Once I was open to traveling to different countries, Havana became a city that I really wanted to visit. I was fascinated by the rich history of Cuba as a whole, and I wanted to see a part of it for myself. When harsh travel restrictions to the city were beginning to lift for the first time in decades, I knew that it was important to take advantage of the opportunity knowing that some restrictions could still be in place. I’m not sure what led me to it, but I discovered that Carnival Cruises was beginning to have their first fleet of cruise ships venture to Havana with a stop in Key West. At the time, I’d recently been on a cruise to the Bahamas and absolutely loved the experience and Carnival! 3 friends and I ended up booking a trip to Havana via the Carnival Paradise ship, (early 2018). 

Taking a cruise to Havana had a it’s pros and cons. Whenever I am able to go back, I would recommend flying into the city if possible, (I’ll explain why later). I’m happy that we were able to go at the time that as travel restrictions changed once again months later.

Here are a few highlights from my group trip to Havana, Cuba:

Day One/Two:

Since the cruise ship was departing from Tampa, Florida, my friends and I agreed that it would be cheaper to drive to Tampa, (from Atlanta, Georgia), than to fly since tickets were a super pricey at the time. After driving/riding for 7 hours, we made it to the port in Tampa, Florida. We were a little behind in our check in time due to traffic on our way into Tampa, but we were able to make it into the line a decent time before it was too late. As with most Carnival cruises, it takes patience to wait in line and complete all on-boarding tasks before you can settle down. Our first day was uneventful as we got comfortable, tried to navigate our way through the cruise ship, and of course visit the bar.

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On the second day, the cruise ship docked in Key West, Florida. It was our first time visiting the quaint town, and our time there started off with navigating our way through heavy rain. We powered through and headed to a landmark called the Southernmost Point of Continental USA. On the way to the landmark, we stopped at a gift shop and snapped pictures of the large statues near the port. The line to see the Southernmost Point landmark was super long! Since we had time and walked there in the rain, we made it worth our while and waited. After snapping pictures and leaving the landmark, we decided to stroll closer to the restaurant and shopping area. We ended up having drinks and eating lunch at Margaritaville, (after looking through my pictures, I realized that I bought a Margaritaville cup that I’ve misplaced). After lunch, we had an hour or so to get back on board the cruise ship. On the way, we all decided to get henna tattoos that turned out to be beautiful! The rest of our day on the cruise ship consisted of lounging around, watching shows put on by Carnival, going to the bar, and eating. We were all so excited for the next 2 days as we would be heading to Havana and docking there overnight.

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Day Three/Four:

Remember how I mentioned that Carnival recently began sending cruise ships to Havana and how even though laws/rules were lifting, things were still a bit restricted? Although I understood that precautions had to be taken prior to getting off of the boat, we were not happy with things we were told to do before getting off of the boat and the process of actually getting off of the boat. Since it was new, I’m not sure if either Carnival or the Havana port was ready for the mass exodus of people coming off of the ship at one time. 

Before I begin complaining, I want to scale back and talk about how scenic and astonished everyone was as the ship approached the port. The air was warm, there was a light breeze, and the sun was out. I vividly remember being in awe of the view as we approached the Malecon (port area), and seeing the 1950’s vintage cars that I’d seen on Pinterest. Before we got off of the ship, we took advantage of the background and weather, and had a mini photoshoot.

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(Back to my complaining). Before we were able to get off of the ship, we were told that we had to book an excursion through Carnival in order to be able to explore the city (which we later found out was not true because we could have booked our own sight seeing trip). With the amount of people on the ship, it was quite natural that the excursions that we wanted to take were booked. We ended up booking a walking tour that included learning about the “Quisicubana Community Project” where we were given a specific time to meet our guide. We ended up missing our time because we had to wait to get off of the ship to get in line for customs. We were informed that staggered start times for the tour were beginning to happen which was a relief. I’m not sure exactly how long we waited on the ship and in line to get through customs, but I do recall the wait being pretty long and a test of our patience. We were so relieved once we were off of the cruise ship and we quickly found our tour guide who led us through the Old Havana area. Along the way, we snapped photos of the alleyways and vintage cars. After an hour or so of walking, we boarded a bus to head to the Quisicuaba Community Project area. We were completely unsure of what to expect but it ended up being a very unique experience. Quisicuaba is a sociocultural project that reaches out into the community to celebrate Cuban culture and they also feed those within the community. It was my first time exploring a third world country, and it made me happy that programs like this are active within the community. Before we left, a small group of older Afro-Cubans, (dotting long necklaces and caps to the back), rapped a song (in Spanish) for us. By the time that we finished, it was dark and late and we wanted to head to a restaurant or visit a bar, but things were closed down by then. We were frustrated because we knew that had we been off of the boat earlier, we would have had time to explore. We were able to stop by a gift shop and bought rum, (I bought Havana Club), before getting back on the boat.

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The next day, the cruise ship was still ported in Havana and we were told that we could leave the ship, but we only had a 3-4 hour window to explore. While 2 of my friends stayed on the ship, my other friend and I decided to leave the ship and explore as much as we could in our allotted time. We retraced our steps from our tour the previous day and took a few new paths to see what was open. Since it was so early, a lot of shops were closed. Along the way, my friend ended up taking an off guard picture in front of La Bodeguita del Medio, and it has become my all time favorite travel picture! ❤

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As we walked around the main port area trying to figure out what to do next, we were approached by a man named Eddie who offered to take us on a sightseeing tour in his car. We thought that he would be taking us in a vintage car, but soon realized that we would be riding in his personal car. If I were alone, I would’ve said no and walked away. My friend and I agreed to let him show us around, told him our time frame, I took a picture of his license plate just in case we were kidnapped, and we were on our way! Eddie’s tour of Havana ended up being super fun and worthwhile! We left the port area and headed through the Tunel de La Habana. We stopped to take more pictures in vintage cars, saw an amazing view of Havana from the El Cristo de la Habana statue, and Faro Castillo del Morro which is a lighthouse. Eddie also showed a few other neighborhood areas around the city where we were able to take in the beauty of Havana. We told Eddie about our issues from the previous day about being unable to visit any restaurants or bars to get a mojito. Eddie was kind enough to make a visit to the bar our last stop, (mind you, it was only 10 AM). We were very happy that we could have a mojito before leaving the country. We wished that this could have been our experience the previous day. Eddie was able to get us back to the port at a decent time and we were very thankful. As we departed, we were very sad to have to leave since we enjoyed out short time in the city. That night, Carnival did an amazing job of having a Cuban themed dinner and dance party to celebrate our time in Havana.

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Day Five:

The last day of the cruise was a relaxing day at sea. It consisted of napping, photoshoots, laying out in the sun, going to the bar, and eating. Nothing too crazy since our last few days were busy.

Overall, I really enjoyed this group trip to Havana and I’m grateful that I got to share the experience with my fabulous friends. Havana is definitely a city that I want to revisit with more time to explore. There wasn’t time to do things such as rum tasting, visiting the Plaza of the Revolution, visiting tobacco fields to see how cigars are made, getting to ride around the city in the vintage car, eating at La Bodeguita del Medio, and/or having an authentic Cuban meal. I’ll just be sure to add it to my list of things to do if I’m ever able to return. Again, I would personally like to fly into Havana if I’m able to return to avoid the large crowd of a cruise ship and being somewhat forced to pay for excursions that you don’t want to take (I’m very thankful that we ended up liking our excursion). Havana is a special place that I ended up loving more than I expected and was truly a memorable experience!