X cruiser sails Azamara to Cuba Jan 15 to 24 2019

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thank you Norris.  I must admit that I have never been a distilled spirits tippler – wine is my thing.  I find brown spirits too strong, and vodka too bland.  But gin has been a relevation – every gin has a very different flavo(u)r, none is as heavy as bourbon or scotch, and since starting to drink gin I have never suffered from malaria! [I hadn't before either, but it is working 100%, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!]

[Bimmer09]

We continue sailing slowly towards Cienfuegos

 

 

 

a wide bay ahead

 

 

looking behind

 

More...

[Bimmer09]

 

 

10 minutes later

 

Cienfuegos  reveals itself

 

 

 

 

More.....

[Bimmer09]

 

 

Inching closer

 

 

Tour buses stand ready. Not for us. We are taking a private car tour with Fertours.

 

 

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Cienfuegos

(3 photos stitched together)

 

We are docked and people are already getting off for their tours. For us it's breakfast.

 

From deck 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carol is checking our account on the room TV

(the $75 charges are for our Cuban visas which last the whole trip)

 

It's time to get the sunscreen on and go ashore. Captain says it is 83F.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

1 hour ago, singinalot said:

I haven't done any research at all on this port. interested in your take!

Crystal I am going driving for a couple of hours and will leave you with some background info before I get back to our tour of Cienfuegos.

 

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

 

More later, including some great classic cars....

Norris

[Captain-John]

Hi Norris - late to the party but thank you very much for your review. I haven't seen any of your prior reviews, but I'll set aside a few weeks off work to read them all! (I am a fan of great detail and love a long, engaging review format such as yours).

[morbihan]

Drat it. Why did I think that you sailed  on the 25th?

 

Eighteen pages to read! 

 

Well, all done. Will go back later and read more thoroughly and watch the rest of the videos.

 

Nice to see you both looking so well. 

[Bimmer09]

2 hours ago, Captain-John said:

Hi Norris - late to the party but thank you very much for your review. I haven't seen any of your prior reviews, but I'll set aside a few weeks off work to read them all! (I am a fan of great detail and love a long, engaging review format such as yours).

Welcome aboard Sir!!

Haven't seen any of my 13 prior reviews? Good heavens! Never too late. They have had over a million page views combined but there are so many threads to click on.

I am glad you have found this one.

Long reviews are my thing to write and to read, as long as they have photos.

My first -Coral Princess to Alaska was only 11 pages long but those days are gone thanks to a growing interest in photography.

Hope to see you comment again.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

2 hours ago, morbihan said:

Drat it. Why did I think that you sailed  on the 25th?

 

Eighteen pages to read! 

 

Well, all done. Will go back later and read more thoroughly and watch the rest of the videos.

 

Nice to see you both looking so well. 

We are both well and thank you for joining us again!

I am excited to show you Cienfuegos and will get to it soon.

 I consider it a pretty well-kept town. 

Norris

[NJ Gal]

37 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

We are both well and thank you for joining us again!

I am excited to show you Cienfuegos and will get to it soon.

 I consider it a pretty well-kept town. 

Norris 

As I mentioned before, we spent a week in Cuba in 2012 on a land tour.  Your experience being on a ship is so different.  I really am enjoying hearing about your travels.  Our first stop was Cienfuegos & then to Havana.  From these two cities, we visited many other places on day trips.  It was a wonderful trip.

[Captain-John]

44 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Welcome aboard Sir!!

Haven't seen any of my 13 prior reviews? Good heavens! Never too late. They have had over a million page views combined but there are so many threads to click on.

I am glad you have found this one.

Long reviews are my thing to write and to read, as long as they have photos.

My first -Coral Princess to Alaska was only 11 pages long but those days are gone thanks to a growing interest in photography.

Hope to see you comment again.

Norris

 

Thanks Norris. That's an incredible page view figure. The photos truly make a well worded review so much the better. I may start from the start - or with your Celebrity reviews, since that's what we've recently booked - but can assure you I'll work my way round them all.

[Bimmer09]

Off the ship, via deck 3 I recall as the dock was low. Walked across the parking lot where the buses had been and through Customs and security to the streets beyond. Short walk and we see a small group clustered on a sidewalk holding up paper signs with names on. One of those is mine-I'd recognize it anywhere.

 

Our guide is Diana, again a speaker of good English and another fine product of the Cuban school system. She walks us around a corner to where Eddie, our driver is waiting with our car.

 

It's a Chrysler Windsor 

 

Eddie uses it as a taxi when it's not taking tours

 

Sweet interior!

 

I climb in the back ready for the off. See another cool taxi and take a pic through the window

 

Diana gets a phone call. Seems a couple who didn't confirm their reservation are calling, having just got off the ship. Can they join us? I confirmed with all 3 Cuban tour companies the day after Christmas as requested via email. Hence we had a ride waiting in each port.

Can they join us and make it 6 people in the car? No is our answer. We know what we want to see today and don't want to have to adapt to someone else's wishes or rub knees with them.

Diana puts her head in the car to ask me my opinion which is "Hell to the No".

 

I have time now while she relays this info to the errant couple. She tries to get another car for them. I get out to take a pic of that car beside us while waiting. It's a Ford.

 

also used as a taxi hence the term "handsome cab"

 

Local color

 

the 9 o'clock bus. Made by Hino. Che Guevara stencil on the front.

 

What was very different from Havana was the horse and cart traffic that trotted by.

Sure some carried sightseeing passengers but most were toting goods-bags of sugar or rice or suchlike. Stepping back in time to a mode of transportation thousands of years old.

Cienfuegos is a town (city?) of only 150,000 people and lord knows how many horses.

 

Eddie climbed back into the car and off we went on a drive way out of town (15 Km), our destination -at Carol's request-the Botanic Gardens. Cuban music on the radio?

Yes please!

"I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun,

You got your hair combed back, Wayfarers* on baby!"

Norris

*sunglasses

[Gordoncruickshank]

On 2/13/2019 at 2:23 PM, Bimmer09 said:

I have had to think about your question as it is a tough one.

I would say lunch in the Paladar in Havana as I was apprehensive and it was the first time we interacted with Cubans without the guide being present-just two or three people but they were welcoming and fun. I don't often go to restaurants where they leave you the bottle of rum on the table, LOL.

They wanted to impress us and they did.

I also very much enjoyed just walking the streets in old Havana with the camera. The streets were swept clean and were quiet and the architecture was pure eye-candy. There would be men playing guitar and singing "became Mucho" on a corner. It was not the norm, that's for sure.

 Thanks for asking, Crystal.

Norris

The first time we visited Cuba was probably close to 20 years ago. We did a 2 day trip from Varadero to Havana. On the first evening we visited the Tropicana Nightclub which was wonderful. As part of the tour each couple was provided with a bottle of 7year old Havana Club Rum, a bucket of ice and two cans of full fat Coke. We had taken a number of Diet Coke cans with us from a shop next to the hotel, just in case.

 

You took the remains of the bottle back to the hotel with you. 

 

[kk99]

Wonderful photos and narrative Norris. The Boys of Summer by Don Henley I believe.  Perfect cruising around town music. Thanks for taking all of us vicariously on your and Carol’s adventures in Cuba. 

[Bimmer09]

1 hour ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

The first time we visited Cuba was probably close to 20 years ago. We did a 2 day trip from Varadero to Havana. On the first evening we visited the Tropicana Nightclub which was wonderful. As part of the tour each couple was provided with a bottle of 7year old Havana Club Rum, a bucket of ice and two cans of full fat Coke. We had taken a number of Diet Coke cans with us from a shop next to the hotel, just in case.

 

You took the remains of the bottle back to the hotel with you. 

 

 

Nice story Gordon! 

Thank you.

Norris, glad to have you reading.

[Bimmer09]

11 minutes ago, kk99 said:

Wonderful photos and narrative Norris. The Boys of Summer by Don Henley I believe.  Perfect cruising around town music. Thanks for taking all of us vicariously on your and Carol’s adventures in Cuba. 

 

Indeed. I haven't seen Don Henley in over 20 years but saw him 3 times in New Jersey.

A very special voice.

I'm glad to have you along!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

We set off to make our way out of town and out towards the mountains. People were waving at Eddie as he drove. He even got a cell phone call along the way.

 

A short video to add flavor

 

 

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

The roads were smooth and hilly, taking us up and up, around sweeping bends with views back to the sea at times. We passed a lot of horses and carts.

 

man without cart

 

man with V8 horsepower

 

a fort that was in one of my early sail-in photos

 

after 25 minutes or so we came to the Botanic Gardens. Our passports had to be shown.

I think we paid 2 CUC each while guides entered free.

 

Let's go in.

Norris

 

[Bimmer09]

 

Popular spot

 

Carol found out in the restroom line that the blue buses were a Roads Scholars charter.

There was only one toilet, no lights, no seat. A man stood outside with toilet tissue and  paper towels. 

a bar with a guitarist playing "Besame mucho"

 

attached to a restaurant

 

and there was Eddie, Diana and Carol

 

and some cars

 

 

 

More...

[Bimmer09]

 

 

cool flower

 

 

Over 200 species of palms

 

 

 

 

More...

[Deck Chair Queen]

The gardens were vast and varied but nothing was labeled and there were no paths. The most charming part of our visit was our guide Diana walking beside me telling me personal remembrances about the plants and flowers; how she made dolls out of them as a child, which ones grew at her grandmother’s house, which were used for medicinal purposes. None of our guides ever had a rehearsed “spiel.” It was all spontaneous, proud, and heartfelt. 

Edited February 15, 2019 by Deck Chair Queen

[Bimmer09]

just chillin'

 

 

color

 

lush

 

prickly

 

 

 dirt paths

 

 

 

 

 

a river runs through it

 

Diana, like Lauren in Havana, spoke great English and even in the botanical gardens knew her stuff. Thank you Fertours. Each of the tour companies I chose were easy to deal with and the owner/face of the company were very prompt in responding to email. No money up front asked for-just a trust in the client. I met a nice man on the cruise whom I hope is reading and he spent a day with a Cuban in Havana. He told me he lined up for an hour with him in a bakery for a loaf.

Later while enjoying a drink at a cafe he asked the Cuban man if he could get him some cigars and gave the man 200 CUC to go buy them. The man returned with the cigars and his change.

I told him he might not want to try that in Chicago...

I wasn't totally surprised. Each of the few Cubans I interacted with (more in Santiago) seemed very open and genuine.

They deserve more than they have.

 

Norris, getting back in the car for the drive back to Cienfuegos and some photo opportunities in a beautiful little city.

[Bimmer09]

I promised you a copy of The Insider from our Sea Day and by gum I am a man of my word.

You can read it while we drive back to Cienfuegos.

Thanks for reading along again today!

Norris

[upwarduk]

5 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

after 25 minutes or so we came to the Botanic Gardens. Our passports had to be shown

Wondering why you had to show your passports to enter the Botanic gardens as you had already gone through Customs and Security when you disembarked. Did this include showing your Cuban Visa?

Still loving all your pictures, but especially the Botanic gardens.

Edited February 15, 2019 by upwarduk