Cool cruises to hot Cuba
The Caribbean island nation heating up as a cruise destination as US-Cuba relations warm.
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AS AMERICANS await travel restrictions to Cuba to be lifted in the wake of the recent landmark US-Cuba agreement to resume full diplomatic ties, tourists from all over the world are already flocking to the communist country - hoping to catch its retro 1950s vibe before it fades.
Cruises to Cuba seem like a no-brainer for those who want to experience Havana nights without hassle.
Travel industry observers say that cruise ships are a way to get around the rapid transformation that comes with the influx of tourists, as well as ease the Cuban infrastructure and hospitality sector into the big time. They are, as a Bloomberg forecast of US travel to Cuba published in June puts it, "mobile hotels that bring their own infrastructure, contain their guests, and don't stay too long". (British author Graham Greene probably had no idea how right or prescient he was, when he wrote of the Cuban capital, "It was a city to visit, not a city to live in", in his novel Our Man In Havana.)
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