DAY 3: Labadee
Tuesday, Jan 15
Tuesday, Jan 15
Let me be clear: I love Labadee! It's the best beach day ever! Located on the northern coast of Haiti, Labadee is one of Royal Caribbean's private resorts. I have been many times over the years, but not since the $55 million remodel a few years back when they completely overhauled it in order to accommodate 6,000 passengers on board Oasis and Allure and put in a pier. No more tendering! With this many passengers on board, tendering at any port is out of the question.
The renovation is really impressive! We headed to Nellie's Beach which i had pre-selected as one of the better swimming beaches, sheltered from the wind. I rented my floating mat and we were set! Perfect day! One of the things that makes Labadee such a nice beach day is that you don't even need to worry about spending money for lunch on shore since the ship serves buffet lunch right there on the beach. There was lots of good people-watching, including an argument between people accusing a family of not controlling their kids and also a guy who thought he owned all the shade in that area and as the sun moved, he kicked people out of the way so he could move and retain his shade. Oh incidentally they were the same people that were annoyed at the kids. Of course.
We ate a little earlier tonight because of our show reservations being at 7:00 pm. Again we sat in the same area with the same waiters. I had Chicken Marsala and Tom had Garlic Shrimp. Tonight's show was the Broadway Musical, Chicago. And I do mean the Broadway Musical. It is a Broadway show. I have been really looking forward to it and it lived up to my expectations. It was great!
Since it's a light news day, I'll tell you about the soda package change. Royal Caribbean has installed Freestyle Coke machines on much of the fleet. When you buy the soda package (unlimited soda for the whole cruise) you get a travel tumbler. That part is not new. Usually I just leave it shrink wrapped and bring it home, opting to get the pop in regular glasses. You can still do that by walking up to any of the bars and showing your Sea Pass card with the Coca Cola logo on it, but now with the freestyle machines you can also do a self-serve thing with your tumbler. There is a microchip in the base so that it will only work when the cup is present. Then you use the touch screen to choose what kind of pop you want and you have about a thousand choices by the time you count all the available flavors and lemon and lime add ins etc. I have seen these machines popping up around home at some fast feed places too. So anyway that is a nice option. Our only complaint is they could have more machines and sometimes they are out of ice.
Tomorrow: Falmouth, Jamaica ---- and it's somebody's birthday!
Some photos from today:
The renovation is really impressive! We headed to Nellie's Beach which i had pre-selected as one of the better swimming beaches, sheltered from the wind. I rented my floating mat and we were set! Perfect day! One of the things that makes Labadee such a nice beach day is that you don't even need to worry about spending money for lunch on shore since the ship serves buffet lunch right there on the beach. There was lots of good people-watching, including an argument between people accusing a family of not controlling their kids and also a guy who thought he owned all the shade in that area and as the sun moved, he kicked people out of the way so he could move and retain his shade. Oh incidentally they were the same people that were annoyed at the kids. Of course.
We ate a little earlier tonight because of our show reservations being at 7:00 pm. Again we sat in the same area with the same waiters. I had Chicken Marsala and Tom had Garlic Shrimp. Tonight's show was the Broadway Musical, Chicago. And I do mean the Broadway Musical. It is a Broadway show. I have been really looking forward to it and it lived up to my expectations. It was great!
Since it's a light news day, I'll tell you about the soda package change. Royal Caribbean has installed Freestyle Coke machines on much of the fleet. When you buy the soda package (unlimited soda for the whole cruise) you get a travel tumbler. That part is not new. Usually I just leave it shrink wrapped and bring it home, opting to get the pop in regular glasses. You can still do that by walking up to any of the bars and showing your Sea Pass card with the Coca Cola logo on it, but now with the freestyle machines you can also do a self-serve thing with your tumbler. There is a microchip in the base so that it will only work when the cup is present. Then you use the touch screen to choose what kind of pop you want and you have about a thousand choices by the time you count all the available flavors and lemon and lime add ins etc. I have seen these machines popping up around home at some fast feed places too. So anyway that is a nice option. Our only complaint is they could have more machines and sometimes they are out of ice.
Tomorrow: Falmouth, Jamaica ---- and it's somebody's birthday!
Some photos from today:
Welcome to Labadee!
We staked out our shady spot under the palm tree.
This is what it's all about!
Back to the ship on the brand new pier!