Allure of the Seas - Day 3

Allure of the Seas

Feb 23, 2016

Labadee, Haiti

I woke up to the vibration of the ship and knew we were docking in Labadee. (being an ex-crew member, you just know the feel of thrusters)  So once again I was up and dressed but this time I went up to Deck 16 to watch us dock.  By the time I got up there, we were tying up but it was still very pretty to look at the view and watch the island come alive at our arrival.  (for those that don't know - Labadee is a peninsula on the island of Haiti that was purchased by Royal Caribbean.  The people that work and live on that part of the island are native Haitians, but are employed by RC.  No one else other than the employees are allowed on that part of the island as it is fenced off from the remainder of the country.  They are paid salaries by RC, but of course we tip so needless to say, they are very happy when a boat as large as Allure comes in)

I went back to the cabin and Laurie was awake - so we went up for some breakfast before heading off the ship.  

We just love Labadee!  We had decided the day before to rent a beach cabana and the minute we got to it, knew we made a good choice.  It had soft cushions and white drapes around it, plenty of beach towels and a cooler full of ice cold bottled water.  Not to mention it came with 2 floaty mats.  We also had Franklin, who would be our attendant for the day.  He got Laurie and I some beach chairs so we could lay in the sun and was always asking what he could do for his "Queen's".  Even asked us if Bob and Deb were with us when they walked up, as I think he was afraid someone was trying to poach our cabana! He was a peach!  Was always checking in on us, let us know when lunch was being served and of course brought us lots of frosty beverages.

All four of us spent the day lounging, had a late lunch then went for a swim with our floaty mats while Deb sat at the waters edge and Bob took a snooze in the cabana.  Lots of laughs when I got stuck in some coral and couldn't get my mat off of it.  God forbid I get off my mat :)

Great day all around.  Headed back onto the ship around 3.15 or so.  We didn't have to be back on board till 4.30 but the island closes down earlier (to push everyone back on board I think)  We didn't mind as we had reservations for the Mama Mia show at 5pm and I needed a shower.

Mama Mia was fantastic!  Almost Broadway quality and although I have seen it several times it was thoroughly enjoyable!

We met up with Bob and Deb at the Champagne Bar for our normal pre-dinner drinks.  Boleros didn't have any music (live or otherwise) so it was very boring.  We immediately took a liking to Andre, our bartender.  

Dinner was great as usual as we got to know our waiters, Mauricio and Vigilio, and started having some fun with them.

Since we didn't have a show that night we walked around the Promenade a little and had a drink on the Rising Tide Bar and then popped in at Dazzles before heading off to bed.