Travel to Havana Cuba

I would appreciate all useful insights and recommendations for travel to
Cuba. The trip is planned for this June for two adult travelers, a US
citizen and a South Korean citizen.

In particular I would like to find the most convenient and economical routes
to Cuba from the US. My questions right now a

1) Which country is the most convenient transit point between the US and
Cuba? I am leaning towards the Bahamas, but is Jamaica, The Cayman Islands,
the Domincan Republic or another neighboring island better?

2) Is there a convenient way to reach Cuba via more frequently scheduled
ferry or boat or commute-type plane from one of the above places? Jet
flights to Cuba seem to be sparse, and I do not want a long layover.

As this is a first visit I do not mind using a small group package tour
organizer if a very reputable one is available.

Thank you very much.

min10011 wrote:
In particular I would like to find the most convenient and economical routes
to Cuba from the US. My questions right now a

Where in the USA is your departure point ? That could make a big difference.

There are regularly scheduled flights to Havana from Canada if you are near
the canadian border.

Cubana flies A320s from Montreal to havana on a daily basis for instance.

(Charters tend to be much cheaper, but fly directly to resort airports,
bypassing havana).

In answer to those who have posted, first, thanks for the responses, I live
in New York, but the point of departure will be from the southern US, likely
Florida, so although flying up to Canada and then all the way back down is
possible it would be better to avoid that route for the obvious reason of
saving travel time.

Also, I am a private citizen with no affiliation whatsoever with any
government entity. I understand the concerns about legalities for Americans
traveling to Cuba and I will accept the risks.

In article , "min10011"
wrote:
In answer to those who have posted, first, thanks for the responses, I live
in New York, but the point of departure will be from the southern US, likely
Florida, so although flying up to Canada and then all the way back down is
possible it would be better to avoid that route for the obvious reason of
saving travel time.

Then you might want to go South. For instance, one of the officially
sanctioned trips I heard about met in Nassau and then took off the next day.

Also, I am a private citizen with no affiliation whatsoever with any
government entity. I understand the concerns about legalities for Americans
traveling to Cuba and I will accept the risks.
Just make sure they don't stamp your passport in Havana. There used to be
a nod, nod wink wink entry to Cuba. Don't know if that is still available.
The passport is a red flag, obviously.

--
"Annual Reports: Like Parent's Day at camp. Everything is made
to look as appealing as possible, but the counselors know different."
-Andrew Tobias in Money Angles

Also, I am a private citizen with no affiliation whatsoever with any
government entity.


So you don't have a nationality ? Ahh, you have your own country ?

Nice.

"min10011" wrote in message
news
In answer to those who have posted, first, thanks for the responses, I
live
in New York, but the point of departure will be from the southern US,
likely
Florida, so although flying up to Canada and then all the way back down is
possible it would be better to avoid that route for the obvious reason of
saving travel time.

There is always Mexico. There are a lot of cheap packages to Cancun out of
Atlanta.

http://www.cubantravels.com/uscuba.asp?language=EN

http://www.islandtraveltours.com/


"min10011" wrote in message
news
In answer to those who have posted, first, thanks for the responses, I
live
in New York, but the point of departure will be from the southern US,
likely
Florida, so although flying up to Canada and then all the way back down is
possible it would be better to avoid that route for the obvious reason of
saving travel time.

Also, I am a private citizen with no affiliation whatsoever with any
government entity. I understand the concerns about legalities for
Americans
traveling to Cuba and I will accept the risks.

Apparently min10011 wrote:

1) Which country is the most convenient transit point between the US and
Cuba? I am leaning towards the Bahamas, but is Jamaica, The Cayman Islands,
the Domincan Republic or another neighboring island better?

As others have posted, it depends largely on where you're coming
from, and whether getting the times you want is more important
than price. We travelled via Jamaica, and it all worked out very
well (we needed to be in Jamaica for some days for admin stuff).
The flight to Havana we took is a circuit via Mo'Bay.

2) Is there a convenient way to reach Cuba via more frequently scheduled
ferry or boat or commute-type plane from one of the above places? Jet
flights to Cuba seem to be sparse, and I do not want a long layover.

Jamaica has a couple of flights every day, I think.

As this is a first visit I do not mind using a small group package tour
organizer if a very reputable one is available.

As an american, there are allowances for visiting as part of a
conference or educational tour. [We flew AJ with a bunch of
american doctors on some kind of conference junket that seemed
to involve studying the medical aspects of all the major tourist
sites of Havana...] I think a good wheeze would be to create
an organisation like an architectural society which visits the
UNESCO world heritage site of Havana for its members.

--
Ken Tough

"nobody" wrote in message
s.com...
min10011 wrote:
In particular I would like to find the most convenient and economical
routes
to Cuba from the US. My questions right now a

Where in the USA is your departure point ? That could make a big
difference.

There are regularly scheduled flights to Havana from Canada if you are
near
the canadian border.

Cubana flies A320s from Montreal to havana on a daily basis for instance.

(Charters tend to be much cheaper, but fly directly to resort airports,
bypassing havana).
Do me a favor when you go..Take Bush with you and turn him over to
Castro..the two of them would have a ball or two.

" Apparently min10011 wrote:

1) Which country is the most convenient transit point between the US and
Cuba?

Why dont go to Norway first. It is a very very long way to go, but some
people seem to have found out that it is a way to go. Listen to this:

There was a rather fun story here (Norway) today:
12,6 tonns of oil equipment came in to Stavanger airport today on an African
International cargo aircraft.
The oil equipment was not taken off the aircraft, but were labeled to Cuba.
Sender: An american oil equip company (surprise, surprise)
Reciver: a international oil company, with offices (of course) in USA...

George Bush has no comment about the case. Of course not.

For those of you that understand norwegian, here is the story:

http://www.boarding.no/art.asp?id=12172