Gorgeous Morning

I woke up early once again and looked out the balcony to see we were pulling in to dock at Labadee. We were finally in Labadee!

I hurried to take a shower but by the time I came out, Mom was awake and had already gotten a beautiful video of the sun rising over the hill (mountain?) on the island.

We had an early morning excursion so we quickly got dressed and went up to the Windjammer for breakfast. Unlike the day before, Mom and I were able to find a table. This was the first time I sat down and ate in the Windjammer. The cruise halfway over and I’d just sat down at the buffet – wild.

Mom and I had two excursions that day so I tried to make sure I ate enough to last me until lunch. I’d stepped out on the balcony before we went up for breakfast and it was already so hot and humid out so I knew I’d be hungry and thirsty later.

Labadee

As we walked off the ship on deck 2, we were greeted by various photographers as we went down the pier for pictures to take. Because I didn’t know exactly where or how far the meeting spot was for our excursion, I politely declined and kept walking until we got to the end of the pier.

Music bloomed as we walked closer and closer to the entrance of Labadee. Haitian dancers stepped and spun as we crossed that line from the pier into the island. The drummers provided their accompaniment and everyone was already sweating bullets.

I wanted to watch but also had find the meeting spot listed on our excursion tickets (they were on the vanity in our cabin on day one). After asking someone, they pointed us in the right direction. We still had about 15 minutes before the excursion time so I went back over to the dancers to watch and left a tip.

I took more pictures in the surrounding area but ended up being a few seconds late getting back to the meeting spot. Mom gave me the death glare and I just stared at her. I wasn’t even two minutes late nor was I far.

Labadee Historic Walking Tour

Our first excursion was the Labadee Historic Walking Tour. Our guide walked us around the island to different areas and told us about Labadee before Royal Caribbean bought it. He explained how most men were fishermen and their wives would take to the fish to sell at the market having to walk for miles upon miles to get there.

We walked along the island’s “dragon” which was rock formations all along the coast that made up different parts of the dragon’s body. At the end of the tour, he talked about the slave trade and how the enslaved fought their way to freedom through the Haitian Revolution.

The walking tour ended practically on the other side of Labadee so we had to walk back on our own. Luckily for my mom there were people with wheelchairs walking around waiting for guests they could attend to.

Briefly Back on the Ship

We stopped a few hundred steps from the pier to take pictures at the spots Royal Caribbean set up (tipping the wheelchair driver before parting with him) and walked the rest of the way.

The feeling of the air conditioning as we got back on the ship was extremely welcomed. I didn’t expect it to be so hot at just 10 in the morning! As we walked back on the ship, we passed one of our dinner waiters, Samson, as he headed off.

“Oh, that’s nice they get to leave the ship for a break,” my mom said as she noticed more crew members in purple shirts walking off.

“Mom…they’re leaving the ship to go work on the island at the buffets. Why else would they be wearing purple crew shirts?”

“So you know they’re crew,” she said.

“But if it’s supposedly for a break, why would we need to know they’re crew? They’re just working at a different location,” I explained. We went back and forth for another minute (later she’d confirm with Samson that they were indeed working the buffet areas on the island).

Laser Tag!?

We’d gone back to the room to rest before heading up for lunch. I was scrolling in the Royal Caribbean app and saw that there was laser tag happening. Mom said she wanted to do it because she’d never played laser tag before. If we did it, we’d be cutting time really close for lunch and getting to the second excursion. I was beginning to overthink about it but I gave in. Mom signed us up and we rushed down to Studio B where the laser tag was.

Studio B is where the ice skating performances and ice skating free time happens but when we walked in, the rink was covered up with foam flooring and blow-up obstacle walls. The Lights were red and green with low intensity and there was a bit of flash happening every so often. It was completely transformed.

I’m so glad we did the laser tag! We had so much fun. It was Aliens vs. Recruits. Mom was an alien and I was a recruit so we were on opposing side. My team was pretty great but the aliens ended winning.

Towards the end of the game my vest stopped working so I lost all of my points. I was bummed but it was still a great time. Afterwards, we went straight up to Windjammer for lunch.

Vacant Buffet

Even though I hadn’t been to the Windjammer that much on this cruise, this was the most empty I’d ever seen it. There were probably 15 guests in there and a few crew members.

I didn’t get much to eat because we didn’t have a lot of time but what I ate was so good. The roasted garlic chicken was way better than expected and I loved the chocolate mousse.

After lunch and trying to hydrating, we made our way back down to deck 2 to head towards our second excursion: Labadee Traditions.

Back to Labadee

Labadee Traditions

We had to take a small boat to get to the actual starting point of the excursion. At first most of us in the tour group didn’t think that small boat would fit all of us but we were gladly mistaken.

The boat went across the way to another part of Haiti that wasn’t Labadee. It was probably about a 5-minute ride over. You could tell there was a different energy compared to Labadee. Labadee has music and chatter but on the other side it was silent. The quiet was a little unsettling.

We were greeted by our tour guide at the dock. He led us through behind a gate of what seemed to be someone’s property. Later I’ll find out we were at the guest house of man who had purchased land in Haiti before Royal Caribbean did.

We stood in an open grass are where the guide gave us some brief history of Haiti, adding onto what we learned about the Haitian Revolution from our last excursion.

As he was talking I could feel a couple locals looking at all of us. There was even a woman standing right by the gate staring as we walked by. She didn’t tell me until later but my mom felt really uncomfortable.

The Market

After our history lesson we went up some steps (40 to be exact) to look at the humongous earth oven. Then, we went down the other side to the market before watching the Haitian vodou demonstrations.

The market turned out to be a chance for locals to ask if we wanted any souvenirs. I was getting asked by multiple to vendors to see what they had to offer. It wasn’t as bad as other places I’ve been to but it was a little overwhelming. I ended up getting a $10 magnet and a $20 damp t-shirt (when I got back to the room it felt like it was wet from the humidity). I was so busy being asked by marketers to look at their wares that I didn’t even realize the demonstrations were about to start.

Haitian Vodou Demonstrations

There were dancers that performed a prayer while dancing. You could tell some of them were a bit shy to perform and they giggling as they tried to remember the routine.

The next demonstration was how vodou (not voodoo, though voodoo was inspired by Haitian vodou) was used to heal someone. They used epilepsy as an example. Prior to this our tour guide explained how different plants and herbs were medicinal and had various uses.

The dancers came back out and one of them would be the example of someone suffering from epilepsy. I could tell she felt a little embarrassed before she fell over. Their bashfulness reminded me that they’re all just regular people in their teens, 20s, and 30s just doing a job.

After the dancer “passed out” the shaman came out moving rhythmically along with them, tearing the plants and mixing them together, rubbing the along the dancer who laid on the ground. She rubbed the plants from her head, down her arms, lifting the dancer up to rub it along her back and then her feet. After a few moments dancer got back up and started dancing along with the rest.

The last demonstration was a fire swallower. He spun sticks of fire as he came out and would swallow the fire like it was nothing. He came out to the crowd with the fire, looking for participants. He walked to me first but I turned him down. Knowing my clumsy self, I’d drop it or burn myself.

He found four volunteers and had them do some dances with him while they held the fire, then he took each of their torches and swallowed the fire to put it out. I always think fire swallowers are so cool and fearless. I could never!

Sugar Cane Rum

Right after the demonstrations, we watched how the juice from sugar cane is gathered to eventually ferment and make rum. There was a set up with a tree and a thick branch. They’d put the sugar cane in between the two and sit on the branch like a seesaw, causing it to crush the sugar cane and release the liquid.

They offered us cups to try. Mom didn’t want any which I was surprised by but I did. It was sweet and actually tasted familiar for some reason. Of course it wasn’t rum yet. It reminded me more of fruit juice.

For our last part of the tour, we went to Norm’s place, a man who had bought this part of Haiti before Royal Caribbean did. We were in the house and heard a little bit about Norm’s story. Then, we were back on the boat to get back to Labadee.

I enjoyed both excursions but I don’t think I’ll do two in one day again. I was so tired afterwards. The days’ not over yet, though.

Farewell to Labadee

Mom and I got back on the ship and sat out on our balcony to watch the ship depart. What surprised us was that the Haitian locals came dancing and playing music down to the pier to wave us off.  We waved back and I leaned out to see other cruisers on their balconies waving back as well.

It was sweet and a nice surprise. However, Mom and I kept thinking, “Dang, they’re still technically working even though we’re off the island?” It was also looking pretty gloomy, the sky grey and overcast like it was going to rain. We hoped they all could get home before that happened.

Dinner Time

Dinner came up so fast after sail away. It was tropical night in honor of visiting Haiti so they had Caribbean food options. I ended up getting green lentil soup as an appetizer (my first time having green lentils and it was great), tiger shrimp for my entrée, and I was excited to have the pineapple sunshine cake for dessert. I remembered how good it was in January.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. They must’ve changed the recipe because it didn’t taste the same at all, it didn’t even look the same. I wish I had a picture of the one in January to compare. The one in January was more fluffy, light, and sweet. This one was dense, moist, and bland in flavor.

Mom and I actually left dinner early, taking our desserts to go, because my stomach was hurting really bad. We also had to catch to the ice skating show since it started earlier than the first night. Mom didn’t go with me the first time so we went so she could see it. I won’t re-hash the ice skating but I will say there was less falling during this performance.

That ends a very long day 3 in Labadee!

Have you ever been to Labadee or Haiti? Would you ever do two excursions in one day if you had the time? Let me know in the comments.

This is definitely a day that would be better shown via video so make sure to check out the vlog post that will be up on YouTube on Tuesday.