Search Travel Market Report

ALGV
mainlogo
  • News
  • Tours & Packages
  • Cruise
  • Hotels & Resorts
  • Destinations
  • Retail Strategies
  • Niche & Luxury
  • Well-Being Travel
  • Training
  • Who We Are
    • Anne Marie Moebes
    • Barbara Peterson
    • Brian Israel
    • Daine Taylor
    • Dan McCarthy
    • Denise Caiazzo
    • Jessica Montevago
    • Marilee Crocker
    • Mary Gostelow
    • Paul M. Ruden
    • Steve Gillick
Sponsored By NCL
Sponsored By NCL

On Tour: Reveling Under the Havana Moon with Abercrombie & Kent

by David Cogswell / March 29, 2018
On Tour: Reveling Under the Havana Moon with Abercrombie & Kent

Antique car taxis lining the streets in Havana.


Leaving the elevator of the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana on the way to Abercrombie & Kent’s farewell dinner, I was expecting to climb into one of the luxury motorcoaches A&K had been using to take our group around Cuba. But that was not what the tour operator had in mind. Instead, for the grand finale, our tour directors had assembled a fleet of gleaming pastel-colored antique cars to transport us in what had to be one of the flashiest caravans ever to parade through the streets of Havana.

We climbed two-to-a-car into the Chevys, Fords, a Pontiac and a bright red T-Bird, all from the ‘50s and ‘40s, and all convertibles with the tops down. I found myself in a ’55 Chevy Bel Air. When the driver turned the starter switch, the throaty roar of his vintage V8 engine enveloped us. A dozen drivers positioned themselves in line and pulled out of the cobblestone plaza in front of the hotel onto the streets of Havana. Some of the drivers sounded their horns, which played bugle calls and arpeggios that gave us the feeling we were being launched with trumpet fanfare.

One of the Cuban caravan
One of the colored antique cars.

The noisy parade sailed along the edge of the Caribbean on Havana’s legendary Malecon, and took us on a 40-minute joyride through various districts of Havana before dropping us off at our restaurant for the final event.

Like Muhammad Ali, the A&K product designers were determined to win the last round decisively. And they succeeded. The experience was Cuban to the max. It could not possibly have happened anywhere else and no participant would be able to purge it from memory, ever.

Our final supper, like most of our meals, took place at one of Cuba’s paladars, one of the rising new class of privately owned restaurants. The paladars are among the most delightful of the dynamic changes that are taking place in Cuba now.

Private businesses were outlawed in the late ‘60s in Cuba, in one of the worst wrong turns of the revolutionary government. But since the ‘90s, the government has reversed its policies toward private small businesses, catalyzing a great wave of creativity and entrepreneurship. The great creativity and artistic flair that is demonstrated in Cuba’s antique cars is now expressing itself in the new private businesses, and it is exciting to observe.

Revolution Square.
Revolution Square.

Our exploration of Cuba took us to several different cities, each one starkly different from the others, but all showing different aspects of Cuban character, history and culture. The climax of the tour was Havana, a 500-year old city saturated with history, color and soulfulness.

Old Havana
The Havana tour started with a walking tour of Old Havana led by Lynne Zayas Rubio, a local guide and architectural expert. She had a bouncy walk and when she addressed us she stood poised like a dancer. She spoke in a musical lilt through a perpetual smile, revealing an astonishing command of Cuban history as seen through an architectural lens.

Lynne shared a great deal of knowledge, but more significantly she personified the spirit of the country. She explained how the Cuban identity is a fusion of the multitude of ethnic groups that make up its population. It began with the native Arawaks, then the Spanish in 1492, followed by Africans, French, English and Jews, all coming for their own reasons.

“In 1837, we got the trains,” she said. “And with the trains, we got the Chinese coming in to help with the railroad. Then we had a small community of Germans coming in because of the chocolate. Then we had the Dutch and the Haitians. We got a little bit of everything.”

Museum of Fine Arts
A lot was packed into the Havana portion of the trip. We were led through the Museum of Fine Arts by Omar Díaz, an art historian whose entertaining monologue was as colorful as the paintings.

He introduced us to major 20th-century Cuban painters and showed how Cuba fit into the international art scene, with artists such as Wilfedo Lam, who hung out with Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo; and Raul Martinez, who bravely brought Pop Art to Cuba during the harsher years of Castro’s rule.

Hemingway’s homes and haunts
We visited Hemingway’s home, Finca Vigia, in San Francisco de Paula, nine miles outside of Havana. The airy yellow home on top of a hill is eerily preserved just as Hemingway left it in 1960, a year before he died in Idaho. The museum’s curators even left his half-drunk liquor bottles on the coffee table. He had obviously planned to return to the house. He lived there from 1939 to 1960 and wrote seven books there, including "The Old Man and the Sea" and "A Moveable Feast."

HemingwaysBar
La Floridita, Hemingway’s favorite bar in Old Havana.

Hemingway’s ties to Cuba ran deep. He spent his winters from 1932 to 1939 in room 511 at the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old Havana, where he wrote "For Whom the Bell Tolls," based on his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. Castro said he learned some things about guerrilla warfare from the book.

In Old Havana was La Floridita, Hemingway’s favorite bar, where he is said to have drunk half a dozen to a dozen daiquiris at a sitting. The management had a special high-test daiquiri for him called El Papa Doble.

Hotel Nacional
We drank mojitos at the Hotel Nacional, which feels like a trip back to the glory days of Havana. Most of it looks now like it must have looked in the ‘50s. Posters show famous people who gathered there, from Errol Flynn and Gary Cooper in the ‘30s to Churchill and Tyrone Power in the ‘40s; to Nat Cole, Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando in the ‘50s. Corinthian columns, red marble tile floors, a vintage oak bar and an old Wurlitzer juke box transport you to a remote time when Havana was the trendiest place for the top stratum of international jet setters.

In 56 years of operating tours in exotic destinations, Abercrombie & Kent has gathered a great deal of institutional knowledge. But even more important than the behind-the-scenes operational details that make a trip run smoothly is the primary cornerstone of the company’s raison d'etre: the principle that a tour should not be merely an inventory of sightseeing experiences, or even just a journey of discovery. It should be a celebration of life.

The company showed full command of that principle in Havana. A&K was not about to send its guests home on an ordinary evening of fine dining on their last night in Havana. It had to be an occasion befitting the place and the moment: this last night of reveling under the Havana moon.

  1
  0
Related Articles
South African Airways to Upgrade Planes on New York-Johannesburg Route
South Africa’s Big Three Cities
CzechList: Eight Reasons to Love the Czech Republic
Intrepid Sails to Significant Growth on Wave of Sustainable Tourism
How Tour Operators are Combating Overtourism
Tours for Millennials: Walks of Italy, France, and New York
South Africa Relaxes Entry Restrictions on Minors
Volcanoes Safaris: Gorilla Trekking Comes of Age
African Travel Boosts Experiential Elements for 2019
Avanti Destinations Launches Groups Department

MOST VIEWED

Brought To You By
  1. U.S. Will Require Negative COVID-19 Tests for All International Visitors
  2. U.S. Congress Reaches Agreement on Stimulus, ASTA Says More Support 'Will Absolutely' Be Needed
  3. Op-ed: Five Travel Predictions for 2021
  4. Reflecting on 2020: ‘Primed’ for Self-Reflection Heading into the New Year
  5. Kauai Reopens to Tourists with New Travel Rules in Place
  6. 8 Travel Trends for 2021, According to MMGY Global

MOST EMAILED

Brought To You By
  1. U.S. Will Require Negative COVID-19 Tests for All International Visitors
  2. Caribbean Destinations, Hotels Work to Meet to New CDC Requirements
  3. Kauai Reopens to Tourists with New Travel Rules in Place
  4. U.S. Congress Reaches Agreement on Stimulus, ASTA Says More Support 'Will Absolutely' Be Needed
  5. ASTA: CDC Testing Requirement ‘Threatens to Create a Logistical Crisis’
  6. What Advisors Need to Know About the Latest COVID-19 Relief Package
Tip of the Day

I think being in contact with [my clients] gave them more confidence in me and the suggestions I offer.

Linda Kinsey, Custom Travel & Cruise

 Share...
Daily Top List
Brought To You By

5 Things Every Travel Agency Should Do To Boost Business

1. Specialize
2. Give a personal touch
3. Find your niche and sell an experience
4. Maintain a high standard of quality
5. Become a salesman…but inspire trust

Source: Azavista.com

 Share...
Previous Daily Top List
Top Stories
When You’re Ready, We’re Ready

Here's to traveling at your own speed. When you're ready, we're ready with clean, sanitized vehicles and a low-touch rental process.

Read...
ALG Vacations | Ready. Set. Go.
Read...
Why Sustainable Luxury Travel Will Be in Demand Post-COVID-19
Why Sustainable Luxury Travel Will Be in Demand Post-COVID-19

Torunn Tronsvang, CEO and Founder of Up Norway, discuss why sustainable luxury travel will be in high demand.

Read...
Travel Advisors Talk Service Fees
Travel Advisors Talk Service Fees

Advisors talking to TMR describe the case for, and against, charging fees

Read...
A Ship Board Romance Led to A Marriage and Travel Agency
A Ship Board Romance Led to A Marriage and Travel Agency

For Marc Hayes and Marisel Aleman, cruising holds a special place in their heart.

Read...
7 Day Challenge

USTOA President & CEO, Terry Dale, issues you a "7 Day Challenge" by sending a handwritten note to a USTOA Member to say thank you for being a friend and a partner. Please send this letter to your U.S. elected officials about the devastation the travel and tourism industry has experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 
Read...
News Briefs
  • Valerie Wilson Travel Adds Vagabond Travel as New Affiliate Agency
  • Allianz Partners USA Promotes Elena Edwards to CEO
  • Valerie Wilson Travel Hosted Virtual Suite Access Fair
  • Terry Thornton Retires from Carnival After 31 Year Career
  • Disney Veteran Josh D’Amaro Named Head of Parks
  • In Memorium: TravelOnly Founder Patrick Luciani
TMR Outlooks
Expedition 2020
Wellness Outlook
Distribution Outlook
View All
Advertiser's Voice
https://img.youtube.com/vi/9LEYlsgImf4/0.jpg
Video: What Was It Like to Be the Travel Expert for the CBS Morning News?
About Travel Market Report Mission Editorial Staff Advisory Board Advertise
TMR Resources Webinars Calendar of Events
Subscribe to TMR
Select Language
Do You Have an Idea Email
editor@travelmarketreport.com
Give Us a Call
1-(516) 730-3097
Drop Us a Note
Travel Market Report
243 South Street, OysterBay, NY, 11771
News|Leisure Travel|Land Vacations|Cruise|Canada Retail Strategies|Well-Being|Luxury|Training
© 2005 - 2021 Travel Market Report, an American Marketing Group Inc. Company All Rights Reserved | 243 South Street, Oyster Bay, NY, 11771 USA | Telephone (516) 730-3097| Terms and Conditions
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy