Royal Caribbean has cancelled all of its visits to its private beach in Haiti until further notice.
Last night, the line notified guests who had cruises with stops in Labadee over the next week that their visits have been changed to another port or swapped to sea days.
The worsening unrest in Haiti necessitated a change in plans, and thousands of passengers and travel agents received emails that their visit to Labadee would be cancelled.
It appears there will be more rolling cancellations until the situation improves.
Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley posted an update on Thursday morning to provide additional context as to the scope of the cancellations.
His Facebook post stated, "We have suspended calls into Labadee, Haiti for the next 7 days and will continue suspension on a rolling basis with 3 days advance notification to our guests sailing on itineraries impacted and changed as we monitor and evaluate the situation in Haiti."
Depending on the ship, the cancelled visit has been replaced with either another port or a sea day.
- Symphony of the Seas March 17 replaced Labadee with a sea day
- Adventure of the Seas March 15 replaced Labadee with Turks & Caicos
Labadee is located in a remote part of Haiti, and has been a private beach for Royal Caribbean cruise ship passengers since it opened in 1988.
Haiti is experiencing a major civil upheaval following thousands of gang members escaping multiple prisons in Port-au-Prince. As a result, the U.S. State Department issued a Level 4 warning for the country, meaning all travel to the country is discouraged.
Earlier this week, Royal Caribbean initially cancelled just shore excursions, but retained visits to Labadee. This included jet ski, kayak, and fishing excursions.
It's not clear what change necessitated the full cancellation of visits to Labadee for the foreseeable future.
Passenger reaction
Mr. Bayley's update was met with plenty of opinions on if the cancellations were necessary, alternate port options, and other thoughts.
Ashley Sanders wrote, "I, for one, am glad you guys are thinking of the crew and passengers first. Nobody life is worth a stop in a place that's dangerous."
Rachael Correll Estevez brought up two issues with the rolling three day window, "Three days is not enough. It doesn't give people enough time to make other plans at a new port (if one is assigned)."
She pointed out a policy related to infants and the number of sea days allowable for them to cruise, "Some sailings removing Labadee and replacing it with a sea day makes 3 consecutive days at sea, making babies 6-12 months ineligible to sail... how is 3 days enough for those families to adjust to their options?"
Breeda O'Leary posted about the replacement port options, "Please find other ports instead of another sea day whenever possible."
