Carnival Opens Cuba Cruises to Cubans Abroad

FILE - The Carnival Imagination cruise ship leaves the Port of Miami. Carnival cruise lines says it will allow Cuban-born passengers to book travel to Cuba.

Carnival cruise lines says it will allow Cuban-born passengers to book travel to Cuba, but will delay trips if the island's government does not change its policy allowing nationals to return by sea.

The U.S.-based leisure company had planned to start cruises from Miami, Florida, to Cuba on May 1 following the historic restoration of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

But Carnival has not allowed Cuban-born Americans to book the trips because a Cuban law that dates to the Cold War says they cannot visit the island by sea.

Carnival says it is negotiating with the Cuban government to lift the restrictions, and in the meantime will accept bookings from all travelers to Cuba.

The company says that if the ban is not lifted, the trips will be postponed.

Carnival's 700-passenger Adonia is set to sail every other week and dock in the Cuban ports of Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Chile.

The weeklong cruise starts at $1,800.