Southwest Vacations Unveils Cuba Packages

Southwest Vacations is offering packages to Cuba in Havana and Varadero. FIT packages and escorted tours are available for each location.

With the FIT package, travelers can choose their hotels and their daily tours. Southwest Vacations noted that the "package components must be selected as applicable under a license to travel to Cuba." U.S. citizens can travel to Cuba for one of 12 reasons, including educational activities, and must certify that reason on a license to travel to the country.

Last March, the Obama administration made individual travel to Cuba possible, waiving the requirement that U.S. citizens travel to Cuba with an authorized group. The escorted tours are five or seven days, and include flights and a planned itinerary.

Flights to Varadero are expected to begin on Nov. 13 with two daily nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale. Havana flights are expected to start on Dec. 12 with two daily nonstop flights from Fort Lauderdale, and one daily nonstop from Tampa.

Southwest Vacations is operated by the Mark Travel Corporation.

"Cuba is a destination that many travelers have wanted to explore for years," said Mark Noenning, executive vice president of travel agency engagement at the Mark Travel Corporation. "We're proud that Southwest Vacations is now able to make that a reality."

Source: Travel Weekly