Perfect Day

Waterslides, swim-up bars and caster-sugar sands… Sara Macefield and family check out Royal Caribbean’s new private island retreat

- Sara Macefield

I’m floating 450ft up in the sky in a hot air balloon and in the distance I can make out tiny uninhabited islands of the Bahamas, while directly beneath me is a colourful patchwork of candy-coloured waterslides writhing like giant snakes between a cluster of azure pools.

This is a bird’s eye view of Perfect Day – the new resort from Royal Caribbean on its private island CocoCay. After a $250 million investment, the tiny isle opened in May as an aquatic pleasure zone bursting with thrills and chills.

I’ve arrived with my family on board the world’s largest ship, Symphony of the Seas, on the final stop – and highlight – of our one-week voyage through the Caribbean.

As we sail in, there’s no mistaking the eye-catching Daredevil’s Tower, housing seven waterslides including the stomach-churning Daredevil’s Peak which, at 135ft high, is the tallest waterslide in North America.

Even from our elevated vantage point, 15 decks up, it looks scarily stratospheric, but this doesn’t deter my 16-year-old twin daughters, Dani and Holly, who tear off as soon as we arrive to be among the first to plummet down.

When they return, they are bursting with excitement as they recount their breakneck descent through the slide’s twists and turns before blasting out at the base.

Much against my better judgement, I’m persuaded to give it a try, though on the long climb to the top my reluctance grows, and on hearing the blood-curdling screams of riders ahead of me, I bottle it.