For our first cruise, my husband and I chose Carnival Destiny because of the many ports the ship visited in the Southern Caribbean. Cruise Critic was very helpful in planning our trip, so I am here to return the favor.

We took a red-eye flight from Los Angeles directly to San Juan the Friday before our cruise. Night flights are brutal, but direct flights are so much shorter. Although we were tired, we had most of Saturday and Sunday to enjoy San Juan. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Isla Verde. It is a beautiful hotel, right on the beach. It has a casino and our favorite Steakhouse, Ruth's Chris, so we did not mind so much that it rained most of the first day. The sun came out for a brief period on Sunday, so we took advantage until it started raining again. We headed to the ship around noon on Sunday. It took longer than normal to get there from the hotel because Hillary Clinton was in town and it was Election Day. I think on a normal day, it would only take 15 minutes.

Embarkation was a breeze. We booked a suite so we could get in the shorter VIP line. We stopped by the duty free shop and easily got our goods through security without a problem. Read more