Cruise Talk: Cuba-new cruise destination for the majors?

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»	Cruise Talk » Ports of Call and Destinations » Cuba-new cruise destination for the majors?

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Topic: Cuba-new cruise destination for the majors?

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 02-20-2008 03:39 PM

Now that Fidel is bowing out (sort of) and his 76-year-old brother Raul is in charge (for a short time perhaps) I wonder how long it will be before Cuba is a cruise destination for the major US based cruise lines.

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

Jekyll
First Class Passenger
Member # 1878

posted 02-20-2008 03:52 PM

From what I understand a fair number of the big players already have an action plan ready to execute if/ when Cuba opens up. I am sure it will be THE hot destination for US travellers (especially since everyone else has already been going there for years).

Posts: 1524 | From: Nowhere | Registered: Mar 2001 | IP: Logged

Linerrich
First Class Passenger
Member # 4864

posted 02-20-2008 04:03 PM

Certainly the cruise lines have plans to go to Cuba as soon as it's available, but remember that the Communist government is still in power and the US Embargo is still in place. Even if someone replaces Raul, it will still be more of the same thing, unless new leaders resolve to dialogue with the US and open up to allow a free society.

Rich

Posts: 4210 | From: Miami, FL | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 02-20-2008 05:33 PM

I would love to see it before it enters the 21st Century. Seeing the un-restored colonial buildings and 1950s American cars (we have them here in California but not as daily drivers) would be facinating.

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

TBirdFrank
First Class Passenger
Member # 2280

posted 02-21-2008 01:54 PM

All US residents need to do to get to Havana is to arrange an itinerary that departs from Canada.

Please do not confuse Cayo resorts with the real Cuba - they are just Disneyland clones dropped in.

Cuba is the experience of a lifetime, decrepit, beautiful, an example of how totalitarianism is a disaster, an example of how a disciplined society leaves us standing. And all that fifties iron .........

It is now coming round again after Moscow backed out, and learning to live off Europe and South America. The US will no doubt be a welcome addition to trade in due course - but don't expect a walkover anytime soon

Posts: 158 | From: Manchester, England | Registered: Aug 2001 | IP: Logged

Frosty 4
First Class Passenger
Member # 5826

posted 02-21-2008 03:56 PM

Remember also China is a communist country-but you would never know it if you went there. The US imports so much from China it's pathetic.
There are a lot of cruises that go there now. Ocean and river.
Hopefully you will see what China has to offer when we see the Olympics this Summer.
Cuba, yes but after Raul is gone. There is a leader there that seems more open to opening up to US tourism.
F4

Posts: 2531 | From: Illinois | Registered: Jul 2005 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 02-21-2008 06:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Frosty 4:
Remember also China is a communist country-but you would never know it if you went there.
F4

Now if you lived there that would be a different story.

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

Linerrich
First Class Passenger
Member # 4864

posted 02-21-2008 07:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Frosty 4:

Cuba, yes but after Raul is gone. There is a leader there that seems more open to opening up to US tourism.
F4

The Cuban government would love to have American tourism already--they desperately want and need US dollars. The issue is with the US government's embargo and travel restrictions about going there and spending money.

Rich

Posts: 4210 | From: Miami, FL | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

DAMBROSI
First Class Passenger
Member # 100

posted 02-21-2008 07:42 PM

My husband used to say that if Cuba opened up, Dolphin Cruise Line would have been the first one in. Wish they were still around.

Posts: 2554 | From: Florida, USA, Where the Legend SS NORWAY sailed from. Moving back to FL next yr. | Registered: May 99 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 02-21-2008 08:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Linerrich:
The Cuban government would love to have American tourism already--they desperately want and need US dollars. The issue is with the US government's embargo and travel restrictions about going there and spending money.
Rich

Dealing w/Cuba was one of the 1st questions on the CNN Democrat debate tonight. Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama stated that certains issues such as human rights would need to be addressed prior to dialogue being opened.

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

Globaliser
First Class Passenger
Member # 4153

posted 02-22-2008 10:52 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Frosty 4:
Cuba, yes but after Raul is gone. There is a leader there that seems more open to opening up to US tourism.

I wasn't aware that Cuba had any inhibitions about opening up to tourism! Countless thousands of people enjoy holidays in Cuba all the time - even if some of them don't make the most of the opportunity they have while they're there truly to sample the local atmosphere.

I rather think it's the US that needs a new leader who's more open to opening up to US tourism to Cuba.

quote:
Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama stated that certains issues such as human rights would need to be addressed prior to dialogue being opened.

Of course. After all, the US would never open dialogue with any other country with similar human rights problems!

Posts: 1869 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2003 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 02-22-2008 11:47 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Globaliser:
Of course. After all, the US would never open dialogue with any other country with similar human rights problems!

China perhaps??

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

Iberian Cruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 3496

posted 04-07-2008 11:36 AM

Previously Spanish Pullmantur was one of the few companies calling at Havanna. The success was inmediate since the historic links of both countries. Holiday Dream left Havanna every week. The authorities were simply jubilant.

Then it seems that Fidel Castro decided that they didn´t need cruiser, because they contanimated the enviroment. I wonder if the rest of the tourists don´t contaminate, when they throw their soda cans on Varadero.

It´s a rather stupid statement, the real base of this if the always rising costs applied to Pullmantur which changed day by day, and at the end, the company decided that they don´t want to be blackmailed by the Cubans and went off, cancelling calls there. Of course the regime needed something to justify the lost one of the few which called directly at the city centre.

Nowdays the Spanish tourism in the Island is the most relevant one, as well as joint ventures Spanish/Cuban in many sectors, but the fact that either Pullmantur and Iberocruceros are in American hands, makes impossible future Spanish calls there.

Who knows if Quail and Vision (the real Spanish ones) decide to send they tiny things there for winter. In fact the Vision Athena operated in Cuba as Valtur Prima.

[ 04-07-2008: Message edited by: Iberian Cruiser ]

Posts: 48 | From: Santiago/SPAIN | Registered: Nov 2002 | IP: Logged

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