Soo many great private tours!! How to decide?

[riffatsea]

I have never seen a board with sooo many positive reviews about different private tour companies!!

It is overwhelming to read all of them and try to decide which one/s to use?

How did you make your decision?

Just wondering???

[ebslcc]

1 hour ago, riffatsea said:

I have never seen a board with sooo many positive reviews about different private tour companies!!

It is overwhelming to read all of them and try to decide which one/s to use?

How did you make your decision?

Just wondering???

The reason why there are sooo many positive reviews for Cuba Private tours is they ARE all good!!!  Having experienced both private tours and state owned tours from the cruise lines the experience from private tour guides are overwhelmingly far superior due to the personal interactions with the Cuban people you get with private tours!  From my experienced almost all tour guides are highly educated and very savvy.  In Santiago with Stoycho & company: Stoycho was a professor, the 2 guides from his company who we took tours with one is a doctor and one is an engineer.  In Cienfuegos, Tony Castillo was an English teacher then spent 20+ years as a hospitality director for foreign hotels in Varadero then started his own Casa Particular business and his tour excursion business. In Havana, we used Havana Memories - all their guides are professionals.  From Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor reviews I requested and got Duramis as our guide. She also was a lawyer.  All the private tour guides we had were excellent guides. We didn't just seeing the sights we had many great conversations with their personal stories about living in Cuba and the Cuban people. The stories were all fascinating. The tours are more like good friends showing you around and not just seeing sights from a tour bus.

 

So with sooo many positive reviews which one should you choose?  For me I emailed the many tour operators, find and read the positive AND negative reviews on Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor. I exchanged many emails with the tour operators and selected the ones who I feel will give us the best experience. I found that the bigger operators (ones with hundreds of positive reviews) are less personal. Many are just booking agents! From what I heard one of the biggest one that is often mentioned on CC is associated with state owned tour operations and paying their guides very little. Note that many operators in Cuba DOES NOT require a deposit.  

 

I started some thread on CC re: private excursions. When I have time I will add to them from my experience. I have not been on CC as frequently recently as when I was planning our Cuba cruise. I see that you will be on Oceania November cruise and planning way ahead. Our Cuba cruise on the Insignia was one of the best cruise we've been on.  I am sure you will have a great time!!!  If you have questions that you don't want to post on CC please email me at ebslcc at gmail dot com.

 

Laurence

 

[riffatsea]

Thanks for answering Laurence!

I am an experienced solo land traveler who is going to Cuba on a cruise because DH doesn't like long plane trips (getting to Florida is about his limit) and it just seemed easier than a land trip there.

We almost always prefer private or small group tours rather than the cruise ship tours.

I am very active on Trip Advisor for my land vacations but I have never seen sooo many possibilities for any location before this!!

Are you able to name those tour companies that you found were just "booking agents" or the one that is associated with "state owned tour operations". I'd not want to waste time messaging them!

IF you are not comfortable doing that on here I will e mail you. Just let me know.

My first thought was to use those companies where you could pay in USA $$s but those might be the bigger ones you mentioned.

I love planning waaay ahead and getting info!!

[LadyMac72]

When I was deciding between/among tour operators, I read not only the reviews but the profiles of the people leaving the reviews.  I am much more inclined to respond favorably to a review (up or down) where the author has something in common with me.  If a reviewer hates things that I like, he/she has less credibility for me.  The other thing I looked at was how similar the activity levels of the posters are to me and my Mom.  I looked for reviews that included people with physical mobility limitations and I emailed them to see how willing the tour operator was to customize or modify their program.  

 

FWIW, I think we would have been happy with any of the tour operators... we shall see if I made a good choice in a few weeks.

[LaCal]

We did a lot of comparisons and reading reviews all over on TripAdvisor, Facebook and here 

 

Wound up picking Blexie Havana Tours 

 

Reviews All Excellent and the price as well.   Plus the excursion is 6 hours and some other companies I looked at wanted almost as much for 3 hours 

[ebslcc]

On 2/17/2019 at 9:15 AM, riffatsea said:

Thanks for answering Laurence!

I am an experienced solo land traveler who is going to Cuba on a cruise because DH doesn't like long plane trips (getting to Florida is about his limit) and it just seemed easier than a land trip there.

We almost always prefer private or small group tours rather than the cruise ship tours.

I am very active on Trip Advisor for my land vacations but I have never seen sooo many possibilities for any location before this!!

Are you able to name those tour companies that you found were just "booking agents" or the one that is associated with "state owned tour operations". I'd not want to waste time messaging them!

IF you are not comfortable doing that on here I will e mail you. Just let me know.

My first thought was to use those companies where you could pay in USA $$s but those might be the bigger ones you mentioned.

I love planning waaay ahead and getting info!!

I agree that private tours are very competitive especially in Havana. There are a lot of excellent choices!  With your way ahead planning I am sure you will have no trouble finding a good tour operator who suits your needs.

 

Regarding which tour operator may be associated with the state or are just booking agents. I heard how the state try to control private tour operators with their regulations from all the private our tour guides. For example, a private tour guide cannot be a driver. Cars or vans used for tours must be licensed to carry tourists. There are rules on who can drive the private cars or vans used for tours and taxes that the private car owner has to pay the state. I asked how the high volume operators work?  They must have a large network of guides / taxi's / drivers that they pool from.  The answer I heard is the state is involved. Since I don't know if this is just competitive talk or hard truth I don't want to repeat it in an open forum who the  operator which was mentioned is. 

 

May be it is because our cruise was in Cuba around the time that the new Cuban government regulations kicked in. I heard a lot of dis-satisfaction from our tour guides about the regulations during our tours.  See https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/07/13/cuba-moves-backwards-new-regulations-likely-to-impede-private-sector-growth/

 

I saw that only state owned taxi's are allowed inside the terminal gated area. There are a few private taxi's inside the gate but the negotiation on tours and prices is done by a dispatcher. Likely the private taxi's have to pay for being able to pick up tours from inside the terminal.

 

I took a look at your itinerary on Oceania.

 

DAY	PORT	ARRIVE	DEPART
Nov 9 Sat	Miami, Florida, United States	Embark 1 PM	5 PM
Nov 10 Sun	Havana, Cuba	8 AM
Nov 11 Mon	Havana, Cuba		7 PM
Nov 12 Tue	Cruising the Caribbean Sea
Nov 13 Wed	Cienfuegos, Cuba	7 AM	3 PM
Nov 14 Thu	Santiago de Cuba, Cuba	11 AM	6 PM
Nov 15 Fri	Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Nov 16 Sat	Miami, Florida, United States	Disembark 8 AM

 

Some suggestions - may be this will help you and others:

Havana - it's GREAT that you have an overnight and good long duration for both days! I think an orientation tour around Old Havana is a must. You can walk around yourself but tour with a knowledgeable guide will provide cultural tidbits that you won't get from guidebooks. All private tour operators have combo walking + driving tours which lasts for 6 hours (Blexie etc.) or 7 hours total (Havana Memories). If you want flexibility with the tour itinerary you may want to find a tour operator that is flexible with customization. Chances are the operators who are not flexible are just booking agents. 

You may want to supplement touring with a paid guide with some DIY activities e.g. it's a easy 5 minutes walk to the Havana Club museum for a guided tour, a little longer 15-20 minutes easy walk to the Almacenes San Jose crafts market for souvenirs. With an overnight you can just walk around Old Havana and go to one of the clubs -  my vote is the Buena Vista Social Club see:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2592064-info-on-the-many-places-with-buena-vista-social-club-shows-ship-excursions/  We went to the Cabaret Parisien with one of our free OLife excursions.  Our itinerary is not an overnight thus good reason to take the cruise's excursion vs. DIY. For being "free" it was a good show. We would have preferred BVSC but Oceania cancel the tour. A trip to the Tropicana can be done DIY at a MUCH lower cost than what Oceania charges ($285??). Since you are staying overnight, no worries about getting back late! There are many threads on CC how to DIY.

 

Cienfuegos: your in port time is only 8 hours. It is too tight for a private tour that includes Trinidad or El Nicho. It is 1 hour 15 minutes or more travel time each way!  It is a good road between Cienfuegos and Trinidad however there are horse drawn carriage and animals on the road which can take additional driving time. If you want to see these places it is safer to take the Oceania tours. Cienfuegos is a easy port to DIY, however you will get around more efficiently and be able to see and hear more about Cuba with a local guide. Customize your tour to see the real Cuba.  A visit to the ration store is a good one to request from your private guide. See the latest post on Tony Castillo's tour in https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2593423-private-excursion-findings-cienfuegos-trinidad-cuba/

 

Santiago: your in port time is only 7 hours. Santiago is also very easy to DIY if you want to just tour the areas around the port.  See the maps I posted in https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2597300-private-excursion-findings-santiago-de-cuba/ (I will update this later, the walking tour we took with Stoycho had a reverse route that is better than what I posted).  If you want to take a private tour, I found the Castro's tomb and changing of the guards was interesting (as explained to us reason for size and shaped etc.), Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca (El Morro) was also good. If you don't have OLife for your cruise I would go with a private tour. It will be a rush to see all 3 highlights in 5 to 6 hours with a custom tour. You may have to choose between going to the tombs or El Morro + an in town walking tour.

 

Have fun with your planning.

 

Laurence

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by ebslcc

[riffatsea]

Thanks for your answer Laurence.

We often do ports ourselves or with guides we pick up near the port. I am quite comfy in conversational spanish so they don't always have to be perfect English speakers.

We ran into some trouble in Colombia on our Panama Canal cruise where the local taxis were regulated and the dispatcher wouldn't let us bargain sooo I think we will plan ahead with Cuba just in case!

I only picked this Insignia cruise because of the itinerary which was just Cuba as opposed to other lines where they stop in Cuba and then go to another Caribbean island.

I thought we had enough time in each port. DH really doesn't like all day tours .So far I have found several companies that will adjust their 7hr tours into 2 half days. That may work really well for us!

One day in old Havana walking and then one day in a car going farther afield.

We are definitely into local music and am looking forward to Buena Vista Social Club or similar.

Strawberry tours will do a private night /music tour for a reasonable price if we don't do something from the ship.

I am thinking of doing our 2 "free" ship's tours outside of Havana in the other ports but we shall see when cruise tour reservations open up.

Thanks for all your great information!!