Our date with Destiny 9-17-24-06 (long)

[dsnygrl]

We returned on Sunday from our trip aboard the Destiny. This is a long detailed account of my trip and I will post it in parts to make it easier to read. After months of reading bad reviews of this ship on these boards I was very nervous in our decision to sail on her. I would have to say the biggest problem I ended up seeing on her was a general lack of organization. I thought the ship looked very good considering her age and the amount of abuse she takes each week from passengers. I found the employees on the ship to be extremely friendly and helpful. We had perfect weather on the trip and made it to all ports as scheduled. We were in a balcony cabin on deck 8 and I was thrilled that we had NO problems at all with out air. This was my biggest fear. We are a family of 4 in one cabin and that would have made for a really bad trip had there been a problem. My last Carnival cruise was this same time last year on the Miracle. We loved that ship but the food and the service were so bad (just goes to show it can happen on any ship) that we were very hesitant to sail Carnival again. I went in to this trip with an open mind (a challenge for me) and low expectations. I am happy to report that despite a few problems here and there, I loved my trip.

[dsnygrl]

We left Atlanta bright and early Sunday morning and with a cancelled flight and a lay over in Miami arrived at the airport a little after 3. We claimed our luggage and went outside to get a cab. We thought the process they have worked fine and we were on line no more than 5 minutes. When we arrived at the port we were overwhelmed by what we saw.There was a sea of people in front of us all dragging large piles of luggage and looking really lost. This is the first place more organization would help. There was no way to see up front to the terminal and there was a small attempt by some people to form a line. We joined the line part and waited our turn. This was all outside in the sun and I could see that in warmer months this could be miserable. This process took us to the first check point to enter the terminal area. Here it funnels down to a single file entrance where you have to show your tickets or funpass and ID to proceed. There were no ropes up or signs telling of this until you got right up there so most people had to stop and dig through there stuff to get out what was needed thus causing the delay. From there you walk down the long terminal where there is another long line to check your luggage. When we saw this line and a porter passing seconds later we grabbed him and he loaded up our bags. From there you finally proceed into the terminal building. We watched our luggage being loaded on the belt as we went up the escalator to the check in area. The first thing you find up here is the obligatory boarding photo station. After they take your picture it was on to the huge line to check in. If you have priority boarding the line was to the far left and moved right through with no wait. For those WITH OUT a funpass the line was to the far right and had maybe 50 people in it. For funpass holders it was in the middle and that line had about 500 people in it. It took a little over an hour to reach the check in desk. I was traveling with my 12 year old DD whose father was not with us. I had my notarized letter from him with permission for her to go but I was not asked for it. Last year on the Miracle I WAS though. After you check in it is then on to another line to pass through security. There are only 2 machines and it still amazes me how confused some people are when it comes to moving through this area. It was these people that slowed it all down. From there you head back outside and towards the ship. You are stopped again here to get your pictures taken for the sign and sail cards. The whole process from cab arrival to stepping on the ship took about 2 hours. When we entered the ship the Camp Carnival people were there handing out activity sheets to the kids but there was no one there to direct you to your cabins so we went it alone.

[dsnygrl]

By the time we reached our room it was getting close to the time we had been assigned for dinner so we decided to just hang out there and relax. Our travel agent sent us a gift of the fresh baked cookies and we sucked those down pretty quickly. We were in balcony room #8176. The room was very similar to the one we had on the Miracle but it seemed to actually have more storage space. The room was very clean and the only real signs of wear I saw were some chips of paint missing from the top bunk. The most important thing of the whole trip was that the air was working perfectly and did so for the entire trip. The bathroom was clean with no mold and no smells. The shower was huge and we had lots of scalding hot water all week. Our room steward was efficient and we were never out of towels or ice. I only had to ask for something once during the trip and that was our past guest pins. I knew they had been handed out because we passed bags of them on carts when we went to dinner. We came back to our room and our invitations to the past guest party were on the bed but no pins. I called him and less than 5 minutes later they were in my hand. Speaking of the past guest party it was held in the Palladium lounge on Wednesday night (Barbados). It was advertised in the Capers too. At the party invitations were collected at the door and they drew one from the pile which they gave gave a bottle of champagne to the winner who was called up on stage and then had a picture taken with the senior officers. Our room was was quiet and I only occasionally heard people walking down the halls at night. Now there was one cabin on our floor that was having a good time and if you breathed to deep while passing it, you could almost get buzzed. They were quiet though.

[dsnygrl]

Most of the bad things I heard about this place were actually pretty right on. The lines here are out of control. I only ever saw 2 people at a time working the desk at a time. It looked like most people tried to form a line on the left had side but that left the right side open and others walked right up and ignored the line. The problems here could be so much easier if they would just add a rope and a cue line. This would help to show people where to go.

[dsnygrl]

This was another area of mass confusion. I would like to think that after week after week of sailing they should be able to get this right. We arrived to dinner at the time and dining room that were were assigned to at check in to yet another sea of people. We thought that maybe the doors had not opened yet and that was causing the delay. The crowd started to shrink little by little and then when we were about 10 people from the front of the line they made an announcement that the dining room was full. We thought they were kidding, why on earth would they give out more cards with times to eat then the amount of seats they had in the romeo. We were then told to follow them to the other dining room. This took us up the stairs, through the full dining room, down a hall, in to the top floor of the second dining room and down another flight of stairs. There we were finally seated.

[dsnygrl]

I must say that we were so disappointed with the poor service and poor food quality on the Miracle (my SO actually lost 7 pounds on that trip) that we feared what would happen when we came to dinner the second night. Our wait staff blew us away. From the first 5 minutes we met until the goodbye husgs and pictures on the last night they were everything they were supposed to be and more. I will also say that ALL the servers I saw in the area where we were seated all seemed happy and eager to please. They played with all the children in the area even if it was not their table.They all seemed to get along with the other servers and helped each other out. It was a real show of teamwork. My DS turned 5 on this trip and we allowed him to bring his gameboy to dinner each night to keep him occupied. Not only did our servers stop to watch him play and tease him about his games, but servers from other tables came over too. When we would go to lunch or breakfast in the dining room on other days, not only did our servers come over and say hello but the other servers came over addressed my son by name and asked about his gameboy too. There were times where we would go during the day with out one or both of the kids and the servers remembered us and asked where the children were. I personally do not like the songs and games in the dining room at night but I must say the servers I saw that were part of the group performing all were smiling and happy and really seemed to enjoy themselves. I have still had better food on other ships but this was a vast improvement over what we had last time. We had the 5:45 seating and were always done and on our way before 7. We never missed an activity due to the service. Everything was also served hot and fresh. This was the first ship I have been on with such an informal dress code in the dining room. Most everyone did dress for the 2 formal nights but all the other nights were listed in the Capers as resort casual. Only one night did they print no shorts. Some still did dress up on these nights but many people were in shorts and jeans.

[dsnygrl]

I like most people who I think choose this ship choose it for the ports. It's a lot to see. It is also tough traveling all day on Sunday and then jumping into ports first thing Monday morning with out a day to get used to the ship but it was well worth it. I booked all the excursions we did on my own. I googled a lot and read all the port boards here for ideas. I will give a review of each activity in the ports of call board soon. All the excursions went exactly as booked much to the surprise of my SO. We had to choose activities to please 2 adults, a 12 year old and a 5 year old. In St. Thomas we went to Coral World and my daughter and I did the swim with the sharks they offer. Then we all enjoyed the beach that was right next door. We took cereal from the ship as I had read on the boards. The children cupped it in their hands and put it underwater. In seconds there were hundreds of amazing, colorful fish all around us. We attracted a nice crowd of people around too trying to figure out why all the fish were coming to us. In Dominica which was my favorite port and the one I most would love to go back to we did the Canopy Adventure Challenge with the Wacky Rollers. Folks if you are not in at least decent shape, this is not for you. My DD and I made it through fine but my SO had to be lowered down at the half way point. In Barbados we did the Atlantis Submarine and in Aruba we did the taste of Aruba snorkel and sail on the Mi Dushi.

[dsnygrl]

Both my kids have done Camp Carnival in the past and loved it. It is a little different on this ship because there are a lot of children that do not speak English. Due to the time of year we went there were not as many children on this sailing either. Most of the kids I saw were preschool age. My DS had no problems with the language gap. He is an avid watcher of Dora the Explorer and occasionally blurts out words in Spanish anyway so it was no big deal to him. It was actually very cool to see 2 children who did not speak the same language communicate in universal kid speak and actions. It should be a real lesson for everyone. It was harder on this trip for my 12 year old. The program is less structured for 12 year olds and Camp Carnival is not the place they hang out, less kids also seemed to participate. She ended up spending most of her time with some kids that were a year or 2 younger than her. Here is a story that really impressed me. We were surprised to read the activity list for her age group to see that there were activities listed for them on the first night. She decided after a long day or traveling that she wanted to go and meet some of the kids early. I was on my way to the meet and greet we had planned for the folks from here on CC and I took her to the meeting spot. Just an FYI we choose to meet at 10:30 after the muster drill in the Library. I thought it was the perfect spot. We had the whole room to ourselves, it was quiet and there were places to sit and chat and get to know each other. Back to the story. When we arrived we met a counselor named Jackie. I talked with her for a few minutes and she told me there were 70 kids in this age group on the ship and she was sure more kids would show up soon. I left and went to meet my fellow CC's. Two hours later my daughter returned to the cabin. I asked her if she made any friends and she said no. I asked her why and she told me she was the only one that showed up. I then asked her where had she been for the last few hours and she told me that Jackie sat with her, they talked, played games and went for ice cream. I was so impressed. I know they have the option to cancel an activity due to lack of participation but this girl stayed and hung out with my kid. For the rest of the week she would look for her on the ship, tell her about the activities that were going on that day and encourage her to come. She went out of her way to include my DD in everything she could.

[dsnygrl]

The first night there are no real shows. They do have music in the lounges, the Camp Carnival orientation and the sail away party after the muster drill. Like I said the CC members had our meet and greet at 10:30 in the library. They were a great group of people and I look forward to keeping in touch. We go to a lot of concerts, plays and shows so entertainment is a tough category for us to rate. We are pretty jaded here. At this point with all the shows I have seen on ships, you have to be really outstanding at magic or comedy or juggling to impress me so I may not be the best judge on this. The welcome aboard show was entertaining and I really enjoyed the CD Steve Kinsley. He is younger then most other CD's I have sailed with and was a little naughty at times which we though was refreshing. I thought the male and female singers were both very good as well as the dancers. There were 2 different comedians that performed on the ship. One I thought was good, the other I would call fair. The juggler was actually pretty good and was way funnier we thought then one of the comedians. I liked the night club express production show but did not like the second one called formidable. If I had anything better to do I would have walked out on the magician. There were better acts on TV this summer on Americas got talent. We saw half of the show by the guy from the Platters but were so tired we decided to leave. We missed the Destiny Idol show, that was held the night we were in Aruba. If you are not a drinker and do not want to be bothered by drink servers you may want to try the balcony area. There is a little problem with the way the rails are placed but we always found a seat and were not bothered up there. We are not big drinkers or dancers so we visited the lounges for only a few minutes at a time to check out what was going on and then moved on. On 2 nights we did go to the Criterion Lounge to listen the the infamous Salsa music and watch the couples dance. It was beautiful to see the passion and expression. This was the ONLY place I heard SALSA music on the ship. I know there are people who say they heard nothing but salsa music on this boat but I guess that all depends where you hang out. I know there is at least one poster who will argue this but you are not me but if you were not standing next to me then you did not hear what I heard. The piped in music I heard on the decks and in the Sun and Sea resturaunt was a blend of music but the main theme was 80's bands. In the Pallidium Lounge the music they piped in there was current top 40 pop. By the casino there was a singer who sang everything from Frank Sinatra to Madonna. The times I was out by the pool and the live band was playing I heard Calypso. One time I was at the pool and there was piped in music palying that I am not sure what to call it. It was not Rap as I know it, nor Salsa or pop by my definition I could not sing along but it did not offend or bother me either.

[dsnygrl]

The casino was fun and sounded like there were many machine paying out. I am pretty cheap so if I can sit at a slot machine and play for over an hour on 20 bucks then I've had a great night out. Gotta love the 2 cent and 5 cent machines. I actually got board of playing before I ran out of money. In the 7 days we were actually down about 10 bucks total. The first night for fun we put a dollar in the 2 cent machine and hit for 19 bucks. Nice pay out considering we placed a 6 cent bet. The casino was very smokymost times I was there. It seemed like there were a lot of people who just sat there to smoke. Many were sitting at machines and not even playing just smoking. I found the over all temperature of the ship to be comfortable. There were a few spots where you could feel a change in the air but it was not an area I was spending time in and at no time was I too hot or too cold. I found most of the halls and other areas on the ship to be clean and taken care of but there is some carpet on the lower decks that you pass on the way to exit the ship at ports that is in serious need of repair. It had water stains like it was flooded all down the hall. There were also several spots on the floor here that felt soft underfoot when you stepped on them.

[dsnygrl]

This was the worst part of the trip. I do not think it was the ship that was to blame I think that was a problem with customs. This is the first time I have left a ship and had to go to an actual customs window like they have for international arriving passengers at the airport. All other times I have gotten off a ship all I had to do was hand over my form and maybe answer a question about it. We woke up at 7:30. The night before we put out a room service card for it to arrive between 7:45 and 8. All week room service had been right on. This day it took 3 phone calls to them and they arrived 45 minutes late. Our steward starting checking out cabin to see if we had left yet at 8. He came back every 15 minutes so we finally left the room at 9. We then hung out in the hall and stairways waiting for our color to be called. Finally at 11:30 they called us to come to the Palludium lounge. Here you take a seat, watch Americas funniest home videos playing on the big screen and wait some more. When we were seated we overheard a conversation on the crew walkie talkies that said there were still 1,000 passengers on the ship. 1,000 at 11:30 that was crazy. Customs was only taking people in groups of 50 at a time. They took us 1 row at a time. We were finally off the ship at 12:30. At the customs desk you are asked to show either your passport or your birth certificates so make sure they are easy to get to and do not pack them in your checked bags. After getting our luggage we once again made our way out of the terminal and into the crowd. We came out just as a taxi was unloading a passenger who was just coming to the ship. We asked him what we needed to do to get a taxi since we did not see any signs directing us where to go. He looked around and said get in quickly. He scooped up our bags and we were off like a flash. I am not sure this was supposed to be how we were to get a cab but it worked. We arrived at the airport and for once on the trip were had no line to worry about. From there we sat and waited for our 3:30 flight.

[dsnygrl]

There were good parts and a few bad too but I must say that I really liked this ship. She has a different feel much less formal than other ships I have been on. I found it exciting to be in such a diverse environment. I found most people to be polite and well behaved. Its amazing that just smiling at someone and saying hello as you get on the elevator can create a positive environment for everyone. I ran into more rude people this week at my local Mc Donalds than the whole week on the ship. I also thought all the people I met on the islands were very friendly and not as pushy as other places I have been. I've been on ships that are bigger and newer and ships that were older and smaller than this ship and I thought she looked great for her age and the sheer amount of traffic she sees each week. No matter what ship you are on things can be good and bad. Some people are bothered by things that do not bother other people. We got lucky. The problems we encountered were minor and we did not let it spoil what we waited so long to enjoy. I thought the employees on this boat were some of the friendliest I have ever encountered on any ship. The ports were amazing and I really enjoy the excursions I chose. We did decided that we would much rather drive to a port than to fly to one again but that is the only reason I would hesitate to sail the Destiny again. I read all the boards for months prior to this trip and tried to cover many of the points that were of concern for some people. My experience may have been totally different than someone else who was in the cabin down the hall but I though it was time to actually point out some positive things about this ship that I saw on my trip. If there are any questions I can help with I will do my best to answer them for you.

[caribbean dreams]

I am so happy you had a wonderful vacation on the Destiny!!

I have always like the ship and the itenerary is outstanding.

Thanks for the great review.

[pholter]

dsnygrl- So happy you had a great time!! And glad you gave the Destiny a try after your bad experiences on the Miracle, too. I just skimmed your review, but will read more once I get to work today for the fond memories. Thanks so much for posting :) :)

[SAL396]

Thanks for the Excellent review, we are a large group sailing in Feb. Feel a lot better about the ship now.

[KelliKevin]

thank-you

I can't wait to go!

[marshabear]

thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

we sail in 2 weeks!!

 

not doubting the other reviews but this goes to show you will get different experiences based on who sails with you....there are all types of people and it can make or break a cruise experience!!

 

so happy your trip was wonderful..hope ours is too!! :)

 

Marsha

[rxralph]

Dysnygrl: we also were on the September 17th sailing, cabin 8328. Our experiences mirrored yours. You failed to mention that our co-passengers were an eclectic mix, well groomed and behaving exemplary.

we enjoyed the cruise so much that we are booked for September 2007 again.

rxralph

[serene56]

but this goes to show you will get different experiences based on who sails with you....there are all types of people and it can make or break a cruise experience!!:)Marsha

 

 

Great review.. and I agree with Marsha.. Different sailings will give two people a different experience. A cruise is what you make it to be and if you can get by the rough spots-- the rest of the cruise will be better for it. If you focus on one thing (like only salsa music being playing everywhere it can break the cruise the rest of the week.)

[dsnygrl]

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed my review, I worked really hard on it.. RxRalph, thanks to you for agreeing with my about the boat and yes you are correct about the mix of people. I too though everyone was well behaved and I can not say that I saw anything that I had not seen on any other ship or just around my home town.

[Loftguys]

dsnygrl : great review........just cant wait to get on this sunday! we fly out of ATL tomorrow morning to San Juan to relax and get ready for a wonderful week!

 

thx again!

[dsnygrl]

Serene, I have been reading your posts ever since I joined cruise critic. It never stops amazing me the wealth of knowlege you have and your ability to answer any question. When we booked the Destiny and I saw that you were going on the trip prior to ours I was very excited. I followed your progress and your posts as your excitement built leading up to your trip and I was right there with you. The first thing I did Monday morning when I got on the computer was to come to cruise critic and find your review I knew you would have posted. I was very sad to read that the trip was not as fabulous as you had hoped. It seems that all the areas that worked well for you, did not for us and vica versa. You did seem to have a good trip in spite of the bad though and for that I am happy. I look forward to reading more posts from you in the future.

[dsnygrl]

Loftguys, have fun, relax and don't sweat the small stuff.

[tnsail]

Thanks for the great review dsnygrl, as I have said before we have a date with Destiny in May '07. I'm womdering if I can wait that long. May have to find a short cruise just to tie us over. ;o)

[wwakla]

Thanks for the great review! Sounds like you didn't sweat the small stuff.

 

I am really getting excited now!!!!!