When is Haiti Not Haiti? When it's Labadee!

 December 16, 2022

Room service coffee is easy to get used to!  Today there are a couple of little glitches but they are just things to make you shake your head, like the little bundle of silverware in the cloth napkin is missing and when I shake the sweetener packet there is a small snowfall! Still, I'm going to miss this!

Anyway, after coffee on the balcony we get dressed and go up to the Windjammer for breakfast.  Yogurt seems like a good idea because the rich food and alcohol and gluten yesterday are taking their toll.  Maureen is in the same boat! We're not sure about the lunch situation, though, so maybe a little more protein is in order.

Igusti is so cute and talented!

There is cool art everywhere on the ship!

Back upstairs to regroup and we're off the ship and into Labadee, which is a peninsula that is leased by Royal Caribbean solely for the use of their guests. After another bit of misadventure finding the correct gangway, we disembark. Ma brings her walker and a crewman actually has a wheelchair for her at the base of the gangway to get her as far as the actual land. This self-contained water park has everything! Gorgeous beaches? Check. Zip lining? Check. Human pool game? Check. Basketball court? Check. Cabanas, deck chairs, towels? Check. Check. Check. There is a trolley to take you around the resort and there is even an artisans' market. We've been told that there is a twelve-foot fence that separates us from the rest of the island, otherwise I wouldn't have left the ship. Cholera is not the way I want to go!

We're a bit concerned about the walker, but it can fold up and go on the trolley, so we head off to the shopping first.  Hand made Haitian crafts are for sale in a single building where the prices are fixed. And if you enjoy bargaining (shudder) there is an entire row of artisans in their own stalls.

Look out!  Here come a million photos!!

wheelchair for the sand!

The walker fits if you are persistant!

They must pay extra to be in the first building you hit!

Cute froggie doing a head stand!

Or lying on the ground!

It's a co-op!

Lunch room!

Floating bar

CRASH!!~

That done we decide that lunch is in order.  The Royal Caribbean kitchen has provided an array of "lunchables" - pasta salad, watermelon/tomato/feta salad, corn on the cob, black beans and rice, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, jerk chicken, an entire row of gluten-laden desserts, and a lot of fruit.  There are water and juice and tea dispensers and a bar serving Jamaican Red Stripe (and probably other things) for purchase with your Sea Pass.

And there are dancers and a tumbling team that is gathering funds for an international competition!

The girls have gotten us towels and located four deck chairs in the shade and while they lounge I wander a bit taking some shots of the crashing waves and the amenities.  When they go in the water I follow them down to record that as well and when they get out I rub their arms so I can have some Caribbean water on me, too! (I see you rolling your eyes!)

Presently it's time to catch the trolley back to the ship so we don't miss the 4:30 curfew!

The doors are metal and people put fun stuff on them!

The headwaiter talking to the kids at the next table!!

OMG! Between the escargot and the scallops in cheese sauce I completely lost track
of what I was supposed to be doing!!  So good!!!

Chicken marsala

Eton mess - whipped cream, strawberries and pieces of meringue!

Puzzle question

Puzzle answer!

Robin and I turn in the towels, making sure that our staterooms are credited and we all head back, for showers and a little rest before dinner.  Dean and I have been texting about our disembarking procedure since our luggage has to all have the same number on the new tags in order to be easily found. We'll be leaving at 7:40 am Sunday morning!

Down to dinner and Tobi and Dean are already at our table. There's another bottle of champagne and another bottle of Pinot! They really want Dean to be happy! And there's another visit by the head waiter!

Robin and I have each ordered the scallops as our appetizers; but we're served escargot.  They're so good that we aren't unhappy but Roque gets the scallops, too! As always the food is lovely and we are getting ready to go to the new water show when Roque comes back with our riddle of the day! There are nine horses in nine stalls.  Another horse is added to the stable.  The horses can't share a stall, so how do you put ten horses in nine stalls?  See the photo! The man has no shame!

We find seats in the top row of the Aqua Theater and enjoy the hijinks of the Hideaway Heist Aqua Show, complete with a robbery of a 1950s holiday resort!

  

We learned today that the pool is 180 feet deep!

They make use of the two screens on either side of the stage!  Other times they show the 
World Cup games!

Such a cool theater!

OMG!  There's a snail crawling up the ship!

Then we're on to the Schooner Bar where Kelly has been playing for a while.  He asks us where we've been! When he takes hiss break we go down to Deck 5 for a line-dancing class, then to Bolero's for Caribbean Vibes with L'Ements. Back up to the Schooner where Kelly is now playing music from the British Invasion, complete with wig and 60s attire!

We love Kelly and his wardrobe!

When exhaustion catches up with us, Robin and I head to bed;we lost Ma after the first stop at the Schooner and Maureen just a bit before we gave up. Tomorrow is our last real day aboard ship and we plan to make the most of it!