Key Aspects:
- Royal Caribbean has extended the cancellation of visits to Labadee, Haiti for another six months.
- Eight different Royal Caribbean ships will have dozens of itineraries adjusted for the port’s continued closure.
- Various alternative ports are being arranged for impacted sailings wherever possible.
Private destinations can be a highlight of a cruise vacation, providing exclusive experiences in unique locations for social-media-worthy cruise memories. Guests booked on a number of upcoming Royal Caribbean cruises, however, will not be visiting Labadee as planned.
The cruise line has reached out to travel agents and begun contacting booked guests with the cancellation news. All visits to Labadee, Haiti continue to be suspended at least through April 2026.
This means it will be a full six months before Royal Caribbean might reconsider port visits to the private destination on Haiti’s north shore.
Depending on the exact ship and sailing date, cruisers are being notified of different changes to their itineraries.
For example, the November 1, 2025 Freedom of the Seas sailing is a 5-night Eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami that originally planned to visit Labadee and Nassau. With Labadee cancelled, other plans had to be arranged.
“We have added a new port of call to our itinerary! We’ll now visit the beautiful Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, instead of our visit to Labadee,” the cruise line announced.
The November 15, 2025 sailing for the same ship, however, will be visiting Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic instead of Labadee. The December 22, 2025 sailing will go to Falmouth, Jamaica.
Other ships that will now be changing destinations and no longer visiting Labadee include:
- Adventure of the Seas
- Allure of the Seas
- Explorer of the Seas
- Independence of the Seas
- Jewel of the Seas
- Liberty of the Seas
- Oasis of the Seas
- Symphony of the Seas
The exact number of port visits each ship will have adjusted depends on their original itinerary schedules. In some cases, it may be necessary to rearrange other ports or shift port visit times to accommodate the changes.
In addition to visits to Grand Turk, Puerto Plata, and Falmouth, other alternative destinations include Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Nassau, and Royal Caribbean’s private Bahamian island, Perfect Day at CocoCay.
Any pre-paid Labadee shore excursions booked through Royal Caribbean will be automatically cancelled and refunded to the original form of payment. If possible, tours will be rescheduled for the ships’ new plans.
As a last resort, the Labadee cancellation may become an extra day at sea if no alternative ports are available. Port schedules, berth availability, and sailing distance can all be factors in this shuffling of ships.
Why So Many More Labadee Cancellations?
All of these itinerary changes impacting eight different ships – more than one-quarter of the Royal Caribbean fleet – are being made “out of an abundance of caution” due to violence in Haiti.
Much of the gang-related violence is centered around Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, which is more than 80 miles south of Labadee. To drive between the two would take roughly six hours due to winding roads and mountain ranges.
Nevertheless, the possibility of tourists being targeted for crimes such as mugging, carjacking, sexual assault, and kidnapping makes it a wise decision to cancel the port visits.
All of Haiti has been under a state of emergency since March 2024, and Royal Caribbean has canceled hundreds of ship visits to the destination. The US Department of State currently has a Level 4: Do Not Travel warning posted for Haiti.
Previously, the cruise line had already cancelled all Labadee visits through October 2025. This latest round of cancellations extends that pause for another six months.
This is the longest single extension the cruise line has made for the cancellations. This could reflect the continued increase in Haitian instability as well as the need to make alternative port plans further in advance during the busy Caribbean winter sailing season.
