Empress confirmed to Cuba from January 2017

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Do you actually have a link to the port schedule? Or just a rumor you heard?

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that an actual link would be a LOT more useful than saying to go "to the port schedule website."

 

http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?month=1&day=01&year=2017&crd=caribenautical&PHPSESSID=6269689bbdadaee7bd265b54143a8da9

[Merion_Mom]

Do you actually have a link to the port schedule? Or just a rumor you heard?

 

I understand that and went to a few websites and saw nothing. Thought maybe he could link where he saw it as sites I checked do not show it....

 

See, I just trust him. ;)

 

I have met him and consider him a very credible source.

 

:)

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I've always been in the middle about this. But seeing it on "paper" aka, a port schedule, make me a little excited!

[Paulette3028]

http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?month=1&day=01&year=2017&crd=caribenautical&PHPSESSID=6269689bbdadaee7bd265b54143a8da9

 

I have to wonder about the information on this website/calendar. It has very odd information listed for ships such as Enchantment and we know where she is sailing and on what dates.

 

If you look at the calendar it is not showing Enchantment where it should be on many days, and there is no dispute as to what her itinerary is.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I have to wonder about the information on this website/calendar. It has very odd information listed for ships such as Enchantment and we know where she is sailing and on what dates.

 

If you look at the calendar it is not showing Enchantment where it should be on many days, and there is no dispute as to what her itinerary is.

 

True, but this calendar was accurate when indicating Empress would be going to Key West and GC before any of her itineraries were available for booking.

[Downdie]

It has been my understanding that companies who had their headquarters in the US could not easily do business with Cuba under the Embargo, which would explain why when Royal purchased Pullmantur in 2006 the sailings to Cuba ceased. There were specific exceptions, none of which would have applied to a cruise line, from what I read in an article from the NY Times.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/business/us-businesses-assess-cuba.html?_r=0

 

In the article I did find it interesting to read that for tourists who will want to go to Cuba and stay in a 5 star hotel that experience may be 10 years away.....but floating hotels like cruise ships could certainly fill that gap, especially if they do an overnight stay.

 

Time will tell of course.

 

I believe I may have sailed on one exception when sailing from Cozumel to Havana in Nov 2010 on the Spanish cruiseline Happy Cruises. They chartered the ship from ISP of Miami,who managed the ship and I believe are still trying to sell it, although it is currently leased to Celestyal Cruises of Cyprus.

As a matter of interest I've also sailed on three Pullmantur ships

[Paulette3028]

True, but this calendar was accurate when indicating Empress would be going to Key West and GC before any of her itineraries were available for booking.

 

Probably first week in April more deployments will come out and hopefully we will be able to do a sailing on Empress that fits with our schedule. I don't expect Cuba on the itinerary, but am sure we will get there at some point.

[CRUISEBOY305]

Probably first week in April more deployments will come out and hopefully we will be able to do a sailing on Empress that fits with our schedule. I don't expect Cuba on the itinerary, but am sure we will get there at some point.

 

I'm guessing Cuba will be released in May per the deployment flyer under "Additional Caribbean"

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2017_2018/16048646_2017_2018_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

[Sunkissed Mommy]

I am guessing that if Royal gets the "okay" on Cuba before April or May, they'll release them as soon as they can to get a jump on the market share. I doubt they'll stick to a set date with such a big announcement that other cruise lines are not as well prepared for (a small ship ready and waiting).

[Paulette3028]

I'm guessing Cuba will be released in May per the deployment flyer under "Additional Caribbean"

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2017_2018/16048646_2017_2018_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

 

I find the category "Seasonal Caribbean and Northeast" comical. Seasonal Caribbean is all year round. And nowadays even sailing from the Northeast is year round. It isn't like years ago when ships only sailed from NE ports in spring, summer and early fall.

[CRUISEBOY305]

I find the category "Seasonal Caribbean and Northeast" comical. Seasonal Caribbean is all year round. And nowadays even sailing from the Northeast is year round. It isn't like years ago when ships only sailed from NE ports in spring, summer and early fall.

 

I think they mean the itineraries that don't typically run year-round. Like the 6/8 nights and 10/11 nights out of Ft. Lauderdale.

[khm1]

We'll be happy to sell the land Castro stole from us to a golf course developer.

Yeah, and the department store, theater, houses, and plantation that the Castro regime stole from my family may be up for sale as well. All this excitement over Cuba really just makes me feel that there are so many people that don't "get" all the real problems that are bound to come to light.

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[MADflyer]

With the Carnival approval completed and the approval for RCI and NCL coming within days, the question now becomes whether RCI will try to start Cuban sailings prior to January of 2017. It is speculated the NCL would first send their Oceana brand, while RCI would start with Empress sailings.

 

With the current first sailing from Miami scheduled for the 7th of January of 2017, with calls at Key West and Havana, it will be interesting if RCI will try to convert the planned fall 2016 sailings to Grand Cayman over to sailings to Cuba.

 

It will also be interesting to see if RCI will follow MSC's lead and actually schedule the ship for one or two 'overnights' at Havana. I would think that they would overnight.

 

It will also be interesting to see how tourism develops for cruise passengers.

 

I am thinking that in the early stages, Cuban visas may only allow passengers to go ashore on planned excursions, similar to how cruises developed in St. Petersburg, Russia. This would mean that all passengers wanting to spend the evenings ashore would be required to do so as part of a planned activity with the cruise line.

 

If they do move forward with 'visa restricted' travel for cruise passengers, it would be interesting to see how the restrictions on travel might vary by passenger nationality. Crew would then carry 'seafarers visas' and would be allowed ashore independently.

[CRUISEBOY305]

In USAToday

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2016/03/21/cuba-cruise-voyage-approval/82075950/

[MADflyer]

In USAToday

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2016/03/21/cuba-cruise-voyage-approval/82075950/

 

I saw that. I had read in financial media last week that there would be a series of Cuba related travel announcements following President Obama's visit.

 

I hope they find some solution that allows the cruise lines to actually process the passenger visas and take steps to avoid the potential 'red tape'.

[CRUISEBOY305]

I saw that. I had read in financial media last week that there would be a series of Cuba related travel announcements following President Obama's visit.

 

I hope they find some solution that allows the cruise lines to actually process the passenger visas and take steps to avoid the potential 'red tape'.

 

everything is happening so fast :eek::eek::eek:

[minn0315]

Two weeks ago today, March 8, we were on Adventure at the C&A welcome back party. The captain stated that Enchantment would be the first RCI ship to Cuba.

 

I spoke with him one on one about a half an hour later and he again stated that it was his understanding that it would be Enchantment.

[frisbeewife]

Any guesses what the price range for cruises to Cuba would be? I'd expect it to be much higher than the standard Caribbean cruises.

[CRUISEBOY305]

Any guesses what the price range for cruises to Cuba would be? I'd expect it to be much higher than the standard Caribbean cruises.

 

$1,000,000.....per person :eek::eek::eek::eek: just kidding

[MADflyer]

The cruise industry capacity statistics were just released for Cuba for 2017.

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/14294-cuba-expected-capacity-forecast-for-calendar-year-2017.html

 

RCI is currently not on the list, but the short sailings are still showing from January of 2017.

 

As it appears that RCI will continue with the 5/5/4 pattern of sailings with Empress even after starting to sail to Cuba, this will give them more 'capacity' due to the frequent sailings.

 

Empress is still scheduled to Grand Cayman through November 29th of 2016.

 

A single stop in Grand Cayman has now been scheduled for Empress in April of 2017 and could indicate movement for Empress following that call.

[loubetti]

Does the United States Congress know about RCI's plans for Cuba cruises?

 

Obama cannot change a thing with the embargo, only Congress can.

 

Any cruises RCI makes to Cuba would still need to be under the same requirements as Carnival's fathom cruises. "Social impact" and other such stuff.

Also, expect cruise fares 2-3 times higher than your typical Caribe cruise.

 

These would not be Bermuda cruises, where you get off and do what you want.

 

I do not understand why many do not understand what RCI can and cannot do currently, and think Obama alone can make this happen.

 

My take: We're YEARS away from traditional cruises to Cuba.

[MADflyer]

MSC and other European lines are already offering traditional sailings to and from Cuba.

 

While Carnival chose the social impact method, RCI could choose the cultural exchange route, which is also easy to establish.

 

The fact that cruise lines may be forced to sell cruises that only allow formal shore excursions is a profit motive for the cruise lines. They will have visa processing fees, shore excursion sales and higher cruise fares due to limited capacity.

 

I am not sure if the current RCI target of January 7th of 2017 has any significance as far as changes in the approval process.

 

Carnival's delay in approval was not due to the US regulations, but due to the delay by Cuban officials.

[Paulette3028]

Does the United States Congress know about RCI's plans for Cuba cruises?

 

Obama cannot change a thing with the embargo, only Congress can.

 

Any cruises RCI makes to Cuba would still need to be under the same requirements as Carnival's fathom cruises. "Social impact" and other such stuff.

Also, expect cruise fares 2-3 times higher than your typical Caribe cruise.

 

These would not be Bermuda cruises, where you get off and do what you want.

 

I do not understand why many do not understand what RCI can and cannot do currently, and think Obama alone can make this happen.

 

My take: We're YEARS away from traditional cruises to Cuba.

 

MSC and other European lines are already offering traditional sailings to and from Cuba.

 

While Carnival chose the social impact method, RCI could choose the cultural exchange route, which is also easy to establish.

 

The fact that cruise lines may be forced to sell cruises that only allow formal shore excursions is a profit motive for the cruise lines. They will have visa processing fees, shore excursion sales and higher cruise fares due to limited capacity.

 

I am not sure if the current RCI target of January 7th of 2017 has any significance as far as changes in the approval process.

 

Carnival's delay in approval was not due to the US regulations, but due to the delay by Cuban officials.

 

MSC and other European cruise lines have been taking in Cuban ports.....they are not affected by the US embargo, and what President Obama has tried to do, is open up the gateway to do more. But Congress, the US Congress, needs to lift the embargo to allow cruises that are OTHER than the cultural exchange route that Carnival has chosen to utilize with their FATHOM option. I am not really into the 'cultural exchange' type of cruise.

 

From what I can see, when I do a search of "MSC Cuban Cruises", they LEAVE from Mexico or Jamaica or Havana and do other port stops but not from a US port. If that is what someone wants to do, it is there for them to do or at least explore the option.

 

It easily could take years for the kind of cruises that THIS CRUISER would want to take to actually happen.

 

Based on the unwillingness of our Congress to work (this posters opinion), I highly doubt that before President Obama leaves office there will be any progress toward lifting the embargo with Cuba. Even if they were inclined to do it, they never want Pres. Obama to look good on 'any topic' so they have even less inclination to do it. My personal political viewpoint.

[MADflyer]

None the less, RCI are still holding slots for sailings to Cuba from the 7th of January 2017.

 

Whether these actualize or not would depend first only on Cuban government approval and then any sailings offered would have to be of the 'people to people' travel nature under the current travel restrictions.

 

I would think the ships would overnight in Havana and guests would be restricted only to ship organized 'cultural exchanges' offered both in the daytime and nighttime.

 

This is very similar to how cruises used to be to Leningrad in the Soviet Union back in the 80s. Passengers were only allowed ashore for organized cultural activities and could only join ship organized government approved excursions.

 

RCI is already deviating from the Fathom model by offering short sailings and including Key West as a secondary port on all sailings planned to Cuba.

[MADflyer]

From today's Washington Post travel article 'Ready to explore Cuba?.....'

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/ready-to-explore-cuba-heres-how-to-get-there/2016/03/30/c0c64ea4-f4fe-11e5-9804-537defcc3cf6_story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_travel

 

In addition, Royal Caribbean Cruise and NCLH, the parent company of Oceania, are expected to announce Cuba itineraries soon.

 

The author most likely did not have any additional information to add to what had already been discussed in the media.