Upon entering port we sought out a local taxi and asked to go to river rafting, bob sleigh and shopping. The first stop took us on one of the most memorable days of our holiday. Six adults and a baby were helped onto three bamboo rafts and our guides - Noel, Charlie and Osman - took us on an idylic journey down the river to the beach, giving us an informed tutorial on the way about nature, natural medicinal remedies and wildlife. The ice cold dip halfway along was not for the feinthearted. All in all a great trip, well worth the $55 per raft and a real 'must do'.

Ocho Rios

Once again, we grabbed a local tour in port and were escorted to a nearby marina to board a very comfortable boat to take us to the sandbanks to swim with stingrays. With trepidation we entered the waist deep water and were soon surrounded by stingrays. Much to my surprise, they are really like graceful underwater birds gliding in and out of the group without touching us at all. Our guide caught one of them and held it for us to see and interact with, we also had the opportunity to feed them. I loved every minute of it and would highly recommend the experience.

Grand Cayman (Georgetown)

We had booked online before the holiday with Dolphin Discovery for a party of 9 adults and two children. We easily obtained a taxi to take us the ten minute ride to the park. The organisation at Dolphin Discovery was excellent; even though it was very busy, we felt we were getting very personal service. Lockers were provided free for personal effects and we were all fitted with life jackets. Our guide took us to the assigned platform for our experience - we had booked the Royal Swim which turned out to be the best possible choice. We met and interacted with our dolphin, Louie, before the most thrilling part of our experience.....getting into the water with the dolphin! Now I am not a very confident swimmer, but that dolphin was in complete control. I have been pulled along on the belly of a dolphin holding onto his fins & been pushed along on a body board by this powerful creature and I will treasure those memories forever.I would point out that no cameras of any description are allowed in the pools, however, the official photographer will take lots of photographs. Although the cost of the pictures seemed a lot at the time ( about $360 for a disc, but between all of us wasn't too bad) I have to say that when we got the disc back home and checked it there were over 250 pictures on it (looks like he used 'burst' mode throughout to ensure at least one decent picture of each shot) and the quality was amazing.........you could even see individual droplets of water suspended in mid air. The photographic equipment used is obviously top notch. A wonderful experience and the best ever pics to remind us.

Cozumel

Upon disembarkation, our cases were taken on a trailer to the 'hub' for safe keeping whilst we were taken to the depot to pick up the Big Buses. Smooth transfer and we could choose from three routes to tour Miami. We took the bus for the beach tour and enjoyed the English commentary along the way; watch out for overhanging palm trees if you're uptop! It was relaxing to chill in the sun whilst seeing the delights of Miami. We got on and off when we pleased, did some shopping, visited the beach and saw many landmark buildings. Upon returning to the hub the collection of luggage was quite straightforward and we were then transferred to the airport. A nice relaxing day and better that sitting at the airport.

Miami

These were supposed to be family cabins with cots for babies, however; there was no room to fit cots in. Furniture had to be removed from cabin to squeeze in an undersized cot which bulged inwards due to lack of width space. Parents ended up having baby sleep in the bed with them for duration of cruise. Also, despite having paid extra for the baby, no facilities for bottle warming were available & upon requesting such, the parents were told that inside cabins weren't entitled to coffee makers (their equivalent to a kettle) and they would have to use a chargeable night time room service or negotiate decks to find hot water whilst baby screamed in frustration.

We did ask if we could pay for an upgrade to bigger cabins even if they were balcony as this situation for our dream holiday really wasn’t looking good but were told the ship was full to capacity and no other cabins were available.After much discussion and insistence they found her a coffee maker to use which they said was taken from another cabin which surprised us as we were told there were no spare balcony cabins available on the ship.

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