Oceania Cruises could dock in Cuban ports in the coming months, Frank Del Rio, the CEO of the line’s parent company – Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings – announced.
“I am literally waiting for the telephone to ring to get the final approval. The operations are immanent as soon as we get the green light” USA Today quotes. According to the site Crew Center, the company is waiting for the permission from the Havana authorities to sail to Cuba in November 2016.
In front of a group of reporters on the new Regent Seven Seas Explorer, presented as the most luxurious cruiser, Del Rio announced that the company had already got tentative approval to begin sailings to Cuba in its 684-passenger boat.
Moreover, he let it be known that there would be at least one more boat from the company running trips to the island from the coming year. The Marina, with a capacity of 2,500 passengers has tentatively been approved to begin voyages to Cuba at the beginning of 2017: “there is also one more surprise that we haven’t made public yet (…) There will be other ships from the Norwegian Line Holdings fleet that have been approved to go to Cuba in 2017”, he said.
The CEO referred to Cuba’s potential in the cruise ship business, stating that “It’s a destination that will appeal across the (…) contemporary space, the premium space, the luxury space,” he said. “It’s an incredible place
Frank Del Rio was born in Cuba but his family abandoned the country in the 1960s. He only visited the country last September and said he was surprised by what he saw.
(Cuba) has a little bit of everything. It is a big country. (It has) nine areas that are recognised by UNESCO as world heritage sites, more than the rest of the Caribbean put together, more than the USA (…) it’s got rivers, mountains, lakes…
“We’re 200 miles from Miami, the cruise ship capital of the world. This is a big, long island, really suited to voyages due to the relationship between the distances and the time it takes to traverse them. The country has six UNESCO heritage sites, more than the whole of the USA and the Caribbean together. Cuba has everything: beaches, mountains, river, culture, art, food…And the American passenger is dying to see Cuba!”, he commented in an exclusive with OnCuba in September 2015.
Del Rio said his company planned a variety of Cuba itineraries. One ship will be dedicated to circumnavigations of Cuba, while others will stop at the Cuban capital of Havana as part of Western Caribbean itineraries, he said. There also will be Panama Canal cruises that feature a stop in Havana, he added.
We want to use Havana as much as possible in any venture into the wide basin of the Caribbean. We believe that it is a stellar attraction.
The thaw in relations between the USA and Cuba over the past two years has prompted more than half a dozen cruise lines that cater to North Americans to pursue approval for Cuba trips.. Since summer 2015 the company tried to get permission so that its brand may navigate the island. Then Del Rio confessed to OnCuba:
My ultimate dream to realise is to enter the Bay of Havana at the front of my ship, and it gives me shivers just thinking about it….
However, the first big cruise line to arrive was Carnival, which docked in the Havana port last May 2nd with the Fathom brand and the luxury vessel of Adonia. 704 passengers will mark the reopening of the maritime route between the two countries after almost six decades. It was also the first time in a similar time period that people born in Cuba could legally sail to and from the island.
Very informative article and Frank Del Rio sounds sincere. Let’s hope we have a constructive, two-way exchange.