NCLH got the green light for all three of its brands: Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Oceania's Marina will be the first to sail, from PortMiami, on March 7. Regent's Seven Seas Mariner will call on Havana in April during two cruises. And Norwegian Sky will offer a selection of four-day cruises to Havana in May.
Royal Caribbean International plans to offer multiple itineraries from Florida to Havana, with specifics to be announced in the near future. No ship was mentioned, but it's likely to be Empress of the Seas. Azamara Club Cruises is the company's other brand that was approved.
For Cuban-American Frank Del Rio, who founded Oceania Cruises, it's an especially proud moment.
'This is truly a dream come true for me and I cannot wait for our loyal guests to experience the sights and sounds of my hometown of Havana and get to know its rich culture and its warm and welcoming residents,' said Del Rio, president and ceo, NCLH.
Full itinerary details and on-sale dates will be available tomorrow for Oceania Cruises, later this month for Regent Seven Seas Cruises and on Dec. 20 for Norwegian Cruise Line.
It is important to note that approvals are for limited periods—in the case of NCLH, only through the May sailings.
For his part, RCL chairman and ceo Richard Fain said: 'Our guests have expressed real interest in having the opportunity to experience Cuba, and we look forward to bringing them there. Our discussions with our travel partners indicate that Cuba is a destination that appeals to a new generation of travelers,' he added.
All the cruises approved today will facilitate people-to-people exchanges as permitted by current US regulations.
The approvals come as US-based companies have been hoping to firm deals with the Cuban government before the Trump administration takes over in the US. President-elect Donald Trump has indicated he may roll back some of President Obama's initiatives with Cuba.
Other companies, including Carnival Corp. & plc, Pearl Seas Cruises and Victory Cruise Lines, have been hoping for approvals, as well.
'We are very optimistic about Pearl Seas receiving approval from Cuba and will have a formal announcement tomorrow,' spokeswoman Christine Schrager told Seatrade Cruise News.
Victory president and ceo Bruce Nierenberg said his company is working on arrangements with Cuban authorities. 'For us it's not super critical whether we start in January or February or March. Most important is to start, and we expect to this winter. We are getting lots of demand, not just for this winter but for the fall 2017 and next winter, 2018,' he said.
Earlier this year Carnival Corp. became the first US operator to sail from Florida to Cuba with its Fathom brand. Fathom's Adonia is visiting Cuba every other week through spring.
Recently, in disclosing Fathom would be discontinued as a cruise brand, Carnival Corp. & plc indicated it was in talks with Cuba about sending another ship, and over the weekend ceo Arnold Donald told the CruiseOne/Cruises Inc. national conference that Carnival doesn't have permission to sail to Cuba beyond April.
Although the deployments are limited initially and it's going to take several years for infrastructure to ramp up to take more and bigger ships, Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder thinks Cuba 'should enhance overall collective industry Caribbean net yields.' He thinks eastern Caribbean itineraries will benefit but that Cuba could weigh on Bahamas and western Caribbean itineraries.
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