Carnival Destiny Review
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This was my wife's and I 4th cruise with Carnival, and 2nd on the Destiny. We took my wife's best friend who stayed in the cabin with us. Not the best of sleeping arrangements, but with 5 ports, you don't spend much time in your room anyways.
Arrival in San Juan We flew into San Juan the day before and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Rooms were very clean, prices very reasonable ($120 per night), and easily within walking distance of the beaches and bars and restaurants. I think the cab ride was 18 dollars from the airport. That was for 3 people with 6 bags of luggage. The cab ride to the ship was about the same.
Sunday - Embarkation This wasn't a nightmare (that came later), just a bad dream. We arrived at the port around 1:30 or so, and stopped by the duty free liquor store on the first floor. The two gentlemen working there were very friendly, and very helpful in their tips of telling us how to get our liquor on board. It was a snap. Word of advice, if you plan on drinking anything, buy it here and put it in your carry on. You will save a ton of money. We dropped our luggage off, and proceeded into the check-in line. At this point, everything was going ok. We received our sail & sign cards and proceeded to attempt to board the ship. Here we encountered several hundred people trying to board the ship at the same time. They began calling out zone numbers, which half the people had no clue about, and those that did couldn't push through the mass of people even when their number was called. As we hadn't received a zone number, we returned to the check-in desk. The lady there said that was for early people, and to just proceed to board the ship. After being jostled and pushed around in the boarding line for an hour, we finally got to the security checkpoint where the security agent asked us for our zone card. We explained to her we were told we didn't need it, and with a sigh, she motioned us to pass through. After that, we boarded the ship and that was done. Later on, after mustering the courage, we left the ship and went to senor frogs just a short walk away. We went there just to say we did. Should have left after the first drink as it was outrageously priced. When we returned to the ship, no lines, and we walked right on carrying a few more bottles of vodka and rum.