Carnival Destiny Review
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Hello everyone. We just returned yesterday from a short 4 day cruise on the Destiny, and I can say that after all the negative posts, and the concern that I was starting to feel, I didn't experience any of it.
We flew into FLL on Wednesday, the day before the cruise. We had booked transportation down to Miami through SAS travel. I had the paperwork in my carry-on to call them upon arrival and retrieving our luggage. We landed and stepped onto the jetway and I turned my cell phone on. At the end of the jetway, my cell phone rang. It was our driver from SAS. His name was Frank, and he was just calling to let us know he had gotten caught in traffic on his way back from Miami, and he was running a little late. He was about 15 minutes away from the AP. I told him we were just off the plane and hadn't even gotten our luggage yet, so we were probably timing everything just right. We retrieved our luggage, went outside to wait where he instructed, and in about 5 minutes, Frank pulled in. He was very talkative, and answered all the questions we asked about Ft. Lauderdale and Miami.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown Miami. It is right across from Bayside Marketplace and just across the bridge from the port. It was a decent hotel, offering easy access to food and entertainment at Bayside, and included ammenities such as a pillow menu(!!!) and free WiFi. There was also a business center with two older model PC's with internet access. They were slow, but they were free! "Bongos", Gloria Estavan's restaurant is just a couple blocks down the street, and Bayside Marketplace offers several recognizable selections such as Chili's, HardRock, Hooters, Starbucks and Bubba Gumps, as well as several smaller local cafes and clubs. There is a CVS pharmacy at the other end of the block, which carried 8 pack cans of Pepsi products for $2.99, of which we carried two 8 packs on the ship with no questions asked. They also carried a small selection of wines if you wanted to carry on your alloted amount of wine. I mention this because I had not wanted to pack beverages for the flight, and it was very convenient to have access right there before you catch a cab to the ship.