Once in a Lifetime Cruise to Cuba

For a brief time in the late 2010s Americans were able to travel by cruise ship to Cuba. My mom had always wanted to go, so I booked my first non-solo cruise to take her on a cruise to Cuba. We left out of Fort Lauderdale two days after Christmas on the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. It was a great trip, and I was so grateful to spend some quality time with my mom, but it certainly reminded me why I like to cruise solo.

Check in for this cruise took a little longer than usual because of the process to apply for the Cuban Visa. It was all taken care of by Royal Caribbean, but we had to have the application completed at check in and were charged an additional $75 fee. Once that was done, we headed on board and were able to go directly to our Oceanview cabin. It was located conveniently down the hall from the coffee shop where my mom could drink all the fancy coffees she wanted with her Deluxe Beverage Package.

After the sail away, we prepared for our traditional dinner seating and met our tablemates for the week. The food and company were both excellent for the entire trip. My mom and I finished up the night at one of my favorite activities, 80s music trivia. We didn’t win, but still had a good time. We called it an early night since we had a full agenda for Havana the next day.

Our ship didn’t get into port until around midday, but would not be leaving until around 2am, so we had time for two different excursions. First up was Walking Old Havana with Hemingway, which wasn’t completely accurate, as we took busses for parts of it.

We met with our tour group and then all went through immigration, which took some time as they checked passports of each person. Then, we had to wait in line to exchange currency. We were not able to use credit cards in Cuba so some cash was essential. At the time of our visit, Cuba had two currencies, the Cuban Peso (CUP) and the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). In 2021, they went back to a single currency, removing the CUC.

We then embarked on our tour of Havana and some of Hemingway’s favorite watering holes. We got to learn a little about life in Havana and sip on mojitos in the famous La Floridita. You may have heard about the classic cars in Cuba and they were everywhere. It was really a sight to see.

As our tour came to an end, it was getting close to closing time at the shops, and we needed to spend our CUCs as it is illegal to bring them back to the US and we didn’t want to stand in line and eat the cost of converting back to USD. We were able to stop in a couple of local shops and to get some rum and cigars.

After that, we headed back to the ship and get ready for our evening excursion – the Cabaret Parisian at the famous Hotel Nacional. The show was amazing and we got to enjoy complimentary mojitos during the show. It was a late night, but definitely an experience I won’t forget.

Our ship left the port late in the night, and we spent the next day at sea. As a college football fan, the last Saturday in December was full of bowl games. I found a seat in the Schooner Bar with some fellow fans and camped out there most of the day watching my team as well as the other games that were on and took full advantage of my drink package. Meanwhile, my mom got to spend some quality time in the casino.

Our last day was in Nassau, which we had both previously visited. We ended up getting off the ship for less than an hour and walked around for a bit, but ultimately decided to head back to the ship for a quiet day on board and to enjoy more of our drink package.

Overall, it was a really nice trip, with the highlight being our time in Havana. Knowing that we may never get back there again made us really appreciate the opportunity. Traveling with my mom was also special, and I will appreciate that always.