Approved! Royal Caribbean, Norwegian will cruise to Cuba
Norwegian has been cleared to sail beginning in March. Royal Caribbean didn’t release a start date but said it will release details soon.
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 announced Wednesday they had received Cuban government approval for the brands to operate voyages to the country from Florida.
Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises 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 said all three of its 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.
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 multiday 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 littleknown, one-ship brand launched earlier this year by Carnival Corp.
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 announced 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,” Driscoll said. “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.”
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,” Del Rio said.
Royal Caribbean Cruises 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.”
Royal Caribbean Cruises didn’t say which of its Royal Caribbeanbranded ships would operate the voyages to Cuba, but in the past the company has said it likely would be the 2,020-passenger Empress of the Seas.