Apex 2024 stop in Labadee, Haiti?

[happyyaya]

Our Apex November 2024 Transatlantic cruise was recently cancelled. We'd planned to do a back-to-back with it for an additional 7 days. The new Apex schedule is now posted. The Apex Transatlantic now sails on October 23 and ends in Orlando. It continues on for 6 nights and includes a stop in Labadee, Haiti. Labadee, Haiti is on the U.S. Department of State site with a #4 level warning! #4 is a Do Not Travel warning; the highest advisory level of likelihood of life threatening risk. It was most recently updated in May 2023. All one has to do is read the very sad and frightening news about problems in Haiti. I am very happy I already booked the Connie's Transatlantic and add-on leg for November 2024. I know changes in butlers, cost for lobster, etc have been topics of interest here....but adding Labadee, Haiti as a port????  Hoping anyone who books this cruise understands it is under a #4 travel advisory.

[TeeRick]

Just now, happyyaya said:

Our Apex November 2024 Transatlantic cruise was recently cancelled. We'd planned to do a back-to-back with it for an additional 7 days. The new Apex schedule is now posted. The Apex Transatlantic now sails on October 23 and ends in Orlando. It continues on for 6 nights and includes a stop in Labadee, Haiti. Labadee, Haiti is on the U.S. Department of State site with a #4 level warning! #4 is a Do Not Travel warning; the highest advisory level of likelihood of life threatening risk. It was most recently updated in May 2023. All one has to do is read the very sad and frightening news about problems in Haiti. I am very happy I already booked the Connie's Transatlantic and add-on leg for November 2024. I know changes in butlers, cost for lobster, etc have been topics of interest here....but adding Labadee, Haiti as a port????  Hoping anyone who books this cruise understands it is under a #4 travel advisory.

Don't worry.  Labadee is owned by Royal Caribbean and is a private island destination.  Many of us have been there numerous times.

[happyyaya]

Why is it rated as a #4 in terms of safety to travel to then?

[jelayne]

The problem is not on the private island, it is other parts of the country.  

[TeeRick]

1 minute ago, happyyaya said:

Why is it rated as a #4 in terms of safety to travel to then?

You are arriving on a ship directly into a private enclave that has a security fence around the entire area,  And leaving the same way. 

[happyyaya]

Okay.  Just looked it up.  Royal Caribbean leases Labadee from Haiti. They do not own it. Another post clarifies further: "Labadee, Haiti is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines private peninsula on the north tip of Haiti. It's separated from the rest of Haiti by very high fenced barriers and armed guards."  No thank you. Still very glad we shifted to Connie's Transatlantic and her follow-up. 

[happyyaya]

....and last thing I'll write on this....why is it rated with a #4 advisory?

 

Let me add....we are loyal Celebrity fans....have done 21 cruises with them and have 4 booked in 2024. We have only been disappointed, in all that time, with 1 meal and even then, wait staff quickly took it away and I had a different dish. We've enjoyed sailing on all class ships, most recently back-to-back-to-backs on the Beyond. So -- we'll just choose not to take a cruise with them that stops in a #4 rated travel advisory port. There are plenty of other choices. 

[Jeremiah1212]

Haiti is a big place. Most of the crime is in the south near Port-au-Price. Labadee is over 6 hours away. The nearest city, Cap Haitien, is rarely mentioned. Is it the safest place ever? Of course not. The Caribbean has all sorts of problems. But comparing the two is like saying you won't go to Lake Tahoe because San Fransisco has a lot of crime. Celebrity isn't going to upload 2,800 guests and their employees who live there and just hope everything works for the best. 

[39august]

Been to Labadee many times in the past on RCI. Beautiful place with beautiful mountain views. Sometimes when we went there the same #4 alert was in effect. It's  far away from the awful lawlessness down south. And armed guards are at the locked gates that lead to the interior. Happy we are booked in Jan. '25 for an Eclipse cruise that goes there. 

[mom says]

Erm, you're wailing  about a cruise that is still 14 months in the future. It's a bit early to get your drawers in twist, isn't it? Who knows what the situation will be then. If X thought there was any danger, they wouldn't be exposing their ship, crew and pax. But you do you.

[WestLakeGirl]

2 hours ago, happyyaya said:

Our Apex November 2024 Transatlantic cruise was recently cancelled. We'd planned to do a back-to-back with it for an additional 7 days. The new Apex schedule is now posted. The Apex Transatlantic now sails on October 23 and ends in Orlando. It continues on for 6 nights and includes a stop in Labadee, Haiti. Labadee, Haiti is on the U.S. Department of State site with a #4 level warning! #4 is a Do Not Travel warning; the highest advisory level of likelihood of life threatening risk. It was most recently updated in May 2023. All one has to do is read the very sad and frightening news about problems in Haiti. I am very happy I already booked the Connie's Transatlantic and add-on leg for November 2024. I know changes in butlers, cost for lobster, etc have been topics of interest here....but adding Labadee, Haiti as a port????  Hoping anyone who books this cruise understands it is under a #4 travel advisory.

Just stay on the ship if you are worried.

[jwlane]

2 hours ago, happyyaya said:

separated ... by very high fenced barriers and armed guards.

As are most of the ports ships visit.

[cruisestitch]

There is no reason to go ashore if you feel unsafe.  Make it a spa day or simply enjoy the ship’s uncrowded facilities.

[hcat]

3 hours ago, happyyaya said:

Okay.  Just looked it up.  Royal Caribbean leases Labadee from Haiti. They do not own it. Another post clarifies further: "Labadee, Haiti is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines private peninsula on the north tip of Haiti. It's separated from the rest of Haiti by very high fenced barriers and armed guards."  No thank you. Still very glad we shifted to Connie's Transatlantic and her follow-up. 

exactly.. and a few times we were there on cruises in our pvt cabanas..others had items stolen  from their loungers.. After a strict lockdown,  items are usually retrieved   but no thanks

 

i have also travelled to Haiti proper over the years where family did charity work   but would never do that now.  The gangs are ruthless!

Edited August 22, 2023 by hcat

[hcat]

59 minutes ago, jwlane said:

As are most of the ports ships visit.

We saw armed guards with bullet belts in Mexico  who were guarding Cozumel port after an alleged ferry incident...We were held back from boarding the ship for almost an hour.  It was a bit unnerving  standing in  the hot sun along the pier under guard altho it really had nothing to do with folks headed to the ship from the port area. 

 

 In Acapulco we had an armed escort in a sep vehicle  on our excursion     and a double guarded entry to the resort we visited for the day..Also had armed guards along the beach

 

Didn't notice much in other ports????

[jwlane]

8 minutes ago, hcat said:

Didn't notice much in other ports????

Exactly---just because one doesn't see it doesn't mean it's not there.

[kittyraptors]

Have you ever been to Mexico? Or Jamaica? Those places have very dangerous areas just like Haiti. A cruise port is not the reason countries get travel warnings.  

[doghog]

15 minutes ago, kittyraptors said:

Have you ever been to Mexico? Or Jamaica? Those places have very dangerous areas just like Haiti. A cruise port is not the reason countries get travel warnings.  

And Trinidad. 

[kwis29]

I am glad to see Celebrity returning to Labadee. It was always one of my favorite ports since it served as the "private island" experience. Over the past several years, I wondered why Celebrity stopped going there.

Edited August 22, 2023 by kwis29

[doghog]

Just now, kwis29 said:

I am glad to see Celebrity returning to Labadee. It was always one of my favorite ports since it served as the "private island" experiene. Over the past several years, I wondered why Celebrity stopped going there.

Now you can also add CocoCay to your fun in the sun.  🍹