As chaos in Haiti continues to grab headlines, Royal Caribbean International has dropped Labadee, its private port on a Haitian peninsula, from most itineraries this week and into next.
Haiti has been under a state of emergency for nearly two weeks and all travel to the country is discouraged by warnings from the Canadian and U.S. governments. Just days ago, Royal Caribbean said it had no plans to drop Labadee, but made the move to cancel excursions that travelled outside the gated section of the cruise port.
"The safety and security of our guests, crew, and communities we visit are our top priority," a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said. "Our Global Security and Intel Team is closely monitoring the evolving situation in Haiti and in an abundance of caution, we are temporarily making adjustments to sailings visiting Labadee. We will continue to monitor and reassess calls as needed, and will communicate updates with guests directly."
Haitian dancers welcome Wonder of the Seas on its first visit to Labadee. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
The cancellations will impact at least half a dozen ships and eight port calls, and more decisions will need to be made next week as the situation evolves.
Labadee is more than 200 kilometres away from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital where gang violence is terrorizing residents. But turmoil is a near constant in Haiti, and Royal Caribbean has rarely cancelled stops to the private port where only cruise ship guests and employees are permitted.
The cruise line has not commented on whether impacted itineraries will visit a different port to replace Labadee, although reports suggest that some ships will make a stop at Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas, while at least one is adding Grand Turk as a replacement stop.
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