Thomson Cruises to Call in Cuba on Caribbean Sailings

British company Thomson Cruises will offer winter sailings to Cuba beginning in 2010, tapping into a market few cruise lines enter due to U.S. restrictions on travel to the island nation.

“With only a small handful of European cruise lines being allowed access to the cultural and historical city of Havana due to U.S. laws on travel to the country, Thomson Cruises has taken the opportunity to offer British cruisers an inspirational choice of itineraries,” Thomson said in a statement.

The Thomson Dream will sail three 14-day Caribbean cruises during the 2010-11 season, and all will visit Havana. The ship will spend one overnight in Havana on two of the cruises and two overnights on the other.

The line said the new itineraries were designed to encourage its British customer base to take longer cruises instead of the standard seven-day itineraries.

Few lines offer Cuba cruises since it means they can’t carry U.S. passengers. British line Fred Olsen offers a few Cuba cruises out of Barbados, and German line Hapag Lloyd visits Cuba, as well, but the sailings aren’t marketed to Americans.

The Thomson Dream is the former Costa Europa. Thomson will operate the Costa-owned ship under a 10-year charter beginning in April. When Costa was an Italian-owned company, it sailed to Cuba. After the cruise line was purchased by Carnival Corp. in 2000, Costa had to end its operations there.