Carnival adding more Cuban sazón to activities on Cuba cruise

Carnival adding more Cuban sazón to activities on Cuba cruise

Carnival's Fathom brand is updating its on board programming for its
Cuba sailings
Old Havana store is opening first shop outside the island aboard Adonia
Local Cuban bands and history lessons joining the lineup
BY CHABELI HERRERA
cherrera@miamiherald.com

Carnival Corporation's Cuba cruise will get an extra shot of Cuban
flavor, the cruise company announced Wednesday, thanks to cultural
updates that will bring a local Havana shop on board and additional
programming on the island's history.

"We have been listening to our travelers and creating new experiences on
board based on their feedback to facilitate rich immersion and to
provide more robust insight into the culture and people of Cuba," said
Tara Russell, president of Carnival Corp.'s social-impact Fathom brand,
which sails to Cuba from Miami every other week, in a statement.

The 704-passenger Adonia will now feature a new retailer, Old Havana
local design store Clandestina, which sells products meant to showcase
Cuban ingenuity. The shop will offer items from its Vintrashe
Collection, featuring toys made from recycled plastic and decorated by
hand. It will also sell T-shirts and handbags designed by local artists.

"Each time Fathom travelers purchase our products, they support
independent entrepreneurship," said Idania del Rio, co-founder and owner
of Clandestina, via a press release. "They are taking home a unique
design product that is 'authentically Cuban.' "

The gift shop will be the first Clandestina store outside the island.
Previously, Fathom sold silk-screened T-shirts from Clandestina in the
ship's gift shop.

Also coming on board from the island will be bands from Havana, Santiago
de Cuba and Cienfuegos, the three ports of call. The line is also adding
historical lessons on the three ports and on the island pre-Revolution,
during Spanish colonialism before the 1950s.

Though Americans are prohibited by U.S. law from visiting Cuba purely
for tourism, they are allowed to go to the island for cultural immersion
trips.

Interactive games, including a Havana architecture bingo game and
another on Cuban coffee, are also joining the lineup. Tickets for the
cruise start at $1,899 per person, including taxes and fees.

The ship has been sailing to the island since May 1, after Carnival
Corp. gained approval from the Cuban government to become the first U.S.
cruise company to sail to the island in more than 50 years. Since then,
Fathom has been making week-long voyages to the island — with alternate
weeks in the Dominican Republic — that included some Cuban programming,
including salsa lessons, two Cuban bands and mojitos galore.

The line said after its inaugural voyage that it would work to improve
programming after guests complained of not enough people-to-people
experiences.

"We have things we absolutely need to tweak and improve," Russell told
the Miami Herald at the time. "We don't believe we are fully baked.
There are pros and cons in being the first."

Source: Carnival's Fathom Cuba cruise updates on board programming |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article86981687.html