Just back from Labadee

Labadee, Hispaniola (Haiti)

10:00am - 6:00pm. Haiti itself occupies the Western third of the island of Hispaniola, while Dominican Republic occupies the Eastern side. Labadee is not a private island off of Haiti as some believe. It's actually a peninsula on the beautiful northern coast of Haiti. This is a really pretty port offering a nice beach day with expensive excursion options for the more adventurous. Here's a map of Labadee you can print: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/labadee-map.jpg

I'll walk you clockwise around the map starting at the pier:

From the pier (bottom left) you are spilled out on Buccaneer's Bay where you can schedule tours. North of there is Dragon's Bay which includes the main tram station (#2), and 1 of the port's 5 lunch pavilion "cafes" (#4), a drink station "pub" (#5), a lookout point (#6) worth a view of the entire north side beach areas and the zipline landing. There are no swimmable beaches in Dragon's Bay due to the rocks and reefs in the water.

As you move inland (to the east) on the north shore you'll encounter Adrenaline Beach which has waves and good views of the zipline participants. The further east you walk, the sparser is the shade. The Dragon's Tail Coaster (#33) is located at the far eastern border, just past rentable cabanas (#35), and the zipline is up the hill to its left but is only accessible by truck.

Just south of Dragon's Tail is Town Square, with a bar (#18), lunch pavilion "cafe" (#19), the second tram station (#25), small amphitheater (#30), and Artesian's Market (#21, housed in a building). This is where the friendly no-haggle, no-hassle, local shops are located. They sell local arts and crafts. As you head south from here, you'll run into the Artesian's Village (#20, looks small on the map but it's really over 200 yards long and on both sides of the walkway). This is an uncomfortable gauntlet of outdoor "hassle and haggle" shops, manned by very aggressive locals offering similar wares, that stretches until you reach the sanctuary of Columbus Cove.

Columbus Cove is an oasis of sun, sand, and lots of shade with a beautiful beach, no waves, and an unobstructed view of the ship. It's very pretty and the water is very comfortable. Being the furthest beach from the ship, it will typically have the lightest crowds of all the full-access beaches. It also has a tram station (#43), "pub", "cafe" (#38), and an aqua park (#39) with waterslide (fee applies for both).

Now, heading west across the south shore you'll hit Nellies Beach, a beach cove featuring rentable cabanas (#31, if you rent one, be sure to pay a little extra for the cabanas on the water). This is also the southern route to Columbus Cove which will thankfully bypass the entire Artesian Village complex.

Heading further west toward the pier on the south shore is the Barefoot Beach Club, an exclusive gated beach cove for guests residing in Grand Suites and above. It's the closest southern beach to the pier. They have rentable cabanas (#13), a tram station (#15), and their own food and beverage facilities.

Our day at Labadee started when we left the ship at 10am and wandered around the peninsula as we made our way to Columbus Cove, the furthest beach from the ship. We came across the Artesian Market building with low-key local vendors doing a brisk business. Just past the Market, you hit a gauntlet of high-pressure local vendor shops. There must be over 50 of them. All of the stuff they were selling looked very similar. As you pass by the shops you are greeted with "Follow me", "Where are your from?", and "Can I ask you a question?" --- all intended to get you to engage with them and look at what they are selling. Most folks will feel very uncomfortable and want to exit the area as rapidly as possible. (If you do buy here you can easily haggle their first price down by 50% to 75% as long as you don't show too much interest). If you have no interest, just ignore them (or say "no thanks") and keep walking. You'll survive the ordeal unscathed.

We eventually worked our way to Columbus Cove and found lots of beachfront shade at the far end, complete with unobstructed views of the water and ship. This is despite being the second of two ships to arrive in port and having arrived at this beach at 11am. The beach will get a lot busier come 12:30pm. A buffet lunch was served in the pavilion behind us starting around 11:30am. Lunch was free and included juices, water, tea, breads, grilled chicken, pork chops, beef, hamburgers, hotdogs, ribs, slaw, green salad, potato salad, corn on the cob, light desert bites, and a few other items. Each pavilion offers several additional covered structures with lots of shaded picnic tables.

We enjoyed our lazy beach day at Columbus Cove and exploration of the peninsula. Fee-based activities available included Dragon's Breath Flight Line (zipline, $96 per ride), Dragon's Tail Coaster ($26 per ride), Adrenaline Coastal Boat Tour ($50), Haitian Cultural TOur ($75), Labadee Wave Jet Tour ($100), Sandbar Island Getaway ($50 - $55), Parasail Adventure ($86), Kayak Adventure ($40), Dragon's Splash Waterslide ($24) and Arawak Aqua Park ($20 per hour). [Prices current as of January 2015].

Notes: 1. small lockers are available at several locations for $8. 2. Alcohol was available and free if you were on a beverage plan (same rules as on the ship). 3. The south side beaches were prettier and nicer than the north side beaches, offered more shade, and calm water. North side beaches offered more sun, wind, waves, and great views of folks using the Dragon's Breath Flight Line (zipline) and Dragon's Tail Coaster. 4. You only needed your Sea Pass Card (no other ID required at this private port) and your beach towel from the ship. Lounge chairs are free but you might tip an attendant a dollar or two to haul and setup your lounge chairs and wipe them down.

For pictures of all of the ports please see:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/constellation2.html

Great review of Labadee! We're heading there during the second week of March on the Oasis…can't wait!!! Did you try the zipline or know anyone who did? My daughter and I have a 10am "zip time" booked.

Thanks for taking the time to post your Labadee review. Very informative, will definitely use this info when we go there on our upcoming cruise.

Craig

Scoobs9...

I did not personally do the zipline or know anyone who did. It definitely looks like fun. I understand you need to set aside about 90 minutes for this activity as you need to get harnessed up, do a test run (on a shorter zipline near the pier), and get trucked up the mountain. I believe they can run as many as 4 or 5 at a time. The actual zipline ride time is less than 60 seconds. You can view it on YouTube. Have a great trip.

Thanks CaribbeanBound!

Scoobs9...

I did not personally do the zipline or know anyone who did. It definitely looks like fun. I understand you need to set aside about 90 minutes for this activity as you need to get harnessed up, do a test run (on a shorter zipline near the pier), and get trucked up the mountain. I believe they can run as many as 4 or 5 at a time. The actual zipline ride time is less than 60 seconds. You can view it on YouTube. Have a great trip.

I see they raised the prices on some of the excursions since we were last there in July.

Well its a private area---they own the rights, so they can do what they want.

Safe journey

We did the Zip line a few years ago. It was amazing. The View from the top was awesome. Bring a camera. Worth the money. (Go early, if the wind picks up, they stop running)

Thanks for the detailed review of Labadee! We've been there several times and enjoyed the over the water cabanas. I just saw a post on the main thread stating that they now have Villas to rent as well as cabanas. We were there a year ago and only remember cabanas ..... never saw villas as something we had a choice to rent. Any insight you can provide to this?

Thanks!

We've been to Labadee several times. As far as the flies, at any picnic you will have a few of them. I think the biggest issue is weather related. For whatever reason, if it's cloudy with what looks like a bit of rain imminent, there are more flies. We've never seen the place/food covered in flies and I was grateful someone was assigned to keep the flies off the food. We ate a little then went back to the ship and headed to the WJ to eat, returned to the island. My biggest problem was trying to find an empty seat at a table to eat my food. VERY crowded at certain times. If you snooze too long waiting on the crowd to thin out, so will the food (thin out). Certain foods will be gone.

mchin...

Labadee has no Villas. The cabana's on the South side look like wood huts while the ones on the North side look more like open tents.

My guess is that the reference to "villas" that you saw only pertains to Half Moon Cay (HMC). There the villa's include a bathroom.

Personally, I would not even consider renting any of the cabanas that aren't over the water --- like the one you enjoyed.

We too encountered flies, but it wasn't a real big deal. It's not like we've never seen flies at a picnic in the states.

I wish they had more cabanas. I've tried for two cruises to get one. I tried booking one months before our cruise, calling them to inquire an checking the excursions section every day and still no cabana :(

I know they set aside some for suite guests, but we can only afford a balcony or jr suite..

Thanks for the review. I have been trying to watch for a cabana for future cruise and they are not even listed now on the shore excursions. If anyone knows a good way to get a nellies one reserved please share!!

Are the "tent" ones on Adrenaline the same price? ($250). We rented one like that on st kitts for $40 at Carambola and loved it but can't imagine it's worth $250...

Jess

It's my understanding that they are not available on Celebrity's site --- only on RCI's site and therefore those folks get first dibbs. You might try calling Celebrity to see if they can be arranged via phone. Last I heard you had to book them on the ship if there was any availability.

Frankly, while they might be fun to have, by no means are they a necessity. Save your money and spend it on something else if they don't make it easy for you.

[emoji106]

Columbus Cove is an oasis of sun, sand, and lots of shade with a beautiful beach, no waves, and an unobstructed view of the ship. It's very pretty and the water is very comfortable. Being the furthest beach from the ship, it will typically have the lightest crowds of all the full-access beaches. It also has a tram station (#43), "pub", "cafe" (#38), and an aqua park (#39) with waterslide (fee applies for both).

 

 

Our day at Labadee started when we left the ship at 10am and wandered around the peninsula as we made our way to Columbus Cove, the furthest beach from the ship. We came across the Artesian Market building with low-key local vendors doing a brisk business. Just past the Market, you hit a gauntlet of high-pressure local vendor shops. There must be over 50 of them. All of the stuff they were selling looked very similar. As you pass by the shops you are greeted with "Follow me", "Where are your from?", and "Can I ask you a question?" --- all intended to get you to engage with them and look at what they are selling. Most folks will feel very uncomfortable and want to exit the area as rapidly as possible. (If you do buy here you can easily haggle their first price down by 50% to 75% as long as you don't show too much interest). If you have no interest, just ignore them (or say "no thanks") and keep walking. You'll survive the ordeal unscathed.

Thanks for the info.

I seem to remember walking thru the Artesan market and vendor area but looking at the map now I'm wondering why I didn't take the tram to the end #44 stop on the south part of Columbus Cove. Does the tram run rarely in the morning to sort of force pax to walk thru that area?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=532

Is the tram continual or drop you off in the blue circle by the artisan market and you'd have to catch another tram to Columbus Cove? If it's continual I'd think next visit I would just stay on it.

Tram is continuous, but lines can be long at times and the tram is slow. Easy walk, so we did.