Captivating Cuba Reviews 252

Captivating Cuba came up trumps for us.We have had a fantastic holiday and much more than expected.Our itinerary was very lengthy as we wanted to see as much as possible and everyday ran like clockwork,thanks to Adrian in Havana.
We were picked up on time everday and spoiled by having our own personal guide and taxi driver on every tour but one,which had to be a coach.The casas were amazing,we had chosen them off a list given to us and none disappointed. Beautifully furnished,electricity,lots hot water and all spotless. We breakfast with them all ,lovely coffee,fruit,eggs,cheese and ham,plenty to set you up.We dined in a couple, Jorge and Louisa,Vinales and Casa Colonial Patio,Trinidad which we were both excellent.
We learned so much about Cuba,the people,the history, by seeing the country this .The guides cannot do enough for you and you come away thinking about their lives and how different things are there for them
We ended up with a week at Memories,Jibacoa,despite what was going on with the world you would never have known. Lovely quiet resort,beautiful beach and lovely staff
A wonderful,wonderful holiday!

Have a fantastic break in Cuba arranged by captivating Cuba. A great week travelling round for the Essential Cuba tour Then four nights at Varadero. Accommodation was a mix of casa particulares and hotels. Nice to see some beautiful Cuban accommodations rather than generic hotel rooms. Tour guides and places visited were great!

Everything went like clockwork. Nothing left to chance. People on the end of the phone were always happy to answer questions. A three-week trip to Cuba was a very remarkable experience. thank you!

The holiday was fantastic and the tour was fantastic. The hotels were good but had problems with Hotel Moka as our bedroom had been recently re varnished and the smell made us nearly sick. The dressing table was stick tacky. As it is in an area with high humidity our bed and pillow were wet and we could not sleep properly and our PJ’swere wet in the morning, other members in our group had no problems and their beds dry. We did make a complaint the next morning and was offered another room but as we only had one night there this comment did not help. The other hotel, Casa Lola was very nice but us oldies were put in rooms up some very steep and windy stairs while youngsters were put in rooms on the ground floor. Apart from this all went well. We would recommend your company to everyone.

Faultless organisation from itinerary to return

Thank you for organising such an amazing experience! Everything worked brilliantly and we certainly feel that we we experienced the real Cuba on the very well devised Ultimate Tour. Regarding the optional upgrades I would definitely recommend both the Iberostar Trinidad and Parque Central Havana as well as Memories Jibacoa for a bit of R&R at the end of the tour. I would not recommend the Melia Santiago de Cuba upgrade to “The Level” - no benefit whatsoever! In fact I would recommend looking for a different hotel altogether. A great varied selection of places to eat throughout the stay (except Melia Santiago). The tour guide, Yuri and driver, Hubert were great and the transfers efficient and on time. If you want to see the whole island - this is the best way to do it. Thank you for organising - it was brilliant.

Captivating Cuba gave us fantastic support in Cuba and great friendly people on the ground. All arrangements went like clockwork ... casas in particular we're really comfortable and charming with friendly staff. Transfers worked well with most drivers having excellent English and being very happy to give tips and stop whenever we wished

My wife and I travelled to Cuba from 13 to 25 February 2020 on a private tour. Our flights, hotels, tours and transfers were managed by Captivating Cuba. Our dealings with the UK office were good, especially as we made various changes to our itinerary before deciding on our route and had to use their services to alert the airlines about the need for wheelchair assistance on the return journey.
All the booked taxis and transfers arrived on time and were invariably excellent – very friendly and knowledgeable. The hotels were mixed; in particular, we felt let down by the recommendation for our Havana hotel and in retrospect we wished we had avoided the all-inclusive resort on the north coast.
The local reps were excellent, notably Adrian Fedor Ortiz Martinez in Havana and Juan Carlos Suarez in Trinidad, who helped us cope with the aftermath of a hiking accident when my wife broke a bone in her foot and needed wheelchair assistance for the rest of the holiday. They went far beyond expectations to procure wheelchairs and manage relations with the hotels. Above all, they were kind and thoughtful.
The guides were exceptionally good and, whilst very proud of Cuba and its achievements, they were prepared to share candid views about daily life and the difficulties faced by local people. Our trip would not have been as rewarding without an insight into the struggles Cubans face from the international trade embargo led by the USA and the restrictions imposed by their own government. Each of the guides gave us their own personal views and experiences to help us build up this limited but invaluable insight.

Everything arranged by Captivating Cuba turned up on time, but we were disappointed by some of their hotel recommendations.

Four of us thoroughly enjoyed our 16 night trip with Captivating Cuba. We stayed at Havana, Vinales, Playa Larga, Trindad and Jibacoa in a mixture of hotels and casas. The representatives at Havana and Trinidad for Captivating Cuba were very helpful and they gave us local information and useful tips. The accommodation was great and the family we stayed with in Playa Larga was very friendly and welcoming. We did various hiking trips in Vinales, bird-watching in Zapata national park and a trip up the Escambray mountains and on all occasions the guides were fantastic. They were informative and knowledgeable about birds, wildlife and nature. Between locations we were collected on time and there was always an English speaking driver/guide who pointed out interesting landmarks and one in particular was very interesting and had a very good sense of humour who kept us entertained on our long journey between Trinidad and Jibacoa. We can thoroughly recommend Captivating Cuba who were very efficient , friendly and provided detailed information regarding our itinerary and the whole booking went very smoothly. Well done!

Further to my previous review, I thought it is worth giving an update now that we have returned from a wonderful holiday which was organised to meet our bespoke specification by the Captivating Cuba team.

We flew from Manchester to Havana via Frankfurt and returned from Holguin to Manchester via Frankfurt. The flights were absolutely fine and on time.

When we arrived in Havana Airport at about 8pm we were met by a company rep who ensured we had everything we needed and arranged a taxi to take us to Casa 412 where we were warmly welcomed and taken inside to discover a beautiful house with a very friendly team and comfortable rooms. The staff were extremely helpful, the breakfast was first class and we were given a tour of the property by the owner before we left. This was a good way to start the holiday after a long day travelling.

Over a two week period we travelled from Havana to Holguin (approximately 1100km) with stops along the way at Cayo Coco, Camaguay, Santo Domingo and Santiago de Cuba.

All of the drivers were really good and were very helpful. They all arrived on time and ensured that we were comfortable during the road trips that allowed us to see the real Cuba.

When we arrived in Santiago de Cuba we were met by the Captivating Cuba rep Felix; he is very knowledgeable, we told him what we wanted to see and he organised our 3 day stay in the city to our requirements. Felix arranged an excursion with a really excellent guide called Walfredo who ensured that we took in all the highlights of the city and educated us on the history of Santiago.

In summary, the flights were good, the accommodation was spot on and the company reps and drivers were great from start to finish. Everything was well organised and met/exceeded our expectations.

Once again, we would like to thank the Captivating Cuba team for a great trip and have no hesitation in recommending them.

I went to Cuba last year with Captivating Cuba and it's excellent. This year was good but not as good as last year. The hotel where I stayed was great, same as last year. However...
There was not as much room in Virgin Airways economy flight seats as last year and the flight to Cuba from Gatwick either took longer than last year or felt like it took longer because of the discomfort.
The same company Transgavia who transferred us from and to Havana Airport last year and who did a very good job last year were quite the opposite this year. On arrival in Havana, the coach driver was selling us drinks from his cooler on the coach and was charging 5 convertible pesos for 2 beers!?! When I declined his offer because I already had water he wasn't pleased.
Transfer from Varadero to Havana airport took far too long (at least 4 hours yet usual journey is about 2hours and 15 min to 2 and a half hours) because the driver prioritised locals, picking them up and dropping them off like we didn't have a plane to catch. If these people were on our way, fair enough. But he actually detoured to drop some of them off. We had no proper toilet break because of all that. We're the last to get to the airport and we're the very last in Check in line for our flight. It meant that we neither could go to toilet nor exchange convertible pesos at money exchange because checking in took an hour. Yet convertible pesos cannot be used beyond passport control or taken out of Cuba. I am greatly sympathetic when it comes to lack of transport in Cuba and if the driver was transferring us to our hotels I could understand that kind of behaviour. But he was driving us to the airport to catch a flight and putting our priorities last was unprofessional to say the least. So if Captivating Cuba can, they sure should distance themselves from Transgavia.

Our holiday was perfect from beginning to end

From start to finish we could not fault the service of Captivating Cuba here in the UK and the reps in Havana & Varadero
Would highly recommend 👍

Excellent organisation for our trip around Cuba, transfers on time, local reps are helpful and full of local information. Hotels and Casa were delightful. Sales office in Cuba not pushy and very relaxed and on hand to organise ams change itinerary when required. I I travel to Cuba again, Capetivating Cuba will be my first choice. Thanks

Congratulations Captivating Cuba - we have had a wonderful holiday.
The itinerary prepared for us was a great success. Luis our Driver and Shaula our Guide contributed greatly to our enjoyment of our 7 day trip around the island. We would highly recommend them.
The staff in Hertfordshire have a great knowledge of the country
and were most helpful. We would not hesitate to recommend them
To anyone planning a holiday in Cuba.

Anne & Susan

were most helpful. We would not hesitate t recommend them to
anyone planning a holiday in Cuba.
Anne & Susan

Wonderful holiday - all arrangements went like clockwork, and all our expectations were met or were exceeded.

We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday in Cuba. We normally don't go for organised holidays but, in this case, we think the escorted tour was the best option.
Denis, the guide and Omar, the driver,were really good, helpful and informative.
The hotels varied in quality but were mostly good and the staff in all were great. The people in Cuba were friendly and good humoured.
Although we opted for the one week tour, we felt that we got a really good insight into the country.
If we ever return to Cuba, we would certainly use Captivating Cuba who could not have been more helpful in making arrangements for this and our onward travel to the USA.
Visited 12-19th January 2020

We were very glad we chose to travel with Captivating Cuba. They were extremely helpful with advise and flexibility in the booking process and their helpful advise and support continued even after our return. We had wonderful accommodation, particularly loved the Casas (private B+Bs) and the representatives, guides and drivers were reliable, helpful and so interesting to talk to. Using a travel company is typically a little dearer than booking yourself, but we really feel this company added extra value and that we would have lost a lot of time had we booked ourselves and we would not have had such excellent sight-seeing transfers while we travelled around the country.

I would definately recommend using Captivating Cuba. Everything was very.well organised. The information and advice before we went was excellent. The trips were very well organised and everyone was on time ie all the drivers and guides. They were all excellent and very knowledgeable. We felt very looked after. The only exception was getting hold of of money! I would advise to take cash in euros or sterling. The best/easiest places to get it changed is in the local Casa's. We didn't take enough cash for the whole trip as we thought it would be easier to use our credit cards to get cash. Its not as easy as you might think! The internet is very poor and therefore very often you can't even get cash at the banks/Cadeca' s as the connection is down. We were unable to get cash in Havana and wasted about half a day trying to find somewhere to use our card. We did get some in the Vinales valley though and also in the Bank in Trinidad. But again the Cadeca's in Trinidad there was to internet connection. The other negative is my suitcase didn't turn up for 3 days. This was a KLM problem, however, I did get the impression it happens a lot. We had to fly to Amsterdam from Uk then onto Cuba due to there being no direct flights from the north of England now that Thomas Cook are no longer around. So, take Capivating Cuba's good advice to take changes of clothes and toiletries in hand luggage and swap things around between your suitcases. All in all we had a fabulous time. Thank you Captivating Cuba!