Charleston cruisers can keep their bags packed for Cuba — for the time being

A threatened rollback of Obama administration policies that loosened restrictions on travel to Cuba hasn’t affected previsouly scheduled ocean cruises from Charleston to the communist island country — at least for now.

Carnival Cruise Line has seven Charleston-to-Cuba sailings planned beginning in November and running through next year. Its Sunshine pleasure ship is scheduled to make the voyages, which depart from Union Pier.

John Bolton, national security adviser to President Donald Trump, said this month the White House plans to crack down on tourism to Cuba and “steer Americans’ dollars away from the Cuban regime.”

He provided few details, though, and the announcement was vague enough that air carriers and cruise lines aren’t sure what the impact might be. So they’re taking a wait-and-see approach.

A Carnival spokesperson told the Travel Agent Central website that the company is monitoring the situation but has no plans to alter its Cuban itineraries. Carnival said passengers will receive a message if there are any changes to their trips.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said the cruise line is “reviewing the recent statements to evaluate their impact on our guests and our company.”

“For now, we are sailing our Cuba itineraries as scheduled and will keep our guests updated if anything changes,” the spokesperson told Travel Agent Central.

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The same goes for airlines that fly from the U.S. to Cuba, including American, Southwest, Delta and United. Those carriers told The New York Times that they are not canceling any trips, but will comply with any new regulations set by the Trump administration.

Trump in 2017 banned Americans from staying in hotels owned by a company with ties to Cuba’s defense ministry. The move was meant to undo some of President Barack Obama’s efforts in 2015 to thaw the U.S. relationship with the island nation, including lifting a decades-long ban on tourism-related travel.

Bolton, during a speech this month to veterans of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro in 1961, said new restrictions will be put in place as part of the Trump administration’s broader policy to punish Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — what Bolton calls “the troika of tyranny.”

Carnival has three itineraries for its Cuba cruises originating in Charleston. There is a four-day sailing that only goes to Havana and two five-day trips, each with a port call in addition to Havana — one in Freeport and the other in Key West.