22987: Docteed: Re: 22973: Kilgore: Re 22946 Cruise into History

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Docteed@aol.com
----------------------------------------

RE: the cruise.  It is a good thing I didn't know about the cruise sooner,
because I would have been tempted to go and then disappointed had I been
planning to take my family on it. However, RCCL routinely makes a stop on
at
least one of their cruise itineraries to Labadee. But for some time, the
cruise
line pretended it was their "private island," not a part of Haiti at all.
One
African-descent friend who took that cruise several years ago was
surprised
that it was defninitely not billed as "Haiti," and was outraged (at what
she
took as an act of racism). More recently, I looked at the cruises offered
by
RCCL, and although Labadee has been "ceded" back to Haiti by RCCL,  there
are
no "shore excursions" to anywhere beyond the contrived beach setting that
the
cruise line provides to its mostly American passengers. I have been to the
beach (not on a cruise), and although it is a beautiful spot for a swim,
it is
not Haiti as most people know it.  And that  Haiti is apparently all the
tourists will see, which is a damn shame. Tourism would be a great boon to
Haiti, and I am sad for those passengers for whom the cruise itinerary has
been
cut short, especially with Cap Haitien and the Citadelle within close
reach of
Labadee.  On the other hand, if this visit to Labadee is a positive one,
maybe
some of the passengers will be encouraged to take a trip to Haiti on their
own, and that would be a good thing.