It's been a mad week and another is to follow.
Last Saturday last week I flew to Antigua for a few days at the beautiful Blue Waters Hotel. Lovely place but very strange for me as there was not a cruise ship in sight. I even went to the port in St John's to see if any were in.
Of course it's a bit early in the season, but it was interesting to see the capital now has a proper harbour mall area with expensive jewellery and diamond shops - why do they think that's what cruise passengers want to buy? - but also a market with stalls selling the usual t-shirts, baseball caps, bracelets, necklaces and other trinkets. Oh and a Cheers! bar.
That's all new since I was last there 16 years ago.
An overnight flight on Thursday got me home for Friday night, then today (that's Saturday again) I am about to head back over the Atlantic for one night at Walt Disney World before joining Disney Wonder on Sunday for a four-night Caribbean cruise.
I'll be visiting Nassau, Castaway Cay and there'll be a day at sea before returning to Port Canavaral. From there, I am flying to New York for one night to hear more details about new ship Disney Dream, launching in 2011.
Disney is big news for the UK right now as Disney Magic will be based in Dover next summer, sailing 12-night cruises to the Baltic. Then there are the two new, and bigger, sister ships - Disney Dream launching in 2011 and Disney Fantasy in 2012 - which will increase Disney's capacity hugely and means they need to open a few more markets. Hence the Dover cruises.
They'll certainly be an easy way for the Brits to get on board and see for themselves how the Disney magic works at sea.
But that's all to come. In the meantime, internet willing, I'll be reporting back on what it's like to cruise with Mickey and co. So stay tuned, as they say.
Jane Archer
