New: US Govt travel restrictions to Cuba announced

[Hawaiidan]

2 minutes ago, floridatravelersforlife said:

RE Air -Southwest confirmed my daughter's flights to HAV next week and one can book flights to Havana until Oct 2019.

Thats good......but the end is in sight..it looks like

[Ships R Great]

Is anyone else booked through Genxcruises?  Have you heard anything from them?  I have booked through them numerous times so I have been expecting updates but so far nothing.

[kendon]

I imagine priority rescheduling is for cruises leaving the next several weekends.  Mine is July 11th, so it may take several days to confirm ports and docking space.

[Senior Citizen]

A poster on our October roll call said he/she just called Oceania and was told our cruise will not stop in Cuba.  We were supposed to have 3 stops in Cuba with overnights in each port.  He/she was told that we’ll get an update on the new ports soon.  Our final payment is due next month so we are anxious to see whether we will remain on the new itinerary.

[seacruiser123]

17 minutes ago, kendon said:

I imagine priority rescheduling is for cruises leaving the next several weekends.  Mine is July 11th, so it may take several days to confirm ports and docking space.

 

We are on the July 18th sailing. The only reason for booking this cruise & on that date was the Cuba itinerary--there is no other itinerary that can replace this for us. It should have been grandfathered in regardless.

 

[Jancruz]

From Oceania:

	As you may be aware, the U.S. government enacted new restrictions on travel to Cuba and a result, we must adjust our itineraries to remove all Cuban ports of call. . We will have some very generous pricing incentives on the new sailings to help you re-accommodate  As we are in the process of finalizing all pricing and new itineraries, we ask for your patience as we prepare the new itineraries and communicate them to you

Edited June 5, 2019 by Jancruz

[seacruiser123]

Not good enough...we are out $1000 regardless and had no desire to travel on Oceania other than Cuba

 

[CTLeeA]

20 hours ago, kendon said:

I've got a double whammy.  Booked on a Boeing Max 8, and a cruise to Cuba.  Hmmm

 

LOL..thanks for the laugh.

[elbowroom]

If it's of any interest or significance, The Treasure of the Tropics, July 28 cruise, with a one-day stop in Havana, is no longer visible on the Oceania webpage but is still there in the "My Oceania" section.  Although an unpleasant surprise, this news is hardly unexpected, and I hope or imagine that the cruise companies have had a Plan B ––or several–– for some time now. I don't suppose they will take that long to inform us. For us, the stop in Cuba was an extra incentive, but we'll just have to make the trip another time in another way. 

¡Qué pena!

[Senior Citizen]

Thanks, Jan, for your posting.  Appreciate it.  Now we will wait to see what the new itinerary looks like.

[JoePDX]

We are booked on the 2/1/2020 Sirena cruise to Cuba.  The following was posted today on our Roll Call that the 2/1/2020 cruise is "cancelled" and replaced with an itinerary of St. Barts, Martinique, St. Lucia, Antigua, San Juan and Bahamas, round trip Miami.    Those booked who accept this itinerary will receive a 40% discount.    As for us we are not interested in the Caribbean.     This was a rebooking of a booking we made on board, so I'm hopeful that they will give us some leeway in not forcing the "repayment" of the incentive we received to book on board.   I have another Oceania itinerary picked out, just waiting to hear from our TA.

 

Joe

 

[seacruiser123]

This situation & how handled is case in point.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

I just spoke to our TA who just spoke to her O rep.  Our NYE on Insignia will NOT be going to Cuba.  The new itinerary should be out next week.  Our TA was told there will be "attractive pricing" whatever that means.  

[cbb]

just received forwarded note from TA  along with new ATW20 port:  Havana deleted, at sea that day,  2 days later Santa Marta, Colombia added.  Off to research S. Marta.

 

"Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors,

As you may be aware, the U.S. government enacted new restrictions on travel to Cuba and as a result, we must adjust our itineraries to remove all Cuban ports of call. Your revised portion of the itinerary is provided below and is also available on our website.  We look forward to welcoming you onboard.   Sincerely, Carlos Ortega Vice President, Passenger Services

Oceania Cruises"

 

[Jancruz]

Anyone have any special requests for the missed Cuba trips?? Would love to hear your wish list!

Jancruz1

Edited June 5, 2019 by Jancruz
spelling

[rowala]

2 hours ago, seacruiser123 said:

Not good enough...we are out $1000 regardless and had no desire to travel on Oceania other than Cuba

 

I feel your pain. My wife and I are booked on the July 18 sailing of the Insignia to Cuba.  I just got off the phone with Oceania and was advised that it is altering the itinerary of the cruise to eliminate the Cuba stops.  So even though the new restrictions contained a grandfathering provision for persons who had already paid for travel arrangements, the restrictions on the cruise lines apparently kick in right away without the grandfathering coverage.  It is unclear as to whether a cruise line can apply for a permit or exemption for an already scheduled voyage, but, if so, Oceania does not appear to be doing so.  Although Oceania will be reducing the fare by 50%, given that we have already been to all of the Caribbean destinations, this really sucks.

[Shawnino]

43 minutes ago, cbb said:

just received forwarded note from TA  along with new ATW20 port:  Havana deleted, at sea that day,  2 days later Santa Marta, Colombia added.  Off to research S. Marta.

 

...

 

 

Santa Marta is pretty poor replacement for just about anywhere.

A couple nice viewpoints.

There is a walking path from the port to a beach...armed cops all along path.

If you are interested, there is a Quinta outside of town where Simon Bolivar came to spend his very last days.

If you want to get farther out of town, there's a coffee-plantation town up in the hills.

[Senior Citizen]

32 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Anyone have any special requests for the missed Cuba trips?? Would love to hear your wish list!

Jancruz1

Well, the Caribbean is a well over-traveled destination for many of us.  Not sure what Oceania can do but I know many booked for Cuba and not the Caribbean, Bahamas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mexico, whatever.  For our 11 day cruise—how about the ABC islands?  I’m sure many people have been there, but we haven’t.  Oceania, and the other cruise lines, are really in a dilemma and I’m sure they are working hard to find and book ports that are available.

[kendon]

1 hour ago, JoePDX said:

We are booked on the 2/1/2020 Sirena cruise to Cuba.  The following was posted today on our Roll Call that the 2/1/2020 cruise is "cancelled" and replaced with an itinerary of St. Barts, Martinique, St. Lucia, Antigua, San Juan and Bahamas, round trip Miami.    Those booked who accept this itinerary will receive a 40% discount.    As for us we are not interested in the Caribbean.     This was a rebooking of a booking we made on board, so I'm hopeful that they will give us some leeway in not forcing the "repayment" of the incentive we received to book on board.   I have another Oceania itinerary picked out, just waiting to hear from our TA.

 

Joe

 

I like that itinerary....I'd take that for my July 11th cruise.

 

[Jancruz]

28 minutes ago, rowala said:

I feel your pain. My wife and I are booked on the July 18 sailing of the Insignia to Cuba.  I just got off the phone with Oceania and was advised that it is altering the itinerary of the cruise to eliminate the Cuba stops.  So even though the new restrictions contained a grandfathering provision for persons who had already paid for travel arrangements, the restrictions on the cruise lines apparently kick in right away without the grandfathering coverage.  It is unclear as to whether a cruise line can apply for a permit or exemption for an already scheduled voyage, but, if so, Oceania does not appear to be doing so.  Although Oceania will be reducing the fare by 50%, given that we have already been to all of the Caribbean destinations, this really sucks.

There is no grandfathering on cruises..a ship can no longer go to Cuba that grandfathering is air travel..

Jancruz1

[cbb]

off subject--forgive me!  

 

Do you veterans of O ccritic remember when we had this long list of places we'd like  O to travel to?

 

  I remember Stan&Jim participated, PaulChili wanted to go to western Africa, and Don Horner had all sorts of exotic places he wanted to see and so Mr. DelRio had a contest for O cruisers to create an itinerary(s) for corporate to review.  I thought that was such a great idea and some of those itineraries were used by O!!!

[LHT28]

Just now, cbb said:

off subject--forgive me!  

 

Do you veterans of O ccritic remember when we had this long list of places we'd like  O to travel to?

 

  I remember Stan&Jim participated, PaulChili wanted to go to western Africa, and Don Horner had all sorts of exotic places he wanted to see and so Mr. DelRio had a contest for O cruisers to create an itinerary(s) for corporate to review.  I thought that was such a great idea and some of those itineraries were used by O!!!

Yes  fun contest

you could look back in the posts  & see if the thread is still there 😉

 

[rowala]

38 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

There is no grandfathering on cruises..a ship can no longer go to Cuba that grandfathering is air travel..

Jancruz1

Given that many people arrive by cruise, the grandfathering was effectively meaningless for substantial numbers of people.

[JoePDX]

47 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

That is not a 40% discount.  You pay a premium for a Cuba cruise at least 20% from the same regular Caribbean cruise.  So in actuality Oceania gives you a 20% discount.   Still not bad, but but for a same ole-same ole.

Won't know for certain until they post the new itinerary and pricing, but I compared to a 12 night RT Miami on Sirena, departing February 25 which doesn't seem to prove your point....

 

Our Cuba cruise, category F was $2099 cruise only for 10 night in Cat F.    Caribbean cruise 12 night is $2799 cruise only for a category F.   

 

Taking to a daily rate, our Cuba Cruise $209.90 a day, less 40% would net to $125.94 a day.   Caribbean cruise $233.25 a day, less 40% would next to $139.95 a day.

 

Either was doesn't matter for  us, as we are not interested in a Caribbean itinerary.   Hoping there might be a discount for booking another itinerary rather than just cancelling.

 

Joe

[seacruiser123]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

That is not a 40% discount.  You pay a premium for a Cuba cruise at least 20% from the same regular Caribbean cruise.  So in actuality Oceania gives you a 20% discount.   Still not bad, but but for a same ole-same ole..

  And when did we have that...  Eisenhower??

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