Cultural Island Travel - Travel To Cuba LegallyReviews of culturalislandtravel.com

My friend and I travelled to Cuba in February 2022 with the help of Cultural Island Travel. Shabi was great to work with and took a lot of the stress out of figuring out the logistics of getting to/from Cuba (visa requirements, etc. and all the arrangements while in Cuba (airbnb reservations, currency exchange, internet access guidance, transportation support, restaurant suggestions, etc). Given our status as US citizens who need to be careful about US government restrictions, Shabi’s help was key to a making it all go smoothly, with her quick responses to our emails/texts and on the ground contacts for added support. We had an excellent time, felt very safe throughout the trip, and met wonderful Cuban people both within Havana and at picturesque Varadero Beach.

Our nine day trip in Cuba was spectacular. I have traveled all over the world and this trip is definitely at the top of my list. Before leaving, we were given very clear and thorough information regarding travel in Cuba. Teresa answered all our questions and concerns quickly and offered our group the option to alter our itinerary according to our interests and needs. From the moment of arrival in Havana until the moment of departure, our guide, Irma, was “on it”. She is incredibly well organized, knowledgeable and most importantly, warm, good humored and fun. Our group fell in love with her. We also adored our driver, Roli. On almost every day we saw performances and activities with artists, musicians, dancers and drummers. These were performed for our group alone. It was totally thrilling. Cuba is a culturally rich country. The people are warm and sweet. Cultural Island Travel made this experience one that was extra special and will never be forgotten.

Cuba - A trip with Cultural Island Travel Our tour began much earlier than our actual date of arrival on Feb. 28, 2020. Teressa, at Cultural Island Tours was our contact person. Let it be known that I have never experienced customer service of the quality she delivered. Emails were answered immediately and all questions, no matter how lame, were answered fully. She never left out a detail. I never had to re-email the same question twice. In addition, she always offered more content than I even asked for in anticipation of further inquiries. If I was a head hunter I’d hire her for my company and triple her salary. Our arrival went as planned. Irma, our spectacular guide, met us at the airport and navigated us to our van driven by the charming and handsome, Roly. Words cannot describe what happened for the next nine days but I’ll give it a shot. Irma was fun, funny, patient, knowledgeable, generous with every aspect of our needs and beautiful to boot. She understood every nuance of our conversations no matter how subtle. We were so taken care of that all of us (a party of six friends) fantasized about taking her home with us. One of us got badly sunburned and she went to all lengths to get aloe finally retrieving it from her own medicine cabinet. Three of the women had swollen ankles from the airplane ride and Irma created a phone tree, contacting all she knew, to get a diuretic pill for their ride home. It was always beyond the call of duty for each of our requests. We had a blast with her. She immediately blended into our group. She felt like a friend. Roly too was integrated into our pose. He drove carefully, was always on time, laughed with us when we translated our jokes and helped us out of the van as if we were royalty. Leaving each of them after the trip was the hardest part of our adventure. The tour itself was perfectly planned out with much attention paid to our special requests. I even had a birthday cake waiting for me at lunch. It was a total surprise and had been arranged far in advance. Speaking of lunch, all the food was first rate and abundant. We almost always had to skip dinner due to the significant bounty we consumed earlier in the day. Breakfast was always prepared beautifully in the casa specials that were booked for us. The accommodations had all we needed for comfort plus they were beautiful. We had no complaints whatsoever in that department. I highly recommend this tour company if you want an authentic and comprehensive Cuban tour. I can’t imagine a better experience than what was provided for us by Cultural Island Travel.

We cannot possibly recommend CULTURAL ISLAND TRAVEL more highly! Kristen made the logistics of this amazing trip seamless and effortless for us. She worked collaboratively with our INCREDIBLE GUIDE IRMA to put together an itinerary that fit our interests and needs perfectly, and we had specific complex requests-- every one exceeded. Our guide IRMA felt like family from Day One, and we always felt safe and in good hands with her and our driver LEO. IRMA was warm, caring, fun, and knowledgeable-- she went the extra mile in countless ways and "made" our trip! It definitely IS possible to visit the beautiful country of Cuba and meet its people, dine in fastinating family-owned restaurants, and visit extraordinary places that they help you choose in advance. We travel globally, and were profoundly impressed with the professionalism, responsiveness, and guidance from this wonderful travel agency. If you would like to visit Cuba, using Cultural Island Travel is an absolute MUST.

I had a great experience in all possible ways with Cultural Island Travel on my trip to Havana last fall. The guides that accompanied me on a variety of visits to the scenes of Havana were knowledgeable, punctual and very pleasant. We ate scrumptious Cuban food and broke ground at sites not usually included in a standard Havana tour, such as our visit to the home and workshop of the master automobile restorer who brings back to life the 1950s U.S. automobiles that are so abundant in Cuba today in flaming colors that Detroit never conceived in the old days. I congratulate Teresa Sanchez and her colleagues at Cultural Island Travel who masterminded my fabulous trip. Thank you.

Cultural Island Travel is the way to go to Cuba. Teresa thanks so much for all your hard planning to make sure we had the best trip ever. From the cooking classes to the salsa dancing and mojitos we learned to make while we were there. Patricia was the most amazing tour guide and we miss her!! You got us to the ballet which I've always wanted to see and we need to go back with more time to see more. Leaving was hard but we will come back and you're the first person we will call to arrange all of it! thanks again.

My husband, daughter and I recently had an amazing experience in Cuba with Cultural Island Travel. We were planning to take a cruise there to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, but after my husband's business colleague highly recommended the Cultural Island Tour he had just taken, we felt it would be a better fit for us. Boy, are we glad we made that decision! We had a semi-private tour (one other lovely couple) and our small group was just perfect. From the moment we were met at the Havana Airport, the Cultural Island team came nothing short of excellence. They are extremely organized, efficient and flexible (we even added on a baseball game the last day that originally wasn't on the schedule). The tours they selected for us were perfect and really gave us a feel for the artistic aspect of Havana. We had private concerts, one even in the home of a musician, and a few special surprises in honor of our 50th anniversary were also arranged by Cultural Travel. Full gourmet lunches were also included in our package. We opted to stay in Mar y Mar Bed & Breakfast for more of the Cuban experience and Maritsa and Margarita Innkeepers were lovely, cooking us scrumptious breakfasts every morning. Now for the highlight of the tour: our phenomenal tour guide, Irma. We can't say enough good things about her knowledge, warmth and willingness to meet our every need. We highly recommend the Cultural Island Cuba tour and be sure to request Irma!

This was my first trip to Cuba. My family booked with CIT and I have to say this was the best way to experience Cuba. The food, the art and the people were just amazing. Our tour guide Laura Gonzalez was so knowledgeable and friendly. And she was so accommodating. Did I mention she had to manage 10 adults with varied interests and various ages! And all of us were sad to leave Laura. I've recommended her and this agency to many of my friends!