In an effort to get in on the frenzied demand for travel to Cuba, Apple Vacations is reaching beyond its "fly and flop" comfort zone to offer group tours to the island destination, with the hopes that shorter itineraries and competitive pricing will make its product resonate with Apple customers.
"This is not a typical Apple beach vacation," said Apple Vacations President Tim Mullen. "This is more of a traditional tour of Cuba versus a flop-and-drop beach vacation on a FIT package. People will have functions, locations to go to, people to see, versus just fly and flop, get yourself on a beach. There will not be much, if any, beach vacation."
Despite being a departure from existing Apple products, Mullen said that the temptation to enter Cuba was too great for Apple to resist.
"The American demand for Cuba has been at an all-time high," he said, adding that Apple Vacations is "one of the first mainstream tour operators to bring portable, short vacation packages to Cuba. The other tour operators are offering much longer stays, which are really atypical of what a standard … American vacation is, which is typically seven nights."
Mullen said that competitors' Cuba programs are often 10 or 14 nights or longer.
Beginning July 9, Apple Vacations will begin offering five- and seven-night tours to Cuba under the U.S. Department of Treasury's people-to-people program for travel to Cuba.
Unlike Apple's standard FIT vacation packages, the Cuba itineraries will be guided group tours limited to 30 passengers each. They will be operated by U.S.-based Cuba Travel Services, a Cuba-licensed operator that charters flights from Miami to Cuba with Sun Country Airlines and American Airlines. The flights will be on 180-passenger Boeing 737-800 aircraft, so there will be space for up to six groups on each departure date.
The first of Apple's two new Cuba offerings is the five-night Havana Getaway itinerary, consisting of four nights in Havana and a daytrip to the Cuban countryside, including sightseeing tours, musical performances, a cigar-rolling demonstration and Cuban meals. The Havana Getaway will be priced from $2,233 per person, based on double occupancy, with departure dates on Sept. 5 and Oct. 17.
There will also be a seven-night Colors of Cuba program, which in addition to the offerings on the Havana Getaway tour will include two nights in the colonial town of Trinidad, a Unesco World Heritage Site in the central Cuban province of Sancti Spiritus. The Colors of Cuba itinerary is priced from $2,733 per person, based on double occupancy, with departure dates on Sept. 11, Sept. 25 and Oct. 8.
Mullen said that Apple would add additional capacity based on demand and availability. Pricing includes Cuban health insurance, charter flights departing from Miami (connecting flights from other U.S. cities are available through Apple), Cuban tourist visa processing, U.S. taxes and fees. A Cuban departure tax of $25 per passenger will be collected upon check-in at the airport in Miami.
"We simply, as Apple Vacations, are getting the customers to Miami for a briefing the night before they depart on the charters to Cuba," Mullen said. "Once they get to Miami, they're essentially in the hands of Cuba Travel Services to ensure a seamless and enjoyable tour."
He said that Cuba Travel Services has been in operation since 1999.
Mullen said the initial reaction from agents to Apple's entering the Cuba market via a tour product has been positive.
"We've done the research with our travel agent customers knowing that with the current travel restrictions that [going into Cuba would be] group-tour specific," Mullen said. "They said that's not an issue, and that's what their customers want, so we're responding to the demand of our travel agents."
Travel to Cuba through Apple Vacations must be booked a minimum of 40 days in advance of the departure date to give the company time to process the required documentation. Additional information can be found at AppleVacations.com/Cuba.