Fred

Age: 42
Occupation: Fire Captain/Paramedic
Number of Cruises: 6
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Destiny
Sailing Date: November 30th, 2003
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean

Embarkation:
On Sunday, November 30th, our group of 27 people arrived at Luis Munoz Airport (SJU) at approximately 11:00 AM. After waiting 90 minutes for a shuttle, we were brought to the cruise dock, arriving at approximately 1:00 PM. Upon our arrival, we noted the long line that stretched along the waterfront. A Carnival representative boarded the bus and told us they had began embarkation late today, but that the line was moving fast. Nothing could have been further from the truth! We stood outside in line, in the intermittent rain for well over 3 hours. We observed many people just going directly to the beginning of the line, AND being let in! Additionally, porters were bringing arriving people directly to the front of the line, cutting in front of people who had been waiting for 2+ hours (with no exaggeration.) I spoke with Yvette, one of the few Carnival staff in the area about this problem. She stated "this is Puerto Rico... that is what happens here & there is nothing I can do." We were finally able to board by approximately 4:30 PM. Embarkation was an incredibly frustrating experience to say the least.

We went directly to our cabin, #7293, on the Empress deck of the ship. It was a very nicely appointed cabin, & larger that I thought it would be. It also had a balcony, which offered a great view throughout the entire cruise. Our cabin stewardess, Natalia did a great job keeping our cabin neat & clean through the entire trip.

Day 1
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Having been to St. Thomas previously, we already knew the best thing to do was to take a taxi to the Red Hook ferry and go directly to St. John, arguably one of the most beautiful places in the Caribbean. When the taxi (more of a pick up truck outfitted with seats & a canopy which are popular in the USVI) picked us up at the ship he drove about 100 feet & pulled over hoping to add more passengers for his ride to Red Hook. I was not happy about that, but he did pick up a few more & as he promised, he did get us to the ferry before the next departure, so no harm no foul! Once at St. John, we took another taxi to the famous Trunk Bay. The weather & snorkeling were simply excellent! Since Trunk Bay is A U. S. National Park, ($3.00 admission) and there were clean rest room facilities & a nice food/drink stand available. After we returned to the cruise dock, we had some time to do some shopping. If there is anywhere to get a good price on jewelry it is St. Thomas. We had great luck at Shopper's Haven, which is in the shopping center (they call it the Havensight Mall) next to the cruise dock. Don't be afraid to offer them less than their best deal... even if it means talking with the manager! I highly recommend this shop & remember… don't be shy about offering less than they want.

That evening, at the early (5:45 pm) seating in the Universe Dining Room, we met our headwaiter Elious (from St. Vincent) and assistant waiter, Desi (from Bulgaria). We were very pleased with the fine service that they provided throughout the entire cruise. Yousef our Matre D' from Turkey was the best Matre D' we've ever seen. He had a great personality and you could tell the dining room staff respected him. He actually participated in the after dinner shows in the dining room (which I generally don't care for).

Day 2
Martinique
On the second day, we hired a small bus at the cruise dock to take a group of 10 of us on a 4.5 hour island tour. He charged us $40.00 each and we thought that was certainly a fair price for what we got. He was flexible about our itinerary and spoke good English (always check that out first in Martinique!) and was also very friendly. He said that he has been doing taxi/tours for 40 years!

Day 3
Barbados
We took the Five Star Catamaran and Turtle Encounter excursion. It was $89.00 per person, but was absolutely the best ship excursion we have ever been on. The catamaran was not crowded and the crew was great. There was not the usual "buy a T-shirt, jewelry, foot rub, & leave us a tip pressure" These guys did a great job & for that they got them a good tip! First, we sailed out to the area where the sea turtles were. We snorkeled with them for about 45 minutes while members of the crew fed them fish from time to time. The crew made sure that everyone got to see as many turtles as they wanted. Then they served a fabulous lunch (flying fish, a beef stew like dish, potato salad, tossed salad, bread, & dessert) as we sailed to our second snorkeling spot...which was over a wreck. There were plenty of fish & coral here and the water is crystal clear as you can only imagine!

It lasted over 5 hours and was money well spent! There was an open bar the entire time (although they strongly discouraged any drinking of alcohol before snorkeling). When I say an "open bar", I mean an "open bar!" Most Caribbean sailing excursions only have rum punch & occasionally other rum drinks that'll give you a huge headache later on! That was not the case here... Good quality Bajun rum among many other things!!! This excursion was run by Tiami, a popular & well run sailing tour operator in Barbados that we've experienced before. Regardless of the theme, you can never go wrong sailing on a Tiami catamaran!

At night we went to the Boatyard, a short taxi ride from the ship. This is a popular bar with the ships crew and locals. It was loud, but we had a good time!!!

Day 4
Day at Sea
This was our first opportunity to really explore the ship & walk around on deck. This is the downside to having port calls the first 2 days at sea! The ship was bigger than we've sailed on previously & took a little getting used to find our way around. As everyone will tell you... just get to Deck 5 (Promenade), you can get everywhere from there!

Day 5
Aruba
We've been to Aruba several times and really like the people and the culture. Everyone is friendly & these folks are genuinely pleased that you are visiting their island. They refer to themselves as "One Happy Island" and it is very true! My wife & a friend went to the beach for a $2.00 bus rid,e while I golfed in Aruba at Tierra del Sol which was awesome!!! It cost $165.00, plus $35.00 club rental. I had planned on doing this so I brought balls, tees, my golf glove & golf shoes with me (sneakers were OK though). I've never golfed anywhere in the Caribbean, let alone a course where there were goats traversing the fairways!!! I had a great time! The onboard Golf Pro, Richard, and his wife Linda accompanied us there and couldn't do enough to insure that we enjoyed ourselves. Even though golf is fairly expensive compared to the states, Carnival has a promotion that they call "Guilt Free Golf." Basically, your spouse can get ANY other excursion for free. We used that promotion for the aforementioned Five Star Catamaran and Turtle Encounter, so in my mind the day of golf only cost me $111.00!!!! We ended the night at Carlos & Charlie’s. In my opinion this is a “must do” in Aruba. It is located right next to the ship, so it is easy to crawl back for the late departure from port!

Day 6
Day at Sea
Finally... A day to relax!

Day 7
Puerto Rico
We were signed up for a tour (Rainforest Tour) so we, along with those with early flights, were supposed to be the only ones lining up for U. S. Immigration first thing in the morning. Wrong... There were many "locals" who planned on getting off the ship early despite instructions to the contrary. Carnival did not do a good job of insuring that the only people in line were those that needed to be. If they had, the line would have probably been reduced by 30-50% and we all would have moved through much quicker. I suspect these were many of the same people cutting in line during embarkation. Our El Yunque Rainforest tour was great and the driver even waited for a member of our group because Carnival forgot to take 1 piece of their luggage off the ship. After some tense moments, Carnival did reimburse them their cost for the rainforest excursion that they ended up missing. That was unfortunate

Summary
I always enjoy Carnivals comedians and this was no different. We also enjoyed Darin in the Apollo Piano Bar and AJ Jones, our Cruise Director. But... although I did enjoy the cruise, I would NEVER sail out of San Juan again... NEVER. Carnival sold 1,900 unsold spots to the locals for $300.00 each. They could book last minute without worrying about high airfare. The only live dance music was a Latin band in the Criterion Lounge each night. And, there was NO calypso band at all!!! How you can have a Caribbean cruise without a steel drum calypso band is just unimaginable to me. I've never seen it before on any cruise line that I've been on & hope not to see it again! I also observed that with rare exceptions the locals did not contribute to one of a cruise lines most important areas... onboard revenue. That includes bars, shore excursions, casino, spa's, shops, etc. It was very noticeable that these folks did not spend money in these areas. And that is simply an observation, not a bias. A fairly large group of younger locals traveled up & down the Promenade deck each night singing while banging their tambourines, drums, maracas, etc. I was very surprised that Carnival allowed this.

Also, Carnival allowed people into the dining room an hour or so late each night (the same people each night). This caused the waiters to have to stop everything else they are doing with the other passengers, and take these peoples dinner orders. It is disruptive and ought to be allowed only once. Thereafter, if you are more than 30 minutes late you will need to eat at the buffet. It would likely only happen once then! Carnival did not meet my expectations on this cruise, never mind exceeding them as they like to rant about frequently. Carnival needs to take a serious look at this operation and make some significant changes. I know I'll be looking elsewhere to book my next group cruise even though I’ve been a fan of Carnival previously. I always thought they delivered a good product for the $$$. Now, I’m not so convinced the product is good. That will be another 30 slots Carnival will have to sell to folks other than their "core business", people like me and my group of firefighters and emergency medical services providers who also contribute substantially to their onboard revenue on an annual basis!

I don't know if these problems are fleet wide. But, if I was a CCL stockholder I'd be more than a little concerned after this experience...

That’s my story & I’m sticking too it!!!

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