Cruise lines forecast big boost from Cuba

Cruise lines forecast big boost from Cuba
Sun Sentinel

Cuba is expected to boost demand for Caribbean cruises overall

It won't be easy, but cruises to Cuba could provide a 20 percent boost
to the industry once they're finally allowed, a panel of cruise leaders
says.

The heads of four major cruise companies, speaking Tuesday in Fort
Lauderdale, all said that Cuban ports present challenges in
infrastructure and that Cuba has been slow to approve visits from ships.
But the island holds tremendous potential as a cruise destination, they
said.

"What [Cuba] will do, and it's already doing in some sense, is create a
halo of interest, and as people start to go and talk about Cuba, I think
it will raise the Caribbean in total," said Richard Fain, chairman and
CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "It adds 2 percent or 5 percent to
the supply of places to go, and it will add 10 percent to 20 percent to
the demand for cruising."

Fain was part of a panel of cruise executives at Seatrade Cruise Global,
the industry's biggest annual conference and trade show. He was joined
on the panel by Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corp. &
PLC; Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
Ltd.; and Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises.

Source: Cruise lines forecast big boost from Cuba - Sun Sentinel -
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