My somewhat rambling review of the Fantasy. Myself (business owner), wife, and two young daughters embarked on 10/5. But, in advance, it is not a glowing review of the whole experience. While we had a nice time as a family, and the beach times were fun, I had expected more out of the Carnival experience based upon my other cruises. This was number 6 for me, and number 7 for my wife, with 2 each on Carnival. This was our first cruise less than 7 days out of Florida.

From Orlando Airport to Port Canaveral, we reserved a town car. For 4 people, it is cheaper than the Carnival buses are. If you have a bigger group, look into a limo as they are cheaper per person if you have 6-10 people. As luck would have it, we got a limo instead -- for the same price as a town car -- because all the town cars were in service elsewhere.

Embarkation -- VIP Club. Very friendly and very fast. Escort to ship bypassed the line waiting for embarkation photos. We were on the ship in less than 15 minutes after we arrived. Read more