Cruises to Cuba

[dorisis]

You can experience Cuban Culture without going to Cuba. Miami is also known as "Little Havana". And Cuba does not have a Diamonds International yet.

[burm]

You can experience Cuban Culture without going to Cuba. Miami is also known as "Little Havana".

 

In that case, lucky New Yorkers - they can experience the joys of travelling around the world without ever leaving the city.

 

Cuba's culture is unique because of their politics, their environment, and their isolation from the rest of the world. Drop the entire population into the USA and their culture will start to morph overnight.

[John Bull]

As promised, a little precis of our Havana port-of-call last week. 45 hours in Havana doesn’t make me an expert, but here’s my impressions.

 

An interesting sail-in past enormous Forteleza San Carlos on one bank & modern waterfront hotels on the city's outskirts on the other, to the cruise terminal in the old part of the city. The terminal is combined with a ferry terminal on the other side of the pier. Our ship was 800ft, 55,000 tonnes, 21ft draught, 1500 passengers. She took up most of the pier, but the approach is wide and longer ships can probably be accommodated at the pier & there’s plenty of turning space. Unless the ferry is re-located there’s only room for one cruise ship, & I doubt whether further cruise ships can moor in the harbour (& transfer by tender) without hindering other shipping.

 

The Cuban govt loves its paperwork – as do all communist states that I’ve visited. Immigration officers boarded with the pilot & distributed visa applications. We weren’t charged for our visas – not by the officers or by the ship – but we were told to be very careful in filling out the forms cos a blank replacement form would cost £15 !! There were immigration & customs forms too. And very careful scrutiny of all forms, a health check (for ebola) and tight security.

 

USD used to be widely accepted, but that’s now all changed - at the terminal we exchanged our sterling or USD for the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). Value about 1:1 with the USD.

nb not to be confused with the lowly Cuban National Peso (CUP), which is worth about 1/24th of a CUC. Shops which sell basic foodstuffs etc to locals only accept CUP, but we had no problem in the outlets we visited.

In theory we were supposed to convert back unused CUC when we left, but most folk simply spent left-over currency in the nearby craft market.

Larger outlets (shops, restaurants, etc) also accept plastic.

 

I visited Havana some 15 years ago, when I described the city centre as “decayed Spanish colonial decadence”, and that still holds good. The architecture in the old city is superb – all the buildings, not just the important landmarks. Some have been restored, some (including the Capitolio) are undergoing restoration, only a few have been demolished, but the vast majority are in need of a lot of tlc - some are just empty shells. Sidewalks are very uneven & pot-holed – if I were blind I wouldn’t want to walk in Havana :eek:. A number of streets are currently being dug-up to renew utilities, so some progress is being made, but full restoration of the city centre will be a long & expensive process.

One positive aspect of the US embargo & consequent lack of investment in the centre is that the time-warp means no ugly modern buildings, no Starbucks, no McDonalds, no malls or department stores etc etc. In this respect, central Havana is unique in the western hemisphere. It’d be great if the place were restored true to its former glory, but I fear that might be too expensive without investment from those with more interest in turning a fast buck than in preserving old Havana. I do urge non-Americans to visit before American money is poured into Cuba, and Americans to try to get there before Colonel Sanders & Ronald McDonald.

Sorry, I don't easily distinguish between overheard US & Canadian accents, but we did speak to a number of American tourists. We were told that they have itineraries which they have to follow during the day, but are free to do their own thing in the evenings.

 

The general population in Havana are friendly and happy. Yes, happy – doubters on this forum take note. The city buzzes with music from bars and dancing that overflows into the street.

 

English is reasonably widely-spoken, even outside the tourist trade.

 

The ban on private ownership of cars (and real estate) was completely lifted a couple of years ago, so there are now many more modern cars on the road – a lot of eastern bloc Ladas & such, with barely a modern American or European car to be seen. But still too expensive for the average resident.

The ban on private cars is the reason why there are so many classic American cars of the ‘fifties in Cuba - if you had a car when Castro came to power you could keep it, and you could hand it down to relatives, but you couldn’t buy or sell. And Havana is heaven for those interested in classic cars ! I guess around 20% of cars in Havana are classics though it’s difficult to judge because it varies in different parts of the city. Many of those in the centre are used as taxis, convertibles are especially popular with visitors.

Public transport is much better than it used to be, now using standard modern Chinese-built buses instead of the old “camels”, and not over-crowded – the clip on this website is a very extreme example of how things used to be http://www.havana-guide.com/camel-bus.html

But we didn’t use the public buses – most of the city is easy to walk and more distant parts are on the ho-ho route. There’s a stop at the cruise terminal, the full circuit takes 3 hours & a day ticket (that’s a day, not 24 hours) costs about $5. We used two ho-ho buses – one quite up-together, the other with a lot of broken seats but perhaps that’s because every available ho-ho was on the road to cope with the influx.

 

Havana is great value. A good fast-food meal at around $8 to $10, a good lunch at around $12 to $18. In the evening we gorged on enormous lobster with rice & salad for $20 at Dos Hermanos, a Hemingway bar close to the cruise terminal. And an up-market lunch in a swish restaurant opposite the cathedral for a little less. A mojito at Hemingway's Bodeguita del Medio was poorer value at about $5 but hey, that's the tourist trade. Souvenir trinkets were cheap, though the variety was limited – and I suspect most were made in China.

 

A truly unique & amazing port – fingers crossed it stays that way.

 

JB :)