Odyssey of the Seas - 8-Night Southern Caribbean: Labadee, Aruba & Curaçao

Where this cruise calls, day by day

5 ports and 4 sea days over 8 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Fort Lauderdale, FL

   United StatesDepart

   Port Everglades is the easy one. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International sits barely two miles from the berths - the shortest airport-to-ship hop of any major US homeport - and the eight passenger terminals are spread far enough apart that traffic rarely knots the way Miami's does. Check your terminal number before you set off; they are not close together.

   • Las Olas Boulevard for lunch, then the walk down to the beach
   • The Water Taxi loop along the New River and Intracoastal, past the yacht basins
   • Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, a 1920s estate hemmed in by condo towers
   • Hollywood Broadwalk, 20 minutes south, for a flatter and cheaper beach day

   Getting ashore

   Eight passenger terminals (2, 4, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29) ring the harbour on separate access roads, and FLL is about 2 miles out - often under 15 minutes door to door.

   Best months

   Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Labadee

   HaitiPort

   Labadee is not a town. It is a fenced peninsula on Haiti's north coast leased by Royal Caribbean, with beaches, an alpine coaster, a zip line and no way to leave it — you will not see Haiti, and plenty of guests never register that they are in it. Calls have been suspended and reinstated repeatedly as conditions on the mainland change, so treat it as a soft item on an itinerary.

   • Dragon's Breath Flight Line zip line over the water
   • Dragon's Tail alpine coaster
   • Columbus Cove and Nellie's Beach
   • Arawak Aqua Park inflatables

   Getting ashore

   Docked at a pier built in 2009 — you walk straight off into the resort, and a tram runs the length of the peninsula.

   Best months

   Nov-Apr; Aug-Oct is hurricane season, and calls are also subject to Haiti's security situation year-round

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5

   Oranjestad

   ArubaPort

   Aruba sits below the hurricane belt and gets under 20 inches of rain a year, which is why the leeward coast is one long resort beach and the interior is cactus and divi-divi trees permanently bent by the trade wind. The cruise terminal is in central Oranjestad, with Dutch-colonial pastel shopfronts starting at the gate and a free streetcar running the main street.

   • Eagle Beach and Palm Beach
   • Arikok National Park and the Natural Pool by 4x4
   • Baby Beach at the far southeast tip
   • The California Lighthouse and the dunes below it

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in downtown Oranjestad - walk out of the terminal into town; Eagle Beach is a 10-minute taxi or bus ride.

   Best months

   Good all year; Jan-Apr is driest and busiest, Oct-Dec brings brief showers. Outside the hurricane belt

6. Day 6

   Willemstad

   CuracaoPort

   The arrival is the best part of the day. Ships either tie up at the Mega Pier just outside the harbour mouth or sail directly into St. Anna Bay past the Handelskade's row of ochre and mint waterfront houses. Willemstad is a UNESCO site and a genuinely Dutch city dropped into the tropics - floating market, a pontoon bridge that swings open for shipping, and the oldest synagogue still in use in the Americas.

   • The Queen Emma pontoon bridge and the Handelskade waterfront
   • Mikvé Israel-Emanuel synagogue and its sand floor
   • Kurá Hulanda museum's slavery collection
   • West-coast beaches like Cas Abao and Grote Knip

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock; the Mega Pier is a 10-15 minute walk into Otrobanda, while the inner-harbour berth puts you beside the pontoon bridge.

   Best months

   Year-round; Oct-Dec is wettest but the rain is brief. Outside the hurricane belt

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Fort Lauderdale, FL

   United StatesArrive

   Port Everglades is the easy one. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International sits barely two miles from the berths - the shortest airport-to-ship hop of any major US homeport - and the eight passenger terminals are spread far enough apart that traffic rarely knots the way Miami's does. Check your terminal number before you set off; they are not close together.

   • Las Olas Boulevard for lunch, then the walk down to the beach
   • The Water Taxi loop along the New River and Intracoastal, past the yacht basins
   • Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, a 1920s estate hemmed in by condo towers
   • Hollywood Broadwalk, 20 minutes south, for a flatter and cheaper beach day

   Getting ashore

   Eight passenger terminals (2, 4, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29) ring the harbour on separate access roads, and FLL is about 2 miles out - often under 15 minutes door to door.

   Best months

   Nov-Apr (Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season)