First US cruise ship arrives in Cuba

On the morning of May 2, the American cruise ship Adonia left the port in Miami, Florida, to begin its journey to Cuba.

This is the first American cruise ship to visit Cuba in nearly 40 years, marking a new milestone in the process of restoring relations between the US and Cuba.

The Adonia, carrying 700 passengers, left Miami at 4 p.m. on May 1 and is expected to arrive at Havana - the ship's first stop in Cuba - on May 2.

A Cuban woman waves as the Adonia passes. AP photo.

Carnival, the company that owns the Adonia, hopes to conduct such cruises regularly, twice a month, thereby contributing to promoting cultural exchange between the two countries.

Carnival Cruise Line's plan to open a cruise route to Cuba was realized last week, after the Cuban government lifted the ban on Cubans and Cuban-Americans traveling to and from the Caribbean island by ship.

This has received positive feedback from the people of both countries: “I am very happy and I have been waiting for this for many years. Thank you for the agreements between the US and Cuba that have helped many things that benefit the people to be implemented in reality.”

“In my opinion, this is a positive sign for the Cuban economy. More tourists will come to Cuba and there will be more opportunities for Cubans to work on cruise ships.”

Faced with the great potential of Cuba-US tourism relations, many leading US cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Pearl Seas Cruises and Princess Cruises have also applied for permission to open direct passenger ship routes between the two countries.

Similarly, many major airlines such as American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Delta... have also applied for permission to open direct flights between many cities of the two countries with the expectation of carrying about 50,000 passengers/week on these routes.

This will contribute to bringing more American tourists to this “free island”. It is estimated that the number of American tourists to Cuba in the first quarter of this year increased by 94.2% compared to the same period last year.

On December 17, 2014, more than half a century after the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama simultaneously announced the decision to re-establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Since then, many cooperation agreements have been established between the two countries, helping Cuba and the US to get closer. Recently, in March, US President Obama made a historic 3-day official visit to Cuba. Before that, the two countries also re-established diplomatic relations and reopened embassies in each other's capitals./.

According to VOV