Carnival Destiny Review

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Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Destiny
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stu & SAND
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: May 2008

Flew into San Juan a day early from Boston, it was great to leave the dull and dreariness of the northeast to land among the palms. The flight was uneventful and landed about 12:45, headed to the hotel got out of the cab at 2 o'clock with my bags in hand and my smile as big as the sunshine. We stayed at the Caribe Hilton (about $250 a night, we booked through Travelocity) and were lucky enough to get a room right away! We threw our bags in the room, a garden view which was clean, quiet and rather unremarkable, and proceeded downstairs to check out the place and were amazed! The pool, the view, the ocean and the ocean "pool" with slide were just the things that we northeasterners needed at this point in the year. We split a "15 pound" cheeseburger (about 15 bucks with fries) and went for a quick walk where we saw Fort Geronimo (no entry allowed), Fort Escambron (entry allowed) and Millennium Park. After the walk, we went for a quick snorkel at the Hilton beach. The water was a little murky but the fish were plentiful and it was great to try out the new snorkeling equipment as we were planning to swim everyday on our cruise. At night we booked a reservation at a restaurant called Betin in Old San Juan. They were recommended by the concierge for a nice Flamenco show, great food and wonderful atmosphere. The stage is rather small so don't expect a grand spectacle but the dancing and singing were very good (as well as the sangria!). My dw ordered the seafood medley with pasta which she quite enjoyed while I had the roasted lamb which was average. We spent about 120 dollars with tip (4 sangria's) and while we were entertained I would opt for a different venue the next time we are in town. Cab ride into town was 10 bucks. TIP: watch out for additional taxes when checking out. When we paid for our hotel (including all taxes and fees) through Travelocity we were supposedly paid in full. The hotel added an additional Occupancy Tax of 10 dollars. I waited around for 20 minutes to try and check out but still after that time they charged my credit card anyway. I am not sure if I was more upset by the ten bucks or the fact that they made me wait so long but I was not going to let this or anybody else put me in a "mood". Embarkation Day was fantastic! Before heading to the ship we took a quick walk (about 10 minutes) to Playa del Condado. There are many more shops, restaurants, fast food eats and things to see and do. We really loved the fact that the Hilton was somewhat isolated from the hustle and bustle of downtown but we were also somewhat separated from some of the conveniences that we like. We left the hotel about 12:30, spent 10 dollars for the cab and 5 dollars for our bags, went through the security/check-in lines, had some free booze samples and landed in our room about 2. As first time cruisers, we were absolutely amazed at pretty much everything. The size of the ship, the grand foyer, the way the lines moved (pretty much like a Disney ride line, very long but people usually shuffling along) and the fact that we finally made it! After a quick bite (more about food at the end) at the Sun Deck buffet we headed off the ship to pick up some last minute supplies and to our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at a local restaurant. TIP: For those in the know, if you head past the outdoor buffet and go inside you will have a better selection and a quieter atmosphere. The Meet and Greet was AWESOME! The one down side is the meeting place that I picked was closed but we left a note for those who weren't there yet and headed down the street to the Parrot Club (http://www.oofrestaurants.com/). Food was decent, drinks were cold (and a little pricey) but the people were awesome. There were 14 of us in all (including Bill the Flamingo our Meet and Greet mascot) and I tip my hat to all of you who flew in that day. Meeting these people absolutely positively made our trip so much more enjoyable and I can't thank them enough for making our first cruise so memorable. Back to the ship and on to unpacking, dinner and a second Meet and Greet. Our room was on the Lido deck with a balcony view. The balcony room will always be our first choice with no if's ands or buts about it. On the cruise from our neat little balcony we saw amazing sunrises (okay I was sleeping but dw saw them), quiet and personal views arriving to port, and we saw a whale breaching which was unbelievable, dolphins and a school of flying fish! For us it was worth the cost. We had a second Meet and Greet set up for 10:30ish, right after the Muster Drill (20 minutes). TIP: If you arrive last at the Muster Drill you will be at the front line and closer to the elevator when it is all over. We met some more Cruise Critic people at 10:30, had a few laughs, danced a little (Bill the Flamingo danced with fellow Cruise Critic blogger Gonzal and made it on the cruise video which was on the in-room TV everyday!) and went to sleep anxiously awaiting St. Thomas!

St. Thomas- "...the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain..." The things we can control and the things we can't. As you probably guessed it rained on our first Caribbean vacation day. In the morning we decided to head to Charlotte Amalie for a little shopping. We took a cab ($15) "downtown" and walked around for a couple of hours. I enjoyed our time off the ship and went to check out the Tag Hauer and Movado watches but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. The highlight of the shopping (besides the end) was a neat little antique shop on the corner of Raadets Gade and Waterfront Highway 30, which is right next to Sol Kids by the harbor. (http://www.virginislandsmap.com/stthomas/charlotteamalie/) They had some authentic guns, swords, cannons, navigational equipment, etc and again I was tempted to buy but couldn't pull the trigger. We did try some terrific tasting rum while shopping and our favorite was the chocolate! TIP: If you want to minimize the cab fare you could walk to Charlotte Amalie or shop at the Havensight dock. We had booked an afternoon excursion through Carnival for the Champagne Catamaran Tour and as the saying goes, "the show (or rather the boat) must go on!" We were originally schedule to head over to St. John's to Honeymoon Cove for some snorkeling but with the pouring (and I mean pouring) rain the captain was not able to see well enough to make it that far. We were all huddled under the canopy, with the exception of one or two brave souls who stood at the bow, trying to keep ourselves dry. We ended up at Great St. James Island in Christmas Cove. While I couldn't wait to get off the boat to snorkel (hey, we were wet already) there were many disgruntled passengers who either wanted to just party or turn around or head back. About half of us made it into the water and again, it being our first time to the Caribbean found the snorkeling terribly exciting and invigorating. We stayed at the cove for about 1 ½ hours and the highlight for me was following a beautiful stingray which was about 5 feet long. The catamaran was rather small and with the weather it made it that much smaller. The food and drink were fine as were the crew but my dw and I would not do this again because guests are allowed to smoke. My wife is extremely sensitive to smoking and one (and only one) particular person decided it was ok to smoke underneath the canopy with ALL of the other passengers surrounding him. Thankfully on the ride back to the dock the rain had subsided and we were able to spread our wings. The van ride back to the ship was extremely long due to an auto accident in Charlotte Amalie. One humorous note was the catamaran passenger who drank a lot of beer and he thought he should be an official Beer Taster for the Caribbean. Obviously the van ride back to the ship was longgggggggg and boy did he complain about it. While I didn't see his bladder exactly pop I could hear it bursting at the seams. A special thanks to the nice Mom (not 40) and Daughter (40) from Wisconsin who we met and made the ride back much more pleasant. TIP: If you drink a lot of beer and talk about drinking a lot of beer and saying you should be king of beer, maybe you should be able to hold your beer. Excursion rating: 6 out of 10 with smoker (could have been 7.5 out of 10 without smoker). Back at the ship for our 5:45 dinner which was good, a show, which was ok and hanging around. We did find the "secret" door on the 6th floor and hung out at the front of the ship for a little while (very peaceful and relaxing). We did have our dinner table changed to dine with our new cruise critic friends lgbcruise and hubby which worked out extremely well. We had a table for 8 and unfortunately 2 of the other diners did not speak English. We tried to communicate with them but our Spanish is horrible. We felt bad for them as they seemed like nice young people but alas we could not. The other couple were from Chicago and they were nice although they were not Cruise Critic Members (is that ok that we talked to them?). The night ended with a bang as we got back to the cabin around 11:30 and were asleep by 12 when we heard crash about 12:30. We weren't sure if it came from above or from the side but it sounded as if someone was playing soccer with a deck chair. Thankfully we did not hear or encounter any more unplanned surprises at night.

Day 2- Dominica Beautiful Day! In the morning we planned to go to the Champagne Reefs. We hired a taxi ($40 roundtrip for 4 including our Cruise Critic friends Dancer and Gonzal) and planned for him to pick us up at 1. TIP: We had to negotiate with quite a few cabbies before we got this price. One group of 4 paid $100 round trip while another person paid $5 one way. It was about a 10 minute drive to the reef; we paid a small fee to enter the park ($2 per person) and hired a "snorkel" guide for my wife who is not a strong swimmer. If we go back (or make it when), we would definitely hire the guide again. For $5, she swam with my dw for about an hour, pointed out the unobvious and was very insightful. This made my dw's day. I was finally able to try out my new and exciting underwater camera (The SeaLife ECOshot 6mp: http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=SeaLifeECOshotDigitalCamera) which took pretty good pictures. The above website is information only as I bought the camera elsewhere for about $200. The area is absolutely gorgeous and as we were one of the first off the boat, it was not crowded at all. The one area I did have for concern was that everyone left there backpacks and equipment all over the place and it made me feel a little unsure of my valuables (about $50, two cameras and my ship pass). Thankfully everything was ok. One family we met there brought a pizza from the ship and planned to spend the day at the reef. They had some young girls (10-15 yrs old) and planned to snorkel and picnic all day which to me could have been an ideal day. The beach is rocky so don't plan to make any sand castles. The cabbie was waiting for us (along with 5 others) when we made our way back to reef entrance. In the afternoon we booked the Hot Springs Escape through Carnival. We thought this was an excellent trip as well. The ride into the rain forest is very interesting. The roads are extremely slim and the driver's favorite pastime appears to be honking the horn. The tour guide was informative and funny as we made our way to Titou Gorge. (http://www.fortyounghotel.com/titou.cfm) The swimming at the gorge is wonderful and quite refreshing, even after swimming in the morning for 1 ½ hours. The local guides get to jump off the cliff into the water but they would not allow us to do so. (about an 8 foot drop but extremely narrow opening). By the way, the water is a little chilly but oh so nice! After about a 20 minute swim we make our way back to the van for a 20 minute ride to Screw's Sulfur Spa. I found it interesting and humorous that no where on the Carnival site it mentions the real name of the Hot Springs. Right before the drop off point, you pass the sulfur vents with a not so pleasant smell but don't let this deter you as the springs themselves are quite nice and odor free. There are 4 "pools", warm, hot, hotter and hottest and all are quite enjoyable. At this point in the vacation I was finally able to reach a state of nirvana (not the grunge band) which basically means I was truly and utterly relaxed, something I have not felt in years. Unfortunately we had to leave Screw's and as we headed into the van we grabbed some local produce and a good local brew. The trip back to the ship was much the same, the highlight passing a field in which a cricket match was being played. Our expectations of this excursion were met and exceeded and if you want to do something informative, fun and relaxing we would recommend this to you. Excursion rating 9 out of 10. (it could have been a 10 out of 10 if they were still filming Pirates of the Caribbean at the gorge and Johnny Depp/Keira Knightley were still there.) This was our first of three formal nights (more about that later) and with a little hustling and bustling we were about 30 minutes late to dinner. Tuesday night was lobster night but I had steak. DW had two while table mate (I will not mention Jeff's name so as not to embarrass him) had three lobster dinners! They all enjoyed themselves and it was nice to get all spiffy. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like getting dressed up but I must say that it made the evening a little more special. I like the fact that it put pressure on people to look a little bit more presentable at dinner (i.e. no tank-tops like the diner wore behind us) and added a little class to an elegant dining environment. In the evening we caught Peter the Piano player who was very good. He played about an hour of Elton John/Billy Joel songs in the Apollo Bar and then another set of songs which again were very good. TIP: The Apollo Bar is a smoking bar but the ventilation is very good. Collapsed back at the room about midnight and up at 6 the next morning.

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