The U.S. Treasury Department has tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba in retaliation to the country’s “destabilizing role” in the western hemispheric region. The agency said in a statement Tuesday it has banned group educational “people-to-people” travel to Cuba, one of the primary ways Americans visit the Caribbean island. Thousands of Americans began using this … Read more
By Dana Niland Cuba Journal Contributor Carnival Cruise Line will offer 17 new sailings to Cuba aboard Carnival Sensation in 2019. The five-day Cuba voyages will be the line’s first to operate round-trip from Miami, and will feature a day-long call in Havana as well as stops at ports including Grand Turk, Grand Cayman, Nassau, … Read more
By Alexander Britell The mere act of opening it is a ceremony. It comes in a wooden box, its name inscribed on the side. You slide out the wooden cover, peel away the wax paper and retrieve one of the most legendary cigars in the pantheon of Habanos: the Montecristo A. This isn’t a cigar … Read more
By Dana Niland Cuba Journal Contributor Regent Seven Seas Cruises is adding Cuba calls to six itineraries in the line’s 2018-19 Caribbean season. Travelers can visit Havana on select itineraries aboard Seven Seas Mariner, Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Navigator, which depart Miami from October 2018 through March 2019. Guests on these voyages can … Read more
Cuba’s increasingly crucial tourism sector grew by 23.2 percent in the first half of 2017, according to new data from Cuba Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero. That represented a total of 2.7 million tourists compared to the first six months of 2016, driven unsurprisingly by a surge in U.S. tourism. Indeed, the U.S. market grew by … Read more
It isn’t easy to roll a salomon. Crafting this storied cigar vitola is a task often relegated to the most experienced and capable torcedores, or rollers, thanks to its unique shape that tapers at both ends of the stick. Indeed, even Habanos says these figurados are “at the peak of the roller’s cigar-making art.” Even more difficult? … Read more
It’s not always easy to find an Hoyo de Monterrey double corona, like many of the most legendary Cuban cigars. But when you find one of these massive smokes you must savor it. Not that it’s particularly difficult – a 194mm by 49 ring gauge cigar is a serious pledging of time. In the small … Read more
I’ve long been a big fan of Habanos’ limited edition cigars. No, they’re not always perfect, but there’s always a sense of ceremony about them, a sense that you’re smoking a special, rare cigar. But when they’re on, they’re really on, and they make for spectacular smokes. That was decidedly the case with the most … Read more
If you’ve been to the cigar shops of Havana lately, you’ve noticed an odd inventory situation. Some legendary cigars, like the Bolivar Belicoso Fino, are nowhere to be found. Others, like the Partagas Lusitania, are, remarkably, frequently in stock. In general, the shelves seem a bit barer, not surprising given the wave of new visitors … Read more
It’s finally here. The highly-anticipated Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana has opened its doors to guests, a major new addition to Cuba’s booming tourism sector. The five-star property has been exquisitely restored, taking a building first constructed between 1894 and 1917 as Cuba’s first European-style shopping arcade and turning it into what’s easily one of the … Read more
