Sky Cruise to Cuba, 2-6 Oct 2017

Some of the highlights/notes to our cruise on Sky to Cuba from 2 Oct - 6 Oct.

- Embarkation went smoothly. We went to the Garden Cafe to eat which was (and usually is on most ships the first day lunch) crowded. We really liked the outside eating area (Great Outdoor Cafe) adjacent to the Garden Cafe. We ate our breakfast here every morning

- Our room (9051) was initially really musty smelling and we noticed our carpet was wet near the side of the bed next to the bathroom. We assumed they had cleaned the carpet or something and didn’t think much about it until 9:30 pm, guest services called us and wanted to know if we wanted to move to another cabin because of “the leak” from the floor above. We were exhausted and didn’t really want to move and just asked them if they could take care of the problem the next day while we were out. When we returned the next day the carpet had been shampooed, dried, and the musty smell was gone. They left behind chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine. They checked on us the next day to see if we were happy with the room.

- We had a private tour set up with Old Cars Tours so we went to the Outrigger Lounge at 7:00 am to pick up our disembarking passes. They give you a number and when they call your number you can disembark. After 1000 am it is open to anyone. We had number 1 passes and we proceeded to the exit right around 8:05 am to wait for our number to be called. They were in the process of disembarking the first group of ship sponsored excursions which only took about 5 -10 minutes. I asked the attendant when he expected the first non-sponsored numbers to be called and he ask if we were ready to go and we said yes and he waived us through. We were off, through customs by 8:35 am. We got our CUCs and headed out for our Old Car Tour. The whole process was fairly smooth.

- We walked about 2 blocks or so to meet our Old Car Tour. We had scheduled 5 hours with them (there was six of us so we got two cars). Our first stop was to pick up tickets for the Partagas Cigar Factory at one of the local hotels. On our way to the Cigar Factory after picking up tickets it started to rain so they had to put the tops up on the convertibles. The Partagas Cigar Factory was hot and there were 4 or 5 flights of stairs to climb during the tour. Not really a problem I think for most but for the elderly it could be a problem. We had our dad with us (88 yrs old) and he made it up the first flight but was not going to be able to go up to the upper levels so the tour guide arranged for him to take the elevator. The smell of tobacco (which my wife found very pleasant...and she can’t stand cigar smoke) was very strong throughout the tour. Not wanting too much to inject politics into this review but this place was the pure definition of a sweat shop. To make matters worse, there was air conditioned offices throughout the building (probably for the government officials) and the hot air from the air conditioners were being blown into the building where the workers were. It was a very short tour but probably one of the more interesting parts of our visit to Cuba. After the cigar factory tour, the guides took us to various landmarks throughout Havana (the rain stopped before we were done with the tour). At one point, one of the cars lost its brakes and they had to get another car. There was a 20 minute delay but it didn’t count against our 5 hours. The last stop on the tour was La Cabana (the old fort across the bay). They have a cigar shop their called La Triada where the longest cigar is located. DO NOT BUY ANY CIGARS HERE. THEY ARE SELLING FAKES. And they are very good fakes at that. They actually had the hologram on the box but when I checked the serial number on the box when I got back to the US at habano.com it was a counterfeit. I bought some single cigars there also so I can assume they are fakes as well. It was a $250 mistake. I bought some cigars at the Conde De Villanueva Hotel (Casa del Habano) a couple of blocks from the ship that checked out good.

- We got dropped off in front of the Havana Club Rum Museum. We didn’t take the tour (6 or 7 CUCs) but we did buy some rum. We bought 4 bottles of 7 year rum for 13 (something) CUCs per bottle. The price was 16.9 CUCs if you wanted the bottle in the box.

- The next day we had to be back on the ship at 1130 so a couple of us walked over to the Conde De Villanueva Hotel cigar shop and the rest took a taxi down to the flea market about 1/3 mile south of the port. The self appointed taxi arranger guy across the street from the port entrance wanted 40 CUCs to take four people 1/3 mile to the flea market. We found a taxi who happened by to get us there for 10 CUCs plus a 5 CUC tip. We asked him to pick us back up at 1100 for the return to the ship and he did for another 15 CUCs.

- We were unable to tender to Great Stirrup Cay due to high winds.

- We really enjoyed our visit to Cuba. The people were very pleasant and helpful when asking directions (I know enough Spanish to get around). Our Old Car Tours guide gets $28/month as a language teacher. The guide said they haven’t had toilet paper for 8 months (make sure you bring your own from the ship). The guide also said they get 5 eggs/month. We went into several food market stores and the options were very limited. Not sure what the future will bring for Cuba but can only hope things will improve with a more open relationship with the US.

Glad you enjoyed your Cuba cruise. Am impressed by how Guest Services gave you an option to transfer cabin in relation to the leakage from above your cabin, even without receiving any complaint from you.

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Thank you for the review. No toilet paper? $28 a month? 5 eggs a month? Wow! Just wow.

Just curious: You wouldn't happen to know how Norwegian did the Cuban visas, would you? I'm going on another line that says they have visas for everyone to go on their excursions but that if we want to explore on our own, we should get our own visa from Cuba. Did each of you get the two part visa I've read about? Was it included in the price? Did Norwegian explain whether they had a group visa or visas for everyone, or what?

Thanks for comments on your cruise. I can't wait to go later this year....but not on Norwegian, which is why I'm asking these oddball questions!

NCL got our visas even though we did not go on one of their excursions. We paid $75 and they gave them to us as we were boarding.