Bill Rainwater

Age: 72
Occupation: retired
Number of Cruises: 7
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Destiny
Sailing Date: November 21st, 2004
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean

We had a delightful cruise, and found the Destiny to be everything we wanted it to be, contrary to some to the negative comments submitted in earlier reviews.

Lets begin with embarkation/debarkkation. We walked to the ship across the street from the Old San Juan Hotel (now owned by Sheraton, not Wyndham)at close to noon, and were in our cabin no later than 1:00PM. The Funpass does reduce time, as we saw a very long line of those who did not have the Funpass completed. When we returned to San Juan we were off the ship, had our bags, and had reached the San Juan airport by about 11:30AM. All in all, both embarkation and debarkation were the least painful of any of our previous cruises.

Before mentioning destinations, I should explain that we had been to each of the destinations with the exception of Dominica before, so we didn't feel quite the pressure to "see everything", and didn't take any of the ship's tours. We also like to sample local restaurants if possible, notwithstanding the already paid for meals on the ship.

St. Thomas. We walked the main shopping street, bought a flash attachment for my son's camera at Royal Carriabean, and had a wonderful lunch at Virgilio's, about 1/4 block off the main shipping street. We had eaten there on a previous visit and it had not lost its charm. We walked back to the ship, snapping pictures along the way on a perfect day.

Dominica. Here we hired a cab that took us to the Emerald Pool and its waterfall and rain forest. The hike to the pool was about a mile, and was over a pretty easy trail. The geography of the island was just georgeous, and the driver was very good about stopping for photos and had good comments on the places we saw. I think I paid about $30 to the driver for the trip. Don't expect to do a lot of shopping on Dominica except perhaps for crafts.

Barbados. Here our goal was to visit Harrson's Cave. We had seen it before, and felt it was worth another visit. Again we hired a cab that took us to the cave and waited about an hour for us to complete the tour. The cavern has an open tram that travels through it, so there is little effort in seeing a really beautiful and unusual place. I think our cost for the cave tickets was about $35 and the taxi charged us about $40. We enjoyed the driver so much that we booked him to pick us up at 6:10PM at the ship and drive us to The Cliffs, a world class restaurant about a 15 minute drive from the ship. The meal and the setting were magnificant! The restaurant deserves all of its applause. Our driver picked us up at 8:30 and we were back on the ship by 9:00PM, in time for its 10:00PM departure to Aruba.

Aruba. We had spent a week on Aruba some 25 years ago, so it was very interesting to see the changes brought about development. Here I rented a car from Hertz, which has a pick-up point right by the ship. The rental was about $80 for the day for the 4 wheel drive vehicle. We drove to the California Lighthouse, took pictures, and had a couple of beers at a very pretty Italian restaurant by the lighthouse. We then drove to the Natural Bridge and took more pictures. We stopped for lunch at Le Dome, a restaurant located near the end of North Beach that serves Belgian/French cuisine. It also was an excellent meal. After lunch we drove to the south end of the island for some deserted beach views and pictures. I returned the car about 5:00PM and we went back on board the ship. After dinner we made a quick walk to the shopping area adjacent to the ship for some last minute shopping. The ship left Aruba about 10:30 for San Juan.

The closest thing to a complaint I have regarding the Destiny is the quality of the entertainment in the show room. I must cavet this comment by saying we live in Las Vegas and are accustomed to shows and comedians of a very high order. The best entertainer on the ship is the Cruise Director, Jorge. He is an ex standup comic and very good. The ship had booked two comics, and one was so-so and the other was pretty new to the game. The ship had also booked a hypnotist and a magician. The magician had a couple of good illusions, but was absolutely void of any personality. The hypnotist was probably ok, but I can never buy into the premise offered up, so I didn't enjoy it. An original member of the Platters was booked to sign some songs, etc. He was so bad I had a difficult time believing he was any good 30 years ago. Besides the Cruise Director, the best show was the Vegas style review early in the week. I completely enjoyed that, and would have liked to see them again during the week.

Overall, the Destiny and the itenerary were the best of our previous cruises, and I'm already planning the next Carnival cruise.

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