Cruise liners during Haiti crises

[Cataboo]

Most of my information on where/what Labadee/Port au Prince and the economy down there is like is from my bf or his parents. His parents spend several months of the year there, they still have family there, and his father is flying there today with a load of supplies on an aid mission and to check on relatives (so far it sounds like they've been lucky & most everyone is fine).

But no, I have no idea what it's like to survive an earthquake or similar tragedy - and I definitely didn't mean to enrage anyone. I do think the question in this thread is more - was it appropriate for the cruise lines to bring a bunch of tourists to party on the beach vs. whether or not the Haitians want it. And maybe it's arrogant to even ask that question or think that the cruise lines should make that decision instead of the Haitians. The Haitians around Port au prince and the Haitian gov't have more important things to do now than to worry about tourists.

I guess the most similar examples I can give are - directly after Sept 11th, when tourism dollars to New York city plummeted because tourists didn't think it was safe or appropriate to go to New York... And New York city put out a few things saying that tourists and their money were welcome, because losing the financial industry & the tourist industry to a city that has just put out a ton of money on rescue and recovery is a hard hit. Or Mardi Gras in New Orleans in the year after Katrina... Is that appropriate or ghoulish? Life has to go on - and if all the tourists that go are aware of the recent tragedy and are more generous at contributing to charities because of it - I won't call that a bad thing, I'm not sure how comfortable I would be myself with it. I did go up to New York city two weeks after sept 11th, because we already had plans to take an out of country relative up there, already had opera tickets, etc. - we stayed at a hotel in the city instead of NJ like usual, figuring that hotel money going into the city was better. And we did take a somber walk up to "ground zero".

[PamNY]

My perspective comes from 9/11. I live two blocks from the WTC, and the idea that our clients would withdraw business because of the tragedy is something I can't even comprehend.

I don't mean to suggest that our situation was even close to what is going on with Haiti; nonetheless, resuming normal life was difficult. The site is visible from my living room, and the body recovery went on for many months. I suppose you could, if you wanted to, question many decisions I made during that time.

A side note: the upcoming trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is raising quite a controversy because we worry that the security will shut down a big chunk of Lower Manhattan. I'm concerned about Chinatown (including my favorite grocery shopping block) because the Federal courthouse is right there. The small, independent businesses of Chinatown lost a lot of business due to street closures after 9/11, and we fear this will be a repeat.