Robert Mac Donald

Age: 35
Occupation: Sale Professional
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Destiny
Sailing Date: February 16th, 2003
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean

I was a bit leery about booking on Carnival Destiny after reading some of these reviews. I must say , they were a bit frightening to say the least! In a few quick words , great job Carnival!! We loved the entire experience!

San Juan - This port is where our dream vacation started. We had decided to come down a day early , due to not wanting to miss the boat due to airline mis-haps. We stayed at the Days Inn Lagoon , and all in all , not a bad choice. A bit pricey , but hey who cared at this time of the vacation. We went out on Saturday afternoon , walked on the warm sand and in the warm water in February. This was great , white sand , not white snow! After the walking and a very bit of looking at shops , we headed back to our hotel for a quiet evening , had a few beers around the pool and just relaxed. We checked out at 11 am and headed to the pier to board.

Embarkation- I will tell you this , I never in all my life have seen such a set up. Carnival has this embarkation down to a pure science. We had walked on the pier at approx 11:30 am or so and I swear to god , we were through the sign in and had our precious “sign and sail” card in our hands no later than 12:30 pm. After we surrendered our passports (non US citizen) we had a bartender offering us “drink of the day”. We were told a few times that our rooms may not be ready and this was fine. We were off to tour this floating palace.

The Destiny - WOW! I was so impressed with the size and cleanliness and all the crew saying “Good afternoon sir/madame” Welcome aboard! This is really something that only seeing this ship in person could possibly explain.

Day 1 (St Thomas) - We , agreed , with the other couple traveling with us (Jason/Sheila) that we would do our own shore tours. Well , where do I start with St Thomas. We took a “shuttle” down town , with approx 8-10 others from the ship to do some famous shopping/sight seeing. When we got to town , it seemed all the shops did not open till 10 or 10:30. We went down at approx 8:30 - 9:00. All in all a very beautiful place to see. When the shops started opening , we started shopping. It seemed to be , as we were told , a Jewelry heaven , and to no surprise , it was. We did how ever , manage to find the Tommy Hilfiger outlet. This is a must - great people , not pushy or in your face and above all - great deals!

Day 2 (Martinique) - Again , no shore tours booked , but we managed to get one of the few hundred cabs at the pier , (a BMW!) To take us down town. Again to shop around and look at the local culture and people. I must say , the people seemed a bit irritated by the tourists and we seemed out of place. The exchange on the Euro vs US was at time sketchy. At some stores it was half and at others it was 1/3. Who knows? We didn’t buy any thing , just looked and walked around. Avery nice place to look at , but it didn’t seem tourist friendly to us.

Day 3 (Barbados) - Yes!! I made it!. When we booked back in September , I was anxious to see Barbados. We had decided to book a shore excursion via the Fun Vision system in our room. We booked the Jolly Roger Rum Tour. Wow! This was a very good choice , free (potent) rum punch and skits and music and laughter the whole time. Swimming off of the boat was the best. The crew lowers the gang plank and digs out the rope swing for swimming and diving and jumping off the boat. A few “ding bats” jumped off the top deck , after repeatingly being cautioned not to , all most ruined it for us. This was by far the best time swimming I have had in a while. The aqua water was very warm and salty but very refreshing. A great tour to book. We had spent the morning in downtown Bridgetown. I caution you , take a cab and bite the extra few bucks! We decided to take the shuttle for $1 each and we waited 15 mins to leave. The driver will not leave till the shuttle is full. What a rip! We were not informed either. We walked aroung Bridgetown and chatted with the locals and surprisingly , very friendly. We got the what to do and not to do from a local guy on the street and when he got us a cab , I gave him $2 for his info. He was elated and seemed embarrassed taking it. A quick return to the ship in the cab and we were ready for the famed Jolly Roger tour.

Day 4 (Fun Day at Sea) - Very self explanatory. Lay in the sun drink beer and rum. The calypso music was Ok. The bar waiters - fantastic!! We had John Kurian - bar waiter - India. One order from us to John and he knew us by name and best of all , he remembered our good ole “sail and sign” number. Wow! He was fabulous! Every time he seen us , “Hi Robert , Hi Jason , how are you today?” Everytime!! When we ordered drinks and reached for the sail and sign , “No Robert , no Jason , I have your number” Wow! He was the best. We even neglected to get other bar waiters our business , we waited for John. I am not saying the other bar waiters are not good , to the contrary , these guys work very hard for their money and I say “Hats off to them”. We just grew a relationship with John. John, if you read this by some miracle - e mail me!!!! To the pools!! We went into the pools after sunset and the hot tubs. Through out the days , there were too many kids , despite the “Must be 18 and over” signs. The hot tubs were great and the pool (salt water) was refreshing. We took in the Down beat lounge’s Karaoke and that was fun. A few “wanna be” stars got up a few times , but at least they had to go-nads to do so.

Day 5 (Aruba) - This was a fabulous destination. We got off the boat very early - 8:30 or so. We were hounded by the locals with regards to Taxis , Tours etc... We headed straight to the rental area. We rented a 4x4 little jeep and headed to famous Eagle beech. When we got there , there were no people there. Winds were up , water was chilly. We then decided to go around the Island. We headed up to California Lighthouse and down the back side of Aruba. Wow , if you rent the jeeps , mental note - get the shocks! I believe they were optional on our jeep! This is a far cry from the other side. We cut off the dirt roads and made it back to Eagle Beech. Now it was getting more people and the water was warming up. I was the first in and swam around for an hour or so. The ladies layed in the sun and cooked!! Jason and I walked up and down the beech and looked at the tourists and people around. We were asked about renting water stuff like banana rides and jet ski’s , but only once. They didn’t hound us and that was nice. We headed back to the boat and returned the jeep. We got cleaned up and headed out into Downtown Aruba!! Orjanstad is a very beautiful city. The people are ok to chat with. Again we found the famous Tommy Hilfiger outlet. Good deals again. It was very hot and getting hungry so we headed back to the boat. We ate , got cleaned up and headed back out to Carlos and Charlies. No go - packed to the gunnells! Off to Iguana Joe’s. Well we got sidetracked at the Paddock. We had a few beers and decided to call it a day. Calos and Charlies was still rocking and packed. We got back on board and relaxed in the warm evening wind on deck - with John waiting on us!!!

Day 6 (Fun day at Sea) - Self explanatory. It was fun lying in the sun - for a few minutes anyways. Nice to relax. Took in the Vegas Night Show in the Palladium. Very entertaining. A very good job and worth seeing.

Day 7 (San Juan) - Dis-embarking - We were told to be at the Criterion lounge at 6 am Sunday morning. WE were and went through customs by 6:30. We had breakfast and went to the Lido to wait for our color to be called. The luggage was picked up the night before. I couldn’t get over how many calls there were for cabin #’s to report to customs. It was every 2-3 minutes. Were theses people deaf? I couldn’t believe it. Our color was called at about 10 or so and we had our luggage in the cab and off to the airport by 11. Carnival does a great job at the dis-embarking. Very quick and scheduled. Good job!

The meals - We only used the dining room once. Our waiter was very pleasant and the meals were very tasteful. I can only think the other meals were as good.

The Lido deck food - This is where we ate most of the time- Buffett style. Th biggest complain I heard was in regards to the breakfast selection. Well , what else is there besides eggs - any style , cereal , fresh fruit , pancakes , sausage , bacon , yogurt , french toast , bagels , toast and so on and so on. What else is there? The service staff was impeccable. Very organized and quick to clean the tables. Dinner and supper were the same , a variety each time with the favorites next to them. Not at all what I read from other reviews. Food was very good.

The Lido deck - There were 3 other variety of food choices also , sandwich bar - smoked meat and turkey breast , the grille - cheeseburgers / hot dogs fries , and the chinese area. All well worth trying. Very fast and organized and clean looking.

The main lobby - The rotunda lounge- this was an impressive lounge. We had one drink here but the size of this place was fascinating It stretches about 3-4 decks up and opens below the elevators. Very glitzy!! All of the Destiny shops surround it and make it look like a big shopping mall. A very nice layout!

Our Rooms - We booked in September , got an upgrade to Empress Deck and the rooms were very satisfactory. I had noticed the bed had a warp in it , and when I laid on it , it broke. With in 1 hour it was replaced or repaired by the Crew. Excellent service. Our steward was Yoshitti. She was amazing and courteous (as was the other 1200+ staff) when we communicated with them. She kept our room spotless , full of towels and the patented “towel bed animal” each night. Thank you Yossitti.

All in all , this was a very good choice to use Carnival Destiny. The ports of call are fabulous , the service was impeccable and the ship a pure floating palace. I could not list all that I done as a first time cruiser , but feel free to e mail me at robert@hfx.eastlink.ca And if I can , I’ll answer any questions truthfully and honestly as I can. Thanks for reading the review.

Robert Mac Donald

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