Level 4 Travel Advisory for Haiti

[orville99]

I would expect this will eventually impact RCL's Labadee port stops if it continues:

 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

29 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I would expect this will eventually impact RCL's Labadee port stops if it continues:

 

 

Why?  Labadee is a secure area. 

[ReneeFLL]

I highly doubt they are concerned about passengers being kidnapped from Labadee. They may have more security if anything.

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Why?  Labadee is a secure area. 

 

3 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

I highly doubt they are concerned about passengers being kidnapped from Labadee. They may have more security if anything.

Labadee is about as secure as a strainer is watertight.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Just now, orville99 said:

 

Labadee is about as secure as a strainer is watertight.

based on?

[Mum2Mercury]

3 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

I highly doubt they are concerned about passengers being kidnapped from Labadee. They may have more security if anything.

Agree:  

- Kidnappers don't want to grab people in their swimsuits who aren't carrying wallets or phones.

- On the beach, it's hard to tell who's "worth money" who isn't.  

- Labadee is on a peninsula and is guarded.  Okay, kidnappers could arrive in a boat or on jet skis and carry people away, but that doesn't seem to be very likely.  

[A&L_Ont]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

 

Labadee is about as secure as a strainer is watertight.

But with flex seal…

 

[orville99]

14 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

based on?

More than a dozen trips to the port in the last two years. The fencing/gates between the peninsula and the mainland is marginal at best, and while access via boat directly to the port may be a bit tricky, most of the excursions go to areas of the Haitian shoreline where there is no security whatsoever. 

[BirdTravels]

58 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I would expect this will eventually impact RCL's Labadee port stops if it continues:

 

 

Nope. It will have zero impact on Labadee.

RCCL re-opened Labadee a few months after the kidnapping of 16 American missionaries and the assassination of the Hattian President. All of the unrest in the capital has no impact on RCCL calling at Labadee. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by BirdTravels

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Nope. It will have zero impact on Labadee.

I sincerely hope you are right, but I wouldn't bet the house on it. It only takes one incident to crash the illusion of immunity from harm.

[BirdTravels]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I sincerely hope you are right, but I wouldn't bet the house on it. It only takes one incident to crash the illusion of immunity from harm.

So,,, if you have made a dozen trips there since last year (I think it only opened in February 2022,,, we went there in March 6, 2022 and I think it had only been open a few weeks at that time). You have been there through the periods of serious unrest in the country. And if you made a dozen trips there since February 2022, you traveled there at a time when the US State Department had a Level 4 travel advisory for the country (I don't know that it has been less than Level 4 since the presidential assassination). 

[orville99]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

So,,, if you have made a dozen trips there since last year (I think it only opened in February 2022,,, we went there in March 6, 2022 and I think it had only been open a few weeks at that time).

We always do B2b or longer cruises out of Port Canaveral, and our first stop there post restart was the second leg of a B2B on Allure in October 2021, did two more stops in 2021 on Harmony, 6 in 2022, and 3 so far in 2023 with our latest one this June. 

[smedley_odwin]

Our trip on celebrity reflection next year has already cancelled labadee because of this and going to grand cayman instead 

[orville99]

53 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Agree:  

- Kidnappers don't want to grab people in their swimsuits who aren't carrying wallets or phones.

- On the beach, it's hard to tell who's "worth money" who isn't.  

- Labadee is on a peninsula and is guarded.  Okay, kidnappers could arrive in a boat or on jet skis and carry people away, but that doesn't seem to be very likely.  

Given that the majority of Haiti doesn't have two nickels to rub together, anyone in a bathing suit on any beach who isn't fishing to survive would be "rich" enough to exploit.

[sgmn]

Does a 'do not travel' notification from the government invalidate insurance ? 

 

[teddie]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Agree:  

- Kidnappers don't want to grab people in their swimsuits who aren't carrying wallets or phones.

- On the beach, it's hard to tell who's "worth money" who isn't.  

- Labadee is on a peninsula and is guarded.  Okay, kidnappers could arrive in a boat or on jet skis and carry people away, but that doesn't seem to be very likely.  

Mum, I'd like to believe this is all true, but where there's a will, there's a way, especially in a country with such a high degree of unrest.  Criminals gonna criminal, especially with a Level 4 advisory  in place. I'm wondering what kind of liability statement exists when it comes to RCIs private destinations....time to examine the cruise contract for Labadee sailings. 

 

Teddie

Edited July 29, 2023 by teddie

[gerif]

I go back a long way and definitely remember a couple of times that they canceled the port due to political unrest. It was quite a while ago but it did happen. 

[smokeybandit]

Labadee is technically in Haiti, and while not technically a true private island, it might as well be

[joeyancho]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

I sincerely hope you are right, but I wouldn't bet the house on it. It only takes one incident to crash the illusion of immunity from harm.

This is true.   Everyone "feels" safe until the bad thing happens.   By then it is too late.  

[orville99]

10 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

This is true.   Everyone "feels" safe until the bad thing happens.   By then it is too late.  

My parents were considering sailing on the Achille Lauro in 1985 to tick off a long standing European cruise bucket list item that my dad wanted to do, but my mom got very ill and they never went.

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by orville99

[joeyancho]

Just now, orville99 said:

My parents were considering sailing on the Achille Lauro in 1985 to tick off a long standing European cruise bucket list item that my dad wanted to do, but my mom convinced him to do a land tour of England and northern Europe instead. My dad never questioned her vacation choices again after that.

I remember that tragic incident very well.  

[reallyitsmema]

3 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Agree:  

- Kidnappers don't want to grab people in their swimsuits who aren't carrying wallets or phones.

- On the beach, it's hard to tell who's "worth money" who isn't.  

- Labadee is on a peninsula and is guarded.  Okay, kidnappers could arrive in a boat or on jet skis and carry people away, but that doesn't seem to be very likely.  

 

This makes no sense at all.  Kidnappers are not after wallets and phones, they want a ransom paid.  If you arrive at Labadee on a cruise ship, you have already proven you have a lot more money than the average Haitian. As far as the guarded peninsula, ships have turned away from Labadee in the past due to boats and jetskis in the area.  How is the cruise line going to get all passengers back to the ship safely if there is an uprising in the area after a ship has docked?

[SbbquilterUT]

The travel level has been 3 and 4 periodically for at least 6 years - certainly this may be concerning to many people and they have to decide their level of comfort with that stop.

[joeyancho]

1 minute ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

This makes no sense at all.  Kidnappers are not after wallets and phones, they want a ransom paid.  If you arrive at Labadee on a cruise ship, you have already proven you have a lot more money than the average Haitian. As far as the guarded peninsula, ships have turned away from Labadee in the past due to boats and jetskis in the area.  How is the cruise line going to get all passengers back to the ship safely if there is an uprising in the area after a ship has docked?

Your last sentence makes a good point.   And I highly doubt the few guards that are there are going to risk their lives for a bunch of Americans. 

[reallyitsmema]

5 minutes ago, SbbquilterUT said:

The travel level has been 3 and 4 periodically for at least 6 years - certainly this may be concerning to many people and they have to decide their level of comfort with that stop.

 

Correct and ships stopped visiting that port in the past because of the travel level.