Royal Caribbean Profiting In Haiti

Last night, the Guardian paper in the UK ran a story online, reporting that Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines still has a port of call on a private island in Haiti.

As recently as January 15th, Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas docked in Labadee, Haiti, 60 miles outside of Port-au-Prince. There, travelers jet ski, sun bathe, and enjoy barbecue lunches behind a 12 foot tall barbwire fence, complete with armed guards.

The decision to go ahead with the visit has divided passengers. The ships carry some food aid, and the cruise line has pledged to donate all proceeds from the visit to help stricken Haitians. But many passengers will stay aboard when they dock; one said he was "sickened".

"I just can't see myself sunning on the beach, playing in the water, eating a barbecue, and enjoying a cocktail while [in Port-au-Prince] there are tens of thousands of dead people being piled up on the streets, with the survivors stunned and looking for food and water," one passenger wrote on the Cruise Critic internet forum.

"It was hard enough to sit and eat a picnic lunch at Labadee before the quake, knowing how many Haitians were starving," said another. "I can't imagine having to choke down a burger there now.''

Some booked on ships scheduled to stop at Labadee are afraid that desperate people might breach the resort's 12ft high fences to get food and drink, but others seemed determined to enjoy their holiday. "I'll be there on Tuesday and I plan on enjoying my zip line excursion as well as the time on the beach," said one.

According to Royal Caribbean, they are donating $1 million to earthquake relief efforts. They also like to point out how they're bringing 40 pallets of rice, beans, powdered milk, water, and canned foods with each trip to the island. According to their spokesman, however, "when the supplies arrive in Labadee, they are distributed by Food for the Poor, a "longtime" partner of Royal Caribbean in Haiti". Being a "longtime" partner tells me that they have been delivering these supplies for quite some time before the earthquake.

At the very least, this is insensitive. This could easily be called disgusting. As a cruise line, Royal Caribbean has many more options than to go into a country that was hit by an earthquake less than a week earlier. It is a slap in the face to the people of Haiti to treat their country as a tourist destination when 200,000 people are dead, as many as 3 million people are homeless, and eat burgers and ribs behind a fence, while armed guards are hired to keep the locals out.

BOYCOTT ROYAL CARIBBEAN. You have many other choices for your vacation or cruise provider. Royal Caribbean charges as much as $2250.00 per person for a room on the Independence on the Seas. Your lack of patronage will be felt. Let them know that you find their practices uncalled for.