New rules support more U.S. sailings to Cuba, but limits remain

New rules support more U.S. sailings to Cuba, but limits remain
By Tom Stieghorst / September 27, 2015

New rules that took effect this month will give cruise lines and ferry
operators broader latitude to sail between the U.S. and Cuba without
filing for approval each time.
Last week, Cuba travel experts said that these so-called general
licenses could invite more service to Cuba but were unlikely to open the
floodgates to the tourist-oriented cruises the rest of the Caribbean enjoys.
Several cruise lines have announced plans to start or expand cruises to
Cuba. They include Carnival Corp.'s Fathom brand, Haimark Line, Pearl
Seas Cruises and Cuba Cruise by Celestyal Cruises.
Those operations are now authorized under a general license, provided
they meet the other conditions for travel to Cuba that remain in force
under the Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act.
The main condition is that travelers engage only in one of 12 sanctioned
types of "purposeful travel," such as cultural exchange, professional
research, education or humanitarian projects.
"That still will be followed to the letter of the law," said Bruce
Nierenberg, president of United Caribbean Lines, a ferry operator
planning cruises to Cuba from Miami in partnership with Haimark Line.
Nierenberg said the rules won't have much if any impact on cruise lines,
other than to make it easier to do business in Cuba overall.
"There will be some very significant, better circumstances for
transferring funds, doing business [and] opening offices," Nierenberg
said. "So anyone doing business with a Cuban product is going to have a
much easier time."
He said cruising to Cuba remains limited both by the ban on Americans
doing leisure tourism there and by a rule that general licenses allow
travel between the U.S. and Cuba only.
"If you're going on a ship, you're going to need to leave from the
United States, go to Cuba and come back to the United States without any
third ports," he said. "You can't run this as a typical Caribbean cruise
with Havana as a port of call. They are really going to be very strict
about that."
Vessels operating under general licenses will also be able to provide
lodging services "to, from or within Cuba, including when docked in a
port in Cuba," according to a Q&A produced by the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Asset Control.
Although the rules ease the burden for cruise providers with an eye on
Cuba, authorization from the Cuban government for entry has been slow in
coming.
Maurice Zarmati, former president and CEO of Costa Cruises North
America, said the delays on the Cuban side are likely due to
bureaucratic sluggishness. "The wheels turn very slowly," he said.
Nierenberg said capacity and security issues also come into play.
"They're very security conscious down there, and rightfully so," he
said. "They have one of the tightest and most professional security
organizations in the world."
The new rules also won't have much impact on inbound tourism from Cuba,
which would be a pick-up for many suppliers in the U.S.
Several years ago, Cuba broadened access to travel visas for the U.S.,
but visas are still required, and some Cubans still can't get them under
rules designed to "preserve the skilled workforce and protect official
information," in the words of a Cuban report.
Most Cubans travel to the U.S. to visit friends and relatives in
southern Florida. Cathy Keefe, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Travel
Association, which promotes foreign travel to the U.S., said the number
of in-bound tourists from Cuba is insignificant.
"The ability of many Cubans to travel to the U.S. is so limited that
it's not a top issue for us at this time," she said.

Source: New rules support more U.S. sailings to Cuba, but limits remain:
Travel Weekly -
http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/New-rules-support-more-US-sailings-to-Cuba-but-limits-remain