I think you’re mistaken. There are limits as to how much money you may send to relatives in Cuba if you’re of Cuban descent, but unless I overlooked it, what restrictions there are while you’re visiting there appear to be imposed by Cuba itself:
*Since November 2004, the U.S. dollar has not been accepted for commercial transactions. U.S.-issued debit and credit cards also are not accepted in Cuba. The Cuban government requires the use of convertible Cuban pesos or non-convertible Cuban pesos (“moneda nacional”) for all transactions… *
I meant that there are two island countries, in the Caribbean, where ferry connections to Cuba would be more logical. You’re right, I did not consider Mexico. Again, I’m not sure how economically feasible that would be. And it is more than 100 miles between Cancún and Havana. And I’m sure it won’t be as quick as a plane ride. C’mon, the ferry ride between PR and its islands is still longer than the plane ride between San Juan and their municipal airports.
Well, Mexico and Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, and other islands of the Caribbean with tourist spots (really, put Haiti out of it) that can have commerce with Cuba, have not established ferry services with Cuba. And while I’ve heard good things about the ferry between Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, or Puerto Rico and its islands (like I said, cheaper), I’ve not heard a great demand for ferry services to Cuba. Air travel, yes. Ferry, nope.
Oh, and Haiti has enough troubles on its own to have a ferry service with Cuba. Why, exactly, of all the things that country has to do to recover, would establishing a ferry service be anywhere near a priority?
Haiti has neither the same amount of tourist traffic of other islands, nor the cultural and language closeness of Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.
From your own link: “The Cuban Assets Control Regulations are enforced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and affect all U.S. citizens and permanent residents wherever they are located, all people and organizations physically located in the United States, and all branches and subsidiaries of U.S. organizations throughout the world. The regulations require that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction be licensed in order to engage in any travel-related transactions pursuant to travel to, from, and within Cuba. Transactions related to tourist travel are not licensable.”
To me, that says the US does not allow its citizens to spend money in Cuba. (However, there would be little record of a dockside bribe.)
I don’t think so. As I read it, as a U.S. tourist you need a license - now pretty freely granted, I’ve read - to go there, but once you’re there you can pay or give your dollars to anyone who doesn’t mind breaking Cuban law.
All right, so far I’ve seen very few examples of ferries being used in the Carribean at all – and all of those are to connect pieces within one country that are very close: Puerto Rico to some of its smalller islands, Cozumel to the Yucatan, Belize to some offshore islands. Nobody knows of any ferries connecting islands in the Carribean that are different countries, or different colonies.
So why should the lack of ferries to Cuba be surprising?
For the third time, Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico.
The OP seems to think of a ferry service catered to tourists, when most ferry services, although touristy, also have a large component of just regular folks, visiting relatives, and non-touristy businesspeople.
If that’s true, why are there no ferries used in the Caribbean? I suspect a big part of the reason is the distances involved. But where the distances aren’t too long - such as between Cuba and Mexico, Haiti, the Bahamas, maybe even Jamaica - why are there no ferries?
The Haitian earthquake was only 6 months ago. Why were there no ferries before that? I realize there wouldn’t be much tourist demand for a Cuban-Haitian link, but come on, they’re only 50 miles apart. There has to be some local and cultural links between those people, right? Enough to warrant a once-a-week ferry service at least?
Nope. There’s no ferries at all, for anyone. I’m just trying to understand why! If the same odd situation applies to other Caribbean countries too, then my question applies to them as well.
Armando Ruiz is trying to get a licence from the federal government to operate a cruiseferry between Miami and Havana so Cuban-Americans can more easly visit relatives in Cuba and bring more stuff with them. Before diplomatic relations were severed there were several ferries operating between Cuba & the US.
Haiti is the poorest country in the continent. It was that way before the earthquake, it will continue to be that way in the nearby future. A ferry between Cuba and Haiti would have only been possible with Cuban initiative. Why exactly would a communist country establish a commercial enterprise with the poorest country around? Humanitarian aid, sure. Anything else, why?
You must realize Haiti has a strong French influence while its neighbors have mainly a Spanish influence. There is this language barrier issue, to begin with. The cultural links with Cuba are closer with the other countries I mentioned.
Economically, it doesn’t really make sense. Like others and I have mentioned, there are ferry services, over short, frequently travelled distances, enough to make economic and social sense.
That would make a lot more sense, and probably be more stable and economically possible than other things mentioned here. Maybe it’ll get pass politics.
Another element to consider is that, while plane service is more expensive, a lot of the types of planes being used in the Caribbean are relatively cheap to maintain turboprops and break even at about 30% passenger load (well, the Dash-8 does; admittedly it’s the plane I’m most familiar with). STOL capability is also pretty advantageous in small islands - it’s easier to make a small runway than a serviceable port.
Being able to go rather quickly from island to island for the passengers, and being able to fill the rest of the plane with cargo/postal revenue for the airline, is an advantage over ferries which are much slower, even if they can carry more.
So people who want to go there can go there, in exchange for money?
Hey, Indonesia has a language barrier with Malaysia, not much in common culturally and huge swathe of difficult sailing between them. There’s still dozens of ferry services that work that route. I get your argument making sense for there not being a lot of ferries, but one a week? One a month? If you’re trying to say that demand to go to a place that’s only 50 miles away is really that astonishing low, I think the burden of proof lies with you to prove it.
Cuba to Mexico, Haiti, the Bahamas and even Jamaica are all short distances. They’re all routes frequently travelled by airlines, which are much more expensive than ferries. So why has no one tried to set up a once-a-week ferry service? If you’re saying it’s because the demand for any of those routes is literally 0% - not enough to fill a single ferry - then I think you need something to back that up.
Not particularly relevant, but on the “long ferry route” discussion early on I’d point out that you can take a ferry from Prince Rupert, Canada, to Whittier, Alaska, or from Cordova, Alaska, to Dutch Harbor (with stops along the way). Both of those routes are about 850-900 miles in a straight line and I don’t think they go in a straight line. (The Alaska Marine Highway System community map)
In response to the OP, I was in Jamaica (OchoRios) several years ago and i distinctly remember seeing a sign at the hotel advertising ferry day-trips to Cuba. I don’t know if they still do it but at least back then it did happen.