Articles tagged “cuba”

The concept of a cruise to Cuba — even one without typical beach-day shore excursions — is easier to communicate than a social impact trip to the Dominican Republic. Even though voluntourism was the original goal of Fathom, we're not surprised that the cruise line is making the business decision to cater to the highest demand.

As Carnival's experience shows, doing business in Cuba as an American company is complicated — especially in these early days while relations are normalizing but the embargo remains in place. Travel companies catering to U.S. citizens need to be flexible, detail-focused, and patient.

Although Cuba won't say it, the country is ill-prepared for the influx of new visitors and the necessary development.

No combination of cruise ships, Airbnb rentals, state-run hotels, or nuns' quarters will be enough to replace smart tourism development, which Cuba may not yet be capable of carrying out.

If you live in Florida, Silver Airways wants to be your-go to carrier for Cuba. Its plan may just work.

Fathom is a unique product in the cruise space with the backing of cruising's biggest player. It's also just one ship among hundreds in the global cruise industry. With time, and more marketing, it shouldn't be hard for them to find the 600 cruisers each week to fill the MV Adonia.

Marriott is already one of the biggest players in the hospitality industry and in a few months, it'll be the biggest. Whatever the company decides to do — whether that's speaking up for LGBT rights and issues or pushing more direct bookings — is having a larger impact on the industry as a whole, and we spoke with CEO Arne Sorenson for his take on those issues, and other big challenges facing hospitality.

As long as there is a hotel crunch in Cuba, Fathom will remain an incredibly attractive option for many potential visitors to the island.

The tour companies that have been guiding U.S. tourists through Cuba up to now will eventually evolve or go away, but right now when restaurants are full and beds are, too, they may be more valuable than ever.

This decision was down to the wire, but Carnival won in the end.