This was my husband and my fourth cruise (our second with Carnival). My kids second cruise. Our kids are 12 year old twin boys. We arrived in San Juan a day early and stayed at the Sheraton in Old San Juan. The perfect location for boarding the Carnival Destiny. We were able to roll our suitcases across the street and board with no help. It was a beautiful view from the roof where the pool is located and we could see the pier and take excellent pictures of the ship on Sunday. Checking in was a breeze, but they did not start calling for boarding until 1:05. We got there around 12:00 before the lines started. That evening we met with the kids leader and the kids had a scavenger hunt that evening after we set sail. It was a good ice breaker and by the next evening they had several friends that they are still in contact with here at home.
The first port was St. Thomas and we did the BOSS excursion. We are happy to say we did this, but the time under water was way too short (approximately 30 minutes). I also did not like the gay jokes the crew did. They were just trying to entertain, but it was uncomfortable. My son had trouble clearing his ears and the scuba diver was good at noticing this and brought him up to the surface where he stayed the whole time and he was fine with that. We also did the Paradise Point ride and got some beautiful pictures.
In Dominica I booked the river tubing on my own with Wacky Rollers and it was great. We had two guides and the river to ourselves. They told us this was their slow season. They even arranged for the taxi and he was really good at telling us things and showing us a few things around the island. I think when the younger groups got off the ship at this port they were all pretty much approached to buy drugs. We were not bothered about that, but approached for everything else. In Barbados my husband and I walked quit a ways into the city and it was hot. We went back and took a taxi to a public beach. It was okay, but not the best.