Cuba: Varadero, Havana and Finnair Premium Class
May 2, 2014, 2:17 pm
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Cuba: Varadero, Havana and Finnair Premium Class
I haven’t seen too many trip reports of Cuba on FT, so I hope they are not against the TOS. 
I’ll couple this with a report of Finnair’s Premium Class, which means the Business Class cabin and premium catering together with priority check-in on leisure/chartered flights. Or so I thought. Read on
. For everyone that hates packaged tours: you can book these flights as flight only.
At 12:45 pm EET it was still 5:45 am in Cuba.
My idea was to upgrade both legs to Premium Class, so we could start the holiday with lounge access and some champagne and free drinks, but alas, I learned that Premium Class on Finnair only has unlimited free NON-Alcoholic drinks and does NOT even include lounge access! Hence I decided to only upgrade the return portion as that is a night flight and I wanted a good nights sleep. This turned out to be the right decision as the Y meal of beef goulash with pasta and a cous-cous salad was quite good and some nice Joseph Perrier champagne was for sale.
The Y cabin was nice and in impeccable condition. The IFE is charged for, which didn’t disturb me as I don’t care too much about today’s blockbuster movies and rather listen to some nice classics on my own player.
It was funny to fly past Washington DC, as we were going to a place US citizens are not normally allowed to visit.
Somewhere over the states, the second Y meal, a cheese and vegetable pasta dish was served. Notice the Marimekko designer paper napkin.
We were then about to land at Varadero new international airport.
First glimpse of Cuba.
And then a much better glimpse of Cuba. The famous beach of Varadero! It was marvelous and sparsely crowded.
Walking along the beach.
According to locals, this is the former Varadero Hilton. I find it hard to believe as I am quite fond of Hiltons…
After a few days of relaxing on the beach, we headed on the road to Havana.
The fort guarding the entrance to the harbour of Havana.
The Capitol, modeled after you guessed what
Hemingway’s hangout, La Floridita bar, the ”home of the Daiquiri”.
Old square of Havana. All the buildings surrounding the square have been recently renovated.
And renovations have now been extended to the streets of old Havana. We as tourists were naturally taken along these renovated streets.
Some ”bookstores on the street”. I think Che Guevara’s ”Temas Economicos” would probably be quite amusing for some of my friends with an MBA. I should maybe have bought ”La Cosa Nostra” though.
I was amazed to see a US school bus. I didn't think even a totalitarian communist society would torture its poor innocent future hopes with this kind of mode of tor…transport.
Based on the signs on the bus, this was Canada’s revenge on the Cubans, maybe for selling them fake cigars or something. On second thought, it may be that these buses were used for transporting devoted communists to pro-Castro rallies.
The museum of the revolution contained other modes of transport (probably designed in the same years as the American school bus).
Many of the old cars, though, where looking surprisingly good.
After the guided tour, we had a couple of hours to tour Havana for ourselves. First I wanted to see the former Bacardi building:
It is obviously not held as any secret that this is indeed the old Bacardi headquarters. I guess everything is ready for the Bacardi company to move back in. I was told Bacardi thinks the same way and is still keeping the building in its bookkeeping.
Despite the doorman’s efforts, I decided not to venture inside the building (as we had limited time).
We then entered the more ordinary quarters of old Havana (we were asked to a party by locals, but had other plans for the evening). Some political advertising, maybe for a local election.
A more authentic street:
Boys playing soccer in the new square.
Our program for the evening was a very touristy one: The Tropicana Night Club of Havana.
The show was indeed spectacular, the band was huge, and the rum good and plentiful.
On our way back, we passed the former Hilton Havana, which indeed was a real Hilton for a few years and has a great architecture and a fascinating history you can read about e.g. in this book. When the revolution came, Hilton offered to host Fidel Castro in one of their suites. Castro was obviously not yet a communist at the time of the revolution, and may for a while have enjoyed the suite life as much as we here on FT do.
After a few more relaxing days in Varadero it was time for the return trip in Finnair Premium Class. The first disappointment was by the check in where the single priority queue actually took longer than the ordinary three or four economy queues.
As said, lounge access is not included (yes, there is a lounge at Varadero), so ’bout two hours had to be spent buying some more rum and cigars in the shops. To be fair, the prices at the airport were much better than what we had in our hotel.
From the departure board you can easily see where Varadero gets most of its tourists from.
From reading FT, I knew that our inbound flight had been on Finnair’s first A340, an ex-Virgin bird and I was hoping for at least the same for the return. I guess seat-wise I was lucky, and thank you esledo for correcting me, as I was flying on an aircraft furnished to original Finnair specifications. Nevertheless I found the seat uncomfortable, and Finnair probably agrees, as they are retrofitting these aircraft with lie-flat beds. IFE was free in Premium class, so I listened to Bach’s Goldberg variations and an alternative rendition of the same by Finnish Jazz pianist Iiro Rantala.
Another Finnair disappointment was the ex-Cuban meal. During our whole time in Cuba, the meals had been excellent. But on Finnair the meal was inedible. It actually looked quite good, the beef was not overdone, but the spicing and way of cooking was – let’s say – not to my liking. Of this meal, I was able to eat a small piece of meat (because of my duty towards FT), the slice of tomato, potatoe mash and the bread and dessert. Luckily, the red wine on offer was very good (and it was free during dinner), so I had at least three glasses before going to sleep.
I slept lousily in the angled not-so-flat seat, despite taking half a sleeping pill. I woke up for breakfast which was a mistake.
However, I was hungry, so I ate the whole breakfast despite that only the fruit tasted good.
Verdict: Finnair’s non-stop service to Varadero was great in Economy class but the Premium Class was a disappointment. Worth it? Certainly not. Maybe with a fully flat bed and/or lounge access, free drinks and a much better meal. Otherwise, believe it or not, I would almost advice to stick to Y on the leisure flights to Cuba.
Conclusion: Varadero is a beautiful beach destination and Cuba is a country you should easily reserve two to three weeks for. Havana has a great history and is very slowly gaining some of its former glory back through extensive and desperately needed renovations. The things shown to tourists are of aesthetic value and the food is very good. Overall you are taken good care of.
You can speak about anything with the Cubans. Most of them are extremely poor but well fed and enjoy the sun and the easy life just as much as we tourists do. They blame the embargo on their economic hardship, but are aware that there will soon be changes in their own leadership. One guy who seemed well informed anticipated this to happen either this year or in 2015, at the same time replacing their national peso fully with the convertible one.
When the Miami Cubans and the Yankees return, one kind of paradise may be lost, but the average Cuban will probably still see a significant raise in living standards and may be happy about that.
I’ll couple this with a report of Finnair’s Premium Class, which means the Business Class cabin and premium catering together with priority check-in on leisure/chartered flights. Or so I thought. Read on
. For everyone that hates packaged tours: you can book these flights as flight only.At 12:45 pm EET it was still 5:45 am in Cuba.
My idea was to upgrade both legs to Premium Class, so we could start the holiday with lounge access and some champagne and free drinks, but alas, I learned that Premium Class on Finnair only has unlimited free NON-Alcoholic drinks and does NOT even include lounge access! Hence I decided to only upgrade the return portion as that is a night flight and I wanted a good nights sleep. This turned out to be the right decision as the Y meal of beef goulash with pasta and a cous-cous salad was quite good and some nice Joseph Perrier champagne was for sale.
The Y cabin was nice and in impeccable condition. The IFE is charged for, which didn’t disturb me as I don’t care too much about today’s blockbuster movies and rather listen to some nice classics on my own player.
It was funny to fly past Washington DC, as we were going to a place US citizens are not normally allowed to visit.
Somewhere over the states, the second Y meal, a cheese and vegetable pasta dish was served. Notice the Marimekko designer paper napkin.
We were then about to land at Varadero new international airport.
First glimpse of Cuba.
And then a much better glimpse of Cuba
. The famous beach of Varadero! It was marvelous and sparsely crowded.Walking along the beach.
According to locals, this is the former Varadero Hilton. I find it hard to believe as I am quite fond of Hiltons…
After a few days of relaxing on the beach, we headed on the road to Havana.
The fort guarding the entrance to the harbour of Havana.
The Capitol, modeled after you guessed what
Hemingway’s hangout, La Floridita bar, the ”home of the Daiquiri”.
Old square of Havana. All the buildings surrounding the square have been recently renovated.
And renovations have now been extended to the streets of old Havana. We as tourists were naturally taken along these renovated streets.
Some ”bookstores on the street”. I think Che Guevara’s ”Temas Economicos” would probably be quite amusing for some of my friends with an MBA. I should maybe have bought ”La Cosa Nostra” though.
I was amazed to see a US school bus. I didn't think even a totalitarian communist society would torture its poor innocent future hopes with this kind of mode of tor…transport.
Based on the signs on the bus, this was Canada’s revenge on the Cubans, maybe for selling them fake cigars or something. On second thought, it may be that these buses were used for transporting devoted communists to pro-Castro rallies.The museum of the revolution contained other modes of transport (probably designed in the same years as the American school bus).
Many of the old cars, though, where looking surprisingly good.
After the guided tour, we had a couple of hours to tour Havana for ourselves. First I wanted to see the former Bacardi building:
It is obviously not held as any secret that this is indeed the old Bacardi headquarters. I guess everything is ready for the Bacardi company to move back in. I was told Bacardi thinks the same way and is still keeping the building in its bookkeeping.
Despite the doorman’s efforts, I decided not to venture inside the building (as we had limited time).
We then entered the more ordinary quarters of old Havana (we were asked to a party by locals, but had other plans for the evening). Some political advertising, maybe for a local election.
A more authentic street:
Boys playing soccer in the new square.
Our program for the evening was a very touristy one: The Tropicana Night Club of Havana.
The show was indeed spectacular, the band was huge, and the rum good and plentiful.
On our way back, we passed the former Hilton Havana, which indeed was a real Hilton for a few years and has a great architecture and a fascinating history you can read about e.g. in this book. When the revolution came, Hilton offered to host Fidel Castro in one of their suites. Castro was obviously not yet a communist at the time of the revolution, and may for a while have enjoyed the suite life as much as we here on FT do.
After a few more relaxing days in Varadero it was time for the return trip in Finnair Premium Class. The first disappointment was by the check in where the single priority queue actually took longer than the ordinary three or four economy queues.
As said, lounge access is not included (yes, there is a lounge at Varadero), so ’bout two hours had to be spent buying some more rum and cigars in the shops. To be fair, the prices at the airport were much better than what we had in our hotel.
From the departure board you can easily see where Varadero gets most of its tourists from.
From reading FT, I knew that our inbound flight had been on Finnair’s first A340, an ex-Virgin bird and I was hoping for at least the same for the return. I guess seat-wise I was lucky, and thank you esledo for correcting me, as I was flying on an aircraft furnished to original Finnair specifications. Nevertheless I found the seat uncomfortable, and Finnair probably agrees, as they are retrofitting these aircraft with lie-flat beds. IFE was free in Premium class, so I listened to Bach’s Goldberg variations and an alternative rendition of the same by Finnish Jazz pianist Iiro Rantala.
Another Finnair disappointment was the ex-Cuban meal. During our whole time in Cuba, the meals had been excellent. But on Finnair the meal was inedible. It actually looked quite good, the beef was not overdone, but the spicing and way of cooking was – let’s say – not to my liking. Of this meal, I was able to eat a small piece of meat (because of my duty towards FT), the slice of tomato, potatoe mash and the bread and dessert. Luckily, the red wine on offer was very good (and it was free during dinner), so I had at least three glasses before going to sleep.
I slept lousily in the angled not-so-flat seat, despite taking half a sleeping pill. I woke up for breakfast which was a mistake.
However, I was hungry, so I ate the whole breakfast despite that only the fruit tasted good.
Verdict: Finnair’s non-stop service to Varadero was great in Economy class but the Premium Class was a disappointment. Worth it? Certainly not. Maybe with a fully flat bed and/or lounge access, free drinks and a much better meal. Otherwise, believe it or not, I would almost advice to stick to Y on the leisure flights to Cuba.
Conclusion: Varadero is a beautiful beach destination and Cuba is a country you should easily reserve two to three weeks for. Havana has a great history and is very slowly gaining some of its former glory back through extensive and desperately needed renovations. The things shown to tourists are of aesthetic value and the food is very good. Overall you are taken good care of.
You can speak about anything with the Cubans. Most of them are extremely poor but well fed and enjoy the sun and the easy life just as much as we tourists do. They blame the embargo on their economic hardship, but are aware that there will soon be changes in their own leadership. One guy who seemed well informed anticipated this to happen either this year or in 2015, at the same time replacing their national peso fully with the convertible one.
When the Miami Cubans and the Yankees return, one kind of paradise may be lost, but the average Cuban will probably still see a significant raise in living standards and may be happy about that.
Last edited by tsastor; May 3, 2014 at 3:42 pm
May 2, 2014, 9:01 pm
#2
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Thanks for this! I have been to Varadero and Havana more than once - perk of being Canadian. I'd love to make my way back there before the embargo ends because I fear that much of what's special about Cuba will end once all the doors open.
May 2, 2014, 10:36 pm
#3
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Hi krazykanuck. It was nice to meet and befriend many of your compatriots on the tour to Havana!
Cuba has its own charm and e.g. the traffic volumes are quite low. But somehow I got the feeling that most people know that big inevitable changes are going to come soon.
Cuba has its own charm and e.g. the traffic volumes are quite low. But somehow I got the feeling that most people know that big inevitable changes are going to come soon.
May 3, 2014, 3:29 pm
#5
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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You are right. According to flightaware.com it was OH-LQB. I edited my post. Can't imagine what an ex-AF seat would have been like then...
Last edited by tsastor; May 3, 2014 at 3:43 pm
May 3, 2014, 10:04 pm
#7
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA
Posts: 2,066
Interesting trip report. Will be unbelievable when USA travel embargo ends and the massive changes. I'm sure every USA hotel chains has a binder of planned procedures and plans on the shelf waiting for the day it happens.
May 4, 2014, 2:54 am
#8
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May 4, 2014, 9:41 am
#10
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There is not much LCC about Finnair. As far as charter flights go, this was an excellent flight both ways, even though Premium class was far from their Business class on scheduled flights.
May 6, 2014, 7:18 am
#12
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Of course it could also be that catering ex-Helsinki is much better than ex-Cuba. But that is not a good excuse, as we had excellent food in Cuba otherwise.
And you are right about the dessert also, although it was not a cookie.
Last edited by tsastor; May 7, 2014 at 11:37 pm