The move is expected to smooth the way for exile Cubans to see the pontiff. So far, few in South Florida have signed up.
Nina Meyer, owner of Vision Travel, which is booking reservations on the cruise ship Norwegian Majesty, said Monday that of about 300 people who have bought berths on the ship, approximately two-thirds are white, non-Hispanics. The other third are Hispanic, but it is not known how many are of Cuban heritage.
The liner can carry about 1,000 people and will be the only transportation available to the pilgrims from South Florida.
Some Cuban exile groups are dissuading Cuban Americans from attending. Those groups say that will only lend legitimacy to the government of President Fidel Castro and inject dollars into Castro's crippled economy.
Meyer also said that confusion over whether the boat would be allowed to dock in Havana had made many people shy away from buying the nonrefundable tickets, which cost about $1,000 apiece. Saturday the Cuban government reconfirmed the boat will be received in the Port of Havana.
``We also know some people born in Cuba who sent their paperwork to the
Cuban Interests Section in Washington and got it back without it being
processed,'' she said.
Peter Coats of Catholic Charities explained that many exiles born in Cuba cannot normally apply for regular tourist visas through the Interests Section as other would-be tourists do. They have traditionally had to go through stricter, more involved security checks by the Ministry of Interior in Cuba.
``But these special visas should speed things up,'' Coats said.
Meyer cautioned that exiles with a history of activism against the Castro government still might have problems being allowed in.
The ship is scheduled to leave Miami on Friday, Jan. 23, and arrive in Havana the next morning. Pilgrims will attend a papal Mass and other functions in Havana that Sunday, before leaving Sunday night and docking back in Miami on Monday. The pope, who will begin his visit to the island Jan. 21, is also scheduled to leave Sunday.
Meyer said she has taken reservations from Catholics all over the United States. She said only about 50 percent of those who made reservations so far are from South Florida.
Meyer, who said she had been booking about three to five paid reservations per day in the past weeks, said she took seven Monday and had 47 requests for packets of information about the papal cruise.
``Other people are having trouble deciding whether they should go or not,'' she said. ``They call me up one day saying one thing and the next day something else. There's a lot of pressure on some people in the Cuban community.''
Coats agreed.
``Yes, there's some fear in some Cuban Americans,'' he said. ``If they go on the ship they feel they could suffer, especially economically, what you might call a business whiplash.''
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald