PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Royal Caribbean International says it has temporarily suspended all calls to Labadee in Haiti, due to the ongoing unrest in that country and in order to ensure the safety of cruise passengers.
According to Royal Caribbean it is in the process of contacting customers who have booked cruises with visits to its private destination of Labadee, to inform them of the suspension of visits to the port.
The decision follows the recent escape of close to 5,000 inmates from the national penitentiary and the Croix-des-Bouquets prison, in addition to to escalating violence across the country.
“Due to the evolving situation in Haiti, and in an abundance of caution, we’re temporarily suspending our visits to Labadee for our entire fleet. We continue to monitor and assess the situation with our Global Security & Intelligence Team,” said Aurora Yera-Rodriguez, Assistant Vice President of Royal Caribbean International.
The last ship to visit Labadee was the Freedom class “Liberty of the Seas”, which had a stopover at the port on Wednesday.
The first ships affected by these port cancellations will be “Oasis of the Seas”, “Symphony of the Seas” and “Adventure of the Seas”, with visits to Labadee scheduled for Thursday and this coming weekend respectively.
The company says while the cruises are already underway, it will adjust accordingly. The three ships will now benefit from an additional day at sea instead of their visit to Labadee and additional activities, games and shows will be added to daily activity Programmes.
