I have never used them so can't personally recommend them however the Caribbean Warehouse has cropped up many times in the forums so it might be worth taking a look at them? http://www.caribbeanwarehouse.co.uk/

I am sure others will be able to help you with more info

Graham

I'm a bit hesitant to offer any advice given your disastrous experience last time you tried to book with Havanatour at my suggestion but the link below will take you to the 'real' Havanatour's UK website with contact details for their UK office rather than the cowboys you ended up booking with who were part of a different company passing themselves off as Havanatour.

http://www.havanatour.co.uk/

I did two back-to-back tours put together by the 'real' one in summer 2009 and a friend in the travel industry has always spoken highly of them and has used them for both herself and clients. The thing which impressed me was the quality of the service from the Cuban staff once there. Everything really did run like clockwork with one exception - the pick-up from the hotel in Varadero for my return flight from Havana. Turned out this was due to the coach breaking down but the local rep based in the hotel from sister company Cubatour found out what the problem was very quickly and dealt with it brilliantly, including the promise that if the bus hadn't arrived by what she considered to be the time that I needed to leave and be sure of arriving at the aiport in time, then she would put me in a taxi on the company account. instead. The replacement coach however did arrive in good time, albeit later than I'd been told to expect, and I was able to check-in with plenty of time but it was reassuring to know that there was a back-up plan in place.

SM

We returned last week from the Cubre Libre tour with Saga. This was a really good itinery and we came across people using The Holiday Place & Captivating Cuba both of which were following similar routes to us.

We have just returned from Cuba on a twin centre trip for 10 days we had 3 nights in old Havana at the Inglaterra which is slap bang in the middle of old Havana not the most modern hotel but certainly lots of character we then went on to the Blau in Varadero which was nice and quite lively !

We booked with Cosmos the flights where with Virgin Atlantic and transfers by minibus

Last June we went on a tour of Cuba (incl several nights in Havana) followed by a week in Varadero booked via with First Choice.

I have just booked with Thomsons and I am more than happy with the price and the arrangements..

I've used Thomson three times, (including our wedding arrangements) and have been very pleased every time..

ATB,J.

I'm finding it more difficult to plan a possible trip to Cuba DIY than my usual holidays. Does anyone book flights and hotels separately or is it better to use a TO?

Hi Fiona, what sort of a trip had you in mind? You certainly can book flights and hotel separately but the problem these days is that it could well be cheaper to book a package with a TO because it is becoming increasingly difficult to book flights at a reasonable price. DIY is a great idea of you want a very individual itinerary but if all you are wanting is a beach resort stay with a few days in Havana then using a TO is likely to be the cheapest way to go. Cubana no longer flies direct from the UK, there are fewer charter flights and the cheapest scheduled are usually with Air France via Paris or with Iberia via Madrid.

Now that Thomas Cook have pulled out and it is no longer possible to fly with them from either Manchester or Gatwick, I will probably fly Edinburgh/Paris/Havana next time but that will also mean either an internal flight or the overnight bus to Santiago. Far less convenient than just getting a private taxi transfer from Holguin.

The other thing to bear in mind is that even if you want something other than a beach resort plus Havana trip then you might still want to use a TO that will put together a bespoke package for you. Bus and train timetables are, shall we say indicative rather than definitive a lot of the time! A bespoke package will probably be put together with the assistance of either Havantur or Cubatur and will include decent transfers between hotels etc and English speaking drivers or rep. Independent travelling in Cuba also means that you need a working knowledge of Spanish. You'll find that for anybody over 35 yrs of age then if they have a 2nd language it is most likely to be Russian, not English. It is only in the last 20 years that English has started to be taught in the schools as a matter of routine.

SM

Thanks Sma. Very informative as usual
it does look like we would go with a TO then. Still uncertain if we are going next year or not but I was finding it difficult finding many flights.