Cuba off the map again

The US government have put a sudden ban on cruising to Cuba after it was already allowed for a little while now so cruise lines are going to be hit on their profits for not going to this popular destination. It’s mainly Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines that were mainly affected as they are the ones that are doing it from a US port. MSC have also been affected as they have to change their itineraries that included Cuba from Miami.

Due to these substantial changes in US law and regulation, MSC Armonia is no longer authorised to call the port of Havana, Cuba, as part of her current Caribbean sailings.

The alternative ports of either Key West, Florida; Costa Maya, Mexico; George Town, Cayman Islands; or Cozumel, Mexico will replace Havana.There is also Virgin Cruises that were planned to go there and will have to change itineraries and offer alternatives. In all up to 800,000 bookings have been affected and will cause losses to those cruise lines as they will have to offer free cancellation or other perks to customers who will accept the changes and keep the booking. I reckon many will cancel as Cuba was probably the reason of the booking as it became recently a new popular cruise destination, especially to the Americans.

NCL said passengers booked on cancelled cruises to Cuba through to September 2 can continue on a revised itinerary and receive a 50% refund as well as a 50% future cruise credit valid through December 31, 2020.Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings revealed that the Cuba restrictions will impact all three of its brands, with about 25% of the impacted days attributable to the combined sailings by Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the majority of which were Cuba-intensive “premium priced” itineraries.

It’s a shame that a destination as fascinating as Cuba is yet to suffer due to Political situation.