My wife and I were looking for a cruise that went to the Southern Caribbean, namely Aruba and Barbados and settled on the Carnival Destiny sailing from San Juan. We originally booked with Carnival in November 2005 for this Cruise. We had not shopped around for comparative pricing at this point when we contacted Carnival but we were assured if we found a better price anywhere they would meet or beat the price. Not so. About a month and a half later, we found an online agency to be almost $500 cheaper for the cruise/flight combination for the exact same room category and flight. Contacted Carnival and was told sorry, I was misinformed about the meeting or beating of the price and Carnival would not come down at all. Cancelled Carnival booking and went through the online agency for the same cruise.
Anyway, it was about a 15 minute drive from the Airport to the ship and embarkation was a breeze, no problems and was fast. Our Stateroom was on deck 7 with a balcony and was very nice. The Destiny was nicely decorated and was easy to navigate from point to point in spite of its large size. The activities aboard were great and the dining was first class. The room stewards were very friendly, but most of the other staff would only speak to you if they had too or were personally addressed. The bar service was sometimes slow but all other service was fine.
The shore excursions were fantastic (Snuba, see and Sea tour, emerald falls tour etc.) Disembarkation was also fast and without a hitch, I was very pleased. In summary, it was a fantastic cruise and we had a wonderful time on board. The food was outstanding, as were the activities.