My Recent Amazing Cuba Trip

[Leadft]

Hi friends -

 

I took a Christmas Cruise on the Carnival Liberty, which I promise to write a long review on soon.

 

After the cruise, I headed to Cuba for a week, and I wrote about that first. I thought those of you interested in Cuba might want to read about it.

 

It is a 7-post series on my blog http://www.TravelsWithMadelyn.com. There are tons of photos and tips.

 

I hope you enjoy it and feel free to ask questions in the comments section. I will answer as soon as I can!

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

I read your blog last night & really enjoyed it. What an adventure you had

but sounds like you really loved it & took it in stride.

 

I've been to Cuba 8 times, twice on the Louis Cristal cruise & the others at all inclusive resorts, mostly near Santiago de Cuba. The food at our resort was quite good but they did run out of things too, ice cream, electricity & elevator service but all part of the Cuban experience.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[tring]

Thank you very much for sharing your blog - it was a very interesting read.

 

Shame about your travel and beach experiences. The more modern and upmarket hotels in Varadero are much further along the peninsular. We stayed in the Blau Varadero 2-3 years ago and the food and self service restaurant was among the best we have experienced in 4 or 5 star Hotels in Europe and elsewhere, (but we had looked carefully at hotel reviews before booking). I expect it would be very expensive to book independently though and you will not have easy access to packages from the US just yet. I bet prices will go up with demand when it is easy to travel from the US!

 

We also stayed at The Nacional de Cuba in Havana and found the hotel, the a la carte restaurant and snack bar really good, even though it is government run. We only tried the self service in the Nacional once for breakfast and did not feel inclined to repeat that though, but we were booked room only so that was fine. Lots of Cuban hotel reviews are very iffy though, especially the other Gran Caribe (government run) hotels, so you do have a point there. There is no problem flushing toilet paper in the more upmarket hotels though.

 

If you return to Cuba, you should go to see The Nacional de Cuba for the history and do one of their tours of the hotel and the old missile bunkers in the grounds that were used during the Cuban missile crisis. You do not have to be resident at the hotel to do the tour. Our tour was done by a very informative lady who was a retired academic from Havana University and was the Professer of Che Guevara. She had visited Che and shaken his hand. We were really chuffed to have shaken the hand of someone who had shaken the hand of Che Guevara! You would find the tour really interesting.

 

Thanks again for sharing your blog and happy travels in the future if you return to Cuba,

 

Barbara

Edited January 18, 2016 by tring

[Donsyb]

 

If you return to Cuba, you should go to see The Nacional de Cuba for the history and do one of their tours of the hotel and the old missile bunkers in the grounds that were used during the Cuban missile crisis. You do not have to be resident at the hotel to do the tour.

 

How do you book the tour - can you just turn up? Do you know how frequently they run?

[tring]

How do you book the tour - can you just turn up? Do you know how frequently they run?

 

When we were there, (late Oct 2013 I think), they were done twice a day, morning and afternoon. I think our morning tour started at 10.00am, but it may have been as late as 11.00am. The afternoon one started about 2 or 3 pm. You could look at the Hotel website or the reviews of the Nacional de Cuba (I think I first saw mention of the tour in hotel reviews). If you get nowhere then perhaps ask on TA Havana forum if anyone has more up to date information.

 

It was just a turn up job for us and no charge, but things could have changed - especially with cruise ships visiting. I think that the American People to People tours, and perhaps some others go to the hotel now. It was not part of the standard tour company trips in Havana in 2013.

 

The hotel has lovely gardens were you can sit and have a drink, (Mojito recommended), whilst looking out over the Malecon and the view of Havana across the bay. You can just walk into the central entrance hall and bars, so worth popping into the hotel for a drink, even if the tour is not easy to do on your schedule. The downstairs snack bar was quite good as well, but service was a tad slow.

 

Have you read the OP's blog - it is really good?

Edited January 19, 2016 by tring

[Leadft]

Thank you very much for sharing your blog - it was a very interesting read.

 

Shame about your travel and beach experiences. The more modern and upmarket hotels in Varadero are much further along the peninsular. We stayed in the Blau Varadero 2-3 years ago and the food and self service restaurant was among the best we have experienced in 4 or 5 star Hotels in Europe and elsewhere, (but we had looked carefully at hotel reviews before booking). I expect it would be very expensive to book independently though and you will not have easy access to packages from the US just yet. I bet prices will go up with demand when it is easy to travel from the US!

 

We also stayed at The Nacional de Cuba in Havana and found the hotel, the a la carte restaurant and snack bar really good, even though it is government run. We only tried the self service in the Nacional once for breakfast and did not feel inclined to repeat that though, but we were booked room only so that was fine. Lots of Cuban hotel reviews are very iffy though, especially the other Gran Caribe (government run) hotels, so you do have a point there. There is no problem flushing toilet paper in the more upmarket hotels though.

 

If you return to Cuba, you should go to see The Nacional de Cuba for the history and do one of their tours of the hotel and the old missile bunkers in the grounds that were used during the Cuban missile crisis. You do not have to be resident at the hotel to do the tour. Our tour was done by a very informative lady who was a retired academic from Havana University and was the Professer of Che Guevara. She had visited Che and shaken his hand. We were really chuffed to have shaken the hand of someone who had shaken the hand of Che Guevara! You would find the tour really interesting.

 

Thanks again for sharing your blog and happy travels in the future if you return to Cuba,

 

Barbara

 

Ooooh, that sounds very interesting! Thanks for the info. I would definitely like to return!

[JudiinMt]

I am visiting Cuba next month and wondered if there is something I could take as gifts besides the dollar bills you were giving out?

 

I loved reading your blog. Thank you.

[Irina]

Can anyone recommend a guide or guided tours for Havana? we will be there for 2 days the beginning of June on a cruise.

Thank you!

Penny

[Darcy8]

Can anyone recommend a guide or guided tours for Havana? we will be there for 2 days the beginning of June on a cruise.

Thank you!

Penny

We used Havana Journeys for several tours during our recent stay in Cuba. Havana City tour, Vinales Plantation tour and an overnight tour to the Bay of Pigs and Cienfuegos. They did an excellent job on all 3 tours. You can find them on Trip Advisor.

[VidaNaPraia]

Can anyone recommend a guide or guided tours for Havana? we will be there for 2 days the beginning of June on a cruise.

Thank you!

Penny

 

Penny,

You don't really need a tour. Just walk off the ship into the Havana Vieja neighborhood and wander around looking at the architecture and taking photos and observing the lives of locals. If you'd like to drive around in one of the classic cars to see some of the other neighborhoods, there are several places they wait for tourist passengers. There's also a HoHo bus. Second day you could take a taxi to see Hemingway's house and Fusterlandia.