Cuba

[Oville]

I just read P. Trump is about to roll back P. Obama's Cuba policy. Will this effect the cruises going forward to Cuba?

[St. Louis Sal]

I just read P. Trump is about to roll back P. Obama's Cuba policy. Will this effect the cruises going forward to Cuba?

 

I saw this and wondered myself. I am not going to be happy if this cruise gets cancelled. As I try not to be too political on this site I won't say anything else.

 

St. Louis Sal

[RJ2002]

Where are you seeing this latest news re: Cuba?

[Kamloops50]

I saw something last night on USA Today and Fox on there online news feeds.

 

 

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[RJ2002]

I saw something last night on USA Today and Fox on there online news feeds.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks.

 

Apparently this was the first story, from Reuters.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-trump-idUSKBN18Q09D

 

Looks like it is still to be determined as to whether the travel restrictions will be reinstated.

[shrimp56]

I saw this and wondered myself. I am not going to be happy if this cruise gets cancelled. As I try not to be too political on this site I won't say anything else.

 

St. Louis Sal

Ditto. I saw this earlier, but didn't say anything because politics. The losers should this come to pass are all of us.

[sppunk]

I posted this in the sticky thread, too. His goals are to stop travel, so I think the answer is unfortunately yes.

[Oville]

Just saw this posted on The Hill:

 

http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...-policy-report

 

Check out the 2nd paragraph.

[Aquahound]

Well, this is a cruise site so it shouldn't surprise me that people only want to think selfishly about their cruise vacation. Never mind the human rights violations that continue to occur or the continued harboring of fugitives including a convicted cop killer. Never mind the opening of diplomatic relations being a one-way street so far with little to no fulfilling of the Cuban commitment. I'm glad diplomatic relations were restored but that's where there should have been a pause. After 57 years of a continued embargo, you don't jump in with both feet. The easing of travel restrictions should have waited in order to evaluate Cuba's commitment to the newly restored relations.

 

Sorry, but I agree with this issue being revisited.

[foodsvcmgr]

Aquahound with all due respect I have two questions:

 

Why are there no travel restrictions to People's Republic of China, a nation with a far greater record of human rights abuses?

 

And why are Americans denied the right to visit Cuba and form their own opinions about what they see, hear, and experience?

A policy no American ally (Canada, Europe) dictate to their citizens.

 

IMO way past time to move on.

[POA1]

I'd wait until I saw an actual US government policy before I got upset. Reuters ran a bunch of stories telling everyone that Trump was going to stop tweeting.

 

How'd that work out?

 

When you see "sources" without names, there's a better than even money chance that the news is crap.

[Aquahound]

Aquahound with all due respect I have two questions:

 

Why are there no travel restrictions to People's Republic of China, a nation with a far greater record of human rights abuses?

 

And why are Americans denied the right to visit Cuba and form their own opinions about what they see, hear, and experience?

A policy no American ally (Canada, Europe) dictate to their citizens.

 

IMO way past time to move on.

 

That wasn't my point. I totally get it....that other countries have severe human rights issues. Trust me...I get it better than most. But with Cuba, there's been an embargo in place for 57 years. Regardless of what people think should be, it is impossible to do a 180 on relations after that amount of time. Relations were restored. That's great. And yes, I do believe travel should be totally restored. But again, after 57 years there has to be a step process, and it has to be mutual. Allowing cruise travel to Cuba before the repeal of the embargo was putting the cart before the horse, in my opinion.

 

Besides, like POA1 said, where is the credibility behind this story? Has the White House released a story on this? I haven't seen anything from them.

[POA1]

Aquahound with all due respect I have two questions:

 

Why are there no travel restrictions to People's Republic of China, a nation with a far greater record of human rights abuses?

 

And why are Americans denied the right to visit Cuba and form their own opinions about what they see, hear, and experience?

A policy no American ally (Canada, Europe) dictate to their citizens.

 

IMO way past time to move on.

 

As far as the the China restrictions, they're here:

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/china.html

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I hope it doesn't happen.

[cccole]

This would be unfortunate for so many reasons. It made me think about the recent threads about cancelled cruises with new Cuba itineraries. If the cruise lines jumped the gun on this one and passengers who did not like the new Cuba itineraries have made other arrangements it will be costly for the cruise lines. Cherie

[Kamloops50]

Aquahound with all due respect I have two questions:

 

 

 

Why are there no travel restrictions to People's Republic of China, a nation with a far greater record of human rights abuses?

 

 

 

And why are Americans denied the right to visit Cuba and form their own opinions about what they see, hear, and experience?

 

A policy no American ally (Canada, Europe) dictate to their citizens.

 

 

 

IMO way past time to move on.

 

 

Until Richard Nixon recognized China and dropped Taiwan. US citizens weren't allow to travel there as well. In fact even Canadians weren't allowed to travel except of official government Business.

 

 

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[foodsvcmgr]

Aquahound - I am glad you support ending travel restrictions at some point and I agree with you that cruising prior to the full embargo being lifted is a bit of an odd duck with the "people to people" requirements, etc.

It may in fact have been premature, but since it happened last year,

I just don't like seeing the door closed again after it was cracked open a bit.

[Despegue]

May I ask how it is possible that a country claiming to be " the Land of the Free" forbids its People to travel to certain countries?

Why would you heed such a restriction anyway? Visit via Canada, Mexico or any other country...

[Aquahound]

I just don't like seeing the door closed again after it was cracked open a bit.

 

I understand. That's a good point.

[sppunk]

I'd wait until I saw an actual US government policy before I got upset. Reuters ran a bunch of stories telling everyone that Trump was going to stop tweeting.

 

How'd that work out?

 

When you see "sources" without names, there's a better than even money chance that the news is crap.

Not really; many officials talk on background without their name on it. Heck, Trump was prior to the election an unnamed source for so many weekly stories in NYC. He'd call the Post and Times and go on background for many, many things.

 

 

It's a good thing to protect sources for the press.

[cruzingnut]

Not sure how the people of Cuba would be able to do anything about it, but I do think that there will be some unhappy campers there since they are making a fair amount of income from the cruise ships coming in. With income of around $20-40 (US equivalent)/month, what they can make in a day with the ships coming in is HUGE. Will be hard for them to go without but as I said, not sure what they could do about it. Have been there 2 weeks ago (Fathom), we saw how much money they are taking in. Of course, the majority of it is in Havana, with less in Cienfuegos and I'm sure also in Santiago de Cuba (we missed this stop due to a medical evac).

 

 

Glad we went when we did and hope that things continue to improve/evolve for the people there without a lot of backlash.

 

Linda R.

 

 

Aquahound -

I just don't like seeing the door closed again after it was cracked open a bit.

[wander]

Having recently returned from 10 fascinating days in Cuba, I am ready to go back. I learned so very much and was able to see things there with my own eyes. The average folks out and about were so very welcoming to us. What I saw was drastically different that what I was expecting. Would I want to move there - NO, but visit again, yes. While there we had much more freedom to wander around and interact with folks than I expected. We also had fascinating times with guest lecturers (Cuban and American), formal tours, and visits to schools and several cultural activities (dance and music). Loved every minute - even with the very high heat and high humidity. :):):):)

[3rdGenCunarder]

Having recently returned from 10 fascinating days in Cuba, I am ready to go back. I learned so very much and was able to see things there with my own eyes. The average folks out and about were so very welcoming to us. What I saw was drastically different that what I was expecting. Would I want to move there - NO, but visit again, yes. While there we had much more freedom to wander around and interact with folks than I expected. We also had fascinating times with guest lecturers (Cuban and American), formal tours, and visits to schools and several cultural activities (dance and music). Loved every minute - even with the very high heat and high humidity. :):):):)

 

Cruise? Land trip? What kinds of activities were permitted for your free time?

[RJ2002]

Cruise? Land trip? What kinds of activities were permitted for your free time?

 

I am not wander, but I was also on a recent Cuba trip - 12 day land tour, with air r/t out of Miami. It was an amazing experience. Our days were filled with activities most every day. Most meals included, but there were three nights where we were on our own, and could do whatever we liked. We had freedom of movement to go wherever we wanted. TripAdvisor was a good source for restaurants (paladars), as were both our guides (one local, one from the tour operator, Globus).

[Kamloops50]

If you do a land tour from Canada or Mexico . There are no restrictions on what you have to do . We have been to Cuba on an all inclusive stay. We could do as little or as much as we wanted.

 

 

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