Paul, cruises are fun. Tray and I went on one last month. Only thing is you want to be careful in November, the rates are real cheap, but you might have a problem with hurricanes, however.. I think late October is the end of hurricane season (I may be wrong tho).

Pros are food/entertainment/juice/lodging is free, plus the food is REALLY good, they have the option of eating at the "formal" dining room every night, or you can go with the casual buffet-style area (although they serve the same food most of the time). The off-shore excursions can be a bit pricey, depending on which one you decide to do. We went fishing and it ran about $60 dollars per person, and that was one of the cheapest ones. They can go up to $200 dollars per person, but you have a LOT of choices at each port.

Cons - DRINKS is where they get you. Everything is comped 17.5% automatically, so you have no choice. Coke/Sprite/Diet Coke is included in the drinks you pay for, only juice, tea and/or lemonade is free. Alcoholic drinks are club/bar prices - $9.00 per drink + tip. They get you by making you use a "cruise card" which is linked to your credit card, then you get the bill when you leave.