By Steve Griswold, Sandals & Beaches Chairman’s Royal Club Platinum Elite advisor at Pixie Vacations. Published November 2, 2026.
Royal Caribbean has cancelled every scheduled call at Labadee, Haiti, through April 2028, and 44 itineraries on nine ships are being rewritten to replace it. The cruise line sent the notices to travel advisors and booked guests on Friday, October 30, 2026. If you have a Royal Caribbean Labadee day on a sailing between now and the end of April 2028, that day is now a different port or a day at sea.
- 44 itineraries on 9 ships lose their Labadee stop; the pause now runs through April 2028, about 10 months longer than the June 2027 cutoff Royal Caribbean set in July.
- Replacement ports reported so far: Nassau, Grand Turk, San Juan, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Amber Cove, Samaná, Puerto Plata, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, or an added sea day.
- Pre-paid Royal Caribbean excursions in Labadee are refunded automatically, within 14 business days.
- No Royal Caribbean guest has stepped onto Labadee since April 2025, so by May 2028 the island will have been off the map for three years.
What Royal Caribbean changed on October 30
Labadee is Royal Caribbean’s 260-acre fenced beach property on Haiti’s north coast and a Royal Caribbean stop since 1988. The cruise line first paused calls in March 2024 when gang violence spread across the country, resumed briefly, and has not landed guests there since April 2025. On July 22, 2026 a spokesperson said the suspension would run “through June 2027.” The October 30 notices push that to April 2028.
| What the notice says | Detail |
|---|---|
| Ships affected | 9: Adventure, Allure, Explorer, Freedom, Harmony, Independence, Serenade, Star and Symphony of the Seas |
| Itineraries revised | 44, according to the notice sent to travel advisors |
| Calls cancelled | Every Labadee call through April 2028 (previous cutoff: June 2027) |
| What replaces it | Another port where a berth exists, otherwise a sea day; some sailings also move Perfect Day at CocoCay or Falmouth, Jamaica to a different day |
| Excursion money | Pre-paid Royal Caribbean Labadee excursions refunded automatically; other affected excursions rebooked, or refunded within 14 business days |
| Royal Caribbean’s words | “Your clients’ safety is our top priority,” and the changes are made “out of an abundance of caution” |
Which port do you get instead?
It depends on the ship, the length of the cruise and whether another island has a free berth that day. Two examples from the notices show how different the outcomes are, even on the same ship:
| Sailing | Old stop | New stop | Other changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allure of the Seas, July 18, 2027, 6 nights from Miami | Labadee | Nassau, Bahamas | A sea day moves to a different day |
| Allure of the Seas, February 6, 2028, 7 nights | Labadee | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Samaná, Dominican Republic shifts one day later |
Guests on other ships report Grand Turk, Amber Cove, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Puerto Plata, Ponce, George Town and Ocho Rios as their swaps; a few got only an extra sea day. The honest downside: a sea day on a three-port week takes a third of your port time, and no cruise line refunds fare for a port change, because the ticket contract allows it. The upside is real too. A Nassau swap puts you a short taxi from Royal Caribbean’s own Royal Beach Club on Paradise Island, which opened at $169.99 per adult for the open-bar day pass, and San Juan is one of the best walk-off-the-ship ports in the Caribbean.
Why the Royal Caribbean Labadee pause matters more this time
Labadee was Royal Caribbean’s only private destination in the Caribbean Sea itself. Perfect Day at CocoCay is in the Bahamas, a few hours from Florida, so a CocoCay-plus-Labadee week was the classic two-private-beach-days itinerary. With Labadee gone, that count on a 7-night Florida sailing drops from two to one, and the second beach day becomes a public port.
The timeline tells you how to think about it:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1988 | Royal Caribbean begins calling at Labadee |
| March 2024 | Calls suspended after gang violence and a mass prison break in Port-au-Prince |
| Late 2024 to April 2025 | Calls resume for a few months; the last guest visit is April 2025 |
| July 10, 2026 | U.S. State Department puts Haiti at Level 4, Do Not Travel |
| July 22, 2026 | Royal Caribbean extends the suspension through June 2027 |
| October 30, 2026 | Suspension extended through April 2028; 44 itineraries revised |
How we’d handle it for a client
I hate wasting money, but time is money too; you only get so many vacation days. So the first question is whether Labadee was the reason you picked that sailing. If it was, and you are still before final payment, you can move to a different date or ship: refundable-deposit fares move for free, nonrefundable-deposit fares carry a per-person change fee. If you booked for the ship, the price or the school-break dates, keep the cruise and treat the new port as found time. Nassau and San Juan both have beach and food within a 15-minute taxi of the pier, and Grand Turk is a walk-off beach.
If you are shopping now, a Western Caribbean week (Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatán) never included Labadee, so nothing changes there. For two private-beach days, pair Perfect Day at CocoCay with Nassau’s Royal Beach Club, or look at the Holland America and Carnival sailings that use Half Moon Cay. If your swap is a tender port, read our guide to timing your own excursion on a tender day first.
What this means if you’re booking
- Booked on one of the nine ships through April 2028: check your cruise planner this week. The new port is already loaded; Labadee excursions are refunded on their own.
- Before final payment and Labadee was the point: move to a sailing with Perfect Day at CocoCay plus Nassau, or to another line’s private island. Weigh the change fee against the fare difference.
- Shopping for 2027 or 2028: any Royal Caribbean sailing still showing Labadee before April 30, 2028 will change. A Perfect Day at CocoCay sailing out of Florida, like Legend of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale, is the safer bet for a guaranteed private-beach day.
Want us to check your sailing?
Planning with Pixie Vacations is free, with no fees, and we book Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Disney, Virgin Voyages and the rest. Call 678-815-1584 or send your sailing date and we will tell you what changed and what your options are before final payment.
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