Carnival Destiny Sept. 3 Cruise Review with Pictures

[cdillon23]

Ok, so I have been reading cruise reviews for months. Different ships, companies, etc and I love the picture reviews people do. So here is my attempt at doing so. I will admit, this is a daunting task, one I debated on whether I should do. What's the worse thing that can happen though? I don't finish it? No biggie so lets give it a shot.

 

First a little about us. This cruise included myself (35), my DW (35) and my two children, DD (12) and DS (10). We decided since they would only miss four days of school because of Labor Day that we could make this happen. Also with us were our friends of similar age and their three children, daughter -16, and two sons 10 and 7. This is their first cruise. My wife and I have been on 4 cruises now, first was Big Red Boat, second was Carnival Celebration and third was Legend of the Seas (RCI).

 

We did the 5 night cruise from Miami on the Carnival Destiny going to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau.

[camper49]

Can't wait to read your review!!

[cdillon23]

We left for the cruise on Sunday Sept. 2. We live close to Muncie, In so we flew from Indy. A crappy thing happened on the way to the airport. I got pulled over and got a ticket for speeding. There goes $131. My fault but made an interesting start to our trip.

 

We flew from Indy to Charlotte. You wouldn't think this would be to crazy but it kind of was because of the DNC. After a hour or so layover we flew to Fort Lauderdale. When we landed and got our luggage we called SAS Transport to pick us up. I had reserved with them before we left. They were very prompt at picking us up. Cost for a trip to our hotel was $60. The driver was very, very helpful so I tipped him $10. Our friends who were going on the trip drove to Miami, yes, all 22 hours.

 

We had reservations at the Intercontinental in Miami. We got it through Last Minute Travel for $130. When we got there we decided to upgrade to a bay for for $20 more. Here are some pictures of the room.

 

First thing you see when you walk in the room.

 

Closet in the bathroom

 

Shower with two shower heads

 

Bathroom Sink

 

The View!

 

DS enjoying the view, he loved to sit on in the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cdillon23]

Now, about the hotel. I don't know if we would stay there again. It was expensive and for a pre cruise hotel maybe a bit more expensive then I would like to spend next time. I will admit though, waking up to this view was pretty cool!

 

 

Carnival Destiny waiting for us!

 

 

[cuted126]

Great start to your review! Yikes at that $131 ticket:eek:

[hockeyluver]

so far so good :D looking forward to the rest of your review, we will be doing this itinerary on the Victory.

[cdillon23]

The day of the cruise our friends who had driven to Miami picked us up at our hotel. We stuffed all 9 of us into their mini van and headed for the port. Thankfully it was not to far.

 

 

Our first view of the ship when we got to the port.

 

Here is another bad thing that happened on our trip. I guess when my DS got out of the van he had his back pack and decided to give it to a porter to have it taken to the ship. I did not know he did this but before he have it to the porter he took out his iPod touch and checked the time and then put it back. When his bag got to our room the zipper of the pocket that the iPod was in was opened and no iPod was there. I am not going to say someone stole it but it does seem this to be the case. This is a good reminder that if you have something like this keep it with you.

 

Embarkation was very simple. We had one passport (mine) and the rest were birth certificates. No issues at all. Total time to get on the ship was about 45 minutes from when we arrived at the port. Not bad at all.

 

 

 

My beautiful wife!

 

First step into the atrium!

[golfb4cruzing]

We are on her for Halloween. I'm ready for your review and pics. Thanks

[cdillon23]

Can't wait to read your review!!

 

Thanks!

 

Great start to your review! Yikes at that $131 ticket:eek:

 

Yeah, I was pretty ticked at myself. Thankfully I have to the end of Oct. to pay it.

 

so far so good :D looking forward to the rest of your review, we will be doing this itinerary on the Victory.

 

We say the Victory in Miami when we got back into town. This really is not a bad itinerary at all.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Nice job ....

[cdillon23]

Here are some pictures of the ship I took.

 

Atrium Bar

 

Atrium Looking Up

 

Atrium Looking Down

 

Big Screen on the Lido Deck. Notice the black square? Hard to watch movies with this. They did fix it by the end of the cruise but then it was a peach square.

 

Pool at the back of the ship. 24 hour ice cream and pizza was here also.

 

Lido Deck

[cuted126]

We left for the cruise on Sunday Sept. 2. We live close to Muncie, In so we flew from Indy. A crappy thing happened on the way to the airport. I got pulled over and got a ticket for speeding. There goes $131. My fault but made an interesting start to our trip.

 

We flew from Indy to Charlotte. You wouldn't think this would be to crazy but it kind of was because of the DNC. After a hour or so layover we flew to Fort Lauderdale. When we landed and got our luggage we called SAS Transport to pick us up. I had reserved with them before we left. They were very prompt at picking us up. Cost for a trip to our hotel was $60. The driver was very, very helpful so I tipped him $10. Our friends who were going on the trip drove to Miami, yes, all 22 hours.

 

We had reservations at the Intercontinental in Miami. We got it through Last Minute Travel for $130. When we got there we decided to upgrade to a bay for for $20 more. Here are some pictures of the room.

 

First thing you see when you walk in the room.

 

Closet in the bathroom

 

Shower with two shower heads

 

Bathroom Sink

 

The View!

 

DS enjoying the view, he loved to sit on in the window.

 

So,when you guys reserved the room with LMT,it was just a standard room? Did you guys call the number or just reserved online? Thanks in advance!

[cdillon23]

Palladium Theater

 

Casino is on the right. This is the main hall on Deck 5. Lots of traffic here. Many times between meals in the evening this hall was so crowded it was hard to get around. I think Carnival needs to do a little better job at this.

 

Coffee Shop on Deck 5

 

Night Club on Deck 5

 

Apollo Bar on Deck 5

 

Universe Dining Room on Deck 5

 

I missed getting a picture of the Criterion Lounge on deck 5 and the Onyx room on Deck 4. My casino pictures did not turn out to well.

Edited September 10, 2012 by cdillon23

[cdillon23]

So,when you guys reserved the room with LMT,it was just a standard room? Did you guys call the number or just reserved online? Thanks in advance!

 

I did it all online and it was a standard room then. We upgraded at the hotel when checking in to get the bay view.

[Crusin Karen]

Thanks for sharing! Destiny was our lst CCL cruise way back in 1998, so she holds a special place in my heart! :) Course, I probably wouldn't recognize her today with all the upgrades in the meantime. :p:rolleyes: Can't wait to read the rest.

[BarJen]

thanks for posting! :)

 

 

Barry

[smjlt]

Great review! Looking forward to the rest. We cruised on the Destiny in August and had a Wonderful time. We Loved the Destiny!

[MrsJoshuaRanoni]

Looking forward to the rest of your review...cruising on the Destiny in 12 days!

[caro1998]

Looking forward to the rest of your review! I went on the Destiny last month and enjoyed every minute :)

[Elmo31]

I cant wait ......please tell me more. We will be on her for halloween doing the same route and then we are staying on for an adittional 5 more days doing different ports. I cannot wait. Your review is making more excited if that's even possible. Great review so far

[cdillon23]

Ok, back to the review. After we got on the boat we went up to the Lido deck to have lunch. I could not believe how busy it was. He had a very difficult time getting a table and the lines for the buffet had 20 minute waits on them. I figure this is natural on the first day so didn't worry about it to much. The food was good. My son got his first slices of pizza and was in heaven. I got a burger and hot dog from the grill and it was very good. The food from the buffet was good just very crowded.

 

Son getting his first slices of pizza. The Camp Carnival coordinator told the kids their muster station bracelets were tickets for all you could eat pizza and ice cream.

 

After lunch we were able to head to our room. We had a balcony cabin on deck 7. Room number 7257. I read somewhere that the cabins on the Destiny were a little bigger than the industry standard. This is hard for me to believe after seeing the cabin. It seemed really small. We had about a 6' x 5' space in the middle of the cabin to stand in and get ready in. There were a number of times my son and I would leave and do other things while my wife and daughter got ready. The last ship we were on was the Legend of the Seas and we had a ocean view cabin. It seemed a little bigger. The room was adequate and we loved the balcony but it was a bit on the small size we felt.

 

Cabin from entrance

 

Beds for my kids

 

On the balcony

 

Lots of luggage to still get on board.

Edited September 11, 2012 by cdillon23

[cdillon23]

After we got saw our room it was time for our Muster Drill. The drill was very easy. Took about 20 minutes which is good because it was extremely hot. After Muster it was time for sail away.

 

They had the Destiny Show band out playing on the Lido deck, they had some sound problems so they did not play long. We stood at the rail and watched as we left the Port of Miami. Here are some sail away pictures.

 

We passed the Carnival Imagination

 

And the Norwegian Sky.

 

Accident on the road the follows the channel. I wonder if this happens often as people stare at the ships leaving.

 

DS enjoying a Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri

 

Two families enjoying Sail away

 

South Beach

 

[cdillon23]

A few more pictures during Sail Away.

 

Famous Whale Tale

 

We're on VACATION!

 

Neat picture my wife took looking back at the port. That is the Imagination heading out behind us.

 

Line Dancing!

[purplekisses]

Great review so far. Can't wait for the rest. My family and I will be on the Destiny for Halloween.

[skphotography99]

Can't wait to read more! My mom and I will be sailing her in January and are very excited. Seeing your post just adds to the excitement!