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The End To Future Cuba Cruises!!


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It is interesting, in researching this it appears that the Cuban Government has cracked down on private tour guides, arresting and intimidating them)Blexie) to the point that they are shutting down(FerTours).  Apparently, this had started before yesterday's announcement.    Cuban tourism is a politically charged issue in both countries.

 

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I just received a call back from the OFAC enforcement office and I spoke to someone in their General Counsel's office.  The answer is...they do not know.  The actual regulations mentioned in the speech have not been drafted, and the people I spoke with had no idea of any kind of timetable.  There is an OFAC page that has the current information and you can sign up for email updates:https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/programs/pages/cuba.aspx  I think I have gone up the chain as far as I can, so now I will have to accept the "just wait and see" situation.

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I have a feeling we will not be going in December as planned...was thinking of cancelling that one anyway as I am having difficulty getting the time off.  We are doing a side to side, so would end up cancelling both as I don't want to pay to fly for only a 4 night.  I was really looking forward to the Key West though. ? 

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11 hours ago, MrMarc said:

The most notable line in this article is:

"This form of travel will still be allowed for American tourists accompanied by U.S.-based, authorized sponsors, like cruise ship operators."

Looks like cruises to Cuba will continue.

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2 hours ago, Shari said:

The most notable line in this article is:

"This form of travel will still be allowed for American tourists accompanied by U.S.-based, authorized sponsors, like cruise ship operators."

Looks like cruises to Cuba will continue.

It could be a ship provided excursion will be required, not optional as it is today.

Time will tell.     

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Crossing fingers and hoping for the best. Was planning early 2021 for a Carribbean and a Cuba cruise and have been waiting on itineraries for Cuba to be released before booking anything. Oh well, guess we'll just have to see how it all plays out. At least I can focus on planning for a Panama Cruise in 2020 instead!!

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I’m in a panic!  We are scheduled for majesty 4 day on June 15.  I literally booked it 2 weeks ago.   I’m dreading May 2.  My next two trips after are on vision (Europe) and rhapsody for itineraries.  The reason we booked majesty was for Cuba...I will so be disappointed if it changes port.  I’m sure they wouldn’t cancel...we are going to key west, Havana and home.  If they cancel Havana I assume they will dock us at Nassau since they have to have someplace out of the us.  I know they won’t cancel.  I’m just so disappointed that we only did this ship because of Cuba.  We could have done other longer cruise, or bigger ship.  Don’t get me wrong...I don’t hate smaller ships.  I just would not have done this small with my 22 year old for her graduation present without Cuba!  So we wait.....and see........     jane

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I am scheduled for a 5 day on Majesty on June 10.  Now that the holiday weekend is over, the decision makers will be returning, but I don't think we will hear anything until later in the week.  The longer they take to decide what the new rules will be, the longer it will take to get them drafted and enacted.  So while it is frustrating, I think that no news is good news at this point.  Try not to stress though, there really isn't anything we can do.  I am sure that the travel industry lobbyists are out in full force.

 

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9 hours ago, MrMarc said:

I am scheduled for a 5 day on Majesty on June 10.  Now that the holiday weekend is over, the decision makers will be returning, but I don't think we will hear anything until later in the week.  The longer they take to decide what the new rules will be, the longer it will take to get them drafted and enacted.  So while it is frustrating, I think that no news is good news at this point.  Try not to stress though, there really isn't anything we can do.  I am sure that the travel industry lobbyists are out in full force.

 

I’m on the week after you for the 4 day!   I’m hoping things drag out and we get our Havana stop in.  I have totally decided though to go with a royal Caribbean excursion on this one though...seems just a smarter way to do it.  Jane

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40 minutes ago, mom2mybugs said:

I’m on the week after you for the 4 day!   I’m hoping things drag out and we get our Havana stop in.  I have totally decided though to go with a royal Caribbean excursion on this one though...seems just a smarter way to do it.  Jane

I also booked a Royal excursion.  "Just in case".

When the first Cuba changes came people booked before a certain where grandfathered.  That's a possibility this time but might include an excursion restriction or grandfathering.  You can always cancel an excursion up until a few days before sailing so it was a safe thing to do.

We'll see.  Time will tell.  

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On 4/22/2019 at 8:41 AM, KLA said:

Joining in here - really crossing my fingers that the November cruise I'm taking with my mom won't be affected. 

May 2nd is my birthday even... can I just continue to have my opportunity to visit Havana and Cienfuegos for my birthday? That'd be great. 

 

Easy, just grab another citizenship and boom...Cuba is back in the picture. Just have to get there a different way ?

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On 4/19/2019 at 10:22 AM, Shari said:

The most notable line in this article is:

"This form of travel will still be allowed for American tourists accompanied by U.S.-based, authorized sponsors, like cruise ship operators."

Looks like cruises to Cuba will continue.

They edited the article and removed that sentence.

 

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18 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Easy, just grab another citizenship and boom...Cuba is back in the picture. Just have to get there a different way ?

Renouncing US citizenship and moving to another country just to visit Cuba seems rather extreme.  

Unless you plan to renounce your US citizenship having citizenship in another country doesn't help you.  As long as you are a US citizen these restrictions apply to you regardless how you get there or what other countries you claim to be a citizen of.

If you fly to Canada and take a flight to Cuba it's not the Canadian's airline job to recognize you are a US citizen and stop you from flying. Cuba won't care when you arrive in Cuba, this isn't their restriction.  However when you arrive back in the US and they ask what countries have you visited... now you have a problem.

 

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9 minutes ago, twangster said:

Renouncing US citizenship and moving to another country just to visit Cuba seems rather extreme.  

Unless you plan to renounce your US citizenship having citizenship in another country doesn't help you.  As long as you are a US citizen these restrictions apply to you regardless how you get there or what other countries you claim to be a citizen of.

If you fly to Canada and take a flight to Cuba it's not the Canadian's airline job to recognize you are a US citizen and stop you from flying. Cuba won't care when you arrive in Cuba, this isn't their restriction.  However when you arrive back in the US and they ask what countries have you visited... now you have a problem.

 

 

Americans have been going to Cuba on US or other passports for years. For those of us with two passports, even one of them being the US, it's pretty easy to get to Cuba. Sure, you're technically breaking laws, but it's somewhat hard to get caught if you're smart and don't use that US passport. It's likely going to continue to get harder with technology, though.

I'm not saying I have ever done this...

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4 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Americans have been going to Cuba on US or other passports for years. For those of us with two passports, even one of them being the US, it's pretty easy to get to Cuba. Sure, you're technically breaking laws, but it's somewhat hard to get caught if you're smart and don't use that US passport. It's likely going to continue to get harder with technology, though.

I'm not saying I have ever done this...

And they can continue to do so, illegally.    US carrier's like JetBlue, Southwest, Delta, etc. will stop offering a direct route.  There is nothing stopping a ship flagged in the Bahamas from sailing to Cuba but absent of 2,000 law breaking US citizens they likely would not fill the ship.  

I have two passports.  I have family that has and continues to visit Cuba.  They'll be thrilled with the new restrictions.  When restrictions were loosened up they all feared American tourists would kill Cuba's uniqueness and turn it into just another Caribbean tourist trap.    Now that fear will be cast aside and many countries from all over the world can continue being tourists in Cuba without the American tourist invasion.  Law breaking US citizens can fly on their planes with them just like they did before.  

Lying to US customs and immigration can have consequences though.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/22/2019 at 2:41 PM, KLA said:

Joining in here - really crossing my fingers that the November cruise I'm taking with my mom won't be affected. 

May 2nd is my birthday even... can I just continue to have my opportunity to visit Havana and Cienfuegos for my birthday? That'd be great. 

Happy Birthday @KLA ????

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On 4/19/2019 at 7:13 PM, Phillip Diamond Plus said:

Empress would be a great ship for Bermuda! I believe that Empress might be small enough to dock In Hamilton and St. Georges like ships used to do. But I'm not sure???

You may be on to something there.  I know, when we were there last October, we saw a Viking Cruise Ship docked at Hamilton.

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On 4/17/2019 at 7:50 PM, Gears said:

Hmmmm...maybe embark out of Cozumel with no US port stops(?). Some cruise lines have passengers embarking and disembarking at several ports on an itinerary.

MSC actually does precisely this in December, January and February with two alternating 7-night itineraries: Cozumel, Cuba, Belize and Honduras; and Cozumel, Cuba, Montego Bay and Caymen Islands. I can't help wondering if it's a deliberate ploy. But I guess it's not much help if you have to break the law to do it. ? Hope it all works out for all of you who have been looking forward to visiting Cuba.

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8 hours ago, Matt said:

I am not worried about royal!  I’m worried about what the administration does.  If they ban travel, then royal will honor that.  Crossing fingers....  Jane

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On 4/19/2019 at 7:13 PM, Phillip Diamond Plus said:

Empress would be a great ship for Bermuda! I believe that Empress might be small enough to dock In Hamilton and St. Georges like ships used to do. But I'm not sure???

It can, we sailed on the Empress out of Phila to Bermuda (Hamilton & St George) several times a few (well many) years back.  That was one of our favorite itineraries, much nicer than sailing into the generic Naval dockyard.  If they can no longer sail to Cuba maybe they can use the Empress for the Phila to Bermuda run again!

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2 hours ago, Jjohnb said:

It can, we sailed on the Empress out of Phila to Bermuda (Hamilton & St George) several times a few (well many) years back.  That was one of our favorite itineraries, much nicer than sailing into the generic Naval dockyard.  If they can no longer sail to Cuba maybe they can use the Empress for the Phila to Bermuda run again!

Where in Philly did this dock?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/3/2019 at 1:05 PM, Jjohnb said:

It can, we sailed on the Empress out of Phila to Bermuda (Hamilton & St George) several times a few (well many) years back.  That was one of our favorite itineraries, much nicer than sailing into the generic Naval dockyard.  If they can no longer sail to Cuba maybe they can use the Empress for the Phila to Bermuda run again!

I wonder call the Royal naval Dockyard "Generic" --- It's actually quite nice there.  Of course, there's been a huge emphasis on developing that end of the island.

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