May 2018

Our cruise to Cuba was part of our family’s “30/60 tour” which was a series of trips to celebrate my, Dave, and Scottie’s 30th birthdays and both of my parent’s 60th birthdays. This tour took us to Temecula, Zion National Park, Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Parade, Disney World, and ultimately Cuba.

Accommodations: We booked a four day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line, departing from Orlando and stopping in Key West on the way to Havana. Four days seems to be the right amount of time to relax and enjoy the cruise without starting to go stir-crazy. We fully embraced the silly activities provided by the cruise staff and went to the game shows, deck parties, and I even got selected for (and won!) the dance contest. Another nice thing about this cruise is that they were running a promotion where drinks were all-inclusive without having to buy any kind of additional drink package.

The 24 hour stopover in Havana was nice to not be so rushed to only do one or two things, like how most cruise port stops feel. We got to take our time and stayed in the city from breakfast until we were ready to go to bed. If I were to go to Cuba again, though, I would probably skip the cruise to have the option to go to some other cities outside of Havana and spend a bit more time in the country.

Tours and Activities: I did a lot of research on the U.S. restrictions for traveling to Cuba to make sure we could verify that our time was spent doing activities under the “support for the Cuban people” classification when we went back through customs. We booked a vintage car tour with a local company and spent a good portion of our day riding around with the top down seeing the sites and learning more about the history and people of Cuba. In the evening, we booked a walking tour through the cruise line excursion options, and wandered through Colonial Havana with some built in bar stops along the way. In the end, we were not asked for any verification of our activities when we returned through customs, but I’m still not sure I would risk not having activities lined up that met the criteria if I were to go again.

A little tip for when you’re in Havana – most places will take US dollars and the exchange rate is pretty bad, so you don’t need to exchange as much cash when you get there.