Just returned from the 10/01/06 Destiny.
Arrival at Airport: Arrived from JFK (NY) on time. Was surprised to find out that it was not possible to purchase a seat on the Carnival bus at the airport. I have never had this problem before. In Florida, even if you have not booked in advanced you can purchase a seat once you get to the airport. Not in San Juan. Took a cab for $20 to the pier. Driver was not particularly friendly. Talk on his cellphone the entire trip.
Embarkation: Went smoother than I thought. However, none of the local porters offered to take my luggage into the building. They seemed more interested in making sure the locals were taken care of. I attributed this to the language barrier. (Naively, I had no idea so many citizens of the island of Puerto Rico did not speak any english.) Pulled my luggage into the building and it was immediately taken to be put on the ship. Up the escalator to the check-in counters. Went really quickly. Entire time from cab to walking on the ship approximately 30 minutes. When I was given my ship and sign card I realized that I had been given an early seating for dinner. I had requested an 8:00 seating. 5:45 is too early for me to eat lunch since I figured I would be on the islands until 5:00 or so. Immediately upon boarding the ship, I went to the Universe dining room to change my dinner seating. It took a bit of doing because I wanted late seating with people that spoke english. By now I had noticed how many spanish speaking people were on board. My conservative estimate is at least 75 - 80%. No problem, I thought -- I am from NYC. I can even say a word or two in Spanish. Finally found a table with some non-latin sounding names. (I did not want to sit alone every night with a table full of people speaking a foreign language.) This was not easy to do. Great tablemates throughout the cruise. Dined and partied with them into the wee hours.