Children’s programs on ships used to be just a place for parents to park their kids while mom and dad went off to do some important adult relaxing. Today, the best family ships devote a huge amount of resources, acreage, and innovation to making sure kids are having as good a time as their parents — or even better. For families traveling with kids, here are some of our favorite ships.

Disney’s Disney Dream: Arguably the best ship at sea for families with young kids, Disney Dream offers the biggest and best children’s facilities, a nursery for kids 3 months to 3 years, separate teen and tween centers, a kids’ pool with waterslide, a toddler-friendly splash zone, and a 765-foot water flume called the AquaDuck (if you can’t view the video above click here) — and those are just the highlights. There are also the best standard family cabins at sea, fantastic family oriented shows and movies, and lots of high-tech magic to make kids go “Oooh!,” plus some secluded adults-only areas to make parents go “Aaah.” You can even pre-order diapers and other baby supplies that’ll be in your cabin when you arrive. A near-identical sister ship, Disney Fantasy, will launch in 2012.

On Disney Cruise Line, the fun is not limited to the ship. Disney owns its own private island, Castaway Cay.

Disney’s Disney Magic & Disney Wonder: Though not quite as amazing as the newer Dream, Disney’s two original ships aren’t far behind, offering an almost identical experience at an only slightly scaled down level. There’s no AquaDuck, but there is different scenery outside, with Magic scheduled to sail from New York and Galveston next year, and Wonder doing Alaska and Mexican Riviera voyages.

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas & Allure of the Seas: The biggest cruise ships in the world, these two sisters are also the only ones that give Disney’s ships a run for their money in the family category. Each offers a huge open-air family area styled like an old-time boardwalk (there’s even a carousel), 28,700 square feet of kids’ playrooms, a nursery for kids 6 months to 3 years, extensive teen centers with their own outdoor deck, a pool deck with three different pools and a fun water park, a sports deck with surfing simulators and rock-climbing walls, an ice-skating rink, 3-D movies, fun dining options, and more. Courtesy of a deal with DreamWorks Animation, there are also costumed characters like Shrek and the Madagascar penguins, who participate in a parade and other activities throughout each cruise. As with Disney, you can order diapers and other baby supplies and have them ready in your cabin when you arrive. To view the video “A Teen’s View of Allure of the Seas” click here.

Also see Family Cruise Advisor’s Top Ten Family Cruises

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Epic: NCL’s biggest ship, Epic is also its best for kids, with one of the cruise world’s best waterslides, a splash pool for younger kids, a rock-climbing wall, a trampoline, a 24-foot “spider web”–style climbing cage, a basketball court, a batting cage, a two-story video screen in the atrium that’s great for watching sports; and meet-and-greets by costumed characters from Nickelodeon. The kids’ center offers Wii and Playstation II games, a dance floor, a big-screen TV room full of beanbag chairs; a great play structure with a crawling maze and ball jump. Teens get their own club/hangout, located up a “secret” hideaway staircase. Bonus: Kids under 2 sail free when sharing a cabin with two paying guests.

Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas & Liberty of the Seas: Once the world’s biggest cruise ships but now also-rans after fleetmates Oasis and Allure, these sister ships offer tons for families, including a huge playroom and video arcade, a teen club, a nursery for kids 6 months to 3 years, puppet shows created by Emmy and Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia, a water park, a surfing simulator, an ice-skating rink, a rock-climbing wall, 3-D movies, a basketball court, and a miniature golf course. For fun enrichment, there are educational programs offered in collaboration with Fisher-Price and Crayola; for kiddie celebrity sightings, there are character parades and photo ops with DreamWorks movie characters; and for sugar highs there are Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream parlors and fresh-baked cupcake shops.

On Carnival Magic, kids and adults alike enjoy the SkyCourse, the first-ever ropes course at sea. Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival’s Carnival Dream & Carnival Magic: These two sister-ships — one already in service (Dream) and the other debuting next month — are Carnival’s best for families with kids, especially kids who love water slides, since they come armed with twin 80-foot racing slides; a 104-foot enclosed spiral slide; and a 303-foot-long, four-deck-high enclosed corkscrew waterslide. There are also kids’, teens’, and tweens’ centers, a basketball court, and a miniature golf course, and Carnival Magic will add a “ropes” course, in which kids (and adults) can strap into a safety harness and work their way along 230 feet of beams, rope bridges, and swinging steps suspended above the top deck.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Jade, Norwegian Pearl & Norwegian Gem: These ships were the most recent generation from NCL before its new Epic, and are just all-around fun vessels. For kids, they offer huge, brightly colored play and crafts area; a big-screen TV room full of beanbag chairs; a huge play structure with a ball jump and crawling maze; a computer room; a video arcade; a teen center; and a small outdoor play area. The buffet restaurant includes an adorable “Kid’s Cafe” section with chairs, tables, and serving stations scaled down to pint size, and with kid-friendly food to match.

Princess’s Caribbean Princess, Crown Princess, Emerald Princess & Ruby Princess: Kid-wise, the best thing about these ships is the fact that their kids’ center includes a large, attached, fenced-in outdoor play area with a splash pool, lots of plastic trikes, a kids’ basketball setup, and kid-size tables and chairs. It’s a great place for energetic kids to work off steam while their parents relax nearby. Inside, the bright, cheerful kids’ centers have toys, games, computer stations, and organized activities. The teen centers have computers, video games, and a dance floor. The line’s “Movies Under the Stars” outdoor movie experience is great for families, with lounge chair seating and free popcorn.

MSC Cruises’ MSC Fantasia & MSC Splendida: Though the children’s programs at Italian line MSC aren’t in the same league as those offered by Disney, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival, it still makes this list for one primary reason: because kids 11 and under sail fare-free when sharing a cabin with two paying guests (though government fees and taxes still apply). The line’s recent ships all have smallish children’s centers with games, arts and crafts supplies, PlayStations, and activities, plus an enclosed outdoor area with a wading pool, play structure, and tube slide. The new Fantasia and Splendida add a 4-D movie theater (with moving seats) and a Formula One racing car simulator.

Click the links below to read full ship reviews of the vessels featured in this article.

Disney Cruise Line

• Disney Magic
• Disney Wonder
• Disney Dream

A million years ago cruise ships had basic pools with four sides and a ladder. Then three decades ago, things started getting interesting when Carnival introduced its first real water slide on the Festivale, a basic L-shaped slide about 10 feet high. The rest is history.

Along with amenities like multiple restaurants and huge spas, water parks and elaborate multi-deck-high slides with catchy names like Super Bowl and Twister are becoming standard aboard ships carrying more than 2,000 passengers. In 2009, the new Carnival Dream debuted with four water slides, one currently the longest in the biz at 303 feet. This year the Norwegian Epic will turns heads with a slide that has a big bowl feature that users spin around in, though the Disney Dream will take the cake when she debuts in early 2011 with a truly theme-park-style water flume ride that shoots guests over the side of the ship. As far as water parks, Royal Caribbean is the leader. Its Freedom class ships boast an impressive pool deck water park as well as the industry’s first surfing simulator, called the FlowRider. When Royal Caribbean’s newest class of ship rolled out earlier this year, the gigantic Oasis of the Seas had not only a sprawling water park, but two FlowRiders.

Andrew Mowatt, a vice president at WhiteWater West Industries, the firm that manufactures and designs most of the cruise industry’s water slides, says cruise ship water features will only get wilder, larger and more exciting. Mowatt says viable ideas include a slide that drops 10 stories in a 15-second free fall while zipping through the ship’s main atrium. Zowie, that’s amazing. So much for shuffleboard and pina coladas.

Here are the most fun and thrilling water features at sea.

Carnival Dream
Twister & Drain Pipe

As part of its “WaterWorks,” Carnival’s new 3,646-passenger, 130,000-ton Carnival Dream, has a pair of twin 80-foot-long racing slides, a 104-foot-long enclosed spiral slide called the DrainPipe, and a huge 303-foot-long four-deck high enclosed corkscrew waterslide called Twister. Tamer water pursuits include squirting fountains, splash zones and dump buckets.

The Carnival Splendor and six of Carnival’s eight Fantasy-class ships have all been retro-fitted with Waterworks features that comprise a Twister slide, dual racing slides and water spray toys. Elation and Paradise each have 2-deck-high Twister slides and are slated to get Waterworks installed within the next few years. The rest of the Carnival fleet all have 3-deck-high Twister slides, ranging in length from 72 feet on the Spirit class to 214 feet on the Conquest class ships.

Norwegian Epic
Epic Plunge & Super Bowl

When NCL’s new 4,200-passenger, 153,000-ton Norwegian Epic debuts this summer, one of its most talked about features will be 240-foot-long “Epic Plunge” bowl slide and a slide called the “Super Bowl, ” a four-deck high slide that starts with a ride down a covered tunnel in an inner tube before riders land up in a the “bowl” to do some spins. There are also water slides aboard NCL’s four Jewel-class ships, the Norwegian Jewel, Jade, Pearl and Gem.

Disney Dream
Aqua Duck

The 2,500-passenger (double occupancy), 128,000-ton Disney Dream will debut next year with a massive 765-foot-long, four-deck-high flume ride called the AquaDuck. Clearly the most theme-park-ride-like of any cruise ship water feature so far, passengers will board a two-person inflatable raft and get swept away on a high-speed ride around the perimeter of the ship’s top deck propelled by high-powered water jets. Part coaster and part water slide, passengers ride 13 feet out over the ocean inside a transparent acrylic flume, 150 feet above the sea. Part of the ride even zips past windows in the “tweens” kids’ club. The ride ends with passengers zooming through a 335-foot-long stretch of river rapids before a final splashdown.

Freedom of the Seas & Oasis of the Seas
H2O Zone and FlowRiders

Instead of major water slides, the most notable water features aboard the Freedom ships and the Oasis of the Seas are the whimsical H2O Zone water parks that are equipped with various water sprayers and Wave-Loch’s FlowRider surf simulators. The surfing machines give passengers a very realistic surfing experience. Thousands of gallons of water per minute shoot out to create a wavelike flow on which boarders can (try to) ride.

Costa Cruises
Waterslides

Though not as over-the-top as the theme park slides on the above ships, Costa does offer serpentine-style 200-foot-long slides aboard seven of its ships, including Costa Fortuna, Costa Magica, Costa Concordia, Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica, Costa Mediterranea and Costa Atlantica.

Starting Monday April 19, 2010 (and Friday April 16, 2010 for Latitudes past guest club members), kids cruise on NCL for as low as $99 each when booked as third through eight guests on select 2010 sailings worldwide for new reservations made now through May 31, 2010. Plus, reduced cruise deposits are offered on new summer bookings from now through May 2, 2010.

“When you’re Freestyle Cruising on Norwegian Cruise Line, you get what you want and so do your kids. With plunging waterslides, a two-story Wii wall, and Nickelodeon at Sea, there’s something for everyone, no matter what their age,” said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line’s chief executive officer. “With Norwegian’s complimentary Kid’s Crew supervised children’s program, parents are able to sneak away to the spa for a few hours or even a romantic dinner. We also offer family-friendly accommodations including interconnecting staterooms and multi-room Suites and Villas.”

Starting April 24, 2010, Norwegian Jewel will start offering its exclusive Nickelodeon at Sea activities and shows on board all cruises year-round, in addition to all the current on-board programming already offered. This programming will also be available on Norwegian Epic when the ship launches this summer. Signature Nickelodeon activities, characters and interactive game shows for entire family will include Slime Time Live! and Nick Live! Poolside interactive shows; Story Time with Dora where guests are invited to gather around to hear stories about some of their favorite Dora the Explorer characters; Dora’s Dance Party where kids will join Dora and the Nickelodeon cast to dance and sing along with all of Dora’s favorite party songs; character breakfasts; meet and greets around the ship with Nickelodeon characters; Nickelodeon-themed arts and crafts, along with special enhancements to Norwegian’s Kids Crew programming.

For me, the beauty of a cruise is that I can have my cake and eat it too. There’s plenty of opportunity for family togetherness and much-needed time apart as well. If you’ve got little ones, it’s key of course to know the cruise lines’ age policies for kids programming. You don’t want to show up at the gangway only to realize yours are too young for the drop-off playroom (nightmare!). For those of you with older teens, it’s equally as important to know when your young adults can (and can’t) drink and gamble. Click here if not redirected in 5 seconds.

Awesome Overview
NCL America’s Pride of America offers a tasty sampler platter of a Hawaiian vacation, sailing direct from one island to the next. Pride of America’s itinerary eliminate the long days at sea required of non-U.S.-flagged cruise ships.

This makes the Pride of America vacation a fun and convenient exploration of the Hawaiian islands, eliminating the hassle and stress of packing and making connections for the next leg. The ship spends nearly four full days at port on a seven-day itinerary, giving families plenty of time to get off the ship and find something fun to do on the islands.Kids Only!
Comprehensive facilities for kids on board and a destination that is fun and interesting make these seven-night itineraries great for families, even those with young ‘uns. The NCL youth program is broken into four age groups, starting with 2-year-olds. And Pride of America can handle big families, too, in its 12 family suites that can sleep up to eight people.

Too Much Fun
The Mud Buggy Safari / Waterfall Excursion in Kauai is available to children 5 and older, and it’s well worth the money and the muddy mess. Enjoy a guided tour of the mountains, sugarcane fields and stop for a swim in the waterfalls to rinse off before a very nice lunch.
Best Adventure, or THE attraction

Sightseeing on the islands is not complete without a volcano tour, such as The Land of Frozen Fire tour on Hilo. This hiking excursion shows the beauty and the destructive force of lava flows. On Kauai, Blue Hawaiian’s helicopter tours provide spectacular airborne views of the dramatic landscape.

Keep’em Happy/ No Shuffleboard, Dad!
In addition to the youth programs and their age-appropriate activities, these Hawaiian itineraries provide opportunities for amusements and activities that will keep the entire family smiling. Whether you take advantage of hundreds of shore options offered by the cruise line or go off on your own, Hawaii is an American destination that’s easy and rewarding to explore.

When To Go
NCL America offers Hawaiian cruises year-round. The best Hawaiian weather is often found in April, May, September and October, which also happen to be months when tourism is usually not at its peak.

Avoid the Crowds
No matter when you go, consider using one of your port days to rent a car. With reasonable rental car rates, Hawaii is fun to explore on your own.

Can’t Miss
Get a taste of the real Hawai’i with Ho’okipa Aloha, a 45-minute show on the ship with Hawaiian students of hula dance performing as they would in traditional ceremonies.

Best Dining
You’ll have lots of days and evenings on the islands, and with a little research you’ll find some splendid Hawaiian restaurants. On Kauai, Gaylord’s Restaurant is always a favorite. On board, the ship’s East Meets West is a small Asian fusion restaurant that’s perfect for a quiet parents’ night out. There are also separate steak restaurants, Lazy J Texas Steakhouse, and a gourmet French room, Jefferson’s Bistro, that both require reservations and per-person cover charge.

Anchors Aweigh!
It would be hard to imagine a better way to see Hawaii than to cruise on your floating hotel from island to island. With its Freestyle concept that breaks down regimentation, particularly for dining times, NCL offers a relaxed and laid-back way to see America’s paradise.

Awesome Overview
With idyllic beaches and a colorful landscape crowned by pastel cottages, Bermuda is perfect for families. This small cluster of North Atlantic islands serves up plenty for families to explore while exuding a British Colonial charm that is safe, orderly, and always polite.

Sailing out of New York City during the spring, summer and fall, Norwegian Dawn’s 7-day itinerary spends three days in Bermuda, providing an optimal balance of beach time and kid-friendly sightseeing. Using the ship as home base, families can come and go as they please and eat when it suits them as part of the Norwegian’s Freestyle Cruising program, which allows guests to choose when and where they enjoy each meal rather than adhering to the ship’s schedule.

Families will appreciate the ship’s roomy (by cruise standards) four-person cabins, and for extended families, many cabins interconnect, a convenience not often found on ships.Age Appropriate
With its great beaches, Bermuda can entertain kids of all ages. On board, Norwegian Dawn offers a huge children’s center, with four separate areas for kids as young as 2 up to 17. Facilities include everything from a toddlers’ nap room to the T-Rex Pool, a Jurassic-themed pool with waterslides and Jacuzzi, all for kids only.

Too Much Fun
In Hamilton, a must-see is the Ocean Discovery Center at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, home of one of the world’s finest shell collections. Check out the sunken treasures gallery and the replica bathysphere. Explore what’s beneath the ocean’s surface without ever getting wet on a seven-minute simulated dive.

Best Adventure, or THE attraction
Bermuda is a delightful escape, a place where it’s easy to shift to a slower gear for a few days. But since you’re on vacation, you’ll want to keep the fun flowing. So consider the Restless Native Catamaran Cruise excursion from King’s Wharf. From a spacious and comfortable catamaran, you can snorkel in the shallow waters of a secluded cove or sunbathe in the roomy hammocks.

Keep’em Happy/No Shuffleboard, Dad!
Kids love to laugh, and Norwegian Dawn has a partnership with the Second City improv troupe, with stage performances and onboard workshops, some designed specifically for children, on each sailing from New York.

Timing is everything
Bermuda sits well off the coast of North Carolina, and though the Atlantic gulf stream does moderate the winter climate, this is still a seasonal destination. The Norwegian Dawn sails roundtrip from New York from April through October, and demand will be heaviest June through August.

Avoid the Crowds
Go to the beach. Hire a cab, or if your kids are old enough to ride double, rent scooters – no car rentals on tiny Bermuda. Tourism is less of an emphasis in Bermuda since the emergence of the financial industry, so you don’t have to fight for towel space on the pristine white- and pink-sand beaches. Bermuda is a beautiful destination that is more temperate and less chaotic than Caribbean islands. If you like to bike, pedal along on the Bermuda Railway Trail. Guided tours are offered, or individually, you can do as much, or as little, as you like of the well-maintained 18-mile trail.

Can’t Miss
If your budget allows this extreme extravagance, consider one of Norwegian Dawn’s three-bedroom Garden Villas, with nearly 5,000 square feet of cabin, terrace and open-air private dining. At more than $20,000 per week, though, you might feel guilty leaving the ship to explore Bermuda.

Best Dining
In keeping with Norwegian’s trendsetting Freestyle Dining program, the Dawn offers 12 different restaurants, but Cagney’s Steakhouse, which requires reservations and carries a $20-per-person charge, is particularly popular, particularly for a special night out for mom and dad.

Editor’s Tip: On Bermuda, excellent restaurants also are abundant, but most are expensive, especially when feeding a family. However, NCL offers an “All Ashore Dining Guide,” which features full menus and special discounts exclusively for NCL guests at 36 restaurants throughout the island.

Anchors Aweigh!
Sailing on any vessel from the Manhattan skyline is enough to make a memorable family vacation. Add three days on Bermuda’s sandy beaches and getting there on a ship with multiple restaurants, great kids programs and family friendly staterooms, and you have a sure-fire winner on this family cruise vacation.

When he was but a nine-year-old boy, my son Alex reached into the Windex-blue waters on a sandy Bahamian beach and quickly withdrew his hand to proclaim, “Dad, I touched a stingray.” He furrowed his tender brow and added thoughtfully, “They’re nice.”

In doing so, he had ascribed a sweet, if somewhat inaccurate, characteristic to the stingray. Yes, the stingray was nice indeed, particularly with its barb blunted for safety. None of tragedy that befell animal lover Steve Irwin here. Off the coast of Australia, a ray’s barb had pierced his heart and stunned the world.

Alex, my daughter and I were in a friendlier place, a paradise really, free of danger and removed from the real world, an idyllic island created for us by a cruise line.

A Day At The Beach
Talk about a Caribbean cruise, and one of the first images that jumps to mind is a sun-drenched beach where children splash in the clear, blue water while adults watch and relax, alternating between sips from refreshing beverages and dips in the gentle surf. Quite understandably, people love the idea of a peaceful tropical paradise where the only pressing concern is how much sand is stuck to their feet when they slip back into their sandals.

The idyllic beach day may be a favorite image associated with Caribbean cruising, but the fact is that the typical week-long cruise actually includes very little time dedicated to sun and sand. At major Caribbean ports like Nassau, St. Thomas or Cozumel, ships disgorge passengers for shopping, strolling or shore excursions. While some of the excursions offer activities that allow you to get wet, fairly few would be classified as “a day at the beach.” Enter the private island.

Only a handful of cruise companies feature a long day docked at a private island, providing one of the favorite days of the trip for many passengers. In fact, private islands have proven to be so popular that some itineraries feature two stops at private islands. These islands are owned (or leased) and operated by the cruise lines for the exclusive use of their guests.

Because private islands typically cater to only one ship a day, they serve as a perfect paradise that’s free of the crowds and the hassles that occasionally diminish the quality of visits to other ports of call. A day on a private island is a relatively hassle-free day, as there are no shuttles to meet or schedules to keep – other than catching the last tender back to the ship. Meals on the island are included, and anything else can be billed to the shipboard account.

A big plus for parents: The cruise lines run complimentary kids’ programs for each age group, making it easy for adults to grab a little time for themselves. The kids and teens are just as enthusiastic because they can hook up with friends they’ve made on board, joining a beach volleyball game or a treasure hunt. They can eat all they want when they want without needing money or parental supervision.

Besides providing a picture-postcard setting complete with beach chairs, umbrellas and shaded hammocks, the private islands are set up for every sort of fun that can be organized on a public beach. The cruise lines provide beachside bar service specializing in tropical mixes, and they also offer a multitude of water sports, ranging from snorkeling to parasailing. Frequently, there are massage and spa services available, and a band will provide a pleasant soundtrack.

But perhaps more importantly, the private islands are notable for what they lack. On the private islands, cruise passengers will get none of the hard-sell from street peddlers who are often working other stops on a Caribbean cruise. And as the islands accommodate one ship at a time, with few exceptions, congestion and overcrowding are not problems.

Here’s a thumbnail description of the islands operated by the major cruise lines.

Castaway Cay
Disney Cruise Line operates Castaway Cay, situated in the Abaco Islands, and the only private island where the ship docks, allowing guests to walk ashore without time-consuming tendering.

With long white-sand beaches, including a secluded cove just for adults, Castaway Cay offers snorkeling, jet-ski tours, kayaking, miles of bike paths, walking trails or just a relaxing day at the beach under the beach umbrella. Biking and hiking are so popular that a second nature trail was recently added. At the adults-only Serenity Bay, open-air cabanas serve as treatment rooms for massages.

Numerous excursions can be booked, with activity levels ranging from more passive glass-bottom boat tours to blood-pumping parasailing. One of the most popular is feeding and interacting with stingrays – whose barbs, as previously noted, are blunted for safety.

Of course Mickey, Minnie and the gang make frequent appearances for photo-ops, and the entire island is, typical of Disney, landscaped and equipped just right. For instance, the 12-acre snorkeling course, with separate areas for beginning and experienced snorkeling, are sprinkled with amusing Disney characters that the fish use as habitat.

Great Stirrup Cay
The original private island operated by a cruise line, Great Stirrup Cay is just as much of an island paradise as when it was acquired by Norwegian Cruise Line in 1977. The Cay’s white sand beaches are fringed by coral reefs and offer an ideal spot for snorkeling among the large schools of tropical fish.

Permanent facilities have been added to and improved during the past three decades, but the vegetation — bougainvillea, sea grape and coconut palms — continue to serve as colorful tropical backdrops.

To control erosion and preserve the environment, a sea wall was erected along the waterfront. A straw market, water sports centers, bars, volleyball courts, and food pavilion round out the facilities. Activities include kayaking, parasailing, hiking, ping-pong and volleyball. The massage hut near the beach provides a legendary shiatsu treatment, and the hammocks strung between the palm trees beckon to those who want simply to slow down and relax.

Norwegian Sky sails three-day and four-day Bahamas cruises with full-day stops at Great Stirrup Cay.

Princess Cays
Boasting 1.5 miles of beaches with some of the finest and whitest sand in the region, Princess Cays is the tropical paradise that Princess Cruises has been operating since 1992. This 40-acre stretch of beach provides shady hammocks and a full complement of watersports options, including sailboats, catamarans, kayaks and the always-popular banana boats.

Featured facilities include a dedicated play area, Pelican’s Perch, and a small shopping area that includes a hair braiding station. Three bars and live music complement the authentic Bahamian barbecue on the beach. There’s volleyball and basketball courts, in case anyone needs a diversion from the wide beach and the powdery soft sand. However, there is no adults-only beach.

Half Moon Cay
Little San Salvador, a Bahamian out-island, was renamed Half Moon Cay by Holland America Line to honor Henry Hudson’s ship, which is also depicted on the cruise line’s logo, as well as to reflect the beach’s crescent shape.

Even with development, the island is still so unspoiled that it has been named a Wild Bird Preserve by the Bahamian National Trust. Excursions include a guided kayak adventure on Bone Fish Lagoon, a protected habitat and home to numerous native species of flora.

Of special note, the Horseback Riding by Land & Sea excursion sets out on a ride along winding trails up to the highest point on the island for a panoramic view before your horse is “dressed” up for swimming in a special saddle pad and a rope halter (no saddle), after which you venture into the ocean for the sensation of riding a horse while it’s swimming.

Half Moon Cay also has a water park with waterslides for family fun, and air-conditioned private cabanas can be rented for your own beachfront retreat, with or without the services of a personal butler.

Coco Cay
Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises guests have twice as many opportunities to relax in the sanctity of a private island, as these sister companies operate two.

First there is Coco Cay, a 140-acre island located in the Berry Island chain between Nassau and Freeport. Known originally as Little Stirrup Cay, the island is within view of Great Stirrup Cay (NCL’s private island) and the snorkeling is just as good, especially around a sunken airplane and a replica of Blackbeard’s flagship, “Queen Anne’s Revenge.”

Both kids and adults enjoy Caylana’s Aqua Park — the largest in the Caribbean — where you can jump on an in-water trampoline or climb a floating sand castle before digging into a beach barbecue or exploring extensive nature trails.

Labadee
The second Royal Caribbean/Celebrity island is actually a 260-acre peninsula. Labadee is situated on the secluded north coast of Hispaniola, commonly known as Haiti.

In addition to the usual array of swimming, water sports, a pirate-themed Aqua Park, and nature trails to explore, visitors to Labadee are treated to an authentic folkloric show.

A market, where you might find an interesting painting or a unique wood carving, features the work of local artists and crafters, but take note that vendors can be somewhat inclined toward the hard sell.

Naturally there are bars for refreshments, and a huge beach barbecue is served by the ship’s crew. Royal Caribbean is building a dock at Labadee to accommodate Oasis of the Seas and other ships in its fleet.