Dear clients and fellow travelers, If you are traveling to Cuba with one of my organized tours, you will be provided with detailed information about our itinerary and scheduling. If you are traveling independently, or in a group not personally escorted by Last Frontier Expeditions, please be advised of the following: We will need your flight information to and from Cancun, Mexico including: Airline, arrival time and date, flight number and departure time and date. We are not responsible for domestic air interruptions or delays to Cancun, Mexico but we will work very hard to make your connections as smooth as possible. Charter flights from the USA to Cancun, Mexico arrive in Terminal #2. Regular scheduled flights arrive in Terminal #1. You will have to go to Terminal #1 (about a 1/4 mile shuttle ride) to meet our representatives who will issue your tickets and visas to Havana, Cuba. You will need to show a valid passport. We travel on Aerocaribe Airlines (Mexicana) to Cuba. Last Frontier Expedition's representatives in Cancun, Mexico are with an agency called IMC (Intermar). They wear white shirts with gold and black shoulder boards and have an office to the right just before you exit the customs area at the Cancun Airport Terminal #1. Feel free to check into this office to introduce yourself but tickets and visas will be issued at the Aerocaribe ticket counter.  Upon arrival in Cancun, you will exit the customs area with your baggage and then go to the Aerocaribe Airlines ticket counter in the departure terminal right next door to where you will arrive. Our IMC (Intermar) representative will meet you at the Aerocaribe ticket counter 2 hours prior to your departure to Havana. You will show them your passport and the confirmation number (see below) that I have send to you and they will then issue you your tickets and visas. You will then check your baggage and be on your way. A tip to the IMC agents is always appreciated. Aerocaribe Airlines confirmation #_______________________. If your flight is late, or you do not have (2) hours before departure for Havana when you arrive in Cancun, check in with the IMC booth before exiting customs and explain your situation. The representative will do everything to assist you. If you do not see them in the booth they will be walking around outside the exit. Aerocaribe departs Cancun, Mexico for Havana at either 12:20 PM or 8-9:00 PM daily (depending on the season). Flight time is 50 minutes. Sandwich and beverage provided in flight. Return flights from Havana to Cancun are either 7-8:00 AM or 3:05 PM daily (depending on the season). You lose an hour going over and gain one coming back.  Upon arrival in Havana and after exiting customs (Please make sure you ask Cuban customs not to stamp your US passport upon arrival and departure), you will be met by one of my partners - Jose Ignacio Fuentes or Lucindo del Rosal Martinez. They both speak English. One of them will take you to the Hotel Nacional (our company's home in Cuba) and your visit begins. My partners will take your visa and Aerocaribe ticket upon arrival for "safe keeping." You will get them back when they personally escort you to the airport upon departure. There is a $25 per ticket charge for any flight changes once you are in Cuba.  Dress in Cuba is informal during the daytime (shorts OK) but somewhat semiformal at night. Shorts are not advisable at most restaurants for dinner and, no shorts allowed in the discos and dance venues. The Hotel Nacional De Cuba has a private elevator for going to the pools so do not have to go through the lobby in pool wear or with wet swim suits. Your reservation at the Hotel Nacional De Cuba, and the other hotels we patronize, includes a daily buffet breakfast. The hotel also has a fully equipped business center, gym, tennis courts, bars, 24 hour cafeteria, bank, room safes, cable TV and other amenities. The Hotel Nacional De Cuba President is Sr. Tony Martinez. He is a good friend and supporter of our efforts in Cuba. If you have any problems you cannot resolve, please ask one of my Cuban partners to present your problem to him directly. The US dollar is the only currency in Cuba. No credit cards issued on a USA bank are accepted. However, our Havana office, or the Hotel Nacional De Cuba, will cash American Express travelers checks for a commission of 3%. The Cuban peso has no value on the international market and is worthless for a tourists except as a souvenir. If you get a colorful peso note that says "convertible peso" it is the same as the US dollar.  Cuba is a safe country with relatively little crime. But, everyone knows tourists from the USA are carrying cash. So use the same precautions you would use in a city of 3 million people. When on the road in a rental car be careful not to leave any cameras or luggage in your car unattended because almost all rental cars do not have trunks but hatchbacks. Room safes are very secure. When in Havana I leave my passport and most money in the safe. There is a cashier in the lobby of the hotel to cash any large currency. You can check the USA Today newspaper for the Havana weather and hurricane reports daily. Camera film, batteries and one hour developing is readily available in Havana for the same price as we pay in the US. You do not need to bring a hair dryer because almost all Havana hotels have dryers in the bathrooms. Soaps, lotions and shampoo are furnished in most hotels and all hotels in Havana and other large cities. Meals in private home restaurants (Paladares) are legal and safe. Make sure you negotiate a price before you order! The tap water is also safe but I recommend the exceptionally excellent bottled water Cuba produces. The price of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and bottled water is about the same as the USA. Sidewalk stands and dollar markets have them for much cheaper. Mini bars in the hotel rooms are expensive as they are anywhere else. It is not legal to bring Cuban cigars back to the USA. Everyone does. But, if you are planing to bring back a few boxes you just say that you were in Cancun, Mexico and not in Cuba. This is what everyone says since Cuba does not stamp USA passports. And, if for some reason they find them in your baggage (no one has been checked yet) you say you bought them at the Cancun airport duty free shop!  90% of the cigars sold by illegal vendors on the street are counterfeit. So purchase them at an official Habanos shop. Prices are the same in all the shops since the government regulates the prices. And, upon exiting Cuba, customs sometimes checks your cigars for official receipts. Upon reentering Cancun, Mexico, please declare all your cigars. The Mexicans do not care if you have them. They just do not want you to sell them to Mexico's illegal market. They will take everything over (1) box and give you a receipt. They will then deliver them (like duty free products are) to you at the boarding gate prior to departure. If you are an independent traveler, small group, or just someone who wants to get away for a day or so, we can provide English-speaking drivers with cars for $40 per car and driver per day! Great bargain and a great way to see the "off the beaten track" Havana. Or, if you really want to "go up river" we have (6) wonderful and well equipped campers available for your use. If you want to hunt or fish while in Cuba, we will need 30 days advance notice to arrange the guides and permits. If you want to Scuba at our new Cuba Scuba Club (refer to web site) you will need to present record of dive experience and qualifications. You must provide your certification card and log book. For calls from Cuba to the USA purchase a calling card in the hotel or on the streets and use the calling card phones. To use the hotel room phones is very, very expensive. The Hotel Nacional has Internet access in the business office on the second floor. Please remember, we are guests of Cuba. Politics often make "strange bedfellows" so the Cubans are very enchanted with what we do and say. They very much like and respect the US citizen. The US government is another matter. However, since there are so many very large (quasi - USA) demonstrations in Elian Gonzales Park (one block from the Hotel Nacional De Cuba) feel free to visit them, join them, photograph them and have one heck of an experience. Please pick up a copy of Chris Baker's "Cuba Handbook" or "Havana Handbook" before you depart. It is published by Moon Press and the only really accurate book on Cuba travel. And, it also gives Last Frontier Expeditions some good press. If something should happen to you or your passport while in Cuba you need to immediately contact either myself (if I am guiding a tour) or one of my Cuban partners, guides or representatives. US citizens are not represented by a USA Embassy in Cuba. Our government is not there officially. What a joke! We will need to contact the Swiss Embassy for serious matters. Trip and individual medical insurance is available for $5.00 USD per day and the limit is $25,000.00 USD. With Cuba's wonderful medical care system you can probably get a transplant thrown in. Travel safe, have a great trip and enjoy Cuba! Last Frontier Expeditions & Safaris