Heading For Cuba: Onboard Celestyal Cruises’ The Crystal

Sunrise on the Celestyal Crystal.

Cuba is a booming travel market for Americans and Celestyal Cruises has been developing its cruise offering for the past three years.

Since the opening of relations with this beautiful but previously off-limits country, there has been a constantly growing interest in travel to Cuba, especially among Baby Boomers and Millennials. And the announcement by the Cuban government that Cuban citizens will now be allowed “independently of their migratory status to enter and leave as passengers and crews of cruise ships” has opened the market up even more.

The Cuban people seem to be excited about the idea of growing a tourist trade with the United States that will benefit them as well as the travelers who come to experience the cultural and natural beauty of Cuba.

The fact that Cuba was cut off from its financially lucrative, and culturally rich, relationship with the United States in the ’40s and ’50s has left it commercially under-developed. It feels as though it was frozen in a time when Buicks and Fords were big, colorful vehicles full of details long gone from American cars and horse-drawn carriages traveled down dusty cobble stone roads.

It’s a fascinating time for Americans to experience the country that has been cut off from them for half a century.

But along with that old-time charm comes a lack of the infrastructure needed to support the kind of tourism most Americans are used to. As better roads, more hotels and restaurants are being developed, the Celestyal Cuba Cruise offers a good alternative to traveling by land.

Passengers set up home on the ship and travel in comfort and ease. Celestyal has made a lot of progress in establishing the important relationships needed to be able to show its clients a fun and culturally enriching experience of Cuba.

It feels as though it was frozen in a time when Buicks and Fords were big, colorful vehicles full of details long gone from American cars and horse-drawn carriages traveled down dusty cobble stone roads.

For the first three seasons Celestyal Cruises only operated Cuba cruises from October to April, but starting next October the company will run all year round.

The cruise embarked from Montego Bay, Jamaica, which was a nice way to transition into the Cuba adventure. You might even want to book clients into some time in Jamaica at the beginning or end of their cruise.

The first day is spent at sea, offering a good time to book a massage in the Crystal’s wellness center and get to know the other amenities on the ship.

As the cruise encircles the island guests get almost daily time on land, with onshore excursions that include cultural walking tours with some free time for wandering by yourself, as well as a day of beach time with diving and snorkeling options. 

The Crystal
The Crystal is a good size ship for this cruise. With 480 cabins (317 outside cabins and 53 with balconies) it can accommodate up to 1,200 passengers. Although it is roomy and well appointed, it’s smaller than some of the other ships planning to cruise in the area and can get into some ports that the larger ships won’t be able to.

All cabins have shower, bathroom, air conditioner, telephone, hair dryer, safety boxes, and flat-screen TV. There are nine decks with two restaurants, a café, and plenty of comfortable common spaces where you can use the Internet, and an immaculately clean salt water swimming pool with a poolside bar and a Jacuzzi.

The currency used on board is US dollars. The electrical system is 220 and 110 volt AC. Wifi is available in packages of one, three or six hours for $10, $24 or 36 respectively, and only accessible in the common areas.

Dining options include two semi-formal restaurants and a more casual restaurant with a buffet. There are two main bars and a cafe, and various smaller bars around the ship. Nightly activities included salsa dancing, karaoke and the very popular disco nights. The Muses Lounge theater featured culturally themed shows. The Crystal also has a casino, a shopping area, a wellness center with spa and a medical center.

A visit to Cuba still requires a visa and proof that your visit will fulfill the requirements of the “people to people” program, which must include meaningful interactions between visitors and the residents of Cuba. The Crystal has over 80 Cuban staff members onboard which counts towards the “people to people” requirement.

These Cuban staff members work in various positions on the boat including teaching salsa dance classes, giving Cuban cooking demonstrations, providing live music in the evenings and giving lectures on Cuban culture and history, which help to enrich the experience of the island.

John McAuliff, director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, advised us in one of these lectures that within a few months there will be daily direct flights from JFK and from other U.S. cities within the next year.

For many people the time to visit Cuba is now, as it’s being developing commercially and still has plenty of its unique old time charm. And a Celestyal Cuba Cruise is a very appealing way to see it.

Ports Visited

Santiago de Cuba
The first stop was at Santiago de Cuba in the southeastern part of the island, Cuba’s second largest city and an important port town. The Castillo del Morro, dating back to the late 1600s, is a fortress overlooking the ocean that has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997. It’s a gorgeous example of Spanish-American military architecture.

We visited Santiago’s city hall and the square where Fidel Castro declared the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. We were given time to walk around and explore the various little shops, bars and small clubs.

Havana
Havana is in many ways the jewel of Cuba. It lies on the northern coast only about 90 miles from the Florida Keys where the Gulf of Mexico joins the Atlantic Ocean.  This is where you’ll see an abundance of classic old cars from the ’40s and ’50s, many of them available as taxis.

Our tour included a ride around Havana in one of these beautiful vintage cars. It was a great way to see the city for the first time. There was a walking tour during which our guide gave us historical and cultural information about the city and let us walk around and experience it on our own.

As the tour continued we stopped at an open air restaurant that dated back to 1780 where we were treated to a cigar, a cup of espresso, and a shot of rum, and given a talk on the production of Cuban cigars. We were shown how to properly hold the cigar (different for men and women) and were allowed to purchase them either singly or by the box. It’s now legal to bring a limited amount of Cuban cigars into the United States and they make great gifts.

We ate in a delightful small restaurant where two young women on guitars serenaded us with Cuban songs. The cooks and staff were excited and curious about the large group of Canadians and Americans who had arrived for lunch. We lost power a few times while waiting for our meal but everyone seemed to take it in stride and our meals came out unscathed. Privately owned restaurants are relatively new in Cuba.

That night we attended the Tropicana Club, where men are greeted at the entrance with a cigar and women with a long-stemmed carnation. The show is a spectacle of dance, exotic costumes, live music, and some Cirque Du Soleil-style acrobatics. The Tropicana  has been running shows in this location continuously since it opened in 1939 and gives spectators a great sense of the wild, colorful opulence of Cuba at that time.

The city center, Old Havana, is picturesque and full of interesting history. This part of Havana dates back to 1519 when it was founded by the Spanish and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A visit to Floridita, one of Ernest Hemingway’s favorite hangouts and where allegedly the Daiquiri was invented, is a fun part of the city tour. Hemingway lived on and off in Cuba for many years in the ’40s and ’50s and wrote some of his most famous novels there.

Other stops included Revolution Square, a five-mile square featuring sky high drawings of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos and the majestic and elegant Hotel Nacional de Cuba, featuring 1930s architecture and a beautiful back lawn area overlooking Havana Harbor.

Maria La Gorda
The International Scuba Diving Center located on the Guanahacabibes Peninsula in the Pinar del Rio province in Western Cuba boasts of some of the finest dive spots in Cuba. It’s located in the Ensenada de Corrientes, which is one of the most protected areas in Cuba.

For people who don’t scuba dive it’s also great for snorkeling. The warm waters are crystal clear and filled with colorful tropical fish. There’s a lovely palm-fringed beach for people who just want to relax in the sun. The area includes a hotel, the dive center, a small gift shop, two small restaurants and an outdoor bar.

Trinidad
Trinidad was a hub of the sugar industry in the 19^th Century and the enormous wealth that was generated is evident in the opulent buildings and in the architecture and old world charm of its main plaza, The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.

The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad is an open air museum and a great example of Spanish Colonial architecture with its cobblestone streets, pastel colored buildings and wrought iron fences. The town is filled with small museums and live music spills from various small bars and restaurants. The walking tour explores the Plaza Mayor, some of the museums and an outdoor market featuring clothes and other Cuban crafts.