Saturday, November 24, 2018- Santiago de Cuba

Saturday, November 24, 2018- Santiago de Cuba As we have been in a Port side stateroom as the ship navigated its way clockwise around the east end of Cuba, we have been looking out at the open ocean, but as the ship turned north to sail into Santiago de Cuba, we could see the lush land dotted with pastel colored buildings and terra cotta shingle and steel roofs of Cuba. True to their word, the ship’s crew opened up the bow of the ship on deck 3.  We got there a bit late, and found the railing to be a bit crowded, and we could see that the deck in front of the Explorer’s lounge on deck 7 above was also crowded, as was the sports deck 9.  There is a large Spanish styled fortress guarding the entrance to Santiago de Cuba.  El Morro overlooks the narrow entrance to the harbor. Beyond the fort, the skyline is dominated by giant smoke stacks of an oil fired power plant. One of these was belching dark smoke into the sky and filling the valley beyond with visible smog.  

  Lining the channel into the harbor were ramshackle houses that looked as improvised as any we’ve seen in South America.  There does not appear to be many people visible to watch the passage of our cruise ship, which had to make a hard turn to starboard in front of the power plant to head into the city harbor where we were going to tie up.  The streets are pretty much deserted aside from an occasional pedicab and bicycle.  It was 94 degrees on our balcony at 10:30am as the ship secured its lines to the wharf.  There was a huge cue of buses waiting for us.    Disembarkation was easy with a single gangway from the A deck, which was just a few feet above the level of the wharf.  This made for only a slight inclination.  We did tap our room cards on a podium situated near the exit.  We also had to have our Cuban tourist Visa and passport on us.  The blazing sun greeted us as we stepped down the gangway.  The Customs and immigration building had x-ray machines and metal detectors, but it was obvious that the x-ray machines weren’t functioning, and the people manning the security station just waved everyone though the metal detectors, which alarmed on virtually everyone.  Security theater.  There were several rows of desks manned by customs agents who dutifully copied information from our Cuban Visas and Passports by hand before stamping our Passports.  They then handed us a laminated recycled “Transit Card” which we had to keep until we returned back to the ship.  Unlike on the Viking River Cruises, where Viking had their own fleet of dedicated modern tour buses, at Santiago de Cuba, the buses were of Chinese manufacturing with a charter company logo on them. The buses were comfortable enough, and thankfully air conditioned, though not as nice as the Viking buses we rode in Europe. The buses were filled to about 80% capacity, so there were a few empty seats.  There was also a small toilet in the back of the bus which was functional, but dirty.  

The tour route took us about a half hour from the wharf to the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity in Cobre.  It is said that in the 16th century, 3 fishermen lost at sea during a storm came upon an apparition of the Virgin Mary floating on the water.  This apparition guided them safely home, and became a 2 foot high golden statue of the Virgin Mary that now adorns the central altar.  

She is considered the Patroness of Cuba, and has even had 3 Papal visits.  Ernest Hemingway donated his Nobel Prize medal, which he won for “The Old Man and the Sea” to the church and there is an enigmatic collection of medals, pendants, medical devices, locks of hair and many other items in display cases that are “Gifts of appreciation to the Virgin Mary”.

Our tour bus then took us back into town, slowing down but not actually stopping, at a few viewpoints of the harbor, and then around Revolutionary Square where giant sculptures of machetes pay homage to revolutionaries that fought for independence from Spain and slavery.  It was disappointing that we didn’t get a chance to stop and get out of the bus to take pictures, and the bus windows were dirty enough that it was hard to get any decent pictures through them.  We did actually stop in the historic city center at Cespedes Park and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

All throughout the drive, our guide was telling us how great the communist socialist system was for Cubans.  Nobody, except for party officials, owned much of anything or had any money, but everyone is cared for with free health care and education.  He did point out their hospitals and university.  He bragged how Cuba had something like 19 medical schools, and how even some Americans have sought to attend them.  I’d really have to question the quality of a Cuban medical education.  Besides, doctors in Cuba get paid the same 400 pesos a month as the custodians who sweep up the office.  He emphasized that nobody goes hungry because the State provides rations of necessary basic goods and nobody goes homeless.  All this came under suspicion as we got out of the bus and were immediately set upon by packs of beggars in the city center square.  

We were puzzled by the large number of seemingly normal appearing people in their 30’s to 50’s that would approach us with smiles, and then ask us if we were Americanos.  If we replied in English, they immediately started hounding us for soap and shampoo.  You can imagine our great confusion to have all these seemingly normal people suddenly become aggressive asking for soap and shampoo.  Did they actually think we were Avon salespeople with soap and shampoo in our backpacks?  We fled immediately into the relative safety of a government tourist shop with cigars and rum.  It also happened to have air conditioning and would accept US dollars, but at a 15% exchange fee.  We were surprised to find that even though they had Montecristo #2 cigars for CUC$9.65 each, they were unwrapped and from an open box.  The sales lady offered to slip 2 or 3 into cardboard sleeves for individual sale, but wouldn’t sell us a sealed box.  We did end up picking up some Havana Club rum and Santiago de Cuba rum, but can only bring back a maximum of 1 liter per person.  We ended up spending $40 total for a 700mL 7 year aged dark Havana Club rum, a 500mL 3 year light Havana Club rum and a 700mL Santiago de Cuba dark rum. While our guide had recommended this shop as the best government tourist shop, it was pretty shady because they didn’t use a cash register, and didn’t issue any receipts.  And all transactions are cash- No American plastic (Visa, MC, Debit or Credit) is allowed anywhere in Cuba.

We then walked with our guide through the pedestrian shopping district in town, which although the guide was really excited by all the name brand merchandise (Reebok, Nike, etc), it was pretty run down and dirty.  There were a few enthusiastic sales people who operated private enterprises recently allowed by the Cuban government under tight restrictions since a severe economic crash in the early 1990’s.  

When we got back on the bus, I asked about the soap and shampoo.  He explained that during the crash of the 1990’s, Cubans couldn’t get much beyond the most basic of survival supplies like rice and beans, and for years, there was no soap or shampoo.  Well, now it has become a colloquialism to ask for soap or shampoo when you want any kind of hand out, so it was just another form of begging.  If everyone is well fed, housed, educated and given free health care, then why were there so many packs of aggressive beggars chasing us American tourists?  That was very unpleasant.   From there, we reboarded the bus and then drove around the former Moncada Garrison, which is now a public school.  This is where a pivotal battle took place when Castro overthrew the Batista government.  You could see bullet marks on the facade of the building.   We got back to the ship with about an hour to spare before the ship was scheduled to depart.  Security and customs getting back to the ship seemed another show of security theater.  We basically just had to hand our “Transit Card” back to an agent and head back onto the ship.  Viking’s security staff was equally lax, not checking any bags, and simply waving us past the non-functioning x-ray and metal detection equipment once we tapped our cards on the podium.  Princess does a much more vigorous job of checking everyone’s room cards at least twice before allowing you up the gangway, and screening is TSA quality where you have to put your cell phones, change, cameras and watches into your backpack or a tray before you go through the metal detector, and your stuff all goes through a working X-ray machine.  You even get wanded if you set off the metal detector. We headed up to the buffet for lunch and found the staff making Cubano sandwiches on the outdoor Aquavit Terrace on the stern of the ship.  That was something we have been looking forward to, but they turned out a bit disappointing because aside from the pork, ham and cheese that were grilled on the panini press, you had to add your own condiments including the pickles and onions.  But they were still good, especially with a cold beer or soda.  

We watched the sail away from the comfort of our balcony, and this time we had a great view of the El Morro fortress guarding the entrance to Santiago de Cuba bay.  As we cruised by the fortress, a bunch of young rowdy people were partying on a nearby breakwater, and made quite a cheerful ruckus to impress their American visitors.   We then enjoyed a visit to the ship’s thermal suite.  We discovered that you can’t really swim in the big swim spa- the current isn’t nearly fast enough, and there are bars that slope from the front wall that you can lie your back on in the slow warm salt water current. It is deep enough that you can skull and tread water for a bit of a workout. Janet was able to get her Apple Watch exercise ring closed doing that.  We then tried out their steam sauna (super HOT), snow grotto (feels so good after the steam sauna), jacuzzi hot tub, and overhead bucket dump (not ice cubes, but just room temperature water).  The lockers are so nice and convenient with a swim suit dryer, and they give you a nice robe and slippers to use.  The slippers are washed and disinfected after each use.  They even had disposable swim trunks you could use, but they were like Speedos made of thin footie material that wouldn’t provide much modesty.

  We attended a lecture on the Geology and Biology of Cuba and the Caribbean, which somehow managed to start with plate tectonics and end up with Triangular Trade.  You never know what you’ll learn on these Viking cruises.  The entertainment does seem to rely more on intellectual pursuits.  No casino or dancing girls on these ships! We had our first dinner in the ship’s main dining room simply called “The Restaurant”.  It’s surprising that this was our first meal in the main dining room so far into the cruise.  While Viking markets that you can “Come as you like- There are NO FORMAL NIGHTS”, there is a dress code in the main dining room and specialty restaurants that is essentially business casual or better.  We were certainly underdressed, but still welcomed into the dining room. We got there nearly at 8pm, but had only a 5 minute wait, and they poured us glasses of complimentary wine to enjoy while we waited.  They have quite a selection of complimentary wines you can choose from.  I had a Merlot, while Janet had a Malbec.  The dining room is simple and elegant, like the rest of the ship, but it’s hard wood floors and Scandinavian decor made it a loud and less intimate dining experience than the main dining rooms on Princess ships.  We found the service to be good, and the food to be quite good as well, but we both agreed that the breads and rolls, service, desserts and ambience were better with Princess.  Still, it was several steps up from Norwegian.  Janet had venison, while Ben had the local Cuban version of lamb stew.    We got done just in time to find a seat in the back of the Star theater for the first Magic show of the cruise featuring Greg Moreland. While he didn’t have any big “WOW” magic in his act, his show was very entertaining and hilariously funny.  It was like getting a comic and magician rolled into one.  There was some pretty good audience participation, and he did some of the mentalist tricks with the entire audience that is always impressive.