What to Know
- The Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas pulled into Port Miami before 7 a.m. on Thursday.
Over 1,800 tourists became some of the last potential passengers to sail from Cuba after the Trump administration placed sanctions on cruises to and from the island.
The Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas pulled into Port Miami before 7 a.m. on Thursday, several days after the travel sanctions were announced – having affected over 800,000 reservations and leaving some passengers disgruntled.
Havana was initially a highly anticipated stop for the Empress of the Seas, but was replaced with a stop in Costa Maya, Mexico after the cruise line rerouted the ship earlier this week.
Passengers expressed frustration at the sudden changes, calling them “completely unacceptable”.
Royal Caribbean passengers were not the only ones with fumbled vacation plans. Carnival Cruise Line also substituted all stops in Havana for stops in Cozumel, Mexico with plans to reimburse affected passengers.
Norwegian Cruise Line also said they were working with passengers and travel agents as soon as they received more information.
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The State Department’s press release said that the United States would not allow trips to Cuba through recreational cruise ships and both private and corporate planes.
Commercial flights will continue to operate regularly between the two countries.
