Cuba Approves Further Cruises
Both Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCLH) announced today that they have been given the green light to begin cruises to the Caribbean island nation.
Under U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations, the itineraries have to be educational and cultural rather than purely touristic activities, according to their most recent update from October 14th. Cigar and alcohol purchases are now permitted, up to personal use allotment limits.
RCL announced they will start sailing from Florida soon, although no specific itinerary or departure ports were mentioned. Barclays expects the launch to be sometime in 2Q2017 on the Empress of the Seas with its 1,800 passenger capacity, a ship that was allocated to the region in anticipation of Cuba’s commercial cruising permission.
NCLH will deploy three of their liners, according to a company release. Their first trip is slated for March 7th, Miami to Havana aboard the 1,258 passenger Marina vessel of their Oceania Cruises subsidiary. This inaugural voyage will be followed other cruises throughout April and May, mostly of shorter, 4-night duration.
Carnival Cruises (CCL) had already began sailings in July of 2016 on their 704 passenger ship Adonia with itineraries lasting through April 2017. The company is in the process of requesting further approval from Cuban officials to enter that market with other ships and brands this upcoming summer.
Passenger interest in Cuba as a destination is expected to be well received, either as a stand-alone trip of short duration or as a part of longer sailings with stops at various Caribbean ports. According to the CFO of Cruise Planners, travel agents that visited the island raved about its appeal and “can’t wait to go back”.
