Travel Advice and Information

Just about a week away until the first regularly scheduled flight between the United States and Cuba!  JetBlue flights between Ft. Lauderdale and the centrally located Cuban city of Santa Clara begins August 31 st .  This will initially operate 3 days a week, becoming daily starting October 1 st . General Tourism is still prohibited, however through JetBlue one can procure an affidavit that will affirm a traveler is traveling for one of the 12 allowable reasons (ranging from humanitarian, religious and educational purposes) which allows the purchase of a Cuban entry visa ($50 USD) as well as the mandatory Cuban health insurance ($25), the latter being added to the cost of the flight (starting at $99 each way) automatically.  It is expected that other airlines operating flights between the U.S. and Cuba will follow suit. Other relevant news; Cuba has recently announced a partnership with the French companies Bouygues International to upgrade Jose Marti Hava...

In another move towards less regulation and the opening of relations between our two countries, the United States Treasury has just recently relaxed some regulations regarding the use of the U.S. Dollar within Cuba. Big news regarding transportation between the U.S. and Cuba; the United States Transportation Department approved 6 U.S. based airlines to fly regularly scheduled routes directly in and out of Cuba from the United States late last month. ~ AS EARLY AS THIS FALL, MORE THAN 600 FLIGHTS EACH MONTH ARE SLATED TO START UP WITHIN THE U.S. WITH REGULARLY SCHEDULED FLIGHTS ON AT LEAST 6 AIRLINES OUT OF 5 U.S. CITIES, TO START… ~ When decisions were made and announced at the end of June, the approved carriers are American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines.  The U.S. Cities with approved routes thus far are Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Minneapolis and Philadelphia. The nine destinations s...