On Friday, for the first time since October, Richard Fain and I visited Labadee. We had three goals for the trip. One, to meet our local management team and express our support for our people and their country. Two, for Richard to pursue the concept of building a school to serve the surrounding area. Three, for me to visit the Citadelle and understand what needs to be done to enable our guests to visit it when the ships call at Labadee. Joining us throughout the day were Minister of Tourism Patrick Delatour and one of President Clinton’s top advisers in Haiti, plus Craig Milan, John Weis and Maryse Kedar.
The site looked great and was in full stride with Independence of the Seas at the beautiful new pier.
I’ve been talking about the Citadelle for a long time so it made sense to actually go and see it for myself. It’s extraordinary. It is the largest fort in all of the Americas and it sits on top of a 3,000 foot mountain. How people in the early 1800’s got the rocks and munitions up that big hill is mind boggling. It was great getting the tour from the Minister of Tourism. Apart from his position in government, Minister Delatour is a historian/architect who has been personally involved in the restoration of the Citadelle since 1972. He explained, for example, that the cannons with Latin inscriptions are French, whereas the cannons with French inscriptions are British. Go figure. Each cannon has its own story. Many are still on their wooden mounts that allow the cannon to swivel and aim from various angles, waiting silently for the French invasion that will never come. The 360 degree view is phenomenal.
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