Posted on 01/19/2010 2:49:07 PM PST by alabama_heart
Cruise ships still find a Haitian berthLuxury liners are still docking at private beaches near Haiti's devastated earthquake zone for holidaymakers to enjoy the water Latest: Cruise company to donate sun loungers to Haiti makeshift hospital
Robert Booth guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 January 2010 21.53 GMT
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines faced a difficult decision over whether to dock as per itinerary at Labadee Beach, Haiti after last week's tragic quake. Photograph: Daniel Morel/AP
Sixty miles from Haiti's devastated earthquake zone, luxury liners dock at private beaches where passengers enjoy jetski rides, parasailing and rum cocktails delivered to their hammocks.
The 4,370-berth Independence of the Seas, owned by Royal Caribbean International, disembarked at the heavily guarded resort of Labadee on the north coast on Friday; a second cruise ship, the 3,100-passenger Navigator of the Seas is due to dock.
The Florida cruise company leases a picturesque wooded peninsula and its five pristine beaches from the government for passengers to "cut loose" with watersports, barbecues, and shopping for trinkets at a craft market before returning on board before dusk. Safety is guaranteed by armed guards at the gate.
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.
The company said the question of whether to "deliver a vacation experience so close to the epicentre of an earthquake" had been subject to considerable internal debate before it decided to include Haiti in its itineraries for the coming weeks.
"In the end, Labadee is critical to Haiti's recovery; hundreds of people rely on Labadee for their livelihood," said John Weis, vice-president. "In our conversations with the UN special envoy of the government of Haiti, Leslie Voltaire, he notes that Haiti will benefit from the revenues that are generated from each call …
"We also have tremendous opportunities to use our ships as transport vessels for relief supplies and personnel to Haiti. Simply put, we cannot abandon Haiti now that they need us most."
"Friday's call in Labadee went well," said Royal Caribbean. "Everything was open, as usual. The guests were very happy to hear that 100% of the proceeds from the call at Labadee would be donated to the relief effort."
Forty pallets of rice, beans, powdered milk, water, and canned foods were delivered on Friday, and a further 80 are due and 16 on two subsequent ships. When supplies arrive in Labadee, they are distributed by Food for the Poor, a longtime partner of Royal Caribbean in Haiti.
Royal Caribbean has also pledged $1m to the relief effort and will spend part of that helping 200 Haitian crew members.
The company recently spent $55m updating Labadee. It employs 230 Haitians and the firm estimates 300 more benefit from the market. The development has been regarded as a beacon of private investment in Haiti; Bill Clinton visited in October. Some Haitians have decried the leasing of the peninsula as effective privatisation of part of the republic's coastline.
Ya. Screw the Haitians who benefit from the cruise industry and tourist dollars. It makes much more sense to just support them with our tax dollars.
Well, the pre-quake troubles were well known.
Would it be wrong if the beach where in Dominica? The Bahamas? should all vacations be canceled, everywhere?
All cruise lines should be docking there, keep the money coming. Business cannot stop!
This area in question was not hit by the quake. The cruise company has pleged to donate all it’s profits from the excursions to aid releif.
So what’s it to be fo the poor people living on the edge? Vacation trade is vital for the people living around the area.
If the ships stop coming they get nothing. I vote better a little than nothing.
For crying out loud! it’s Port-au-Prince that’s destroyed. Not the whole country. Did the port of San Francisco shut down after 9/11?
With the glare of news lights on the place, that is something which would seem to be found out soon enough. I’d think such an official would not be treated much better by the locals than a looter.
i can see absolutely NO reason to goto haiti, let alone after the quake...
I say capitalism is the way out for Haiti, so let the tourism and related donations help them. The locals who undoubtedly work on the private beach appreciate the continued pay checks, I’m sure.
BTW, love the tag!
Reminds me of the tourists who showed up on the beaches of Thailand two weeks after the big tsunami, only to go sunbathing on the sands covering thousands of corpses that were never recovered. Now THAT’S disturbing...!
You mean the other side to which TWO MILLION homeless will soon be fleeing?
I hope they all go to Wyclef Jean’s house.
No different than the vast amounts of tax payers money o-bow-man spends on vacations while the husband and father tries to put food on the table for his hungry family.
The cruise line is there to make money while o-bow-man cares for nobody but himself, nobody.
Tourism isn’t the best way to support an economy, but it’s probably one of the few ways Haiti can earn money and find jobs. Better to serve drinks and wash dishes than to have nothing at all.
If Haiti wasn’t such a scary place, they could probably make more money, selling them souvenirs and maybe having them tour the island, and eventually building hotels and rental cottages on the beaches.
As long as the cruise line is not interfering with recovery efforts....there is no problem with the stops at Labadee.
Sounds like the cruise line is trying to help.....much more than the UN or the French...
My brother and his wife was on that cruise that stopped at Labadee...said he had a nice time.
I can see why they would stop at Labadee....it is probably dirt-cheap for them....even with the infrastructure investments
I can see how people might find it creepy, especially if the headline is written to make it seem that way. But really... this place is on the other side of the country from the quake, probably not directly affected by it. There’s no reason this area should suffer just because everybody else is. They need everything they can get.
If the cruise line (and even moreso the passengers) feel moved to donate supplies and money to the Haitians... so much the better.
A) Don’t think it’s bad for these people to continue on a scheduled trip.
B) I couldn’t jetski and enjoy myself knowing a few miles away people are trapped under rubble and starving to death.
Before the earthquake were not many Haitians living in abject squalor and poverty?
I’ve been there. No problem eating a burger and having a cold beer. Labadee is fenced off from the rest of the country and apparantly Labadee was not affected.
However, if Royal Caribean would prefer to be tasteful, skip the stop(its only a few hours there).
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