Alfonso Lavarello. Representative of Silares Terminales Caribe N.V Enterprise

Q: What’s Silares’ major activity?

Silares operates in Cuba through a joint venture with the Ministry of Transportation. It deals with the marketing of cruises, so it’s bound to work in ports and docking piers where passengers get on and off the liners, either in the terminals or in other stopover checkpoints, like Punta Frances, that offer different conditions.

Q: What has Silares done to develop this kind of activity in Cuba?

We’ve created all necessary conditions for any vessel to drop off passengers and offer them whatever they need. Any European tourist coming to Cuba wants to see cities, see different things, and also live what we call the Caribbean dream and get in touch with the wonderful nature of the island.

Q: How long have you been operating in Cuba and what made you pick the greatest of the Antilles islands?

We started mapping out our businesses back in 1993 and picked Cuba because it’s the top cruise destination in the Caribbean, a region that’s been considered the cruise capital of the world.

Q: Does Cuba have what it takes to develop the cruise business on a steady basis?

Cuba will have a cruise business of its own, anyway. It’s going to welcome 3 million cruise passengers every year. But that depends on economic conditions, markets and other factors other than entrepreneurial matters. But make no mistakes about it; Cuba, and especially the port of Havana, will be second only to Florida and will see as many as 25 to 40 ships every week.

Q: Why do you refer to Cuba as a nighttime cruise operator unlike other locations?

Some cruise companies offer their passengers the possibility of enjoying Havana not only in broad daylight, but also at night. The main reason is a very interesting nightlife in town that doesn´t revolve only around the Tropicana Cabaret. There are some spots like Old Havana that could turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, something impossible to live elsewhere under the sun. A passenger can take a stroll, dine in one spot and spin around in the most complete safety and security.

Q: Is this not possible in the Caribbean or anywhere else in the world?

It’s virtually impossible to have something similar anywhere else in the world. There’s no other place in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean where a cruise can stay overnight. And there are several reasons for that: lack of entertainment, lack of safety and security. Those two things are found here in the port of Havana.

Q: How do you rate Cuba’s conditions to cope with the cruise business?

Just like any other place, Cuba needs to fork over lump sums of money to create the necessary conditions and infrastructure, and that’s precisely what we’re working on right now. There are dozens of Cuban companies taking care of liners’ operations, immigration clearances, tourist enterprises, cabs, stewardesses, and the like. We rely on dozens of entities that assist any cruise stopover of 1,000, 1,500 or 1,700 passengers and more than 800 to 900 crew members. The real difficulties are those that hamper access to Cuban ports, not these ones I’ve mentioned.

Q: How does the company deal with the U.S. embargo and the Helms-Burton Act?

We just don’t deal with them. We invest to create the necessary conditions and wait for those laws to be overridden someday. You bet they make a dent, but they’re not going to last forever.