CUBA: Carnival Heads To Cuba

The Adonia, a cruise ship from Carnival’s new Fathom line.

Carnival Corporation will begin offering a seven-day cruise to three Cuban cities starting May 1 after Cuban authorities lifted a longstanding restriction that barred people born in Cuba from traveling to the island by sea.

The prospect of Carnival operating a cruise that excluded Cuban-born passengers had drawn fierce protests from the Cuban community in the United States and from American officials, and prompted Carnival to say it would delay its trips until the problem was resolved.

However, Cuba announced in a statement on Friday that Cubans could now travel to and from the island by commercial vessel.

Carnival will be the first company to offer cruises or ferry service on an American vessel between the United States and Cuba in half a century.

The Adonia, of Carnival’s Fathom brand, which can host 704 travelers, will set sail from Miami and dock in the Bay of Havana for two nights. Then it will round the western tip of Cuba and spend one night at Cienfuegos, a French-influenced, former sugar-trading hub on the island’s southern coast. The ship will make a final stop at Santiago de Cuba, at the far eastern tip of the island, before returning to Miami.

Passengers on the ship have to travel under one of 12 categories of licensed travel to Cuba, which include so called people-to-people trips that involve a full-time schedule of engagement with Cuban people and culture. Arnold W. Donald, chief executive of Carnival Corporation, told reporters on a conference call on Friday that Fathom will offer talks, concerts and workshops to allow “deep immersion” in Cuba. The company would take care of visas and of retaining documentation required by the Treasury Department about how passengers spent their time.

The rules for Cubans are different: They are allowed under Treasury Department regulations to visit Cuba from the United States; Cuban authorities demand that they do so with their Cuban passport.

Mr. Donald said that there had been few inquiries so far from prospective Cuban passengers but that he expected to receive more now that Cuban authorities had said they could travel to the island by sea.

Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line, both based in Miami, have expressed interest in operating cruises to Cuba but need authorization from the Cuban government.

American travelers are also allowed to join cruises sailing to Cuba from non-American ports, so long as they are licensed to travel to the island and are not simply tourists.

The Cuban government’s decision to allow Cubans to travel to the island by sea may unblock months of delays in getting Cuban authorization for American ferry operators who wish to sail between Florida and Havana, said Robert Muse, an expert in Cuba-related law. Ferry service could significantly reduce the cost of reaching Cuba from the United States, which is currently only possible on expensive charter flights.

Several ferry companies, including Havana Ferry Partners of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Baja Ferries, a Florida-based company that operates routes in Mexico, were granted licenses from the Treasury Department to operate routes from the United States to Cuba almost a year ago. But Mr. Muse, who handled Baja Ferries’ license application, said the company – and other prospective ferry operators - had yet to receive authorization from the Cuban government.

With the latest change in Cuban rules for travel by sea, he hoped negotiations “can move swiftly,” he said.