Cuban cruises still an option for Canadians
As a traveller, it is difficult to watch a cruise destination disappear overnight.
On June 5, the United States declared that all travel to Cuba would be restricted for U.S. citizens, with the ban extended to cover all personal and commercial vessels and aircraft departing from the U.S.
That effectively killed the burgeoning cruise tourism to Cuba that had begun in 2016 with the relaxing of rules by the Obama administration which saw, for the first time in 50 years, an American homeported cruise ship tie up in Havana.
As Canadians, we are free to travel to Cuba anytime we wish — and to be sure, there are no shortage of all-inclusive and hotel options available to us as I write this.
Cruises, however, have been harder to come by. European lines have been sending ships to Cuba for decades now, but one of the biggest players in the region — Celestyal Cruises (celestyalcruises.com) — pulled out of the Cuba market in favour of sending its nimble Celestyal Cristal over to Greece and the Mediterranean year-round. Booking a voyage with a European cruise line is also an expensive and complicated endeavour for Canadians.
In the past two years, Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean all maintained a year-round operation in Cuba, with convenient quick sailings from Florida to Havana. A handful of others, like Azamara, Holland America Line, Oceania and Viking Cruises, all operated voyages to Cuba seasonally.
They were, to put it bluntly, the best voyages I’ve experienced in the Caribbean. Cuba is a world apart from anything else in the region.
With these new restrictions, the cruise industry in Cuba has been virtually ruined.
Readers have been asking me for weeks now why they can no longer cruise to Cuba even though they are Canadian. It’s a good question. One reader even pointed out, correctly, that ships from Royal Caribbean and the like aren’t even registered in the United States.
That’s all true, but companies like Carnival are headquartered in the U.S., and that means — broadly — that the ban applies to them, their subsidiaries and their vessels.
European lines can have a ship call on Cuba, but that vessel is then ineligible for entry into an American port of call for a significant amount of time. That, in turn, complicates deployment options.
While this means that the bulk of cruises to Cuba have disappeared overnight, there are still a few options for Canadian travellers looking to sail to this fascinating Caribbean destination.
Sea Cloud Cruises (seacloud.com) has two sailings aboard its sleek luxury-sailing-cruise vessel Sea Cloud II. The first, departing
Feb. 5, 2020, sails from Cienfuegos to Philipsburg, St. Maarten on a 12-day voyage that includes three days in Cienfuegos along with a stop in Santiago de Cuba. The second Sea Cloud II sailing — in December 2020 — operates the reverse itinerary, with two days in Santiago de Cuba and an overnight in Cienfuegos.
Toronto-based G Adventures (gadventures.com) has a fantastic small-ship sailing program that focuses on Cuba. All voyages start and end in Havana, though the actual sailing component operates from the picturesque city of Cienfuegos in the south. Three different itineraries, ranging from eight to 13 days, are offered and include water-sports activities like snorkelling and kayaking in the cost.
Other European or small-ship operators may well return to Cuba in the coming months. For now, however, most Canadians will have to travel to Cuba by air, or be content to cruise the remainder of the Caribbean, with Cuba existing only as a hazy land mass off the ship’s bow.
Happy cruising.
Visit portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia Cruiseshipcenters, 1-800-707-7327, www.cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com