Labadee Waverunner Questions

[kmtoner]

Is it a good idea to reserve Waverunners as a shore excursion in advance or are they available enough to wing it once we arrive?

 

Also, I'm taking my two boys. Ages 16 and 11. I see that the teenager is old enough to drive one by himself. Could the 11 year old and I share another at the same time? I'm a little confused on how to reserve them as a shore excursion.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mariner, Western starting April 6. Can't wait.

[sdear]

If you definately want to do it, reserve it. It could be booked once your get there. The two times I was there, they had openings, but we had booked ahead of time to get the time slot we wanted.

 

You will need to book 2 single riders (89.00 each) and one passenger( 29.00 i think ? ) ..for a total of 3. Does that make sense?

 

Go for it, it's a blast. Have done it both times we went. There is nothing in the world like blasting past the cruise ship! It sure makes you realize how darn big those ships are ! :D

[reallyitsmema]

Waverunners are a excursion that is about an hour long. It includes a safety video and then you are on the water following a guide in a line. You can't rent them and go out on your own.

 

Your 16 yr old can drive his own waverunner as long as he is a licensed driver. They do check, they checked my son this past June. You can drive a waverunner with your younger child as a passenger.

[Crewzer33]

make sure you bring the 16 year old's license with you when in check in on Labadee, as they write down his license number to document their records

[cb at sea]

Hubby decided to do that last minute--he had no trouble getting in. I think it may depend on each individual cruise, as to how many book!

You will have to stay in a line, with the group. If you want to be able to go out on your own, save this excursion for a different island!

[Cleocruiser]

Is there a better time of day to do this excursion? Earlier or later? Any suggestions?

[reallyitsmema]

We did it before lunch because I was afraid of what would happen if we did it after lunch and the sea was rough:eek: ;)

[sdear]

We always do it at 11am, back in the right time for lunch, then relax on the beach for the afternoon.

[Butch Snider]

Hey just a tip about my waverunner experience in Labadee back in December '06.

 

DW and I were in Labadee December '06 with my parents and our kids. We rented waverunners; I and my 10-y.o. were on one and my dad and my 12-y.o. were on another. At the first stop on the tour the RCCL guide told us about the island of Hispaniola and how proud the people were. At the second stop the RCCL guide told us about the poverty of the people and how they were too proud to accept handouts. At the third stop lo and behold there were a group of locals in kayaks that the RCCL guide steered us towards.

 

I was trying to avoid hitting them with the waverunner, but they persisted in rowing so close to us you could walk on their kayaks. They then began with the hardsell with the crafts. But who carries cash on a waverunner?!?!? The sellers persisted, saying we could pay their friend who worked back at the Labadee beach; they would give us a bill to take to their friend. When my dad pointed out we had no place to carry the crafts, the sellers knew more about the waverunners then we did and showed us the storage compartment and assured us our purchases would be safe there.

 

My dad and I agreed to buy a few crafts at the negotiated price. When the waverunner participants were done with their purchases, the RCCL guide led us back to Labadee. Despite the fact that we had a written bill and one of the crafts broke along the way, the "friend" who we were supposed to pay tried to get us to pay double what the bill stated!

 

There's no way they could have done this without the participation of at least the RCCL tour guide. When we reboarded the ship were sure to let them know our displeasure.

[OPSoccermom]

Hey just a tip about my waverunner experience in Labadee back in December '06.

 

DW and I were in Labadee December '06 with my parents and our kids. We rented waverunners; I and my 10-y.o. were on one and my dad and my 12-y.o. were on another. At the first stop on the tour the RCCL guide told us about the island of Hispaniola and how proud the people were. At the second stop the RCCL guide told us about the poverty of the people and how they were too proud to accept handouts. At the third stop lo and behold there were a group of locals in kayaks that the RCCL guide steered us towards.

 

I was trying to avoid hitting them with the waverunner, but they persisted in rowing so close to us you could walk on their kayaks. They then began with the hardsell with the crafts. But who carries cash on a waverunner?!?!? The sellers persisted, saying we could pay their friend who worked back at the Labadee beach; they would give us a bill to take to their friend. When my dad pointed out we had no place to carry the crafts, the sellers knew more about the waverunners then we did and showed us the storage compartment and assured us our purchases would be safe there.

 

My dad and I agreed to buy a few crafts at the negotiated price. When the waverunner participants were done with their purchases, the RCCL guide led us back to Labadee. Despite the fact that we had a written bill and one of the crafts broke along the way, the "friend" who we were supposed to pay tried to get us to pay double what the bill stated!

 

There's no way they could have done this without the participation of at least the RCCL tour guide. When we reboarded the ship were sure to let them know our displeasure.

Butch,

 

Thanks for your post. My family experienced the same thing on the wave runner expedition. When I reported it on these boards, I was flamed for saying that RCCL had to know about the vendors on the kayaks as our guides steered us into their path and would not let us leave, stating that we all had to stay in a group "for our safety".

 

Labadee is a beautiful island, but after that experience, we prefer to rent jetskis on islands where we can just ride on our own.

[emdia43]

Yes, they did the same with us.:rolleyes:

[Gixer]

I really wanted to try the wave runner, but for 4 of us its pretty expensive, I would be very annoyed if our time actually riding the jet skis was shortened due to the guide stopping at the folks in kyaks, Im paying for a jet ski tour, not a tour and shopping trip, if I want to buy crafts I would buy them at the market. Thanks for the info.

[Crewzer33]

Same thing just happened to us. They only bothered us for a few minutes though and we all thought it was weird, especially when one of the guys in the kayak was wearing an old washed out Royal Carib employee polo shirt. That's how these people try to make a living down there though -- the guide explained Haiti has an 80 percent unemployment rate. We just said no thanks and that was it.

[JetsJetsJets]

I may have asked this once before, I cant remember!

Can you rent the Waverunners by the hour or are they only available for the excursion?

[Carol4158]

We had a similar experience with the sellers on the kayaks. Also the 'helper' when we boared the wave runners. He took us to the waverunner, pushed us back into the water and told us what to do. When we returned he folllowed us relentlessly. I had no cash with me. My daughter had a purse which he pointed to and held out his hand. A friend of his followed behind him and he too pursued my daughter. We ended up giving him the few dollars she had because we felt so intimidated. Not one of our nicest memories - had we been warned by RCCL that tipping was expected we would happen we would have taken cash on shore.

[libertybelle41]

I may have asked this once before, I cant remember!

Can you rent the Waverunners by the hour or are they only available for the excursion?

 

 

Only available for the "follow the leader" type tour. The more experienced goes first and those with the least exp go toward the back. They go really fast up front (my sons were 1st and 2nd in line and had a blast).