A PRIVATE PARADISE: VISITING LABADEE

Our final port stop was Labadee. A small peninsula nestled at the base of the lush hills on the northern coast of Haiti, Labadee is a private resort leased by Royal Caribbean.

In 2009, Royal Caribbean spent over $55 million improving the facilities including upgrading the ship dock in order to accommodate their large Freedom-class and Oasis-class ships, like our Independence of the Seas.

The beach is the main attraction on Labadee. A crescent-shaped area of sugary sand, located on the calm cove waters, is shaded by numerous palm trees. Complimentary lounge chairs are available. 

NOTE: There is a water slide, roller coaster and floating water apparatus for kids to use, but the rental fees are priced too high in my opinion.

However, we did rent the floating mats and took turns enjoying the refreshing Caribbean waters and our tropical refreshments.

Local merchants are allowed to sell their colorful wares...it was interesting haggling prices with them!

We did purchase one of the small colorful artworks. 

Instead of taking the tender back to the ship, we decided to walk back to the ship which allowed us to see more of Labadee.  How strange to see these conifer-like trees in the midst of tropical palm trees...

We were able to see the spectacular Atlantic Ocean side...

and the amazing Dragon's Breath Flight Line...a 500-foot long zipline ride directly over the water!

Colorful Haitian dancers welcomed back to the ship.

As we sailed away from Labadee, we knew we still had one last full sea day on the ship before sailing back to Fort Lauderdale.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014

BLUE WATER/WHITE CHOCOLATE IN ST. MAARTEN

Our morning shore excursion in St. Maarten was short enough to allow us time after lunch to cruise through the Great Bay in a water taxi to the town of Phillipsburg.

And what a beautiful view we had on our water taxi ride...look at the blue color of that water!

When we exited the water taxi, what a surprise to see the beautiful beach right in front of the main shopping street!

We walked up and down Front Street which is the main shopping street in Phillipsburg...

 





Finally finding the store I really wanted to find: The Belgian Chocolate Box...

 




where we bought several pieces of the most delicious white chocolate...if you visit St. Maarten, this is a must-see stop.

Since we had some time before we were due back on board the ship, we took an opportunity to walk along that beautiful beach and put our feet in the warm Caribbean waters...

 


Sadly, we eventually had to board the water taxi back to the ship (seen in the background in the picture above). We left St. Maarten knowing we would return very soon...even though it was only our first stop, we already knew St. Maarten would be our favorite stop of the trip.

Our next stop was the island of St. Kitts. I'll talk about that in my next post.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014.

TWO CULTURES; ONE ISLAND: ST. MAARTEN

After cruising through the beautiful blue Caribbean Sea for two days, with the new Norwegian Getaway cruise ship already docked, we finally arrived at our first port: St. Maarten...

...or is it Saint-Martin?

Our entire group decided on the Ultimate Island Tour for our shore excursion. It turned out to be a great choice.

The first part of the tour was a scenic ride from Philipsburg on the Dutch side to Marigot on the French side. The scenery was spectacular...that is St. Barts in the distance.

We arrived in Marigot and had an hour or so to walk around the town. We took the opportunity to shop at the local outdoor market...

and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

The second part of our shore excursion was a double-deck boat ride across the Simpson Bay Lagoon. Our catamaran departed from Marina Royale...

Back in 1995, Hurricane Luis caused severe damage to the island of St. Maarten. 80% of the buildings sustained serious damage or were totally destroyed. Cruising across the picturesque Simpson Bay, we could see many boats destroyed by the hurricane that had never been repaired, and still remained where they were moored nearly twenty years previously.

But there were also many beautiful sites (and boats) to see during our relaxing cruise across the bay...

Arriving back at the ship, we ate a quick lunch and decided to catch the water taxi over to Phillipsburg for some shopping. We were wonderfully surprised by what we discovered which in the end made St. Maarten our favorite stop on this cruise.

I'll show you that portion of our time in St. Maarten in the next post.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos in this post were taken by my husband and me during our Caribbean cruise in May, 2014.