Published on : 06 Jun 2026
If you are in Cuba right now, your Visa card and your Mastercard stopped working this morning. If you have a Cuba holiday booked with Sunwing or WestJet, your airline announced yesterday it is suspending all Cuba operations indefinitely. And if you are on a cruise that was scheduled to call at a Cuban port this week — your ship has been rerouted.
The Central Bank of Cuba announced that on June 2, 2026, one of its foreign partners ended its relationship with FINCIMEX. As a result, the Central Bank is suspending Visa and Mastercard services as of June 6, 2026. Cuba is unable to receive income from the sale of goods and services through internationally recognised credit cards like Visa and Mastercard.
Following a review of its Cuba program and the current operating environment, Sunwing Vacations Group — including Sunwing Vacations, WestJet Vacations, and WestJet Vacations Québec — has made the difficult decision to indefinitely suspend all Cuba operations until further notice.
This is not a temporary inconvenience. This is the most significant disruption to Canada–Cuba travel in the post-pandemic era. Three crises are converging simultaneously: the payment system has collapsed, the country’s two biggest Cuba tour operators have pulled out indefinitely, and the island’s ongoing jet fuel shortage and power blackout crisis has degraded the resort experience for everyone currently on the island. If Cuba is part of your 2026 travel plans — whether booked, considering booking, or currently there — this guide covers everything you need to know, right now.
Published: June 6, 2026 — Saturday (LIVE — effective today) Visa/Mastercard ban: Effective TODAY — June 6, 2026 — ALL locations in Cuba Root cause: US Executive Order 14404 (May 1, 2026) — FINCIMEX payment processor sanctioned Sunwing Vacations suspension: INDEFINITE — all Cuba operations — announced June 5 WestJet Vacations suspension: INDEFINITE — all Cuba operations — announced June 5 WestJet Vacations Québec: INDEFINITE — announced June 5 Air Canada Vacations: Postponed Cuba return until further notice Cruise lines: All Cuban port calls rerouted — effective this week Accepted payment methods NOW: Cash (USD, CAD, EUR) · UnionPay (Chinese cards) · Mir (Russian cards) · Cuban domestic Clásica + Tropical prepaid cards NOT accepted from today: Visa · Mastercard · American Express · All Western-issued bank cards Fuel situation: Jet A-1 shortage ongoing — airports Havana, Varadero, Cayo Coco affected Power situation: Rolling blackouts at resorts — Varadero + Havana worst affected Refund right: Full refund mandatory — all cancelled Sunwing/WestJet Cuba bookings TICO protection: TICO-protected Ontario bookings — full package value covered ATOL equivalent (Canada): TICO + provincial consumer protection apply
To understand the severity of today’s Cuba travel crisis, the events of the last 5 weeks need to be understood in sequence.
May 1, 2026: US President Donald Trump signs Executive Order No. 14404. Executive Order 14404 designates GAESA — the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., the conglomerate controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces — as the central target of the sanctions. The order expands the US sanctions regime against Cuba and introduces secondary penalties for foreign financial institutions that maintain ties with blocked entities. On May 7, the State Department implemented the first designations under that order, including GAESA, its director Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the state-owned mining company Moa Nickel S.A.
Why GAESA matters for tourists: GAESA controls the Cuban military’s vast business empire — including the majority of Cuba’s tourist hotels, resort infrastructure, the Gaviota tourism group, and FINCIMEX, the payment processor through which all international Visa and Mastercard transactions in Cuba are cleared. When GAESA is sanctioned, everything it touches is sanctioned — including the payment infrastructure that serves every tourist on the island.
June 2, 2026: The Central Bank of Cuba received communication from an undisclosed foreign bank that processed these transactions in Cuba, stating that it would halt its commercial relationship with FINCIMEX.
June 5, 2026 (yesterday): The Sunwing Vacations Group made the difficult decision to indefinitely suspend all Cuba operations until further notice. Air Canada Vacations simultaneously announced it was postponing its planned return to Cuba.
June 6, 2026 (today): Effective June 6, tourists must now rely on Mir Cards or UnionPay as OFAC broadens trade sanctions. Visa and Mastercard will no longer offer payment processing services in Cuba. Cuba cannot receive income from the sale of goods and services transacted using international cards operated by Visa and Mastercard.
This section is the most urgent in this article. If you are currently in Cuba — at a Varadero resort, in Havana, in Cayo Coco, or anywhere on the island — your financial situation changed this morning.
Currency options available to tourists are cash — US dollars, Canadian dollars, or Euros — UnionPay Chinese bank cards, and Mir Russian bank cards.
The Cuban Central Bank confirms that payment methods for foreign currency transactions that remain in place are: cash in foreign currency, domestic Cuban prepaid cards Clásica and Tropical, and international cards Mir (of Russian origin) and UnionPay (of Chinese origin).
Practical guide to what works TODAY:
| Payment method | Works in Cuba today? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cash USD | ✅ Yes | Best option — widely accepted at all resorts, restaurants, taxis |
| Cash CAD | ✅ Yes | Accepted at most resort areas — exchange rate may be unfavourable |
| Cash EUR | ✅ Yes | Accepted at most tourist locations |
| Visa card | ❌ NO — banned from today | Does not work at ANY terminal or ATM |
| Mastercard | ❌ NO — banned from today | Does not work at ANY terminal or ATM |
| American Express | ❌ NO | Was already banned — US-issued card |
| UnionPay | ✅ Yes | Chinese-issued cards — most Canadians do not hold one |
| Mir card | ✅ Yes | Russian-issued cards — most Canadians do not hold one |
| Cuban Clásica/Tropical prepaid | ✅ Yes — limited | Can be loaded with foreign currency at Cuban bank branches |
The critical question: how much cash do you have? If you are currently at a resort in Varadero or Cayo Coco, go to the hotel front desk immediately and ask the following:
Most Cuban resort areas have CADECA (Casas de Cambio) currency exchange offices that will still accept foreign currency cash. USD, CAD, and EUR remain exchangeable. The exchange offices are your mechanism for getting Cuban pesos (CUP) for small purchases — taxis, local restaurants, market stalls — where USD may not be accepted.
ATMs: The Cuban Central Bank confirms that payment terminals and ATMs linked to the Visa and Mastercard networks have been halted. ATMs that previously dispensed Cuban pesos against Visa or Mastercard will no longer function for these cards. If you have cash to exchange, CADECA offices are your only reliable option.
What about hotel bills already on Visa/Mastercard? If you checked in and presented a Visa card as guarantee, your hotel may attempt to process that card on checkout and fail. Clarify with the front desk today — before checkout — how they intend to handle the billing. Request a printed itemised bill and have sufficient cash ready.
Jet fuel shortages and power outages have negatively impacted resort services. Flight services and resort, restaurant, and tour services have been interrupted.
The primary reason for disruption is an ongoing Jet A-1 fuel crisis. As of February 2026, approximately 3,000 passengers were stranded in Cuba due to fuel shortage.
Cuba has been experiencing a combined fuel and electricity crisis since early 2026 — the result of US restrictions on Venezuelan oil shipments (Cuba’s primary crude oil supplier) compounding existing Cuban infrastructure failures. The practical impact on tourists currently in Cuba:
Power blackouts: Rolling blackouts are occurring across Cuba, including resort zones. Duration and frequency vary — some resorts have generators that maintain essential services (refrigeration, kitchens, basic lighting) during outages. Others do not. If your resort’s generator fails during a blackout, air conditioning, hot water, and in some cases food service may be unavailable.
Fuel for excursions: Day trips and excursions that depend on fuel — bus tours, boat trips, diving charters — may be operating at reduced capacity or cancelled without notice.
Contact your resort management today and ask specifically:
The Sunwing Vacations Group has made the difficult decision to indefinitely suspend all Cuba operations until further notice. The company recognises this news may be disappointing for guests and travel advisors, particularly given the strong connection many Canadians have with Cuba and its people.
The word “indefinitely” is critical. This is not a temporary suspension with a confirmed restart date. It is an open-ended cancellation of the entire Cuba programme until conditions — the Visa/Mastercard situation, the fuel crisis, the power supply, and the overall operating environment — improve sufficiently to justify resumption.
Travellers with existing bookings will be contacted directly and offered the choice of rebooking to another destination or receiving a full refund. The announcement also follows a similar decision by Air Canada Vacations, which recently postponed its return to Cuba until further notice.
What this means for your booking:
If you have a Sunwing or WestJet Vacations Cuba booking for any date — summer 2026, fall 2026, winter 2026–2027, or beyond — you will be contacted by the operator and offered:
Option A — Full cash refund: Return of all money paid, to your original payment method. This is your right — and Sunwing and WestJet are required to honour it.
Option B — Rebooking to an alternative destination: The Sunwing Vacations Group notes that it continues to offer flight options from major departure cities in Canada to many popular sun destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. Flights and packages available include Cancun, Mazatlan, Samana, Punta Cana, Montego Bay and more.
You are not required to accept a rebooking to an alternative destination. If your booking was specifically for Cuba and Cuba is no longer available, you are entitled to a full cash refund. Do not accept a future credit voucher unless it suits your specific situation — cash refunds are your legal right.
How to action your refund:
Note for TICO-protected bookings (Ontario): Ontario residents who booked through TICO-registered travel agents or operators have additional consumer protection under Ontario’s Travel Industry Act. If an operator fails to provide a refund, TICO’s Compensation Fund covers eligible claims. Contact TICO at 1-888-451-8426 or tico.ca.
Sunwing has been one of Cuba’s largest suppliers of Canadian tourists to the island. The financial impact will likely be felt across the island and have a devastating impact on the heels of the current US oil embargo.
To understand the scale of what Sunwing and WestJet’s indefinite suspension means:
All operations to Cuba are cancelled from June 20, 2026 to October 9, 2026 inclusive, for all departure cities and airports. Service to Varadero and Cayo Coco will resume as scheduled on October 10, 2026. Service to Holguin, Santa Clara, Cayo Largo and Cienfuegos will resume on October 25, 2026.
However: The June 5 indefinite suspension announcement supersedes these previously announced restart dates. The suspension will remain in place “until further notice” — meaning the October restart dates are not guaranteed and may be extended further depending on conditions on the island.
Canadian departure cities affected: Every major Canadian city that had Cuba service through Sunwing/WestJet is now without Cuba air service:
Air Canada’s situation is separate from Sunwing/WestJet but moving in the same direction.
Airlines serving Canada–Cuba routes have been adjusting schedules due to the ongoing energy crisis. Air Canada Vacations has recently postponed its return to Cuba until further notice.
Air Canada’s standalone airline operations (as distinct from Air Canada Vacations packages) have been suspended to Cuba since the February 2026 fuel crisis. The airline has not yet made a formal announcement matching Sunwing’s indefinite suspension in scope — but the Air Canada Vacations postponement and the Visa/Mastercard ban make any near-term Cuba resumption highly unlikely.
For Air Canada passengers: aircanada.com → Manage → My Bookings → Check Status. Air Canada customer service: 1-888-247-2262.
Cruise lines will no longer be visiting any Cuban ports, so passengers will be routed to different ports. Travel insurance claims for cancellations and disruptions are increasing.
Cruise itineraries that included Cuban port calls — typically Havana, Cienfuegos, or Santiago de Cuba — are being rerouted as of this week. The cruise lines most affected are those operating Caribbean itineraries from US ports (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, New Orleans) and Canadian ports (Montreal) that traditionally include Cuba as a port of call.
Which cruise lines are affected:
What happens to your cruise itinerary:
If your cruise was scheduled to call at a Cuban port, your cruise line will substitute an alternative Caribbean port. Common substitutions:
| Original Cuban port | Likely alternative |
|---|---|
| Havana, Cuba | Montego Bay, Jamaica OR Key West, Florida |
| Cienfuegos, Cuba | Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands |
| Santiago de Cuba | Ocho Rios, Jamaica |
| Cayo Coco area | Nassau, Bahamas OR Cozumel, Mexico |
Your rights as a cruise passenger when a port is substituted:
Cruise line ticket contracts typically include a clause permitting port substitutions without passenger consent or refund rights — cruise lines are generally not legally required to offer refunds or compensation purely for a port change. However:
Cruise line contacts:
The decision directly responds to Executive Order No. 14404, signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, 2026, which expands the US sanctions regime against Cuba and introduces secondary penalties for foreign financial institutions that maintain ties with blocked entities. The order designates GAESA — the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., the conglomerate controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces — as the central target of the sanctions.
In simple terms: GAESA is the Cuban military’s holding company. It controls approximately 80% of Cuba’s tourist economy — including the Meliá, Iberostar, and Gaviota hotel chains that the vast majority of Canadian all-inclusive tourists stay in. FINCIMEX, which GAESA controls, is the Cuban company that processes every international Visa and Mastercard transaction on the island.
When EO 14404 designated GAESA as a sanctioned entity, it created a legal impossibility: any non-US bank or payment processor that continued to clear Visa/Mastercard transactions through FINCIMEX was itself exposed to US secondary sanctions — meaning it could face US financial penalties even though it was not a US company.
The deadline for foreign companies to cut ties with sanctioned entities was precisely between June 5 and 6, which triggered a wave of simultaneous exits from the Cuban market.
The unnamed foreign bank that notified Cuba’s Central Bank on June 2 — the one that cleared Visa and Mastercard transactions — made the calculation that continuing to process Cuba payments was not worth the risk of US secondary sanctions. When it withdrew, the entire Visa/Mastercard infrastructure in Cuba collapsed simultaneously. There was no replacement available.
If your Cuba holiday is now cancelled and you are looking for alternatives that offer a comparable all-inclusive beach experience, these destinations have strong Canadian air service and available accommodation:
| Destination | From Canada | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Varadero equivalent: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | Multiple airlines from all major Canadian cities | Same all-inclusive format, comparable pricing, stronger resort infrastructure |
| Havana equivalent: Cartagena, Colombia | Air Canada, Copa connections from YYZ/YUL | Historic city, rich culture, growing tourist infrastructure |
| Cuba beach equivalent: Montego Bay / Negril, Jamaica | Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing (still operating) | Strong UK/Canada all-inclusive heritage, reliable power and services |
| Winter sun equivalent: Cancun / Riviera Maya, Mexico | Multiple from all Canadian cities | Strongest Canadian tourism infrastructure in the Caribbean |
| Upscale alternative: Turks & Caicos | Air Canada connections from Toronto | Premium beach experience, reliable services |
Sunwing Vacations continues to offer flights from major departure cities in Canada to Cancun, Mazatlan, Samana, Punta Cana, Montego Bay and more. These are the destinations your Sunwing or WestJet rebooking will be redirected to.
The Cuba payment ban and flight suspensions generate several insurance claim scenarios. What typically applies:
Flight cancellation by the operator (Sunwing/WestJet cancellation): Travel insurance is generally not required for Sunwing/WestJet cancellations — the operator is providing direct full refunds. However, if you had prepaid non-refundable travel costs (independent hotel nights, third-party tours, rental cars) for Cuba that you can no longer use, your travel insurance’s trip interruption/cancellation cover may reimburse these.
Being stranded in Cuba: If you are currently in Cuba and cannot return due to flight cancellations, your travel insurance’s trip interruption cover should provide for additional hotel nights and meals until repatriation is arranged. Check your policy’s trip interruption clause and contact your insurer’s 24-hour emergency line.
Medical coverage: Your travel health insurance remains valid in Cuba regardless of the payment situation. If you require medical treatment in Cuba, you will likely need to pay in cash upfront and claim reimbursement upon return — your insurer’s emergency line can advise on approved local medical facilities.
Travel insurance companies are seeing an increase in claims for cancellations and disruptions related to Cuba. Contact your travel insurer before making any unilateral decisions about leaving Cuba early or booking emergency alternative travel — get claims pre-approval first.
Major Canadian travel insurers emergency lines:
| Organisation | Phone | Online |
|---|---|---|
| Sunwing Vacations | 1-877-786-9464 | sunwing.ca → Manage My Booking |
| WestJet Vacations | 1-866-666-6224 | westjet.com → Manage My Vacation |
| Air Canada Vacations | 1-800-204-2066 | aircanada.com → Manage |
| Air Canada (repatriation) | 1-888-247-2262 | aircanada.com |
| Air Transat | 1-877-872-6728 | airtransat.com → My Booking |
| Global Affairs Canada (consular) | 1-800-387-3124 (24hr) | travel.gc.ca |
| Canadian Embassy Havana | +53 7 204 2516 | canadainternational.gc.ca/cuba |
| TICO (Ontario consumer protection) | 1-888-451-8426 | tico.ca |
| Cuba CADECA (cash exchange) | In person — resort or bank branch | N/A |
| Event | Status | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Visa & Mastercard ban | 🔴 ACTIVE — total suspension | June 6, 2026 — TODAY |
| Sunwing Vacations Cuba | 🔴 INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED | June 5, 2026 announcement |
| WestJet Vacations Cuba | 🔴 INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED | June 5, 2026 announcement |
| Air Canada Vacations Cuba | 🔴 POSTPONED indefinitely | Announced separately |
| Cruise port calls Cuba | 🔴 ALL REROUTED | This week |
| Accepted payments in Cuba | Cash (USD/CAD/EUR) · UnionPay · Mir | TODAY onwards |
| Jet fuel shortage | 🟡 ONGOING — airports affected | Since Feb 2026 |
| Power blackouts | 🟡 ONGOING — resort areas | Since early 2026 |
| Refund right | ✅ Full cash refund | All cancelled bookings |
| TICO protection | ✅ Active | Ontario bookings |
| Travel insurance | ✅ Check policy | Medical + trip interruption |
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Posted By : Vinay
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