Another Mile Another Destination Blog: Labadee, Haiti

“Say yes to adventure, especially if it means going someplace tropical”

Anonymous

Haiti is a country I never thought I would visit but with this cruise, it was one of the stops. Labadee is a 60 acre private resort on a peninsula on the northern coast of Haiti that is owned by Royal Caribbean and can only be used by Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Club Cruises till 2050. It is a gorgeous area that is fenced off from the rest of the country and is guarded by a private security force so even when there is unrest in this country, you are safe.

Royal Caribbean employs over 300 locals and allows another 200 Haitians to come and sell their wares in the market. Royal helps the Haitian government by giving them $12 per tourist that visits Labadee. There are no excursions from here as you have to stay in this secure area. It may sound scary, but it is not. In fact, it is a relaxed place to go with no one pestering you to buy something.

The ship docked at a nice pier which made for an easy debarkment. It was great being able to just walk off the ship to land instead of having to take a tender to get to this stop. That is always a plus since it saves so much time. The pier is located in Buccaneer Bay where there is room for only one cruise ship at a time. Another plus is it keeps the crowds down at Labadee. They were ready to handle everyone including people who may need extra help with wheelchairs and golf carts.

When we got off the ship, we were greeted with smiling Haitian dancers that were colorfully dressed in Haitian fashioned yellow and orange clothes. The drummers in the back beat out a rhythm while the dancers sang and danced to Haitian songs. They were very talented and impressive. We saw older Haitian men carving flutes out of wood.

We started walking along the paved path towards the beach area. It was quite warm that day with not much of a breeze as we walked along the sandy path. We passed many trees that we had never seen before and heard different bird calls. Along the pathway were beautiful tropical plants and we could see the mountains in the background. It appears as if this whole area was built on sand. There is a free tram if you do not want to walk that will take you to any of the beach areas.

There are four beaches in Labadee. The largest and usually the most crowed is Adrenalin beach which features a float up bar. Then there is Arawak Water Park in Columbus Cove which is an extra fee beach, Nellie's Beach is a small and secluded with some rocky areas making it great for snorkeling, and Barefoot Beach which is exclusive for cruisers staying in the Grand Suites. We walked to Nellie's Beach and decided that would be a great place to spend the day. There are also hammocks available on a first come first serve bases in many of these locations. We were thrilled and blessed with such a beautiful day. The skies were a beautiful blue color and sea was a gorgeous clear crystal blue.

By the time we got to the beach, we were hot and ready to get in the water. We brought sand toys for the kids to play with on the beach. They really enjoyed that was well as swimming since this beach was very calm. Us adults brought our own toys as well; our snorkels. We took out our snorkels and were off to explore the area. It was quite good near the rocks. We saw many brightly colored tropical fish. Afterwards, while relaxing on the beach, Royal Caribbean bar stewards came right to us to take our drink orders. Iputu Ryan, from Indonesia took great care of us. What a great and relaxing day on the beach. On both sides of this gorgeous beach were cabanas you could rent.

On one side of the beach was a ruin of an old building. It was not marked and when I asked locals they didn’t know what it was used for back in the day. I found this not just fascinating but beautiful.

For lunch, members of the Royal Caribbean had set up food in a large pavilion. They served a nice meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken salad, corn on the cob, rice and beans, regular garden salad, fruits, and desserts. There were also various bars where you could get a drink. It was a bonus that the drink package was excepted anywhere on Labadee.

If you wanted to do more than just relax on the beach, there were plenty of other things to do here like flying high over the water on the Dragon Zip line which is one of the longest over the water zip-lines in the world and an alpine roller coaster you could try for an extra fee. Our granddaughters did the zip-line and loved it. There is also the massive Arawak Aqua Park with water slide, cabana rentals, parasailing, jet skiing, fishing, speed boat adventures, catamaran trips, kayaking, snorkeling, and sailing all for an extra cost as well.

There were children play areas with splash pads and play areas. There is also an open air Artisan’s village where you can buy wood carvings, jewelry, and unique souvenirs. We did not go to that as we were enjoying the day just relaxing.

Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean and is part of the same island with the Dominican Republic. Labadee is a mere 567 miles from Miami, 134 miles from Grand Turk, and only 32 miles west of the Dominican Republic border.