Funtasy Islands: A Caribbean cruise is the perfect getaway for 2014

Carnival calls its cruise liners “fun ships” and from the word go it was clear why.

A party had begun on the top deck, complete with a dance-off between passengers and crew.

I sat back with a Miami Vice cocktail – half pina colada, half strawberry daiquiri – and enjoyed the view as we started our seven-day journey around the Caribbean. We were travelling on the Carnival Breeze, the company’s newest ship which entered service in June 2012.

Since then its lively crew have entertained passengers in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

We spent our first day at sea so decided to take a look at what the $740million boat had to offer.

There are 15 floors on the 1,000ft-long ship, which boasts a variety of shops, a theatre, a 5D cinema, a high ropes course, comedy club, water park, sports centre and spa.

And there was a wide WILD: range of fantastic food on offer to keep energy levels high.

Breakfast was omelettes, cereals, breakfast burritos, fresh fruit – the only problem was working out where to start.

The boat caters for everyone throughout the day and night with BBQs, an Indian restaurant, a 24-hour pizzeria and round-the-clock ice cream. You certainly will not go hungry on this ship.

One of my favourite spots was Club Serenity, which is an idyllic over-18s section with hot tubs and comfy double beds to enjoy the blazing sunshine in style.

The spot with some of the best views on the boat is the five-star spa Cloud 9. Offering treatments including bamboo massages, body wraps, teeth whitening and even Botox, the spa staff go above and beyond to help passengers relax.