a travel blog
Royal Caribbean’s private beach destination in Haiti.
We visited Labadee, Haiti, while on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas October 2, 2022.
It is quite a trek from the ship’s dock to the entrance, but there is a shuttle that takes passengers to the various areas once you arrive.
Continue reading “Labadee, Haiti”There are two cruise ports at St. Thomas. When we sailed in 2017, we docked at Havensight.
This time we were on a much larger ship and we docked at Crown Bay which is a newer port but farther from downtown.
The Crown Bay Port area is relatively small. Cruise ship tours meet up just outside the ship along the pier and are escorted to their waiting transport whether it be motor coach, open-air sightseeing taxi-buses, or other boats docked at the nearby marina.
Read more: Saint Thomas, USVI 2022
Back in 2017, prior to hurricanes Ima and Maria that devastated much of the island. We went into town and booked a local island tour on one of the open-air taxis.
The price was $25 per person, and I remembered that we stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks, spent time at a large souvenir store on the mountaintop overlooking Meghan’s Bay, and stopped to watch a steel drum demonstration at another overlook. Then we spent some time walking around the downtown area. That was a really good tour.
In the Fall of 2021, we took one of the “return to cruising” itineraries after the worst of the pandemic was over. The Open Air Taxis were operating.
But at that time, masks were required everywhere and it was HOT, so we only took a shared taxi at $6.00 per person round trip to the downtown area to walk around a little. I was curious to see how much was changed since the 2017 hurricanes. The downtown area seemed fully repaired and open for business again.
If I had not known there was devastation 4 years prior I would not know now. We did a little shopping at Mr. Tablecloth with a friend who is exceptional at entertaining and home decorating. They had every size and every holiday represented in that store, and it is a table decorator’s dream store.
In May of 2022 we went back to St Thomas and the masking requirements were lifted, so I wanted to see if we could take a similar tour like we took in 2017. I wanted to see what had changed in 4.5 years and how the tour might differ.
One thing that was different is that we boarded the taxi at the cruise port instead of booking it in downtown.
Taxi drivers hustled passengers in order to fill their vehicles to the max. So we had to wait a bit until Daesi (pronounced Daisy) had a full group. The sign said 5 people per row, but everyone in the group sat 4 to a row and when she tried to add more in each row, it was met with resistance. No one wanted to be the 5th on a row and be the person that caused everyone to squeeze uncomfortably together. So she gave up trying to add people to the bus and we left the port area ready to see St. Thomas.
The first stop overlooked Emerald Beach.
The airport is visible in the background.
Then we stopped for a few minutes at a public beach which is maintained by the University of the Virgin Islands. People had the opportunity to purchase items at a food truck and to use the public restrooms.
The next stop gave a clearer view of the airport that serves St. Thomas and St. John.
There was also an almond tree at this stop.
It was nice to just enjoy the views from there.
We went to “The Mountaintop” which seems to be the favorite stop of ALL the open-air tourist buses. It is a huge souvenir store with a bar and an ice-cream kiosk. We have been here on every tour of St. Thomas over the years, and the bulk of our tour time was spent here on the tour this time. It is probable that the drivers are incentivized to bring groups here.
The best part of this store is the viewing porch out back. There are handy diagrams to identify the landmarks we saw. Megan’s Bay is the gorgeous beach.
And of course, I had to get selfies with all the pirate statues.
On the return to the ship we had one more stop and the same steel drum demo and souvenir booth was set up here. (This photo was back in 2017. He still had CD’s but they weren’t selling. Several people tipped him, though.)
The cost for our tour was still $25 per person. I was surprised with gas prices as they are that the tour was not more. But after I got home I compared notes with the last tour we took and realized we did not travel to the eastern side of the island, and we did see nearly as much of St. Thomas this time. Last time we had a beach stop at Secret Harbor Beach and Sunset Grill
– a much nicer beach stop where people had time to sit down at tables to enjoy the view or to even swim a little if they wished, AND we saw the little community of Red Hook and the ferry terminal.
Perhaps gas prices had something to do with our shortened tour, or perhaps the tour from the port here is just not as good as if we had caught the taxi tour from downtown, or perhaps our taxi driver just shortchanged us since we would not let her put 5 people per row. Perhaps the sights we saw back in 2017 were no longer there because of hurricanes Ima and Maria.
I guess that is something to discover next time we go to the island.
This private island is owned by Norwegian Cruise line. We last visited in October 2019. Ships anchor and transport guests by tender to the island.
Beach chairs are plentiful and complimentary. We were instructed to pick up pool towels from the ship and bring them with us for the day if we wanted a towel.
We stepped on to pretty, white sand.
At the entrance, there are complimentary beach wheel chairs available for guests who need them. Unfortunately, they don’t provide someone to push them.
This is basically a beach day on our cruise itinerary.
There are some shore excursions available here: a visit to Singray City; a catamaran and snorkel tour; a kayak tour; and swimming with the pigs, but most people just hang out at the beach, though some go parasailing or rent a wave runner. A zip line is currently under construction and should be available soon.
The island has snorkel equipment for rent. When we visited, (2019) fins and snorkel could be rented for $19. Vests were $6. Stand-up paddle boards were $27, and foam floats were $16.
There were three food venues on the island, and all of them were complimentary. The taco shack offered fish, beef, or chicken soft tacos.
Jumbey offered burgers, hotdogs and the fixin’s.
And on the far end of the island, a food truck offered BBQ, ceviche, and they even had potato chips – my favorite snack food.
Guests who purchased the NCL drink package could use their package on the island, and those without a drink package could purchase individual drinks with their ship key card. But there are several drink stations for complimentary ice and water, tea and fruit punch and desserts.
I am always on search of the quietest section of the island. Upon entrance, most people miss the turn to the immediate right past the straw market where there is a fairly calm swimming area with swings. But to find the calmest area we needed to walk all the way to the far end of the beach. Otherwise, the music is playing and the entertainment staff is encourage guests to line dance and play beach games.
Ahh, this island does have a good many palm and mangrove trees, so shade is available. We left the ship early enough to secure a nice, shady spot in the calm section of beach so we could read, nap and watch the water. If we had not found a spot with natural shade, I was prepared to rent an umbrella or a clamshell for the day. Umbrellas were $21 and clam shells were $40. I walked into the water a couple of times to cool off. Upon stepping into the water, I noticed very quickly that the water is very rocky and those rocks could be slippery. Water shoes are a must!
I enjoy the cruise line’s private islands. In a few months, I plan to visit Royal Caribbean’s re-vamped island of Coco Cay. As we tendered to Great Stirrup Cay, we could see a Royal Caribbean ship docked at Coco Cay and the newly constructed water park there. Be on the lookout for a post about that port.
