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Tags: Travel News / Cuba / Cuba Travel / Political Travel / → All Tags

Does The 'Freedom To Travel To Cuba Act' Have a Chance?

We alluded to the Cuba travel embargo this morning in our Biggest Hotspot Of The Decade post, and rumors of its imminent demise have certainly been picking up. Reuters reported last week that travel industry insiders—the people who have a financial incentive to be on the cutting edge—are gearing up for Congress to lift travel restrictions.

Not coincidentally there's a bill winding its way through Congress that aims to do exactly that. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act seems to be within striking distance of passing the House and it's lined up some powerful figures in the Senate. Obviously travel industry blogs are keeping an extremely close eye on the legislation, and Travel Agent Central has a nice survey of the political landscape:

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Tags: New Routes / Caribbean Travel / Cuba Travel / St Maarten Travel / WestJet / Canada Travel / Toronto Travel / Airlines / Airline News / → All Tags

WestJet Launches Cuba And St. Maarten, Non-Stops Away From Canadian Winter

Starting from last Sunday, Toronto travelers in search of warmth have had two new options courtesy of Canadian low cost carrier WestJet. Last week the airline announced they were launching nonstops to Varadero, Cuba and St Maarten, and the first flights duly took off over the weekend.

The company issued separate press releases for the St Maarten and Cuba routes, each identical except for the obviously made up location-specific quotes from Hugh Dunleavy, WestJet Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Planning. That doesn't make WestJet's announcement any less exciting. It just kind of made us giggle.

Both new routes have flights three times per week, and both last only until April 29, 2010. Presumably that's the date they expect Toronto to thaw, with all the consequences for demand that would portend. They're promising more "sun destination" announcements in the coming days though, so maybe those will last past the winter months.

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Tags: Cuba Travel / Havana / LAX / Continental / New Routes / → All Tags

LAX Direct To Havana From $689; Cuba Libres Not Included

Light a cigar in celebration, since yesterday marked the first day of direct flights to Havana, Cuba from LAX. Obama relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba back in April, allowing people to visit their relatives in Cuba and resume educational and journalistic travel to the Communist nation, but it takes some time to put the direct flights into place to get them there.

According to USA Today's Today In the Sky, the weekly flights are chartered by Cuba Travel Services of Long Beach, and flown on a Continental Airlines 737-800, which can accomodate 150 passengers, Perhaps Continental should consider putting their retro-liveried planes on this route just for kicks.

If your papers are in order, you can book one of the roundtrips starting at $689 and settle in for the five-hour flight landing in Havana at 7:25pm EST, perfect timing for dinner with the family you haven't seen in forever or just for kicking back with a few cuba libres.

Related Stories:
· Continental begins flights between LAX, Havana Today [Today In the Sky]
· Obama eases Cuba travel restrictions [CNN]
· Cuba Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Samuel Negredo]

Tags: Cuba Travel / Orbitz / Travel Websites / Travel to Cuba / Havana / → All Tags

Orbitz Already Campaigning for Your Cuba Travel Dollars

Travel booking website Orbitz is not about to waste any time getting their foot on the door with travelers drooling over the possibility of making landfall in Cuba soon. On March 10, President Obama signed a bill to ease travel restrictions for Cuban Americans heading home to visit family, amongst other changes. On March 11, Orbitz had launched their website petition to open the floodgates to all tourism.

The "Open Cuba" campaign is simple enough: enter your name, state, postal code and email address, and choose if you'd like to receive further news about the campaign or emails from Orbitz about travel deals.

Aha! The entering the email part; that's where they get you! Their mailing list gets padded, they get free publicity, and you feel as though you have participated in history. That is, until you begin receiving Orbitz deal emails when you have no intention of booking a 3-star all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta. You just want some Cuba time, damnit.

Until JFK to Havana direct flights look more feasible, we're going to hold back on the online signature. After all, the only thing we're in the mood to sign after checking out their website is the receipt for a box of Cohibas.

Related Stories:
· Open Cuba [Orbitz]
· Travel firm to Obama: Open up Cuba [Guardian UK]
· Cuba Travel Internet Campaign Begins [Havana Times]
· Cuba Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JohnnyPinball]

Tags: Know the Law / Cuba Travel / Politics / Congress / Barack Obama / → All Tags

Cuba Travel is Getting Closer, But Still Slightly Sketchy For Most

Ever since Senator Obama became President Obama, travelers in the US have been wondering when the doors to Cuba would open. A couple weeks ago there was some talk about the country easing rules on travel to Cuba, and yesterday, we got one step closer. Congress signed a spending bill that the President is expected to sign today, that among other things, will allow easier family travel to Cuba.

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Tags: Know the Law / Cuba Travel / Politics / Congress / Barack Obama / → All Tags

Obama Set to Ease Cuba Rules; Full-Scale Travel on the Way Soon?

President Obama's semi-State of the Union speech this week left the world with all kinds of questions—When's he gonna end the war? Will his housing plan work? Just how is he planning to cure cancer anyway? But in the travel community, we're still most anxious about just one thing—Is he gonna let us go to Cuba or what?

We’re not buying our tickets to Jose Marti Airport just year, but Washington is inching towards allowing Cuba travel. Congress is expected to pass a budget bill this week, which Obama has said he will sign, that includes language loosening restrictions on Cuba travel imposed by the Bush Administration:

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Tags: Cuba Travel / Communist Travel / → All Tags

Más Mojitos! Cuba Tourism Chugging Along Despite Hurricanes, Global Economic Collapse

As we've mentioned before, most Americans can't legally visit Cuba, but it looks like the rest of the world is having a hell of a holiday down there without us. The communist Caribbean island recently welcomed its two millionth visitor for 2008, marking the fastest it has reached that annual milestone in four years. As the AP reports, Fidel and Raúl didn't single out one passenger in particular for the honor of being number two million. Instead, the Cubans threw parties for passengers arriving at international airports in Havana, Santiago, and Varadero on Friday, November 14, plying them with boozy mojitos and salsa music. We don't dig the Castro regime's heavy-handed treatment of its political adversaries, but who doesn't love a good rum cocktail! The 10.7 percent surge in international visitors is especially impressive considering that the island got rocked by three hurricanes this year and the global economy absconded with everybody's money. To the rest of the world, all I can say is enjoy your Cuban vacations, and maybe we'll be joining you some time in the no so distant future.

[Photo: usacubatravel.com]

Related Stories:
· Cuba Throws Party For 2 Millionth Visitor [msnbc.com]
· Cuba Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Referendums / Cuba Travel / Communist Travel / Barack Obama / John McCain / Chris Dodd / Mike Enzi / → All Tags

Travel Referendums: Considering Cuba

This November 4 is about more than just deciding between McCain and Obama. Other issues that directly affect travelers are up for decision, and this week we're taking a closer look at some of them.

Early in the Democratic primaries, Sen. Christopher Dodd, a returned Peace Corps volunteer, talked up the fact that all the American embargo on Cuba seems to accomplish is getting presidential candidates those 27 electoral votes in the swing state of Florida. We haven't heard much about Cuba policy ever since everyone's money evaporated, but there remain differences between the two possible presidents on whether or not the US should ease its embargo.

Barack Obama brought up the "pander to Cubans in Florida" aspect of campaigning when he spoke in Miami back in May. Before that, he stated that his administration would hold a "series of meetings with low-level diplomats" in Cuba. On the travel tip, though, Obama's policy isn't encouraging to would-be tourists from the US who want to obey the law. His stance on Cuba:

In the case of Cuba, [he and Biden] will empower our best ambassadors of freedom by allowing unlimited Cuban-American family travel and remittances to the island. Using aggressive and principled bilateral diplomacy he will also send an important message: If a post-Fidel government takes significant steps toward democracy, beginning with freeing all political prisoners, the US is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades.

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Tags: Cuba Travel / Communist Travel / → All Tags

I Am Cuba: a Celluloid Journey to the Forbidden Caribbean Isle

As Americans, we can't really travel to Cuba legally, so until the economic embargo is lifted, we'll have to experience the country through the eyes of others. As crummy as that is for the avid Yankee traveler, at least there are a few inspiring films out there that seem to provide a vivid glimpse into the northern Caribbean socialist republic. One of the most interesting of the bunch is a 1964 film entitled I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba), a Soviet/Cuban production depicting the dramatic events of the 1959 revolution.

While their approach to government might elicit a few sharp opinions here and there, there's no question that they knew how to make an inspiring, engaging motion picture. The above clip (if the quality is too lousy, try this one) uses long tracking shots for an zoomy overview of a bourgeois, pre-Fidel era pool party, a farmer burning a sugar cane field, and an austere procession that culminates in the release of a white dove. For a variety of complicated reasons, the movie was a flop in Cuba and the USSR when it came out, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, American directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola became so taken by it that they supported a remastered release. It's hard to watch this clip and not feel transported to Havana for one minute and forty-seven seconds.

Related Stories:
· I Am Cuba [Bright Lights Film Journal]
· Cuba Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Cuba Travel / Restricted Travel / Sunwing Airlines / → All Tags

Cuba Travel: New Options for American Embargo Breakers

While the rest of the world enjoys famous golf courses and lovely beaches, most Americans are stuck dreaming of the day they'll be able to visit Cuba legally. We met a couple a few weeks back that made their illegal trip to Havana via a stop in the Bahamas, but Windsor, Ontario hopes to become the gateway to the forbidden island.

Starting December 18, Sunwing Airlines, which is like the Allegiant Air of Canada, will offer flights to Varadero, Cuba from Windsor Airport, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Detroit. And the airport manager is rolling out the welcome mat for Cuba-bound Americans:

On average, about 50 percent or more of passengers flying to Cuba from Canada are from the US. Given our unique geographic position near Metro Detroit, we're expecting at least that.

Another option will soon be Sunwing service out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, just north of Michigan's UP. Of course, these new flights just add to Sunwing's existing Cuba route network, though they do make it even easier for Americans to skirt Treasury Department rules.

Related Stories:
· Boarding Soon: Cuba Flights from Windsor [Detroit News, via]
· Travel Ban Not Stopping Cuba Tourists [Jaunted]
· Cuba Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: hellosputnik]

Tags: Barack Obama / John McCain / 2008 Candidates Travel / Cuba Travel / Restricted Travel / → All Tags

2008 Candidates Travel: Obama Talks Cuba

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain has been stumping around America, and lately he's been slamming Barack Obama for his position on Cuba. (You'll remember that the Illinois senator wants to ease travel restrictions to the island.)

Hoping to set the record straight, Obama delivered a speech today to the Cuban American National Foundation:

Every four years, [politicians] come down to Miami, they talk tough, they go back to Washington and nothing changes in Cuba. That's what John McCain did the other day.

Obama then laid out his plan for dealing with the island, which isn't exactly what those of us who'd like to visit legally were hoping to hear:

I will immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island ... [but] I will maintain the embargo.

Sounds like we'll be keeping our golf clubs in storage no matter who wins in November.

Related Stories:
· Obama Pledges New Approach to Latin America [Bloomberg]
· Barack Obama coverage [Jaunted]
· 2008 Candidates Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Obama '08]

Tags: Cuba Travel / Restricted Travel / Fidel Castro / Golf / Golf Travel / → All Tags

Golf Travel: Swinging for Cuba

So Americans may be playing less golf, but that doesn't mean it's not a big, ahem, driver of tourism. And now that Fidel's on the way out--and Raul's in charge--at least a dozen golf-and-resort projects are underway around Cuba.

Seems the reason golf never caught on was Castro's taste in sports, though he did once play a game with Che Guevara, above:

Mr. Castro built a state-sponsored sports machine that produced world-famous boxers and baseball players, killer volleyball spikers and fleet-footed runners. But Mr. Castro was never keen on golfers, whose sport reeked of money and Yankee imperialism.

Today, there's only one nine-hole course in the capital, simply called the Havana Golf Club. Thanks to a pricey greens fee of 20 Cuban convertible pesos ($18) it draws more tourists than locals, and soccer great Diego Maradona has been spotted on the links. Also worth a trip is Varadero beach, where one 18-hole course is already open, and another resort is in the works.

Related Stories:
· Hooking Left: Cuba Tees Up Golf's Revival [WSJ]
· Castro Resignation Travel: Can We Go to Cuba Yet? [Jaunted]
· Travel Ban Not Stopping Cuba Tourists [Jaunted]

[Photo: Alberto Korda]