SCOTUS Rules Against Cruise Lines Over Havana Docks

Above, Royal Caribbean ship Majesty of the Seas docked at Havana Port in 2019. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against cruise line companies over a lawsuit over usage of confiscated Havana Port docks by the Cuban government. 

Back in April 2019, I took a cruise with Royal Caribbean (one of the defendants in the case) to Havana before President Trump ended Cuban cruises by Americans shortly after.

According to The Hill:

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided 8-1 against four major cruise lines in their bid to stave off a $440 million judgment for using docks at the Port of Havana. 

The case concerns voyages that Carnival, MSC, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian operated to Havana from 2016-19. The decision reinstates the $400 million judgment, but it leaves the door open for the companies to advance alternate arguments to still win as the dispute returns to a lower court. 

The case revolves around the Helms-Burton Act, which allows Americans to seek damages against anyone who “traffics in” property seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the Cuban Revolution.  

Havana Docks had a 99-year legal right to operate the Port of Havana before it was confiscated. It used the law to sue the cruise lines over their voyages. The docks company secured a $440 million sum, but an appeals court wiped it because its property rights expired before the voyages.

Above, the Havana terminal after docking in 2019. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

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