The ship - with 700 passengers aboard - is scheduled to glide into the port of Havana on Monday, its first stop on the communist-run island.
MIAMI: The first US cruise ship bound for Cuba in half a
century set sail from Florida on Sunday (May 1), marking a new milestone
in the rapprochement between Washington and Havana.
The Adonia, a vessel from the Carnival cruise's Fathom line,
raised its anchors and departed from Miami, the heart of the Cuban
diaspora in the United States, around 4pm (2000 GMT).
The ship - with 700 passengers aboard - is scheduled to
glide into the port of Havana on Monday, its first stop on the
communist-run island.
"To be a part of truly making history and preparing for an
even more positive future for everyone is one of the greatest honours
any company can have," Carnival Corporation chief executive Arnold
Donald said.
The voyage is the first of what Carnival says will become
week-long cruises to Cuba twice a month, with the goal of promoting
cultural exchange between the two countries following a warming of ties
that began in December 2014 and culminated last year with the
restoration of full diplomatic ties.
"Fathom offers a truly historic opportunity for travel to
Cuba: a chance to help build new bridges to a rich and vibrant culture
that, until now, most US travellers have only seen in photographs," the
cruise ship's web page says.
Uncertainty over whether the cruise would take place cleared
up only last week, when the Cuban government under Raul Castro lifted
restrictions for seaborne visits of Cubans to and from the United
States, opening a door for Cuban-Americans born on the island to board
the ships.
Carnival initially refused to accept reservations from such
people because of Cuban restrictions first imposed when the island's
Communist regime feared landings by anti-Castro militants.
The cruise line's policy prompted charges of discrimination amid a firestorm of criticism.
Carnival, the world's leading tour ship operator, eventually
relented and began to allow reservations from Cuban-born customers. But
its conditions to start the visits were for Cuba to allow its citizens
to sail freely.
Cuba ultimately backed down after intense negotiations as
part of the normalization process, which culminated in President Barack
Obama's visit to Cuba in March.
'ALWAYS WANTED TO VISIT'
Lifting the restrictions only very recently limited the number of Cuban-born passengers on the cruise ship Sunday.
Among them was Isabel Buznego, 61, who left the island when she was five and was returning for the first time.
"My dad wanted to come because he had never been able to
come, but he passed away," she said. "So I'm coming in his name. That is
why I have so many different emotions, but I am mostly happy."
Another passenger, Regina Patterson, 58, from Delaware, said
she wanted to travel on the cruise because it was historic. "And it is a
place I always wanted to visit," she said of Cuba. "I want to see how
they live, the music, what they eat, and shopping, shopping, shopping!"
Adonia has scheduled cultural activities in its ports of
call in Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba, including meetings with
artists, musicians and business owners, as well as dance classes and
guided tours.
That is significant because full-scale regular US tourism to
Cuba is still banned under the US trade embargo, which remains in force
despite the diplomatic thaw. For the time being, Americans can travel
to communist Cuba only for cultural, academic, sports-related or
religious events.
Carnival is the first cruise line company to win permission
from both governments to offer trips, which ended after the Cuban
revolution of 1959. The cost of a ticket on the cruise ranges from
US$1,800 to US$7,000 per person.
Regular flights from the United States to Cuba are expected to begin later this year.
- AFP/ec
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