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Carnival Cruise Line

MS Carnival Destiny

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Reviewed by: Trina Vecchio
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: July 10, 2002
Itinerary: Caribbean - Southern

Overall I was very happy with this cruise. It was the second time I've ever cruised (I went on Premier in the early 90's) so perhaps we were a bit starstruck but I found the service to be excellent, accommodations were comfortable and activities galore. The port of calls were awesome with the exception of Martinique.

The Main entrance or the Rotunda was awe inspiring. I never felt overwhelmed by the glitter and neon Carnival is famous for (or infamous for depending on your taste I guess.) The Lido deck and sun deck I felt were comfortable for the most part. You do have to get up early to get a good seat at the pool but I usually opted for one of the chaise lounges on the higher decks because after awhile I needed a break from wacky pool side contests. I didn't really spend that much time in the pool, just cooled off and of course went down the famous slide. The promenade deck reminded me of a mini Pleasure Island (at Disney) we hit most of the lounges and nightclubs and of course the casino (I won 300.00 playing black jack my first time and didn't step foot in there again, I for once quit while i was ahead.) The dining rooms were elaborate as were main show lounges.

Our biggest mistake was signing up for Main Seating for dinner. We only ate in the main dining room three times, and the food was quite good! Our table mates were nice, all couples like ourselves. The service was excellent, our head waiter was a hot ticket as were his assistants. On the nights we didn't eat in the dining room we opted for the buffet on the Lido deck and that was good too. No complaints. We ordered room service one night, that was a little slow, we ordered around 8pm and didn't get our food until close to 10 pm but they supplied us with drink coupons which was nice.

We had an outside cabin on the Main Deck (upgraded from an 6a) we liked the location. It was near the elevators (most people cringe at that because of the noise level but it didn't bother us and we were thought it was convenient. The walls were a bit thin, we had argumentative neighbors that we inadvertently eavesdropped their conversations more than we wanted to. I didn't feel claustrophobic in the room and our cabin steward was very accommodating (although I think we were pretty low maintenance) We had problems with our shower our third day... it was low water pressure to begin with but the third day we only had one little stream of water coming out and it was cold so we called maintenance and they replaced the shower head immediately. They also comped us with a bottle of champaign which was very generous, we didn't expect that.

The entertainment was excellent. We attended the main show in the theater. The dancing was good and the lead singer was excellent....she should go to broadway!!! The cruise director was great too. Very enthusiastic but not annoying and personable too. The pool band was cool, typical calypso regae music, festive. The nightclubs were fun. Some better than others. I personally liked the smaller more intimate ones but the main discotheque was cool too.

We Quite honestly I was a little bored on the days at sea. Not Carnival's fault though...I guess I could only do so much hanging out by the pool and watching people belly flop and guzzle beer. Some people loved it though. I went to a food demo one day and that was neat. My boyfriend liked the casino but eventually that wore thin. We were definitely our happiest at the ports which I thought were great.

St. Thomas we went to St. John Trunk Bay which was paradise!!! I got a little seasick on the trip back to Red Hook and didn't think I'd make it to the first formal night but pepto bismol and a quick nap solved that. Martinique we did nothing...we went off the ship for about an hour bought some french pastry (which wasn't that good) and spent the day on the ship. I had my spa treatments that day and they were good. A little pushy with the product promotion but I wasn't disappointed. I intended to work out every day but only ended up using the fitness center twice. I liked it. Probably helped cancel out a couple of those lavish meals!!

Barbados was my favorite port of call. We went on a tour of the Malibu Beach Rum Distillery and used their beach facility then we were there, that was a blast. Went back to the ship to freshen up and drop off our souvenirs then headed into bridgetown and had dinner at some restaurant which was right on the water. Our final port of call was Aruba which I've been to before. We had a great time. We rented a jeep and toured the island (saw the famous natural bridge and the love cave) then hung out at Iguana Joes before boarding the ship.

All walks of life. Quite a few families, and quite a few couples (some honeymooners) There were a couple of family reunions on the ship as well but they were fun. Carnival is often called the Walmart of megaships. I didn't really get that impression, granted a few people showed up for formal night in less than formal garb but it didn't really offend me. There were some people that seem to complain about every little thing but that goes with the territory (ie:our unhappy neighbors) I think Carnival has pulled away from the spring break party atmosphere and has targeted the family/couple market. They should stick to that! Some of the pool side antics were raucous but i was more amused than annoyed. I liked our table mates (we sat at a table for six) in fact we hit it off with one of the couples and did the Malibu Beach excursion with them and we've been e-mailing since.