Norwegian on verge of receiving approval for Cuba cruises

ABOARD THE
SEVEN SEAS EXPLORER — Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) is on the verge of
receiving permission from authorities in Havana to sail to Cuba, company CEO
Frank Del Rio said.

“I’m
literally waiting for the phone to ring to give the final, final approval,” Del
Rio said in a press briefing on Sunday morning.

The
briefing was held on Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ newest ship as it was docked in
Sardinia. Regent, Oceania Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line make up the
three brands in the NCLH portfolio.

Del Rio
said he has tentative approval to begin cruises to Cuba with the 684-passenger
Oceania Regatta before the end of 2016. That would be followed by cruises
aboard another Oceania ship, the 1,260-passenger Marina, in 2017.

Del Rio
also hinted that Norwegian Cruise Line, which sails much larger ships, would
also get approval to sail from Miami to Havana and elsewhere.

He told a group of travel agents on Seven Seas Explorer that
the Norwegian Sky would be used in Cuba service.

“We will
have a variety of itineraries,” Del Rio said. “We will have a ship dedicated
that will do circumnavigation. We have itineraries that normally go to the
Western Caribbean that will now call on Havana as a stop.”

He said
another possibility is a stop in Havana on transits through the Panama Canal.

“We want
to use Havana as much as possible on anything in the broad Caribbean basin
because we think it is a star attraction,” Del Rio said.

Norwegian
had previously said it had applications pending with the Cuban government to
start service. The first cruise line to get approval to dock in Cuba on a
cruise from the United States was Carnival Corp., which dispatched a ship from
its new Fathom brand to go there in May.

Since
Carnival Corp. gained approval to operate Fathom voyages, no other cruise lines have been granted Cuban
government permission to sail to Cuba.