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Destiny Review - 01/28/07

letscruisegd

By letscruisegd,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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letscruisegd

letscruisegd

Posted
Posted

This was the third cruise my sister and I took together and we had a great time. This was my 10th and I must admit I enjoyed the platinum perks.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the port around 2:00 and there were no lines at all. We were onboard within about 10 minutes. Even if I didn’t use the VIP boarding, we would have gotten on the ship within the same amount of time.

 

The ship: I read a lot of negative reviews about the condition of the Destiny and I didn’t see any of the issues I read in the negative reviews. The ship was clean and I didn’t experience any bad smells anywhere on the ship at any time during my cruise. We had a room on the lido deck and I love that location. It was great being that close to all of the lido activities. The tables in the lido restaurant were cleaned quickly so we never had a problem finding a clean table. It seems like we always saw someone cleaning throughout our cruise. We didn’t have an issue with the air not working in our room. Actually it was too cold. We had the vent closed almost completely and it was still too cold. Actually, it was cold all over that ship.

 

The staff: Our room steward Anca kept the room spotless. She was so sweet and she talked with my sister and I each time she would see us in the hallway. When I had not used the free laundry service by day 3 of the cruise, she came to me and encouraged me to use it since I earned it. Every staff person I came in contact with was extremely polite and friendly. As we passed room stewards they would always speak and ask us how we’re doing. The dining room team was also extremely polite as well and always identified us by name. I never came across a rude staff or crew member throughout our cruise.

 

Food: Overall, the food was good. The only time I noticed long lines in the buffet was on sea day. The food was typical buffet food. Some good and some not so good. The deli as well as the Chinese food was good. I tried one of the minute steaks at the grill and it was okay. I usually got an omelet for breakfast and it was good. Some days there were pancakes on the buffet and other days they had french toast. I didn’t try either; just noticed they were there. Always had dinner in the dining room (Galaxy - 8:30) and I was pleased with my meal all except one night. It seems like they just had an off night or something because on that particular night, no one at our table appeared to be too pleased with their meal. I believe it was on Wednesday night. I had a chicken dish and it looked overcooked but when I cut into it, it wasn’t quite done. Needless to say I didn’t eat it. My sister had a beef dish and she said hers wasn’t appetizing either. Other than that night, the food in the dining room was quite good. The service was a little slow but I think it’s because the servers had too many tables to take care of. The entertainment by the dining room staff was enjoyable. I know some people don’t like their meals interrupted by singing and dancing but I’m one of the people who enjoy it. One night the dining room entertainment looked a little like a strip club. When a couple of the waiters got on the platform to dance, 2 of our table mates proceeded to give them cash for their dancing skills. This was the night the conga line was going through the dining room and the line stopped when money started being put in the waiters’ pockets. Needless to say, there were a lot of women shaking in front of the dancing waiters after our tablemates started giving out cash.

 

Ports of call: We made plans ahead of time for St. Thomas, Dominica and St. Lucia. Carnival got over on us in St. Thomas. We booked the Five Star St. John catamaran excursion and we were not informed ahead of time that we would not be going to St. John. We were not told until we were passing St. John that we would not be going there due to the water being too choppy. They instead took us to a place called Secret Harbor (I think that’s the name of the place) and I was not impressed. I always heard so many wonderful things about St. John and Trunk Bay and that’s what I paid for. I feel Carnival should have informed us before we left the ship that the plans had changed. I booked this online prior to leaving for the cruise. If I book a Carnival excursion again, I’ll make sure I find out before I leave for the excursion that I’ll get what I paid for. We booked with Beno for our time in Dominica and we had a blast. Beno wasn’t able to meet us so he sent someone else. At first I was a little leery because he said people will say they are working with him just to steal his business but the guy had my personal info I sent Beno and a letter from him stating he was away on a personal emergency. In Barbados, we took a taxi and got a tour for $25 per person. The tour was about 3 hours and we were please with our decision. We had a personal tour planned for St. Lucia. A friend of mine has family there so his brother picked us up at the pier and took us all over St. Lucia. We spent about 6 hours with him and it was great. By the time we got to Antigua we were tired and just shopped close to the pier.

 

Fellow passengers: There didn’t appear a large number of local travelers on this cruise. The diversity of the passengers didn’t appear to be much different that the diversity I’ve seen on any other cruise. I didn’t find the announcements in Spanish to be a problem. We experienced a few rude fellow passengers who didn’t feel they needed to wait in line if they just wanted one or 2 items from the buffet. They would just get in front of us without saying excuse me or anything. Other than that, we didn’t have any issues at all. My sister and I are really fun and friendly people so most everyone we came in contact with were friendly with us as well.

 

Debarkation: We were given the luggage tags for priority debarkation for platinum guest however we overslept and missed the meeting time. We ere supposed to meet at 8:00 am but we got there around 8:15 and they were already gone. We were able to debark with the color that was being called at the time we got on the lobby deck. We had to wait in the show lounge (watched America’s funniest videos while waiting). This was the most organized debarkation I have ever experienced. We were off the ship within 15 to 20 minutes of arriving in the lounge. Since we had the VIP luggage tags, our luggage was pretty easy to find.

 

Overall: We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation and I wouldn’t hesitate to sail the Destiny again in the future.

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sunrise2

sunrise2

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Thank you for your review. Where are sailing on 2/18/07. We have also scheduled to tour with Beno and I was so happy to see that you mentioned him in your review. We are so looking forward to this vacation and it is great to start seeing good reviews after so many negative ones. Sound like you had a great time!

 

Thank you for taking out the time to share!

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letscruisegd

letscruisegd

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Everyone is quite welcome. I know how much I like to read information about a cruise before I leave so I like to return the favor by posting a review after my cruise.

 

Just intersted in which cabin you had, and which side of the ship. I am looking for which side is dockside in port.

Thanks,

Ted

I was in room 9153 which is an inside room. I wanted a balcony but my sister didn't. Since she's the oldest, I gave in to what she wanted :) (this time).

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RPhCruiser

RPhCruiser

Posted
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Thank you for the review!

I actually booked this cruise in December as a surprise b-day for my daughter.

Then I started reading reviews, and to be honest, I was getting a tad bit worried:

Old ship, bad design, poor food quality, rude passengers...etc.

I wondered, had I made a poor decision (especially since friends are joining us, and this will be there first cruise experience)?

But really, is there such thing as a bad cruise? And besides, this cruise is about the islands and their beaches (plus, we've never been to Dominica and St.Lucia).

Positive reviews just reinforces that, no, I had not made a poor decision.

 

Thanks again!!!

and I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise!!!

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juankzas

juankzas

Posted
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What is the tour with Beno?

 

This is the response I got from Beno:

 

"Normally I offer what is refered t as the best of Dominica the trafalgar falls/emerald pool which also includes the lush green rainforest,the plantation areas,the ever popular Mr.Nice's fruits stand for sampling of the Island's tasty fresh fruits as well as to be entertained by Mr.Nice himself,the panoramic view of the city at Morne Bruce for lovely photos and the botanical gardens in addition to lots of wonderful scenery on the way to these sites.

This tour can take up to 4-5 hours and cost $40pp group price plus a site pass fees of $2.00pp per site,to be paid at 2 sites.if for some reason you'd want or prefer to do thos tour privately for a couple this will $160,3-$200, 4-5 persons $220 and 6 persons $300 plus the site pass fees.

Awaitng you speedy and favourable response.

Kind regards.

Beno."

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NanaJulie

NanaJulie

Posted
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Thank you so much for your review. I am sailing on Destiny March 4th and was considering cancelling because of all the bad reviews. Actually I tried to cancel but Carnival said my reasons were not good enough so we just figured we would go and probably never cruise again. This review make me feel a lot better. This is my first cruise and I am now looking forward to the it again;) Does any one know if the Balconies (8B) have bathrobes. I heard the better cabins have them but I don't know what consitutes a better cabin.

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BCfan

BCfan

Posted
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Thank you so much for your review. I am sailing on Destiny March 4th and was considering cancelling because of all the bad reviews. Actually I tried to cancel but Carnival said my reasons were not good enough so we just figured we would go and probably never cruise again. This review make me feel a lot better. This is my first cruise and I am now looking forward to the it again;) Does any one know if the Balconies (8B) have bathrobes. I heard the better cabins have them but I don't know what consitutes a better cabin.

 

 

yes, bathrobes are in the balcony cabins.

 

They are also for sale, but only on the ship.

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cruisecrzy

cruisecrzy

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Can you tell us what you saw during your tour of St. Lucia with your friend? I am trying to decide what to do there. We love the water and snorkeling, but I dowant to see some of the island too. We just don't want to spend hours on a tour.

 

Thanks for the review

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cruisecrzy

cruisecrzy

Posted
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Can you tell us what you saw during your tour of St. Lucia with your friend? I am trying to decide what to do there. We love the water and snorkeling, but I dowant to see some of the island too. We just don't want to spend hours on a tour.

 

Thanks for the review

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letscruisegd

letscruisegd

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yay! thanks for the report! you didn't happen to save your capers, did ya? we future destiny-ers are DYING to see them from the new itin and haven't found them yet.

Yes, I saved my capers. Someone has already posted a link to them on the big Destiny thread.

 

Can you tell us what you saw during your tour of St. Lucia with your friend? I am trying to decide what to do there. We love the water and snorkeling, but I dowant to see some of the island too. We just don't want to spend hours on a tour.Thanks for the review

We saw so much I can't begin to remember everything:o. We went to the botanical gardens where you can take a mineral bath if that's something that interest you. I didn't get into the bath this time but I did on a previous trip to St. Lucia and it was wonderful. We also stopped at one of the falls (I have no idea of the name). We went to the drive-in volcano and sulfur springs. If you go there brace yourself for the smell:eek:. We spent a little time in the fishing village in Soufriere and of course we saw the Pitons. We stopped in a lot of areas on the way up to these various locations to take photos. Based on where you choose to go your tour can very easily take hours because some of the places are not exactly close to where the ship docks. The island is beautiful so hopefully you'll be able to find a tour that won't take up too much of your time.

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SouthernCaribbean

SouthernCaribbean

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Embarkation: We arrived at the port around 2:00 and there were no lines at all. We were onboard within about 10 minutes. Even if I didn’t use the VIP boarding, we would have gotten on the ship within the same amount of time.

I have also sailed on her 3x, I think I might take your advice and arrive around 1:30-2pm. Glad you had a great cruise! Cant wait until its my turn:D

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