Good times in Labadee, Haiti.

Well, I guess I never guessed I'd be vacationing in Haiti at any point in my life.. yet here I was...

But to say I was truly in Haiti is kind of a lie. Labadee is the Disneyfied version of Haiti that Royal Caribbean International wants you to see, clean... cruise goers only.. safe. While absolutely beautiful and a trip highlight for sure, I was kinda left feeling cheated. Yeah, I guess now I can say I have been to Haiti but it didn't really feel it? In fact... Doing research on the private beach location I came to find out Royal Caribbean used to almost go out of their way to make sure people didn't know they were in Haiti at all. Calling Labadee their "Private Island" (while in fact just a beach....) and later on saying it was part of the island of Hispaniola (and while true, its also misleading)  nowadays there is no shame or hiding of the fact you are in fact in Haiti and I myself don't see why there ever was. The fact I was gonna get to go to Haiti made me book this cruise over some of the other options I could have gone with. But seeing how most people have a preconceived notion of what Haiti must be like maybe it was a turn-off for some. Rambling aside...  Labadee was fantastic even if you aren't allowed off Royal Caribbean's property (IE: No going into real Haiti, despite Deka's effort) 

Woo

So, if you read my Freedom of the Seas update you'll know that Haiti was the first of four stops along my seven day cruise. Labadee was the first port but our third day.

After getting up way to early and overeating at FABuffet we were greeted by the island of Hispaniola and the country of Haiti, Labadee our destination.

Ah, Country Credit #15 Haiti! And Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private beach resort/complex.

Welcome, indeed.

Stepping off the boat for the first time in some 40 hours Deka and I made sure we were *first* off!

And in case you forgot what the boat look liked

(or, uh, me?)

Like I mentioned earlier, Royal Caribbean used to avoid mentioning you were in Haiti. Overtime things have changed (a good thing) and they've seemed to embrace it.

What you can see of the country, along with the private beach area is absolutely stunning and far more picturesque than any other port visited.

Deka and I had tickets for the first zip-line adventure of the day. Along with the Alpine Coaster, Royal Caribbean's over-ocean zip-line was a big factor in my trip planning and wasn't to be missed. Tickets are not required in advanced but seeing is how this stop was the only one where you didn't have exterior options, we played it safe and booked ours early.

Before getting to the amazing Dragon's Breath Flight Line zip, you start with the trial run.

Meet the Little Dragon! yaayyy

After a safety lesson and the quick ride on the little dragon we were off on a crazy-ass bus ride up a Haitian mountain. I'm glad the 'bus' had seat-belts.....  and uh, handle bars.

Ahhh..... wonderful.

Looking out over Labadee, 500 feet or so over the beach and with 2,600 feet of cable in front of me... I was so ready for this.

Deka seemed a little unsure... 

but once she got going she loved it

(I did too!)

The ride down is amazing and 100% worth the price, I was tempted to go for a second.

(haha, and at one point we watched someone drop their flip flop about halfway down the zip)

Once we were finished with the zip we made our way over to the other big reason I wanted to take this trip.....

Ah, the Dragon's Tail Coaster.

Once your car makes the 600+ foot climb up the side of the mountain its all down hill from there

And while governed, like the other Wiegand Alpine Coasters...

this one was the best of the three I've done.

The dips on Dragon's Tail were much more severe and some of the turns seemed to toss you more so than the ones at Jiminy Peak and Wisp Resort.

The "beach overlook" helix was my favorite part. Flying out of the jungle and seeing the whole beach below was amazing.... each and every time.

I had gotten myself the all-day pass and took ten rides over the day, Deka only got a single ride ticket as she had planned to try and visit the real parts of Haiti

nerd-shot

((video below))

Once realizing that wasn't gonna happen.. we made our way over to one of the many beaches within the complex (we tried two of the, I believe, five) 

Adrenaline Beach was our first stop as its pretty much at the coasters exit... It was nice but had a rocky/shelly base.

Neat little beach-bed cabana... things we saw in passing.

At the far edge of Adrenaline Beach and the complex's property line was this neat tidal pool

On the other end of the complex was Columbus Cove.

Columbus Cove was our favorite beach area.

smooth sand with palm trees right up to the waters edge 

(And a deep deep end..... I couldn't even make it to the bottom)

But I HATED the market area you had to pass by. 

This photo is of the nicer area.. but there's a HUGE area along what would have been a nice walking trail and all the sellers do is scream at you to come over and buy stuff.

Although I was tempted.....

I left without buying anything.

Ah, thats more like it..

Nice tree-lined paths

 Although even that was tainted by these awful coconuts.

While exploring more of the complex we found the waterslide.

Dragon's Tail, its the newest feature of the resort area.

It's also an upcharge and since we had done the zip and coaster, we passed on it.

(But it did look fun)

 You're Doing It Wrong!

I really liked these rock formations, kinda bummed me out they put the slide over part of them.

Just past the slide is Nellie's Beach and these super cool looking beach huts with private water access.

(Just $250 for the day!)

Nature.

Ooh, and flowers too!

Small little spray-ground area in the middle of the beach.

There's also these neat ruins of an old church

And in a fenced off area close to the dock is an area labeled Dragon's Lookout Point.

Shame this area is off-limits now.

 This doggy was doing a good job making sure people didn't try and sneak out there.

And for those who ate too much at FABuffet......

You can ride around the complex on these little trams, there's three stops in all.

(and yes, one lets off right next to the on-land buffet)

After 8 hours or so, our time in Labadee was running out. Near the end, Deka and I split off so she could run the gauntlet of the market place once more and pick up a few things. I myself took a stroll in a small memorial garden I found before making my way back onto the boat.

Making my way back to the boat I passed what I assume was people doing some sort of traditional singing and dancing.

Back on the ship.... losers were still taking part in the Cupid Shuffle. Just awful

UGH

And, well, that's about it....

The sun sets over Haiti and Hispaniola as we make our way to Jamaica.

yaayyy

Videos!

Dragon's Tail Coaster on-ride video!
...and...

Little Dragon / Dragon's Breath Flight Line on-ride video

So yeah.... Next update will be Falmouth, Jamaica!

Seven days on the MS Freedom of the Seas....

Well, uh, cruising? Wait no, that sounds bad. umm

(Background)

So for the longest time... I'd been against the idea of going on a cruise. The idea of being on a boat with nothing to do for days on end and not just being able to up-and-leave when I wanted to go do whatever I wanted when I wanted (IE: any of my road trips I've blogged about here!) I was kinda... meh. Jeff had been vocal about wanting me to "just try it" and still, I poo poo'd the idea again and again. Skip to 2013... Out of no where it seemed Deka booked a cruise and really liked it, she got back and started looking at a secondary trip and asked Medusa Rob and I if we'd be interested. Rob was quick to answer with a no... I myself was pretty uninterested but after a few texts back and forth from Deka and checking over the Royal Caribbean site and the different ports, excursions, and ship amenities I was starting to come around.... slowly. Deka already had an idea of what trip she wanted but opened it up to me to pick, if I were to go, still pretty 50/50 at this point... Once looking around at Royal Caribbean's "private" beach stop in Labadee, Haiti... home to a Wiegand GmbH & Co. KG Alpine Coaster that can only be ridden by cruise-goers (and a pretty badass looking Zipline over the ocean!) I told her I was in. I always imagined my first cruise being a much shorter 2 or 3 day trip to The Bahamas or something and here I was, about to set off on Royal Caribbean's 7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise with stops in Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico with two full days at sea as well aboard the MS Freedom of the Seas.

Well, if anything... I'd be getting a non-credit coaster, three new countries, and a British Overseas Territory. yup

So.... I'm gonna kinda do this out of order from how I've done trip blogs in the past. This post will just feature the ship itself and at later dates I'll post an update for each of the four stops along the way. yaayyy!

So lets go, Royal Caribbean's MS Freedom of the Seas.

 Hey, look... its that guy

 in Port Canaveral, Florida with a boat.

 Named Freedom of the Seas. 

 It's big... like, it was the biggest in the world when built.

(Now its #3)

 Guinness World Record certified

 Just as an FYI, I guess.

 In port we were parked next to the Disney Dream 

(and some awful looking Carnival boat was behind that)

 Woo, from the top deck you could see over to Kennedy Space Center and the Vehicle Assembly Building!

 Crazy Gibberish!

 Leaving Port Canaveral you pass a US Navy submarine facility.

 And Florida slowly disappear 

So lets get to exploring the ship....

Yup, I was kinda surprised how much walking you could do.

On the top deck they even had a walking tail.

Ooooooooooohhhhh

 The Royal Promenade is the interior mall lined with shops and restaurants

 Café Promenade was one of my favorites...

 (24/7 free cookies!)

Across the way was a Ben & Jerry's Ice Ccream shop. 

I didn't get anything from it, although Deka did

(don't worry... I had ice cream at the pool deck)

Moo?!

 I guess thats why they have a gym

(that I didn't use!)

 And a library... again, with the not using.

Awww, the image they use to warn about Norovirus was so freaking cute.

I kinda wish they made a shirt with it (or a plush!)

 The CUPCAKE Cupboard.

And the one and only cupcake I had, a super yummy peanut butter one :D

 And it was super hard to not get more... with a daily rotation of new flavors!

 At one point there were balloon animals....

I, made a belt!

((Proof I only had ONE cupcake!))

 Bingo going on in the Pharaoh's Palace.

 Casino Royale, ZzZzz

Although... it had this duck themed Slot/Combo machine

(only one I played, lost)

 Deka wanted to dress all fancy for the formal night.

(not me! I was on vacation, just go back up to the balloon-belt photo :P) 

 But we did eat in the formal hall

(I just liked the buffet far better)

Sunset at sea... Pretty neat when you could look 360 and not see any land or other boat, just ocean

Although along the way we did pass other ships or come into ports along side some.

We docked alongside this Costa Crociere ship while in Mexico.

Don't worry, there were lots of "hope your ship doesn't tip-over" jokes being made.

The Carnival Magic was also in Mexico and in passing we saw the Carnival Sunrise and Carnival Sensation. (uh, and maybe one other) And much like the Costa ship, there were endless amounts of jokes being made at them.

And we passed this random Norwegian Cruise Line ship near 

The Bahamas

I think its the Pearl based off its paint job.

 On our quest to explore every foot of the ship, we found.. uh, space?

And it at night you could truly find it.

(my first try taking photos of stars?)

I see you Orion, constellation!

 :)

 Back on our quest we found The Crypt, nightclub.

It wasn't open yet although when it was opened it looked about the same.

The only time there were people in it was for the silent disco (more on that later)

 BEAR WITH BOWLER DERBY!

The first full day of our cruise was a "day at sea" day, on the way to Haiti. Originally this was my biggest fear when it came to cruises.. the while... stuck on a boat with nothing to do. thing.

 Well, lets see how many nothings there were.

Everyday I'm shuffle boarding.

Deka had never played and I had never played... on a boat!

We were terrible at it.

 Uh, moving on.

You could learn to SCUBA in the pool during the early morning.

Or take part in other pool like activities....

 And if that's not your style, you can play minigolf!

 Or enjoy a 40 foot rock climb!

(I'm so awesome)

((POV video here))

 That afternoon we had seats for the Ice Show, Freedom-ice.com

I didn't really get it.... but

They did this during it....

And this?

When shows aren't going on, they offer free skate.

 Uh, both of our first times ice skating at sea? 

Love the helmets too!

So lets see, while a neat concept... and signed waiver required... 

I couldn't seem to not get yelled at. Lets see... "No Backwards", "No Spin", "No Trick", "No Hockey Stop", and "Slow Down".... yeah, all aimed at me. The rule lady even jokingly said "no fun" to me later.

 Moo?

Free chocolate milk! 

 Oh hey, and we found the arcade... I was hoping for some "DDR AT SEA!!" but only found an awful PUMP machine... and they wanted like $5 for it... pass.

 The kiddie water play area, H20Zone was kinda odd looking.. but I don't think any of the kids cared.

 The rest of the pool area was pretty neat at night with color changing LED's. We ended most nights with a stop at the pool and hot tubs

One of the nights we saw the Magic Show "Now You See It" by Drew Thomas, it was pretty neat.

I'd never seen the floating lady trick done while the magician was also floating.

 Ugh, then he made it snow....

 Deka was all about the Crew vs Guest water volleyball game

So we watched it.

(and I hoped this awful kid running in front of us would have fallen)

 Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake

And a bird made out of fruit!

(while I may hate pineapple, this was pretty neat)

Um. random Art Auction?

One of the nights was a 70's themed street party.... buuttttttt

I could have done without the Village People theme....

(and no, I didn't take part in the YMCA)

 Deka got to meet the ships captain.

(and his starbucks coffee)

On the last night, we took part in the Silent Disco. I'd seen the concept on TV before but it was new for us and most people who took part it seemed.

Grab some headphones, turn on the station you wanna hear, and rock out

The best part was taking your headphones off and hearing everyone sing along without music and if a song came on you didn't like, you could change it. They had two options for us A was mostly dance and top 40 and B was mostly 80's but you could tell who was listening to what based on their dance or the singing.

<insert bass-line>

Ugghhh, the CUPID SHUFFLE

Because we hadn't heard it every other day on the boat OR in every single port!

On one of the last nights we watched the DreamWorks Character Parade, they had different photo ops each night with the movie characters and I think even a breakfast you could sign up for but we only did the parade.

Um. There was Kung Fu Panda. 

 And this awful man using a tablet as a video camera.

CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH THAT VIDEO LATER!!

Oh, and there was a sassy HIPPO!

 Annddd some confetti for the ending... because confetti makes everything fun!

 Also on the last night we watched the "farewell" show

It had a live band and some aerial acrobatics

 Also....

This comedian... who was flat-out telling people on the ship to hit their kids.

and not joking about it.

 At the end of the show there was more confetti and streamers

As well as a large part of the ships crew. yaayyy!

Oh hey, look! Its Miami!

This... by far was the worst part... Being able to see the states and not having local cell-service.

(a full week without SMS and Twitter was killer, and while there was on-board WiFi it was between 30c and 60c a minute so I used it just for Flickr)

Even with cities like Miami and Fort Lauderdale in sight, we still had 10 more hours to go!

So there was lots of time for "Fatass Buffet"

I think its officially called the WindJammer... 

but we overheard a lady in Jamaica refer to it as such... and the name stuck <3

Yaayyyy! And at 6am we were back in port, back along one of the Disney ships... and an awful Carnival ship. In the end we had gone some 2,321 nautical miles round trip or.. uh, 2,671 miles

Once off the boat and past customs... We drove from one coast of Florida to the other and spent the day at Busch Gardens and the night at Funspot USA and Deka took her first ride on the 300 foot Sky Coaster! yaayyy!!

So in the end... I had fun and I guess I would do it again.
 But I doubt I'll ever be one of those CruiseAholics as I enjoy road tripping and going to parks and zoos way to much to devote all my vacation on a boat... but it was nice to take it slow for once. Looking back on alllllll my travels... this was my first trip, ever, I've taken without my family NOT based on at least one amusement park (and even that's kinda iffy, seeing is how I made sure the cruise I took stopped in Labadee, home of a non-coaster ((and had we wanted, we could have hit a second one while in Jamaica)))  Yup