Carnival Adds Cuba Cruises for Socially Conscious Travelers

Cruise company Carnival has received permission from the U.S. government to begin offering trips to Cuba under the aegis of its new line catering to passengers with a social agenda, Bloomberg and USA Today report.

Pending approval by Cuban authorities, the twice-a-week service from Miami will begin in May 2016 through fathom, the new “voluntourism” brand Carnival unveiled last month.

The firm says the cruises will provide “cultural, artistic, faith-based, and humanitarian exchanges,” thereby meeting the conditions under which U.S. citizens may go to Cuba under recently loosened travel restrictions. Carnival is developing excursions in collaboration with IDDI, a nonprofit that works to alleviate poverty in the Caribbean and is based in the Dominican Republic, the other planned fathom destination.