Celebrity to Cuba anytime soon?

Thanks for sharing all those beautiful photos of Cuba. You deserved Ten Rating for those photos. A Gold medal.

Ahhhh.....thank you

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When we went to Cuba last February on RCCL Empress of the Seas I was able to book the Ernest Hemingway Tour. Our guide Alexander was outstanding. He spoke perfect English and his knowledge of Hemingway's background was outstanding. The tour included going out to Hemingway's home-about 45 minute drive outside Havana. Visited several of Hemingway's watering holes where we sampled mojitos and daiquiris :). Then had a tour of the downtown visiting the cathedral, the Malecon, the Tropicana, etc.. Found the Cuban people to be lovely.

On my next cruise to Cuba, like to take one that circles the island & does an overnight in Havana.

When we went to Cuba last February on RCCL Empress of the Seas I was able to book the Ernest Hemingway Tour. Our guide Alexander was outstanding. He spoke perfect English and his knowledge of Hemingway's background was outstanding. The tour included going out to Hemingway's home-about 45 minute drive outside Havana. Visited several of Hemingway's watering holes where we sampled mojitos and daiquiris :). Then had a tour of the downtown visiting the cathedral, the Malecon, the Tropicana, etc.. Found the Cuban people to be lovely.

 

 

 

On my next cruise to Cuba, like to take one that circles the island & does an overnight in Havana.

For info - star clippers have been doing cruises to and around Cuba for 2/3 years. First cruises got some negative press but I believe the feedback has been very positive over recent years.

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Hi......there are some great local tour companies you can use, We used Blexie Havana Tours. You can contact them via Facebook. Our guide spoke perfect English and is an air traffic controller by trade. His name was Isbel.....he pairs up with another man named Monolo who owns the car. Monolo did not speak much english and yes it was a beautiful 1950's Chevy Bel-Air (pic above at the beach). Their standard tour is about 6 hours and consists of a walking tour, a driving tour in the classic car and then ends with more walking tour in another part of Havana. They will customize the tour to your liking. We stopped and had drinks at one point. And we stopped and ate a great lunch with Mojitos too! The standard tour is $130 CUP (approx $150 US) and they can take up to 4 people at that price. That is the price for the tour not per person.

 

More pics here:

 

You can check out more tour company options on TrippAdvisor. I have heard great things about the company we used as well as:

I Love Cuba Photo Tours

Fertours

Havana Journeys

 

Keep in mind that internet isn't great there so sometimes it takes a little time for them to get back to you.

 

Kristin, just following up to thank you for recommending Blexie- I sent him an e mail on Tuesday and he responded Wednesday and we are booked. Today he sent me an e mail telling me our guide will be Rollie and we'll be in a 1955 Chevy. He's very organized which is reassuring.

Roll on January 16th 2019!

I have looked at all of your cruise photos and my mouth is watering to see Havana for myself.

Now I have to find a similar tour for Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba.

Thank you for all your help!

Norris

Norris,

We are on Azamara to Cuba in the fall and have made arrangements with Out of the Box tours in Santiago de Cuba. His ratings on Trip Advisor are very high, and he answered quickly and encouraged us to customize what we wanted to see. Yoe seems to be the Blexie of Santiago.

I always enjoy your reports, so it is nice to be able to give you a suggestion.

¡Buen viaje a Cuba!

Norris,

 

We are on Azamara to Cuba in the fall and have made arrangements with Out of the Box tours in Santiago de Cuba. His ratings on Trip Advisor are very high, and he answered quickly and encouraged us to customize what we wanted to see. Yoe seems to be the Blexie of Santiago.

I always enjoy your reports, so it is nice to be able to give you a suggestion.

¡Buen viaje a Cuba!

Thank you for steering me towards OOTB- I have been reading the TripAdvisor reviews and exploring their website and in my book a personal recommendation is hard to beat.

This is, I think, the most anticipated cruise for us and we certainly booked it further in advance

than any other to date and I am thinking of it often. We will certainly do some ship tours but these Cuban operators seem to offer something extra special and we don't want to be part of a big tour bus. Customizable is a lure in the case of OOTB but first I have to research Santiago de Cuba and make a list of our kind of attraction beyond my favorite thing which is sitting at a sidewalk cafe with a cup of coffee or a Cuba Libre people watching and taking photos. I'm sure we can fit some of that in too.

Thanks for reading my CC reviews. Cuba promises to be an epic as it is a country who's music we love since the first Buena Vista Social Club CD and many Cuban bands visiting Chicago in it's wake. Now we are ready to see the architecture and taste the food and meet some of the people. I have a new camera ready and waiting. The review will be on the Celebrity Board and begin the day we get back as is my custom (Jan 25th or 26th)

Thanks again!

Now the research...

Norris

Norris, we are Chicagoans by birth and left for job changes...and Atlanta and now central Florida do have better weather.

As a bilingual teacher in both Chicago and Atlanta, this is a dream trip for me and my architect / photographer spouse.

Have you seen Raul Malo’s ( of the Mavericks) program on Great Performances called Havana Time Machine? Great music, Cuban history and Havana at its best.

We are going to stick with a ship’s tour for Cienfuegos to go to Trinidad, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a long distance and I read that roads can be tough. Want to be sure to be back for a 5 pm sailaway.

Norris, we are Chicagoans by birth and left for job changes...and Atlanta and now central Florida do have better weather.

 

 

 

As a bilingual teacher in both Chicago and Atlanta, this is a dream trip for me and my architect / photographer spouse.

 

 

 

Have you seen Raul Malo’s ( of the Mavericks) program on Great Performances called Havana Time Machine? Great music, Cuban history and Havana at its best.

 

 

 

We are going to stick with a ship’s tour for Cienfuegos to go to Trinidad, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a long distance and I read that roads can be tough. Want to be sure to be back for a 5 pm sailaway.

We did the trip to Trinidad from Cienfuegos on an Oceania excursion. It was in a brand new Chinese made luxury bus - probably what all ships excursions use. I didn't find the roads "rough" at all. It also gave us a chance to see some of the Cuban countryside.

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I heard the buses were the Chinese buses and they handle the roads well. It is the distance that concerns us and it is our only stop with just one day. We prefer smaller private tours but will sometimes choose a ship tour for long distances. Chose Trinidad for its architecture and history and yes, the chance to see more of rural Cuba.

 

Have you seen Raul Malo’s ( of the Mavericks) program on Great Performances called Havana Time Machine? Great music, Cuban history and Havana at its best.

 

We are going to stick with a ship’s tour for Cienfuegos to go to Trinidad, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a long distance and I read that roads can be tough. Want to be sure to be back for a 5 pm sailaway.

Hi, we have not seen Havana Time Machine-it's one of 23 Great Performance shows we have sitting on our DVR, waiting to be watched. We'll hopefully watch it soon!

We have yet to pick our ship excursions.

Norris

RCL has a couple smaller ships visiting Cuba. Celebrity just doesn't have the fleet to do it.

 

Personally, I have Zero desire to visit and thus supporting that communist, repressive dictatorship country.

Agree.... I was there once... Enough....

 

Hi......there are some great local tour companies you can use, We used Blexie Havana Tours. You can contact them via Facebook. Our guide spoke perfect English and is an air traffic controller by trade. His name was Isbel.....he pairs up with another man named Monolo who owns the car. Monolo did not speak much english and yes it was a beautiful 1950's Chevy Bel-Air (pic above at the beach). Their standard tour is about 6 hours and consists of a walking tour, a driving tour in the classic car and then ends with more walking tour in another part of Havana. They will customize the tour to your liking. We stopped and had drinks at one point. And we stopped and ate a great lunch with Mojitos too! The standard tour is $130 CUP (approx $150 US) and they can take up to 4 people at that price. That is the price for the tour not per person.

 

More pics here:

 

You can check out more tour company options on TrippAdvisor. I have heard great things about the company we used as well as:

I Love Cuba Photo Tours

Fertours

Havana Journeys

 

Keep in mind that internet isn't great there so sometimes it takes a little time for them to get back to you.

''Hi Kristin-- we are booked with one of Blexie's folks. Looking fwd to the day. Did you have dinner in Havana? And did you need the guide to make a reservation? Nightlife? We'd prefer to skip the Tropicana and instead hear some jazz in a smaller club. We are in port about 36 hrs (wish they stayed through the next day) Also--did t take a long time line) to handle the immigration and the money change $ to CUC?

TYIA

Hi, we have not seen Havana Time Machine-it's one of 23 Great Performance shows we have sitting on our DVR, waiting to be watched. We'll hopefully watch it soon!

We have yet to pick our ship excursions.

Norris

Quoting myself because last night we hit play on the Havana Time Machine show and are still talking about it today. I had no idea one of my favorite musicians-guitarist singer Eliades Ochoa would be featured. It was magical and now we are hoping to hear some bands play when we are there. After our Blexie tour we'll have a whole night free in Havana....

We heard a lot of great musicians on the show, a couple of them we had heard play in Chicago years ago. The Mavericks were a new name to me and I'll explore their music on Youtube.

Thanks DiamondDiva for nudging me towards the DVR!

Norris

''Hi Kristin-- we are booked with one of Blexie's folks. Looking fwd to the day. Did you have dinner in Havana? And did you need the guide to make a reservation? Nightlife? We'd prefer to skip the Tropicana and instead hear some jazz in a smaller club. We are in port about 36 hrs (wish they stayed through the next day) Also--did t take a long time line) to handle the immigration and the money change $ to CUC?

 

TYIA

 

 

 

We had a late lunch in Cuba but not a dinner. The food was great and the mojitos (yummy). There are many restaurants within walking distance of the ship. It was hot so it was nice to get back on the ship.....get some air conditioning.....and then back into town.

 

We intentionally got off before the ship tours. I think that helped with our time getting through immigration. Took about 12 min for immigration and money exchange for us.

 

 

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