After going on an Eastern Caribbean cruise last year with Carnival and using all the great tips from Cruisecritic.com I felt I should contribute with a review of my Southern Caribbean cruise. Once again, I had Cruise Critic to my rescue when finding out details about the ship to what excursions we should book on the islands. Since I'm a 2nd time cruiser and first time reviewer....go easy on me seasoned veterans :) Here goes nothing! I flew out of Reagan National (DCA) airport in Washington D.C. on July 20th with my Mom, Dad, and Sister. I'm 25 and she is 22. I'll leave out the ages of the parents! The ship left of out San Juan Puerto Rico on July 20th. I know a lot of people on here said that they went down a day or two before the ship left but I unfortunately had to work until 3 AM on the 20th when the flight left at 8:45 AM...needless to say...I was a little tired but excited too! Flight went smoothly as did the transfer from the airport in San Juan to the cruise terminal. We did use the carnival transfer from the airport. I know a lot of people said they had used taxis, etc. but it was just easier for us. Check-in to get onto the ship went as smoothly as possible. Yes, there were long lines, and of course it was hot...it's Puerto Rico in July...but hey you're on vacation so just forget about it. I still am not sure why Carnival tells you to have all of this fun pass info filled out before hand because its supposed to cut down on the amount of time you spend waiting to board the ship but when I looked around, everyone else had their cards filled out as well. I would though in about an hour we were in our cabins. Most people do a pretty good job of explaining the good, the bad, and the ugly about the ship so I won't get into a lot of details about it. The Destiny is an older ship but from what I could see it is still in great shape. I'm not a person to really worry too much about the accommodations when I go somewhere because I never plan on spending a lot of time in my room. My sister and I shared an inside cabin on the 2nd floor as did my parents. I don't think its worth spending the extra money for a window or a balcony when I can go up to the Lido deck and get a great view. We ate breakfast every morning on the Lido deck. Food was pretty good. Usually, after a day off of the ship we'd come back up the lido for a grilled sandwich, a slice of pizza, or some ice cream. We had dinner every night in the Universe Dining Room with Ernesto, our awesome waiter. Everyone had different dishes pretty much every night, I tended to stick with seafood since its my favorite. For those that have a sweet-tooth I highly recommend the warm chocolate melting cake. We went to the Palladium lounge theater at night for the shows. Carnival did 2 review type shows. I would say the 2nd was better than the first. Destiny idol was a lot of fun, and the comedians, juggler, and magician were just ok in my opinion. We visited the karaoke bar but never participated, and the piano bar a couple of times as well. Ok, enough about the ship. Onto the islands and excursions! Since we traveled on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary with Carnival during the previous year we had already done an island tour so we decided to start out the cruise with a beach day. We used Air Force One Fun Tours and had "Pappa Bear" as our driver to get us to the beach. We chose Sapphire beach after reading several reviews from the website. On the last cruise we went to Coki Beach (great snorkeling) and thought that this would be along the same lines. Pappa Bear stopped at two overlooks for us on the way to Sapphire Beach for some nice snapshots. When we got to the beach the sky was overcast. We rented beach chairs for $7.00/day. They don't have umbrellas but there are a lot of trees to provide shade, just watch out for the harmless ducks, seagulls and iguanas! It started to rain but probably only last about 1/2 hour. Sapphire beach isn't the biggest but it was not crowded because we were the only ship in port that day. There is some snorkeling to the right of the beach around the rocks but be careful and wear watershoes. We saw a lot of different fish, some urchins, and a few starfish. Day two was in Dominica. As the ship was cruising near the lush island my mom and I watched several bottlenose and spinner dolphins frolicking in the waves. As we later found out, Dominca was the site for filming scenes from a couple of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. We chose to go on an island tour with Fredos Taxi and Tours Cruise Critic [member] recommendation). He provided us with a great day and packed a lot in for 5-6 hours. The tour was $60.00/person and it included panoramic picture stops in the capital city of Rosseau, Emerald Pool, Trafalgar Falls, and snorkeling at Champagne Reef. Fredo pointed out many things along the way to us like banana plantations, mangos, coconuts, breadfruit, lemon grass, various nuts, herbs, etc. We also stopped at Mr. Nice's Fruit stand where we sampled fresh pineapple, coconut, bananas, mangos, coconut candy (awesome) and all he asked for was a donation. The hikes to Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald Pool are very easy walks for all. Both locations are very picturesque. You can both swim in the Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls. My siser swam in the Emerald Pool and said it was very cold. The rest of us just took pictures. Both of these stops as well as the stop at Champagne Reef require a site pass for $5.00/person not included in the tour price. Champagne Reef was a nice stop as well. Make sure you bring your own snorkeling masks, fins, and get a life jacket before you go out. The beach is very rocky so wear shoes suited for that and if you don't have fins wear water shoes. Champagne Reef is so named because of the geothermal vents that allow bubbles to come up from down below similar to the bubbles in a glass of champagne. We saw a good variety of sea life including some very colorful fish, puffer fish, lots different types of coral and sponges. A guide told me that if we had swam more to the left we could have seen seahorses, and maybe some octopus but we ran out of time. Overall another nice day spent in a beautiful but obviously very poor island nation. I never felt unsafe as many people stated but I was offered marijuana by 2 young boys in the market area near the cruise ship dock. As my sister and I stood up on the lido deck waiting for the ship to pull away, we snapped some pictures of a rainbow that appeared to stretch over the island and observed a sea turtle cruising around the dock oblivious to the bustling city above. Day 3 and we woke up to Dad telling us that Mom had gotten sick the night before. He had to take her to the infirmiry onboard because she had spent the night with an upset stomach and food poisoning. Word of warning about the ship's infirmiry!!! My mom was never given any medicine to take care of her constant vomiting and upset stomach but was given a shot to sleep all day. She was also quarintined to the ship all day and was not allowed to go in the dining room for dinner that night either. She recovered fine though but she did miss out on a great day in Barbados. She was worried that we would not go without her so she insisted that we enjoy the day. We chose Glory Tours (Cruise Critic [member] recommendation). The tour was around $100/person but well worth the price. The day started with a tour of Harrison Cave. There was a short movie discussing the formation, and discovery of the cave. Next we boarded a tram that would take us deep inside. Growing up in an area where there are 4 major caves within 30 minutes of my home there was nothing out of the ordinary that I saw there but still interesting to witness the formation of the stalagtites, stalagmites, and the unground lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. We then stopped at an overlook on the west coast of the island were several major surfing competitions take place every winter and where The Bold and The Beautiful filmed several episodes. This was one of my favorite stops to take pictures. From there we were taken to a small cafe for lunch. We had flying fish sandwiches (high recommend with a little hot pepper sauce) and french fries. After lunch we went to the Barbados Wildlife Reserve to view the Green Monkeys. This was another one of my favorite stops among the entire cruise. This little wildlife sanctuary is filled with tortoises, green monkeys, parrots, peacocks, small deer, pelicans, caiman and many other animals all without cages. My dad sat on a bench and a monkey actually sat down right beside him. We could have sat for hours watching the baby monkeys play but we had to move on. Our last stop was an experience that I will never forget. We boarded a small boat that led us out in the ocean. We went past the resort where Tiger Woods was married, on our way to our final destination. When we arrived we could already see that we were surrounded by sea turtles and that we were going to have the opportunity to swim with them. They are literally all around you. Some even get so close that you can reach out and pet them on their shells. On the way back the driver pointed out an area where celebrities such as Elton John, Mick Jagger, and Tom Selleck reside and for a mere 22 million you can be the next door neighbor to American Idol's Simon Cowell. Though Barbados does not have the prettiest cruise port it as an island filled with beauty and a variety of activities to please everyone. Day four and Mom was back with us to explore the island of St. Lucia with Cosol Tours. Not sure about the price per person but another great day jam-packed full of lots to see, do and taste. One of our first stops for breatkfast. Cosol has a young girl that prepares all the dishes for the tour guests to try. We had pineapple, mango, flying fish, fish cakes, johnny cakes, tuna salad sandwiches, coconut bread, bananas cake and the list goes on! Here you can buy banana ketchup and hot sauce for $4.00/bottle. We stopped to look at a waterfall a little prettier than Dominica's in my opinion and walked through a botanical gardens with lots of lush tropical plants. We went to a volcano for a tour and a few snapshots...but breathe through your mouth and not your nose so that the sulfur smell in the rivers and springs won't bug you too much. My favorite stop on the tour, besides sampling all the food was the beach stop at Jalisco Beach Hilton ( I believe). The beach is literally situated between the two mightly piton mountains that rise up out of the water. Very nice beach, good variety of fish, lots of coral an an overall excellent day. Cosol was very informative and friendly and new a lot about his island home. Its a tough decision for me between Barbados and St. Lucia being my favorite but both are islands that I would like to come back and visit in the future. Ok, I know that my review is quite long so I"ll try to be more brief on the last two islands. Day 5 was Antigua and we went out on an Eco-tour with Adventure Antigua ( yet another great recommendation). We spent a beautiful sun-filled day on a boat with our guides Chris and "One Love". Antigua was a lot of unspoiled beaches and was one of the most tranquil islands that we visited. I can see why stars such as Jim Carey and Will Smith vacation here with their families and why Robin Leech (host of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous), J.K. Rowlings (Harry Potter fame), author Ken Follet, and Eric Clapton among other own homes here. Our boat made 3 major stops on our tour with mini stops to see some starfish, baby pelicans, and an old fort. We stopped at bird island for the first part of the day. My mom and I walked with the guide to the top of the island to view the caribbean on one side and the atlantic on the other. We saw several large blow holes where mists of water spray up from the ocean below. My dad and sister stayed in the water down below and got a chance to view a sea turtle swimming by. There was time to lounge in the water here before we got back on the boat for lunch. This was the best lunch I had the entire week!! BBQ chicken, pasta salad, green salad, plantain, and banana bread and as much as you wanted. As "One Love" said: "if you think its nice, then try it twice!" and we did. Next we stopped at an area of mangroves where many sharks, sting rays and fish have their young or lay their eggs because they are protected from larger predators. Our last main stop was at an archway carved into an island in the middle of nowhere called "Hell's Gate". One side is the calm caribbean and the other is the fierce atlanitic ocean. You could hike to the top of the island like my sister did or snorkel around the boat. One of the guides let a tour of the coral reef for anyone that wanted to follow. This was one of the prettiest reefs that I have ever been too. We saw lobster, puffer fish, jellyfish, squid, many types of urchins, conch, and again a large variety of tropical and colorful fish. Chris was great at diving down to pick up something to bring up the surface to show as and answered questions that anyone had. I could have stayed and explored that reef all day long. Overall it was a very relaxing and enjoyable day out on the open ocean. As with all of the operators that we used throughout the cruise, I would definitely do another tour with Adventure Antigua in the future. On a side note before I get to the last island...beside our cruise ship was a British navy ship that was docked. Several of the sailors looked up to the top deck to wave at the people staring back down at them. Later that night after the cruise ship had pulled out of Antigua the cruise director confirmed that Prince William (son of Prince Charles and grandson of Queen Elisabeth) was onboard the vessel but they were not allowed to tell us. Kinda interesting. Guess it would have been better had we actually gotten to see him. Ok, last island was St. Kitts. We used The Tour Store for our short island tour and beach day getaway. I believe it was about $25.00/person. As with most of the other island the tour took us through small towns, we took some pictures at an overlook or two and the dropped us at the beach. A word of advice! Make sure before your driver leaves you that you are at the correct beach. Our tour was to take us to Reggae Beach and not Frigate Bay Beach but we ended up at Frigate Bay. After calling the company back a driver came to transport us to Reggae (much nicer than Frigate Bay) beach. There is a small restaurant there that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, fish, etc. We had beach chairs included an a complimentary drink from the bar which was nice. The beach was less crowded the further right you went, go on the right side opposite the rocks. Not many people there at all. We snorkedled a little and saw a lot of starfish, an octopus and a sea snake...but it was harmless. Also picked up a lot of nice shells here. Make sure you watch out for Wilburg the 500lb. pig up around the bar area. This was a great beach day to end a wonderful vacation. Ok, I think I've pretty much explained the ends and outs of our trip. This in my opinion was a better itinerary than the eastern caribbean because it included more island stops and less time on the boat but others may beg to differ. I would love to do this cruise again and just hit the beaches every day now that we have seen a lot of the major sites along the way. I'm not going to get into the specifics of our return trip home because it was nightmare from hell! The disembarking from the ship was effortless, as was the flight from San Juan to Boston. But the connection from Boston to Washington DC did not happen because of bad weather, US Airways cancelled 42 flights and we spent the night like homeless people in the airport sunday night, only to wake up and find that we had to go to New York City to catch a flight to DC and make it home on Monday in time for me and my siser and Dad to be late for work but do go on another Southern Caribbean Cruise, I would it all over again. Happy Cruising everyone!!!