Depart from Miami International Airport for a short flight. Arrival, meeting and assistance and board our bus for panoramic tour of Cienfuegos. Located about 250 km from Havana on the Southern tip of Cuba, this city is the only one in Cuba to be founded by French settlers. It is also known as the Pearl of the South. In 2005 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. After lunch, we will be treated to a performance by the musicians and singers of the Chorus of Cienfuegos, the Best Chorus in the Country! Visit the graphic arts workshop, and have a walking tour of the city center and Parque Marti to see some outstanding examples of its architecture representing the new ideas of modernity and urban planning as developed in Latin America from the 19th Century. Dinner onboard. Sail to Trinidad.

We disembark in Trinidad. A meticulously well-preserved Spanish colonial city, with its rich architecture, cobblestone streets, palaces and plazas, it is sometimes referred to as the ‘Museum City of Cuba.” This morning we will walk through the town with a representative of the Office of the City Historian interacting with residents along the way. We will attend a local architect’s presentation and visit a scale model of the city. Stop at the Romantic Museum located in the old palace of the Count Brunet with samples of furniture and decorative arts. Visit the unique woodcarving studio of Lazaro. Dinner onboard. Sail to Ilsa de la Juventud- the Island of Youth.

Late afternoon arrival in Bay of Singuanea, where we will spend the night.

Until 1977, the island was called the Isle of Pines. In 1978 Fidel Castro turned the island into one grand Communist school for students from around the world and thus the Island of Youth. Disembark on the beach and board the bus for the short drive, enjoying panoramic sightseeing and a tour of the Presidio Modelo, an abandoned panopticon prison where both Fidel and Raul Castro were imprisoned from 1953-1955. Enjoy lunch in an authentic local restaurant before visiting an art school and the maternity ward of a local hospital. There will be some free time for independent exploration and enjoyment around Nueva Gerona’s grand boulevard before returning to embark the ship. Overnight at sea.

Disembark in Maria La Gorda and drive by bus to the village of San Juan del Valle. Here we will visit the local school to discuss the differences and levels of the Cuban and American educational systems, in particular the rural areas of the country. Meet the Cuban children and their teachers. Visit Guanahacabibes National Park, one of the country’s largest nature reserves on the westernmost tip of the island. Meet with the naturalists and locals. The peninsula is one of the last refuges of aboriginals fleeing from the Spanish conquistadors and also holds some 140 archeological sites linked to life of aboriginals known as Guanahatabeyes. Continue by bus for the Vinales Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Pinar del Rio Province of Cuba. Encircled by mountains, its landscape is interspersed with dramatic rocky outcrops. Traditional techniques are still in use for agricultural production, particularly of tobacco. Visit a tobacco farm where you will learn about the production of those world famous Cuban cigars. Lunch at an organic restaurant. Depart the Vinales and drive to Las Terrazas or Havana, for overnight in a hotel.

After breakfast, we start a day with walking exploration of Old Havana. Founded in 1519 by the Spanish, Havana became one of the most important ship building centers in the Caribbean, around which a sprawling metropolis grew. Now numbering a population of 2 million, it is a mixture of beautiful old baroque and neo-classical monuments, arcades and private balconies. Old Havana is considered one of the most impressive historical city centers in the Caribbean and in the Americas. We will stop at Fusterlandia, studio of artist Jose Rodriguez Fuster. His brightly colored mermaids, roofs, walls, benches, doorways and roosters stretch across houses and adorn the entire area. It is said that he was greatly inspired by Gaudi in Barcelona and Brancusi in Rome but most of all by Picasso and Dubuffet. Lunch will be at one of Cuba’s delicious paladar, a small, privately owned Cuban restaurant serving traditional Cuban food, followed by a stop at the Merger Art Studio to view some magnificent sculptures before we continue to the San Jose Arts and Crafts Market. Here, in an old 1885 warehouse near the pier, you will find wonderful gifts from carvings, shirts, art, music and more. Enjoy dinner at the “Café Taberna,” or similar complete with the wonderful salsa music of the Buena Vista Social Club. Return to the Panorama II. Overnight in Havana.

Our program today begins with a visit to Finca Vigia, beloved home of Ernest Hemingway, where he lived for 21 years and wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea. Stop to enjoy a “farewell lunch” at another paladar before continuing to a very unique nostalgic car garage to view just how the Cubans manage to creatively keep those old cars in such fine working condition. Then it’s a short drive back to Havana for an exciting performance from the Havana Compass Dance Troupe. These gifted percussionists use drums, chairs, and anything they can find to beat out magnificent dance rhythms, weaving a colorful and exciting dance performance that you are sure to enjoy and long remember. Captain’s Farewell Dinner onboard.

Disembarkation and transfer to the airport for short return flight to Miami International airport.