Our experience on the Sky to Cuba was great. After reading reviews for the past 6 months, we boarded the ship with very low expectations, knowing that we were going primarily because of the overnight in Havana. We were very pleasantly surprised! We found the ship to be clean & in good shape for an older ship, the food was above average & the staff were very friendly & accommodating. This was our 9th cruise & in my mind it’s the 2nd best cruise we’ve taken (because it truly is hard to beat our 12 night Mediterranean cruise on the Equinox!). We travelled with a group of 24 from Ft Meyers, arriving at the port about 10:45. By 11 we were in the waiting area & by noon we were eating lunch in the Great Outdoor Cafe. Our luggage arrived at our room before 2, so we had plenty of time to unpack & explore before our 4pm sailing. Fortunately we had great weather & smooth sailing for the entire trip.

We awoke Tuesday morning just as we were approaching Cuba, so we opened the drapes & watched sail in. Guest services had told us to allow 45 minutes to clear immigration. & change our currency. Since we had a 10am private tour booked, we left our room at 8:45. By 9am we had cleared immigration & exchanged $300 Euro’s for $347 CUC’s. We had contracted with Old Car Tours (oldcartours.com) for a 3 hr tour in a red 58 Thunderbird convertible with an English speaking guide for $120 CUC’s. This was a blast! They drove us past all of the major landmarks, stopping at several for pictures, & took us to a store for rum & cigars. We also stopped at a park, that is a rain forest, for a mojito. Our guide happily explained about life in Cuba & answered all of our questions. We returned to the ship to unload our purchases & have lunch, & then walked about 15 minutes away (leave the terminal, turn left & walk until you come to the train tracks) to the straw market, where we found T-shirt’s & a hat. After dinner, 16 of us had purchased tickets to the Tropicana show. One of our group was fluent in Spanish so he arranged with a taxi driver on the street to have 4 cabs take us to the show (perhaps 20-25 minutes away) for $25 CUC’s per cab. For our return, he arranged to have convertibles pick us up after the show for the same price. Tropicana was a must see....2 solid hours of singing, dancing & costume changes in an outdoor venue. Upon entering, each man is given a cigar, each woman a carnation; once seated everyone received a flute of champagne. And just as the show started, a bottle of rum & a bucket of ice was placed in front of every 4 people, along with a can of coke for each person. I was concerned about smoke, but only smelled a couple of whiffs of cigar smoke during the entire evening. With our $95 ticket to the show, our cab rides & tip, this cost us about $115 per person, vs the $199 per person the ship charges. This is a tour that is very easy to do on your own - purchase your tickets online & pay with your credit card. There are always cabs outside the cruise terminal & there were dozens of available cabs outside after the show. Wednesday we slept till 9:30 & only left the ship to exchange our Cuban currency back to Euro’s before we sailed away at noon. Cuba is a very safe place to visit....never did we feel unsafe or threatened. Good walking shoes are a must, due to the cobblestones & the disrepair of their streets & sidewalks. The Cuban people are very friendly. We did take a few gifts to give to our drivers etc....bar soap (which is expensive & considered a luxury), colored pencils & paper for the kids -& they seemed very grateful.

Thursday was Great Stirrup Cay....a typical private island experience. Food & basic beverages were all inclusive. A nice, relaxing day. Read more