Allure Day 3

Labadee, Haiti - view from the ship
Today was Labadee, Haiti.  It's a private beach owned by RCL on a small part of Haiti.  It looks like they've done extensive work on it, it's a lot more expansive than the other private beaches we've been on.  It has zip lines over the water, roller coaster, water slides, small kiddie water park, watersports, and lots of beaches to relax. 
View of the ship docked at Labadee
We grabbed breakfast at the buffet, which was definitely more crowded than yesterday (due to early port), and headed off the ship.  We walked around a bit then headed towards the coaster.  We got there early but as there was no crowd, they let us on.  It's a single car that you control with brakes.  It's quick but fun.  It's no Cedar Point Park but there are some nice views as you whip around the side of the hill.  They don't let you bring a bag onto the coaster so you have to store it in a locker.  It's an interesting concept.  They give you an rf id tag that will open any locker on the island.  You can use it all day and it costs $8. It's great for someone who is going to be on the island for hours but we were only there for a short time, which made it a bit annoying.
View from the top of the coaster

After the coaster, we walked around the artisan marketplace where the locals were hawking their wares.  It's not quite as bad as some of the islands we've been on, but they were definitely pushing their stuff.  Of course I found a couple of random dogs on the beach to pet for a while. We watched the zipliners and sat in the shade for a little while then headed back to the ship.

The nice thing about port days is the ship is pretty empty.  We changed into our swimsuits and found a couple shady chaise loungers right next to the pool.  We cooled off in the pool, drank, read, puzzled, and hot-tubed.  There was even a bit of dozing it the chair.  The majority of those still on the ship appeared to be a much older crowd, we were definitely in the minority.  As it was quiet and empty, we didn't have anything to complain about.

One of the pools, far side is the kids pool
I really wanted to try the flow rider, so after it opened, we headed up there. There was a short line already.  Basically you get to stay on the board until you fall off.  Women are required to wear shirts (which makes sense since things can shift around when you fall). The guide there gives some brief instructions and holds you up while you try to find some balance.  It's a lot harder than it seems, you need some good core muscles to make it work.  Both of us did not stay up very long after the guide let go.  I'd love to try it again but I don't quite have the right clothes to make it work.  The water is pretty cold, and a cotton shirt just gets really heavy and cold.  The ones who have done this before had on surfing tops and board shorts (the right swimwear for the flowriders). If we ever do this ship again, I'm definitely bringing the right clothes and doing this again! 



We grabbed a hot dog and chocolate shake on the boardwalk for lunch.  They were pretty good. I got the coney island, Mike got a pork sausage with spices on it.  Then it was time for our daily nap.....BEST part of the vacation.

Entrance to Boardwalk

Headed to dinner and then to Chicago broadway show. It's quite good and definitely much better than any ship shows we're used to seeing. They did a very good job with the production. Since we missed our Ocean Aria show last night (apparently due to the high winds yesterday, they ended up canceling one of the night shows anyways), we decided to try to see it via standby line.  We were able to get in but it was much more crowded than usual. We has to stand on the rock climbing wall level and watch standing up.
Boardwalk - view towards center of ship
It's basically a show of divers. While its not Olympic-par, I thought it was fabulous, especially since they have to do this on a moving ship. There were a couple of high divers which looked quite scary since the pool is not that big to start with. It looked as if they ended up really close to the side of the pool. Not a cirque show but very entertaining ship show.

Random thoughts:
-Bathroom light never turns completely off, but stays very dim.  It ends up being very helpful in an interior stateroom when trying to find your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
-Bringing a water bottle has been very handy. Refills of ice, water, and juices available about everywhere, and we find we're drinking more water because of the convenience.

 

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'll do the Flowrider when they allow people to just lay down in the water and get shoved back up over the top! ;-)