Day 3 Labadee, Haiti

We arrived at Labadee, our first port-of-call, around 8:30 in the morning of December 7. Labadee is a beautiful coastal area located in the northern part of Haiti. It is privately owned and developed by Royal Caribbean exclusively for their guests. Although there is an ongoing epidemic of cholera in Haiti, Labadee is in a fairly remote location and not easily accessible from the rest of the island. All the food and drinks we had there were brought in from the ship so cholera was not even a topic of discussion. 

          

Cruisers were starting to come out to explore what fun things they can do onshore.

Jet ski anyone? 

                                                   

Those dots in the sky are zip line riders! Labadee has one of the longest, if not the longest zip line in the world.

It would be nice to explore the inland area with one of this. I am, of course,  referring to the battey powered vehicle!

That's an odd-looking bottle of Corona beer! I had a few of them before going to a lunch of  lobster, barbecued spare ribs and other goodies at the beach.

  Souvenir shops

I got myself a lounge chair, parked it in the shade and took a long nap.  I left swimming, snorkeling, parasailing, kayaking, diving, coaster riding and whatever else is available out there, for the young ones.

It's time for me to return to the ship.

The waiters performed a song and dance routine for our entertainment at dinner time.

Day 2 At Sea

I was waiting for the rising sun to shed its cloud cover but it was not happening. I got tired of waiting and I just snapped this pic. I can never be a good photographer! I do not have the patience to wait for all the elements of a good capture to coalesce before taking the pic. Of course, it is different if I were taking a pic of one of Hefner's playmates. I will have all the patience in the world to wait for the best angle, believe me LOL.

I'm not really picky about staterooms. It makes no difference to me whether my room has a porthole, a window, a balcony or just a curtain that opens to a bare wall. I only stay there to sleep, maybe watch a little bit of tv and rest. As long as it is far from the engine room, I'm good to go.

Although I am of average height and definitely not on the heavy side, the size of the shower area is a bit discomforting for me. All the cruise ships I've been on have similar bathroom configuration and size, give or take a few inches. I wonder how an obese person can fit in a space with very little wiggle room. I saw a lot of obese cruisers, some of them morbidly so, but I could not summon the nerve to ask any of them how they manage to take a shower in such a tight space. Baka gulpihin ako LOL.

Staterooms with balcony overlooking the park

Similar staterooms overlooking the boardwalk and the aqua show venue

I needed a stiff drink to ride the zip line - it is a long way down if something goes wrong. I hate to imagine what the impact will do to my beautiful body when I hit bottom at 32 ft/sec/sec LOL.

Surf simulator

Mini golf

First parade I ever saw on a ship

Photographic reminders of the cruise

New York style pizza and beer!

This was good!

Western Caribbean cruise on the Allure of the Seas, Dec. 5-12, 2010

After four days at Fort Lauderdale, it was time for us to board the Allure of the Seas, the newest of the Royal Caribbean fleet of cruise ships. Her itinerary was not that interesting but this was her maiden voyage and that was good enough for me. I wanted to get a feel for the largest passenger ship... so far; she is 5 centimeters larger than Oasis of the Seas, her sister ship built a few years earlier LOL.

The ship sailing away with 5,200 passengers and more than 2,300 crew!

Nice view of an almost empty beach from the top deck.

Some staterooms have a view of a park instead of the ocean!

This crowd was watching an outdoor aqua show, one of the many Las Vegas-style shows on board.

My point and shoot camera couldn't capture the acrobatic movements of these performers. I had to wait until they were literally standing still to get a decent shot.

This is the rising tide bar, one of my favorite hangouts. The bar goes three decks up and down while you drink (all the moving bars I've been to before just slowly rotate 360 degrees). After you have one drink too many, you don't really care whether the bar is moving or you are LOL.

If somebody give this to me with the stipulation that I cannot sell or give it away, I'll hate the giver for the rest of my life. Think car insurance, gas mileage, maintenance and repair, secured parking, etc., etc. I'll never have the peace of mind that I do with my 14 year old pick-up in serious need of a paint job LOL.

Our first night dinner

As good as it looked, I did not enjoy it as much (no reflection on the chef's expertise) - I'd rather have a fish taco at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint.

A well-marked shipboard walking/jogging tract

2.4 lap equals 1 mile

New Year's Eve, 2010

Happy New Year!


More than a decade ago, we were on a cruise in the Hawaiian Islands and our itinerary took us to Kiribati Island, a two day "at sea" deal outside of the US territorial water to comply with the US Maritime Law. I never heard of Kiribati before but the name sounds intriguing (like an African incurable disease), I was expecting that when we arrive, we are going to be greeted by a bevy of beautiful, grass-skirted dancing girls. That we were! But not the way I though it was going to be LOL. I think the dog strayed in to add insult to the injured expectation LOL. Anyway, my disappointment was tempered with the knowledge, recently acquired, that Kiribati is the first to celebrate the New Year because of geography. HAVE A GREAT 2011 EVERYONE! I know I will try my best and you do, too.

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Miami, Florida

I wanted to spend the day at the Everglades but my companions were not too thrill about the idea. They'll rather go to Miami. That was fine with me, I'll see the Everglades the next time I visit Florida. The reason why we were here in the first place was to sail on the maiden voyage of the Allure of the Seas, the newest and largest cruise ship of the Royal Caribbean Lines. We decided to fly a few days ahead of the sailing date to avoid the hassles of delayed flights, lost baggages and what nots.


Coconut Grove

Coconut Grove

Miami

Miami

Miami

Miami

South Beach area

This mansion on Ocean Beach was the residence of Gianni Versace, the famous Italian designer who was shot in the head by Andrew Cunanan, a Filipino-American from San Diego, CA. It was sold by the heir of Versace to a telecommunication magnate who renovated and turned it to a private membership club whose members pay $40,000 to join plus $3,000 annually. What? I wonder what a member gets for that kind of money.

I barely touch the skin of Miami. I'm coming back to Florida! My wife said, "Do it during the hurricane season, you'll love it." LOL.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

My wife and I and another couple left on a late night flight from Long Beach bound for Fort Lauderdale in Florida. We arrived very early the following morning at our hotel. Although check-in time is 11:00 am, we were able to check-in right away. I think we hit pay dirt when we selected this hotel off the internet because of its nearnest to the airport, the pier and its reasonable rate ($79/day with free breakfast and wi-fi).

This river that cuts across the road fronting our hotel is covered with vegetation along the bank unlike the ones in our place where rivers are paved with concrete like giant canals and are dry for most of the year.

The road is almost devoid of traffic and this is rush hour!

We spent the rest of the morning catching up on our sleep but in the afternoon we decided to check out "Venice of America" so called because of its canal system, which is wider and cleaner than the one I saw in Venice, Italy.

Nice homes!

I wonder who the occupants are of this mansion? Probably the caretakers for most of the year LOL. Most of the homes here belong to the rich, the super rich and the disgustingly filthy rich. Some are poor their yacths cost more than their homes. I feel sorry for these guys whose $40 million yacth is park near their $20 million home. I cry for their misfortunes.

A bridge that yields the right of way to humongous yachts

It got dark before we completed our water taxi route for the cheap rate of $8 per person.

This guy on his kayak got too close to us or vice versa.