Hey, Let’s Turn Gitmo Into a Cruise Ship Terminal!
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 02.22.08 | 1:03 PM ET
Photo by lyng883 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
You have to love all the rampant speculation and wild ideas floating around about Cuba tourism following news of Fidel Castro’s resignation this week. Take this USA Today report that “Cruise lines are ready to pounce on Cuba.” Um, is there any sector of the U.S. travel industry that hasn’t been ready to “pounce on Cuba” for decades? It drew a number of comments, including one from someone claiming to be a former security officer at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“If the US Navy ever closes the base at GITMO or allows for the building of a passenger ship terminal nearby,” wrote Dittyman, “it would make a wonderful place for cruise ships. Due to the unique conditions there, it has some wonderful wildlife there. It is like a mixture of a tropical island and the Austrialian Outback.”
Dittyman says he’d like to drive from Guantanamo to Havana in an SUV, scoring rum and cigars along the way.
While we’re bouncing around ideas, how about we pull a passenger ship up to the prison there and give all those detainees a free Caribbean cruise? The U.S. could film the whole thing, throw Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” over the footage and broadcast it around the globe. It would do wonders for the nation’s reputation abroad, no?
Take it away, Mr. Pop:
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
Julie 02.22.08 | 3:29 PM ET
“Dittyman says he’d like to drive from Guantanamo to Havana in an SUV, scoring rum and cigars along the way.”
And a mulatta, no doubt.
Gotta love it.
John M. Edwards 02.22.08 | 5:15 PM ET
Hi Julie:
Well done. Which way to Hemingway’s Villa? Charge!!!!!!
Julie 02.22.08 | 5:35 PM ET
I’d say “Let’s start a convoy” (using the left-behind military vehicles, of course), but since I’m a woman, I’m sure Dittyman (gotta love that name!) wouldn’t be too welcoming of the intrusion on the testosterone-fest.
Anne 02.23.08 | 12:43 PM ET
Now that’s one of the best ideas I’ve heard in a long time! I’m sure cruise line executives have had itineraries with Cuba drawn up for a long time. It will be like St. Thomas, with ten ships in port on the same day, tens of thousands of tourists salavating to buy duty free junk. Wish I could visit before that happens….
European Cruises 08.04.08 | 1:03 PM ET
At least Fidel’s presence in Cuba kept the tourists away. I know tourism can bring a lot of money to the residents but I preferred Cuba as being the country where you’re not welcomed in. It gave the traveler a sense of danger. It made things fun…