Princess Cuba Cruises

[Kingofcool1947]

8 hours ago, waltd said:

So is Cuba now officially dead?    Have not heard anything from the TA.   Thought reservations would start on May 1st or 2nd.   Has anyone heard anything more?

Yesterday,  my TA told clients that cruises visiting Cuba kaput.  Glad I went last year (Oceania).   😊

Good luck.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[oskidunker]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

We would have to do more than just Cuba. Flying to and from Florida from California for a 7 day cruise is crazy. We would have to have another cruise we wanted to do that would works as a B2B.

Agree. I would not do it. Flying has become so uncomfortable I fly as little as possible unless there is a business sale. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by oskidunker

[caribill]

Princess is not Royal Caribbean, but this topic was brought up at the stock analysts conference call for RCCL on May 1.

 

"...last month the U.S. administration took a decision that is likely to prompt a litigation related to companies that do business in Cuba.

If such legislation does ensue, we believe that we possess all defenses. And we're not expecting to change our itineraries as a result. The administration also commented on possible changes to the regulations that apply to travel to Cuba.

At this point, we don't know if there will be any changes, what those changes might be? Or to what extent they would impact us. ..... And any impact would depend on what the regulations say. And how much advanced notice we and our guests would receive."

[caribill]

And the law suits have begun

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article229919294.html?

[Ofmyheart]

Glad we went last year with Princess cousin HAL. I loved it and hope to go back again.

[Ereggae]

I would hold off on booking.  US Government making plans to discontinue cruises to Cuba in May.  Stay tuned.

[Ofmyheart]

Ya no current plans especially with present situation but really hope to go back some day. Glad we at least got to go once.

[azbirdmom]

They've now published the regulations and it's as expected.  Guess Princess can now start figuring out what to do with the Pacific Princess and fill that gap in the schedule 😞 .  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trump-administration-bans-educational-and-recreational-travel-to-cuba

[beg3yrs]

19 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

They've now published the regulations and it's as expected.  Guess Princess can now start figuring out what to do with the Pacific Princess and fill that gap in the schedule 😞 .  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trump-administration-bans-educational-and-recreational-travel-to-cuba

I suspect they've been working on it ever since the intentions were announced. Here's hoping for a cruise up the Amazon!

[Ofmyheart]

And for those of us that have been to Cuba it is just so sad. It is a beautiful country with beautiful repressed people.

 

I had hoped to return.

[donaldsc]

Anyone can go to Cuba any time you want to.  Just don't cruise but do a land trip which is much better anyway.  You fly to Canada and then fly to Cuba.  The US government can't stop you from doing that trip.

 

DON

[Mapu]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

I suspect they've been working on it ever since the intentions were announced. Here's hoping for a cruise up the Amazon!

Great idea! The Amazon cruise itinerary was beaten to death but has been absent for a long time. It was a great cruise so hopefully it will be brought back.

 

[Expat Cruise]

6 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Anyone can go to Cuba any time you want to.  Just don't cruise but do a land trip which is much better anyway.  You fly to Canada and then fly to Cuba.  The US government can't stop you from doing that trip.

 

DON

If you are a US Citizen you will have broken the law under the new terms by doing so. If US Citizens go to Cuba and  are caught they risk losing passports and criminal charges. Anyone if free to break any law if you are willing to pay the price.  In the 1990's  the US Government had agents in the Bahamas  watching people boarding the flights to Cuba, if a US Passport holder got on the plane they had issues when they returned to the Untied States.  

 

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

I suspect they've been working on it ever since the intentions were announced. Here's hoping for a cruise up the Amazon!

We took that cruise in January 2010 on the old Royal Princess before Princess started divesting its R ships - it was a fascinating cruise!  Since the Pacific is due to be in the Caribbean and is the last of the triplets that would be a great itinerary.

Edited June 4, 2019 by capriccio

[elliair]

2 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

If you are a US Citizen you will have broken the law under the new terms by doing so. If US Citizens go to Cuba and  are caught they risk losing passports and criminal charges. Anyone if free to break any law if you are willing to pay the price.  In the 1990's  the US Government had agents in the Bahamas  watching people boarding the flights to Cuba, if a US Passport holder got on the plane they had issues when they returned to the Untied States.  

 

You will still have to pass through customs and you will be asked where are you returning from, and show your ticket.  Highly unlikely any American will get away with it.

[gerelmx]

The logical thing would be that also the stops in Nicaragua (San Juan del Sur) were prohibited.

[Colo Cruiser]

9 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Anyone can go to Cuba any time you want to.  Just don't cruise but do a land trip which is much better anyway.  You fly to Canada and then fly to Cuba.  The US government can't stop you from doing that trip.

 

DON

Right.  

[kennicott]

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 2:49 PM, Expat Cruise said:

If you are a US Citizen you will have broken the law under the new terms by doing so. If US Citizens go to Cuba and  are caught they risk losing passports and criminal charges. Anyone if free to break any law if you are willing to pay the price.  In the 1990's  the US Government had agents in the Bahamas  watching people boarding the flights to Cuba, if a US Passport holder got on the plane they had issues when they returned to the Untied States.  

 

What I still don't understand is that did these “new” Trump rules change anything from what they were prior to Obama opening things up? I know a lot of folks who traveled to Cuba through Canada before Obama. Since we wanted to go I spent some time checking with some of them to find out what they thought.

 

 

Nobody had problems with immigrations or government "gum shoes" looking for them later. Most had researched it out and checked with others who traveled there prior to making the decision to go, no problems.  Most said they thought it was completely legal to travel like that then, except you couldn't travel there from the U.S. or return to the U.S. but if something happened in Cuba to you one better not expect the US to intervene on your behalf.

 

[capriccio]

2 hours ago, kennicott said:

 

Nobody had problems with immigrations or government "gum shoes" looking for them later.

 

 

Not 'nobody.'  Anyone with a security clearance would have to report the travel, at the very least, when the clearance was up for renewal.  Many government and contractor jobs with security clearances (both my DH and I fell into that category before retirement) had a requirement to request permission to travel BEFORE going anywhere overseas.  Obviously permission was pro forma for many countries but obviously not for Cuba.

[kennicott]

6 hours ago, capriccio said:

Not 'nobody.'  Anyone with a security clearance would have to report the travel, at the very least, when the clearance was up for renewal. 

 

In the context of my post what I meant by "nobody", is that nobody (those I talked to) that traveled to Cuba or in their research, prior to going, found that nobody (those they talked to) had such challenges or were aware of any. Poor choice of words on my part. I certainly didn't mean to imply that universally no one ever had a visitation problem travelling to Cuba since I certainly can understand where some travelers might have ran into pertinent negative predicaments.

 

I used to run an airport where we had significant volumes of international passenger flights and consequently many customs and immigrations personnel around. Later on, I used to teach airport security and certification to airport personnel. I agree with you, government can be fickle, so anticipate the worst.