A tour company based in the U.S. announced the launch of new people-to-people trips to Cuba that would transport U.S. citizens to the country by ship on Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
The company, Road Scholar, is based in Boston, and the trips originate in Jamaica and Miami. They stop in Havana as well as other areas of Cuba.
While travel to Cuba is illegal, thousands of Americans visit the country each year by using a people-to-people tour, which are licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department. People-to-people trips must have an educational purpose as well as cultural exchange itineraries to be approved.
Transportation "whether by bus, boat or taxi" in Cuba is permitted as part of the people-to-people program as long as it doesn't detract from a "full-time schedule of educational activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba," according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Road Scholar has "designed all the port programs to be consistent" with the government regulations, including a visit to an agricultural cooperative and meeting with artists, Yves Marceau, the director of international programs for Road Scholar, said.
The trip will use a cruise ship operated by a Canadian company. Most of the passengers are European and Canadian, according to Marceau.
The cruise will be starting in Montego Bay, Jamaica and will travel to Punta Frances, which is located on a small Cuban island south of Havana called Isla de la Juventud, and finishes with five nights in Havana.
The Miami trip will stop in rural areas and the western part of the country, with a final stop in Montego Bay.
People-to-people cultural exchange licenses were reinstituted by the Obama administration in 2011, after the Bush administration stopped them. However, requirements were tightened last year after criticism that many of the trips taking place were masking recreational tourism.
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