A few of us Olds are wanting to go to Cuba to see the sites, cigars and hopefully some fishing. Sort of a bucket list trip. None of us have been and thus the desire. Anyone been and have any info about hotels, fishing, dining or cigars?

Couple of my old co-workers went, I want to say it was maybe 4 years ago now. They enjoyed it, but also said it was the epitome of poverty pretty much everywhere you looked and went at the same time.

schmellba99 said:

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Couple of my old co-workers went, I want to say it was maybe 4 years ago now. They enjoyed it, but also said it was the epitome of poverty pretty much everywhere you looked and went at the same time.

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Have heard the same thing. Also given to understand the cigars are not what you think they are. Cuban leaf/seed made in Nicaragua are supposedly the way to go.

O.G. said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Couple of my old co-workers went, I want to say it was maybe 4 years ago now. They enjoyed it, but also said it was the epitome of poverty pretty much everywhere you looked and went at the same time.

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Have heard the same thing. Also given to understand the cigars are not what you think they are. Cuban leaf/seed made in Nicaragua are supposedly the way to go.

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I had heard similar about cigars, but I am not an afficienado . The word was that all the good cigar rollers had found their way out of Cuba and set up shop in Central America. This was 15-20 years ago I heard this.

friends went a few years ago. They travel a lot ad or not afraid to travel to interesting places. They go to Mexico City all the time and stay in air bnb and use metro, walk all over town, eat street food, etc. They are not Ritz Carlton travelers.

They said Cuba was a **** hole and they would not go back or recommend it.

TAMU77CLAY said:

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A few of us Olds are wanting to go to Cuba to see the sites, cigars and hopefully some fishing. Sort of a s#!t bucket list trip. None of us have been and thus the desire. Anyone been and have any info about hotels, fishing, dining or cigars?

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MAROON said:

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friends went a few years ago. They travel a lot ad or not afraid to travel to interesting places. They go to Mexico City all the time and stay in air bnb and use metro, walk all over town, eat street food, etc. They are not Ritz Carlton travelers.

They said Cuba was a **** hole and they would not go back or recommend it.

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I am a little out of the travel game these days, but would agree with this and would rather go to the DR but get off the beaten path. Could also go to Guatemala/Honduras/Costa Rica for an interesting trip.

Went in '16, absolute hell hole, and have heard its gotten worse.

If you go anyway - they pay a huge premium for Canadian dollars, or they did. Well worth getting them, and taking them over as cash.

Los Nardos, is a good place to eat. The lamb shoulder downstairs is excellent - the service is abysmal, but that's just Cuba.

The Betty Boop Cafe is OK - owned/run by some Spaniards. Julia's was a pretty good place.

EVERY hotel is crap. They'll have you wishing for a Super 8. Might be able to find a paladare, at which point you'll have the distinct pleasure of sharing a table w. a party member, and killer. You'll pay for the dinner, and pick the selection of what gets made, but the killer and his venomous family, will dine with you. (At least, that was my experience. There are some really lovely people in Cuba, a bunch of scammers, w.o. any real morals, and a bunch of hellspawn running things.)

Pay for first class, at least on the charter. Coach customs is a nightmare - takes about 4 hours to check in. Takes about 1.5 hours in first, and about an hour to get your bags.

The cigars are crap. I've had excellent Cubans - they seem to be ones the gov't folks give to people in our state dept, etc.

The ones sold in Havana, at the government store, are not impressive for the price - and as there's almost nothing/certainly little tobacco growing in the countryside, they cannot be using much Cuban tobacco.

Padron, Opus X, Davidoff, etc are all better, and cheaper/the same price.

Went maybe 20 yrs ago and doubt it's changed much.

Above comments all correct. It's poor and somewhat sad. Look for the YouTube of the Cuban guy who recently came to Miami and his girlfriend takes him to a grocery store and he gets angry and cries.

I've heard the lake fishing in the mountains can be pretty good. We tried offshore and mostly rode around in a sport fisher getting pounded by the waves and drinking the Cuban beer. It was a cool old boat though.

Cigars are fine, even great, just make sure you buy them from a reputable spot. They sell fakes to the tourists.

We stayed at The Nacional for the old school Ricky Ricardo feel and it was great.

The show at the Copacabana was not really my taste. Sitting at a picnic table with elderly German tourists pounding Habana Club rum and imitation Coke and eating ****ty food while half naked guys and girls strut around wearing sweaty feather and fruit outfits. The German lesbians loved it. We bailed at halftime.

The bar where Hemingway drank daiquiris is pretty cool. I guarantee it prob hasn't changed much in 100 years. The daiquiris are strong, small, and not bad at all but that's about it. They sling them out as fast as they can.

I'm sure some of the newer resorts are perfectly fine as far as food and amenities go. Things change drastically once you get off property.

Went almost 20 years ago. Stayed at Ambos Mundos. Fifth floor even. I even remembered to Remember the Maine! I speak Spanish and had lived many years elsewhere in Central America prior to that trip. Cuba is uniquely poor and relentlessly oppressive. Had a very low temperature face to face confrontation with the secret service guy who was tailing us. You can have a much nicer time for a ton less dough in some other spot.

O.G. said:

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schmellba99 said:

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Couple of my old co-workers went, I want to say it was maybe 4 years ago now. They enjoyed it, but also said it was the epitome of poverty pretty much everywhere you looked and went at the same time.

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Have heard the same thing. Also given to understand the cigars are not what you think they are. Cuban leaf/seed made in Nicaragua are supposedly the way to go.

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I'm not a cigar guy, all I wanted for getting up at 0330 and meeting my co-worker at the office to take him to the airport was a couple of bottles of Havana Club.

The pendejo didn't even remember to do that for me.

I will chime in on this and probably a little different view than others. I went with a friend in the summer of 2019 and we had a great time. Easy flight out of IAH, granted its always a little weird when a mechanic flies with you with extra spare parts bc they don't want to rely on the local Havana airport to change a tire, etc. We stayed at an air bnb a friend recommended and stayed in old city Havana; the air bnb also provided a guide for some of the time to help with the airport pickup, money exchange, getting to know the town, and arranging for some extras like convertible tours.

We went in July and it was hot, our apartment was air conditioning but walking through town was crazy hot and no wind movement within all of the buildings. We focused on the private bars/restaurants and didn't mess with government owned stuff as I think that's what we Americans are supposed to do as we were "supporting the Cuban people." Even found an Association of Former Students sticker at one of our favorite bars. We hung out at Flordita a ton too, AC and comfortable granted it was probably the most expensive for mojitos.

We did an overnight trip into the mountains to Vinales (private car with the guide- would not want to be on their buses), horseback riding through the mountains and tobacco farms was incredible, stayed in the extra bedroom of a family's house was unique, a crazy awesome experience and loved smoking cigars and drinking mojitos in the town that was living 50+yrs back.

A great trip overall, I would go back but have other places I want to visit. We are pretty experienced travelers and didn't have any issues, granted we probably spent a few extra dollars to make things easier on us. There were a lot Europeans there, especially backpacking. As with any place, you have to watch what you do and be mindful of surroundings; it is a third world country but not our first to visit so we knew what to expect (resorts don't count). The trip definitely served a reminder to how others live and what we have in the US. FWIW, late 30's for us.

If you're going to do it stick to one of the pricier 'cultural exchange' tour operators as they have the financial clout to get you the service you're used to.

TAMU77CLAY said:

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A few of us Olds are wanting to go to Cuba to see the sites, cigars and hopefully some fishing. Sort of a bucket list trip. None of us have been and thus the desire. Anyone been and have any info about hotels, fishing, dining or cigars?

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Back about 20 years ago when I smoked, I bought 3 Cuban cigars from a local person who traveled there. I believe they were Hoyo de Monterey. They were okay, but quality was uneven. The Honduran and Nicaraguan brands, made with tobacco seeds smuggled over from Cuba, improved so much that they became industry standard for excellence by that time IMHO. Cuba no longer held any attraction for me after that disillusionment.

I am sorry many of you guys had such miserable experiences in Cuba.

I love Cuba. We have been a few times.

My favorite visit was years ago, we sailed across from Isla Mujeras on our sailboat to Maria La Gorda and bumped around the southwestern coast of Cuba to Isla de Pinas before ultimately hopping down to Caymen to leave the boat for a bit. We were granted access by the US Treasury since my father was writing an article about cruising the lesser known areas of Cuba for a local sailing magazine. It was a life changing trip for me.

One of the most beautiful countries I have visited and really enjoyed how wild it felt. The flats fishing was incredible... like the fish had never seen a fly in their lives. The people were beyond generous. Incredible memories from that trip.

The reefs were booming with fish. Almost every night we would jump off the side of the boat and spear 2-3 snapper and a few lobsters and grill them out. Every! Night!

If you want club med... yeah save yourself the time and hassle and dont go. No judgement if that is your thing but that is absolutely not what I am looking for when I have time away. If you want to get lost, find some real untouched areas of paradise, are open to exploring an incredible country and seeking out adventure then it should be on your list.

Well we have a wide spectrum of opinions of Cuba and they are 1st person accounts which lends credibility. One of my buds is into old cars from the 50's and thought it would be place to see many still running. Me, I'm interested in fishing and the sites and cigars but you all raise great points. Hopefully more opinions and research will tilt our decision. Thank you all for responses.

East Rosebud Fly Shop hosted trip to Cuba
Hosted trip to Cayo Cruz, Cuba!

I got married once in the Bahamas....tell ya about that one sometime, but not now.

While I was there, I went up to a Bahamian cop, in downtown Nassau away from the tourist, and asked if the cigars there were really Cuban. The guy smiled and said, "No". All of the cigars there (the ones that the tourists on the cruise ships buy) are Nicaguaran or Honduran.
He further told me that the "cuban" bands that they put on the cigars, that they sell to the tourists, are printed in Miami and they just put them on the cigars.

He said that the only thing close to Cuban in the Bahamas were ones rolled at Great Cliffs (restaurant/cigar place in Nassau), and those were done with Cuban leaf, mixed with others.