Friday, September 30, 2011

Caribbean Cruise

A few weeks ago, I went on a 7-day Caribbean cruise with the family on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's newest and largest ship, Allure of the Seas.
The view you see is from Deck 16 looking down towards the back of the ship. You can see the balcony rooms facing each other. One guy on the upper right is looking through his binoculars.
Below is the "Boardwalk" on Deck 6 where you can see some outdoor restaurants and the Aqua Theater at the back.


On our 3rd day and our first stop is Labadee, Haiti, Royal Caribbean's privately-owned area. I read only cruise tourists and local merchants are allowed into this area.


What to do on this private resort?
Picnic & BBQ, relax, get some sun, nap, water sports.
For the more adventurous, go on the Dragon Breath zip line which starts at the top of the mountain and take you along the beach as seen here by a tourist's video I found on Youtube.
Or, you can go on the Dragon Tail roller coaster also seen here from another tourist's video.


This is the view of the beach as our ship sails away during the later afternoon. We were the only Royal Caribbean ship there at the time. The beach is now empty of any tourist.

Back in January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti. The epicenter was close to its capital of Port-au-Prince about 250km (155 miles) away.
There are two points of view about stopping in Haiti. One is tourists stopping here help out the Haitian economy. The other view is how can people come here to enjoy themselves when residents are suffering.


- Karen

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I note that you have been visiting my region! Beautiful pictures. The Haitian people have really been through a lot. Persons visiting their country will help the economy. Tourism helps our Jamaican economy a lot.

lina said...

Such lovely photos.

Sounds like you had a swell time. :)

And hope there'll be more visitors visiting Haiti. Visit Haiti and help their economy. :)

That said, hope people will not worry about visiting Japan too. ^^

FilipBlog said...

We also love cruising. I hope you enjoyed the new ship.

Greetings,
Filip

Ruby's Raiser said...

We have never cruised; that first photo with the facing balconies is so interesting.

betchai said...

very beautiful shots Karen, and love your new header picture, which I believe is from your Carribean cruise, right? it's really very pretty.

LifeRamblings said...

looks like a perfect getaway. the beach looks so peaceful and inviting. great photos and i love your new banner.

AVCr8teur said...

Judy: I am glad to hear from a local that you are happy tourists are visiting your part of the world. You live in a beautiful area!

Lina: We did have a good time. You are right, I do hope tourists visit Japan again just like people are visiting Haiti again!

Filip: Wow, a fellow cruiser! I'm sure you have visited some exciting European ports.

Ruby' Raiser: I hope you get to try cruising one of these days! Although I wished they allowed dogs. The noise level can get a little much on those outdoor balconies unless the sliding glass doors are kept shut.

Betchai: Thank you; yes, the header photo was from the cruise. The photo is of Labadee, Haiti as we started sailing away from its port.

Life Rambling: Thank you! I am glad to hear you like the banner too! The warm weather, sandy beach, and inviting water did make it a perfect getaway!

eileeninmd said...

What a beautiful ship. Lovely photos from your cruise. Labadee was a fun place and pretty too.