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Ship that took historic cruise to Cuba returns to Miami

Passengers from cruise ship Adonia exit the terminal after arriving at the Port of Miami from the historic trip to Cuba, Sunday, May 8, 2016. It was the first regular cruise to travel directly from the United States to Cuba in more than half a century. (Carl Juste/The Miami Herald via AP) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Passengers from cruise ship Adonia exit the terminal after arriving at the Port of Miami from the historic trip to Cuba, Sunday, May 8, 2016. It was the first regular cruise to travel directly from the United States to Cuba in more than half a century. (Carl Juste/The Miami Herald via AP) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press May 8, 2016 1 min read

MIAMI (AP) – The first cruise ship to travel from the United States to Cuba in decades has returned to Miami.

Carnival Cruise Line spokesman Roger Frizzell says the Adonia returned to Miami on Sunday, a week after it departed.

The ship had 700 passengers and almost 375 crew members. The ship included 16 people who had been born in Cuba.

The Cuban government dropped a longstanding ban on Cuban-born people returning to their homeland by sea before the start of the trip.

Before the 1959 Cuban revolution, cruise ships regularly traveled from the U.S. to Cuba. But Cold War tensions shut down travel between the two nations.

Now, both sides hope the cruise is the first step toward a future in which thousands of ships a year could cross the Florida Straits.