Ever since Empress of the Seas returned to the Royal Caribbean fleet, the open secret has been that the line intends to use it for their Cuban program once it is approved by the Cuban government. While waiting for that approval, Royal Caribbean has scheduled the ship on short cruises out of Miami to other popular ports, opening them only a few months at a time, so the ship will be available as soon as possible once Cuban approval is received.
After sitting by the phone for a couple more months, Royal Caribbean must have just decided again, no one from Cuba is going to call this month, and they've opened another series of dates - this time through the end of the year - just not to Cuba.
The complete story appeared in the August 26 edition of Cruise News Daily.