My Cuba Cruise

Anybody know anything about the Canadian company that has hired the Louis Crystal (a Greek ship) for six months starting this winter? They are offering seven day cruises around Cuba with one call in Jamaica. We are booked on a cruise with them next February but nobody on Cruise Critic seems to know about the cruises or the cruise company.

Thanks,

Alan

I have seen their offerings but I would wait to see when they are up & running

I do not know if Alberta has a travel protection fund if something should go wrong

In Ontario (TICO) if we book through an agent here & if the tour company goes belly up we can get refunded from the fund

I would watch & wait

JMO

Or just fly to Cuba if it is your desire to visit there

Lyn

Hmm. So 275 peple have read this thread and only Lyn has responded. Thank you for the advice Lyn but we also have good protection in the UK as long as your book through an appropriate agent. Looks as though my wife and I may be alone!

You might get a better response if you ask this under "Ask a cruise question."

It could be it is not well advertised even in Canada

I have not noticed any promos for it

If you go please report back

Lyn

Hmm. So 275 peple have read this thread and only Lyn has responded. Thank you for the advice Lyn but we also have good protection in the UK as long as your book through an appropriate agent. Looks as though my wife and I may be alone!

Lyn always has good posts, on many boards

Bear in mind that for USA citizens their government does not allow them to vacation in Cuba (certain exceptions) and being as they are a large part of CC membership your pool of possible respondents is smaller than would be for a main stream cruise line question.

I also hope that you post back and let us know about your cruise, the places you visited and how the cruise line was to deal with.

Enjoy the trip!

We are looking at February of 2014.

I have been keeping an eye on their website since it first was announced in 2011.

We have not booked but are looking at what options are going to be available.

So far we have only been able to get information on boarding the ship in Montego Bay. Would prefer to board in Havana and have a possible day of so on either end of sailing.

We are interested in doing this cruise with friends and our TA in Ontario has forwarded us all the information ....... we are going to see her this week about it. We want to cruise in January from Montego Bay as it is easier to get flights to that destination ........... I will follow upwith any more info. she can provide. :)

Travel agents in Norway are promoting this cruise and I am thinking about booking the February 10 departure from Havana.

The prices are really good:)

I dont know much about the ship but it seems like it will be a crowded ship if its full.

I would book this cruise for the itinerary and not so much the ship.

I will be travelling alone as my partner (who is Cuban) would want to be with his family. (something I dont:D)

It would be fun if all of us thinking about booking would book the same departure date.

Hi all. I posted in another thread but this one seems to be more current.

We just booked for a Feb 24 2014 out of Habana. Will probably spend two nights before and after.

Managed to get an SB suite and it looks like they are now gone.

Looking forward to seeing parts of Cuba that we haven't seen yet. Ship and crew sound fine. As long as one doesn't expect greatness, one should be fine.

Hope some Americans figure out that they can fly to Jamaica and board the cruise. Yourcubacruise dot com deserves kudos in getting this going.

HI all!

So happy to see this thread!!:D DH & I are thinking of going on this cruise in Feb too! I've been to Cuba 6 times mostly to Santiago de Cuba & Varadero so am interested in seeing some new places.

I'm a little hesitant in booking since the cruise is not advertised in the Toronto Star or anywhere significant that I can see. A Toronto firm was trying to do the same a couple of years ago but never got it off the ground (or in the water I guess I should say).;) Maybe this'll work with Louis Cruises being the supplier.

kahlolin ~ very interested in hearing what you find out from your TA.

DUHCAR ~ WTG getting it done! Did you use a TA or book direct? The ship in this case wouldn't be the destination but does sound okay. Isn't it an old NCL ship? I better check our category to make sure it isn't sold out if they're promoting it overseas.

Looking forward to hearing more! My email said book by Sept 30 & save $50 p/p.

TTFN

~ Jo ~ :)

Hi again !

I was just reading the Saturday Star & did see an ad for My Cuba Cruise! Never heard of the company advertising it but did sound like a good deal including air & a night in a Havana hotel.

Jo

Chris and I board in Havana on 24 February after spending a few nights at the Iberostar Parque Central hotel. Alan

Chris and I board in Havana on 24 February after spending a few nights at the Iberostar Parque Central hotel. Alan

You'll love Habana and the two nights is good/enough as you have all day on the Monday too. They'll take the bags off you at noon (so you can check out) and go directly there. You won't be able to get into your cabin until about 3ish, but you can have lunch onboard and then go back to explore the area around the cruise terminal.

John

HI all!

 

DUHCAR ~ WTG getting it done! Did you use a TA or book direct? The ship in this case wouldn't be the destination but does sound okay. Isn't it an old NCL ship? I better check our category to make sure it isn't sold out if they're promoting it overseas.

 

Looking forward to hearing more! My email said book by Sept 30 & save $50 p/p.

 

TTFN

 

~ Jo ~ :)

Thanks. I booked directly. However everything up in the air because airfare to Habana went from $650 to $850 in one day. Trying to get it back to $650 otherwise will fly to Montego Bay which is even cheaper than $650.

Bloody Air Canada!

Thanks. I booked directly. However everything up in the air because airfare to Habana went from $650 to $850 in one day. Trying to get it back to $650 otherwise will fly to Montego Bay which is even cheaper than $650.

 

Bloody Air Canada!

Looks like if you fly on a weekend it is more $$

play with the dates

or see if any other charter flights suit you

HI all!

I just priced A/C earlier & got $748. I'm going to contrast doing it direct or taking this cruise & stay package which includes airfare & 2 nights in Havana. I have a lot of investigating to do before booking. Also have to pick

a date.

~ Jo ~ :)

HI all!

 

I just priced A/C earlier & got $748. I'm going to contrast doing it direct or taking this cruise & stay package which includes airfare & 2 nights in Havana. I have a lot of investigating to do before booking. Also have to pick

a date.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

We just booked at $693. I played around with the dates and the price really varies. This one is for Feb 20 and returning Mar 4. That gives three full days in Habana before ship day. You have to stay at least one day afterwards as Air Canada flies out at 7am (ugh).

Looks like if you fly on a weekend it is more $$

play with the dates

or see if any other charter flights suit you

Yes, I think if you have a Fri, Sat or Sunday in your plans it raises the cost.

You'll love Habana and the two nights is good/enough as you have all day on the Monday too. They'll take the bags off you at noon (so you can check out) and go directly there. You won't be able to get into your cabin until about 3ish, but you can have lunch onboard and then go back to explore the area around the cruise terminal.

 

John

The cruise line's official response re boarding is:

In Havana Boarding can start at 11:30am. However if you check in before that your luggage can be stored at the port. You will probably will not have access to your cabins until 3pm as they will need to be cleaned. You must be checked in 1 hour prior to sailing - so basically all day.

It is the Havana Cruise Ship Terminal, beside Plaza de San Francisco

Hi John: looking forward to meeting you on the 24 February sailing. Alan.

Hi John: looking forward to meeting you on the 24 February sailing. Alan.

Ditto. One of our four is an ex-pat.

Our TA spoke directly with the company in Calgary - there is lots of interest and they are busy. She got us prices for the whole fly and cruise package from Air Transat (flies into Montego Bay, which suits us) and we are able to get the stateroom of our choice so we are going to book for Jan 10. Cannot go later as I have another cruise (a girls' cruise) in February. The whole Cuba cruise is Cad. $'s and the food, etc. is all shipped from Canada. Now that we have decided to go I am excited about it. Hope to meet lots of great fellow Canadians and cruisers from Europe, Britain and Scandinavia, perhaps. Hopefully this info. may help some of you readers.:o

Our TA spoke directly with the company in Calgary - there is lots of interest and they are busy. She got us prices for the whole fly and cruise package from Air Transat (flies into Montego Bay, which suits us) and we are able to get the stateroom of our choice so we are going to book for Jan 10. Cannot go later as I have another cruise (a girls' cruise) in February. The whole Cuba cruise is Cad. $'s and the food, etc. is all shipped from Canada. Now that we have decided to go I am excited about it. Hope to meet lots of great fellow Canadians and cruisers from Europe, Britain and Scandinavia, perhaps. Hopefully this info. may help some of you readers.:o

Hope you will post a review when you return

Enjoy the cruise

How reassuring for us to find this site. We had no idea as to where to find someone anyone who had booked one of these cruises around Cuba. When we first heard of the idea, we were excited to a point of booking immediately. We were explicit as to what accommodation we wanted and to assure this, we had to pay in full. Since then we have been somewhat wary of our commitment. So thank you for starting this thread.

Because we are use to booking cruises with the major companies we thought that all the details would be set in stone by now. We are booked for February and at the moment we have no idea how we are to get to Havana. To complicate matters, we want to go around twice, i.e., 14 days. Our thinking was that the excursions are so varied that we could well do two in each port, one with each cruise arrival. But one booking group does one aspect and a second something else and maybe even a third does something else. We hope to be dealing with other than Air Canada for air and hotel in Havana but we still do not know for sure. Most disconcerting. We feel more confident now that we have read your input for which we thank you all.