Royal Caribbean Pulls Labadee From 2027 Sailings
Royal Caribbean extended its Labadee, Haiti suspension through June 2027, scrapping 62 scheduled calls. Here's what it means and where ships go instead.
If you booked a 2027 Caribbean sailing hoping to zipline over the water at Labadee, you’ll want to check your itinerary. Royal Caribbean has extended its suspension of ship calls to Labadee, Haiti, through June 2027 — wiping out all 62 visits the line had on the schedule for the first half of next year. The move, reported by trade outlet Seatrade Cruise in July 2026, pushes a beloved private destination off the map for another full year.
Here’s the short version: Labadee was already suspended through the end of 2026. This new extension carries the pause six more months, to June 2027, and it affects some of the biggest and newest ships in the fleet. If your cruise stops there, it won’t anymore — you’ll be redirected to a substitute port instead.
What Royal Caribbean actually said
The decision comes down to safety. In a statement, Royal Caribbean said:
“As we continue to evaluate conditions in Haiti and our ability to deliver the best vacations responsibly, we have decided to extend the suspension of ship calls to Labadee through June 2027. This decision was made with the safety and well-being of our guests and crew members in mind.”
The backdrop is Haiti’s ongoing instability. The U.S. State Department has Haiti under a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory — its most severe tier — citing crime, kidnapping, and civil unrest. Labadee itself is a gated, cruise-line-controlled peninsula on Haiti’s northern coast, physically separated from the surrounding area, but Royal Caribbean has clearly decided the broader situation makes the call untenable for now.
Which ships and sailings are affected
This isn’t a fringe port on a couple of niche itineraries. According to Seatrade Cruise, the 62 canceled calls spanned a big chunk of the fleet, including:
| Ship | Class |
|---|---|
| Star of the Seas | Icon (2025) |
| Legend of the Seas | Icon (2026) |
| Allure of the Seas | Oasis |
| Harmony of the Seas | Oasis |
| Adventure of the Seas | Voyager |
| Explorer of the Seas | Voyager |
| Freedom of the Seas | Freedom |
| Independence of the Seas | Freedom |
| Odyssey of the Seas | Quantum Ultra |
That the two newest Icon-class megaships — Star and Legend — were both slated to visit tells you how central Labadee had become to Royal Caribbean’s flagship Caribbean product.
Where the ships are going instead
The good news for anyone already booked: your cruise still sails, you just get a different stop. Seatrade Cruise reports that Royal Caribbean is swapping Labadee for a mix of established and private destinations, including:
- Perfect Day at CocoCay (Royal Caribbean’s private island in The Bahamas)
- Nassau, Bahamas
- Puerto Plata and Samana, Dominican Republic
- Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico
- Ponce, Puerto Rico
Some of these are genuine upgrades in guest appeal — CocoCay in particular is one of the most sought-after stops in the entire Caribbean, so a Labadee-to-CocoCay swap will leave plenty of cruisers happy rather than disappointed.
Why this matters if you’re booked
A few practical takeaways from where we sit:
Check your specific sailing. A blanket “through June 2027” suspension doesn’t tell you what your particular voyage now looks like. Replacement ports vary by itinerary, so log into your reservation and confirm the updated port list rather than assuming.
Watch for time-in-port and tender differences. Labadee is a berthed/tendered private stop with its own rhythm. Substitute ports like Nassau or Cozumel are busy commercial ports with different arrival times, excursion options, and crowd levels. If shore excursions were part of your plan, you may need to rebook.
This is a pattern, not a one-off. Royal Caribbean has now pushed the Labadee return date back more than once. We’d treat any 2027 Labadee stop still showing on a booking as tentative rather than guaranteed until the line signals conditions in Haiti have genuinely changed.
For a destination that’s anchored Royal Caribbean’s western Caribbean itineraries for decades — white-sand beaches, the Dragon’s Breath overwater zipline, a dedicated aqua park — a full-year absence is a meaningful gap. But given a Level 4 advisory, extending the pause is the unsurprising call. The more interesting question is what a Labadee comeback eventually looks like, and whether guests who’ve grown attached to CocoCay-style private stops even want it back.
Source: Seatrade Cruise, “Labadee off Royal Caribbean’s charts for another full year,” July 2026.
