Haiti?

Royal Caribbean has a contract to use a small peninsula off the north coast of Haiti in Cap Haitien.  I found it really hard to vacation here knowing what a hard time the people of Haiti are having.  Actually that is one of my biggest complaints with cruising.  And I'm always torn between feeling like a jerk being a tourist in a 3rd world country and knowing that they desperately depend on tourism to keep the economy afloat.  But here most of the money goes back into RCI's pockets.  They pay the Haitian government a small fee per passenger.  And a few locals get to work and sell goods on the peninsula...but I still felt very guilty being here.

This peninsula is called Labadee.   I thought it would be a nice place for the day but I didn't love it.  Perhaps the main reason I didn't fall in love with Labadee was the rain.  From the afternoon we left the Bahamas to the morning we arrived in Jamaica we had rain.  In Labadee it rained on us all day from a light mist to an annoying drizzle.  Then there were the Sea Lice (tiny Jellyfish larvae) that stung the kids.  And the crowds.  Allure of the Seas can carry over 6000 passengers and I know we were sailing "at capacity" - and when all those people descend on the beach...it gets crowded.

I took this photo by accident.

This is the aqua park where the kids got stung

It looks fun but it wasn't.

Haiti is a beautiful island however with lush green hills.

In this photo everyone was fussy and grumpy but I bribed them to smile.

My daughter was missing her cruise friends but she couldn't find them anywhere.  My son had blisters...you know how it goes.  As my friend says "it isn't vacation unless someone is crying"

This dog wanted nothing to do with "J".  He was hanging around for scraps.

Here you can see the 30 second $100.00 zipline.  I told the kids no way was I spending 100 bucks for 30 seconds of ziplining.  We watched someone's go-pro recording on YouTube instead.  

This is the floating bar.  I'm kind of surprised it didn't sink with all the people on it.

In the distance you can see a Disney style scrim separating the Royal Caribbean beach from the rest of Haiti.  We wouldn't want to accidentally see a hovel or a hungry child while enjoying our vacation...

 "J" always finds a place to play volleyball.  I think she is so awesome to play with complete strangers.

 Now I'm ready for a hot shower and dry clothes.