labadee cancelled???

[richsea]

For those interested in some facts...

 

This is part of an article from CruiseLawNews:

The controversy has been witnessed first hand by Tom Fox, a passenger aboard the Freedom of the Seas. Ironically, Mr. Fox just retired after 35 year as the publisher of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) two weeks ago.

Mr. Fox says that the cruise ship was met by a number of small vessels packed with protesters clanging pans and shouting, One or two Haitian coast guard vessels kept watch, guiding through and among the other vessels. Mr. Fox reports that the demonstration has been non violent so far. The captain of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship announced that the protests were "due to the upcoming Haitian election."

It is curious, however, that one of the signs on one of the vessels read "USA Away," according to Mr Fox.

In 1986, Royal Caribbean shook hands with the tyrant Baby Doc Duvalier to seal a deal where it obtained exclusive control of 260 acres of sovereign waterfront land from Haiti. Royal Caribbean trademarked it's new "private island" - "Labadee®" - derived from the name of the 1600's French plantation baron and slave owner Marquis de La'Badie. It then erected a 12 foot high security fence around its "island" and hired armed security guards to keep the impoverished Haitians out.

Royal Caribbean ran into a public relations nightmare in 2010 following the earthquake which devastated Port of Prince, when it sailed its mega cruise ships into its private resort.

:rolleyes:

 

Wow, now there's some straight forward reporting; no bias in that report!:rolleyes: Is that from one of the cruise ambulance chasers' site?

 

Seriously, it is a shame that Haiti is such a beautiful island, but due to the extreme poverty & long history of corruption in their government, their tourism is really non exsistent. It seems that every election brings protests & violence because the people are just desparate for a better life.

Edited January 21, 2016 by richsea

[dkjretired]

:rolleyes:

 

Wow, now there's some straight forward reporting; no bias in that report!:rolleyes: Is that from one of the cruise ambulance chasers' site?

 

Seriously, it is a shame that Haiti is such a beautiful island, but due to the extreme poverty & long history of corruption in their government, their tourism is really non exsistent. It seems that every election brings protests & violence because the people are just desparate for a better life.

 

Hi Rich:

 

Yes, that is the ambulance chasing lawyer, been around for years. We were on this board when the Earthquake hit and some questioned why they were bringing the cruiseships into Labadee. Most thinking people did not have a problem because Labadee was not near the earthquake zone and the Royal and Celebrity ships were bringing in loads of disaster supplies. The comments in cruise law news are really a stretch.

Edited January 21, 2016 by dkjretired

[KKB]

:rolleyes:

Seriously, it is a shame that Haiti is such a beautiful island, but due to the extreme poverty & long history of corruption in their government, their tourism is really non exsistent. It seems that every election brings protests & violence because the people are just desparate for a better life.

 

Not only corruption & poverty but the lack of laws protecting logging.

 

Compare photos of Haiti & the Dominican Republic (where they have laws to protect the rain forests)...and it is easy to see why DM is tops for tourism & Haiti has virtually none.

 

Very sad.

[wwcruisers]

:rolleyes:

 

 

Seriously, it is a shame that Haiti is such a beautiful island, but due to the extreme poverty & long history of corruption in their government, their tourism is really non exsistent. It seems that every election brings protests & violence because the people are just desparate for a better life.

 

Agreed, Rich! :)

 

This development came as a surprise to me. RCCL has a huge investment in Labadee. Not only do they have a long lease -- but, look at all of the improvements and development they have paid for: zip-line, roller-coaster, luxury cabanas -- not to mention that pier! I would imagine that they will take steps to deal with the problem, before they lose too much more revenue. On the other hand, I applaud the ship's captain for erring on the side of caution (and passenger safetey), in the situation cited.

[C-Dragons]

 

Seriously, it is a shame that Haiti is such a beautiful island, but due to the extreme poverty & long history of corruption in their government, their tourism is really non exsistent. It seems that every election brings protests & violence because the people are just desparate for a better life.

Indeed, it is a shame that things have not changed much for the Haitian people over the last 39 years.

 

Once upon a time, Haiti was a cruise destination. We stopped there once on an NCL cruise that docked in Port au Prince. Local children swam up to the side of the ship asking for money, and if coins were thrown into the water, they would dive to retrieve them. Shore excursions were available through the ship to visit local sites on the island. We traveled into the countryside by bus and got to see first hand the extreme conditions that the Haitians lived in. There were ramshackle huts with corrugated metal roofs, and flowing open sewers running beside them. It made the children walking to school dressed in their uniforms a very strange sight. After the tour we were left to shop for a while in the local market. A man came up to us and insisted on being our guide for a small amount of money, and we accepted his offer. There were lots of hand made crafts for sale including many paintings and we ended up buying a rather large one. Haiti was ruled by the dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier at that time, and subsequently replaced by his son. The Haitians we met were very nice, polite and proud people. Natural disasters and bad government, it seems they just can't get a break.

 

I wanted to add that the cabana "butler" we had on Barefoot Beach 2 years ago was a Haitian. He said that some of the locals worked at Labadee when the ships docked there. They were happy to have the cruise line stop there, because jobs were so scarce.

[Charles4515]

Not only corruption & poverty but the lack of laws protecting logging.

 

Compare photos of Haiti & the Dominican Republic (where they have laws to protect the rain forests)...and it is easy to see why DM is tops for tourism & Haiti has virtually none.

 

Very sad.

 

The deforestation is because of the poverty.

 

Haiti's slaves revolted against France in 1791. In 1804 defeated Napoleon and became independent. The US and other countries refused to recognize and embargoed. The US was a slave nation and feared the slave rebellions would spread. France extracted huge reparations. These kept Haiti poor. In the 1890's the Germans invaded. In the early 20th century the US. US left in 1934. The Dominican Republic massacred 20,000 Haitians in 1934.

 

By the way the current Dominican Republic government is a nasty piece of work.They have declared retroactively, that anyone born since 1929 is no longer a citizen if they didn't have one parent with Dominican blood.

[sylmack]

It's interesting to note that the town of Cap-Haitien is only 6 miles from Labadee, yet Royal Caribbean will not allow it's passengers to go there.

 

I would also remind everyone that RCCL only started delivering relief supplies for the earthquake after a firestorm of protest online regarding cruise passengers playing beach volleyball in Labadee just miles away from dying Haitiens.

[Miaminice]

I would also remind everyone that RCCL only started delivering relief supplies for the earthquake after a firestorm of protest online regarding cruise passengers playing beach volleyball in Labadee just miles away from dying Haitiens.

 

Which is exactly what some do not want to hear when they demand that Haitians should be forever grateful and not ruin their precious vacation time ;-)

[Charles4515]

It's interesting to note that the town of Cap-Haitien is only 6 miles from Labadee, yet Royal Caribbean will not allow it's passengers to go there.

 

I would also remind everyone that RCCL only started delivering relief supplies for the earthquake after a firestorm of protest online regarding cruise passengers playing beach volleyball in Labadee just miles away from dying Haitiens.

 

 

That is an exaggeration. The earthquake area was some miles away. It is a three and a half hour drive from Cape Haitian to Port Au Prince. Also getting relief supplies to the area was problematic. I can't fault Royal Caribbean.

 

 

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[katrina915]

We stopped there once not long after the hurricane. No one told us at the ship that one side is better than the other. The beach was full of rocks.We couldn't figure out what the big deal was.

 

Happened to me too. Stayed at the rocky beach for about an hour and headed back to the ship. Waste of a port!

[boscobeans]

It's interesting to note that the town of Cap-Haitien is only 6 miles from Labadee, yet Royal Caribbean will not allow it's passengers to go there.

 

I would also remind everyone that RCCL only started delivering relief supplies for the earthquake after a firestorm of protest online regarding cruise passengers playing beach volleyball in Labadee just miles away from dying Haitiens.

 

We've been there many times, both pre and post earthquake. On one of the first cruises to dock at the new pier the amount of off loaded relief was amazing. Water, rice and other supplies by the pallet load never ceased to roll out from the ship. And as stated by others it is nowhere near the main earthquake damage area. In fact there is very little near the Labadee area for miles around. We have noticed an increase in rude shop keepers in the newest area behind what I think is known as "Carlos" . But really not a problem. I hope they get their politics together and things for all improve in Haiti. The cruise area has grown a lot since our first visits and has plenty enough for most folks to do.

[dkjretired]

Which is exactly what some do not want to hear when they demand that Haitians should be forever grateful and not ruin their precious vacation time ;-)

 

No one on this board said that, total exaggeration on your part.

 

And I see no evidence of people forgetting how priviledged they are, another exaggeration.

Edited January 22, 2016 by dkjretired

[dkjretired]

Actually this thread turned out to be very similiar to the threads that occurred at the time of the earthquake. Many were in favor and many were against

 

Also, to correct what a previous poster mentioned, the first Royal Caribbean ship to go there after the earthquake brought supplies, it was not done after complaints. I believe Solstice came in next with Supplies.

 

Also the comment about Royal not allowing their passengers into Haiti itself, how do you know its Royal's decision and even if it is, they are responsible for the safety of their passengers. Lots of issues there, to blame Royal is absurd.

 

Here's a link

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1124820&highlight=haitian+earthquake

Edited January 22, 2016 by dkjretired

[Aldeya]

Again, Labadee is not Haiti, Labadee is owned by Royal! You have no idea what goes on behind the fence...

 

There might be a few lucky ones employed by some subcontractor of Royal working on Labadee, yes. But do you really think, just because we as cruisers in a way pay the salary of a few, the general population has no right to display their discontent (peacefully!)?

 

I am always amazed how fast people forget how privileged we are!!!

 

Ahh, political correctness and another "gilt" in full display.

The tourism brings MONEY, a lot of it to any country that cares to take them. Pushing tourism away will not benefit anyone.