The first stop on our cruise was Labadee Haiti. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. Labadee is owned by Royal Caribbean and is a private resort. In other words, guests don't leave and locals don't come in (except a select few vendors to sell goods). As such, I wasn't expecting much from Labadee, but I was pleasantly surprised. The resort itself was very nice. Those picturesque settings with a beach chair and/or hammocks under palm trees and umbrellas on white sand beaches just inches from the water - that was Labadee. The weather was nice (albeit warm and humid), and the water temperature was perfect. It wasn't the best for snorkeling as it was mostly sea grass and not many fish, but still enjoyable.
By far the best part was lunch. Since it's a private resort, they prepare lunch on the island for you, or you can walk back to the docked ship for lunch. Before we left we heard a lot of people complaining about the lunch on the island and recommended returning to the ship. Well these people couldn't be more wrong. One of the specialties at lunch was pork ribs (which I love). Pork ribs can either be really good, or really bad. So initially I only put one or two on my plate. Well these were easily some of the best ribs I've ever had! They had the three qualities that make awesome ribs. 1) They were fall-off-the-bone tender. Since they were BBQ'ing ribs for 3,000+ people, I wasn't expecting such tender ribs. They must have been par-boiled ahead of time. 2) The BBQ sauce was really good, and there was plenty of it. They didn't skimp when it came to sauce. 3) They were very meaty ribs. Pork ribs have a tendency to be lot of bone and little meat. But these pork ribs had the most meat I've ever seen on pork ribs. I ended up eating 15 to 20 of these awesome ribs.
So if you ever find yourself on a Royal Caribbean ship headed to Labadee - do yourself a favor and be prepared to enjoy some ribs!
The only downside to Labadee was the "pressure" tactics of the few local vendors. They do everything short of grab you by the arm and pull you into their little shop. I'm on vacation, I don't want to be hassled literally every 10 feet as I walk down the street. Granted they want to make money, but if they weren't so forceful I would have actually gone into their shops and looked around. But they hassle you so much all you want to do is get away from them.
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