The idea of Cuba is still in 2018, shrouded in mystery for most of us, and derision for those who remember when the United States shut off trade and passage to Cuba for its citizens. When President Obama reversed that, Americans tentatively began traveling there to see what we've been missing the past 60ish years, and to experience this destination that had been so close yet so far away. In fact, this (too) popular tourist photo opportunity is a real tease, letting us know that Cuba is only 90s miles away.
I recently got back from a vacation that included Cuba, on our annual girls trip. We wanted an easy vacation and had really enjoyed our cruise last time. We wanted something extravagant but not insanely expensive, that wouldn't require more than a week away from home, and that didn't have excruciatingly long travel times on either end. We decided to take another cruise and the only place that no one in our group of four had been to before was Key West and Cuba, and it was a four night trip, the perfect amount of time to be on a cruise ship. We used Norwegian Cruise Lines and this link takes you to our itinerary and their upcoming dates.
We left a day prior to drive down to Port Canaveral, which was a 6.5 hour drive including a few short pit stops and stayed at a hotel with cruise parking and a shuttle, something I highly, highly recommend because it's cheaper and easier to get out of the cruise terminal than trying to haltingly wind your vehicle down the concrete forest that is a parking garage with 1,900 people you just spend a week with. Port Canaveral was fine, nowhere I'd go on purpose probably, but a nice enough little beach town to spend an evening in before heading out to sea.
Our itinerary for the week was board Monday and head out to sea at 4 p.m., arrive in Key West at 1 p.m. Tuesday, leave Key West at 8 p.m. and wake up in Cuba by 6 a.m., Wednesday then leave Cuba at 6 a.m. Thursday for a day at sea, then back to Port Canaveral on Friday bright and early. I was glad there wasn't much time on the ship overall as it helped me not get as landsick this time as I did last go round where we had two long at sea days.
I'll go into more details about both Key West, Cuba, and other specifics from the trip in upcoming posts!
