Cuban-born tourists are left at the dock when ships lift anchor for homeland
When the Carnival Corp. ship Adonia leaves port on May 1, becoming the first U.S.-based cruise ship to sail to Cuba in more than 50 years, it will carry no Cuban-born passengers.
Based on an arrangement with the Cuban government, Carnival said anyone born on the island won’t be issued a ticket. Such a restriction doesn’t exist for airline flights to the communist country.
“Cuba has a long-standing regulation that no Cuban-born individuals are allowed to travel from anywhere in the world to and from Cuba by ship,” Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell said. “This regulation applies to all cruise lines, ferries and any form of shipping planning to travel to and from Cuba.”
The ban isn’t new but has received fresh attention as potential customers were unable to book passage to Cuba after Carnival representatives discovered that their U.S. passports listed Cuba as their birthplace.
What appeared to be Carnival’s acquiescence has spurred protests in Miami, where the company is based, and a class-action lawsuit filed by two Cuban-born men who claim their civil rights were violated because they weren’t allowed to buy tickets for the Adonia cruise.
Frizzell said the suit is without merit, and Carnival is “actively working … to pursue a change in the regulation that puts cruising on the same footing as aircraft travel is today in Cuba.”
The Cuban embassy in Washington didn’t respond to calls or emails about its regulation, which dates to the Cold War era.
Carnival’s opportunity to sell Cuban cruises followed the Obama administration’s move to improve relations with the Cuban government and ease travel restrictions that were in place for decades, although the U.S. trade embargo remains.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is considering applications from United, American, Southwest, JetBlue and other carriers to launch 20 daily round-trip flights to Havana, and 10 flights to nine smaller airports across Cuba.
The airlines are so eager to win those routes, which are predicted to be heavily booked, that they’ve been taking potshots at each other during the formal response period. The agency plans to announce its decision this summer.
Cruise line executives have said they expect future Cuba sailings to provide a boost for the industry and increase business to other Caribbean destinations.
Among those vying for Cuban routes is Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which like Carnival is based in Miami. Norwegian Chief Executive Frank Del Rio was born in Cuba and therefore wouldn’t be allowed to take one of his own company’s voyages.
A spokeswoman for the company said it would be premature to comment since Norwegian has not been approved to sail to Cuba. But Del Rio last month appeared on CNBC and enthused about taking that first cruise someday.
“I’ll be on that bridge, I might even be driving that ship myself,” Del Rio quipped.
Critics of Cuba’s Castro regime say the restrictions on Cuban-born travelers is a sign that Cuba wants to limit the influence of Cuban-American visitors on its population.
Armando Azarloza, a Los Angeles marketing executive whose father was held as a political prisoner in Cuban in 1961, said he suspects the Castro government is keeping restrictions on Cuban-born travelers to prevent them from encouraging family members on the island to speak out against the government.
“It’s a manifestation of what is really behind their agenda,” he said.
Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute and a professor of anthropology at Florida International University, said he has found no documentation released by the Cuban government explaining the restriction.
The ban is puzzling, he said, because the Cuban government doesn’t place limitations on U.S.-born relatives of Cubans traveling by ship.
“It doesn’t have any logical base on which to say this person can’t go on the cruise ship but this other person who is related can,” he said.
Duany said he suspects that the Cuban government limits Cuban-born visitors on cruise ships because it doesn’t have the personnel at cruise ports to screen them.
Carnival announced in March that it had been given approval by the Cuban government to begin regular cruises to Cuba, starting May 1. The first ship, the Adonia, part of the company’s Fathom cruise brand, will leave from Miami, carrying 704 passengers for a weeklong trip.
A second company, French luxury line Ponant, has since received approval to start U.S.-Cuba trips in 2017.
Under federal laws, U.S. travelers must meet 12 specific criteria to visit Cuba, such as journalistic activities, professional research, public performances or family visits, among other categories.
hugo.martin@latimes.com | Twitter: @hugomartin
