“Heartbreaking”: Cancellations, recalls & communities left behind – agents react to Cuba

Brenda Slater was in the final stretch of preparations for one of her most meaningful projects of her year.

The Tiny, ON-based travel advisor and owner of Beyond the Beach was gearing up to host a group at an annual Caribbean Goes Country festival in Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba — a country music event that doubles as a grassroots fundraiser for a small community centre in the Cuban city of Matanzas.

More than 230 passengers from across Canada were booked to attend the two-week event, departing March 20, travelling with Air Canada Vacations, Sunwing and Transat.

Canadian country musicians – including Winnipeg’s Quinton Blair Band, Alberta’s Mychela, Timmins’ Rosewood Avenue, and Atlantic Canada’s Rik Reese, Josh Norrad, Steve Maillet and Kevin Chase – were lined up.

Supplies had been collected. Donations were earmarked.

Then, on Monday (Feb. 9), major Canadian airlines, responding to a fuel shortage alert on the island, suspended all flights to Cuba.

“My group of about 230 were booked with all three suppliers as clients – friends – were arriving from across Canada,” Slater told PAX on Tuesday (Feb. 10). “It’s a very sad situation as it is a fundraiser for a local community we support.”

Slater, in collaboration with a larger team – Caribbean Goodwill Tours, which organizes the festival – had clients departing from multiple gateways nationwide.

As news of operational challenges began circulating Sunday, after a NOTAM warning about Cuba’s jet fuel situation was issued, she said she was in constant contact with all of her tour operator partners.

“ACV was incredibly proactive in contacting me as it was all going down. They were first to move passengers from Cayo Santa Maria to Varadero. We all thought Varadero would remain open for business,” Slater said. “Then a message came to advise that the entire program was cancelled.”

She said Sunwing initially offered to change her group’s destination to Varadero without penalty — an option the group accepted — and Transat followed with a similar accommodation. But by day’s end, full suspensions in Cuba were confirmed.

“I’ve been trying to keep the group together for a week now,” Slater explained. “But the worst part of it all is the community we support. They are now left to their own devices and it’s heartbreaking.”

Slater’s country music trip, now in its second year, brings Canadians to Cuba while collecting critical supplies for local families in need.

Members of the group are asked to bring at least 10 pounds of goods — over-the-counter medications, feminine hygiene products, clothing and other essentials — to donate to a community centre in Matanzas, which is located on the northern shore of Cuba, about 102 kilometres east of Havana.

The centre, built by a local woman, provides after-school programming for kids focused on art, music, dance and baseball, but also serves as a lifeline for clothing, medical supplies and basic support.

“They all go there for clothing, meds, support,” Slater said. “The government of Cuba does not provide the necessary services and food required to sustain a healthy life.”

While refunds are being processed automatically by suppliers and Slater says there are “no issues there,” the administrative work remains significant.

“I will need to issue refund invoices for everyone. It’s a few more days of paperwork,” Slater said.

Half of her event’s proceeds were earmarked for donation.

“I don’t really care about the revenue, as half was being donated back to the cause to get my musicians there. It was primarily a country music festival. It’s the people who need us that hurts,” Slater said.

Operational breakdown  

Yesterday’s airline suspensions follow mounting operational challenges tied to fuel supply – among other things, such as food shortages and rolling blackouts – in Cuba.

Air Canada said its decision to cancel Cuba flights comes after “following advisories issued by governments regarding the unreliability of the aviation fuel supply at Cuban airports.”

READ MORE: Over 3,000 Air Canada customers affected as airline suspends Cuba

Over the coming days, Air Canada plans to operate empty flights to Cuba to pick up and return roughly 3,000 customers currently in destination.

As reported, the airline’s seasonal flights to Holguín and Santa Clara are cancelled for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Air Canada’s flights to Varadero and Cayo Coco, which are normally year-round, are suspended, with a tentative restart on May 1 (pending review).

The WestJet Group's decision to wind down winter operations in Cuba will affect WestJet, Sunwing Vacations, WestJet Vacations and Vacances WestJet Quebec.

It, too, will begin operating empty aircraft to Cuba to support an organized return of guests currently vacationing there. Air Transat will do the same.

The moves, which include various rebooking and refund policies, effectively removes a significant portion of Canadian airlift to Cuba during peak winter season.

In a statement to CTVNews.ca, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said that as of Monday, 7,204 Canadians are registered as being in Cuba.

READ MORE: WestJet & Sunwing to wind down operations to Cuba

GAC, however, noted that registration is voluntary and does not represent the total number of Canadians currently in the country.

PAX reached out to the Cuba Tourist Board’s Toronto office yesterday for comment on the current situation but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, the Government of Canada's travel advice page for Cuba currently warns Canadians to exercise "a high degree of caution" due to worsening shortages of electricity, fuel and basic necessities including food, water, and medicine, "which can also affect resorts."

"The situation is unpredictable and could deteriorate, disrupting flight availability on short notice," the notice reads.

High prices, tight inventory

The disruptions come amid renewed pressure from the United States. 

The Trump administration is cutting Cuba off from using traditional fuel sources in an effort to increase economic pressure on the island nation, which has long been subject to strict U.S. sanctions.

The tightening of fuel access has contributed to the instability at Cuban airports.

READ MORE: TICO issues guidance amid Cuba travel disruptions

Canadian travel advisors, meanwhile, have been left to manage the fallout, from ensuring clients in Cuba get home safely to spending extra hours rebooking customers elsewhere.

Heather Rother, a Truro, Nova Scotia–based travel advisor with SellOffVacations.com, says the biggest challenge, now, will be finding last-minute alternatives for the thousands of travellers who had vacations booked in Cuba.

“Especially with university reading weeks and March Break coming up,” Rother told PAX. “So much is either already sold out or the prices are two, three-times more than Cuba’s prices were.”

Rother currently has clients in Cuba but says she has not yet heard from them following yesterday’s developments.

“I feel terrible for the people of Cuba who are now out of work,” she added, noting that they will no longer receive the gifts and tips her clients typically bring for them.

Ontario-based Denise Luciani, owner of Marlin Travel Brantford, echoed those sentiments, saying it will “absolutely” be a challenge to rebook Cuba passengers in other destinations with such high prices in the market.

“We are already seeing prices skyrocket as inventory is limited,” she said.

While Luciani’s agency does not book a large volume of trips to Cuba, it does have some clients currently in the destination.

“It appears the tour companies are doing everything they can to ensure our clients are taken care of and brought back to Canada safely,” she said.

Her biggest concern is for Cubans “and what this will do to them.”

“We are the most resilient industry, but my worry, right now, is for the Cuban people,” she said.

“Very sad”

Nova Scotia-based Sharon Loppie of TravelBug Travel shares that concern. 

“It’s so very sad to see this situation unfold in Cuba,” Loppie told PAX. “Cuba is one of Canadians’ favourite vacation destinations for sure.”

Loppie is pleased to see tour operators “responding swiftly” to the cancellations by automatically offering refunds, and while she does not currently have clients in Cuba, she has customers who were scheduled to depart in the coming weeks.

Loppie is now looking at alternatives, such as Jamaica or Punta Cana, but “availability is limited and rates are climbing,” she said.

But like others in her field, her main focus continues to be the people of Cuba.

“Since tourism is a top economic driver for the country, attracting millions of visitors, this shutdown is a deeply concerning development for their livelihood,” she said.

The bigger picture  

The sudden suspension of flights to Cuba highlights the fragility of airlift-dependent markets and the impact geopolitical factors can have on Canadian outbound travel.

Travel advisors will also pay a price as commissions, it appears, will not be protected.

For pros like Brenda Slater, who handled a large group booking, this amounts to about ten months of unpaid work – hours that can’t easily be counted.

“It’s sad,” Slater said.

But the impact goes far beyond logistics and lost revenue.

“My heart is broken for the Cuban people,” she said. “They didn’t choose any of this, yet they pay the highest price.”

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