[mousepod]

I have to say that I only have 2 experience on cruise ships: the Princess Line (the Alaska Inner Passage) and Disney.

The Alaska cruise was ok. The food was just adequate but plentiful. The on-board entertainment reminded me of the "small room" stuff in casinos. In short, there was nothing that I hated - but nothing that would ever make me want to cruise again.

The Disney cruise was fantastic. We'd take our morning walks on deck and we'd always see crew members touching up the paint. The food was terrific. The entertainment was, well, Disney. We saw a fun stage show that wouldn't be out of place in the parks and Toy Story 2 (this was 2000). In fact, the ports of call were the least interesting part of the cruise - in comparison to the Alaska cruise where we couldn't wait to get off the boat.

I have no idea how much money the crew made, but I can tell you that to me, they all felt like CMs. Our waiter was from England and had served on the QE2. The food service folks at the bars and snack areas were fun. The things that keep me "on property" on my WDW trips were the same things on the boat. I'm not exactly sure how they do it - but they do it right.

(I still want to do one of the Euro Disney cruises - I haven't found $9K yet, but if I do...)