Cuba

[BILLP1]

How long do you think it will be till cruise ships first stop from Florida will be Cuba?

[Aplmac]

How long do you think it will be till cruise ships first stop from Florida will be Cuba?

Less than a year

[Travelcat2]

I respectfully disagree with the above post only because Cuba would need time to prepare itself for the kind of tourism brought in by cruise ships.

 

They have a well developed tourist area with mostly all-inclusive resorts. The reason they have all-inclusive is because there are basically no restaurants -- very few stores (mostly for locals), etc. You can drive 100 miles from Havana to Varadero and not see a restaurant or store. From what we have seen, Cuba simply could not handle 1,000-2,000+ getting off of a cruise ship. There just isn't anything set up for these day visitors to do.

 

The borders will no doubt open within a year. . . then Cuba would need a couple of years to do a lot of building to accommodate the cruise industry. JMO

[tvaud]

On tonight's local news, I heard a report that Pres. Obama has or is about to lift restrictions on travel and the transfer of money to Cuba. My jaw dropped as I didn't expect to hear that today. Does anyone have any additonal information? Maybe the smaller ships will start calling on Havana soon.:)

[tvaud]

Maybe I spoke too soon. It looks like this may only be for those with family in Cuba. Here's the AP story:

WASHINGTON (AP) - April 13, 2009 -- A senior administration official says President Barack Obama has directed his administration to allow unlimited travel and money transfers by Cuban Americans to family in Cuba.

The official announcement was coming later Monday at the White House. The official spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the president's announcement.

The official says that the changes are intended to help create new space for the Cuban people in their quest for political freedom and a democratic government, in part by making them less dependent on the Castro regime.

Other steps taken Monday include allowing gift parcels to be send to Cuba, and issuing licenses to increase communications among and to the Cuban people.

[Cap'n Cork]

I fear that it'll take longer than a year for Cuba to open up to accommodate US-based cruise ships.

 

There's also a problem on the US end. The laws need to be changed so that cruise ships that dock in Cuba can be allowed to dock in the US within 18 months. Right now, that's prohibited by US legislation, and I don't think that the current administration can work its way around it by executive orders.

 

There aren't very many operators that still serve Cuba, and three had to quit in the last 20 years or so. Costa had to stop when it was taken over by Carnival, and Pullmantour had to stop when it was taken over by Royal Caribbean. I forget who got Germany's AIDA, but they had to stop anchoring in Cuba, too.

 

For those of us who'd like to cruise to Cuba, look at Fred Olsen's offering and grind your teeth.