Cruise Day 3 – September 18, 2007

We sailed through the night with the soothing sounds of the wake waves gently crashing off the bow of the ship below our stateroom. With the sliding door open during the night the occasional distant sounds of thunder could be heard if you happened to be rolling over or retuning to bed after a restroom jaunt. Being the light sleeper I awoke several times to just go outside and stand by the railing looking up at the stars. The waning crescent moon was making its way towards the distant horizon and I watched it slowly drop ‘into’ the ocean from my vantage point.

It still amazes me that wherever you travel that the moon I see tonight is the same moon you may see in another part of the world. We see the same thing but from a different vantage point in the sky. Living in Alaska the position of stars is very different than what I remember from all my years living in Atlanta. The constellations might still be there just in the sky in a place that seems somewhat strange to me.

When I used to travel to Australia the stars were so different than what I was used to seeing. Seeing the Southern Cross in the sky the first time was like seeing a new friend in the heavens. My friend the North Star and the Big Dipper have been guiding me all my life so seeing new star shapes has always been exciting to me.

Our night travel brought us early into the cove of Royal Caribbean’s private retreat called Labadee in Haiti. It is located on the northern shore of Haiti in a picturesque setting with the foothills of the mountains surrounding their property. The water has the aquamarine color of other ports but you can tell the depth drops off quickly into the dark blue alerting you to the possibility of deep water below.

From the deck I took several pictures before I realized that bringing my camera out of the air conditioned stateroom into the 80+ degrees brought with it a foggy lens. I wiped it off and retook a couple of pictures hoping they might turn out ok.

I could see several different beaches from which you could swim or snorkel and one area had all of the ‘toys’ that one could rent. See-doo’s and banana boats were lined up along the beach and you could see the water slide for the kids to play on. I could see a zip line from the top of the hill dropping several hundred feet to the area by The Dragon’s Breath rock outcropping.

I headed to meet everyone for breakfast while the first tender boats started taking passengers to shore. We were in no real hurry as we planned to leisurely make our way to the beach and our first snorkeling adventure. We talked with our head waiter, Amelia who told us which beach had the best area to see the most so our plan was to head off to that area after leaving the tender.

I enjoy leaving the ship on the tender boat as it puts you in the water where you can see the tremendous size of the ship. There is something nice about the angles from which to view the ship and the way you can view your home on the sea.

The sign above welcoming everyone to the ‘compound’ was nice and there was a steel
drum band playing close to where the ship’s photographers were getting shots of everyone. The setting for the picture had that nice tropical look to it missing only
the toucans sitting on my shoulder.

It came to us quickly that this experience would be different than our day on Princess Cay from a previous trip. On the other cruise line all of the people on that island were employees of Princess. It makes a huge difference in how things go and the experience you come away with during the time off the ship.

Labadee . . . 1^st impressions . . . get out your wallet.

As we stroll past the path away from the tender dock and make our way into an area with several ‘paths’ leading away from this central hub the first thing that you encounter is an army of “beach boys” who want to lead you to an area and set up your lounge chair. Before you can read the signs to figure out which area to go to first you are led away for the beach, I mean closest beach. We asked to be led to the snorkel beach to our left which the head waiter told us was the better one but the guide said ‘NO’ this way & quickly set up chairs for everyone then demanded a tip without any pleasantness at all. After paying his bounty we took ourselves to the correct beach and ran into new ‘beach boys’ who would not let us move the lounge chairs and set out these chairs with the same results . . . tip the new guys.

I guess my complaint is Royal did not really give out information that you would be bombarded with the many people looking for tips on the island. This was a Royal Caribbean ‘compound’ and it was thought all of the people there would be employees of the cruise line. All we saw was information that you could use your Sea Pass card for drinks and you did not need anything in the three eating areas on shore. We saw several people who left all of their cash on the ship and were embarrassed they did not have any money for these situations and the island people were almost hostile towards those that did not tip them. It is an area that Royal should better prepare everyone to not ruin the experience on their own resort.

Hotter than . . . find us some shade to lay out in as it was hot all day and you needed some shade to make it through the day without returning to Freedom looking like a cooked lobster or baked potato.

While the breeze was gently blowing the island was a lot of fun. When the breeze quit it was almost another story. It was hot! Watching people walk around on the beach reminded me of the Dudley Moore scene from “10” . . . ouch . . . Hot Sand (with everyone quickly tip toeing to a shady spot or chair).

The kids only wanted to swim . . . again . . . again . . . and again. They spent most of the day running back and forth between the water and our lounge chairs bringing back their snorkel gear and then about ten minutes later coming back to get it again. I was able to go down and get some pictures of them in the water . . .

As it was well past lunch we decided to head down towards the Dragon’s Breath to the outdoor eating area that was right next to the beach. It was not too far but walking to lunch we saw the small hill with a zip line and inquired about the ride. We were told it was sixty dollars and decided not to do it as we wanted to ride the long one from the top of the mountain almost half a mile away.

We found a nice table with a great view of the water . . . the zip line . . . the para-sailing . . . and Dragon’s Breath the rock outcropping that is on the end of the resort where waves crash onto the rocks and the water rushing into a hole makes a sound like a dragon breathing.

We enjoyed a nice lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers, and BBQ ribs and watched people riding the line down to the breaking area on the end of the ride. After lunch we wanted to walk out to the end of the rocks to see Dragon’s Breath and take some pictures of the beach from that elevated point on the end overlooking the ocean.

The long walk back to the tender boats was hot and sweaty but we slowly returned to the line for the tender boats feeling cooked . . . sun drained . . . and happy to return to the ship for the cooler temperatures and comfort.

On board ship everyone seemed to be showering our way back to life . . . we feel like new people again after a little rest and some hydration. The ship ever so slowly backed out and turned around to head for Jamaica and our much anticipated Canopy Tour through the jungle. I was out on the balcony working on my blog so had a great view of Labadee slowly fading from view. The clouds were building up over the land mass and would probably trigger a few thunderstorms later in the evening. I watched several dolphins chase the shadow of the ship for several minutes when Scott called and we decided to head back for another turn on the Flow Rider.

We waited in line to stand up surf and had nice rides with Bob joining us this time but sitting out as he wanted to boogie board. They made the switch a few people behind us so all three of us got back into the line to try our luck on the boogie board. While we were waiting the ten minutes we sailed through a rain shower which felt nice in the heat. When we looked out past the rear of the ship there was a beautiful rainbow going from the water way out on one side of the ship up and over returning to the water out to the other side a perfect 180 degree rainbow. It was pretty to see as we sailed towards the setting sun to look past the ship to see this unique look at a full rainbow.

There was a quick trip up the rock wall before going back to the cabin to get ready for our dinner. Tonight was another wonderful experience in the main dining room for Deb and me as we returned to another excellent meal. Scott’s clan headed for the buffet tonight and we were supposed to meet up after dinner for a show in the main theater. The headline tonight was The Osmond’s 50^th Anniversary tour. First rate . . . they still have it as musicians and entertainers! The hour long show had comedy and plenty of songs that quickly came back to you. They entertained everyone with a nice mix of medleys of different styles of songs. There were the ‘love songs’, the songs about ‘family’, and the ones about ‘life’. They mixed many artiest with their own music to give a great well rounded romp through our past. When it was over . . . the standing ovation left everyone wanting another hour of music.

We did not see the ‘gang’ at the Osmond’s show and headed for a nice walk out on deck before going to the adult comedy show. The comedian was funny and we wondered if it was going to be a show full of the ‘f’ word where we would walk out it things went a little to crudely.

To our delight that was not the case as he was funny and centered much of his comedy on things pertaining to the ship or cruising. Much of his show was dead on to life aboard ship and the many unique views or activities found on board. We laughed during the whole show as his rambling way led everyone on a mental trip of visuals and the belly laugh that the world needs. It was great and we wanted more or to see him do another show but that was his only show during the trip.

Oh Crap! The late night time came to a close so I walked Deb back to the stateroom and headed down to the casino for another round on the craps table. I was hoping Scott was there or would show up but he was in The Crypt nightclub dancing the night away with Kim. Another quick winning round and I headed back upstairs to spend a bit of quiet time on the balcony before heading to sleep . . . tired but satisfied that everyone had a great time today.

Ice