Budski54

I have been corresponding with NEWFOUND CABS in St John's Newfoundland.  Here is what they offer in regards to hiring a driver and vehicle for touringSt John's. I am booked for September 1, 2019, so I can not give a review.  I will do so afterwards.

Newfound Cabs has a 110 vehicle taxi fleet ranging from sedans to 6 psgr minivans.

We also have two Ford Transit Minibuses with a capacity of 14 psgrs plus driver.

Standard tour rate for taxis is $50 (tax inclusive price) per hour regardless of the number of passengers (to the legal capacity for the vehicle type). You are in effect hiring the vehicle with driver.

The Ford Transits charter at $100 per hour plus Harmonized Sales Tax of 15%. Again you are hiring the vehicle and driver.

In both cases there is no ‘per passenger’ rate.

As for the attractions you may wish to see I might suggest you do some web surfing thru the provincial tourism website as well as the City of St John’s site to determine what would interest you and your group.

Details of each site are a little long to describe although I will attach a document I provide to our drivers so you can have some idea of what there is to see – have a coffee or a glass of wine while reading it. It’s a bit lengthy!!).

Suggested and most popular sites include:

Signal Hill National Historic Site

Cape Spear National Historic Site (Most easterly point of land in North America)

Quidi Vidi Village

Petty Harbour (usually part of a trip to Cape Spear)

Roman Catholic Basilica

Anglican Cathedral

The Rooms (Provincial Museum, Archives and Art Gallery – Admission fees applicable)

Johnson GEO Centre (Admission fees applicable)

Commissariat House

Government House Grounds

Bowring Park

Driving tour through the older parts of the city. Lots of old classic architecture in the homes and buildings.

Railway Museum

It would be quite easy to fill any time period you might choose to hire us for.

Kindest Regards,

Derek Hayter

Manager

Newfound Cabs (2015) Inc. 

5 – 7 Pippy Place, P.O. Box 2581, Stn C, St. John’s, NL, A1C6K1

Office (709)726-0240/ 722-7705 

Cell (709)727-8491 

Fax (709)726-9241

derekhayter57@outlook.com

www.newfoundcabs.com

Laurence, 

Thanks for the info.  I will continue searching for a tour operator who can take us to Trinidad and Cienfuegos. But if  I cannot find anyone,  I'll just have to be content with spending the day in Cienfuegos. So, thanks for all of the details about Cienfuegos. 

Thanks for the reply. I contacted Tony, but he is booked. He contacted a few other tour operators, but they too were booked.

Since you mentioned 3G, is it possible to text or call on our cell phones? Or do we need to have an international phone?

I am not sure if you have returned from your cruise yet, but did you eventually take a tour of Trinidad/Cienfuegos with Tony?  If so, can you share your experience?

My daughter and I sail on a 14 night cruise on the Veendam on August 4. The ship docks also in Havana two days prior to Cienfugos. We have booked with Blexie for the Havana day.

Last summer we visited Havana on the Carnival Paradise and booked a walking tour with the ship and half day with OldCarTours. It was wonderful! Since we had done the morning on a "standard" tour, our driver/guide was able to take us to a few places not normally included. At night we went out and took a cocotaxi to el Floridita and Bodeguita del Medio to have drinks in the steps of Hemingway. We were two women alone and felt totally safe alone at night in Havana. Everyone we met was helpful and friendly.

 

I will report back on the Cienfuegos tour when we return.

I will be looking forward to your comments about the Blexie tour in Havana, and also ANYTHING about Cienfuegos.

I have been corresponding with Caribbean Pearl Tours, and they do offer a 1 day tour of Trinidad and Cienfuegos that should take about 6 hours.

In the course of trying to find tour operators in Cienfuegos, I came across a few websites with good information. They are:

Transportation in Cuba: What You Need to Know

http://cheekyjaunt.com/transport-in-cuba-what-you-need-to-know/

The Ultimate Guide to Taxi's in Cuba

https://gencuba.com/ultimate-guide-taxi-cuba/

Things to do in Cienfuegos in one day - Practical info and tips

https://capturetheatlas.com/cienfuegos-cuba-in-one-day/

Cienfuegos Cuba Cruise Port of Call

https://www.whatsinport.com/Cienfuegos.htm

Check out Sam | Travel guide and info about Cienfuegos, Cuba

https://www.checkoutsam.com/location/cuba/cienfuegos/

Why You Need to Visit Cienfuegos Cuba - Tales of a Backpacker

https://talesofabackpacker.com/cienfuegos-cuba-itinerary/

We used www.trinidadsightseeing.com who were easy to deal with and would customize on request. It was an all day tour with pick up from outside the port gates at Ciefuegos. The tour was based on the 'Great Excursiom Tour - City & Sugar (combo tour) from their website. The cost is 60CUC on the website but there was extra to pick us up at the Ciefuegos Port and return. In all from memory it was about 8 hours and was about 90CUC based on 6.

 

The drive was certainly worthwhile as you see lots of local life in villages etc and the lunch was fantastic. We even saw hundreds of thousands of the migratory crabs crossing the road (April - June), some were not so lucky to make it to the other side!

 

The only down side to watch for was the driver picked us up outside the port gates which is understandable due to security (and there was a little confusion) as he didn't speak English. Plenty of the locals were there to help us find the driver though and one spoke English. We made sure we had phone numbers and the information written on paper. I would go as far next time to getting that information converted to Spanish via an app if the guide isn't coming with the vehicle. We drove to the guides house in Trinidad to collect him as we were told it was his birthday and he wanted to spend the early morning with his family rather than drive down and drive back. I have a suspicion that the driver lived in Ciefuegos.

 

The others in our group though the time at the old sugar plantation could have been shortened a little, but I was fine with it. The guide we had was excellent.

 

Hope this helps.

Aussie travel bird, thank you for all of the details in your post. It is very helpful. There is plenty of posts about Havana, but very little on Cienfuegos. I have found some information about Cienfuegos on the internet, and many of them say that Trinidad is a "must see." So the information about the ride through the countryside of Cuba, helps me focus on getting a tour that goes from Cienfuegos to Trinidad, and back to the ship in time, so I'll give Trinidad Sight Seeing a look. Once again, thanks for all of the detail.

Meanwhile, for others who may be reading this post, I did checkout Caribbean Pearl Tours, and this link will take you to their one day tours.

https://www.caribbeanpearltours.com/one-day-tours

We're on the Azamara Quest in March and have organised a private tour that will take us from Cienfuegos to Trinidad (a must see for me). I had heard that there wasn't much to do in Cienfuegos.

Aussie travel bird,

Can you give share the name of the "private tour" operator?

Also, can you share about the tour? How many hours? How much did it cost per person? Was it a good trip?

I'm trying to figure out what you mean that you lose the credit. Can you give an example?

When I am looking for a HAL cruise, I go to their website and do a mock booking without entering my Mariners number. It shows the onboard credit.

Then I go back, and enter my number. I get a discounted fare, but no onboard credits.

On the cruise that I booked for January 2019, on the phone through my PCC, once again, a discounted fare, but no onboard credits.

Thanks for a few more replies, and additional names of tour operators in Havana. For anyone following this thread here's a list of tour operators mentioned in this thread:

Brexie Havana Tours;

Cubaoutings;

Cuba Among Cubans;

Strawberry Tours.

I always do my initial booking with my PCC. She has told me many times that she gets the credit she needs by making the initial booking. She has been very good about assisting with the transfer. Talking with friends that do the same thing I find that their PCCs have told them the same thing,.

Richwmn, thank you for your reply. I'm glad to hear that your PCC is always encouraging and supportive with making a booking transfer.

Before you transfer the reservation to a TA make sure the TA has no additional fees for changes or cancellation. You may also want to check around for better deals from other TAs. You should be able to get a benefit worth at least 8% of your fare.

Thanks for the additional info.

Bob white farms. Graduated from Upper Merion (way back when J Smith was principal, yikes!). Back to our tour, the car we had was a 57 blue and white ford hardtop with air. Amazing what they do to keep those cars going, it had a russian diesel engine in it.

 

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I lived in Philadelphia during the Jay Smith days, but I know people who taught at Upper Merion, and others who graduated. Do you know any of the Grosicks?

While I was searching for a HAL Cruise for January, 2019, I discovered the January 24th cruise goes to Cienfuegos ONLY for 8 hours. However, the January 4th cruise goes to Cienfuegos for 8 hours, AND Havana for 16 hours. I booked for January 4th.

Have a great time! I enjoyed going private, knew exactly who got my money and it was just myself and DH - but you have to decide where your comfort level is. I see you are from KOP, I grew up there!

 

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Nw gardener, my wife and I usually go well beyond our comfort level. We'll probably go with a private tour in an vintage car with air conditioning.

When did you grow up in KOP?

We will be there with you! Haven’t found a roll call for the cruise yet

 

 

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Cabinluvn, yesterday I checked in on the roll call, there were 2 others, but not any posts.

I'm new to posting replies. I tried to reply to one person, and it came out I replied to myself.

Anyway, thank you everyone for your replies. I will look into the blog, amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com and also Blexie Havana Tours.

It is a requirement that you do a “people to people” activity when ashore. After that activity you are free to roam on your own. You must sign an affidavit that you are either on a ship tour or on your own, it must be with a US government approved company, and still doing a “people to people” activity. If you do not do it on a ship tour, you must keep your paperwork that proves you did the requirement on your own and the US government can ask for that proof for the next 5 years. We are going on a Cuban cruise next January and have found the ship tours reasonable and leaves enough time to go our on our own

 

 

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Thanks for the reply. We will be on the January 4, 2019 sailing. We have not yet looked at HAL's excursions, but so far it seems like the easiest way to go.

I am also going to look into a tour by the locals, as mentioned in another reply. We prefer supporting the locals, and it becomes more personal, truly people to people .

My HAL cruise consultant told me that the only way to go ashore in Cuba, is by booking a "people to people" excursion through HAL. He said that once you finish the people to people excursion, then you can roam around Cuba on your own. IS THIS TRUE?

Thanks all for the replies.

On the HAL cruise that I was on in March, the FCC also said something about transferring the booking with no problem. I just wanted to make sure that the HAL cruise consultant don't lose out on anything. I left a voicemail with my cruise consultant, so I'll wait until I hear back from him on Monday.

Once again, thanks all for the replies.

I am not the original Santa that was pelted 50 years ago, he died a few years ago. The Eagles just wanted to have a little fun, so they had the video made. That's the Melrose Diner, by the way. And the voice of the snowball is Bradley Cooper.

In the process of looking for a cruise, I was corresponding via email with a travel agent. Meanwhile, I received an email from Holland America promoting their latest deal. So, I booked with Holland America .

After informing the travel agent, she said that I could transfer my booking to her( as long as final payment has not occurred), and she could become the agent for the cruise, and she could give me some onboard credit.

Would transferring my booking cause my HAL cruise consultant to lose credit of commission? Are there any cautions to worry about with transferring my booking? What are the positives and negatives of transferring? What are your experiences of transferring a booking?

QUOTE

Thanks for your reply. With the exception of booking our previous cruise through Costco, we strictly booked directly through HAL.

I am going to take your advice, and post on a HAL page.

Also, since you have an Eagles emblem, Google "Eagles, Santa, snowball" and you'll find a video of Santa trying to reconcile with the snowball. I'm the Santa.

Ho,ho,ho

In the process of looking for a cruise, I was corresponding via email with a travel agent. Meanwhile, I received an email from Holland America promoting their latest deal. So, I booked with Holland America .

After informing the travel agent, she said that I could transfer my booking to her( as long as final payment has not occurred), and she could become the agent for the cruise, and she could give me some onboard credit.

Would transferring my booking cause my HAL cruise consultant to lose credit of commission? Are there any cautions to worry about with transferring my booking? What are the positives and negatives of transferring? What are your experiences of transferring a booking?

When ever my wife and I are on a HAL ship, we always look for the ginger man. We usually each have one piece each of ginger, a date, and a mint. The ginger man is always a pleasure to have a brief chat with. And we always ask him his name. We are in search of the first ginger man we encountered about 15 years ago. His name was Poo-Poo. It was written right on his name tag.