Royal Caribbean has suspended ship calls at its private destination, Labadee, with immediate effect. It comes as Haiti’s civil unrest continues, spurred by a political crisis in the country.
| “Due to the evolving situation and in an abundance of caution, we’re temporally suspending our Labadee calls for our entire fleet,” the cruise line said in a statement. “We continue to monitor and assess the situation with our Global Security & Intelligence Team.” |
Cruise Line Makes Itinerary Changes
The cruise line had a number of scheduled calls at Labadee over the coming days aboard Symphony of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, and Grandeur of the Seas, among others. It has revised these itineraries with an extra sea day or alternative calls in the Bahamas. Guests have been informed of the changes.
Labadee is situated on the northern coast, around 130 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the unrest is happening. The cruise line has exclusive use of Labadee, which features beaches, an overwater zip line and other amenities.
In a social media post, CEO Michael Bayley said the Labadee halt is for an initial seven days. If required, the suspension will continue on a rolling basis, giving affected guests at least three days’ notice of changes to their itinerary. The cruise line will continue to monitor events in Haiti.
The U.S. State Department has a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti. The international airport near Port-au-Prince has been closed due to the unrest.
