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Day 3: Labadee Haiti Day 3 was the one I was most looking forward to as it was our first port of the trip, Labadee Haiti. Royal Caribbean markets Labadee as a private island, though it is actually a peninsula that is indeed attached to Haiti proper. There are large, barbed wire fences that block of the peninsula from the mainland. You don't really see these fences on most of the peninsula and Royal Caribbean does a great job making you feel like you truly are on an island. Allegedly there are also sniper towers to protect the peninsula, but I didn't see any. Unfortunately, as of this writing, Royal Caribbean has paused sailings to Labadee through at least the end of 2026 due to ongoing conflict/civil war in Haiti. If memory serves, they have had sailings there paused since only a month or two after our cruise there. For what it is worth, we always felt safe on the peninsula, and should Royal Caribbean ever resume operations there, I would not have reservations about going back. A lay of the land... It is very much built and executed like an amusement park. That all being said, back to the report. We arrived in Labadee around 7am with I believe a scheduled departure of 4pm. We had two planned excursions on the "island" and we planned to spend the rest of our day hanging out on the beach, enjoying the provided lunch, and checking out the local artisans. Our first look at Labadee from inside the boat. It's not exactly a short walk from the dock to the entrance of the peninsula. It provided nice views of both the boat, and of Labadee. The pier spits you out in a small entrance plaza and at that point you're off to explore anywhere you desire. As you can see on the map there is a number of different beaches and attractions to explore. There is also no shortage of bars and entertainment from locals. Even though it is a "private island", Royal Caribbean does allow locals to come over and sell handmade items or perform for cruisegoers. I will say that the local artisan area is one space I would avoid if going back to Labadee. They are EXTREMELY pushy and will absolutely not take no for an answer. So, if you're not prepared to deal with that, avoid that area of the peninsula (bottom right of the map). That being said, the local artisans do not leave that part of the property, so you don't need to be worried about being pestered all day. It was pretty windy and cloudy to start the day so some beaches and swimming spots were closed to start the day depending on where on the peninsula they were. That was okay though because we had our sights set on Adrenaline Beach. We figured it would be the slowest of the beaches in Labadee being the furthest from the boat, and also because that was the site of the only roller coaster of this trip, The Dragon's Tail Alpine Coaster. The ride itself is pretty much your run of the mill alpine coaster, but the views on this one are truly unbeatable. When we were about to ride, they had a brief mechanical delay, that we later found out was due to cameras on the lift hill losing power, but once we did ride, they let us go around a second time due to the delay. Don't have to twist my arm! The blue canopy above the coaster that you see is the launch platform for the zipline. This was our other excursion (the coaster was considered an excursion) for the day and it was absolutely incredible. We did this later in the day after the sun came out more. To get up to the platform you first load a bus and they take you up there. The bus does have to cross to the other side of the fence that separates Labadee from Haiti proper and there was armed military personnel. A little odd and definitely a bit "freaky" but not 30 seconds later we were back on "our" side of the fence and getting suited up for the zipline. I obviously couldn't take my phone with me but the views from the top were simply remarkable. In the following photos you can see the ziplines overhead. We did swim some on Adrenaline Beach but found the sand there to be very rough. Many rocks that were tough on the feet. So after a lunch of burgers, hot dogs, and other picnic food we ventured over to Nellie's Beach which was much better. The day went quickly, but that's a sign of a good time. A few more photos I grabbed on the way out. We were then on the ship and off to our next destination, and not a moment too soon. A pretty legit thunderstorm was heading towards Labadee from the other side of the mountains, which was cool to see from the boat. We settled in for the evening, thoroughly exhausted from a great day. I would like to once again say that Labadee was an excellent experience and I highly recommend it. I see cruise bookings for 2027 do have Labadee as an option, but there is no saying if that sticks around. If it does, and you're looking for cruises, do yourself a favor and pick a cruise with Labadee on the itinerary. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

good report! I too enjoyed that mountain coaster on Labadee when was there in Feb 2025. as you note, the views are amazing.

Poor SFA wondering what they did wrong to be sold off for crap instead of purchased!