Looking for suggestions on tours in Cienfuigo and Santiago de Cuba

[jankie]

My husband and I are going to 3 ports in Cuba on Oceania Sirena.  We have been to Havana before but are looking for suggestions on tours or independent activities at those ports. Oceania's tour to Trinidad sounds interesting but I have not heard very good reviews of their tours.  Any thoughts?  Our Spanish is very limited.

 

[ellbon]

I missed Trinidad.santigo know for history where everything started back in the 60,s. Saw some museums and Castro home and grave. Had the best rum.

have you looked for private tour companies. There are some.

[jankie]

I have not checked private tours in Cuba.  I guess I can google it.

[LHT28]

I would  check in the ports of call forum under CUBA

lots of good info

or Trip advisor  Cuba forum

[jankie]

Thanks!

 

[sammiedawg]

Do NOT go to Trinidad.  Very long drive for the amount of time spent.  And absolutely the worst cobblestone walking surfaces we’ve ever experienced.  

We are on Sirena now.  

[alexandra cruiser]

We went on the O tour of town, along with visit to bar with dancing and music. Had to do this because the tour I wanted to falls and hike outside town cancelled. Of the 3 ports we visited,it was my least favorite. Glad we had guide due to amount of poor people begging in square and on streets,felt sorry but they were aggressive and a nuisance.Would stick with O tours there, as 2 groups arranged for a guide,that we heard of,,and they never showed.Just our experience,of course.

q

[Go-Bucks!]

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Edited November 2, 2018 by Go-Bucks!

[Go-Bucks!]

I highly recommend Fernando Mora in Cienfuegos (fantastic guide, Beatriz)....he let us customize their "standard" tour.  We visited some of the places they chose and, in addition, we chose the dolphin show, got our hair cut in a local beauty salon and shopped at some local stores (like a pharmacia).  The classic car was decent and safe, with a good driver.  Great lunch in a paladar.

 

We liked the sites in Santiago de Cuba (Fidel and Jose Marti's graves, San Juan hill, El Morro, and Revolution Square), but not how we traveled.  We used Yuri (Cubaguider), but do NOT recommend him.  He told us we'd have a private classic car tour, but what it turned out to be was 10 cars traveling together as a caravan from site to site.....wasted lots of time.  And the car was a piece of junk that was falling apart.  The drivers of the cars did not speak English; Yuri would describe the sites when we arrived, but it was difficult to hear him unless you were right near him. 

 

Be aware that Santiago is a very poor area whereas Cienfuegos is fairly well-to-do.  You can definitely see the difference.  Enjoy....we LOVED seeing Cuba!

[Ken the cruiser]

We had a great time last May on our O excursion to Trinidad!! We also learned a ton about Cuba from our tour guide on the bus ride there. As far as Santiago goes, we also very much enjoyed our trip to El Cobre which leaves from there. I don’t remember the name of the tour but we went to a church and listened to a great steel drum band! But whatever tours you choose, you will have a great time!!!

[NanciEA]

Alexandra cruiser, was the tour to the falls and hike outside of town called "Cienfuegos and its Nature"? We have booked that excursion and hope ours is not cancelled.

[ebslcc]

On 11/1/2018 at 9:17 AM, jankie said:

My husband and I are going to 3 ports in Cuba on Oceania Sirena.  We have been to Havana before but are looking for suggestions on tours or independent activities at those ports. Oceania's tour to Trinidad sounds interesting but I have not heard very good reviews of their tours.  Any thoughts?  Our Spanish is very limited.

 

If you visited the CC Cuba forum https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/765-cuba/ you may have seen my pair of posts on private tours already:

 

When you get quotes you may want to cross check on vehicles the operator uses, the tour details (not just fluff!) and if the tour is truly private or not.  

 

You will DEFINITELY save a lot of $ taking a private tour and seeing a lot more vs. going with Oceania's excursions!  Our 2 days 7 hours each day Trinidad / Cienfuegos tours are 160 CUC for 4 people or 40 Cuc per person per day!  We are going to Trinidad city tour plus add on's the first day and doing a full Cienfuegos city tour plus add on's the 2nd day.  Our Trinidad itinerary from Tony Castillo pretty much mirrors the same as Oceania's Colonial Trinidad (CFG-004) tour covering the same places: Trinidad city tour + Sugar cane valley + Casa Chichi, a family-owned pottery workshop .  Oceania excursion is an OS excursion with a price of $229 per person = almost 6x the cost!  The big advantage of the Oceania tour is a more comfortable bus with toilet vs. we will be in a small van with AC and no toilet.  The Oceania tour also includes lunch vs. for Tony's tour it is lunch on our own.  We are asking Tony to bring us to get fast food (Cuban sandwich?) so that we can see more with the time that we have.  We can safe our stomach for lobster at night on the ship.  Tony also has a combo Trinidad Cienfuegos city tours if your ship is only in port for the day and have ~9 hours.  He has good prices for 2 people (140 CUC for 2 full day).  It is more cost effective with 4 or more people.  His tours are truly private.  You may want to see if you can get more people to join on your cruise's Cruise Critic Roll Call.

 

Securing a good guide with good transportation and seeing this video are what finally convince us to go to Trinidad vs. just staying around Cienfuegos:

 

Laurence

 

Edited November 3, 2018 by ebslcc

[alexandra cruiser]

18 hours ago, NanciEA said:

Alexandra cruiser, was the tour to the falls and hike outside of town called "Cienfuegos and its Nature"? We have booked that excursion and hope ours is not cancelled.

Yes, that was it. Ended up doing O tour there and area much more interesting to us than the Santiago one. We were really looking forward to it,,not sure WHY it was cancelled,but got email before we left.

[RJB]

On 11/1/2018 at 12:17 PM, jankie said:

My husband and I are going to 3 ports in Cuba on Oceania Sirena.  We have been to Havana before but are looking for suggestions on tours or independent activities at those ports. Oceania's tour to Trinidad sounds interesting but I have not heard very good reviews of their tours.  Any thoughts?  Our Spanish is very limited.

 

Were there about 3 weeks ago and in Havana we did a private 2 day tour for 4 people with FerTours and it was great.  Other 2 places we did the Ships O life tours and they were pretty good.   Did not need any more shipboard credit so the tours were a good place to use our  money.