Labadee, Haiti – A true Tourist Attraction

The second stop on our cruise to Cuba was Labadee, a tourist island “created” and hosted by Royal Caribbean. It’s part of Haiti, but of course you don’t get to see the actual Haiti. Lots to do on the island – kayaking, zip lining, snorkeling, getting down on water slides – and off course a shopping zone, where you can knock your socks off and get as many souvenirs as you can buy. The local sellers will make sure you get something back with you, that’s for sure.

The island is divided into areas and a quite extensive part of it is only accessible to “Diamond” class passengers. For those less fortunate who aren’t part of this exquisite and high-end club, there’s – luckily enough – other places to hang around and you don’t even have to pay for all of them – yeeeh! First thing we did was checking out the entire island (not so big – easily doable, even in these hot temperatures). But if even that would be too much of a stretch (it’s vacation anyway, right – why making a little effort?), there’s a tram station right at the entrance, so you can hop onto the tram which brings you to any place you like (and back – needless to say).

We took all the pictures and videos we liked. As it was still quite “early” – we left the ship at around 8am – there weren’t too many people blocking our sights. As soon as we did that, we needed to get rid of the cameras and get some towels. You would think (as did we) that they would have towels available for you there on the island, but apparently not. Wait, that’s not entirely true – the sophisticated people of the Diamond class do. Us, other poor souls, needed to get our towels from the ship. And although you get a booklet every day with the most insignificant details in there with what to do that day and where to find everything – nothing mentioned about the fact that you need to take your towel with you. Oh well, we survived.

Anyway, we got back to the ship and returned with all we needed to relax a little more. We chose to sit at Nellie’s Beach, which is smaller (and I think prettier) than Adrenaline Beach. A friendly man “governing” the beach welcomed us and assisted us to get 2 chairs – apparently you need a local to do that for you – who brushed off some leaves and waited patiently (but not very discretely) for his tip. Didn’t see that coming…

As it was getting pretty hot already at that time (think we were at around 27 degrees), it didn’t take long for us to hit the water and cool down. The water is not cold, but cool enough to get you refreshed. There’s showers in the bathroom next to the beach, so that’s handy. And of course a bar to get the fluids going. As I didn’t have a beverage package, I needed to pay for the drink. Good to know: the activities and drinks you need to pay with your SeaPass card (for the souvenirs you of course need money). As we were sitting at this tropical beach, I couldn’t resist to order a cocktail. I did wait until 11am, that’s not too bad, right? The price list mentioned a few drinks, but I was craving a Pina Colada (which I found very strange to not be on there). So I asked one and got it from the charming bar tender, before presenting me the bill of 10.99 dollars + 18% (gratuities, I guess?). Not bad for a cocktail, while the others on the list were 9 dollars, tops. Anyway, nothing could kill my good vacation mood, so I enjoyed it to the maximum extent from my perfectly chosen lounge chair…

Lunch is served on the island – instead of on the ship – and started at 11.30 (until 1pm). We were pretty early (I think it was 11.35) and the line was already pretty impressive. When we were waiting to get a juicy hot dog, I realized how absurd the scene actually was. There’s an abundance of food on the ship all day long and now everyone was running towards the buffet as hungry vultures to a fresh cadaver. Sad, no?

After swallowing down a hot dog or two each and for me some sweet corn (for my husband some more meat), we swaggled to the hammocks, which I had spotted on our way up to the beach and which were perfectly placed in the shadows of the palm trees. We’re talking big hammocks, so plenty of space. We found 2 standing right next to each other, so we could nod off romantically close, with the calming sounds of the waves in front of use. Or not so much, as every 5 minutes these 4 wheel open trucks came by (part of it were trams, part of it was I-don’t- know-what). Aaaah… so peaceful…

About an hour to an hour and a half later, after a nap and some more reading, we decided to go for another swim at our favorite beach – all the way to the buoys – so we could see the ship from behind the corner. After showering the salt off, we made our way back to the ship. The tough day at the beach was over – now it was time to hang around in another lounger and read a little more… Tough is the life of a cruiser…

Other Countries we visited
Have a look at the other countries we ‘achievied’ to visit, and other Achievies