I and three friends ( all in our early 50's) sailed on the Destiny for the second time, 2/10/08. We had two balconies next to each other 9 6320/6324). We flew to San Juan one day early to avoid any weather delays. We stayed one night at Hilton Caribe. I got it on Priceline. It was a nice enough hotel right on the small beach with a wonderful grass/ lawn/pool area. We ate at the Morton's located in the hotel and loved that! Split the meal between two. The Hilton has charged my credit card another $24 and I need to find out why. There was no mention of energy charge or any extra charge at all. The receipt under my door did not indicate this, although the hotel asked for $1 for a children's fund. We arrived at Destiny about 11:30 and had no line. We got on and had lunch, then wandered around ; then went to tour Old San Juan. It was nice, but we got lost and ended up walking too much. WE bought some wine at the local , small grocery store , as well as some small juice cans; and then also bought some rum at the duty free store just before you get on the ship. The prices were fairly good, but prices in St. Thomas are a bit better. The ship is large but no problem getting around. The pools are very small. WE loved the aft pool, which was just above our room, so easy to get to. The Destiny is older but this did not matter to us. It was clean and the staff was very friendly. Olga was our stewardess and she was attentive and friendly. Khasuma and Gerry were our wait staff and very friendly and attentive. Food was ok, although I have to wonder if Carnival is cutting corners with food in some places. I had no complaints because it fit the bill fine. I especially like the fish, like the salmon, grouper and tilapia. Breakfast has not changed for Carnival in my memory ( since 1984, my first Carnival cruise). And it could be improved! I will briefly share my shore adventures. I had reserved a car with Budget in St. Thomas, but they said they had no reservation, and did not seem to care, so we ended up on a taxi tour. Ali was wonderful and friendly. He wanted $50 per person and negotiated to $40, but I think that was still too high, because after we agreed, he went to get his "taxi" and it was a huge open air thing. He ended up doing multiple trips for others as well. We went to some lookout above town; and although I wanted to go to Coki Beach, he talked us into Magen's bay, which was alright, but again, I think we paid too much for this trip. He then took us to town to shop a bit and back to the ship along with 12 others!

WE had pre arranged a tour with Sheppe Fun Tours in Dominica. Sheppe found us on the pier and said he had been mistaken about our day and he had booked two tours, so he was handing us over to Gerry. I think Sheppe knew he had two tours and did not want to lose one. Gerry was very nice, and we had a good tour. But Gerry did not have the drinks which Sheppe had promised, so Sheppe found us later on Mero Beach and apologized and dropped the cost $5. Gerry took us to Emerald FAlls, early so we missed the crowd and it was a fun time. Not too cold. Legend is you take off ten years when you go into the pool. WE also went to Mr. Nice Fruit Stand, Mero Beach and Morne Bruce lookout. Mero beach was basic, but we enjoyed the water and the view. A small snack shop sold cold beer and cokes Off of Barbados, where we had pre arranged a five hour catamaran tour , with lunch, with Shasa Catamarans. Jason O'Neal was our captain and owner He is a quiet , polite guy . We had a wonderful day. The lunch was delicious. Marlin, curried mac and cheese, coleslaw, salad and coconut cake. All the beer and rum punch you want all day! Water too. The water is so clear and blue. There were 8 of us on the cat. Next was St. Kitts. We shopped in the morning. WE had pre arranged a tour with Greg's Safari. He picked us up at 1 for a hike in the rainforest. There were some shy monkeys, but I did not see them very well. It was cool under the trees and Greg was a good guide. He also had fruits, rum punch and coconut candies for us after the hike. I thought that the hike was easy, but there are some up and downs and two people fell. Last stop, La Romana. We arrive at 3 and I was the only one interested in going to town. WE had run out of juice for our rum!. I took the shuttle for $5 roundtrip, very short ride. It took us to a square. I have been to Dominican Republic several times and was not interested in all the things the vendors had, but it is fun to window shop,. There were some dancing groups in the square and some ship people danced with them. Great music. I bought coffee, which is a great deal there. The walk to the Jumbo grocery store was a bit hairy as many men were on the street making comments to me. There were too many people around for me to fear them though. The next day we finally took a ship excursion: the cigarette boat to Saona Island. It was expensive , probably due to the type of boat. We went early, so we were the only ones at Saona Island and it was beautiful. Only problem was that the tour was only for three hours so we hardly had time to enjoy it. There were a few vendors there as well. The two tour guys on our boat had rum and coke and freely poured it. On the way back we stopped at the "natural pool" which is very shallow, like to your waist and has some starfish. We continued to drink rum and cokes and danced to meringue music in the water. What a party! They put some pirate dew rags on our heads and then asked for $5 for them, which was fine. I spoke with some women later who took the catamaran sail and snorkel and they also partied allot with rum and coke on that trip . So we had a great time and would do it again. The Destiny is a fine ship as long as you don't mind that it is not sparkling new. We also liked that there were several lounges with different types of music, like latino, country , piano, karaoke We had a cabin over the Criterion Lounge and were lulled to sleep each night with the music. This was the first time I had this issue, but it was not a problem. Again, we had a great time on our girlfriend cruise!