MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cruise industry joins relief effort by continuing to visit unaffected Haiti resorts

Adam Goldstein, chief executive of Royal Caribbean International defended the company’s decision to continue calling in Haiti

Luxury cruise ships will continue to dock as normal at an idyllic resort in northern Haiti despite the deadly earthquake a week ago that devastated the Caribbean nation, a cruise company said Tuesday.

Royal Caribbean International, which has donated one million dollars to the Haiti relief effort and is bringing in emergency supplies on its huge ships, defended the move by saying it was important to keep the Haitian economy moving despite the tragedy. Tourism is in effect one of the Western Hemisphere poorest country main source of income.

The giant Liberty of the Seas, which has capacity for 3,600 passengers dropped anchor off the port of Labadee where the company leases a private resort with beautiful beaches and sparkling turquoise waters.

“We are on regular itinerary, with three ships going to Labadee per week,” the company's director of communications, Lyan Sierra-Caro, was quoted by AFP.

”Navigator of the Seas yesterday (Monday); today Liberty of the Seas will be there and Celebrity Solstice on Friday. We have no reports on cancellations so far.“

Labadee, where Royal Caribbean employs hundreds of Haitians, is on Haiti's northern coast, which was largely unaffected by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

However controversy has triggered since not everyone believes it appropriate for tourists to be lapping up luxury on Haitian beaches while rescuers are struggling to find survivors and bring relief to those living in wretched conditions following Tuesday's catastrophe.

But Adam Goldstein, chief executive of Royal Caribbean International, wrote on his blog that continuing to send cruise ships was exactly the right thing to do despite the huge suffering further south.

”Being on the island and generating economic activity for the straw market vendors, the hair-braiders and our 230 employees helps with relief, while being somewhere else does not help,“ he wrote.

And he told Fox Business Network that ”when the captain (of the Independence of the Seas, the first ship to go back to Haiti) informed the guests that we were going to go to Haiti he got a standing ovation.

“The overwhelming majority of the guests are comfortable with what is going on, pleased with the relief efforts, and happy to contribute through their activities on the land there.”

Goldstein said his ships were each taking between 40 and 60 pallets of vital supplies to the island, “and we're looking into how we can bring even more supplies in per call.”

Royal Caribbean vice president John Weis said that the supplies included rice, dried beans and water. “This effort is going to be a marathon, so we will be partnering with Food For The Poor on the back-end distribution in Haiti.”

The Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, which has rooms for 6,300 passengers and is also operated by Royal Caribbean, made its first stop at Labadee on December first.