Carnival Destiny Cruise Review by Stongette

So now years later, we had the opportunity to go on another cruise. We decided that Disney was a no go for us, because we only had a few nights and Disney’s shorter itineraries were the same as the one we had years ago. We wanted something new. We looked around and found that Royal Caribbean and Carnival both had itineraries that intrigued us. We picked Carnival based on price (much cheaper) and we picked the Destiny because it had balconies and the Imagination did not. We booked an aft balcony on Destiny; sailing to Key West and Cozumel with a day at sea, before heading home.

Now with all that said here are some of our thoughts….not a true trip report but here goes:

The Good: • We never met our room steward or any of the housekeeping crew, but our room was always cleaned well. They saw we had brought 2 bottles of white wine and iced them for us. The towel animals greeted us each night. Each time we walked down the corridor towards our room, the staff always seemed busy, and friendly. • The Adult Comedy Show was quite funny and packed to the hilt. Definitely raunchy and if you can’t let go of being politically correct, this is not the show for you. I will say that I could not believe that people tried (several times) to bring children into the show. Each time the staff member refused them at the door. What the heck were they thinking???? • The second main Palladium show (I believe it was called Nightlife or similar) was pretty good and entertaining. The dancers seemed to enjoy and have fun with their performances and the female singer was pretty good. • The kids on board the ship seemed well behaved and for the most part did not seem to trouble others. There of course were the few sugar-highed toddlers screaming through the hallways but overall the kids were good. Some adults on the other hand seemed to be vacationing from parental responsibilities. • My husband and I enjoyed the ports of call. o Key West was a trip and we enjoyed people watching the Fantasy Fest goers…though I know the ship left well before the festival really got into full swing. I believe if we had kids with us, trying to get around the festivities would have been more of an obstacle. o We actually lucked out in Cozumel, because while Cozumel was a bit rainy, grey and overcast, Tulum was sunny and warm. • Excursions (we booked through Carnival for all excursions just to be safe time-wise) o In Key West, we did the Trolley Tour to familiarize us with the area. We both thought the tour was good and informative. Our guide was hilarious and I wish either of us could remember his name. o We also did the Pub Crawl in Key West. We had Capt. Ron as our bar guide. He was a hoot and a bit tipsy by the end of the tour….as he said, “You can’t be drunk all day if you don’t start drinking in the morning.” o In Cozumel we did the Tulum ruins tour. We knew that this was a LONG excursion and had a good 3-4 hours of just travel, but this really was an awesome excursion. Manuel, our tour guide, was not only friendly and knowledgeable but he was so enthusiastic about the Mayans and Tulum that you really wanted to learn more. Tulum itself was breathtaking. • The Adult Costume Party was a blast and people had some great costumes. Again I didn’t really think it would be something we would bring our kids to as it was an adult forum with some risqué costumes, but there were kids there. • Best Food: I am sad to say that the best food that we had was actually at a small restaurant near Tulum recommended by our tour guide, Manuel. We had a very yummy chicken quesadilla. • Debarkation – was painless and I liked Carnival’s system of conveyors for the luggage. Disney grouped luggage in zones but Carnival totally took the cake with their organization. • Friendly staff, guests, etc. Everywhere we went, whether it was on the ship or at a port of call we meant so many warm and friendly people.

The Bad – maybe not bad but rather concerns we had with our experience • Ship Layout – I had read about the unusualness of the design and had read reviews where it was an issue and others where it was not. I can not say how much we both detested the ship’s layout. You climb one stairwell to find you can’t get to the other side. My husband who is a firefighter said that the ship was a safety disaster waiting to happen. In an emergency, panicked people would be trapped in the ship’s poor design. I also disliked that not on one deck could you walk around the whole ship. • Room Service – We used the Rise and Shine service twice while on board (we would have used it three times but they didn’t leave the form and we decided on a different venue). This was one of my favorite treats when we sailed with Disney….breakfast on the balcony while we prepared for our day. The first time breakfast arrived 45 minutes late (after the latest time we requested). The second time, it arrived on time but a quarter of the food arrived. We gave up. • Soda issue – we decided to buy the soda card for the duration of our trip. What we found out was that unlike on the Disney ships where they had soda stations, you had to go to a bar in order to get your soda. Okay that’s no biggie. What I thought was irritating was that a person buying a soda from the bar was given a full can and glass of ice, those of use dumb enough to pre-buy the soda card were given a glass completely full of ice with a splash of soda (regardless of if you asked for lite ice). • Buffet Food was dismal at best (with the exception of the breakfast buffet which was pretty decent). The Mexican buffet, which I had looked forward to, was inedible for both of us. • Movies – I do not know if this was a normal thing or not for the Destiny, but I did not appreciate the show-times for movies on the large lido deck screen. Each night the first and second shows were concerts (and not of recent performers), the movies showed only at midnight each night they offered them. I did not understand their logic at all. One night they played Race to Witch Mountain (a PG13 movie) at midnight. There were kids there who must have been sleepy in the am. • As I said the second Palladium show was pretty good, the first show called Formidable, though, was laughable. Not very entertaining and I honestly felt embarrassed for the dancers. They seemed out of their element, their timing was off, their movements jerky. We almost didn’t see the second show because of this one. • Rude guests….not rude to us but rude to the crew. I witnessed guests who blatantly abused a crew member because he didn’t want them to walk on the wet floor that was being cleaned. This same crew member had to tell several guests who climbed over the rope and chairs blocking the way to go back because of floor. These guests were horrid to him. We apologized for the other guests and told him how much we appreciated his efforts. • Table service was slow and spotty. Our cocktail service in the main dining room was non-existent even after telling our server. There was no dancing (don’t know if that was because we were in the Your Time dining or not) • While I found the majority of the ship to be quite clean, the window shades in the Galaxy room were covered with huge stains. I would have so much preferred to see the deck and the ocean beyond rather than stained and soiled shades which made the room look cave-like. • By far the worst thing was that we purchased two bottles of Sheridan’s coffee liquor from the gift store onboard the ship. The crewmember assured us they would be packed for air travel and that they would be wrapped. When we received the package in our room, we packed it in our suitcase (wrapped up). We then used general debarkation and set our luggage outside our room. The next morning we retrieved our totally liquor covered suitcase from Carnival’s conveyor belt. We opened it to find that inside the package that bottles were not wrapped but wedged inside the box. Half our fault for not checking but a huge disappointment. Thank goodness we only lost one bottle.

Misc. Comments: • While debarkation was very smooth, embarkation was a bit confusing for first time Carnival cruisers. There were several lines, with only the VIP line having a sign. The staff was helpful though. • The décor on the boat was garish and had a much dated feeling, even after being somewhat refurbished. We both preferred the art deco and neutral decors of the Disney Wonder. • I had read about feeling more movement of the ship and engines in the Aft but thought I could handle it. I was right, I didn’t have any issues. My husband on the other hand had a hard time sleeping on the vibrating bed. • Now as I noted earlier we are big Disney fans, so we are not immune to being sold to….every ride dumps you in a gift store. We were impressed with Carnivals selling tactics. Every day something was on sale, last chance, only today, pre-sales sales, clearance sales, etc etc. We were surprised that with all the selling going on, that Carnival did not sell discounted future cruises while onboard. Disney did this with huge discounts and we know a few other cruise-lines do this as well. This was one sale that we actually wanted. • We were not prepared for the barrage of announcements from Brent, the cruise director. He must have beeped in about 3-4 daily and this did not count the announcements by the captain. We couldn’t remember Disney having more than one daily (we didn’t count captain announcements for either). I guess the needed to broadcast all their sales! • I had read that the dining room food ranged from good to excellent. I would agree that it was better than the buffet food but I would not say it was excellent cuisine. • More of an observation but other guests had mentioned it also. On the first night drinks were served in large tumblers and we were charged accordingly. We thought that was how they were served. As the days progressed and more noticeable on the last night, the drinks were served in tiny glasses and we were charged half the cost. This was at different bars different times, and at no time were we asked about getting a double/single or a whatever. As I said not a complaint just an observation.

I won’t say that Carnival was an extraordinary cruising experience but it is definitely a value for the money. We had a great time and will definitely try out a new ship and itinerary soon.