Has anyone been to Labadee, Hispaniola (Haiti)

I noticed that on our upcoming westbound TA on Reflections in October, that we stop in Labadee, Hispaniola, which is a privately owned resort by RCI. Has anyone been there and can comment?

Thanks,

S

I noticed that on our upcoming westbound TA on Reflections in October, that we stop in Labadee, Hispaniola, which is a privately owned resort by RCI. Has anyone been there and can comment?

 

Thanks,

 

S

You are correct. It is their "private island". A good beach day if the weather cooperates and it usually does. Nice beach. Water toys available for a charge. Zip Line, at a charge. Some local Arts and Craft shops. They serve a buffet style a picnic lunch with burgers, hot dogs, etc. Usually have some music. Usual free drinks are available. Adult beverages are at extra cost as on the ship and charged to Seapass Card. Drink packages apply. Just a relaxing day.

You are correct. It is their "private island". A good beach day if the weather cooperates and it usually does. Nice beach. Water toys available for a charge. Zip Line, at a charge. Some local Arts and Craft shops. They serve a buffet style a picnic lunch with burgers, hot dogs, etc. Usually have some music. Usual free drinks are available. Adult beverages are at extra cost as on the ship and charged to Seapass Card. Drink packages apply. Just a relaxing day.

What Orator said, nice relaxing beach day but activities if you so desire.

We stopped here once in 2012 on Silhouette. We had a cabana right on the water. It was a terrific day. So relaxing. I could have stayed longer.

We are not beach people but we love Labadee. It is our favourite port in the region and we even choose one cruise over another if it included Labadee. It is just so relaxing but provides a lot of activities if that is what you want. Would recommend having a cabana if you get the opportunity.

We also had an amazing day here! Great beaches and you can do as much or as little as you want. We had an over-the-water cabana on Nellie's Beach. It truly was a beautiful and relaxing day!

It's not an island...it's on the Northern coast...a penninsula. It's beautiful there, despite the poverty all around....Haiti is VERY poor...it's a shame. The beach is totally fenced from the general public, so it is very private.

Bear in mind that if you are a blood donor, you will not be able to donate for a year (I think it is) after going there.

Also

If you do go please do not miss the sail in and out -- beautiful sights along the way

Loved labadee

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We made the mistake of going to the wrong side of the beach (I can't remember now exactly where - maybe north part of the peninsula instead of south?) - but basically the floor of the bay was covered with sharp rocks, so you could wade in the water about knee-deep, and then you either had to start swimming or turn around, couldn't walk on it.

We were also pretty disgusted with the flea market. We understand that those are very poor people that are trying to make a living selling souvenirs...no problem. But these guys were so incredibly aggressive with their selling tactics, physically grabbing our arms to prevent us from walking out of the tent, shoving items into our bags if they so much as caught us looking at something for half a second. We looked in the first 2 tents, bought a couple of things, turned around and walked away from there as quickly as we could.

Thank you everyone for your insights and feedback....I noticed there are quite a few excursions / activities - what are the "most do's" and what are some of them the "done it once....not again".

Thanks again.....

Thank you everyone for your insights and feedback....I noticed there are quite a few excursions / activities - what are the "most do's" and what are some of them the "done it once....not again".

 

Thanks again.....

If you read down this page a bit, even further to the next page if you have time, there are numerous discussions about the different beaches, excursions, pros and cons ans so on...

You can also find lots of videos and reviews about Labadee on youtube and TripAdvisor.

I vote for a cabana, check out my review of Labadee and our over the water cabana in my signature. :D

Gorgeous surroundings. white sandy beaches..nice private area...no worries...snorkeling was not good....our family enjoyed a nice day there. Plenty of things for the kids to do...for free...also there was a BBQ (free from the ship). Hammocks to relax. Bring sunscreen and reapply, many people got sunburned. It was a full day at the beach! There is a market place...yes u can haggle, but be respectful. The area is all controlled by RC...there are no beach vendors. Enjoy. :D

It's not an island...it's on the Northern coast...a penninsula. It's beautiful there, despite the poverty all around....Haiti is VERY poor...it's a shame. The beach is totally fenced from the general public, so it is very private.

 

Bear in mind that if you are a blood donor, you will not be able to donate for a year (I think it is) after going there.

Actually you are precluded from donating blood if you have visited any country where Malaria is found, which pretty much includes the entire Caribbean and Mexico, not just Haiti.

I am a very active blood donor, or used to be for that matter and used to do double red cell donations. That all stopped since I started taking more trips to Mexico. Mexico is on the list as well as most of the Caribbean for Malaria.

I used to live in Haiti as a volunteer and after I came back I couldn't donate for three years because I actually lived in Haiti for a year and not just visited for a few days. Then the last trip was in 2003 and I was able to donate again starting in 2006. Then I started going to Mexico in 2010 and from that point on I have not been allowed to donate because Malaria is found in Mexico.

And for the OP, I think you should definitely take a RCI cruise that stops in Labadee. I have not been there myself, but heard it was really nice. I happened to live in Haiti, in Port Au Prince back in the early 1990's and that was way before RCI contracted with the Haitian government to use a portion of the Island for their cruise ships. It is at the very Northern Tip of Haiti and as others have said the spot leased by RCI is totally fenced off and from what I heard they don't even let you out of that fenced in area so you are not really able to go anywhere to see the real Haiti. Yes, it's very very poor. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the Earthquake in 2010 has really made things worse than they ever were.

We just went the other day on our cruise. I am actually still on the cruise but I obsessively read these forums before our trip and just decided to create an account.

Labadee was great. It was HOT HOT HOT when we went though. That's expected though, especially for the summer months. The beach is beautiful, and it seemed like everyone was having a great time.

I do want to say that if you don't plan on buying anything in the market, then you probably don't even want to enter the market side. It was very hard to leave, and we actually had people grabbing us. Like another poster said, they would put things in our bags and would do it to us one at a time, so that one of us always had to talk to them. This was very odd to us because we have been to many local markets in the Caribbean from previous trips and have never experienced selling tactics similar to this.

It's not an island...it's on the Northern coast...a penninsula. It's beautiful there, despite the poverty all around....Haiti is VERY poor...it's a shame. The beach is totally fenced from the general public, so it is very private.

 

Bear in mind that if you are a blood donor, you will not be able to donate for a year (I think it is) after going there.

Very true about the year-long moratorium on donation. I was surprised to be declined for giving blood and said to the nurse, "but I wasn't in Port au Prince", her response was, "mosquitos fly over the mountains." She certainly was right. It's a shame to lose so many donors (there aren't enough as it is) but better to have a safe blood supply.

We just went the other day on our cruise. I am actually still on the cruise but I obsessively read these forums before our trip and just decided to create an account.

 

Labadee was great. It was HOT HOT HOT when we went though. That's expected though, especially for the summer months. The beach is beautiful, and it seemed like everyone was having a great time.

 

I do want to say that if you don't plan on buying anything in the market, then you probably don't even want to enter the market side. It was very hard to leave, and we actually had people grabbing us. Like another poster said, they would put things in our bags and would do it to us one at a time, so that one of us always had to talk to them. This was very odd to us because we have been to many local markets in the Caribbean from previous trips and have never experienced selling tactics similar to this.

We will be there in early September with two toddlers, 3 and 1 . I am very worried since the CDC has posted alerts for Haiti. Did you notice any Mosquitos at Labadee? Did RCI issue any warnings?

We have reserved a beach cabana at Nellie's beach.

Any info would be much appreciated.

We will be there in early September with two toddlers, 3 and 1 . I am very worried since the CDC has posted alerts for Haiti. Did you notice any Mosquitos at Labadee? Did RCI issue any warnings?

 

We have reserved a beach cabana at Nellie's beach.

 

Any info would be much appreciated.

Hmm I don't think there were any warnings, at least none that I noticed.

We will be there in early September with two toddlers, 3 and 1 . I am very worried since the CDC has posted alerts for Haiti. Did you notice any Mosquitos at Labadee? Did RCI issue any warnings?

 

We have reserved a beach cabana at Nellie's beach.

 

Any info would be much appreciated.

I don't remember seeing any mosquitoes. You wouldn't usually see them on the beach.

Thanks for the info on the absence of mosquitos..

I will continue to seek info on the boards and use insect repellant.

We just got back from the Oasis on Saturday. Labadee has lots of beach options. We ended up on the beach right under the zipline. It wasn't overly crowded and the water was nice. Bring water shoes! Lots of coral and rocks underneath.

They had blue cabana tents for use but be warned they offer to 'give' them to you but not really. I originally asked a RC person about them but she directed me to someone else so these are not through the cruise line. The shade was nice but it ended up getting hot under there with no breeze. Next time I'm setting up camp under a palm tree for free. Lesson learned.

I have to agree on the market. Very very pushy. We made it about 2 stands as well and then got out of there. Pushiest part of the whole trip to be honest.

If you want a free beach day Labadee is nice. I look forward to exploring another beach when we go back again. Just going to skip the blue cabanas and the market next time. :)

Hmm I don't think there were any warnings, at least none that I noticed.

I don't remember seeing any mosquitoes. You wouldn't usually see them on the beach.

The virus is pretty rampant in Haiti I would be very careful while there, September is still a pretty hot month in Haiti and mosquitoes are pretty common. What you need to be aware of is the virus is be transmitted by a type of mosquitoe that bites during the daytime and yes they can certainly be on the beach. A friend of mine that goes to Haiti twice a year for the past 25 years said the situation on the entire Island is pretty bad regarding the virus, it is estimated that 1/3 of the population has already been infected with it. When a mosquitoe bites an infected person it transmits it to the next person it bites. This is a pretty serious virus and it is quickly spreading throughout the Caribbean. I wouldn't feel that just because RCI isn't talking about it doesn't mean it is not spreading through the Caribbean. If you start searching the name of the virus on some of the message board on Trip Advisor you will see it is something to be very concerned about and definitely heed the information you find on the CDC website.

http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/fact/index.html

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/chikungunya-virus-strikes-hard-in-haiti-s-crowded-shantytowns-1.8650431

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/06/haiti-dominican-republic-cases-push-chikungunya-total-past-260000

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/mosquito-borne-chikungunya-virus-can-lead-to-lasting-joint-pain-u-s-doctor-warns-1.1882554

I have been reading some pretty negative things here about Labadee. Having visited many Caribbean islands in past years, I have learned that there are definitely places to stay away from. This February 2018 we are going to be making a stop there on our cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. I thought it was a private area owned (leased) by Royal Caribbean. Are there areas that you don't have to worry about being constantly pestered by people trying to sell their stuff? Are there market places you can shop in the private RCI area that you won't be pestered?

My wife and I were on a Celebrity cruise with a stop to Labadee. Think of it as a themed amusement park with a very small adjacent village next to it that houses most of the employees for the "park". There is a "market place" within the park for the locals, but everywhere else in the park is a non-sell zone. We did take a kayak excursion that included a stop at the village "art mart".

I have been reading some pretty negative things here about Labadee. Having visited many Caribbean islands in past years, I have learned that there are definitely places to stay away from. This February 2018 we are going to be making a stop there on our cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. I thought it was a private area owned (leased) by Royal Caribbean. Are there areas that you don't have to worry about being constantly pestered by people trying to sell their stuff?

Yes, pretty much all the beaches, bars, attractions and food/buffet areas. The only place you'll get hassled is the straw market. When we were there on the Indy there were a few ship's security officers who appeared to be patrolling the path that leads through the straw market, watching for overaggressive vendors. Even so, some people reported afterward that they had been hassled while inside the shops.

The vendors there need to be reminded that you "attract more flies with honey than vinegar"....if they weren't so aggressive, people would be more amenable to spending time and dollars there.

Are there market places you can shop in the private RCI area that you won't be pestered?