This was our 10th cruise and 3rd on Carnival. We had taken the same itinerary last in September 99, on the Carnival Triumph.

It was a good cruise overall and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A few mistakes we made on this cruise.

· The June 26 sailing fit well with my work schedule, but we underestimated the number of kids that would be on the cruise. It was mentioned that there were 675 kids. I'm not sure if that was just the number in 'Camp Carnival' or included the teenagers who were present.

· Our cabin (9170) was on the Lido Deck below the Kids Playroom. We knew this when we booked the cabin, and did not think it would be a problem. Of course in the evening, it was quiet, but during the day it was quite noisy and interrupted my naptime.

John Heald was the cruise director and has got to be one of the best in the business IMHO. While he does use some of the same jokes as other Cruise Directors, he has a great knack for working the crowd and making the cruise more personalized.

Embarkation
We arrived at the NY City pier at 12:30 and I dropped my wife and luggage off at the door. I proceed to the parking lot on the adjacent pier.

$18/day, but it is within walking distance of the ship. By the time I walked back to the embarkation area - they were allowing passengers on the ship.

Carnival had at least 20 check-in stations, but directing all the incoming passengers through a single photographer station for the 'embarkation photo' held up the entire process. There had to be 70-80 people waiting in line for the photograph. We walked by the photographer and went straight to the check-in desk and were processed through in less than 5 minutes.

Ship Condition
Overall, it seemed that the Destiny was somewhat torn and tattered. It was surprising to see a ship in that condition after only 4 years. The elevator situation was horrible - in the forward area -there are 10 elevators. 3 were out of service for the entire cruise, and on most days a fourth was not in working.

Cabin
Our cabin was 9170 a Category 8D with a balcony on the port side of the Lido Deck (9th floor). The cabin was very nice and had the most storage space of any cabin we have ever stayed in.

Carnival has started to put an amenities basket in the cabin. Ours contained, some shampoo, deodorant, two kinds of soap, face cleanser, disposable razors, hand lotion, breath mints, and some candy. Interesting they take the baskets away on the last day - guess too many passengers take them home with them (guess they can do not have 59 cent baskets at home).

Dining Room and Food Service
The food in the main dining room (late seating) was very good. The service was a little slow in our area and midway through the cruise they transferred one of the tables our waiter was responsible for to another waiter -but it never seemed to change our service.

There was never a problem getting a second entrée or desert. It seemed that Carnival had really improved their desert quality since our cruise on the Triumph.

The buffets were always crowded and it seemed like the selection and variety was greatly reduced from our last cruise. Obviously, Carnival had done several things to improve the flow of passengers on the Triumph based on the Destiny, because we didn't recall the crowds in the buffet areas on the Triumph.

Entertainment
I thought the 2 production shows were fantastic. The magician and comedian shows are nothing special in my opinion.

One of my gripes with Carnival is having only one show on some nights. On this cruise 2 of the 5 nights were one show (Welcome Aboard and Guest Talent Show) only. There is no way the show lounge can hold that many passengers, and if you have 2nd seating - you cannot find a decent seat. We do not even bother to try.

Carnival is the only cruise line that I am aware of that uses the guest talent show as one of the evening shows. Normally we enjoy those shows, but not if the room is standing room only.

There was an R-rated comedian 4 of the 5 nights with a midnight show. The classical music trio, which played in the Flagship bar before dinner and one of the other lounges after dinner, was fabulous.

Ports/Shore Trips
St. John
Let me say, we are not fans of 'escorted motor coach tours'. Much more prefer to strike out on our own -either hiring a taxi or in the case of Canada -renting a car.

In St. John, there is an AVIS rental place about 1 block from the pier. Even with refueling the cost was less than $50(USD), which is actually cheaper than a shore excursion for two.

We drove out to St. Martins and Reversing Falls both of which were quite nice visits.

It was very hot on the day we were there. One of the passengers on the ship-arranged shore excursion said the buses were crowded and not air-conditioned.

Halifax
Arriving and departing from Halifax is really nice. They have a bagpipe group on the pier, a town crier who welcomes you and all of the merchants from the pier marketplace are on the pier to wave to the ship. On our last cruise we went out to Peggy's Cove - which is certainly a beautiful site but very crowded. We chose not to do that this time. Unfortunately it was raining during the afternoon in Halifax. I think this put a damper on those who took the bus ride out to Peggy's Cove.

If you are interested in renting a car - there is a National Car rental agency in the Westin hotel across the street from the pier. Both Avis and Hertz have locations in the central business district and have free shuttles from the pier.

We drove out to the Eastern Shore towards Sheets Harbour. It was a very pretty drive and some beautiful scenery. Lots of places to stop and take pictures and even a few public beaches if you are so inclined. We enjoyed a lunch in a local restaurant before heading back to the ship.

Other Comments
On the first night out Monday -there was an announcement just before Late Seating Dinner, that there was a sick passenger and a Coast Guard Cutter was enroute to take the passenger off. Unfortunately, when the Cutter had arrived, the sea was too rough to remove the passenger safely. Another announcement was made that a helicopter was being sent to airlift the passenger. A third announcement was made that the helicopter was nearby and asked that all passengers stay away from the upper deck and not to use flash photography as it may jeopardize the safety of the maneuver (it was near midnight before they were finally able to remove the passenger). Of course there were some brilliant passengers who thought that the flash photography did not apply to them and were snapping pictures like crazy.

Fortunately -the passenger arrived safely at a local hospital and was in stable condition. Carnival did a fantastic job of communicating what was going on the entire time and gave us follow up the next day.

Disembarkation
When we came up the Hudson, there were 4 other ships. The QE2, Destiny, BRBII, Horizon and Zenith. As you can imagine, getting everyone off of this ship is a big job. Passengers who wanted to carry off their entire luggage would be disembarked first, followed by those who had their luggage removed by the porters.

We docked around 7am and they started disembarking around 8. Deck 9 was one of the last to given permission to disembark. We were off the ship, and in our car leaving the pier by 9:10am. I'm not sure when the passengers who did not want to carry their luggage off got to leave.

Conclusion
As I said above, we had a great cruise. For those that like the bigger ships, the Destiny is certainly a good choice. Hopefully Carnival will take it into dry dock soon and do a refurbishing. The new Carnival Victory will replace the Destiny towards the end of the summer. Hopefully John Heald will stick around as cruise director - he certainly makes the trip enjoyable.

Cruising out of NY is a must IMHO, especially if you can drive or get to the pier without flying.

Any questions please feel free to ask kwjjwk@compuserve.com

Jim and Gin