are going to, so your luggage is also separated into individual compartments as well. it was very smooth and easy. the company that does the shuttle also offers rides from the port to the airport, but I forget how much it was. The taxi from the port to the airport was $25, which I think was cheaper than the price of the shuttle.

 

THANKS!! I really appreciate the info and congrats on your engagement also!

[samrothstein]

THANKS!! I really appreciate the info and congrats on your engagement also!

 

No problem. Thanks, and hope you enjoy your cruise!

[Isasprings]

I'm glad you had a great cruise.This was the first time I get sea sick :(

Gt and HMC were very good....I'm ready to cruise again on Carnival:) but not the Destiny.Congrats on your engagement.

[tandemcruzr]

for your review. Looks like you guys had fun, except for Nassau. :mad: Also, congrats on the engagement. We are celebrating our 41st Anniversary on the Dream later this month.

 

Hope to get to HMC and Grand Turk someday. :D

[samrothstein]

I'm glad you had a great cruise.This was the first time I get sea sick :(

Gt and HMC were very good....I'm ready to cruise again on Carnival:) but not the Destiny.Congrats on your engagement.

 

Yea, the boat was rolling a good bit, at what seemed to us newbies as a good bit, pretty much every night! I was able to put it out of my head and not be bothered by it, but DF took bonine most nights, and we both took ginger pills daily.

 

for your review. Looks like you guys had fun, except for Nassau. :mad: Also, congrats on the engagement. We are celebrating our 41st Anniversary on the Dream later this month.

 

Hope to get to HMC and Grand Turk someday. :D

 

HMC and GT are totally beautiful beaches, you'll love them both for sure! As far as Nassau goes, by the time we got to the atrium bar and I had a few sips of my Thirsty Frog, the day was back to being good!

[iloveparadise]

Thanks for the great review...I have a much better idea of what the Destiny is like...it will be our first cruise on this ship. Looking forward to it this New Year's Eve!!