On Our Decision to Cancel our Cuba Immersion Tour

Yes you can still fly to Cuba. You may even be able to go by ship. We are learning today that even the cruise ships are substituting other ports instead to Havana, and offering a small credit ($100) for the inconvenience.

Regardless, there are still some stigmas attached to it. We have canceled our program for November and are considering Panama for those to be immersed in another really sensational Central America city with similar characteristics to Cuba. We will schedule Cuba as soon as things stabilize more between our nations.

You can still purchase a ticket from a travel agency or airline website to Cuba. However travel is seriously restricted and could be restricted "for use" at any time. There were 12 categories of travel that were eligible to use and the two most common were “People-to-People” and “Support for the Cuban People” both categories had a focus on providing direct access and support to Cuban individuals and NGO’s.

What you need to know about legal travel to Cuba

US Travel Regulations - June 5th, 2019;

After much anticipation the new policy on Cuban travel for Americans was announced and went into action on June 5th, 2019.

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) made amendments to the existing policy to limit travel to Cuba by American Citizens. The Cuban travel policy has been changed countless times over the last 50 years and under President Obama was drastically amended to increase the ability to travel to Cuba.

Obama Era Policies

The rhetoric for having these policies in the first place was to try and drive money away from the Cuban Government for their human rights violations against the Cuban people; Part of the greater sanctions and embargo that has been in place since the late 50s. President Obama realized this policy was outdated and the people who were truly suffering were the Cuban community; The people that the policy was supposed to be protecting. He made some radical changes to open travel and Cuba saw a huge wave of American travelers, with historic numbers and a glimpse at what open travel could be like. This included major airlines providing direct flights and several cruise ships arriving weekly.

The local economy flourished and the emerging private sector had its chance and the Cuban people jumped on it, opening new restaurants, bars, cafes, art galleries and Casa particulars. There was such an amazing energy and the interaction between the locals and their long awaited neighbors was and continues to be heartwarming.

Current administration policies

Under the current administration we have seen a return to old rhetoric and policies that began to restrict open travel. This included the November, 2017 policy to eliminate individual “People-to-People” travel and added a list of restricted businesses that Americans could not support.

This new policy goes further and restricts all “People-to-People” travel and ends recreational vessels to land in Cuba including cruise ships and private crafts. This does not eliminate all travel to Cuba. There are still 11 categories of travel including "Support for the Cuban People” For more information on most recent regulations, check out the U.S. Department of the Treasury website.

This article above is combined form information provided by Max Nelson. For any questions he is a professional and experienced with tours to Cuba. - feel free to call or send me an email.

Co-Founder of Hastacuba
Max Nelson
(650) 740-9271
Max@hastacuba.com

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