Haitians need the work which ships provide and every bit helps. Perhaps if over the years more ships had port calls in Haiti then they would have had the infrastructure built up, thus minimizing damage.

I completely agree that after the Tsunami, the Thais had the right attitude. They embraced the assets they had(Tourism) and used it to rebuild. Haiti should do the same even if it does include a vessel that the readers of matador don’t approve of.

There may be a time to bring money into the local economy via tourism (though hopefully without exploiting the natives as has so often been the case).

But even if these cruise lines do contribute money, it is a drop int he bucket compared to what they have made over the years exploiting the locals with their neo-colonialist tours.

I am sure that the tourists in those ships would not be pleased if “pleasure-liners,” which are my idea of pure hell, often being often populated by burmuda-shorts-wearing-chicken-legged-drones, were docked outside of an area of California if and when the “big one” hits.

If people are still going to take vacations then what is the difference between stopping in Puerto Rico or a part of Haiti unaffected by the earthquake? Should all cruise ships pause their service in the caribbean and help out the victims? I think that would be great personally, but if the cruises are going to continue then I think Haiti is just as good, if not a better place for them to stop than elsewhere.

After the Tsunami, Thai’s were begging for tourists to return, and in visiting the area not two years later it was very hard to tell a disaster like that had occurred because the tourism industry helped build things up so quickly. I agree that it seems wrong and insensitive, but unless the ship was going to be serving some humanitarian purpose and was taken away for tourists, then its better that they stopped in Haiti as opposed to causing more economic harm to those Haitians who are able and willing to work.

As far as the private beach situation, at some level, the local or national government had to sign off on that. So good or bad its an issue for domestic politics. Having myself grown up in a community dominated by a luxury resort with a private beach I understand the dilemma. I have experienced being thrown out by security many times(it was a great beach) but the resort also employed many of my friend’s parents and was a huge part of our local economy.

All that said, I do agree with criticism of the cruise ship industry and the types of ‘shore’ experiences they create and perhaps in the long run people will take closer looks at the effects of that type of tourism.