Carnival Paradise April 13, 2019 - Countdown to Cuba Cruise Review

[MistyRo76]

Carnival Paradise April 13, 2019 - Countdown to Cuba Cruise Report

 

Hello all! No....your eyes are not playing tricks on you! The title of this post does say that our cruise is APRIL 13th which IS a month a way still. But in the nearly 14 months we've been planning OUR Cuba cruise, I've not found a lot of comprehensive Cuba trip reports. So I decided a while back that I would do my part and write a lengthy and detailed report of our experiences preparing for our Cuba cruise and the actual cruise itself. I also wanted to allow everyone curious about Cuba or thinking of booking a Cuba cruise to benefit from our experiences and have the opportunity to ask questions along the way. Of course, I need to add the typical disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this review are solely those belonging to me or my close travel companions. We are pretty easy going travelers who like to have a good time - but if something isn't up to par, we will call it out. And on the flip side, we will definitely point out when things exceed our expectations. Now....let's move along! 

 

ABOUT US:

This cruise started out to be just myself, Misty, and my husband Drew (which would have been weird because we usually cruise with a larger group). But over time more people ended up joining us including my sister (and very frequent cruise partner-in-crime) Julie and a mix of our regular cruising buddies and friends (or friends of friends) taking their first cruise with us. We even had some people in our group cancel their already booked Royal Caribbean cruise for this same month to sail to Cuba with us. This will be my 18th cruise, all on Carnival. Julie and I took our first cruise together 21 years ago. Drew and I cruised in 2015 on the Breeze and 2017 on the Vista with our (now) four-year old daughter, Sawyer Rose. But this time, we decided that we needed an adults only vacation and will be leaving her at home with the grandparents. In all, we ended up with 17 people Cuba-bound. Most of our group is in the 40-50 age range and as I mentioned before we love to just have a good time! 

 

BOOKING:

After our November 2017 cruise on the Carnival Vista, my hubby indicated that he wanted to take "a break" from cruising and do something else for our next vacation. In all honesty, I was okay with that. I love cruising, but am totally open to expanding our horizons and trying something new! But like Ross & Rachel, the break didn't last! So how exactly did we end up booked on another cruise within four months of our Vista cruise? It's a funny little story which started just before we left for our Vista cruise. 

 

I had used a combination of Verizon and All-State discounted gift cards to pay off our Vista cruise fare. The night before we left for Miami, I decided to buy another $600 in gift cards to put toward our Sail & Sign account and essentially pay off our Cheers packages. I bought these gift cards through All-State for a price of $540 (10% discount). I also had $80 in cash rewards so the total price I paid for these gift cards was $460. Now, every other time I've purchased these electronic gift cards, they've arrived in my email almost instantaneously. Well....that didn't happen this time! I got a confirmation of my purchase, but no gift cards! I waited and waited and waited....and still nothing. About 9PM that evening I tried to contact All-State Rewards Customer Service but it just rang with no answer. I tried calling again the next morning before we flew to Ft. Lauderdale; still no answer. I kept calling until we boarded the ship on Sunday morning with no luck. I finally resigned myself to the fact their Customer Service was a Monday thru Friday operation and we would not get our gift cards before we set sail and lost our cell signal. We decided to just make the most of it and deal with the gift cards when we got home. 

 

Fast forward to December when I called All-State to let them know that the gift cards were not received before our cruise and inquired about a refund. I was told by their service rep the gift cards were non-refundable. I explained (AGAIN) that we never received them and it wasn't a matter of us just choosing to not use them. I also let them know that we would not be cruising for quite a while. All of this to no avail. I talked to several people including a supervisor and was told the same thing. Finally I asked them to at least resend the gift cards so we would have them. It took three more attempts at two different email addresses before I received the cards. At that point, I was completely over arguing with them to get our money back, so I decided that our next best alternative was......to book another cruise! Convenient, huh? (That's what my hubby thought too!). And thus, the cruise planning began again!

 

We had already planned a couple smaller family trips for 2018, so that brought us to looking at 2019 cruises. I was determined to find something the hubby would be excited about since he was burnt out on cruising. I was looking at new destinations (Bermuda, Panama Canal, West Coast), new ships (Horizon, Panorama) or different cabin types (Suites or Havana Cabins) to freshen things up a bit. Since we had essentially a $600 head start (thanks, All-State), I felt like we could splurge a bit. But then my eyes landed on CUBA! Drew has always been intrigued by Cuba and it's been a bucket list destination for us for a long time. As soon as I mentioned a Cuba cruise to him, his eyes lit up! We have a WINNER! As were looking at the various Cuba cruises, the April 27th sailing caught our eye. This cruise checked all the boxes for us. It was five days which was perfect wince we are leaving Sawyer at home. Anything shorter would have felt too short cause we usually do 6-7 day cruises. So five days felt just right! It also visited two ports - Key West (which is a fave of ours) and Havana. And it gave us 18 hours in Havana (8AM to 2AM). That felt like a good amount of time to satisfy our people to people excursion requirement while leaving enough time for exploring on our own after. And we'd get to experience some of the Havana nightlife. After getting the full go-ahead from the hubby, I contacted our PVP and got us booked. We selected cabin M122, which is a category 8B Balcony mid-ship Main Deck on the port side of the ship. My PVP booked us under Early Saver, but then applied for price protection for a Casino Rate I was offered under my VIFP number. The price protection was approved and we got $50 off. I used our $600 in gift cards for our deposit and we were officially booked! 

 

Now fast-forward to April, 2018....I was just getting to work and logged into my computer when I decided to do a quick look to see if there had been any price drops for our cruise. When I filtered cruises on Carnival's website for April, 2019 out of Tampa to Cuba, there was suddenly a new option showing. Carnival had just switched 20 cruises for 2019 from their original itineraries to ones including a stop in Cuba. There was now a new sailing departing on April 13th - which just so happens to be our anniversary. And when I compared the price for that cruise against our current booking, it was $320 cheaper (even after the $50 per person Early Saver change fee). The new itinerary was basically the same except we would have a few more hours in Havana (7AM to 6AM the next morning). It was a complete no-brainer! A few quick emails and a phone call to my PVP and the switch was made! Our new cabin was M230, an 8A balcony on Main Deck still on the port side but more toward the aft of the ship. 

 

OUR FINAL CRUISE ITINERARY:

DAY PORT OF CALL ARRIVE DEPART
Sat Tampa, FL   4:00 PM
Sun Key West, FL 12:00 PM 6:00 PM
Mon Havana, Cuba 7:00 AM
Tue Havana, Cuba   6:00 AM
Tue Fun Day At Sea
Wed Fun Day At Sea
Thu Tampa, FL 8:00 AM

 

So that's how we ended up booked on this cruise! Over the next couple of weeks, I'll touch on some of the planning that went into this vacation after we got booked. With this being a Cuba cruise, there are definitely more hoops to jump through and things to consider that aren't a factor in most other cruises (including every cruise I've taken thus far). This is also our first cruise from the Port of Tampa. So that required more research and planning than I normally have to do when cruising from So. Florida. 

 

If anyone has any questions about planning and preparing for a cruise to Cuba, don't be shy! Also, feel free to ask questions about the ship/ports in advance. I'll do my best to get all of the answers while we're gone and include them in my post-cruise portion of this report. And yes - I plan on including LOTS of pictures from our travels as well! 

 

Let the countdown begin! :)

[a1m1y9]

We are booked for a cruise over Thanksgiving (best way to minimize vacation time) of 2020.  So cannot wait to hear more about your trip.  I do know there are several other boards on CruiseCritic that discusses Cuba.  Often it is back and forth about the controversial "are you exiting the ship for the right reasons as in to help the Cuban people" and debate about booking excursion through the cruise ship or private operator. 

 

Looking forward to reading more.   

 

Happy Sailing!

[MistyRo76]

1 hour ago, a1m1y9 said:

We are booked for a cruise over Thanksgiving (best way to minimize vacation time) of 2020.  So cannot wait to hear more about your trip.  I do know there are several other boards on CruiseCritic that discusses Cuba.  Often it is back and forth about the controversial "are you exiting the ship for the right reasons as in to help the Cuban people" and debate about booking excursion through the cruise ship or private operator. 

 

Looking forward to reading more.   

 

Happy Sailing!

From what I’ve read no one in Cuba really cares why you get off the ship. It’s more the US government and the chances of them asking for proof of what you did there is slim. 

 

We booked a private tour tour in Havana. We don’t typically enjoy tours with big crowds like the ship tours. We like to be independent and do our own thing. From the stuff I’ve read, it seems like a lot of people book with private companies. And it sure is way less expensive to not book thru Carnival. 

[MistyRo76]

Hello All! We are back from our cruise to Key West and Havana on the Carnival Paradise so on with the cruise review! We had a great time, awesome weather and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Havana! Although, I hated to hear the news the day after we left Havana that President Trump had announced new restrictions on Cuba travel that may impact Americans' ability to travel there in the future. There will be more news on that in the coming days/weeks I'm sure and I don't want this to turn into a political debate on the topic. So I'll just leave this part by saying that I feel very blessed to have visited Cuba while we had the chance! 

 

I had intended on addressing the planning that went into this cruise since there were so many firsts for us before we actually left. But as it tends to do, life got in the way and things just got very busy before vacation started. So I will address how we planned this vacation as we go along. 

 

Let's get this started: 

April 12, 2019 - Travel to Tampa, FL

 

As we always do, Drew and I planned to fly into our home port city of Tampa, FL the day before the cruise. We approach our pre-cruise day as another day of vacation and enjoy getting to our port city early so we can explore and relax. Since this cruise would be overlapping the later weeks of Spring Break for many, I wanted to make sure we got our flights booked early. I ended up booking our flights literally the day they became available for booking.As a result, we were able to book direct flights from Cincinnati to Tampa and back at prime times. I was also able to use miles for most of our tickets saving us quite of bit of money in the process. Our flight down to Tampa departed Cincinnati at 9AM. After doing a quick cost comparison, we realized that it was pretty much the same price (maybe a bit less even) to use Lyft to take us to the airport as opposed to driving ourselves and paying for long-term parking. We scheduled a Lyft pick up for 7AM and our driver was right on time. I loved getting dropped right off at the ticketing level and not dealing with the shuttle from long-term. It was 50 minutes from our driveway to the food court in Concourse B where we enjoyed some pre-flight Chick-Fil-A! Of course, it couldn't be all smooth sailing because as we were in line for our food, I got an alert on my phone for a tornado warning for the county we were in. GREAT! Luckily, it passed through quickly and without any major concern around the airport. By departure time, the sun was starting to shine. I had used miles to upgrade us to Delta Comfort so we enjoyed our first vacation cocktail and some extra legroom which is more important for my 6'4 hubby than me! 

 

We (including another travel mate) arrived Tampa right on time and met up with another member of our group flying in from New York whose flight arrived two gates down and 5 minutes after ours. The four of us grabbed our luggage and hopped in a Lyft to our hotel. We decided to stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites Ybor City. There are a few things we look for when booking our pre-cruise hotel. We like it to be in an area where we can walk to restaurants/nightlife/shopping. We also like it to have a decent pool area, hot breakfast and not too far from the port. We considered the Hilton Downtown Tampa, Marriott Waterside and Hilton Garden Inn Ybor. We ended up choosing the Hampton Inn & Suites mostly for the location and pricing compared to the others. This hotel was adequate but not great. The pictures of the pool area were pretty deceiving. It was TINY with only half of the deck area in the sun. There were only about 5-6 lounge chairs and a couple round tables with chairs. Where the lounge chairs were there was barely enough room to pass by between them and the edge of the pool. The rooms themselves were adequate but the a/c units were so loud which made sleeping difficult for a light sleeper like me. My sister arrived later that day and when she got to her room it was in a bit of disarray (dresser drawers all hanging open, trash cans out in the middle of the floor, etc.). Then the next morning she realized that the shower curtain was missing from the bathroom. She had to wait 20 minutes for someone to bring one up and hang it. But the hotel did come through and comped her room (she had only requested a 20% discount for the issues). So in the end they made it right! This hotel is right at the edge of Ybor City and we didn't really notice any noise from the street. They also have a free shuttle that will take you anywhere within a 3 mile radius. 

 

After we dropped our bags in our rooms and freshened up, we all hopped in the shuttle for a quick run to a liquor store for wine and sodas to carry on. Our drive then drove us through Ybor looking for a place for lunch. He dropped us off at the Tampa Bay Brewing Co. The food here was very good, but service was extremely slow (which was fine as we enjoyed a couple adult beverages and the nice Florida weather). I had the Crab Cake appetizer and it was delicious! After lunch, we walked the few blocks back to the hotel. Drew and I changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool. We ended up sitting in the shade where Drew could enjoy a pipe and we sipped on some wine and beer. Even though it was a small pool area, we enjoyed the peace, quiet and relaxation. 

 

Another thing we enjoy on vacation is finding local restaurants to try. For dinner that evening, I had made us a reservation at the Columbia in Ybor City. It is the oldest and largest Spanish restaurant in the US. We ordered some Sangria which they make right at your table. Dinner here was an experience and if cruising from Tampa I would definitely give it a try! For our appetizers we had the Queso Fundido and Ybor City Devil Crab Croquettes. For my entree I got the Cannelloini de Longosta (Lobster). This was one of the food highlights of the week for me. The Cannelloini was amazing! For dessert, the hubby and I shared a slice of Guava Cheesecake and the Churros w/ Chocolate/Guava/Caramel sauces. So good! 

 

After dinner we walked the full length of Ybor City back to our hotel and got ready for the start of our cruise the next day! 

 

More to follow! 

[ScottR714]

Looking forward to reading more. On exact same flight and hotel for our paradise cruise in June.

[HeyNowMama1315]

18 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

After we dropped our bags in our rooms and freshened up, we all hopped in the shuttle for a quick run to a liquor store for wine and sodas to carry on. Our drive then drove us through Ybor looking for a place for lunch. He dropped us off at the Tampa Bay Brewing Co. The food here was very good, but service was extremely slow (which was fine as we enjoyed a couple adult beverages and the nice Florida weather). I had the Crab Cake appetizer and it was delicious!

Hi! I'm a Tampa native. The Tampa Bay Brewing Company has actually been featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives". There meatloaf was the main story of the episode. It's my husband's favorite thing!

[MistyRo76]

18 hours ago, ScottR714 said:

Looking forward to reading more. On exact same flight and hotel for our paradise cruise in June.

 

Thanks! The flights were great! The timing on both were ideal. We were to our hotel by around noon and were able to check right in. Getting between the Tampa airport and downtown was quick and easy. I would recommend using Lyft vs. a taxi. Some friends of ours who arrived earlier in the morning took a taxi to the hotel and paid over $40. We got a Lyft XL since there were four of us and a lot of luggage. Our cost was around $30 including tip, split between four of us. I believe the cost of a regular Lyft was around $18-20 plus tip. Our flight on the way home was at 11:45 AM. We carried our bags off and were called to start disembarking at 7:34 AM. We were thru security and to our gate within 1 hour and 15 minutes. The whole process was so fast! We had several hours to kill before the flight home, but it was nice to not stress about it! 

 

2 hours ago, HeyNowMama1315 said:

Hi! I'm a Tampa native. The Tampa Bay Brewing Company has actually been featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives". There meatloaf was the main story of the episode. It's my husband's favorite thing!

 

That's cool to know! I think my hubby got the Fish and Chips. Wish I would have known about the meatloaf in advance! I'm sure he would have liked to try it. 

[MistyRo76]

April 13, 2019 - Embarkation Day Tampa, Florida

 

Well, after over a year of planning and waiting, embarkation day was finally here! It was also the hub's and my 6th anniversary....which neither of us even realized until mid-morning! LOL

 

We awoke early to get ready and get our bags re-packed for embarkation. We like to get to the ship early and had planned to meet the rest of the group in the lobby at 10:30 to Lyft to the port. There were 10 of us in all who ended up staying at the Hampton. So we requested two Lyft XL's and both were there within minutes. The ride from the Hampton to the Port for a Lyft XL was only $12 for all 5 of us and we were there within 10 minutes. 

 

This was my first time cruising from Tampa and I was amazed at how easy and calm the port was compared to the chaos that is the Port of Miami! Our driver dropped us right in front of the cruise terminal where a porter was waiting to take our bags. We tipped him 5 dollars for our three bags and carried on my backpack and some sodas. We went right up an escalator to the check in lines. Us and my sister were able to use the priority line and were thru security to check-in within minutes. We walked right up to the check-in line with no wait. Since this was a Cuba cruise, we had to show our passports (which must be valid for at least 6 months after your return - mine had to be renewed before the trip due to this reason) and also provide our completed Visa paperwork. Carnival provides your Visa at check-in. It is perforated and both sides must be attached when you arrive Havana. You also have to fill out the Visa with your name, birthdate and country of citizenship, but this can be done later. We found this to be the easiest check-in of any port we've cruised from. Our friends that we shared the Lyft with had a 12:30-1:00 check-in time and they were directed to the line for that designated time, but were allowed to proceed through as the flow allowed. They got to the waiting area only a few minutes after we did. The rest of our group in the other Lyft joined us a few minutes later and within 5 minutes of waiting boarding began with Diamonds, then Platinums and Suite guests. This was the first time I've noticed priority boarding broken down this way. We breezed through boarding, did our embarkation photo and were on the ship by 11:20! Earliest boarding in my 18 cruises! 

 

Since I am Platinum, we were able to drop our bags and sodas in the cabin right away. We were in M230, a balcony torward the aft of the ship on Main Deck (deck 5). My sister and friend Mark surprised us with Anniversary cabin decorations which included a beach towel, photo frame and a tray of chocolate chip cookies! We then headed up to the Lido deck to wait for the rest of our group at the Blue Iguana Tequila and have my usual first cruise cocktail, a Fun Ship Special. After a while, I headed to the Blue Iguana Cantina for a fish and pork taco. Yummy! 

 

I want to pause here and add a few comments about the ship itself, Carnival Paradise. It had been over 10 years since I'd cruises a Fantasy class ship and my husband had never been on one. I actually thought he would like it better since there would be fewer people and less crowds. And that is exactly what we found. I never waited in line for food for more than a couple minutes. Even in the height of embarkation, I walked right up to the Blue Iguana had my tacos within a minute. This ship never felt crowded even though I knew it was sold out. When we did take elevators, they always came quickly and were rarely full. We never had to wait long at a bar for a drink. Getting on and off the ship in port was pretty painless as was debarkation. The ship itself seemed to be in good shape overall. I don't go around looking for signs of aging on a ship, but nothing was too noticeable. The only issue that I would even note is the water in our cabin seemed to have a yellowish tint to it. I noticed it a few days in when the toilet kept filling up with yellow water. I also noticed it in our sink when it would fill up. I meant to mention it to our steward, but kept forgetting to. I started using bottled water for brushing my teeth and washing my face. Couldn't tell if the shower water was the same since the floor in the shower was blue and the water didn't pool in there.. So showering didn't bother me. Again, not something that ruined our cruise or impacted us much...but wanted to note it nonetheless. 

 

We spent the afternoon enjoying cocktails on Lido until our bags were delivered to our cabin. We then unpacked and got settled in our cabin. The storage in the cabin was adequate for two of us, but we didn't have much extra room. There was just enough hanging space for our clothes. The second closet had a shelf in the middle of it, so it couldn't be used for hanging long items (unless the shelf raised up which I didn't check to see if it did). I used this shelf to store my shoes and backpack and stuff. There was also a cabinet with 4-5 shelves and a couple drawers at the bottom. The safe was very large and more than held my tablet, wallet and few other items My sis put her laptop in the safe with no issue. The vanity included two small corner shelves next to the large mirror and one drawer (which housed the hair dryer and left little room for anything else) and a cabinet for the fridge (which we did NOT use). The bathroom had a standing shower with a curtain (which allows alot of water to spray onto the floor which showering), small sink w/ one shelf above it for storage and toilet. We had the cabin configured into a king bed which was pretty comfy. Air flow in the cabin was mostly good and we were comfortable temp-wise most of the time. 

 

Next up - Muster Drill and Sailaway! 

[MistyRo76]

Once we got unpacked, it was nearly time for muster drill. Thankfully, our muster location was in the Rex Nightclub on Promenade deck. It was already quite full when we arrived, but we were able to secure some seats with our friends. People continued to file in for another 10-15 minutes. Once everyone was there, it was a pretty standard and painless muster drill.

 

After muster we continued to enjoy sail-away until we got to the point of nearing the Sunshine Skyway bridge. This was something we were looking forward to as another cruising first for us. We made our way up to the top deck all the way forward and had a great vantage point as we approached the bridge. It was cool to see the bridge getting closer and closer and going underneath it was really neat to watch! I do kind of wish that we would have watched it from near the tail as that is where the clearance is tightest. We could see it from the front, but I just think it would have looked spectacular standing right under the tail! 

 

After we cleared the bridge, we headed to our cabin to get ready for dinner. We had chosen late dinner seating since we had such a large group and were assigned to the Destiny aft dining room. Thirteen of our group was seated together at a long booth table. Two others were able to be re-accommodated to the table next to us and the other three did their own dinner thing. 

 

To start, we had the calamari and chicken quesadilla appetizers. For my main course, I had the fried shrimp dish. It was all really good. Our waiter brought out a special chocolate dessert and sang to us for our anniversary. But I was so stuffed, I couldn't really put away any dessert! After dinner, we went to the comedy show in the aft lounge. We got there plenty early and had great seats. But I didn't find the comic to be all that funny. Spent a couple hours after the comedy show donating money to the casino! LOL Actually, that night I was actually up, but I did donate overall! Spent most of my time playing blackjack with a little three card poker and texas hold'em mixed in. I didn't notice an overwhelming smell of smoke in the casino itself, but it was noticeable at the casino bar. But it was much better overall than many of the other ships I've been on. On the Vista, it was hard to even walk through the promenade area due to the smoke! After our casino time, we called it day and got ready for our first port day in Key West, Florida! 

 

Next up - Key West Pub Crawlin'! 

[MistyRo76]

April 14, 2019 - Key West, Florida

 

We were in port in Key West from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Since we had a late arrival time, we were able to have a pretty lazy morning (which was much needed since I stayed out late the night before AND hit my Day 1 Cheers drink limit!). We slept in until 9:30 or so then the hubby and I made our way to Lido deck to grab a quick breakfast. I believe he got something from the Blue Iguana and I grabbed some scrambled eggs and bacon from the buffet. I will say that the buffet lines on this ship never seemed to be too long. There were only about 3-4 people ahead of me in line so it went pretty fast. After breakfast, the hubby and I just explored the ship a bit. We checked out the Serenity and splash park areas and watch us pull into Key West. 

 

Unlike most of my past cruise stops in Key West, this time we docked at the military base as opposed to the main pier near Malloy Square. Most of our group booked the Key West Pub Crawl which was scheduled to start at 1PM. We all headed off the ship around 12:30. It was pretty quick and easy getting off the ship. Our tour met right on the dock next to the ship. We waited for the entire group to show up, got some instructions and hopped on a Conch Train for a short ride to Mallory Square. They had Conch Trains running from the ship to town every 15 minutes and it all seemed to be going very smoothly. They mentioned several times what time the last train back to our pier would depart Mallory Square. One thing to note - when you are going through the military base on the train

 

If you haven't done the Key West Pub Crawl before, I would highly recommend giving it a try. It is always a good time. This was my third time doing the Pub Crawl. The first time was over 10 years ago. On that tour, we met a group from Columbus, OH (2 hours from where I live) and we've been friends and cruise buddies ever since. In fact, several from that group joined us on this cruise and on the Pub Crawl again. The first two times I did this tour, we visited the same five bars but this time they changed it up a bit which was nice! The cost of the tour is $44.99 per person which we pre-paid. The cost includes a t-shirt (a typically I survived the Key West Pub Crawl type shirt) and a drink at each bar you visit. I did not get a t-shirt because I have too many of them at home anyway and probably wouldn't wear it. 

 

The five bars we visited were in order: 

Tree Bar

Flying Monkey

Hard Rock Cafe (new)

Sandbar (new)

Rick's

As you get to each bar, your guide gives you a ticket which will get you either one of the bar's specialty drinks (usually something like a run punch or hurricane) or you can use it for a well cocktail or domestic beer. At the Flying Monkey, your ticket would get you any of their frozen concoctions in the mixers on the wall. We had a great day and even picked up a couple extra people along the way. Our Columbus friends had met a guy named Dickey on a previous cruise who lived in Key West. So he met up with us at our first stop. And a former co-worker of mine moved to Key West 10+ years ago. She met us at Hard Rock and walked along with us catching up over the next few stops. We were all feeling pretty good by the tour's end! LOL

 

My hubby and I walked around the Mallory Square area for a little bit looking for souvenirs to take home to our daughter Sawyer Rose, but didn't really find anything of interest....other than a slice of Key Lime Pie on a stick that we shared! We then hopped on the conch train back to our ship. 

 

Once back on the ship, we headed up to Serenity and found a couple of chairs to occupy. We relaxed here for a while before heading back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Unfortunately, the hubby slept through dinner this night - probably a combination of the Key West sun and heat and those pub crawl beverages. For dinner, I ended up having some soup (I can't recall what kind it was), crab cake appetizer and the filet mignon from the Steakhouse Selections menu ($20 up charge). After dinner, I played in the casino a bit and headed back to the cabin early. We had a busy day planned in Havana and I wanted to be well rested! 

 

Next up - Our Havana Adventures! 

 

 

[MistyRo76]

April 15, 2019 - Havana, Cuba (FINALLY)

 

I ended up waking up super early on this morning. Not sure if it was the excitement of arriving in Havana or something else. But I was up by 5AM and got to watch us near the port in the dark for a while. For a little bit, it seemed like we slowed to a snail's pace - we were barely moving. Not sure why...maybe the port wasn't ready for us?? We eventually pulled near the pier and they started the process of tying up the ship for disembarkation. I woke the hubby around 7AM and we headed up to Lido for a quick breakfast. 

 

We had booked a full-day tour with I Love Cuba Photo Tours for 13 people in our group. Two who hadn't initially joined the tour asked if they could be added which would take our group to 15. I was pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem as I knew our four reserved classic cars could accommodate 4 people each. So I told them to just tag along and we'd hope for the best! In order to get off the ship in Havana, you need to have a sticker with a letter group on it. One member of our group volunteered to get stickers for our whole group at 6:30AM. 

 

After breakfast, we all met at the Blue Iguana Cantina so we could head off the ship together. We were given stickers with Group C and they were already well past that group when we started off the ship at 8AM.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with how quick and efficient the process was to get off the ship in Cuba. Once you're physically off the ship and into the terminal building you are directed to the queue for Customs processing. They had probably 8-10 lines formed for customs and most of them went really quickly - other than the one the hubby and I were in, of course! It still wasn't a bad wait though. When it was our turn to clear customs, the agent took our passport and Visa and appeared to snap a photo of us. I also ready that they do infrared temperature scans and if you have a temp over 98.6 you are sent to another area for further screening. Luckily, that didn't happen to any of us. 

 

Once our whole group was through customs, we got in the queue for the currency exchange. You have to exchange your US Dollars for CUCs which is the currency used by tourists in Cuba. There is a 3% exchange rate to exchange your money each way (US to CUC and back to US). There is also a 10% penalty assessed but only when you first exchange your US Dollars for CUCs. So for every $100 US you get back $87 CUC. One of the hardest things for us was deciding how much money to exchange. The currency exchange closes at 8PM. So we didn't want to have too much left over and not be able to get back and exchange it back to US and we didn't want to not have enough for our evening explorations. In the end, we exchanged $300 to CUC. The currency exchange line went quickly as well. To the right of the currency exchange before you go down the stairs to exit the building are some restrooms. We had heard that many places in Cuba charge to use the facilities and require you to bring your own toilet paper. So most of group took advantage of the bathrooms in the terminal. And we did pack some tissues/TP in our bags for the day just in case! :) 

 

We were supposed to meet our tour guide, Yosel, at 9AM. Initially, he had instructed us to take a left once out of the terminal and walk to the Rum Factory and wait there. A few days before our cruise left, he sent me an email letting me know that they were no longer allowed to do tour pick-ups there. We were now to take a right outside the terminal and walk to this little pier area where there was a restaurant and wait there. The day before when we were docked in Key West (and had full phone service), I got a call from Yosel saying that pick-ups in the new spot were very chaotic and busy. He told us now to go past that location a bit further down to a bus stop area and he would meet us there and then have the cars come around and pick us up. He told us he would be wearing a NY Yankees hat and shirt. He also had asked his friend Heidi who works on the Paradise to get a message to us in case he hadn't been able to reach us. I loved how he went out of his way to ensure we had the updated info! 

 

Once we were out of the terminal building, it was a short 5-7 minute walk to the bus stop area. We got there about 8:50AM (so only 50 minutes total for all 15 of us to get off the ship and to our meeting spot). Within a few minutes, Yosel arrived. 

 

Before I got into the tour itself, I want to touch on why we selected I Love Cuba for our tour. With the length of time we were scheduled in Cuba, we had to do a full-day tour (7-8 hours). Looking at Carnival's full-day tour options I noticed they were all $150+ per person. So it would have been $300 for just my hubby and I. The price for our full-day tour with I Love Cuba was $800 for all 15 of us ($200 per Classic car or $53 per person. Plus booking through a private vendor allowed us to really customize our day. Each of the four cars had their own drive and a guide who was also a professional photographer. You give each photographer an SD card and they take all the photos for you. This was so great as it really let us be in the moment and not have to worry about capturing everything on camera. The guides were also very knowledgeable. It was a great day (which I'll get to hopefully tomorrow)! 

 

Next up - Tourin' Havana! 

 

[pcvtmom]

I'm really enjoying your review!  We are booked on a cruise to Cuba next February, and I'm SO disappointed that we may not be able to go, due to politics.  I have my heart set on visiting Cuba, but it's not looking likely...😯

[MistyRo76]

2 hours ago, pcvtmom said:

I'm really enjoying your review!  We are booked on a cruise to Cuba next February, and I'm SO disappointed that we may not be able to go, due to politics.  I have my heart set on visiting Cuba, but it's not looking likely...😯

We heard about the change in Trump’s Cuba policy the day after we were in Cuba. It really made me sad to hear the news. I was sad for the people of the US who may not be able to visit this amazing place and for the people of Cuba who really do rely on tourism to support themselves and their families. 

 

I hope that you get to go! 

[cruiserbrianj]

Thanks for the details, this is exactly how I plan our cruises and trips!  Where did you book your Key West pub crawl through?  We're currently scheduled for the same itinerary in Sept 2019 (fingers crossed).  Nice to know it didn't take long to get off the ship, through customs, currency exchange, etc.  I will say that trying to decide how much money to exchange has been on my mind since I booked the trip.

[MistyRo76]

1 minute ago, cruiserbrianj said:

Thanks for the details, this is exactly how I plan our cruises and trips!  Where did you book your Key West pub crawl through?  We're currently scheduled for the same itinerary in Sept 2019 (fingers crossed).  Nice to know it didn't take long to get off the ship, through customs, currency exchange, etc.  I will say that trying to decide how much money to exchange has been on my mind since I booked the trip.

We did Carnival’s Pub Crawl excursion in Key West. It’s awesome and very reasonably priced! You could do your own self guided pub crawl.  But I think the group dynamics make the experience that much more fun! 

 

Thr $300 we exchanged turned out to be just about right. We had reservations at different restaurants for lunch and dinner (dinner required us to take taxis there and back). Plus my hubby wanted to spend some money at the cigar factory. And we planned to do our own little pub crawl near the port area. We had enough to do the things we wanted to do! 

[cruiserbrianj]

3 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

We did Carnival’s Pub Crawl excursion in Key West. It’s awesome and very reasonably priced! You could do your own self guided pub crawl.  But I think the group dynamics make the experience that much more fun! 

 

Thr $300 we exchanged turned out to be just about right. We had reservations at different restaurants for lunch and dinner (dinner required us to take taxis there and back). Plus my hubby wanted to spend some money at the cigar factory. And we planned to do our own little pub crawl near the port area. We had enough to do the things we wanted to do! 

Awesome, thanks!  I think I have sketched out a little pub crawl in Cuba as well.  I guess we'll drink until we're out of money lol

[MistyRo76]

10 hours ago, cruiserbrianj said:

Awesome, thanks!  I think I have sketched out a little pub crawl in Cuba as well.  I guess we'll drink until we're out of money lol

HAHA - That was our mantra as well....we weren't heading back to the ship until we ran out of money or steam! Whichever came first! 

 

We had a little pub crawl mapped out as well...but of our group there were only four of us that stayed in town later into the evening. So we ended up just hitting a couple places not too far from the port area and didn't make it to the ones we had intended to. But it was still alot of fun! 

[JaniceB]

Enjoying your review.

[MistyRo76]

April 15, 2019 - Havana, Cuba (CONT)

 

As I mentioned, each of our Classic cars would accommodate four people from our group. Including our driver and guide, that was up to 6 people per car (three in the front and three in the back). We did have one person that required some extra room, so that car only had 5 people total. Once we made contact with Yosel, he had the drivers circle around to where we were and we all split up accordingly among the four cars. 

 

I highly recommend going with the hard top cars instead of the convertibles. I know it's really cool to be driving around Havana in a convertible. But it's also really hot! And that sun is fierce! In the convertibles, you have no respite from the sun. And the convertibles also tend to not have AC. So if it rains and they have to put up the top, it becomes a sauna! Yosel arranged for a small portion of our tour to be in a convertible. So we have the experience of both to compare. And it was definitely more comfortable in the hard top car with AC. The drivers are also very particular about their cars (they are their livelihoods after all). No hard slamming of the doors; and you have to be very careful when opening the doors to be sure not to scrap them on a higher curb (our guide did this once and I thought the driver was going to have a heart attack!). 

 

The main stops on our tour included: 

Drive along the Malecon

Drive thru the Miramar section of Havana

Fusterlandia

Havana Forest

Plaza de Revolucion

Lunch - El Cocinero

Hotel Nacional

El Morro Fort

Drive through the Havana "ghetto" (our guide's word, not mine) 

Drive through Centro Habana

Cigar factory

 

Below I will tell about each of the main stops that we made: 

NOTE - I plan to upload some photos later. My personal laptop crashed before vacation and my work laptop has the SD drive disabled. But photos are coming! 

 

Malecon - The Havana Malecon is essentially the area along the seawall which stretches for about 5 miles (8km) starting at Havana Harbour, going along Centro Habana and ending in the Verdado neighborhood. The Malecon is a gathering spot for locals especially as it gets later in the day. You will also see people fishing off the sea wall. Many of the buildings near the seawall are in disrepair from Hurricane Irma's wrath and efforts to repair the damage were ongoing when we were there. One thing I noticed about Havana is there is art everywhere! And along the Malecon is no different. You will see art installations all along the Malecon and around buildings near the Malecon. This year Havana is celebrating it's 500th Anniversary and signs recognizing this milestone were all over! 

 

Miramar  - The Miramar area of Havana is mostly residential area which used to be home to many of the city's wealthy citizens. There are many large houses and mansions in this area. It was pretty spectacular to see the size and the detail of these beautiful old homes. Miramar is also home to many embassies, located mostly on Quinta Avenida (Fifth Avenue) and Avenida de las Americas (Avenue of the Americas). 

 

Fusterlandia - Our first opportunity to get out and explore was our stop in the Fusterlandia section of Havana. This area is nothing short of amazing. There is artwork everywhere! Cuban artist Jose Fuster has turned his home neighborhood into a masterpiece which includes intricate and detailed mosaic tilewok and vibrant colors. Fuster was inspired by the work of Spanish artist Gaudi. This project started more than 20 years ago and covers several blocks with the centerpiece being Fuster's home. 

 

When we first arrived, we explored the block leading up to Fuster's home. Everything was decorated in mosaic tiles. It was kind of surreal! As we were milling around, a guy came up selling some homemade pastries. It was something with guava inside. A few of us bought some and shared them there are on the street. So yummy! 

 

We then headed into Fuster's home. You are free to explore the outside of Fuster's home as you wish. There are several levels with great views of the area. Fuster still lives here and is apparently seen out and about fairly regularly. His two sons also live nearby. We actually saw one of his sons driving down the road as we were getting ready to leave. Inside there is a small art gallery where you can purchase paintings, figurines, etc. After about 30 minutes of exploring this area, we piled back in our cars and took off for the next stop which was....

 

Havana Forest - Havana Forest is located in the middle of the city, but you'd never know it once you were there. It was wooded with a lake - just beautiful scenery. Not much evidence of the busy hustle and bustle of Havana other than the line of classic cars crossing the bridge going over the lake in the distance. This forest area is where many religious sacrifices and rituals take place. This includes anything from baptisms in the lake to rituals to ward off evil spirits such as the breaking of dishes or animal sacrifice (typically chickens). You will see bird feathers all over the place especially near the water. The main religions practiced in Cuba are Catholicism and Santeria. 

 

Plaza de Revolucion - This is the square where Castro used to hold his marathon speeches many years ago usually to more than a million Cubans. Across from the square is the Jose Marti Memorial which has a 358 ft. tall tower and a 59 ft. statue. The National Library and many other government buildings are located here as well including the Ministries of Interior and Communications. These particular buildings have matching facades featuring heroes of the Cuban Revolution: Che Guevara (with the quote Hasta la Victoria Siempre - Until the Everlasting Victory, Always) and Camilo Cienfuegos (with the quote Vas bien, Fidel - You're doing fine, Fidel). If you want to take pictures of the classic cars all lined up, this is the place to do it! It was pretty busy with tourists! 

 

We were now approaching lunchtime and were starving and thirsty! My husband is a pretty big foodie and I definitely like to get the local culinary flavors when we travel. So I did a lot of research on dining options for our day in Havana. Our group decided on El Cocinero in the Verdado area of Havana. My research also found that most places in Havana will not accommodate you without reservations. So I made a reservation for our group of 13 at noon. I let Yosel know in advance so they could plan our day around the lunchtime slot. 

El Cocinero is located in the site of a former vegetable factory and has a huge brick chimney with it's name on it rising above the restaurant. When we arrived at the restaurant, we checked in on the lower level and advised that we had two additional people. They said they were able to accommodate our now group of 15 and told us to head up the spiral staircase to the terrance level. The staircase to the terrace was steep and narrow. We did have someone in our group with some mobility challenges but they were able to make it up. I wasn't aware of their challenges before we booked the tour and didn't realize how we would get to the third floor. When we arrived to the terrace, I saw why they were able to accommodate our extra two people. The place was empty! The whole time we were there, we only saw a couple other parties arrive for lunch. I'm not sure why reservations are needed unless it's just to be sure they have the right staffing. 

 

Even though we were seated on the terrace, we were under a tarped area which mostly helped with the sun and heat. We had a long table with bench seating on one side and chairs on the other. We quickly ordered drinks - mostly sodas, Cuban beer (Cristal), mojitos or Cuba Libres. Drew and I shared the Malaga Fritters for our appetizer and we both had the Candied Pork dish for our main course. It was all delicious. I also heard raves from several members of our group about the pork ribs - fall off the bone tender and flavorful. One thing I learned in Cuba was that they will not split checks between individuals or couples within a group. So it was a bit of a challenge for our group of 15 to divvy up the bill. We just passed the bill around the table and everyone contributed their share. Tip was already included, but we added more on top of that as well. Yosel had said several times that El Cocinero was a pricier restaurant. But honestly, we found it to be very reasonable. For Drew and I, our total was around $60 which included our two entrees, salad, appetizer and several drinks each plus a generous tip. 

 

I will finish off our day in Havana in the next post. Feel free to ask any questions as well! 

[pyropoodle]

I am still believing that our Cuba cruise for next year will happen, so proceeding under that assumption... 

 

great review so far and really appreciating the information.

 

quick question, there will be 4 of us going, my hubs, myself, a 6 and 3 year old.  I know we couldn't do this as a full day excursion because my kids will be toast after 3 or 4 hours, but would you recommend this tour for half day for young children?  it sounds like a great way to see some things before we head back to the boat, give them a nap and then waterworks them until sundown.

Edited May 1, 2019 by pyropoodle

[MistyRo76]

29 minutes ago, pyropoodle said:

I am still believing that our Cuba cruise for next year will happen, so proceeding under that assumption... 

 

great review so far and really appreciating the information.

 

quick question, there will be 4 of us going, my hubs, myself, a 6 and 3 year old.  I know we couldn't do this as a full day excursion because my kids will be toast after 3 or 4 hours, but would you recommend this tour for half day for young children?  it sounds like a great way to see some things before we head back to the boat, give them a nap and then waterworks them until sundown.

I’m sure I Love Cuba could price out a half day excursion for you and the family. You would just want to do some research and see what areas of Havana you want to include. I would recommend Fusterlandia for sure. The colors and art work would probably be interesting to them. The forest would be another good thing for them to see. If gets you out of sun a bit and they can wander around! And then just driving around Havana and see other areas of the city. Definitely reach out to Yosel and see what he can offer you. 

 

I will say that I didn’t see a ton of kids on our sailing and it was even during Spring Break. If you’re traveling on a non-peak time, there will probably be even less kids. I attributed that to the Key West/Cuba itinerary. 

[pyropoodle]

Thank you for the follow up.  we are going in August, sailing out of NYC, so I'm sure it will be hot.  it's not until august of 2020, so starting the research early :)   

 

carnival hasn't even added any excursions yet.

Edited May 1, 2019 by pyropoodle

[MistyRo76]

April 15, 2019 - More Havana Cuba! 

 

Hotel Nacional - After lunch, we hopped back in our classic cars and headed for the Hotel Nacional. The Hotel Nacional is a famous Havana landmark (opened in 1930) which has been visited by many celebrities and important politicians over the years. It is located in the Vedado area of Cuba and overlooks Havana Harbor and the Malecon. This is a pretty spectacular building with wood beam, intricate tile work and detailing. It is really beautiful! Behind the hotel there are beautiful and lush gardens with evidence there of the hotel's role in the Cuban Missle Crisis of 1962. Anti-aricraft guns were set up on the property and there are extensive tunnels underneath which are now open to public tours. 

 

After exploring the grounds, we headed in to the Hall of Fame Bar inside the hotel. The walls of this bar are lined with photos of all of the celebs and important political figures who have been there over the years. This list includes Winston Churchill, Jimmy Carter, Frank Sinatra, Mickey Mantel, John Wayne, Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Putin and more recently Barack Obama. We all ordered beverages from the bar - I had a mojito - and it was a little difficult to get change made. CUBA TIP: When you are exchanging your money ask for a fair amount of small bills and coins for small purchases and tips! The bartenders did not speak much English so our guides helped up pay our bills and also helped break some of our bigger bills. There was a trio ready to regale us with a tune. Someone in our group requested La Bamba and they busted it right out for us! They were great! 

 

When our time was up at the hotel, Yosel had arranged for the convertible cars to pick us up so we could experience them as well. I will say it was a much tighter squeeze with three in each row in the convertibles, especially in the backseat. There just isn't as much room as the hard top cars. 

 

El Morro Fort - Our next stop was the El Morro fort area. On our way to the fort, we drove through the Centro Habana area and the ghetto areas. The centr This is the fortress guarding the entrance to Havana bay. It's a beautiful setting, but we did not get out an explore in this area much. We then pulled the cars around to a side road where we had great views of the bay including of our ship. It was here that we settled up with Yosel. He had asked that we paid with US Dollars. I collected everyone's cash and included a generous tip. Yosel had the hard top cars meet us there and we proceeded on with the last stop of our tour.

 

Cigar Factory - We had several in the group who wanted to purchase some authentic Cuban cigars, coffee or rum. Those that did not wish to go to the cigar factory were taken right back to the port area. That group did not include me as my hubby is a huge pipe aficionado and also enjoys cigars. He actually started hand carving pipes about 5 years ago and has made several really beautiful pieces! He now geeks out on cigars and different types of tobacco. So this was one of his more eagerly anticipated stops! 

 

As soon as we parked the car outside of the cigar factory, the aroma of tobacco was evident in the air. Inside it was even stronger. This was a working factory with cigars being made on the second floor and merchandise being sold on the first. I think Drew could have easily spend 2 hours just looking around in this shop. But after about 15 minutes, he had settled on a large bag of Cuban coffee and a variety pack of 7 or 8 cigars. We spent about $80 total here. After we finished, we hopped back in our cars and were dropped off just across from the terminal entrance. It was about 4:30 PM when our tour finished (7 & 1/2 hours total). 

 

Overall, I would highly recommend booking a Havana tour with Yosel and I Love Cuba Photo Tours. During the booking process, Yosel was always very prompt in his replies and answered all of our questions and was very accommodating. As our cruise group grew, I had to make several changes to our tour booking number and he was great about that. I also really loved that they took the photos for us.The photographers were great about capturing candid moments as well as staging us for group shots at cool locations. They were also extremely knowledgeable about the sites we visited and were always peppering us with tidbits about life in Cuba. I have read that others felt that their guides (with other companies) were only giving them Cuban "propaganda", but I didn't feel that at all. 

 

Some other interesting things I learned about Cuba during our tour: 

Teachers make on average $20-25 per month; Doctors make up to $40 per month. - Our guide used to be a teacher but can make more money bar-tending and doing tours. 

It takes eight hours by bus to reach the other tip of Cuba.

The internet is open and not controlled by the government. Our guides mentioned they could search Google or watch YouTube videos. 

(I'm sure there's a lot more, but I didn't take notes so this is all by memory!). 

 

I'm going to take a break here, but will be back to review our evening in Havana and final thoughts about Cuba in general! 

[MistyRo76]

April 15, 2019 - Havana Nights! 

 

Once we were finished with our tour, most in our group explored around the port area, walked to the market to shop or just headed back to the ship. Drew, myself and two others in our group had dinner reservations at 6PM at Los Naranjos in the Vedado area of Havana. We didn't really have enough time to get back on board, so my sister offered to carry our cigars and coffee back to the ship for us. We wandered around the area near the port for a little while before we found a little bar/restaurant with a nice outdoor patio. We dropped anchor here and a few of our group ordered coffees and I got a Coke (which wasn't really a Coke lol). There was a music group playing who were fantastic. The girl singer kept pulling one girl in our group up to sing and dance with her. I guess she got the lucky seat! 

 

Most of our day was sunny and hot, but toward the late afternoon it clouded up a bit. At a few times, it looked like it might rain, but it never did. The cloud cover was nice to help the heat subside a bit. 

 

About 5:15PM, we started walking back toward the terminal building. It seems like in this area, they only allow taxis to pick up in certain spots. They don't want them just stopping right on the road. As we neared the terminal building, we flagged down a driver in a Classic Car. We gave him the address to the restaurant and we were off. It was only about a 5-7 minute drive. He charged us $20, which we could have probably negotiated down but didn't. I just didn't feel right about trying to talk them down when I know they really depend on that money. We paid him in CUCs for the fare, but tipped him in US Dollars. 

 

Our dinner location, Los Naranjos, was a classic Cuban paladar. A paladar is a privately owned and operated restaurant, not run by the government. They are typically based in a home where the family usually also resides. The menus at paladares tends to change frequently as what they serve is dependent on what they can get at market each day. 

 

The restaurant at Los Naranjos was on the second floor of a beautiful residence. When we walked in, much like our lunch experience, the restaurant was empty. They asked if we wanted to sit inside or out so we chose to sit on the terrace. Our waitress set up an easel next to our table and put up a chalkboard with that day's menu items. She ran through most of the items giving detailed descriptions of what they were. It was ALOT to take in! I was really just trying to keep track of the things that sounded good to me. After we asked several questions, we settled on our order. Our friends got a stuffed peppers dish which was vibrant and flavorful. Drew and I shared the ravioli appetizer which was rich and delicioso! I think we shared another appetizer, but I don't recall what it was. 

 

Then the mains came. I had wanted to try something with the thermidor sauce which is a creamy sauce made with white wine, sherry, shallots, tarragon, egg yolks, cream and dry mustard (the mustard makes it a thermidor sauce). The waitress recommended this sauce with the lobster. I couldn't believe my eyes when the dish came out - it was HUGE! There was so much lobster meat it wasn't even funny. But it was tasty! I thought I had made a pretty good dent in the lobster meat until the waitress came by and asked if I didn't like it - so I felt bad and ate some more! LOL This whole dinner was only $25. I think an equivalent entree in the states would be $50-70 easy! My hubby had a combination dish that included pork, chicken and beef all cooked with traditional Cuban spices and flavors. 

 

The total bill for Drew and I for dinner, appetizers and a couple drinks each was probably about $80-90. I thought it was very reasonable for the amount and quality of food we received. After we were done with dinner, our waitress offered to give us a tour of the restaurant. The building itself was gorgeous with great details throughout! We then headed out to the street where one of the employees helped us flag down a taxi to take us back to the port area. This was a standard yellow taxi and he charged $10 for the four of us. 

 

We got back to the port area around 8:00 PM and headed back to the corner bar we were at earlier to meet two other girls from our group. They wanted to get a few drinks but weren't comfortable walking around Havana at night by themselves. We had about $30CUCs left and the currency exchange closed. So we decided we would stay out in Havana until we ran out of money or steam - whichever came first! 

 

We hit up 3 or 4 little bars along the main drag near the port usually ordering a standard Cristal beer, mojito or Cuba Libre. In each location there was live music ranging from a high energy salsa band to a piano/guitar combo. All of the musicians there were fantastic! I don't think there is a bad musician in Cuba! It was about 10:00 PM when we spent the last of our CUCs so we finally headed back to the ship. Getting on the ship was a breeze - no lines that late at night. It was a great day in Havana! 

 

Next up - Final thoughts on our day in Havana! 

[MistyRo76]

Havana, Cuba Final Thoughts:

 

One of the questions I got a lot after we got back from Cuba was, "did you feel safe there". I can honestly say that I never once felt unsafe there. In fact, I felt less safe in Tampa when our hotel shuttle driver took us to a Winn-Dixie liquor store near our hotel just walking from the shuttle to the store and back. There were bums around heckling us and would get nasty if we didn't engage with them. Never saw anything like that in Cuba, even walking around after dark. 

 

The people of Cuba were mostly nice if a little on the aloof side. In stores and little bars, the workers seemed to speak minimal English, but were eager to help us. Our tour guides were great and so friendly as were many others we encountered. It seemed those in the hospitality industry (tours, restaurants, even taxi drivers) spoke better English and were extremely friendly. 

 

Prepare yourself for the smells of Havana. With all of the old cars on the streets, there is a lot of fuel fumes in the air and it can be a bit overpowering at times. We also encountered full trash cans on the street that reeked (maybe it was trash pick-up day??). 

 

You definitely see a lot of wear and tear in Havana from the buildings to the streets to the sidewalks. It can be hazardous walking around Havana if you aren't paying attention. There would be random large holes in the sidewalks. It would be worse at night because the streets are not well lit (at least where we were). You could easily get injured if you are distracted. 

 

The architecture there is amazing! The detail in these old buildings is incredible - high ceilings, archways, wood accents, patterned tiled floors - so beautiful! And even the buildings that are crumbling are still eye-catching. The colors of Havana are striking. This is a photographers dream location! 

 

From a cost-perspective, I found Havana to be very reasonably priced. Drinks seemed to be mostly in the $3-4 range (mojitos/Cuba Libre). I would say our lunch and dinner were less expensive as compared to the same quality of a restaurant here. And I didn't have any issue with what our taxi drivers charged us. You can apparently barter then down, but we didn't. 

 

Next up - Our two Fun Days at Sea! 

 

Regrets - We wished we would have taken in the Buena Vista Social Club show. A guy was trying to entice us to do it when we were having a drink at a bar. The pricing seemed pretty good and it was certainly cheaper than what the ship was charging. But at that point, we were down to our last $30 CUCs and the currency exchange was closed. 

 

Havana is a hustling and bustling town - it seemed like people were out everywhere, all day! Would have also liked to spend more time along the malecon in the evening. I've heard it gets pretty active there around sunset and it was certainly picking up as we drove by on our way to dinner. Good people watching! 

 

I would encourage everyone to visit Cuba while we are still able to. It is such a neat experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything! 

Edited May 3, 2019 by MistyRo76