Carnival Cruise Granted U.S. Approval To Travel To Cuba

Cubans living in the exterior will soon have the opportunity to visit their families back home via Carnival cruise line. Carnival Corp. announced Tuesday that the U.S. Treasury Department granted the company approval to begin traveling to Cuba via their new fathom brand.

"We are excited about receiving U.S. approval as the very important first step to ultimately take travelers to Cuba under the existing 12 criteria for authorized travel," said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corp in a statement. "We look forward to working with the Cuban authorities for their approval to help make the social, cultural and humanitarian exchanges between U.S. citizens and the people of Cuba a reality."

Though traveling to the island as a tourist remains illegal, Carnival revealed that its cruises to Cuba were approved under current U.S.-to-Cuba travel guidelines, which allows people involved in humanitarian work and other programs to visit.

"We know there is strong demand from travelers who want to immerse themselves in Cuban culture, so this is a historic opportunity for us to enable more people to experience Cuban society. It is also an important opportunity for our new fathom brand to expand its positive influence in the world with this potential to add full-week immersion sailings to Cuba to its already planned full-week social-impact itineraries to the Dominican Republic beginning in the spring of 2016," Mr. Donald added.

Carnival also mentioned that the company is in talks with Cuban authorities to obtain government approval for the cruises.

Cruises to Cuba are expected to set sail via MV Adonia ---a 710-passenger cruise ship--- beginning in May 2016 with seven-day voyages departing from PortMiami in Miami, Fla. The first trip will be to port Amber Cove in northern Dominican Republic, which will serve as the fathom brand's home base.

Prices for seven-day itineraries to Dominican Republic are $1,540; whereas, a seven-day cruise to Cuba is estimated to start at $2,990 per person. Prices vary depending on the season.

According to The Wall Street Journal, travelers will need to spend eight hours a day on Cuban ground, per U.S. regulations. And the ship will likely dock in three different locations throughout the seven days.