My husband and I, our two sons (ages 11 & 13), and Grandma, decided to take a cruise. We had cruised on the Disney Magic to the Eastern Caribbean in 2009. To say we enjoyed that cruise would be an understatement, there were actual tears when we had to debark off of that ship...and the kids were crying too!

So when we decided to take another cruise in 2011, Disney was our first choice. A Western Caribbean on Disney is about $3000. Ouch! So I checked around, Carnival, who also leaves out of Port Canaveral, and has a Western Caribbean cruise, sells for around $2000. I read the reviews about Carnival, some bad, some good, but in the end it was my pocketbook who won out and I booked the trip through Carnival.

Carnival's terminal is nothing to talk about, where as, Disney's is lovely, comfortable, and has cartoons playing in small areas for the kids. Both, take pictures as you board, but Disney's is in a well decorated room, Carnival's is in front of a green screen. Read more