Liberty in Cuba?

[RadioRay]

I was just looking at this site to see where all the ships are right now...

 

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/cruiseships.phtml

 

And I noticed the Liberty of the Seas is apparently very close to Cuba. N 22°18', W 077°42' Maybe less than 10 miles according to the scale. Clearly not in International Waters.

 

Is that normal? Maybe some channel they have to navigate to go from Miami to Labadee with Cuba's permission?

 

Or maybe they're doing some sort of visit to prepare for the opening of Cuba to the US market? Like a special PR tour? Is this how rumors get started? :D

 

Since it seems like Cuba will be a open to us soon, does anyone know what ports are good there? From what my grandparents used to tell me about going there in the 1950s, it may be a very popular port.

 

Ray

[cb at sea]

Everytime we sail in that area, we're within visible sight of Cuba....We've never been "fired" upon!

I don't see the U.S allowing Americans to visit Cuba yet....

[TEXASMUNK]

We are not the bad guys!

The new folks running Washington have bent over backwards to make nice with Cuba. Cuba ain't making nice with us.

So the ball is in their court. It will be a while!

[JBert]

When we did our Western trip on LOS this past year, we came pretty close to Cuba's shore, so it's probably normal.

[jplotts865]

As we've sailed around Cuba on various cruises I've enjoyed seeing the island from afar - depending on weather conditions it's been more or less always visible as a grayish "something" on the horizon. If and when they finally open Cuba up for tourism it will almost instantly become a huge (and I suspect very successful/profitable) port of call. I would say Cuba won't be able to build cruise ship facilities fast enough. And, oh, yes...it used to be really fantastic there!

[blondebomber89]

i was on a western car. cruise on liberty back in may and we did cruise right next to Cuba. We could see it right from our balcony.It was very close maybe just a few miles.

[Rancher Dave]

We are not the bad guys!

The new folks running Washington have bent over backwards to make nice with Cuba. Cuba ain't making nice with us.

So the ball is in their court. It will be a while!

 

I think it is getting easier for mission trips and other official trips to take place... Full open communication and travel like you say is a while off...not so much about the administrations working together...more likley Cuba is still bent by some of the folks who fled Cuba and speak out often about Cuba....think little Havana.

 

I can't wait until we can invest in Cuba...its closer than Asian spots where investment in new infrastructure would be good...I think ultimately some Americans can do well helping get Cuba ready for American visitors.

 

As for Cruise Ship arrivals, I am sure there are piers all ready to take in limited cruise ships on a daily basis.

[leoandhugh]

Havana has no cruise ship piers per se; the few cruise ships that visit from European countries use commercial piers normally used by freighters and container ships. The other main port, Santiago on the south coast of Cuba is also commercial only. Before Cuba can handle numerous cruise ship pax from the US it will need to build up the infrastructure to handle them - tour busses, more recent vintage cabs - but it will come to pass one day and sooner than we might expect:)

[Jasperdo]

I have a feeling that once the US travel embargo to Cuba is lifted, most cruise lines will alter some of their itinerary rather quickly, even if the infastructure is not yet in place. There will be a strong desire by the cruising public to go there as soon as possible. I know that I want to go to Havana within the first year of it's opening to Americans, before there's a McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner.

[alicam]

I'm actually thinking about cancelling my 2011 cruise and going to Cuba for a week's vacation....a lot of my friends have gone there and really like it

[Ashland]

You can bet as soon as the cruiselines are allowed in to Cuba they will be ready with their itinery... probably already on the drawing board and ready to go....;)

[monicajay]

Before Cuba can handle numerous cruise ship pax from the US it will need to build up the infrastructure to handle them - tour busses, more recent vintage cabs - but it will come to pass one day and sooner than we might expect:)

 

As a Canadian who has traveled to Cuba 3 times, I think that other than piers themselves most of the infrastructure is in place. I have seen 100's of taxis lined up at the Havana airport and buses galore. I have also rented a car there and there was no lack of them in the rental parking lot. Rented a jeep once too for a day and had a blast.

 

I agree that the 'opening door' might come sooner than people think.

 

Cuba is a beautiful country and a wonderful place to visit. Service is always good and friendly and I feel safer exploring on our own than any other island I have been to in the Caribbean.

[Barbiegator]

Cuba is on my bucket list. Hope we can cruise there from Florida soon.

[Aquahound]

Due to water depth, ships have to transit the Old Bahama Channel. The furthest thay can get away from the Cuban coastline is only about 15 natuical miles.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Cuba is on my bucket list. Hope we can cruise there from Florida soon.

 

Mine too. I can't wait.

[Canuker]

If you want to go to Cuba, tell your Congressman.

To be fair, if you don't want to go to Cuba, tell your Congressman.

 

I think it's a wonderful country. Many people are poor and things are often in short supply but they could teach us a thing or two about getting the best from what there is and recycling old things into new things. Very inventive.

They are polite, keen to please and are hard working.

 

There's a difference between the people of Cuba and the people who run Cuba. I think it's a mistake to view both groups as interchangeable.

 

But yes, getting back to the original question, as Aquahound mentioned above, there's a deep shipping lane just off the north coast of Cuba and it's commonly used by major shipping. The seas between Cuba and The Bahamas to the north are generally relatively shallow, so this 'trench' parallel to Cuba's north coast is a major route betwenn the Florida area and the Caribbean. I wonder what the Cubans make of us, as we pass silently by.

[Freo]

I do agree with monicajay that the door will open someday and sooner than people think.

 

You do get liberty when looking at the Cuban Coast...eyeball liberty.

[temple1]

If you want to go to Cuba, tell your Congressman.

To be fair, if you don't want to go to Cuba, tell your Congressman.

 

 

Excellent suggestion. I think there really is only one voice on the issue that is loudly heard in DC.

[QueenofEverything]

We were REALLY close on a cruise about 10 years ago. We could see a lighthouse on the coast very easily. There was also a Cuban navy ship between us and the shore, watching!

[Canadian Tyler]

I've been to Cuba a couple times, and really enjoyed it. I just hope that if cruise ships do travel there one day, that the island doesn't change too much. It's a nice change from the hustle and bustle of other islands.

[robtulipe]

As a Canadian who has traveled to Cuba 3 times, I think that other than piers themselves most of the infrastructure is in place. I have seen 100's of taxis lined up at the Havana airport and buses galore. I have also rented a car there and there was no lack of them in the rental parking lot. Rented a jeep once too for a day and had a blast.

 

I agree that the 'opening door' might come sooner than people think.

 

Cuba is a beautiful country and a wonderful place to visit. Service is always good and friendly and I feel safer exploring on our own than any other island I have been to in the Caribbean.

I agree. I've cruised into Havana twice and Santiago de Cuba once and each time there lots of taxis and tour buses. In Havana we were at a pier with a nice terminal building right in the downtown area. Santiago pier was very basic but there were new Mercedes taxis waiting to offer us tours . We took one to see Castillo del Morro fort at the entrance to the long harbor there. I asked the driver who's taxi it was and he smiled and replied Fidel's. I also noted the meter only ran for the trip out to the fort and had an amount, in $US, about half of what he quoted us for the round trip fare. He waited for us and on the way back the meter showed libre or free, so Fidel probably only got his share of half the fare we paid that driver and none of the tip.

I've also have vacationed there for two week and the people all seemed to be very friendly.

[bluegirlum]

We definitely were close to Cuba on Liberty in December. We got out our binoculars and could see people on shore. We also flew right over Cuba on the way from Atlanta to Grand Cayman in June, which really surprised me--I didn't know if we'd be able to. It was stunningly beautiful. I imagine it's a great place to travel. In fact, the GC newspaper was advertising trips to Cuba where you could go without getting your passport stamped--clearly aimed at Americans.

[JohanneandRéjean]

We spent a week in Cuba in 2002 and enjoyed it. The island is unspoiled. The people are very proud as we became aware of on our tour to Havana. The food is great and my DH loved their cigars. On a cruise in 2007 we cruised by but to our amazement, stopped to pick up about a dozen Cubans sailing on a tiny boat with makeshift sun shades. They were obviously trying to get away from their island. A very sad situation. I hope their politics improve and that they finally are free to travel as we are.

[copi2boys]

When I was on the Volendam way back in 1978/79 (New Year's Eve cruise) the ship lost power off the coat of Cuba. We were down for about 5 hours. We could see the island in the distance. Don't know/remember if any boats came out to check us out - they opened the bars!!! Then offered a 15% discount on future cruises. Unfortunatley wasn't able to partake at that time - took me 4 years to get on my next cruise. :)

[Canuker]

We definitely were close to Cuba on Liberty in December. We got out our binoculars and could see people on shore. We also flew right over Cuba on the way from Atlanta to Grand Cayman in June, which really surprised me--I didn't know if we'd be able to. It was stunningly beautiful. I imagine it's a great place to travel. In fact, the GC newspaper was advertising trips to Cuba where you could go without getting your passport stamped--clearly aimed at Americans.

 

As I write this - and you read it, Havana Air Traffic Control is guiding flights to/from the USA - by U.S. and non-U.S. commercail airlines - just like any other ATC - over their airspace.

The differences between the countries are military and political - not commercial.

Not everyone knows that US citizens can go to Cuba - Cuba doesn't mind Americans arriving. The problem is a US law, that states that Americans cannot spend any money while there.

Don't get me wrong, Americans are few & far between in Cuba; last time we met a guy from Michigan (American, originally Cuban) visiting relatives there. The plane we took down from Toronto had quite a few US residents aboard, who had flown up to Canada.

 

On the one hand I hope that the US embargo will cease soon (it seems silly now that Russia is no longer supporting Cuba (a big financial problem for the island now, who depend enormously on tourism and sugar exports)) and all will be able to go to this grand island (it's almost 1000 km from end to end).

On the other hand, MacDonalds and KFCs will spoil it forever.

 

Trade between Canada and Cuba abounds. Usually when I drive by the port here in Toronto, I see a ship unloading its sugar cargo at the dock of the local sugar refinery. It, in turn, is owned by an American company!