Travel question: Our cruise ship now can’t dock in Cuba – can we get a refund?

Q Our family have a two-week cruise scheduled leaving Miami on 29 June and taking in several ports in the Caribbean, including Havana. However, we have just heard that President Trump has now banned all US cruise ships from docking in Cuba. What will happen to our trip? Can we get a refund? We’re outraged at this crazy decision.

Simon H

A For almost six decades, the United States has maintained an economic boycott of Cuba, intended to destabilise the nation and precipitate the downfall of communist rule. A significant element of the boycott is a ban on tourism to the island.

On the basis that the most powerful nation in the world has signally failed to achieve its aim, Barack Obama eased the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and allowed American airlines and ships to serve Cuba.

Now, though, the US has banned “visits to Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, including cruise ships”. The exact law prohibits American cruise lines exporting their ships to the island. President Trump’s move is aimed at reducing the number of visitors to Cuba by one-sixth – many of them daytrippers to Havana.

The big cruise lines to Cuba, including Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, were shocked by the move. It affects passengers who, like you, are due to travel imminently, as well as people who have yet to book.

Visits to Havana will be changed to other ports of call, such as Cozumel in Mexico, which are inevitably less appealing. The cruise lines recognise that many people booked their cruise specifically to sail to an island that is vastly different from the rest of the Caribbean. So a range of options have been put in place, such on-board credits, partial refunds or discounts on future voyages. They are, of course, refunding payments made for shore excursions in Cuba.

Many future cruises are being cancelled completely, with passengers getting full refunds and the cruise lines devising new itineraries.

A likely problem for you, and thousands of other British passengers, is that you have bought transatlantic air fares along with the cruise. If you bought the flight separately from the cruise, there is no obligation for the airline to offer a refund or an alternative destination. And even if you booked a proper package, the company that sold it to you may argue that replacing one port of call does not amount to a significant change.

So I think you will have little choice but to go ahead with the trip. You may want to ask some of your fellow passengers how they feel about the president’s move – which some have said is simply a move aimed at bolstering his vote in the crucial swing state of Florida, where many people regard the communist island with antipathy.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder