CAR RENTAL OR CAR HIRE IN CUBA.

Many customers have had several questions regarding car rental in Cuba and its major cities, we will try to cover the most outstanding remarks on hiring a car in Cuba.

In Cuba there is a company (Transtur) in charge of transportation and it is sub divided in branches, there is a branch for buses, another for taxis and finally another for car rentals .

The car rentals can be located under the branch names like Cubacar, Havanautos, Rexa and Transtur itself. Via is another rental company which is part of the Gaviota Group. Regardless the branch names all the rental policies and conditions are very similar so we will refer to those conditions later in this article.

The cars

First we must remark that in Cuba all cars are offered and rented by category and not by car brand or model meaning that the customer might see that there are several car brands and models within on category (economic , compact , high , deluxe , jeep 4 x 4 etc...) and the fact that he/she selects one car does not mean that the same brand and model will be guaranteed on arrival to the rental office, they will try to provide the car requested but if not available , will provide any car comprised in the same category.

Transtur has a policy for car rental to keep the fleet with as less cars as possible over ninety thousand kilometers of use, cars must be taken to maintenance and revision in their workshops along Cuba every five thousand kilometers or as indicated by the manufacturers, therefore the technical conditions of the cars are acceptable.

The prices

Prices will mainly depend on the type of car rented and the time of the year the service is used.

Cars can be rented for periods that go from 1 to 6 days, then from 7 to 14 days and from 15 to 30 days or more and each period, the more days ( periods ) the car is rented , the lower the rental price per day will be. Prices may vary also depending on the season that might be divided into Low Season (May 1^st to June 30^th and September 1^st to November 30^th  be advised that the first 10 days of November can changed to high season for rentals in Havana since during those days every year Havana International Trade fair takes place and there is a high demand of cars)

The High Season (December 1^st to Dec 14^th, January 4^th to April 30^th, and July 1^st to August 31^st) and the Peak Season from December 15^th to January 3^rd.

Regularly the prices are indicated per rental per day and some operator include in their quote the cost for the daily insurance which is mandatory.

So the cost for a car can be calculated based on the cost of the car rental per day (that is regularly paid to the operators upon receiving the booking confirmation) secondly insurance per day (from 15.00 to 25.00 Cuban Convertible Pesos *CUC depending on the car category and payable at the car rental office at the time of receiving the car if not included in the operator quote) thirdly a refundable deposit left by the costumer ( from 150.00 to 800.00 CUC depending on the car category) and the as the gasoline or petrol the car has in tank at the rental moment charged as per the current prices. Apart from that, if cars are rented at airports there is a sole payment fee of CUC 20.00 and 5 CUC per day if the car is an automatic car. Also a second driver must pay from 3.00 to 5.00 CUC per day to be included in the contract.

All the above can be paid at the rental office at the time of receiving the car with CUC or with a valid credit or debit card but then the prices will be taxed as per the currency exchange regulations. For more info de the Banco Metropolitano pages.

In the next article we will complete this information by adding where to rent a car, the insurance cover and the contract that the custumer signs.

All the information in this blog can be freely reproduced partially or fully only if the source Cuba Destino Caribe is explicit mentioned and a link to the main page http://www.cubadestinocaribe.com is provided.

Charter flights to Cayo Largo and Cayo Coco

As we have tried to explain in the previous entry, it is important to try and book your domestic flight with time in advance if you are planning a holiday in Cuba, we suggest minimum 20 days although in the high season we would suggest a month or more in advance to book a domestic flight for your holidays.

Apart from the regular flights scheduled, there are destinations which are provided with Charter Flights operated mainly by AeroCaribbean, AeroGaviota and CubanaAirlines itself; those destinations are offshore islands that have marvelous beaches and a hotel infrastructure to let a passenger enjoy a quiet and wonderful holiday in Cuba.

CayoLargo, Cayo Coco – Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Santa María are those places the where operators like Cubanacan, Cubatur and Gaviota, which are the main Cuban receptive agents, move a significant part of their customers that arrive in mayor Cuban cities and, after spending a few nights in them, complement their holidays in Cuba with a relaxing stay at the beach.

Thecharter flights to Cayo Largo and Cayo Coco have one or two round trip scheduled flights per day and some foreign airlines or charters companies land also directly from several countries at their international airports. Flights to Cayo Largo, Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo  Coco have their origin at either Jose Marti Airport in Havana Terminal 1 ( AeroCaribbean) and Baracoa Airport, a small airport operated by Gaviota located at 25 Km northwest of Havana city.

All the flights to the offshore islands that we have mentioned above are often provided with collective transfers included so if you book one of those flights or a twin centre holiday, you may want to ask for your transfer and mention the hotel you are staying at both destinations. To book the charter flights, customers must provide their full names, passport numbers and date of birth.

The flight to Cayo Largo takes 40 minutes, to Cayo Santa Maria 50 minutes and to Cayo Coco one hour and 15 minutes. As usual, Destino Caribe strongly recommends not taking any domestic flight to connect with your international flight in the same day.

All the information in this blog can be freely reproduced partially or fully only if the source Cuba Destino Caribe is explicit mentioned and a link to the main page http://www.cubadestinocaribe.com is provided.

All the information contained in this blog can be freely reproduced partially or fully only if the source Cuba Destino Caribe is explicit mentioned and a link to the main page http://www.cubadestinocaribe.com is provided.

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Holidays in Cuba | Indignato.it

Holidays in Cuba | Indignato.it

This is how our website related to holidays in Cuba is mentioned in the Social Bookmark sites.

Good to know that our work is a useful tool for those planning holidays in Cuba.

Will continue to try and do our best to keep those with travel plannings to Cuba as better informed as possible.

All the information contained in this blog can be freely reproduced partially or fully only if the source Cuba Destino Caribe is explicit mentioned and a link to the main page http://www.cubadestinocaribe.com is provided.

Domestic flight to complement a holiday in Cuba.

A domestic fight from Havana or between major cities in Cuba might become an obstacle at the time of booking a multicentre holiday in Cuba, due to the shortage of aircrafts and the economical situation of the country, the Cuban Aeronautic authority has been forced to limit or decrease the amount of frequencies between Havana of the rest of the Cuban provinces.

That, of course, impacts negatively in the amount to multicentre holidays that an operator can offer to customers (if a domestic flight is involved). The higher demands are for connections between Havana and Holguin (to continue to Guardalavaca), Cayo Largo, Santiago de Cuba, and Cayo Coco and in less proportion Baracoa   and Bayamo, Manzanillo or Nueva Gerona among a few more to mention.

Three are destinations that have regular flights scheduled provided by Cubana Airlines  and a few others have charter services offered and operated by the two major Cuban charter companies Aerogaviota and Aerocaribbean.

Let’s refer first to the regular scheduled flights and then dedicate a second part to the charter flights which are mainly provided to destinations like Cayo Largo, Cayo Coco and Cayo Santa Maria.

Santiago de Cuba, Nueva Gerona and Holguin have currently daily frequencies from / to Havana regularly two or more depending on the season and the demand, other destinations like Bayamo, Manzanillo, Baracoa, Guantanamo, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila only have a one or two frequencies per week, some have three at the most, all the flights are operated in midsized aircrafts with capacities under 100 seats sometimes, and Cubana Airlines has to assign a number of seats in each flight to each of the Cubana’s offices for local passengers from each province, a few big operators that have allotted seats and rest of the operators based in Cuba.

All mentioned above, make the possibility of the booking for a multicentre holiday a bit complicated at the time of selecting the dates for the holidays and to book the desired dates but nothing is impossible, our first suggestion in to try to book the itinerary with time in advance, in low season,  April, May , June, second half of September to December 15^th between 15 to 20 days in advance is enough and in high season, December, January, February and March, July and August are then more complicated and we suggest over a month on advance to try and get a booking in one of those flights.

On the other hand, we strongly recommend our customers not to take domestic flights in the same date of their international flight to return home , that suggestion is regardless the time in advance before the departure of their international flight they are scheduled to arrive where they are due to take that flight. We always suggest to stay overnight in the city from where the return is planned.

To be continued…

All the information contained in this blog can be freely reproduced partially or fully only if the source Cuba Destino Caribe is explicit mentioned and a link to the main page http://www.cubadestinocaribe.com is provided.