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Tourists from the United States are seen in old American cars in Havana, on April 6, 2015.(Photo: Yamil Lage, AFP/Getty Images)
You’ll soon be able to sail from Miami to Cuba with a major cruise line.
The parent companies of cruise giants Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line today announced they had received Cuban government approval for the brands to operate voyages to the country from Florida.
Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) said both its namesake Royal Caribbean brand and its smaller Azamara Club Cruises brand had been approved for sailings to Cuba. The company didn’t release a start date for the trips or itinerary details but said that would be coming soon.
Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) said all three of it brands — Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises — had been approved to operate voyages to the country starting in March.
The company said Oceania’s 1,250-passenger Marina would be the first of its ships to sail to Cuba with a voyage from Miami scheduled for March 7. The upscale vessel will call at Havana as part of a broader Caribbean itinerary.
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Marina then will operate several more Caribbean cruises out of Miami through May that include calls at Havana. Many of the Havana calls will be multi-day stops.
Regent’s 700-passenger Seven Seas Mariner will call on Havana during two cruises in April, and Norwegian’s 2,004-passenger Norwegian Sky will offer a selection of four-day voyages that will overnight in Havana in May.
The ships will be the first from established cruise brands to sail from the USA to Cuba in decades. The only other cruise vessel sailing from the USA to Cuba is the 704-passenger Adonia, which flies the flag of Fathom, a little-known, one-ship brand launched earlier this year by Carnival Corp. (CCL).
Adonia began bi-weekly voyages to Cuba in May but soon will end the trips. Fathom has struggled to gain traction with consumers, and Carnival Corp. announced last month that the brand would shut down its cruise operations next spring.
The newly announce voyages by major brands are likely to be a bigger hit than the Fathom sailings as they appear to be focused on the Cuban capital of Havana, which is the key draw in the country for most Americans, and they’re not too drawn out, said longtime industry watcher Mike Driscoll, editor of Cruise Week. The Fathom trips include stops in the secondary Cuban cities of Santiego de Cuba and Cienfuegos, which have less appeal to Americans, and last a full week.
“This is what the public wants,” said Driscoll. “They want overnight stays in Havana as part of a (broader) Caribbean cruise or short trips (from Miami) to Havana, such as Norwegian Sky will be doing. In the old days (before the U.S. embargo of Cuba), short cruises to Havana were by far the most popular.”
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In a research note to investors issued Wednesday, Wells Fargo analyst Tim Conder suggested the approvals would be a boon for the cruise business. Net yields for the entire industry are likely to get a boost in the Caribbean as a result of the demand for the trips.
“It further enhances guest access to a highly desirable cruise destination,” Conder noted.
In a statement accompanying today’s announcement, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio said he was proud that one of Oceania’s vessels would be the company’s first to visit Cuba. Del Rio founded Oceania Cruises and is a Cuban-American.
“This is truly a dream come true for me, and I cannot wait for our loyal guests to experience the sights and sounds of my hometown of Havana and get to know its rich culture and its warm and welcoming residents,” Del Rio said.
Royal Caribbean chairman and CEO Richard Fain said in a statement that the company’s customers have “expressed real interest in having the opportunity to experience Cuba, and we look forward to bringing them there.”
The Cuba calls planned for the five lines will provide an opportunity for “people-to-people” exchanges between Americans and Cubans as allowed by U.S. rules governing visits to Cuba, the companies said.
While the Obama administration has loosened restrictions on travel to Cuba over the past year, U.S. visitors still are limited in the activities they are allowed to do in the country by the terms of the USA’s five-decade-old embargo. The embargo specifies that activities fall within one of 12 approved categories. The categories include educational pursuits such as people-to-people exchanges.
Today’s announcement comes as President-elect Donald Trump threatens to undo the nascent U.S.-Cuba relationship if certain conditions are not met. Trump recently wrote in a Tweet that “if Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate the deal.”
Oceania will release full itinerary details and sail dates for its new Cuba voyages on Thursday, the company said. Itineraries and sail dates for Regent and Norwegian sailings to Cuba will be released later this month.
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