Shore excursions in Cuba

[shuguley]

My wife and I will be going to Cuba on the Marina in October and selection of shore excursions will open on February 24.  We will be visiting Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba.

 

Are there CC members who have made a similar cruise that would be willing to recommend any shore excursions that you thought were not to be missed?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Ep010835]

13 minutes ago, shuguley said:

My wife and I will be going to Cuba on the Marina in October and selection of shore excursions will open on February 24.  We will be visiting Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba.

 

Are there CC members who have made a similar cruise that would be willing to recommend any shore excursions that you thought were not to be missed?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Has anyone been to or aware of tours going to the actual missle launch sites used by the USSR in 1962?

Not a museum but the actual launch pad sites?

[NanciEA]

There is a lot of info on Cuba shore excursions in the destinations section of Cruise Critic. We just returned from an Oceania cruise which made the same stops as you will. In Havana we booked with Fertours for a private guide for ourselves and two friends. The six hour tour cost $25 each. We paid for our own lunch at a great restaurant recommended by our guide. This was a walking tour of the Havana which left only a few blocks from the cruise port, as well as an hour long ride in a 1956 convertible to sites outside of the old City. Well worth it for us. All of our other excursions were thru the cruise line. For our evening in Havana we chose the Parisian Cabaret at the National Hotel. We chose this over the Tropicana because it was significantly cheaper, indoors and the hotel is famous. It is a show about the history of dance and music in Cuba. It is very crowded and somewhat stuffy in the theater, but interesting.

 

In Cienfuegos, we did a tour to the National Park to hike to the falls and have lunch. It was an hour and half bus ride, but interesting to see the countryside on the way. Wish we had more time to hike, but our guide wanted to get us to the lunch and back to town to shop. Could have just been our guide, but others mentioned the emphasis on shopping on other excursions.

 

In Santiago de Cuba we did a tour about the Revolution. We toured the old town briefly, went to an arts academy, visited the military barracks, San Juan hill, and the Martyrs cemetery, including Castro's grave. We found it interesting, but be prepared for listening to a lot of Cuba propaganda and a little anti-US sentiment. 

 

Hope this helps.

[gnomie1]

I recall watching something on television regarding the Cuban Missile crisis and the missile launch site was on a farm that was taken from the family - the same family still lives there and the remnants are covered with overgrown bush and there is a small monument.

 

Found it - it was on CNN

 

https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/world/americas/cuban-missile-crisis-fifty-years/index.html

 

gnomie

[Ep010835]

13 minutes ago, gnomie1 said:

I recall watching something on television regarding the Cuban Missile crisis and the missile launch site was on a farm that was taken from the family - the same family still lives there and the remnants are covered with overgrown bush and there is a small monument.

 

Found it - it was on CNN

 

https://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/world/americas/cuban-missile-crisis-fifty-years/index.html

 

gnomie

 

Eccellent!! Thank VERY much for finding and posting this article. 

Now all I have to do is find Mr. Lopez! 😃

[gnomie1]

24 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Eccellent!! Thank VERY much for finding and posting this article. 

Now all I have to do is find Mr. Lopez! 😃

Well, the reporter for the story was Patrick Oppmann who is still at CNN (he is the Cuban reporter for CNN) - if you really want to do this, I would reach out to him for information - that would probably be your best bet to see if it is possible.

 

gnomie

[Ep010835]

By golly I’ll do it!  Nothing ventured nothing gained. 

[Travelcat2]

3 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Eccellent!! Thank VERY much for finding and posting this article. 

Now all I have to do is find Mr. Lopez! 😃

 

While I hope that you find what you are looking for, that article is very old.  Things have changed dramatically since then.  It has been my experience that you can do almost anything you want to do when you visit there by land vs. by sea.  Not sure what restrictions there are for cruise ship passengers.  If you cannot go where you would like to go, suggest that you do a land trip to Cuba - preferably going through Mexico or Canada.  We could go anywhere that we wanted on our two land trips!

[gnomie1]

There is absolutely no longer any need to travel to Cuba via Mexico or Canada, all the major airlines (Delta, American, United, JetBlue) fly from the States to Havana on a daily basis and passengers arriving from the USA are not treated any differently than those arriving from other countries. Even on flights back to the States there was no questioning from Customs.  I do not know what cruise you are taking and the time you have available in Cuba, but there are plenty of reports of cruise passengers arranging their own tours. You need to "self certify" that you are engaged in "people to people" interaction, that is about all the limitation there is and there is no one who actually checks that the requirements have been met.

 

The Cuban people are lovely and are especially gracious toward Americans. They will go above and beyond to try and do the impossible.  Enjoy - go for it - that is what travel is for, to expand your horizons and do things that otherwise are not possible. If that was not the case, we could all go to EPCOT and call it a day.

 

gnomie

[Travelcat2]

9 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Has anyone been to or aware of tours going to the actual missle launch sites used by the USSR in 1962?

Not a museum but the actual launch pad sites?

 

Again. if you are on a cruise ship or fly from the U.S., there are rules regarding people to people interaction.  By flying from another country, this requirement does not exist.  Keep in mind that most of the world travels to Cuba without the unnecessary (in our opinion) restrictions.  From what we observed, there is a very high percentage of Canadians that visit Cuba.

 

On one visit, we arrived in Havana, took a cab (new and modern SUV) to Varadero (the tourist area) with stops along the way to purchase things that were for sale on the side of the road (wish that we could have purchased a couple of gigantic lobsters for sale but we didn't have cooking facilities).   We stayed at two all-inclusive resorts and returned to Havana for one night.  It was fabulous.  Our second trip was only to Varadero (direct flight from Canada).  

 

My point is to visit Cuba and do what you are permitted to do (which I hope includes a visit to the missile launch sites).  However, a land visit enables you to visit anywhere - without restrictions.  When we entered the country, we had to go in one by one.  I asked the agent "por favor, do not stamp our passport" to which he replied "no problem".  

 

Lest it sound as if we are supporting the Cuban government, this is not the case.  Yes - the government gets money from the resorts that we have stayed at, our goal was to meet and speak with locals so that we could learn about their country.  

 

We spent a long time speaking with a lovely young man that was a tennis instructor.  We shared many, many stories (something that you likely cannot do if you visit by cruise ship).  He felt that the U.S. brought down their own Trade Center on "9/11".  I let him know that we did not believe this (did not want to come across too harsh).  He spoke with us about free education, what it takes to work with tourists, etc.  What has stayed In our mind is what he said about television in Cuba.  He has only seen "Cuban" television until he was permitted to work in the "tourist area".  When he first saw international television, in his words, he said that he was "born again" (not in a religious sense).  When asked where he would want to visit if he would allowed to and his answer was "Canada" or Mexico".  It is hard to describe how meaningful this encounter was.

 

So, enjoy what you can from being on a cruise ship but understand that there is much more to see when you are not limited to "people to people interaction".  

 

Note:  The resorts is where we left gifts every day for people that worked there.  While we also left U.S. dollars, the gifts were received with many smiles, hugs, etc.  The Cuban people are indeed wonderful.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Travelcat2

[Ep010835]

Thanks, TC. Great insight as always! 😀

[Ep010835]

21 hours ago, gnomie1 said:

Well, the reporter for the story was Patrick Oppmann who is still at CNN (he is the Cuban reporter for CNN) - if you really want to do this, I would reach out to him for information - that would probably be your best bet to see if it is possible.

 

gnomie

 

Now,  here's a surprise. Just got this back from Patrick Oppmann, the author of the story. Thanks gnomie for the heads up on getting me pointed in the right direction. 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Ep010835