In fact, even in the two most popular cruising regions, the Caribbean and Mediterranean, many of the most visited ports are amongst the riskiest. Creating six risky ports that ships regularly call to. In fact, my two recent back-to-back cruises there called into all of them!
In the run-up to the cruise departing, the US State Department raised the travel advisory against going to all ports I was calling on that cruise. The third largest country in the Caribbean, Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic and gets around three-quarters of a million cruise visitors a year.
Due to kidnapping, crime, and civil unrest. In fact, they told US citizens to leave. Gangs had overthrown the prime minister, there was widespread lawlessness, and violent battles for control. Haiti has been troubled and dangerous for many years. So, cruises calling there avoid the urban areas by going to Labadee, which is the Royal Caribbean owned resort on a remote peninsula fenced off from the mainland.
It is a stunning place, though we were one of the last ships to call as the situation deteriorated even more. At the time of writing, ships are still not calling there. Even when they do, Haiti will remain a volatile and risky country. Jamaica is about miles west of Haiti, and about 90 miles south of Cuba, and popular cruise island getting up to 1. I had seen lots of online advice about avoiding self-exploring outside the secure port shopping area.
Some who did do this came back and told me they had felt unsafe and were harassed. Quickly hurrying back to the secure area or ship. The third port that we went to on the Symphony of the Seas was the Bahamas. Another one with issues. Nassau alone gets around four million cruise visitors a year, with 20 to 25, passengers often in port each day.
