Sailing & Singing in the Caribbean -Part 2

 Day 3 was our first port day -in Labadee Haiti. This is a beautiful private island on the north coast of the country, leased by Royal Caribbean. It is allegedly the largest source of tourist revenue for all of Haiti. It was clean and not near as chaotic as Port au prince, at no time did we feel unsafe there. 

We docked around 7am. Richard & I ate breakfast on the ship before disembarking. Table space was always at a premium in the Windjammer (buffet) so we waved another couple over to sit with us. It never failed that the strangers we sat with had some sort of connections. All it takes is a little playing the Mennonite game.  

The first thing we did on shore was look for the place to check in for the coaster ride that I had booked in advance. Because of that, we ended up on the far end of island, away from the crowds, at Adrenaline Beach. 

We were right under the ziplines, which were quite busy! Richard had scoffed at the price for a mere 30 second ride when we were at home, but he was almost tempted to change his mind.   

We were beside a jetty, with the soothing sound of crashing waves. 

At 10:45, we went for the Alpine coaster ride. The one I didn't get in Switzerland. Had to go the whole way to Haiti to get my coveted ride! Yes, it really is that steep going uphill. 

If you look at the treetops (below) you can see a small portion of the track... it was so much fun! 

Highly recommend Dragon Tail Coaster.  

There was no wifi on the island, so we were completely unplugged. 

The water is so clear- there is a reason it is referred to as the 5 shades of blue. 

Gorgeous weather. Glad we got to experience Labadee. 

Someone else wrote this in the sand, I just recycled it

When the long lines cleared at the café, we helped ourselves to lunch. A beach picnic in February is hard to beat! The food was prepped on the ship; it was really good! I ate some rice & beans simply because it was Haiti.

In the afternoon I wanted to check out the shops on the island. It did not take long till we had our fill of that- the vendors were extremely tenacious! I'm not in the market for more dust-collectors to set around my house, and I had uncovered the dirty little secret that most of the souvenirs are not handmade locally as they would lead you to believe, they are imported from China and merely "finished" there. Hard pass. The last straw was the vendor who carved Richard's name on a wooden cup and tried to force it on us. I can't help but wonder if they'd be more successful supporting their families if they dialed the pressure down a couple notches?? 

When we were feeling "fried" & exhausted, we meandered back to the ship. 

(We actually were sunburnt by this point.) 

We went in the whirlpool, then sat in the shade on the pool deck. Richard struck up a conversation with the couple beside us and found the man was someone he knew back in the day but hadn't seen for years. We sailed away from Haiti at 5pm.  

It was "white night" in the dining room. I was surprised how few people wore white. The menu was Mexican. We tried corn cakes for the appetizer. Yum. 

The #1 food at the top of my yuck list is peppers. I can't stand peppers in any form- sweet, hot, raw, cooked -doesn't matter, totally ruins a dish for me. I ordered the salmon sans salsa because I don't like spicy foods -only to have it come out of the kitchen on a bed of peppers. 😟

Carne Asada 

The one thing I really like about Mexican food is their desserts! Tres Leches for a win.

We walked our laps on the jogging track, then turned in early because our clocks were moving forward an hour and we had to meet bright & early the next morning for a tour. 

Day 4 we were in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. This was my favorite port. 

Because of the research I had done, I had some definite opinions about what I wanted to see/do in the DR, but the Sail & Sing brochure wasn't very specific about what their excursion included. While I hesitated to book with them, it sold out. So instead I booked with Royal Caribbean exactly what I wanted. Good choice. No offense to Sail & Sing, but they "bit off more than they could chew" that day; we had a way better experience, even though we didn't know anyone else in our tour group. 

We got up at 6:30 and had room service delivered for breakfast. Royal Caribbean had a pretty good system in place for getting everyone sorted into groups for the various excursions. An announcement was made about needing photo ID which jogged my memory that I did not have my driver's license or passport with me. Whoopsie! I ran the whole way back to our stateroom (up 3 decks and to the opposite end of the ship), grabbed our passports, jogged back to the meeting place -with a few minutes to spare. Never once did we actually show our ID, but better safe than sorry. 

As we were disembarking, a local said this was the first day in 3 weeks that it wasn't raining. We were blessed with beautiful weather. I had an umbrella along because the travel guidebook said it rains a lot in the DR in winter, but we didn't need it that day. 

On the pier we were sorted out again -into smaller groups and loaded on buses.  This was our tour guide, Augustine. He did an amazing job.  

We drove up Isabel de Torres mountain. It was a steep road! I was under the impression we were going to ride the cable car up, but the drive was so interesting that it made up for that.  I'm sure it was much faster, too, since there are only 2 cable cars and long lines to ride them. We did get to tour the cable car station at the top (below). If you look close you can see the 3 cruise ships in the harbor, Taino Bay.   

This was where we had wifi for the first time since we left Florida. Our phones were buzzing away receiving texts & messages. 

My whole reason for wanting to go up this mountain was to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. Not as large as the Brazil one, but still cool. 

There were a lot of guys around there eager to take trick photos for us. They were good at what they do, we were not! They tried other poses which did not turn out. 😌

Next we went on a tour of the botanical garden around the statue. It was cool to see tropical plants that we we pay a premium for in the US growing profusely. According to our guide, they have flowers blooming year round, but these are their winter flowers. 

White Ginger Lily

Red Ginger plant 

Umbrella tree

Lollipop plant or Golden Shrimp plant 

Yellow Walking iris

Beehive Ginger

The Love Bridge -hey, it's almost Valentines Day 🤷

Mockup of a typical DR house

Coffee tree

Next we drove back down the mountain. You need good brakes coming down like you need a good engine going up! Isabel de Torres is the 2nd highest mountain in the DR, at 2600'. 

There were cows wandering around on the roads like one would expect to see in India. We even dodged a few that decided to lie down in the road. Our guide called them "steaks". We drove through an area that was obviously wealthy; someone in our group asked the guide if this was where the politicians live. He said no, the farmers. Hmm. 

We stopped at Fortaleza de San Felipe, but didn't get off the bus there. It is a Spanish fort dating to the late 1500s, built to defend against pirates.

Our tour bus parked by St. Philip the Apostle Cathedral, a Catholic church, by the Parque Central Independencia (Central Park), and we were able to explore Puerto Plata a bit. Our guide said DR is 80% Catholic. 

We walked around Central Park, and down the street to Paseo de Doña Blanca, otherwise known as Pink Alley. This alley is a tribute to the founder of the first hotel in Puerto Plata. Bianca Franceschini emigrated from Italy with her husband in 1898 and built the hotel in this spot. Bianca's reputation grew after her husband died in 1914 and she continued to run the hotel plus raise and educate their 9 children. Our guide pointed out her statue wearing ballet slippers because she was a ballet dancer, and also said something about pink for breast cancer, but I can't find anything online to back that up (a connection to her)?? I wished for a little more time here; I did not get all the photos I wish I had.

Next we walked down the street to souvenir shop where our guide had arranged a quick tour & tasting of the local specialty MamaJuana. (Not to be confused with marijuana, which is illegal, he said.) The concoction is made by infusing herbs, bark & roots in rum and honey; it is left to cure for about a week. I should've taken a picture; I pulled this one off the internet; the shots they offered us were from a big gallon jar.  

We purchased some chocolate flavored cane sugar and a magnet from that shop. 

Next our guide took us to Umbrella Street. 

Our guide took us in a coffee shop on Umbrella Street. He had told us in advance to not buy chocolate or coffee in the first shop, but to wait for this one. Again, we were given a tour & tasting.    

We bought a bag of local coffee & some chocolate bars... and because of the delicious sample, we also bought a bag of pecan praline hot chocolate mix. Delicioso! It is already grandkid approved! 

 

We were hungry when our tour bus dropped us off back at the pier, so we boarded the ship and went straight to the Windjammer buffet. Later we realized that was a mistake. We were not hungry at 5 when dinner time rolled around. And it was Italian night. Bummer! We should've sprung for some pizza instead, then went back out on the pier to check out the lazy river and whatever else activities were right there.

   This is random, but speaking of the Windjammer, this is something new since COVID. On our previous cruises there was always hand sanitizer at the entrance of the restaurants, but now there are actual sinks for handwashing and staff making sure you do it. The spout on the right dispenses the soap, the spigot in the center the water, and the bars on either side of the spigot blow air to dry your hands. So efficient. 

From the ship, we could see way up on the mountain where we had been. The Christ statue. 

At 4pm, we sailed away from DR. 

Richard & I skipped dinner in the main dining room. Instead we walked on the jogging track (while it was empty due to people dining) then went in the adults-only pool and whirlpool. We had sailed far enough from DR that land was pretty much out of sight, when at some point we realized we were going back towards land. Of course due to HIPPA laws, the captain can't say much- we were simply told that we were going back due to a[nother] medical emergency. According to the staff, it is so expensive to get the helicopter out that it's only done as a last resort; it is -surprisingly- more cost effective to sail the ship back to port. We heard it straight from an eyewitness that the patient walked onto the ambulance, so we're thankful whatever the emergency was it was not life-threatening. And we got to see the DR lit up at night, unexpectedly.   

At 7:30 we went up on the pool deck for the Sail & Sing 'Concert Under the Stars'. Anyone on the ship was allowed to attend and we talked to a couple people later who appreciated the Christian music. One couple we met said they had tried to attend one of our Sail & Sing [indoor] concerts and were disappointed that it wasn't open to the public. 

I don't know if it's true or not, but we heard the rumor that the staff like Christian groups because it changes the whole atmosphere of the ship. We're more polite, don't get drunk and trash our room, etc. (I do know there is an upcharge to compensate for us not spending money in the bars & casino.) I hope it's true -that we leave a good testimony. 

After the concert, we went to the pizza shop for a bedtime snack. We were invited to sit with our new [trucker] friends; he & Richard told trucking stories till 11:30pm. That was fun!   

-to be continued-