The U.S. State Department rarely issues a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" warning. Typically, a country must be involved in an active war for the U.S. government to tell its citizens not to travel there. Ukraine, for example, has a Level 4 warning. It is also reserved for countries like Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, where Americans are generally not welcome.

It may come as a surprise that the State Department has issued a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" warning for Haiti, where cruise ships still regularly call.

The U.S. government has no jurisdiction over cruise lines, however, and Royal Caribbean continues to call at Labadee.

While Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private beach destination in Haiti, would technically be covered by the warning, the cruise line has resumed calling there. Ships returned to Labadee in October and there have been no incidents.

Although the cruise port is part of Haiti, it is far removed from any population centers. Labadee is a fenced-off destination a 6-hour drive from Port-au-Prince, and the cruise line would have plenty of time to evacuate if a group of bandits started moving toward Labadee.

In reality, when the cruise line suspended its stop in Labadee last year https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-42188-haiti-flash-royal-caribbean-cancels-its-stopovers-in-haiti-until-the-fall.html , it was being overly cautious and trying to avoid bad publicity. There was no real danger in Labadee because it is simply far removed from the fighting.

Americans should avoid Haiti under all other circumstances, however. The State Department's warning is explicit on this subject and published an update for Haiti on November 19 : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43674-haiti-flash-new-message-to-american-citizens-in-haiti.html

SL/ HaitiLibre