United Arab Emirates & Bahrain from Qatar

Date: 18 Feb 2024
Duration: 7 nights
Ship: MSC Virtuosa
Line: MSC Cruises
Having spat out his dummy over the recently restored trade and travel links between the USA and Cuba, Resident Donald Trump has allegedly performed yet another of his amazingly athletic about turns. To the relief of the hundreds of thousands that he had just terrified with the threat of a travel embargo, the orange utang has apparently changed his mind on the subject, almost as abruptly as it appeared on his radar in the first place.
This will no doubt have eased the likelihood of collective coronaries in the strategic planning offices of Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Holland America Cruises and Carnival Corporation itself, all of whom have gone into absolute overdrive to be the front runners to any newly restored Cuban market. All of these lines have had contingency plans laid for decades in the event of the death of Castro, and a subsequent loosening- or, indeed, outright end- to the US embargo on the embattled Caribbean island.
Once the ailing Cuban dictator had passed from the scene, the Obama administration acted rapidly to end the decades old freeze in relations with Cuba- the inevitable by product of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The archaic freeze made no sense to either side, and progress was rapid in creating a new climate. On the touchlines, the cruise lines waited quietly, and began ear marking dedicated tonnage for what they had been quietly assured was the inevitable return of Cuba as a cruise destination.
The first sailings were relaunched from the USA in April and May with great ceremony. For the first time in fifty five years, there was a direct link again to the island by sea. All seemed set fair for a return to the old routine of short, week long Cuba cruises, where passengers could stroll the Malecon at Havana and down Daiquiris with the tipsy shade of old Ernie Hemingway, as well as revisiting actual, running examples of the vintage cars of their fondly remembered childhoods.
Then, almost on cue, Trumpolini rattled the bars of his baby cage, and threw a mega strop. Panic ensured as the famously petulant toddler in chief threw his rattle away and demanded attention on the world stage yet again. A cynic might say that pointing his rattle at Cuba might have been an attempt to divert attention from events that transpired much further to the east; events that might have embarrassed the toddler-in-chief very badly. And, indeed, still may.
Date: 18 Feb 2024
Duration: 7 nights
Ship: MSC Virtuosa
Line: MSC Cruises
£1,439 BALCONY
£1,604 OUTSIDE
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Line: Celestyal Cruises
£1,229 OUTSIDE
£1,499 BALCONY
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Line: Virgin Voyages
£1,089 OUTSIDE
£1,185 BALCONY
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Line: Silversea Cruises
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Line: Azamara Club Cruises
£2,579 OUTSIDE
£3,049 BALCONY
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Duration: 25 nights
Ship: Marina
Line: Oceania Cruises
£5,679 OUTSIDE
£5,949 BALCONY