My dad & Sue decided to take advantage of a last minute booking deal to take a 4 night cruise to Cuba for Sue’s birthday. They were able to get a great rate on a forward-facing penthouse suite, and they invited me to join them. I initially said no, since I had just been away in March, but in the end I decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up. And it’s a good thing I did, because I was on the last sailing of the Norwegian Sun to make it to Cuba before the border was closed again. Here is my story.
Sunday, May 26th, 2019
I took a late afternoon flight to Florida, planning to just park at Bradley Airport Lot #4. I’m a huge fan of valet parking in the winter, just in case it snows, but for warm weather trips I just self-park. Anyway, when I got to Bradley Airport, Lot #4 was full, probably due to it being Memorial Day weekend, so I skipped around the corner to the LAZFly, where I opted to use their self-park option. The flight was uneventful, although bumpy enough that the flight attendants were strapped in for the first hour. My dad & Sue picked me up from Orlando airport around 7:30pm, and we headed back to their house.
Monday, May 27th, 2019
We would be sailing out of Port Canaveral, which is about 75 minutes from my dad’s house. We hit no traffic, and arrived there around 11ish. Since we were booked in a suite, check in would be expedited, and we were quickly led onboard for lunch at Cagney’s, although the rooms were not ready till almost 2pm. Lunch was delicious, and we took ourselves on a mini-tour of the ship, as the NCL Sun was new to us. It was a little confusing to navigate, but we eventually figured it out. I think the main layout issue is that instead of walking down a hallway to reach your destination, you have to cut through restaurants or shops, which always makes you feel like you went the wrong way. Anyway, around 2pm we headed to our suite 9001, which was wonderful. I was concerned that the forward-facing aspect would make the balcony too windy to use whenever the ship was in motion, but that wasn’t the case. After the lifeboat drill, we went to the martini bar for a cocktail, and I decided that if I wanted to try out Los Lobos Cantina, tonight was the only night that would work. We had dinner there, and while everyone loved the chips, salsa, & margaritas, the only one who was really excited about their entrée was me. I’m glad I tried it though. We decided to hit the Welcome Aboard show at 8pm, and we did look for our concierge, Gian, to get our priority theater seating, but we were on the wrong side for that. The show was okay, pretty typical for a Welcome Aboard show, but the comedienne was pretty funny, and we decided to see her full show later in the cruise. A quick stop at the casino, and Sue & I called it a night, while my dad decided to check out on of the onboard musicians. Back at the room, we decided to hang out on the balcony, and almost immediately received a phone call from the bridge. Note to self: front-facing balcony lights cannot be on while the ship is in motion.
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
We started our day with breakfast at Cagney’s, where we saw Gian, who asked about our plans for Key West. My dad & Sue were scheduled to take a trolley tour, while I was going independently to Hemingway House. Gian told me to meet him in La Cucina, and he would escort me off the ship as soon as we docked, which would be 1pm. We were going to be docked in the Naval area, so a tram was necessary to leave to dock and entire downtown Key West. Anyway, I spent the morning in the casino till it closed, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to La Cucina. Gian had just left to take a group down, but one of the officers asked if he could help me, and he radioed ahead to Gian that he was sending me down. Gian met me right on the dock, and quickly led me past a line of about 200 people waiting to take the tram, and immediately seated me in the last available spot. Hooray! Although I did feel a little bad for those waiting in the hot sun. The tram dropped me off near Mallory Square, and my plan was to walk to Hemingway House, which looked like a 15 minute walk on the map. So I started walking, and walking, and about 8-10 minutes up Whitehead Street I decided it would be a good idea to check what the building number was, since I was only in the 200s. Unfortunately Hemingway House is at 907 Whitehead St, but there was a bus stop one block up, with a sign that said “free & frequent”, so I waited. And waited. For about 20 minutes I waited, and then I made the decision that I didn’t really need to see Hemingway House after all. I made the next left and took the alley up to Duval St, grabbed a cocktail at The Bull, and then met my dad & Sue at Irish Kevin’s after their trolley tour. They assured me Hemingway House wasn’t that far from where we were originally dropped off, and I assured them that it was, in fact, much farther than the map indicated, especially in 90 degrees. We spent an hour or so at Irish Kevin’s, which had been expanded since my last visit, and then made a quick stop at Hog’s Breath, before heading back to the ship. The ship was only scheduled to be in post till 7pm, and we didn’t want to cut it too close. We grabbed some dinner in the main dining room onboard, and then hit the theater to see Rock You Tonight. After the show we stopped in to the Sports Bar to catch one of the hockey playoff games, and then off to bed. Cuba tomorrow!
Wednesday, May 29th, 2019
We had an early time for our scheduled city tour, and after a quick bite in Cagney’s we headed to the theater to meet for disembarkation with our tour. Disembarking in Cuba is a bit of a mess. First you get off the ship, bringing your passport and visa with you. After the leave the ship, you go through immigration, where they stamp your passport, take your visa, and snap your picture. If you want to buy anything in Cuba, Cuban money, or CUCs, is what you need. Places that take US dollars are extremely rare. My description makes this sound pretty quick, but it really isn’t. This whole process takes about an hour, unless you get lucky and have an unannounced audit at the currency exchange, which will delay you for an indefinite period of time. I know this because it actually happened to me, and rather than hold up the group further, I skipped exchanging money. I figured I could always do it after the tour and shop in the immediate area. Our tour guide, Leanna, was fantastic. She began the tour by telling us to disregard anything we may have been told about protocol in Cuba, and to ask any questions we had without fear of offending. She was so excellent that I neglected to take a single picture or video the entire time we spent in port, because I was that enthralled with the history and stories she shared. We drove through Havana, and as you would expect from the movies, about 1/3 of the cars were classic American autos. Beautiful on the outside, but basically junk under the hood, since they have not been able to access original parts for decades, and therefore use whatever they can rig it with so it runs. Another noteworthy aspect is the architecture, which is lovely and ornate, but very rundown, due to lack of money to maintain anything. The joke in Cuba is that everything is “under refurbishment”. After a scenic drive through downtown Havana, we made our first stop at Christopher Columbus Cemetery. (By the way, he isn’t buried there.) One of the docents, Evelyn, took us through the cemetery, and the crypts were incredible. Many also had fascinating stories associated with them, and some are regular prayer stops for locals (most of Cuba is Catholic). From there our next stop was at the Cristo de La Habana (basically a Jesus statue), which has picturesque views. Our last stop was at the Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro, which is the fort that guards the entrance to Havana, and from which the city used to be entirely enclosed in a wall. At the fort there were kiosks selling local handicrafts, but unfortunately I did not have any CUCs to shop with. By a lucky break, though, the state-run shop in the middle of the fort took US dollars for the three items they sold: rum, cigars & coffee. No negotiation allowed on price, although the guide did help me get a break on a cigar, since I was trying to preserve $5 to tip the tour bus driver and only had a $20 left after buying a sampler of Cuban rums. Yes, one cigar cost me 15 US dollars. It was a gift for a client, and I was genuinely shocked at how much a single cigar cost, but it’s not like the opportunity to buy another was likely to come my way, so what the heck. From there the ship returned us to the dock. Have I mentioned how awful the roads were near the pier? Instead of orange plastic cones, like we are used to in the USA, they use cement balls that almost look like oversize cannonballs, to mark road construction. It was pretty crazy for cars, let alone buses, to get through, and if you hit a cannonball, you will seriously hurt your vehicle. Cuba time is a common expression, and to sum up what it means I will tell you we had booked a three hour tour of Havana, which met at 8:45am, and returned us to the dock at 2pm. The tour was fabulous, but WAY longer than expected. Since I had managed to grab a souvenir assortment of rum, I decided not to convert any money to shop. We would be docked till 6am the following day, but I had promised my dad not to wander around Havana at night by myself, so the tour would be it. Once onboard we grabbed some cocktails, had dinner at Cagney’s for Sue’s birthday, did some gambling, and then I headed to bed. Sea day tomorrow!
Thursday, May 30th, 2019
I had an activity filled day, which began with morning trivia, and then follow up with How to Run a Floating Hotel, and the Officer’s Q&A. Lunch at Cagney’s, and then I rocked the Movie Posters trivia, although I did not win. I relaxed for the afternoon, and then after dinner we had a VIP cocktail hour with the officers, which was very nice. From there we went to the theater to see World Beat, which was very well done, but not my usual preference of music overall. Last night onboard, but I was pretty tired, so after losing a little money in the casino, I went back to the room.
Friday, May 31st, 2019
Disembarkation day! So sad. I had opted to leave on Saturday instead, as I was planning to meet my husband up at Lake George after I landed at Bradley, and he would not be leaving our home in Connecticut until Saturday morning. We had a nice relaxing day, played some games, and generally hung out at the house.
Saturday, June 1st, 2019
I needed to be at Orlando airport around 11am for my flight, so after breakfast and some coffee we headed to the airport. The flight left on time, and was mostly uneventful, until about 20 minutes before landing, when the woman in the middle seat on the other side of the aisle started flipping out and beating up her husband. I missed the initial altercation, but the gist was that the woman in the middle, who had been knocking back margaritas the whole flight, decided to make a phone call using her cell while still at cruising altitude. The woman on the aisle called her an idiot, and told her she couldn’t do that, and when the husband (window seat) didn’t defend her, she flipped out and started punching him repeatedly in the arm. The aisle woman called the flight attendant, at which point the drunk woman started sobbing that she was called an idiot and her husband didn’t defend her. The flight attendant basically said, nicely, suck it up, we’re landing soon, and walked away. About three minutes later, she still hasn’t settled down, and to make matters worse, the husband apologized to the aisle woman for his wife’s behavior, at which point she flips out again. The aisle woman calls the flight attendant back, who tells her, again nicely, that if she can’t calm herself, they will have security meet the plane to detain her. At this point she stops yelling, but keeps muttering threats at her husband. The moment the seatbelt sign turned off, the aisle woman was up and ready to get the heck away from this lunatic. For my part, I stood in the aisle behind her as sort of a human buffer. Not that I was going to get overly involved, but I thought the barrier of another person might help. We made it off the plane, I claimed my bag, and then went to grab the shuttle to the LAZFly to pickup my car. Want to guess who ended up on my shuttle? You guessed it, the drunk lady and her husband, who are now acting like nothing ever happened. I paid for the parking, hiked it to my car (the spot was not particularly close to the dropoff), and left for Lake George, where I had a lovely weekend. But that’s it for my Cuba trip, so I will wrap things up here. If you’d like to see a short video of Havana harbor, here is a link to what I recorded – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-lYGF5jTI. Thanks for reading!