Carnival continues to provide great value! We have cruised with CCL 3 times before. Valor in '09, Destiny in '10, and Imagination early in 2011. This was our 2nd time on Destiny and the ship is still in great shape for its age. We have had interior rooms all 4 times and I don't think we will ever spend extra on a balcony, just not in the room enough to make it worth it. We took our 4 young kids with us. One stayed in a friends room. With trundle bed and bunks we fit pretty comfortably.

Embarkation was streamlined as always. We had Fun Pass completed prior to leaving so we just checked in at the kiosks and waited for our keys. We have always carried our luggage with us so we don't have to wait for a change of clothes or medicines and that works pretty well. We got to the dock at 1pm and were at the buffet by 2pm.

Key West was interesting. There was some "Fantasy Fest" going on and even though they warned us the night before at the Welcome Aboard show, we were a little shocked to see people walking around almost completely naked. One woman even got back on the ship with "body paint" and no top. I wonder how far she got before someone asked her to get dressed. It didn't ruin our day in port we just stayed away from the main streets with the kids. We did the Catamaran Sail and Snorkel but the seas were a little rough and had a hard time getting the kids in the water. Read more