Blexie Tour Guides

[LaCal]

11 minutes ago, pauon said:

Here is what we received from Blexie, was yours different?    

You can consider your tour booked.My colleague Raul will serve as your guide.He will meet you in the corner of Cuba street (Calle Cuba) on July XX at 9am.You will only need to walk out of the terminal and go across the square,then walk straight up for 3 blocks.You will see a church with a small park in front of it.Your guide will be there!!!

Your confirmation number is XXXX.Only you and your guide will know that number so you don’t get tricked by another person.

Those directions are great....And no we only had a map with no directions from Blexie like you have.....I’d bet he started adding the pertinent Info with Street names etc After people like myself couldn’t find their guides 

 

Have Fun.....We absolutely Loved Cuba 

[pauon]

19 minutes ago, LaCal said:

Those directions are great....And no we only had a map with no directions from Blexie like you have.....I’d bet he started adding the pertinent Info with Street names etc After people like myself couldn’t find their guides 

 

Have Fun.....We absolutely Loved Cuba 

Thanks for the reply, we feel better !

[Shore>Mom]

Heads up folks!! Blexie just reached out and unscrupulous rival tour companies are stealing his clients!! They are pretending to be Blexie Tours when they greet groups waiting across from the terminal. Don't be fooled!! You really really want Blexie. He is honest and more importantly his tours are FUN. From now on when you book with Blexie he will give you a code that only his driver knows. I'm telling you folks. Wait for the "real" Blexie Tours - you won't regret it!!! 

[Shore>Mom]

On 5/16/2019 at 8:48 AM, Wyoming2010 said:

We are booked with Blexie -- our tour guide will be Jorge -- for our October cruise.  I just heard from him and everything is fine, still going strong and sent us the new location map. 

 

Our tour was customized from start to finish and will probably last about 7 hours.  Blexie arranged to take us to all the stops that were important for us to see and we will probably have lunch on the go.  I'm excited to see Havana.  We have ship excursions booked (our three free ones) for the Tropicana, the Art of Cuba Walking Tour and the Evening Tour of Colonial Havana.  While we will be exhausted with four excursions in two days, I am happy knowing we'll have covered everything most important to my husband by the time we depart. 

 

Now fingers crossed that the Cuban Government doesn't ask our ship to leave a day early in any of our ports to accommodate a larger ship (which apparently happened to Oceania in March) 🙄

You will absolutely LOVE Jorge. Fluent English. Funny funny guy. Loves his Country and willing to share fascinating information about living in Cuba. Jorge and The Hamster (driver) made our day in Cuba a fabulous memory I will cherish forever. Heads up - Blexie just reached out and said unscrupulous rival tour groups are stealing his clients. He will give you a code only Jorge will know. Tell Jorge the Phillies fans from Jersey with the teenagers say hi!! 

[Lorey2007]

We had a Blexie tour on 5-15, due to my husbands walking disabilty Blexie instructed us to turn right once outside the terminal on the same side & walk 1 block to the building that looks like a ship. He gave us a code but our guide Isbel had a big sign with my name on it. Isbel was was fabulous he took us to everything we wanted to see.

[LaCal]

1 hour ago, Lorey2007 said:

We had a Blexie tour on 5-15, due to my husbands walking disabilty Blexie instructed us to turn right once outside the terminal on the same side & walk 1 block to the building that looks like a ship. He gave us a code but our guide Isbel had a big sign with my name on it. Isbel was was fabulous he took us to everything we wanted to see.

I wish we could of met our guide at a easy place like you did....I told Blexie numerous times my MIL has trouble walking....he gave us a map with no street names and we walked for 35 minutes looking for our guide 😓😓....my poor MIL was exhausted......And 1 week before our cruise I even emailed Blexie on FB asking if there was a closer place to meet 

 

I felt bad/mad as we really were looking forward to using Blexie and felt bad for Jorge as he was supposedly waiting for us but God knows where 

 

Now I read on his sight he’s going to give the cruise passengers who’ve booked with him a photo of the guide which should help and he’s started giving better directions with Street names where to meet 

[pauon]

Anyone have Raul as a guide?

[Cruiser24]

3 hours ago, Shore>Mom said:

You will absolutely LOVE Jorge. Fluent English. Funny funny guy. Loves his Country and willing to share fascinating information about living in Cuba. Jorge and The Hamster (driver) made our day in Cuba a fabulous memory I will cherish forever. Heads up - Blexie just reached out and said unscrupulous rival tour groups are stealing his clients. He will give you a code only Jorge will know. Tell Jorge the Phillies fans from Jersey with the teenagers say hi!! 

So glad to read this.  We have Jorge as our guide on our June 24 cruise.   First I wondered if we'd even get to go, but nothing seems to have come of the ban.   Now I've been reading about the problems finding the right guide.  I'm sure it will all work out and am really looking forward to our trip.  Curious as to what time you left on Day 2 in Havana.  I'm getting different times from different cruisers and am hoping we're there at least in the morning of the second day.  Thanks.

[Cruiser24]

3 hours ago, Shore>Mom said:

You will absolutely LOVE Jorge. Fluent English. Funny funny guy. Loves his Country and willing to share fascinating information about living in Cuba. Jorge and The Hamster (driver) made our day in Cuba a fabulous memory I will cherish forever. Heads up - Blexie just reached out and said unscrupulous rival tour groups are stealing his clients. He will give you a code only Jorge will know. Tell Jorge the Phillies fans from Jersey with the teenagers say hi!! 

What time were you able to get off the ship to start your tour?  I just reread my email from Blexie and he said we would meet at 10AM.  Should I suggest we meet earlier or is that a good time to start?  Thank you:)

[Lorey2007]

1 hour ago, Cruiser24 said:

What time were you able to get off the ship to start your tour?  I just reread my email from Blexie and he said we would meet at 10AM.  Should I suggest we meet earlier or is that a good time to start?  Thank you:)

What ship will you be on?

[EatonDoolittle]

1 hour ago, Cruiser24 said:

 Curious as to what time you left on Day 2 in Havana.  I'm getting different times from different cruisers and am hoping we're there at least in the morning of the second day.  Thanks.

 

What does your itinerary say? You have to be careful booking these Cuba  cruises because so many of them (not just RC) call themselves  "overnight" when they actually leave at 1AM, or 6 AM. I guess anything past midnight can be considered "overnight" in their mind.

 

On my 3 trips (all dates booked to maximize port time) the Empress in 2017 left on time day 2 at 5 PM,  second time the Majesty left 18 hours early due to (allegedly) bad weather coming, and the third time the Majesty left at the scheduled 2PM on day 2. 

 

So, part of the varying port times you are seeing is the schedule you originally booked, and certainly part of it is due to Cuban port authorities or the cruise line making decisions.

Cuba is unlike any other Caribbean port - there are lots of variables that can happen. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Denise Lichtenberger]

On 5/20/2019 at 7:59 PM, Lorey2007 said:

We used Blexie Tours last week and our guide was Isbel. I must say he was the best guide we have ever had, we learned so much and saw so much my head was spinning.  He took into consideration my husbands walking condition and  had the driver backing down streets to pick us up. I gave him a list and in 6 hours we saw everything on it.  We also used Blexie tours for our pick up and return to Tropicana.  Isbel made the arrangements and when a different driver showed up he handed me a phone and Isbel explained the change and wanted to make sure we were ok with it. That driver made sure to tell us where and when to meet and since it was pouring rain after the show he came running up to us with umbrellas, which we had left in his car, then ran to get the car for us.   We had a 59 Chevy 4 door sedan with AC during the day and a 56 Ford Fairlane  4 door sedan with AC in the evening.  

Make sure to reach out a week or so before your tour to confirm your meeting place the government is not making it easy for these private tour companies.  We spoke to one couple who missed their tour because they were at the wrong meeting place.  This was a once in a lifetime port for us.   

We booked with Blexie for our October cruise and will have Isbel.  First time I have seen his name here, and so glad you like him!   I would like to use them to go to Tropicana also.  Did you set that up when you were there or beforehand?  Also, did you buy your tickets ahead of time or at the door?

[Wyoming2010]

Per a previous poster, my husband has mobility issues and now I am worried that the 3+ blocks shown on the map he sent us might be too far a walk.  Is it as far as it looks on the map or are they short blocks?  Thanks. 

[Wyoming2010]

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 11:10 AM, Shore>Mom said:

You will absolutely LOVE Jorge. Fluent English. Funny funny guy. Loves his Country and willing to share fascinating information about living in Cuba. Jorge and The Hamster (driver) made our day in Cuba a fabulous memory I will cherish forever. Heads up - Blexie just reached out and said unscrupulous rival tour groups are stealing his clients. He will give you a code only Jorge will know. Tell Jorge the Phillies fans from Jersey with the teenagers say hi!! 

 

Thanks! 

[Cruiser24]

23 hours ago, Lorey2007 said:

What ship will you be on?

Majesty June 24 departure.  When I booked it was 2pm.  Later it was 11:30 am.   Now the website says 5:30am.  That’s disappointing.  I was really hoping for at least part of a second day.

[Lorey2007]

15 hours ago, Denise Lichtenberger said:

We booked with Blexie for our October cruise and will have Isbel.  First time I have seen his name here, and so glad you like him!   I would like to use them to go to Tropicana also.  Did you set that up when you were there or beforehand?  Also, did you buy your tickets ahead of time or at the door?

When I booked our tour at least 6 months out I asked Blexie if they could take us to Tropicana and pick us up.  He confirmed and said he would get with us on the tour and let us know those arrangements.  During the tour I mentioned it to Isbel and he was back & forth on the phone to arrange it. We wanted to be picked up at 8pm and that was a good thing we were some of the first to arrive at Tropicana and got excellent seats on the raised section.   I would not have wanted to sit in the other sections they really cram everyone together.  I purchased the mid price tickets on line about 2 months before printed them out and presented them. Isbel went above and beyond when the driver was changed.  See if they can pick you up at the building that looks like a ship it is out the terminal to the right about a 1 block walk.     

[Lorey2007]

6 hours ago, Wyoming2010 said:

Per a previous poster, my husband has mobility issues and now I am worried that the 3+ blocks shown on the map he sent us might be too far a walk.  Is it as far as it looks on the map or are they short blocks?  Thanks. 

I would check and see if they can meet somewhere closer.  We were picked up at the building that looks like a ship which is out the terminal to the right same side of street and about a 1 block walk.  Sidewalk narrow and not in the best condition but we walked single file and ignored all the classic taxis that wanted us to tour with them.  Our guide met us there at 9am with a sign with my name I also had a code but didn't need to use it.

[nancy2vues]

Yes, Raul was our guide in August and we had an awesome tour!

[pauon]

9 hours ago, nancy2vues said:

Yes, Raul was our guide in August and we had an awesome tour!

Thanks !  Did he mention anything from the States he likes that I could bring?

[Sunsher28]

Just curious. Who owns the cars that Blexie uses for his tours?  Is the driver the owner, or are they owned by the government?

[josumello]

8 minutes ago, Sunsher28 said:

Just curious. Who owns the cars that Blexie uses for his tours?  Is the driver the owner, or are they owned by the government?

Just got back from Majesty Cuba Cruise. Used Blexie tours which was excellent. The car we were in, a 56 beautiful Chevy  Bel Air, was privately owned by the drivers Uncle. 

[Sunsher28]

Just now, josumello said:

Just got back from Majesty Cuba Cruise. Used Blexie tours which was excellent. The car we were in, a 56 beautiful Chevy  Bel Air, was privately owned by the drivers Uncle. 

Thank you. That’s what I figured. We are touring with him in a few weeks and wanted to know in advance so we could be prepared for conversations. 

[Wyoming2010]

TIPPING -- did you tip the guide?  Not sure what the policy is about this.  We are on private tours in Santiago and Cienfuegos also and don't know what to tip or if we should.  Thanks. 

[nancy2vues]

On 5/29/2019 at 8:20 AM, pauon said:

Thanks !  Did he mention anything from the States he likes that I could bring?

He loved the Huston Astros, and we happened to bring him a hat.  That's about all that I can think of!!

 

[OHCruisinDad]

On 5/29/2019 at 8:29 AM, Sunsher28 said:

Just curious. Who owns the cars that Blexie uses for his tours?  Is the driver the owner, or are they owned by the government?

According to our guide, the cars are all privately owned.  Only about half the families in Cuba have a car and virtually no one other than high ranking government officials have more than one.  Our guide said that the govenrnent allows one car which can be a taxi but prohibits more than one car as it would become a taxi agency and that would generate too much profit or wealth in the private sector.  The older cars are passed down generation to generation as no one has the accumulated wealth to purchase one.  We were told there are approximately 62,000 older American cars currently in Cuba.  The most valuable person in most neighborhoods is the mechanic who keeps the cars running.  Our guide and our driver both called their mechanic a magician.