Michael DiMauro

June 2017

Hi Kristen,
I am still mentally not home yet. Very difficult to come right back to work after a 24 year old dream is realized. I have been to 15 countries for pleasure, business and cultural exploration, but Cuba has far surpassed them all. Our guide(s) were excellent. Our drivers were excellent. I have new friends and brothers for life. We met so many people there from the States on their own without a guide. How short sighted of them! Every turn of the corner is rich with history and it would be so foolish to walk those streets without guidance. Two women flew in from Chicago and were just hanging out by the pool all day. Imagine!  You can go in a pool anywhere in the world and they wasted the day away in Havana. Nuts. We met two young guys at the Hemingway House whose guide only met with them in the morning to give them advice and then sent them out on their own! They were shocked to learn that Ari was with us all day from morning to night. Your service is flawless and I especially appreciate arranging the cars for us to use instead of a tour bus. I know this was an issue in the beginning. By no fault of Ari, we did not get to see a working cigar factory because it was closed when we could have gone. I did visit the Partagas factory one afternoon, however. My only recourse is to plan another trip, which I am already working on by the way. Our visit to the Montesino farm allowed me to grasp the hands of both Marcelo and Eulogio Montesino, men who have actually had a significant impact on the Cuban cigar industry, and on my life personally. This experience was so surreal. It’s like loving Ford cars and being able to shake hands with Henry Ford. Mario and his family were awesome. He could not be more kind. We were so happy to see his good work in the community and we happily bought art, made donations and left well fed and feeling like family. Our visit to the Cuban art museum with Laura will be unforgettable. Cuba’s history is a story truly told through its artists. I felt like I was experiencing every decade and Laura could not be a better guide in there.
Restaurants were comparable to NYC quality restaurants. Whoever had the homemade pasta at the Italian restaurant will surely agree that it ranks as one of the best out there. (my mouth is watering now)
I can go on and on, so in sum, I will just say thank you for being so professional, accommodating, fun, and for helping me realize my dream of visiting Cuba during this particularly good window of opportunity that was opened up on October 16, 2016. Not sure what President Trump has in mind, but for the next trip, would like your thoughts on end of April, 2018 with 2 or 3 nights in Trinidad and 3 nights in Havana at the Nacional.

With much love to my travel partners for putting up with me…

Michael DiMauro

June 2017

Karen Fasciana

June 2017

Hello Kristen!

I’ve been meaning to email to let you know what a great experience we had in Cuba!  Our tour guide, Irma, was top notch – very professional and knowledgeable during our entire tour.  The whole team that supported our tour from our drivers, walking tour, museum tour, etc. were all very helpful, courteous, and a pleasure to be with.  We were very pleased with our accommodations at the hotel, almost everything we wanted to see and do was within walking distance in the evenings.  The Cuban people are so friendly and we never felt unsafe, the food was excellent, and I really enjoyed the live music everywhere!

Most enjoyable was the walking tour, we got to see and learn so much about old town.  The tobacco farm tour is a lot of driving and even though we really enjoyed the community project (the lunch there was amazing) we didn’t get to see the valley due to the rain and wet conditions.

Thank you, Kristen, for your prompt reply to all my questions on the front end.  Traveling to an unfamiliar country, especially somewhere like Cuba, made me a little apprehensive but you and CIT were great to work with and made everything so easy.  The experience is one I’ll never forget and I hope to be able to return to Cuba in the not so distant future.

Karen Fasciana

June 2017

Rob Sparandera Jr.

May 2017

Dear Kristen,

I had always been fascinated by Cuba and the tales of Che Guevara as a youth. Now seeing it I come away with the idea of Cuba being like a 1957 time capsule shaped by bureaucracy and selective outside influence and now starting to open itself to capitalism, It’s fascinating. I loved our guide Ari, he was informative and ever so helpful. He made the journey so much better then it would’ve been without him. The drivers were excellent especially Andy who I sat next to 90% of the time. Laura, the museum tour guide,was fantastic and very well spoken and informative. The highlight of my trip was meeting Mario Pelegrín Pozo and seeing all the good he does in his community, I felt the most at home there. Mario is such a great person and I’m so glad to have bonded with him.

Thank you for your time and courtesy, Rob Sparandera Jr.

May 2017

Hayley

March 13th, 2017
Hi Kristen,
We had a great trip.
I thought our guide Irma was excellent. She was prompt and happy to be flexible with our requests.
Overall, interesting experience and I’m glad we went.
Thanks,
Hayley

Peggy Balliet

January 2017

Dear Kristen,

Our trip could not have been more perfect. We were happy with all our choices. We were also able to do everything on our itinerary. The hotels were good, better than we expected. The best part of the trip was our guide, Irma Gonzalez. She was outstanding. Our whole family fell in love with her. It was painful to leave her. She was a jewel.

I just wish we had been able to stay longer.

Thanks again for everything,  Peggy Balliet, January 2017