I want to go where no Carnival Cruise Reviews have gone before. I know there are many Carnival Cruise Reviews out there but the one thing they fail to tell you is exactly how much does a Carnival cruise really cost. They offer great information, but they still do not tell you one important thing, how much does a Carnival cruise really cost. I mean isn't this the one question everyone ultimately wants to know about everything. This may be in part because there are so many options you can make when planning your Carnival cruise. Well I would like to change this by offering complete Carnival Cruise Reviews and give you a break down of the cruise we took last spring.

Before I share the secrets to the cost of our cruise, I want to let everyone know that the prices I am going to share with you is a break down for the choices we made for our vacation. You can take a Carnival cruise for much cheaper, or a lot more expensive. It all depends on the options you choose.

Our Carnival cruise began in Miami, home port to the Carnival Liberty. Miami is a great city and the Port of Miami is a large port housing many ships. We went to the eastern Caribbean on our cruise and the itinerary included Half Moon Key, Bahamas, St. Thomas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Grand Turks. This was a great cruise with many fun destinations.

Ok, let's get to it. Your best Carnival cruise reviews for how much does a Carnival cruise cost. Here is how the numbers break down. We were gone a total of 11 days. We stayed in Miami for 2 1/2 days and 1 1/2 for travel time.

Cruise - $873.36 per person. We booked a balcony room for 2 on the Empress deck. (8 C) There are room categories cheaper and more expensive, but we always try to get mid-ship because my husband has issues with motion sickness. A great tip for this problem is booking a room that is on a deck that is mid-ship, and a room that is mid-ship of that deck. You can save a lot of money by getting an inside room on a lower deck, but we always budget in money for a balcony room because I love having my quiet time on the balcony of our room.

Tips - $11.50 per person per day. This is automatically added to your sail and sign card when boarding. You can adjust this up or down depending on the service you receive on your cruise.

Train fare - $327.00 per person. We booked a roomette which includes our meals in the dining car and recliners that turn into beds at night. We live in Virginia so we had to have transportation to the port. We choose to go by train because the costs associated with air travel were quite high. We were able to get a great deal on our train fare and we could take all of the luggage we needed for no additional cost. We were surprised at how much we actually enjoyed traveling by train. It was a relaxing trip.

Taxi - $50.00

Hotel Accommodations in Miami - $327.00 - We decided to stay in the Courtyard Marriott near Biscayne Bay. It was a really nice hotel, nothing fancy, but within walking distance to a lot of shopping and restaurants in Bayside Marketplace.

Shore Excursions - $135.00 per person. We decided to take two shore excursions with Carnival. You do not have to take any shore excursions. There are many things you can plan by yourself.

Miscellaneous - $600.00 - We spent 600.00 on food in Miami, souvenirs, and activities we did on the islands.

Grand Total - $1,740.86 per person. Which breaks down to $248.69 per person per day. I am very happy with the cost of this vacation. I think this price is very economical considering it covers everything we did for 11 days. We had an amazing vacation.

Ok , so you can see an example of how much a Carnival cruise really costs. Once again this was how much we spent for this particular cruise vacation. I am sharing this information so that it may be helpful in knowing how much to budget for a cruise. Of course you need to do your own research and choose the cruise that is right for you and your budget, but this will give you some insight on the costs associated with a cruise.

There are many tips I can share on Carnival cruise reviews and getting your best prices, but I want to focus on just one. While you can get great last minute deals sometimes for unsold cabins, for the most part your best deals are found early. Start researching your cruise vacation early (as much as a year or more out). Try to find the cruises where an itinerary has just been put on the market. This is when you will find some of your best deals. Another plus of booking early is having that time to save and budget your money for your up coming trip.

Use this article on Carnival Cruise Reviews to help with an idea of price break downs, but do your own research to find out how much your trip will cost. I love to hear about stories and budget tips of great vacations. Just remember that these vacations make great memories. Those memories will be what you cherish for a lifetime.