Carnival
Destiny
Southern Caribbean

John

Age: 33
Occupation: attorney
Number of Cruises: 2

Our trip went pretty smooth considering that we were traveling with 32 people including kids. We have a big family. No body lost. No bags lost. No sanity lost. Who can ask for more? I give thanks to God.

Entertainment: The Vegas style show and the Cuban comedian were good. Everything else like the washed-out magician and Paris theme dance show was pretty lame 3rd rate stuff. (especially since Americans dislike the French nowadays). However, my child Evy loved all the shows and applauded every act. She’s 2 ½, and very gracious. We must have had a really poor talent pool on our boat because the Destiny Idol contest was really bad except for one good singer named Pam. You can imagine how bad the kareoke bars were… Still, it was fun seeing people make fool of themselves in public with people you’ll never see again.

Excursions: Our families haggled with the drivers (there's tons of them just begging to get your commitment) and got the best deals for our own excursions. We would separate out and then go get the best offers and go with them. My sister Heidi was the most aggressive and got the best deals of course. The beaches are fabulous in all the islands (of course, if you’re from the East Coast (except FL), anything blue is nice. After a while, they’re all similar.

Eats: Buffet stuff is average at best. Everything is way too greasy and Americanized—I suppose it’s you average Old Country buffet clog your arteries food. No authenticity in the foods. I was actually very disappointed considering all the nationalities represented by the employees. The 2 dining rooms were different, though. Eat there if you can. It’s far far better. The Reuben sandwich is really tasty. My siblings and in-laws had 15 of them each. My brother in law Paul downed 4 of them at once, no lie.

Amenities: Pools were really bad and open only during the day. Just standing room only, but what do you expect? Swimming is for the nice beaches. The rooms were good sizes better than other lines. This boat is old so expect gaudy décor everywhere. Destiny first sailed in 1996. Camp Carnival is great. You can drop your kids off and they give you a beeper. If you need some down time w/o kids for couple hours at a time, it’s very useful. Neglectful parents can drop them off for almost the entire duration of the trip since they have overnight babysitting, too.

Fun Ship pass did nothing for us or for anyone else who got them. It doesn’t save you time. There’s no express line. Boarding is all the same slow process. If you get some Asians who run carryout, the process can be shortened by 1/3 of the time. If you can avoid lines at the San Juan airport somehow, find a way like staying overnight in San Juan. Coming back with thousands of other passengers from ours and other ships was draining. Good thing we had a great attitude, joking that we were being punished for gluttony. I likely will never go on the Destiny again. I’ll go anywhere with my crazy family though.

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