I thought maybe someone out there would be interested in our cruise review.

Saturday May 5th my husband and I were off to Minneapolis to stay overnight at my son's place as we had a 6:00 AM flight the next day. My son was also flying out about an hour later than us so we took a taxi to the airport. Bear in mind that I do not appreciate getting up at 4AM, but it was quite exciting to know that we were finally off on our long awaited cruise. We had booked our cruise last August so it was a long wait for us. I guess that is part of the fun of a vacation, the anticipation of it all as the time gets nearer.

We flew to Memphis with enough time to catch our flight to San Juan. The flight was great and exciting as everyone on the plane were cruise addicts (or would be after they experienced their first cruise). We arrived in San Juan at 4:00 P.M., right on schedule. Not a good landing though. The pilot overshot the runway and hit the brakes so hard that the lady sitting beside me would have gone through the seat in front of her had she not had a seatbelt on. We could then see the end of the runway right ahead of us. Scary. The shuttle bus was there waiting for us and we were whisked off to the pier.

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Embarkation

Embarkation was a breeze. The amount of people was not excessive and we were checked through immigration, got our Sail N Sign cards, pic's and onto the ship in a matter of minutes. Nothing to it, compared to the Miami mess we encountered last year.

We went straight to our cabin on the Empress deck (7236) to get rid of our carry ons. Then down to explore Old San Juan (so we thought). It had rained most of the flight down and was now raining again. Not a good sign of what was to come. We tried several times to leave the ship but weather was so bad we finally resorted ourselves to being on the ship for the rest of the evening. This was most distressing to us but can't control the weather.

The ship left port on time and we explored and checked out a few things, had dinner in the Universe dining room, then sat and enjoyed the rest of the evening until 11 PM when we were to meet a gal and her daughter from New York. We met with them and talked a little while, then retired to our cabin to put our clothes away and get a good nights sleep. We were somewhat exhausted after a long day.

Day 1

We arrived in St. Thomas to find that the weather was somewhat against us. It was warm but cloudy and raining off and on. Needless to say we didn't do any tours or hit the beaches like we had wanted to. We did do lots of shopping as the Havensight Mall is close to the pier. I think we hit every shop there was and by the time we finished there it was afternoon and time to get lunch. So we headed back to the ship. From there we just explored on board. The afternoon was sort of wasted, but that was ok, we like time to ourselves just to relax and do nothing. Unfortunately, due to the rain, there was not much going on, on board either.

Day 2

We arrived in Antigua and the weather had improved somewhat. We did the shopping thing first by the pier, then hired a taxi for the day. Our cab driver John took us across the island to St. Johns (or St. James) not sure which it was called. We stayed at the beach there for most of the morning. We did a lot of sightseeing on the way there. John was very interesting, telling us all about Antigua. We left to go back to the ship in the early afternoon. The rest of the day was spent on board, absorbing more sun. It felt so good after raining for 2 days. That evening was the Captain's dinner. What a nice affair. Everyone was dressed their very best. Lots of drinks, pics and the meal was terrific. We were at a table for 4 on the lower level. Our dinner partners were a young couple, brother and sister from New York. We were a little apprehensive, being there was such an age difference, but throughout the entire cruise, we hit it off well and really enjoyed each others company. My husband and I had lobster and prime rib, both done to perfection. Bear in mind that I have always disliked lobster, but this was exceptional. I ate the whole thing. (Had planned on giving it to my husband) Was he disappointed? I would guess that he was. The prime rib was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Our waiter was Shawn and asst waiter, Ovie. He name was too difficult to pronounce so he said to just call him Ovie. He was exceptional, but our waiter, Shawn, was somewhat on the slow side. Fortunate for us that we had 8:00 PM seating so we had plenty of time. After dinner we went to the Casino for a little gambling. My husband won a enough to give us a small amount to gamble each night. We are not big on gambling. Drinks were about the same price as they were last year. Drink of the day with the glass $6.25, without the glass $2.95, other drinks averaged $4.00. My favorite drink, Toasted Almond. How good!!!

Day 3

We didn't do much of anything in Guadaloupe. There wasn't really anything that interested us. Spent some time checking out the shops near the pier. We spent most of our time on board entertaining ourselves and relaxing. We were quite tired from the day before.

Day 4

This was a day at sea where we joined in the festivities, relaxed in the sun, and ate. We had our 2nd formal evening which turned out to be another great dinner. Prime rib again, done to perfection.

Day 5

This was the day we were waiting for most of all. The sun was out and we were prepared to spend the day at the beach. We left the ship and got a taxi to take us to the beach. He advised Palm Beach at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. He said we could use all of their facilities free of charge. I questioned him about that as it just didn't right to me, but he said it was good advertising for the hotel. So we toured around the gardens and checked everything out. It was 9 AM and there were a few people on the beach. We got ourselves a couple of lounges and spent some time in the water. It was so relaxing. After we had been there for a couple of hours, we were approached by security. He asked if we were from the hotel. (He could see our Carnival towels) We told him we were from the Destiny. He told us that we had to leave. I told him what the cab driver had said to us. NOT SO!! So we quite disappointed that we had been lied to and the fact that it was very embarrassing. My husband was furious!! We got a taxi and went back to the ship. This had definitely ruined our morning. BUT, we had to make the best of it. So we had lunch and did some shopping, again. We had booked the 'Sunset Cocktail Cruise' for that evening. That was great. We had never done that before. It was such a great ending to a somewhat dismal morning. We took a walk that evening around the area and decided to check out Carlos and Charlies. We hadn't been there last year when we were in Cancun. It was interesting to say the least. It wasn't our cup of tea though. So we didn't stay there very long. It is just too crowded for us.

Day 6

Another day at sea and our last day of vacation for us. It was the usual 'at sea' activities. Enjoying ourselves to the fullest. We spent a good part of the day with our young dinner partners and the lady I had met from New York. The afternoon was spent getting our suitcases packed and ready to go. We had to have ours out earlier as we had booked the 'San Juan Airport Getaway Tour' and we would be some of the first ones off the ship. Our flight home to Minneapolis didn't leave until 4:30 PM, so that gave us almost an entire day. Or so we thought.

Day 7

Time to disembark. It went rather smoothly. There is always somewhat of a wait, but not too bad for us. We finally found our tour bus and left about 10:00 AM. The tour was suppose to be approximately 6 hours, but we knew we were getting cheated by not leaving until 10. We stopped at the San Juan Cristobal Fortress. This was quite interesting. We then toured the streets of Old San Juan and spent 1 1/2 hours shopping and lunch there. We were then escorted to the Art Museum, which was very interesting. We were then brought to a hotel where we could use all of their facilities. Well, when we got there we were told that we would have to leave for the airport 2 hours early as the city and airport was extremely busy. So that left us no time to use the hotel facilities or go down to the beach there. Some of us left right away then. Well, once on the way, we understood what she had been trying to tell us. They were celebrating Miss Puerto Rico and the freeways and jammed with cars and PEOPLE. We couldn't get anywhere. We did have quite the driver. He managed to get the bus turned around in such a small space, it was unbelievable. Of course laying on the horn the whole time. He ran 1 car up onto the sidewalk. We managed to get to the airport in one piece, but what a ride! And I thought Minneapolis was bad! I'll never complain again. We had about an hour and a half before we caught our plane.

All in all, we had a great time on our second cruise. As far as the Destiny is concerned, it is a beautiful ship, but I do like the design of the Triumph better. And there definitely was a different type of crowd on the Destiny than we had last year. But that is to be expected on any cruise. We are just wondering when we will be able to take our next one. Not soon enough for us!