Cuba cruises nixed

[cruiserking]

5 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

Are you sure? You are still allowed to fly or even swim there if you are capable, just not cruise.

That's not the point. I paid over $3,000 to take a cruise there. Now, in addition to not going to Cuba, I don't even know if I will be refunded our cruise fare. It is infuriating that the government made not attempt to take peoples upcoming travel plans into account. There is not threat of danger in Cuba. It is purely a political stunt by an out control tyrant. 

 

Jonathan

[sail7seas]

35 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

No one is stopping you to go to Cuba. You just cannot cruise there from a US port. 

 

 

Exactly !

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by sail7seas

[sail7seas]

56 minutes ago, cruiserking said:

Yes, the U.S. government has stopped all of us from traveling to Cuba, many of whom have paid their full fare. Now these Cuba cruises are being re-routed to the Western Caribbean. It's idiotic and uncalled for. Just a spiteful way to eradicate everything that was achieved years ago by another administration. 

 

Jonathan

How nice to see you posting Jonathan,  I've missed seeing any posts from you.  Welcome   back.

1 hour ago, sfaaa said:

Are you sure? You are still allowed to fly or even swim there if you are capable, just not cruise.

  No private yachts from  U.S. are permitted to sail there now.

 

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

[cruiserking]

15 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

How nice to see you posting Jonathan,  I've missed seeing any posts from you.  Welcome   back.

  No private yachts from  U.S. are permitted to sail there now.

 

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Hi Sail, thank you very much. Been a while since we've sailed on HAL. Eager to try out the Nieuw Statendam. Wish they would port a ship back in Manhattan again for the Caribbean like those great old voyages we all enjoyed on board the Noordam!

 

Jonathan

[sail7seas]

2 minutes ago, cruiserking said:

Hi Sail, thank you very much. Been a while since we've sailed on HAL. Eager to try out the Nieuw Statendam. Wish they would port a ship back in Manhattan again for the Caribbean like those great old voyages we all enjoyed on board the Noordam!

 

Jonathan

BOSTON,     ..   port a ship to Caribbean in Boston 12months/ year   🙂

 

 

Get   Noordam back  from  Australia.

 

I'd sail Boston to Caribbean any month of the year,  especially on Noordam  🙂

 

 

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

[AdventureKenandCar]

Direct from Royal Caribbean:

 

Cuba Travel Policy Update - June 05, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. (EDT)

 

Effective immediately, the U.S. government has implemented new regulations that prohibits travel from the U.S. to Cuba by cruise ship. This change requires us to immediately replace all Cuban ports. For all 2019 sailings on both Majesty of the Seas and Empress of the Seas, we have secured alternative ports and we are in the process of communicating the new itineraries to our guests and travel partners. For these guests, they will have the option of remaining on their sailing with the new itinerary and receiving a 50% refund or they may cancel their cruise and receive a full refund.

For 2020 sailings on both Majesty and Empress of the Seas, we are working to secure alternative itineraries and expect to be able to communicate to our guests and travel partners within the next week. 

We are sorry for this unexpected and sudden change to our guests’ upcoming vacations and appreciate their understanding. 

[cruiserking]

Egad, the Noordam is all the way in Australia?! 

Bring her back and loaded with Tims Tams please!

 

Which ship cruises from Boston, is still Veendam?

 

Will have to look into that. 

 

Where are you cruising to next Sail?

 

Jonathan

[mamaofami]

Looks like RCI is giving a 50% refund to those who still take the cruise with a substituted port and 100% refund to those who cancel. Wonder what HAL will do?

 

Hi Judy, nice to see you posting again.

 

 

Edited June 5, 2019 by mamaofami

[BethKel]

31 minutes ago, AdventureKenandCar said:

Direct from Royal Caribbean:

 

Cuba Travel Policy Update - June 05, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. (EDT)

 

Effective immediately, the U.S. government has implemented new regulations that prohibits travel from the U.S. to Cuba by cruise ship. This change requires us to immediately replace all Cuban ports. For all 2019 sailings on both Majesty of the Seas and Empress of the Seas, we have secured alternative ports and we are in the process of communicating the new itineraries to our guests and travel partners. For these guests, they will have the option of remaining on their sailing with the new itinerary and receiving a 50% refund or they may cancel their cruise and receive a full refund.

For 2020 sailings on both Majesty and Empress of the Seas, we are working to secure alternative itineraries and expect to be able to communicate to our guests and travel partners within the next week. 

We are sorry for this unexpected and sudden change to our guests’ upcoming vacations and appreciate their understanding. 

 

Interesting!  I haven't received this notice yet and I'm on the Majesty in July (or I was).  If cruise is refundable, great, but if they change OUT of Key West, I doubt my snorkle trip (private tour booked just TWO days ago) is.  Also, probably not refundable airfare. Gah.

[Rosmerta]

And it has cut the incomes of thousands of hardworking Cubans who set up family-owned restaurants, shops, and stands. When we were there for two weeks in February on a land tour, we met so many artists selling work, musicians hired by hotels to play at every meal, taxi drivers, pedal cab drivers, maids making money for their families. Although people from other countries have been going to Cuba since the 1990s, these people's lives had been changed by the influx of US tourism. This wasn't the government but the individual citizens. I'll find another cruise, and I'm sorry others in the States are being put in this position, but really I'm heartbroken for the Cuban people.

[AncientWanderer]

Not referring to Cuba particularly, but just in general, if the government tells me I can't travel somewhere, I'm more than happy to cooperate.  I have to assume that the State Department is privy to more information than I am, no matter how much research I might do.   And they can't always divulge what they know.

 

I don't really think this necessarily applies to the current "no travel" order to Cuba, but just generally speaking.

 

Still, I'm sorry that many out there have been disappointed.  🙁

[Wyoming2010]

Sorry if my "political" comments offended anyone, but as you can tell I am passionate about this situation.  It was my husband's number one bucket list, planned it for 18 months and prayed his health would hold out to go.  Now with no end in site even in 2020, he may never get to fulfill this 40+ year dream.  It is what it is -- we will find another trip to take.  😥

[lderochi]

Just cancelled, HAL refunded my deposit, which had been non-refundable. 

[sapper1]

5 hours ago, sfaaa said:

No one is stopping you to go to Cuba. You just cannot cruise there from a US port. 

Americans used to be able to travel to Cuba from Canada but I found out that has changed since the last time I was in Cuba. 

I am a Canadian citizen whose mother didn’t make it home to Canada in time so I was born in the US and ,within a few weeks, brought back to Canada. I am a US citizen as a result but as a Canadian I have stayed at all inclusive resorts in Cuba in the past.  

 

A few few months ago I was browsing trips on the website of the Canadian company we have used in the past for trips to Cuba. I got a pop up asking if I had US citizenship and when I answered yes I could not book.  

 

I called my TA and she said they are not allowed to book anyone who was born in the States in an all inclusive vacation to Cuba any longer. Even though I have been Canadian all my life, a foreign government can put a virtual ankle bracelet on me and restrict my rights as a Canadian.  That seems rather Draconian to me. 

[Kingofcool1947]

30 minutes ago, sapper1 said:

Americans used to be able to travel to Cuba from Canada but I found out that has changed since the last time I was in Cuba. 

I am a Canadian citizen whose mother didn’t make it home to Canada in time so I was born in the US and ,within a few weeks, brought back to Canada. I am a US citizen as a result but as a Canadian I have stayed at all inclusive resorts in Cuba in the past.  

 

A few few months ago I was browsing trips on the website of the Canadian company we have used in the past for trips to Cuba. I got a pop up asking if I had US citizenship and when I answered yes I could not book.  

 

I called my TA and she said they are not allowed to book anyone who was born in the States in an all inclusive vacation to Cuba any longer. Even though I have been Canadian all my life, a foreign government can put a virtual ankle bracelet on me and restrict my rights as a Canadian.  That seems rather Draconian to me. 

 

What passport do you hold?

[sapper1]

15 minutes ago, Kingofcool1947 said:

 

What passport do you hold?

I have always had a Canadian passport but my country of birth is noted on it. 

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, sapper1 said:

I called my TA and she said they are not allowed to book anyone who was born in the States in an all inclusive vacation to Cuba any longer.

Sounds like a policy that travel agency might have instituted.  I'm not sure the TA would be the final word in this.

[Shmoo here]

Just received this from HAL:

We are in the process of finalizing an updated itinerary and new pricing and will reach out to you or your travel advisor by June 15, 2019 with the details once they are confirmed. We hope that you will still join us for a memorable cruise in the Caribbean.

 

As a gesture of goodwill and gratitude for your understanding, guests on this voyage will receive a shipboard credit of $100 USD per person applied to their onboard account in addition to receiving new pricing.

 

Should you wish to instead switch to an alternate Caribbean voyage we will be happy to rebook you, and will you receive a shipboard credit of $100 USD per person applied to your onboard account. If you would prefer to rebook to a non-Caribbean sailing you will receive a $50 USD per person shipboard credit. Alternatively, should you choose to cancel, you will of course receive a full refund of all monies paid to Holland America Line.

 

Any shore excursions booked through Holland America Line for the Cuban ports will be refunded, and the taxes, fees and port expenses will be adjusted as necessary. The Cuban visa fee will not be charged.

[slidergirl]

3 hours ago, Judyrem said:

This is a travel forum FULL STOP!

Oh, only certain people can make a political statement and then bash others.  Pretty hypocritical.   

 

The Cuba re-embargo is a political decision with no real purpose.  BUT, it is relevant here because it has caught thousands of cruisers without the cruise they wanted.  AND it punishes those local Cubans who have relied on tourist traffic.   

I do not rely or trust the US State Department on it's travel warnings.  If I listened to those, I'd never travel anywhere.  

 

[jakkojakko]

Being a part of Carnival and ships registered in Holland, could HAL redeploy Veendam's homebase to for instance Curacao and do the cuba cruises from there, bypassing the states? Would americans then be allowed to fly there and do the cruise?

[Wyoming2010]

13 hours ago, Rosmerta said:

And it has cut the incomes of thousands of hardworking Cubans who set up family-owned restaurants, shops, and stands. When we were there for two weeks in February on a land tour, we met so many artists selling work, musicians hired by hotels to play at every meal, taxi drivers, pedal cab drivers, maids making money for their families. Although people from other countries have been going to Cuba since the 1990s, these people's lives had been changed by the influx of US tourism. This wasn't the government but the individual citizens. I'll find another cruise, and I'm sorry others in the States are being put in this position, but really I'm heartbroken for the Cuban people.

 

After the dust settled and I got home from work, I found myself feeling truly depressed.  I attributed it to the fact that we lost this great opportunity to visit Cuba.  But then it dawned on me the other factor -- I have spent a year talking with all the tour guides I booked with in each port, getting itineraries set, talking about their area and learning about them.  I suddenly feel so sad that I won't get to meet them and take our tours with them and hear about their history. 

 

[still have not heard from Oceania, and nothing is posted on their website!]

Edited June 6, 2019 by Wyoming2010

[Wehwalt]

1 hour ago, jakkojakko said:

Being a part of Carnival and ships registered in Holland, could HAL redeploy Veendam's homebase to for instance Curacao and do the cuba cruises from there, bypassing the states? Would americans then be allowed to fly there and do the cruise?

Don't see how that's different from, say, the US citizens who would go to Cuba from Canada or Mexico, something that has been understood to be a bit dodgy. And I don't think the US would be impressed with CCL's actions and there might be consequences.

 

Also, cruisers are not going to be on fire to do something that could cause them trouble with the US government post-cruise or even later. Bolton was pretty clear that the intent was to block tourism not declared as such.

 

I feel for those who are being disappointed, though. I was able to go when things were looser and it was a great experience.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Wehwalt

[iancal]

I can think of at least four wonderful independent land trips that we would have missed had we followed the questionable  travel advice/warnings of the State Dept.   Our practice is to connect with people on the ground in the country where we want to travel in order to get their assessment.  Often their comments are at variance with those travel notices and with the news network coverage of events in those countries.

Edited June 6, 2019 by iancal

[Wyoming2010]

1 hour ago, Lady President said:

 

What an unkind thing to say!  For us, we have limited vacation time and worked our calendars around taking a cruise to Cuba.   We have to find another vacation or go to islands we've seen on a ship that doesn't interest us much. Other people may have limited financial means and non-refundable plane tickets.  I think it's fair to allow people to be upset for a bit.

 

It seems especially insensitive considering there are posts of you "belly aching" about service dogs, overcrowded buses, and the lack of inventory in HAL shops....

 

Well said.  My work place requires a year's notice of extended trips (more than a week), which I got.  Now if we don't go and want to change the dates for a different trip, I may not be able to get approved on such short notice -- not even addressing the monies we will lose for cancellation or administration fees, deposits made for condos, and changing foreign currency back.  This wasn't just your normal cruise to the Caribbean where your choices are limited -- this required extensive research on each port because they were unique and historical and full of things to see and we didn't want to miss anything.  And we knew it was a one shot deal (for us).  It was a lot of work -- for nothing.  That's just how we feel.  We'll get over it -- we have to -- but it still is a shock to the system. 

Edited June 6, 2019 by Wyoming2010

[AncientWanderer]

Just with regard to State Department travel advisories, a "Do Not Go" warning is very rare indeed.  And they do give specifics about where their own personnel are allowed to travel within any given geographical location -- safer zones, so to speak.  I find this to be a useful addition to other information I gather when making travel plans.  I also do as cruisemom42 suggested -- look at UK advisories.  All good information.  I personally don't go to "do not go" areas, but that's certainly a personal choice.