Labadee Snorkel Safari

[kicker]

Looking for anyone who's done the Labadee Snorkel Safari (Excursion ZL27). This seems to be one hour of snorkeling plus a short ride for $42. It mentions drinks on the boat - are they included? How is the snorkeling? Going on Liberty OTS Eastern Caribbean, so the only other stops are San Juan (too late) and St Martin (other plans); this would be my only snorkeling chance, just want to make sure its worth it. All comments plus or negative are welcomed. Thanks.

[jdbmga]

I don't know the answer to your question as we haven't been to Labadee yet. Going in July.

 

Since you haven't gotten any replies I thought I would suggest calling the excursion department at 1-800-398-9819. They should be able to answer your questions. :)

[OHCruisin]

Not sure where they take you for this, but I haven't found the general area to be good for snorkeling. The only fish I've ever seen have been teeny tiny ones. The waters in the area are pretty depleted by the Haitians for food. But, since I haven't taken that excursion...they could take you someplace offshore that's simply wonderful.

 

Hope someone with actual knowledge responds. Have a great cruise.

[masonpips]

~raising hand high~ We did it and LOVED it!

 

You ride a nice boat (upper area for some folks to sit, more room down below) out with about 30 people(?) total for a 20 minute boat ride to a sandbar. And the sandbar is COOL. You're out in the middle of the water, no shore close to you and the water is waist high! We found whole HUGE snad dollars and other pieces of coral that was just floating around in the sand.

 

The sand bar is next to a reef area that you snorkel in - lots of pretty fish and weird plants to look at. The crew was fabulous in helping us w/the kids and very personable and knowledgeable about the area. They live there for about 6 months at a time and are contracted through RCCL to do the excursions anytime a ship is at Labadee

 

I believe there were drinks on the way back but we sat up top and our daughter was a tiny bit seasick (she's "Motion sickness girl") so we didn't drink any and I do think you had to pay, but I'm not positive. She was fine once we got her out of the sun and resting.

 

It was a great family excursion for us and there were several couples and groups along too. We tipped the crew a small amount ($10?) when we left the boat.

[bjlbbk]

Has anyone experienced this excursion with small kids? Our kids are ages 5, 7 & 9 - will this be something they will also enjoy?

[bjlbbk]

We just returned from our Liberty of the Seas cruise and wanted to post our Labadee snorkeling experiences. We did try the Labadee Snorkel Safari and felt it was not worth the money for our kids (ages 5,7 and 9). I'm sure we would have had a different opinion if trying it on our own (just adults), but it was not the kid friendly excursion we were hoping for. Our kids are genearally very comfortable in water and can swim on their own (we have a house on a lake and spend a lot of time in the water), but they were terrified of the tall plants/coral that we had to swin through. We were in waist deep water as we got off the boat, but had to swim through some fairly thick areas of plant life and coral to get to the the more open/reef area. Our kids were scared (after hearing the brief orientation and warnings about not touching the coral) which eventually turned into complete panic. They were fine getting off the boat initially, but as we tried to swim out they got very nervous. It wasn't long before we had three kids crying, screaming and clinging to us for life. The part that was frustrating was that the staff could see what was happening and never once tried to help us. At one point we retreated to an open where we could stand again - while I was trying to calm my 9 year old down a staff member swam directly past us, not offering any help, advise or even bothering to ask if we were okay. After a lot of tears, the two younger ones got back onboard with a grandparent. The 9 year old eventually went out farther, but it took a lot to get her to that point. Overall the staff was friendly, but not very helpful.

 

Once back ahore, we did a little snorkeling off the beach (we had brought our own snorkel equipment) which turned out to be a much better experience (and free :) ). We stopped at Hideaway beach which had some rocky areas to swim around. we were able to see some fish (the same fish we were seeing on the excursion) and some coral as well. We weren't expecting too much, so this was fine for us. The kids were a lot more relaxed, and enjoyed seeing the fish as well as the other marine life near the rocks. There were a lot of sea urchins a little farther out however, but nothing near the shallow water where the kids wanted to be. The adults enjoyed taking turns going out a little farther, and the kids definitely prefered the beach.