Cuba Sailings by Cruise Lines Remain Unscathed amid Tough Announcement

by Jorge Coromina

Last week, the Trump administration took just another step in its effort to roll back the rapprochement Barack Obama worked out with Cuba during his second term in office by announcing a new set of measures that will make it harder for U.S, citizens to travel to the Caribbean island nation.

While the U.S. travel industry is still scratching its head, trying to figure out the scope and reach of the new measures, American cruise lines say for them it's business as usual.

"We’re reviewing the recent statements to evaluate their impact on our guests and our company. For now, we are sailing our Cuba itineraries as scheduled and will keep our guests updated if anything changes," said Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. director of Corporate reputation Melissa Charbonneau.

Royal Caribbean has been cruising to Cuba since 2017 when the Empress of the Seas made her inaugural visit. Today, Majesty of the Seas and Empress of the Seas visit Cuban destinations including Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba. Silversea, one of Royal’s other brands, launched its program of voyages to Cuba in October 2018 aboard Silver Wind, and Azamara, another Royal brand, has Cuba on its schedule for both 2019 and 2020.

For its part, Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement that "we are closely monitoring recent developments with respect to US-Cuba travel. At this time no new regulations have been issued and accordingly, the Company's itineraries which include Cuba as a destination will continue as scheduled."

Doral-based Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise company, told investors that it continued to increase the number of cruises to Cuba in a Jan. 28 filing to the SEC. In 2016, it was the first cruise company to host a commercial trip to the island in more than 40 years. Currently, six of its ships are scheduled for multiple sailings to the island with tickets ranging from $289-$999 a person.

Notably, the debut of Virgin Voyages' flagship, Scarlet Lady, includes scheduled calls to Cuba in 2020 as part of the new cruise line's inaugural program.

Virgin Voyages spokesperson Christina Baez shared, "At this time there are no changes to travel policies for cruises sailing to Cuba. We will continue to monitor Cuba travel policies and we will update our sailors if there are any changes."

Nearly every cruise line already sailing to Cuba has recently expanded their programs there, making a sudden change like this a large upheaval. Just Monday, Norwegian Sun returned to Port Canaveral for a repeat season of its popular all-inclusive Cuba sailings.The day after the announcement in both Washington and Miami, cruise lines' shares at the New York Stock Exchange took a slide. Shares of Royal Caribbean were down 0.68 percent at $123.25, while shares of Carnival were off 0.31 percent at $54.63, and Norwegian Cruise shares were falling 3.04 percent to $57.75.