Though Most Tour Operators to Cuba Have Closed Our Programs for 2012, Road Scholar Continues to Have Openings

The problem with many of the package programs to Cuba (now permitted under the new policy that exempts cultural and educational tours from the normal embargo against travel there) is that most of their dates are sold out. However pricey these programs may be, they have proved immensely popular, and large numbers of Americans have filled all the air-and-hotel space available for them for most remaining departure dates in 2012.
 
Among the best of those programs, from a group with years of experience in operating tours to Cuba, is Insight Cuba ( www.insightcuba.com ). But currently, Insight Cuba reports that all of the 2012 departures of its Music and Art tour to Cuba are sold out; all of its 2012 programs to Havana and Pinar del Rio are sold out; and all of its 2012 departures of the Bay of Pigs program are sold out, as are its 2012 program of Havana for Jazz. On the schedule of departures for Insight Cuba, the only available dates that I've been able to find are one in April and one in May that have places still available, and all other 2012 departures are sold out. (A few departures of its Weekend in Havana program are sitll available for April and May; but most would-be visitors are, of course, interested in programs of a longer duration in Cuba.)
 
That's why it's heartening to report that a newcomer to the operation of tours to Cuba, the excellent Road Scholar organization (tel. 800/454-5768; www.roadscholar.org ), which is the former Elderhostel, has just obtained a large number of hotel nights in Havana and elsewhere for the operation of a substantial program to Cuba in September, October, November and December of this year. I was apprised of this by Yves Marceau in charge of that organization's Cuba program, who brought me the news at the New York Times Travel Show this past weekend. As far as I know, that welcome announcement is appearing in this blog for this first time anywhere.
 
The three programs for which considerable space has been obtained, starting with weekly departures in September and going through the winter of 2013 (at least until February), are:
Cuba Today (8 nights in Cuba, starting at $3,195 per person, including round-trip air between Miami and Havana, and going up to $3,595 in peak-season 2013. Shalom Cuba (8 nights in Cuba, starting at $3,195 per person, including round-trip air between Miami and Havana, and going up to $3,595 in peak season 2013; and Havana City of Art (7 nights in Havana, starting at $3,095 per person, including round-trip air between Miami and Havana, and going up to $3,495 in peak season 2013. Note that there is no longer a minimum age requirement for participation in Road Scholar's (formerly Elderhostel) program, although persons interested in these air-and-land packages should expect to travel with mature persons.