Cruise Lines

It's been a packed two days in the Caribbean since Disney Wonder sailed from Port Canaveral late Sunday afternoon.

Day one was in Nassau, in the Bahamas, where Ilana and I opted for the ship's dolphin swim excursion. I admit I was a bit negative about it as I've done a really excellent dolphin swim at Dolphin Cove in Jamaica and Discovery Cove in Orlando, but a really awful one in Cancun, where you just stood in water and touched the animals as they came by. Wouldn't have been so bad if they had explained that was all it was and not charged a fortune for the experience.

The information about this one made it sound good, but I feared making another expensive mistake.

It didn't start well. Despite all the officious checking-in process on the ship ("form an orderly line, ID, waiver and cruise card in one hand, one person only to get stickers for the party"), one hour after arriving at the meeting point we had got no further than the boat that would take us to the dolphins at Blue Lagoon Island.

Thankfully we did get going and 30 minutes later were being directed to the swim area of Dolphin Encounters for a quick briefing, then split into groups of just 10 people, each with two trainers.

My heart sank as we were directed to get in the water and touch the dolphins as they swam past - oh, and pose for the inevitable photographs. But then we were split into pairs and took it in turns to hug, "kiss", dance, feed and be splashed by the dolphins. Mine even dived down and brought me a stone. Things were definitely looking up.

But the finale was the clincher. Individually we were to lie flat on the water, our legs apart and outstretched, and we were then "whooshed" along by two dolphins pushing each of our feet.

I'm sure many will tell me it's cruel but honestly these animals seemed so well cared for and respected by the trainers that I felt absolutely comfortable with it. And it was a really awesome (as the Americans in our group said) experience.

It certainly made my day, and that, plus a couple of hours afterwards on the beach at the island, was far better than trawling around Nassau, which I remember to be very uninspiring, or a few hours at the Disney-esque Atlantis Resort, which looks amazing but is all a bit to manufactured for me.

Yes, I really did write that while cruising on a Disney ship!

Today we have been in Castaway Cay, Disney's private Caribbean island, also in the Bahamas, where we had booked a three-part Getaway Package - an hour's bike ride and snorkelling gear and use of a float for the day.

The island is very developed, and there's even a tram to transport people around (even though it is very small!) but they have done a great job with it.

There are separate areas for the pedal and sail boats, the snorkellers and swimmers. There is also a separate adult-only beach and a teen beach so youngsters can escape mum and dad.

There are shops, a big dining area (lunch, consisting of burgers, hot dogs and ribs, is prepared ashore) and they had even transported the free soda stations onto the island.

The snorkelling was really good, although you did have to go a long way out to find the fish and I loved the bike trail, which was a peaceful trip on a hard road to the other side of the island, away from the crowds. It's all signposted and easy going as it's flat, and there are water stations all the way around, which was very welcome.

There's a lot of development on the island, including at the dock, which I imagine is to make it ready for the new big ships launching in 2011 and 2012. A new water slide - Pelican Plunge - is due to be ready for summer 2010.

Wednesday is a day at sea, so that seems a good moment to bring you some information about the ship.