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| Labadee, Haiti - view from the ship |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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