Carnival Destiny Review
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After taking many, many cruises and last year taking the Carnival Pride to Belize I swore that we would never sail Carnival again...however our son and daughter-in-law booked the Destiny for their first wedding anniversary and wanted us, along with some friends, to join them. We relented and booked.
Pre-Cruise: We took a flight from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan. Our flight landed 30 minutes before our son's did so we all met at the airport and took a van to the Best Western Pierre Hotel. I am NOT a fan of Puerto Rico at all. It's dirty and looks like Germany after the war II. This hotel was not much better. The rooms looked like cells in Rikers Island. The beds all dipped towards the center which made sleeping very uncomfortable. There was no view from the windows as they were so dirty you couldn't see anything. The lobby was beautiful so gave you a false sense of what you would get. The restaurant in the hotel was as expensive as a fine restaurant in New York and totally NOT worth even half the price. We spent the night there as all hotels were sold out. We couldn't wait to get on the ship the next day.
Embarkation: We arrived at the ship at noon and, since we are members of the Skippers Club, waited on no line, took our party with us, were processed and on the ship all within 20 minutes. They say not to go to your cabin until 1:30 but we went straight up, dropped our carry-ons and headed out on the ship. We weren't sailing until 10pm so we just took our time walking around learning where everything was. We did find out that the worst time to board the ship is between 3pm and 7pm as that's when the heaviest amount of passengers show up. The passenger percentage of Puerto Rican's is about 80%. They are rude and aggressive people and made for an uncomfortable voyage from the beginning. We decided to book one tour, immediately, through the ship. That was the scuba in Barbados. They sell out fast so try to book whatever tours you want right away either through your television or at the purser's desk on deck 3. Also, reviews have stated that you are not able to bring liquor to your staterooms...wrong. It is optional to check it in at the desk when you get back on board from an Island. We didn't, left it all in our bags, put it through the scanner and went right to our room. We were never questioned about it.