Mary

Age: 36
Occupation: Customer Service
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Destiny
Sailing Date: November 30th, 2003
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean

My husband and I flew into San Juan the day before. I have heard stories on how people missed the boat due to a cancelled or delayed flight. (I also suggest having a carry on with a couple set of clothing in case your luggage gets lost. I know of a couple of people who didn't have their luggage with them the entire time of the cruise.) We stayed at the Old Wyndham Resort and Casino which is located across from the cruise port. Hotel is nice but overpriced. That afternoon, we walked around Old San Juan and did a little shopping. The hotel staff recommended dinner at the Parrot Club, very good choice. Though he said it was very safe to venture out to Old San Juan after dark, we decided not to make the journey as their were too many dark alleys and the streets were poorly lit.

Sunday morning we decided to head over to the ship early. At the airport, a Carnival rep told us we can check in after 1pm. The hotel staff suggested 12pm. While waiting to check out, we met someone who had just disembarked and she suggested we head over asap as the lines were already getting long. The embarkation took nearly 2 hours. Of course it didn't help that people were cutting the line and pleading ignorance to the English language.

Once we cleared the security checkpoint, it was fairly quick. In the room, a bottle of champagne was waiting for us compliment of the staff. We decided to head up to the Lido deck to get some lunch since we hadn't eaten all morning. They already had a luncheon buffet going. As we headed back to our room, we were surprised to find our luggage waiting outside the room already. We met our room steward, Martina who was very nice. She did a great job with our rooms and had a different towel animal waiting for us every night, something that Carnival is famous for. We didn't go back to shore since we were afraid we may get stuck in the long line again while trying to come back aboard, so we just toured the ship. At 9pm, was the emergency drill. I wouldn't have mind it much if it didn't take 40 minutes. 20 minutes in English and another 20 in Spanish. We went up to the deck afterward to watch the ship sail. I was surprised their were no live band nor music playing. We had to entertain ourselves listening to the live band from the Old Wyndham Hotel. We learned the next day, the band had missed the ship in San Juan and supposedly another band will board the 3rd day in Barbadoes. (which never happened by the way) That evening we went to see the adult comedy show featuring Happy Cole, great comedian and definitely not for children.

Monday~ St. Thomas
I had read prior to the trip from another review here to book the tour thru Godrey Tour (http://www.godfreytoursvi.com). I also highly recommend him. He picked us up in front of the ship and dropped us off downtown to do some shopping. St Thomas is great for jewelry shopping. 2 hours later, he came back to pick us up and drove us all over the island of St. Thomas. Godfrey was such a great tour guide and a good driver also!

Tuesday~Martinque
We went down to the restaurant for breakfast, the only time during the entire cruise. I had requested a cereal that was not on the menu but I knew they served it at the Breakfast buffet bar, the waiter was frustrated because he didn't understand the name of the cereal and became snippy and told me to just chose one from the menu. After breakfast, we decided to go down to the excursion desk and book a tour. We chose the 4-hour St. Pierre & Island Bus Tour. Though the history of the island was very interesting, the tour was a waste. My husband and I were falling asleep on the bus. We should have just stayed on the ship that day. It was the first formal nite. We missed the Captain's Gala because we were too busy getting our pictures taken at every stand. I was impressed how good each photographer were. By the end of the trip, we purchased about a couple hundred dollars worth of pictures. You're not obligated to purchase them if you don't like the way it came out. The photos were usually ready by the next afternoon and all displayed in the photo gallery. During dinner, I felt the ship rocking and lost my appetite. My husband thoroughly enjoyed his dinner. I found the meals to be very rich in sauce. We had an uncle/nephew team for our wait staff. Both were very friendly. Midway during the dinner every night, the entire staff would perform for the dinner guests.

Wednesday~Barbados
One of the best times I've ever had. We had booked the Sea turtle and Shipwreck Snorkeling tour. Our guides from the WildCat Tour, Michael, Neal and Isom were great! We had so much fun with them, we wanted to take them back to the ship with us. My husband had mentioned to them I wasn't a strong swimmer and every so often, Neal would swim up to me and make sure I was ok, though we all were required to wear life jackets in the water. We only saw one Sea turtle and you couldn't get close to him. Neal gave us some bread to feed the turtle, and all of a sudden all these fishes came out of nowhere including barracudas eating the bread right out of your hand! If you book this tour, make sure you request for those guys, they made it so fun! That afternoon we decided to head into town for lunch/dinner. We stop at the shopping mall outside the ship terminal. I purchased a watch and perfume at Harrison. We took a shuttle bus downtown which took about 5 minutes and had lunch at the Waterfront Cafe. The people are very friendly. After lunch, we decided to walk the 1 1/2 mile back to the ship. We were approached every block by a taxi driver who were very courteous even as we declined their service. That night the band never boarded but the band from the shows entertained us with some songs on the deck. Unfortunately only about 1 or 2 in English, the rest were all Spanish songs. Unfortunately some of the guest decided they were going to entertain themselves and were singing and banging on their tamborines throughout the hallways at 1am. That night the ship was late leaving the port for an hour waiting for some passengers to return. Every night they were paging for passengers who hadn't return to the ship.

Thursday~ Sea Day
We got up early and went down to the breakfast buffet, the only time the place was not crowded. We decided to just lay out and get some sun. Before 11am, the deck was empty but it filled up fast. The pools were all crowded with kids including the hot tubs. Their is a sign stating no children under 18 allowed without adult supervision. Obviously it wasn't enforced, even by the staff. As my husband was sitting in the hot tub, one kid jumps in with his snorkel mask and begin to dive in the water. I decided to go up the the top deck, the topless area to get some privacy. Only a few couples were up there. I notice a few guys walking around up there pretending to look out into the ocean, when it was so obvious why they were up there. That night was the second formal nite and more picture taking. After dinner, we went to listen to Duke Daniels of the Platter sing. Guy still have a great voice! We attempted the karaoke afterward but once again, it was all in Spanish.

Friday~Aruba
I have always wanted to go horseback riding on the beach and that is what we did in Aruba. I had tried to book something on the internet prior to the cruise but didn't know anything about the transportation back and forth to the ship so I decided to wait and book it from the cruise. Turns out it would have been the same ranch and less expensive if I had booked in on my own. The ranch also provided free transportation. Their were approximately 12 riders and 3 guides. We rode about 20 minutes to get to the beach. After a while of riding on the beach, I hear hysterical laughter behind me, I turn to see one of the ladies laughing at my husband who was on the ground with the horse. Here I am in disbelief that the horse had thrown him and he was about to get dragged while all this lady could do was laugh. What we didn't know was that the horse has a tendency of rolling around in sand and decided to do just that with my husband on his back! Fortunately my husband is a good rider and did not get hurt. At the time, I was scared witless at the first sight, now I laugh whenever I repeat the story to our friends. After we returned to the ship, we decided to head out to town and do some shopping and have lunch at Carlos and Charlie. The music was great and we decided to return in the evening. The place was packed by 8pm. We had so much fun dancing on the tables and even on stage at one point. I don't drink but I was doing jello shots that night! The ship was supposed to sail at 11pm but their was an announcement that the air conditioning wasn't working and the ship would stay at port till it was fixed. Deju Vu! I remember reading back in September on another review how it happened on the same ship. Fortunately it was a cool night, however I didn't think they should have charged us for soda that one night. I tried to keep the balcony door ajar in the room for the breeze but our neighbors were so loud on their balcony talking to their friends on one of those walkie talkie. Within an hour, the air conditioning was fixed and we were along our way.

Saturday~last day at Sea
The weather was cloudy and we had showers on and off. The ship was rocking quite a bit and we learned from the captain that we were heading straight into a tropical storm. All outdoors activities were cancelled, not that their were much anyway. We saw two older couples wearing their life vest which was very amusing. In the morning we went to the Disembarkation Talk which they recommend everyone to attend. A lot of good information. Didn't do much that day but hung out in our room and watched TV. I was surprised we were able to receive the New York stations so we watch the first snowstorm for the east coast thankful we weren't up there. Their was not much to do. After watching the same movie X-man for the 3rd time that day, we were literally bored. I'm sure the gift shop made a lot of revenue that day.

Sunday~Puerto Rico
We woke up before the ship docked. We were scheduled for the early disembarkment. We were advised to be at the Palladium by 6am, however immigration was "uncatagorically" late that morning so we waited in line for over 1 hour. Tempers were soaring on this last day. People were trying to cut the line, people were screaming, it was a mess. Once immigration started processing the paperwork, it went fairly quick. Afterwards we went upstairs for breakfast then headed back down to the Palladium at 8am to disembark. I found the entire planning to be ridiculous. They wanted everyone to meet on the 5th floor only to have us all walk down to the gangway with our belongings. The area wasn't roped off so it was a mess with people coming from left and right. Took about 30 minutes before we reached the bottom. Luckily I have tied bright yellow plastic ribbons to our luggage because in a room of over hundreds of black luggages, everyone's looked alike. Once outside, we were able to get a taxi to the airport.

Summary
This is my second cruise and also with Carnival. The staff were friendly, service was good, but I was very disappointed this time around due to the lack of entertainment aboard the ship and how the embarkment and disembarkment was handled. It was totally catered to the Spanish speaking passengers. We probably heard at least only 3 songs on the deck that we understood. Aside from the great time we had on shore, we had a nightmare of a time aboard the ship. I may still travel on Carnival again maybe just not out of San Juan.

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