Cienfuegos Tour Recommendations

[karpems]

Can anyone recommend a tour for Cienfuegos?  We are four adults. Thanks!

[ebslcc]

Just scroll down and you will see that answer to your question is here :

 

[Go-Bucks!]

Fernando Mora was excellent and not expensive. We customized our tour and our guide, Beatriz, was awesome!! I will use him again if I go back.

[HowardW]

We read the excellent posts on this thread by Laurence and arranged a tour of Cienfuegos and Trinidad with Hector Hernandez (contact info below).

 

Hector responded fairly quickly and we kept in contact with him during the cruise. He sent coordinates for the meeting place and a picture of him (that does not do him justice). The meeting place was just inside the gate at the tender terminal. We arrived early but Hector and the driver (Victor) were already there waiting for us. We then drove first to Trinidad about 90 minutes away (Hector took us to a bank there to pick up CUCs, exchanging the Euros we brought from the States). Hector's English is excellent (he is a retired English teacher still working a bit as a translator) and he is very pleasant and courteous. The driver spoke some English and was also very friendly. The car was a Nissan Sunny (not something you see in the USA) that fits 2 or 3 in the back and has AC. Hector was very patient and informative and we enjoyed his company and observations (that seemed reasonably frank).

 

At one point he asked us if we thought it was appropriate to ask tourists in advance to bring used clothes or anything we can spare to give to the poor in Cuba. We both felt he should definitely start doing that as we were aware of how appreciative the Cubans in Cienfuegos and elsewhere are to receive such items. We did not notice any stores in Cienfuegos and material goods appear scarce.

 

Overall, my girlfriend a I were quite satisfied with our day tour with Hector and are glad we chose him.

 

Howard

 

Tour operator: Hector's Tours 
Contact: hhoropesa@nauta.cu, hectorguidecienfuegos@gmail.com

[ebslcc]

4 hours ago, HowardW said:

We read the excellent posts on this thread by Laurence and arranged a tour of Cienfuegos and Trinidad with Hector Hernandez (contact info below).

 

Hector responded fairly quickly and we kept in contact with him during the cruise. He sent coordinates for the meeting place and a picture of him (that does not do him justice). The meeting place was just inside the gate at the tender terminal. We arrived early but Hector and the driver (Victor) were already there waiting for us. We then drove first to Trinidad about 90 minutes away (Hector took us to a bank there to pick up CUCs, exchanging the Euros we brought from the States). Hector's English is excellent (he is a retired English teacher still working a bit as a translator) and he is very pleasant and courteous. The driver spoke some English and was also very friendly. The car was a Nissan Sunny (not something you see in the USA) that fits 2 or 3 in the back and has AC. Hector was very patient and informative and we enjoyed his company and observations (that seemed reasonably frank).

 

At one point he asked us if we thought it was appropriate to ask tourists in advance to bring used clothes or anything we can spare to give to the poor in Cuba. We both felt he should definitely start doing that as we were aware of how appreciative the Cubans in Cienfuegos and elsewhere are to receive such items. We did not notice any stores in Cienfuegos and material goods appear scarce.

 

Overall, my girlfriend a I were quite satisfied with our day tour with Hector and are glad we chose him.

 

Howard

 

Tour operator: Hector's Tours 
Contact: hhoropesa@nauta.cu, hectorguidecienfuegos@gmail.com

 

Very nice!!!  Thanks for sharing.  I am glad you had a great time with Hector.  My impression from email exchange with him that he is an active young man.  It is interesting that he is also retired English teacher just like Tony Castillo.  Thanks for your note re: used clothes.  I am sure you learned a lot more about Cuban people from touring with a private guide like Hector vs. ship excursions.  We have some promotional never used T-Shirts that we will bring.  I am sure the guides can help give them to the most needy.  We also plan to bring some snack bars to share with the guides on our tours.  I am sure they will appreciate snacking on something different than what they can get in Cuba.

 

Re: Nissan Sunny.  I see that it is equivalent to a Nissan Sentra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Sunny

 

Laurence

[tomcroooz]

Has anyone tried https://www.caribbeanpearltours.com/city-tour-cienfuegos

 

Two other couples on our cruise have booked with them.  It looks like a great itinerary.

 

Let me know!

 

Jim and Eddi

[r3325]

We also toured with Hector just after Christmas.  He had five tours to pick from (and is also very flexible).  It was easy to correspond with him by email prior to the cruise.  He did an excellent job getting us to the El Nicho Waterfalls and touring the city. The highlight was the place he took us for lunch - it was tasty and authentic - a woodburning buffet feast (with live chickens, pigs, dogs running around too!). We had a great time and highly recommend Hector.

 

[ebslcc]

We had an excellent time with private tour guide Tony Castillo on our Dec 12, 13th stop in Cienfuegos.  Our ship was 2 1/2 hours late to port due to high winds which delayed our ship going through the narrow Cienfuegos channel.  Tony text me via What's App and met us right after we dock.  We shifted our tour schedule and managed to see more than we originally planned for our 2 days with him.  There is a lot of positives using Tony as our private guide.  He is extremely well connected and got us to a few places we wouldn't have gone to on our own.  He speaks perfect English and gave us good insights of Cuban life with our time together.  His vans are in excellent shape and has seat belts!!!  I will post a more proper review with photos soon.  If you are looking for a private tour guide definitely look up Tony and see if his itineraries and pricing suits your needs.

 

See https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2593423-private-excursion-findings-cienfuegos-trinidad-cuba/ for his contact information.

 

Laurence

 

[stunned]

On 1/8/2019 at 7:13 PM, r3325 said:

We also toured with Hector just after Christmas.  He had five tours to pick from (and is also very flexible).  It was easy to correspond with him by email prior to the cruise.  He did an excellent job getting us to the El Nicho Waterfalls and touring the city. The highlight was the place he took us for lunch - it was tasty and authentic - a woodburning buffet feast (with live chickens, pigs, dogs running around too!). We had a great time and highly recommend Hector.

 

We are booked with Hector for March and he just raised the amount for his tour from his quoted rate.  Do mind saying what your rate was?

[ebslcc]

On 1/16/2019 at 11:50 AM, stunned said:

We are booked with Hector for March and he just raised the amount for his tour from his quoted rate.  Do mind saying what your rate was?

I am not surprise with the rate increase! During our private tours in Cuba, It's probably worth it still going with him even with the increase vs. taking a cruise excursion. I heard from both Stoycho (Guruwalk Santiago de Cuba) and Tony Castillo about the recent Cuban government regulation changes impacting private tour operators which were enacted Dec 7th?  Per Stoycho the price of private car rentals have shot up due to the changes - sometimes operators have to pay DOUBLE what they used to pay especially during cruise days.  Per Tony with his previous low rates he was actually losing money for some of his tours and only rely on tips (when there is only 2 passengers and if they only book for 1/2 day vs. full day).  The rules limits who can drive private cars for tourists. The new rules also put the government in the middle for booking entertainment for tourists.  For example, a private restaurant needs to go to a government agency to book entertainment.  The result is some of the paladars no longer have music playing during meals!  This is really sad to hear... and is the kind of real Cuba stories that you will not be exposed to just going to excursions from the cruise line (which are also state run!!!).

 

If you want to Support the Cuban people book with an independent guide.

 

Laurence