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LAX Direct To Havana From $689; Cuba Libres Not Included

Light a cigar in celebration, since yesterday marked the first day of direct flights to Havana, Cuba from LAX. Obama relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba back in April, allowing people to visit their relatives in Cuba and resume educational and journalistic travel to the Communist nation, but it takes some time to put the direct flights into place to get them there.

According to USA Today's Today In the Sky, the weekly flights are chartered by Cuba Travel Services of Long Beach, and flown on a Continental Airlines 737-800, which can accomodate 150 passengers, Perhaps Continental should consider putting their retro-liveried planes on this route just for kicks.

If your papers are in order, you can book one of the roundtrips starting at $689 and settle in for the five-hour flight landing in Havana at 7:25pm EST, perfect timing for dinner with the family you haven't seen in forever or just for kicking back with a few cuba libres.

Related Stories:
· Continental begins flights between LAX, Havana Today [Today In the Sky]
· Obama eases Cuba travel restrictions [CNN]
· Cuba Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Samuel Negredo]

Tags: Cuba Travel / Orbitz / Travel Websites / Travel to Cuba / Havana / → All Tags

Orbitz Already Campaigning for Your Cuba Travel Dollars

Travel booking website Orbitz is not about to waste any time getting their foot on the door with travelers drooling over the possibility of making landfall in Cuba soon. On March 10, President Obama signed a bill to ease travel restrictions for Cuban Americans heading home to visit family, amongst other changes. On March 11, Orbitz had launched their website petition to open the floodgates to all tourism.

The "Open Cuba" campaign is simple enough: enter your name, state, postal code and email address, and choose if you'd like to receive further news about the campaign or emails from Orbitz about travel deals.

Aha! The entering the email part; that's where they get you! Their mailing list gets padded, they get free publicity, and you feel as though you have participated in history. That is, until you begin receiving Orbitz deal emails when you have no intention of booking a 3-star all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta. You just want some Cuba time, damnit.

Until JFK to Havana direct flights look more feasible, we're going to hold back on the online signature. After all, the only thing we're in the mood to sign after checking out their website is the receipt for a box of Cohibas.

Related Stories:
· Open Cuba [Orbitz]
· Travel firm to Obama: Open up Cuba [Guardian UK]
· Cuba Travel Internet Campaign Begins [Havana Times]
· Cuba Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JohnnyPinball]

Tags: Know the Law / Cuba Travel / Politics / Congress / Barack Obama / → All Tags

Cuba Travel is Getting Closer, But Still Slightly Sketchy For Most

Ever since Senator Obama became President Obama, travelers in the US have been wondering when the doors to Cuba would open. A couple weeks ago there was some talk about the country easing rules on travel to Cuba, and yesterday, we got one step closer. Congress signed a spending bill that the President is expected to sign today, that among other things, will allow easier family travel to Cuba.

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Tags: Know the Law / Cuba Travel / Politics / Congress / Barack Obama / → All Tags

Obama Set to Ease Cuba Rules; Full-Scale Travel on the Way Soon?

President Obama's semi-State of the Union speech this week left the world with all kinds of questions—When's he gonna end the war? Will his housing plan work? Just how is he planning to cure cancer anyway? But in the travel community, we're still most anxious about just one thing—Is he gonna let us go to Cuba or what?

We’re not buying our tickets to Jose Marti Airport just year, but Washington is inching towards allowing Cuba travel. Congress is expected to pass a budget bill this week, which Obama has said he will sign, that includes language loosening restrictions on Cuba travel imposed by the Bush Administration:

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Más Mojitos! Cuba Tourism Chugging Along Despite Hurricanes, Global Economic Collapse

As we've mentioned before, most Americans can't legally visit Cuba, but it looks like the rest of the world is having a hell of a holiday down there without us. The communist Caribbean island recently welcomed its two millionth visitor for 2008, marking the fastest it has reached that annual milestone in four years. As the AP reports, Fidel and Raúl didn't single out one passenger in particular for the honor of being number two million. Instead, the Cubans threw parties for passengers arriving at international airports in Havana, Santiago, and Varadero on Friday, November 14, plying them with boozy mojitos and salsa music. We don't dig the Castro regime's heavy-handed treatment of its political adversaries, but who doesn't love a good rum cocktail! The 10.7 percent surge in international visitors is especially impressive considering that the island got rocked by three hurricanes this year and the global economy absconded with everybody's money. To the rest of the world, all I can say is enjoy your Cuban vacations, and maybe we'll be joining you some time in the no so distant future.

[Photo: usacubatravel.com]

Related Stories:
· Cuba Throws Party For 2 Millionth Visitor [msnbc.com]
· Cuba Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Referendums / Cuba Travel / Communist Travel / Barack Obama / John McCain / Chris Dodd / Mike Enzi / → All Tags

Travel Referendums: Considering Cuba

This November 4 is about more than just deciding between McCain and Obama. Other issues that directly affect travelers are up for decision, and this week we're taking a closer look at some of them.

Early in the Democratic primaries, Sen. Christopher Dodd, a returned Peace Corps volunteer, talked up the fact that all the American embargo on Cuba seems to accomplish is getting presidential candidates those 27 electoral votes in the swing state of Florida. We haven't heard much about Cuba policy ever since everyone's money evaporated, but there remain differences between the two possible presidents on whether or not the US should ease its embargo.

Barack Obama brought up the "pander to Cubans in Florida" aspect of campaigning when he spoke in Miami back in May. Before that, he stated that his administration would hold a "series of meetings with low-level diplomats" in Cuba. On the travel tip, though, Obama's policy isn't encouraging to would-be tourists from the US who want to obey the law. His stance on Cuba:

In the case of Cuba, [he and Biden] will empower our best ambassadors of freedom by allowing unlimited Cuban-American family travel and remittances to the island. Using aggressive and principled bilateral diplomacy he will also send an important message: If a post-Fidel government takes significant steps toward democracy, beginning with freeing all political prisoners, the US is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades.

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Tags: Hurricanes / Travel Storms / Caribbean Travel / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Hurricane Ike Update

The Onion couldn't have known how expertly it'd predict the future when it released this video about a storm heading for Texas that instead slammed into "this big landmass to the south of us."

Of course, Ike has already crushed Cuba, another country that most Americans don't know much about. At least four people died there as a result of the storm, even as the government ordered massive evacuations. (Amazingly, no one died when Gustav steamrolled the island.)

The storm is now headed for the Gulf Coast, and two Texas-based airlines are watching it closely. Southwest is still operating its full, normal schedule; American Airlines is doing the same, though it's waiving ticket change fees on certain routes.

Related Stories:
· Ike Kills Four in Cuba, Takes Aim at US, Mexico [AP, via Google]
· Hurricane Ike [NHC]
· Southwest's Ike Updates [Official Site]
· American's Ike Updates [Official Site]
· Hurricanes coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Cuba Travel / Restricted Travel / Sunwing Airlines / → All Tags

Cuba Travel: New Options for American Embargo Breakers

While the rest of the world enjoys famous golf courses and lovely beaches, most Americans are stuck dreaming of the day they'll be able to visit Cuba legally. We met a couple a few weeks back that made their illegal trip to Havana via a stop in the Bahamas, but Windsor, Ontario hopes to become the gateway to the forbidden island.

Starting December 18, Sunwing Airlines, which is like the Allegiant Air of Canada, will offer flights to Varadero, Cuba from Windsor Airport, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Detroit. And the airport manager is rolling out the welcome mat for Cuba-bound Americans:

On average, about 50 percent or more of passengers flying to Cuba from Canada are from the US. Given our unique geographic position near Metro Detroit, we're expecting at least that.

Another option will soon be Sunwing service out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, just north of Michigan's UP. Of course, these new flights just add to Sunwing's existing Cuba route network, though they do make it even easier for Americans to skirt Treasury Department rules.

Related Stories:
· Boarding Soon: Cuba Flights from Windsor [Detroit News, via]
· Travel Ban Not Stopping Cuba Tourists [Jaunted]
· Cuba Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: hellosputnik]

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Golf Travel: Swinging for Cuba

So Americans may be playing less golf, but that doesn't mean it's not a big, ahem, driver of tourism. And now that Fidel's on the way out--and Raul's in charge--at least a dozen golf-and-resort projects are underway around Cuba.

Seems the reason golf never caught on was Castro's taste in sports, though he did once play a game with Che Guevara, above:

Mr. Castro built a state-sponsored sports machine that produced world-famous boxers and baseball players, killer volleyball spikers and fleet-footed runners. But Mr. Castro was never keen on golfers, whose sport reeked of money and Yankee imperialism.

Today, there's only one nine-hole course in the capital, simply called the Havana Golf Club. Thanks to a pricey greens fee of 20 Cuban convertible pesos ($18) it draws more tourists than locals, and soccer great Diego Maradona has been spotted on the links. Also worth a trip is Varadero beach, where one 18-hole course is already open, and another resort is in the works.

Related Stories:
· Hooking Left: Cuba Tees Up Golf's Revival [WSJ]
· Castro Resignation Travel: Can We Go to Cuba Yet? [Jaunted]
· Travel Ban Not Stopping Cuba Tourists [Jaunted]

[Photo: Alberto Korda]

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Castro Resignation Travel: Can We Go to Cuba Yet?

Fidel Castro announced overnight that he'd be stepping down as president of Cuba. After taking power in 1959, he's been the only leader the island has known and a continuous scourge to American presidents from Kennedy to Bush 2. Fidel's 76-year-old brother Raul will almost certainly take over the presidency.

That said, don't start planning your Cuban beach getaway just yet. (If you're American, that is.) President Bush, on a trip to Rwanda, isn't even pretending to be excited by this move:

Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections--and I mean free, and I mean fair--not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy.

We'll put away the sunscreen for now. Even American presidential contender Barack Obama, who's said he wants to change policy toward the island, won't go so far as to end the embargo. Fidel's resignation, then, has us wondering what comes not next week but in the next few years.

Will a cascade of power swaps destabilize Cuba, making it unappealing to even European tourists? Or will the nation finally welcome US tourists, who'll be gagging to make the short hop south from Miami to enjoy the once-forbidden island? And maybe more importantly than can we go, when will we be able to visit legally?

Related Stories:
· Fidel Castro Resigns as Cuba's President [AP, via Miami Herald]
· Is the Embargo Hurting the United States, Too? [Jaunted]
· Travel Ban Not Stopping Cuba Tourists [Jaunted]
· Can US Citizens Travel to Cuba? [Jaunted]

[Photo: jim snapper]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Jude Law / → All Tags

Jude Law Goes To Cuba For Christmas

Strangely enough, some of the presidential candidates have taken up the issue of reopening trade and travel with Cuba. These candidates--Barack Obama and Ron Paul among them--may have an unlikely ally in Jude Law, who spent Christmas in Cuba with ex-wife Sadie Frost and his kids, taking salsa lessons.

We read that Law was actually influenced in his decision by one of our favorite "guilty pleasure" movies, "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." By that logic, now that we've seen "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" we should be buying our tickets to South Dakota any day now.

Related Stories:
· Jude Law Spends Christmas in Cuba! [ICYDK]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: CelebSlam]

Tags: Cuba Travel / Restricted Travel / Chris Dodd / Ron Paul / → All Tags

Cuba Travel: Is the Embargo Hurting the United States, Too?

Customs and Border Protection officers in Florida spend so much time searching passengers coming back from Cuba they may be missing actual threats to the country, says the Government Accountability Office. A report from the agency today says one in five passengers arriving in the States from Cuba are given intensive inspections, despite the fact that most of them have visited the island legally. (On average, customs officers put just three percent of international arrivals through the wringer.)

All the attention on enforcing the embargo on Cuba, says the GAO, keeps agents from other important work:

[Customs and Border Protection] data and interviews with agency officials suggest that the secondary inspections of Cuba arrivals at the airport may strain CBP's ability to carry out its mission of keeping terrorists, criminals and other inadmissible aliens from entering the country.

The report notwithstanding, the US State Department says that enforcing the embargo remains a priority. President Bush actually tightened sanctions on Cuba in 2004, but presidential hopefuls Ron Paul and Chris Dodd have both said they'd work to end the embargo if elected. Until then, Americans are stuck sneaking to the island and hoping they won't get caught coming home.

Related Stories:
· GAO Report on Embargo Enforcement [Official Site]
· Report Finds US Agencies Distracted by Focus on Cuba [NYT]
· Can US Citizens Travel to Cuba? [Jaunted]

[Photo: hellosputnik]