ATTENTION CUBA TRAVELLERS: The US has eliminated cruise travel to Cuba. Any sailings booked prior to June 5, 2019 will still depart as planned, but all cruise travel to Cuba after this date has been canceled.
After 50 years Cuba is allowing American travelers into their country legally—but only as part of a cultural exchange program. CruiseExperts.com has partnered with Globus* to bring you an opportunity to be among the first Americans to visit Cuba in 50 years. We’re excited about this and want to help you get there.
How does it work?
The “People-to-People Experience” is what the educational exchange program is called. Globus was granted a license by the US Dept. of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control to take Americans—not as tourists—through a full-time program of historical, cultural and educational activities and interactions.
“Engage, Explore, Experience”
A structured itinerary is the only way to visit legally. Groups of a maximum of 24 people are escorted to, for example, a tobacco farm where you actually meet the farmer and his family and you can ask questions about growing and producing tobacco. After listening to concerts or musicians—you get to meet and talk with them as well. When dining, you get to meet the “paladar” owner and ask questions about owning a business in Cuba. Restaurateurs and foodies will love the opportunity to gain insight—and possibly exchange recipes.
It’s a complete submersion into a country that has stood still in time and been a mystery to many. Because this is such a unique opportunity, every effort has been taken to maximize the schedule. This is as much an opportunity for the Cuban people to learn from you as it is for you to learn from them. With such a full schedule don’t expect to ditch the group one day and hit the beach, however, in early mornings and evenings you will have time to explore on your own.
Choose from two Globus Cuba Programs
Each program starts with the group meeting in Miami with the Globus Group Leader to prepare for the people-to-people program.
Undiscovered Cuba (9 days)
This program mainly focuses in Havana with excursions to Pinar del Rio and Matanzas. This tour is full of historical sites and cultural interactions with musicians, paladar (restaurant) owners, cigar makers, artists, locals, students and Old Style Car Club members.
You’ll get to tour a tobacco farm and an organic farm in Pinar del Rio and the sugar cane fields and citrus orchards in Matanzas. If you’re a farmer, this is truly a unique experience to be one of the first farmer-to-farmer interactions in your generation.
Cuba’s Charming Colonial Cities & Havana (9 days)
This program starts in Camaguey (2 nights), then Trinidad (2 nights), and stops in Cienfuegos and the Bay of Pigs before reaching Havana. Visit King Ranch and have a barbequed lunch with the cowboys and explore the Valley of the Sugar Mills. History buffs–choose this program because you will tour the Bay of Pigs Museum, which is the old sugar mill that Fidel Castro used as his center of operations during his invasion in 1961. Ernest Heminingway fans will want to participate in this program because you will see the place where he lived, fished and wrote for over 30 years. The book “The Old Man & the Sea” was inspired by his life in Cuba.
Christopher Columbus referred to Cuba as the “loveliest land ever beheld by human eyes.”
So what do you think? It’s not the typical way to travel, but it is the only way to see Cuba. Tour dates start from July 14, 2013 and go through February 19, 2014. Call your CruiseExperts.com agent at 1-888-804-CRUIse(2784) or visit our website at www.CruiseExperts.com.
*Group Voyagers Inc. (doing business as Globus) has been granted License No. CT-298139-1 by the Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
3 Comments
This is definitely on my bucket list. I’d love to see where Ernest Hemingway lived and “hung out” in Cuba. I’d also love to learn the art of cigar-making. I think going to Cuba would be like stepping back in time. Great cultural experience!
Cuba is my country of birth. I left it as a political refugee in1962 at a very young age seeking freedom in the US. Nothing has changed there. Conditions there are abysmal, hunger, lousy medical care unless you are part of the govt. elite, lack of the most essential items like soap, food & all daily necessities. The worst part is No Freedom. The communists, Castro’s tyrants & assassins, have complete control of the people & their lives. Read about the balseros how many of them have been risking their lives and dying in the watwrs of the Gulf of Mexico seeking freedom. There are plenty of locations in the Caribbean, etc. where everyone can go & have a great time with freedom & without helping Castro & their goons to obtain dollars & prolong their tyranny oppressing the Cuban people any longer. Please research the conditions in Cuba before you decide to go there. Thank you.
Dinorah, I appreciate you sharing your feelings regarding our article on Cuba. We know Cuba is a very sensitive subject, especially for those who have personally experienced hardships due to the political climate there. In no way do we wish to ignore those feelings or experiences. That’s why I felt it was important for others to read what you had to share. In the late 80’s and 90’s I spent a lot of time in communist Russia and Eastern Europe during the time when the Iron Curtain was coming down, as closed societies transitioned to free societies. I witnessed first hand the power of people to people exchanges. When ordinary people from both cultures started sharing without the filter of politics, amazing changes began to happen. All of this change started first in the hearts of individuals. My hope is that through these cultural exchange programs with Cuba the same spark of understanding can be ignited and who knows where that will lead. Andy Melilli, Vice President, CruiseExperts.com