A place where everyone loves Ron.

[drron]

And so to our second morning and what is undoubtedly a highlight of the cruise-the old American Car tour.Unfortunately this started off on a sour note.We all lined up to be assigned to cars when the Captain's Choice leaders would bring their passengers to the front of the queue.I went up to the dispatcher only to be told get back in line.When the Expedition Leader walked by and asked how everthing was I told him in no uncertain terms.I think they thought I was a troublemaker but I had the backing of many of the outcasts.

So to the good part-the cars.Now who has ridden in one of these-

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And they came in many vintages-

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some shots as we drove by-

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[drron]

More pics-

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The American Embassy with the flag flying-

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However the Cubans have put a "sculpture" outside with 73 poles.One for each of the people who died in the Cubana plane crash of 1976.One of the accused responsible escaped from Venezuela and is still alive and living in the USA.The Cubans are making a silent point.

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Some of the mansions abandoned in 1959 on the Avenue leading to the Revolution Plaza-

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[drron]

Possibly because of the complaint we had one of the Expedition staff in our car-the German born,Spanish speaking fellow with the French name who has lived in South America but now lives in Belgium-Pierre.He gradually got the confidence of our Cuban driver so we found out a lot from an ordinary Cuban.First in Revolutionary Square this structure had been built for Pope Francis and his public mass.Although many wanted to go the numbers were enhanced by ordinary Cubans being asked to go.If not they would lose their ration card.

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But back to the cars-

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So more cars and drivers-

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And our car-

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[Julesmac]

Mrsdrron - can't help thinking being allocated to the third bus and crummy seats....a bit like being in Y!!

 

[UpInTheAir:)]

So drron.. are you concluding maybe a cruiseboat (even as an independent) is not the best way to see a place?? I used to think that a cruise ship would be nice but maybe not??

 

[drron]

Uppy this sort of cruising is great for us.Go to a lot of places we would never be able to do as well.The last 2 days for example in Port Limon and Boca de Toros would have taken an incredible amount of organising and in the case of the latter using backpackers accommodation-great for backpackers but at our age a little luxury is nice.
We would not however do a cruise on a large cruise ship or on an itinerary that just visited major ports.
Mrsdrron is going to have a say as well.

 

[mrs.dr.ron]

We really like small ship cruising, and mainly expedition cruises, but it is the destination that is the major draw card. The problems on this cruise is that 54 Captains Choice people against 18 independents really affected the ways things ran until we had it sorted by the expedition leader. They have now left the ship and we get 100 new people join us for the second part of the cruise -

 

[RooFlyer]

You've had 'issues' with Captains Choice before, IIRC. Isn't it time drron nicked a CC tour leaders hat or clip board and preemptively send their throng "THAT-a-way" and then 'no, we don't know where they went' when the guy turns up?

 

[drron]

The main thing is we still enjoyed this cruise immensely so back to Cuba we go.
It was then off to a cigar factory.No photos allowed there.When you saw the working conditions you knew why.

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This was a poor neighbourhood and a fair bit of graffiti.I was told this was Prince Ron for President but later told it was either Dayron Robles a Cuban Olympic gold medallist or a character from a Cuban show El Principe.Personally I prefer the first meaning offered.Now a house for several families-

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The cigar factory stood out-

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We then walked to the next street where the cigars were sold as well as rum-

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Expensive cigars even though the workers are paid a pittance-

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[drron]

I preferred to stay outside.A good example of poorly maintained Art Deco-

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Some more from around the cigar store-

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Not all the old cars are well kept-

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And off to our next stop-

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[drron]

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A very large tree with a shrine for one of the African religions practised in Cuba-

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We continued until we reached a river and made a stop-

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[drron]

This is the Almendares river.A beautiful spot even though it is across the road from a Cuban Special Forces barracks-

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Our car was popular-

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But time to move on-

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[love_the_life]

We had 45 Captain's Choice on our Arctic cruise but because most of the activities were by zodiac they were not too much of an issue for us. We observed that their young doctor was great but their guide was woeful and spent most of his time with his 'friends'. The pace of the tour was too much for some of the group - an 16 hour day before they joined the ship and then straight off the ship when we docked at Reykjavikand on to another tour. We did decide after having them onboard that a CC tour is not for us!
How's the Ron going drron? Had much tasting?

 

[drron]

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Next stop the Hotel Nacional.Formerly run by the mob,now by the Government.The more things change.

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Originally there was a fort on this site-

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Now also a bit of a museum-

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[drron]

Note China here is the popular republic of China.Just a hint of propaganda.

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As we went back to the ship a local bus pulled up alongside us.Several leant out the windows shouting "Hola Papa Hemingway."I think I have become one of the most recognisable faces in Habana!
Back on board and a cold shower,nice lunch and a 2 hour nanny nap waking in time for sail away.

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[drron]

The Cuba Libre hotel.Pre 1959 the Havana Hilton-

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[drron]

Final pics of sail away-

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So now the third incident in 24 hours.We had booked for Hot Rocks on the Pool Deck.Only 24 diners here per night.Arrived to find no seats.Just a misunderstanding we are told.however we know the staff well and pretty simple to find out what happened.A group of 4 demanded they sit at the table reserved for us then a couple on the waitlist turned up saying they had a definite booking.
So back to the MDR.It was obvious we were not happy.A member of the Expedition staff came to dine with us as well as one of the Captain's Choice leaders.The Expedition staff member was from Ecuador.One of his sons goes to school with the President's son so he knows him personally.We got a good discussion about South American politics.

So probably worth a little discussion on what we had learnt already about Cuba.First the claim that there was an improvement in Education after the revolution.once again it was stated that Education before the revolution was available freely and of a high standard.Interestingly one of our Government guides later in the trip called the Post Revolution Education changes-the indoctrination changes.

Then the claim that the health system is excellent and has resulted in the improvement of life expectancy.However most of this increase came between 1989-94 when the average calorie intake of Cubans dropped from 2800 to 1800.The so called Special period when soviet aid dried up.
Discussions with ordinary Cubans gave conflicting views on health but a common theme was their is excellent health facilities for foreigners who pay cash or highly ranked Government or party officials.There is good health coverage for those in other ranks of government or party but for ordinary Cubans the health care is,well,ordinary.

The biggest export Cuba now has are doctors.At least 2000 Cuban doctors work in Venezuela.Their pay is $US1500 a month but they get $500.The Cuban government gets $1000 in oil.More recently a similar scheme is being instituted in South Africa.

Enough for now the next post is a visit to a National Park.

 

[drron]

We had 45 Captain's Choice on our Arctic cruise but because most of the activities were by zodiac they were not too much of an issue for us. We observed that their young doctor was great but their guide was woeful and spent most of his time with his 'friends'. The pace of the tour was too much for some of the group - an 16 hour day before they joined the ship and then straight off the ship when we docked at Reykjavikand on to another tour. We did decide after having them onboard that a CC tour is not for us!
How's the Ron going drron? Had much tasting?

We have had CC tours on 2 of our cruises on the classic fleet.But because they were about 50 in number but ~230 other pax it wasn't a problem and they had their own tours.Though on 1 of their voyages some discovered I was a doctor and came asking for second opinions.One in particular was having his DVT treated with antibiotics.
We had another group on one of our Explorer cruises and they were broken up between zodiac groups so not that disruptive.
Unfortunately on this cruise 54 out of 72 pax with most of the stops being at dock rather than landing by zodiac the effect was very disruptive.However SS did resolve the problems so that by the end of the cruise the CC people were complaining the 18 were being spoilt.Also it brought the 18 much closer together and we had some lovely moments.

As to your other question I indeed have made good acquaintance with the other Ron and enjoying it.

 

[love_the_life]

Glad to hear you have been experiencing the joys of the other Ron!

And you've got a new name - Papa H!

 

[Pushka]

I feel like I am watching an episode of Narcos with those pictures!