The United States has surprisingly few countries it formally tells Americans not to visit. To make that list, a nation generally has to be fairly dangerous.
Active war zones tend to get a "Level 4: Do not travel" warning from the State Department, but it's not a common designation issued by the federal agency.
Related: Video: Emergency forces Royal Caribbean ship back to port
Unrest in Haiti, however, has led to that entire nation being placed under a "Level 4: Do not travel" advisory. That has been in place since March 2024, although U.S. airlines still flew to Port au Prince until multiple planes were shot at as they left the island nation.
The current advisory was updated in September. The headline is not subtle.
"Do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care," the State Department reiterated on Sept. 18.
"Since March 2024, Haiti has been under a State of Emergency. Crimes involving firearms are common in Haiti. They include robbery, carjackings, sexual assault, and kidnappings for ransom. Kidnapping is widespread, and U.S. citizens have been victims and have been hurt or killed. Kidnappers may plan carefully or target victims at random, unplanned times. Kidnappers will even target and attack convoys," it shared,
Despite the very serious warning, Royal Caribbean continues to call on its private destination in Labadee, Haiti. Come Cruise With Me Executive Editor Dan Kline traveled to Labadee on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas to get a sense of what the private destination is like, and how safe it feels.
He was joined by Dennis Post from PostCard Travel Planning (on camera) and Amy Post (off camera), Come Cruise With Me's travel agent partners.
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Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com
A visit to Royal Caribbean's Labadee, Haiti destination
Transcript:
Daniel Kline: Good morning, cruisers. My name is Dan Kline. I am the executive editor of Come Cruise With Me. That's comecruisewith.com or comecruisewith.me.
I am sitting here with Dennis Post, my travel agent partner, along with his wife, Amy Post. They own PostCard Travel Planning, and we are coming to you from an interesting place. Dennis, we are in Labadee, Haiti, one of my favorite Royal Caribbean destinations, but there's a lot of hesitation for people coming here.
Do you want to explain why?
Dennis Post: So yeah, Haiti comes up on the government list of do not travel areas due to some unrest in the country. However, as a former retired Coast Guard and actually one of my sons was deployed here when the civil unrest started a few months ago. It is very safe here.
Royal Caribbean has set up all kinds of safety procedures. The country, on the whole, is in good shape. Some of the cities and stuff like that, there might be some crime.
Kline: So just to be clear, you don't want to fly into Haiti. Port-au-Prince is a danger zone. It's do not travel.
U.S. airplanes have been shot at.
We are roughly six to eight hours by car from Port-au-Prince, and Royal Caribbean has this ringed with security. They also have, they won't tell you, but there's aerial surveillance that will tell them if there's movement towards this island.
So this is a tropical paradise that, yes, it's technically Haiti, but it's not Haiti in the traditional sense.
Post: No, and he's correct. Dan, you're absolutely correct. They have a fence around this place, and this is like a little peninsula off some big mountains.
This is a beautiful, beautiful paradise that Royal Caribbean created with the help of Haiti and the country, and they're in a joint network to support each other, which is a really, really great venture, and it is safe. I'm telling you, it's safe. We've looked at it.
Royal Caribbean's looked at it.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
Have questions about booking a cruise? Schedule a free appointment with Come Cruise With Me's Travel Agent Partner Postcard Travel Planning or call or text Amy Post at 386-383-2472.
Kline: I've been here many times. It's completely natural. The only thing I'd warn against, there's a market here sort of selling local goods, and they're very, very aggressive. So, I'd be a little bit careful going there by yourself.
I kind of wish Royal Caribbean would clean that up.
We're going to talk in other videos a little bit more about what's different between this island and CocoCay.
But for now, I am Dan Kline. He is Dennis Post. We are Come Cruise With Me.
Go visit us at ComeCruiseWith.com.
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