Going to Cuba in Luxury
- Submitted by: manso
- Travel and Tourism
- 07 / 23 / 2011
July 22, 2011, 7:00 am.By RACHEL LEE HARRIS. Five-star hotels and luxury motor coaches may not be the first things that come to mind when you think of Cuba. But now they can be part of the experience. Abercrombie & Kent, the luxury travel company, is offering trips to Cuba from the United States made possible by President Obama’s loosening of travel restrictions earlier this year.
According to the new policies, any United States citizen can now go to Cuba, which is still under an American economic embargo, as long as the travel is done with a group licensed by the Treasury Department. Abercrombie, the first elite travel company to offer this type of tour, has partnered with the Foundation for Caribbean Studies, a nonprofit organization, in order to make the trips possible. The foundation obtained its “people-to-people” license, as the new permits are being called, from the Treasury Department earlier this month and worked with Abercrombie to plan an itinerary that would put visitors in touch with people who could teach them about Cuba’s history and culture. Participants will meet with a tobacco farmer, for example, and take a tour of Old Havana guided by a local architect.
“We’ve built upon our experience in Cuba, as well as the rest of the world, to ensure our guests will discover Cuba at its most intimate, authentic and in complete comfort,” Scott Wiseman, the President of Abercrombie & Kent USA, wrote in a statement. “We have arranged an expedited immigration process on arrival, exclusive accommodations at Cuba’s best hotels and a carefully planned itinerary that includes private access to Hemingway’s home, Finca Vigia, for an informative discussion with the curator and local staff involved in restoring the home and its lush surroundings.”
Robert Kessler, a lawyer and engineer from Denver, was one of the first to sign up for a tour. He and his wife had tried to visit Cuba in 1959, but their plane was diverted to Nassau in the Bahamas after flight attendants announced that Fidel Castro’s forces had taken the Havana airport. “I believe they said something like ‘the airport is being shot up,’ ” Mr. Kessler said in a phone interview. Now 79, he is excited to have the opportunity to try again and said he was glad to have guidance of a group like Abercrombie in a place that he called “kind of ticklish.”
The 10- and 11-day trips, which cost around $4,325 per person, will take visitors to Trinidad; Matanzas; Old Havana; Las Terrazas, an eco-village that is now a Unesco Biosphere Reserve; and into the countryside, among other destinations. Accommodations include rooms at the Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad and Havana’s historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba. The first tour leaves Sept. 30, with five additional trips planned throughout the fall and winter.
Source: http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/going-to-cuba-in-luxury/
Comments