YMT Vacations is the First Company to Come up with Decently Priced Air-and-Land Packages to Cuba

After an initial burst of enthusiasm over the news that people-to-people tours would be permitted to Cuba, disillusionment set it when the price of those tours was announced. One company after another listed rates as high as $3,500 and $4,000 for a seven-night and eight-night stay, sometimes including round-trip air between Miami and Havana, sometimes not. Though a few packages came in at somewhat less, their prices were only slightly better.

Now, for a start-up in September, YMT Vacations of California -- that cut-rate operator of air-and-land tours for many decades -- has announced its own program costing $1,999 per person (plus $299 in taxes and fees) for eight nights of accommodations (one night in Miami, five nights in Havana, two nights in Santa Clara) in Cuba, including roundtrip air between Miami and Cuba. 

At first glance (only a press release is available to me), it doesn't seem as if the sightseeing features of YMT's tour, or the meals provided, are the equivalent of what higher-priced packages are supplying. But who wants those constant, endless, morning-till-night group tours? The point of going to Cuba should be people-to-people contact on your own, a condition obtained by simply wandering at random through Havana and Santa Clara. 

Departures start on September 4, but reservations will not be taken until TOMORROW, Friday, June 1.  If you'll keep watching this Blog, I'll post a link -- as soon as it is provided to me -- for use in making reservations.  As so often happens, Frommers.com is scooping all the rest of the media (by a single day) in disclosing this program, but the program will not go up online, nor will reservations be taken, until tomorrow.  When tomorrow comes, you can also obtain further information from YMT Vacations (tel. 800/922-9000; www.ymtvacations.com).