Our Tour Guides
From our recruitment efforts, we have managed to assemble an outstanding team in Cuba. They are definitely the pride and soul of our organisation. All are university graduated native Cubans with diverse backgrounds and interests. All the guides speak excellent English and most also speak a third language as well such as French, German, or Italian. Only a few of our tour guides originally studied at university to work specifically as tour guides, while others come from different walks of life including teaching and academia, pharmacology, and film production.
CLICK HERE to see personal profiles of our tour guides and tour leaders.
Because the tour leader is the single most important element in determining the success of one or our tours in Cuba, they are chosen very carefully. We consider not only the extent of their local knowledge, but more importantly their communication skills, organisational abilities, affability, conscientiousness, enthusiasm, and their ability to entertain a group.
Training and Qualification
Our team is fully qualified and licenced with the local authorities in Cuba, and before they are able to work with Cuban Adventures, they must complete a Cuban Adventures training in our grass-roots, interactive style of travel, as well as specific training in Responsible Tourism - both in ideology and how to put it into practice in Cuba.
Understanding the Roles: Tour Leader vs. Tour Guide
On our tours there are two important roles responsible for enhancing your journey: the tour leader and the tour guide. While both are crucial in shaping your experience, their functions differ significantly.
The Tour Leader: Your Journey Companion
The tour leader is your primary contact throughout the trip. Apart from acting as a guide in imparting local knowledge, historical, cultural, geographical, and political information, they are also responsible for overseeing logistics. Tour leaders ensure everything runs smoothly, from accommodations to transportation. Their role is multifaceted—providing support, resolving issues, and facilitating communication among guests. A tour leader cultivates a sense of group cohesion, creating an environment where travellers can share their experiences and connect with one another. They are your go-to person, ready to address any concerns that may arise so that you can focus on enjoying your adventure.
The Tour Guide: Your Area Expert
On the other hand, a tour guide specialises in delivering in-depth knowledge about a specific destination or attraction you visit. With expertise on local history, customs, and attractions, they are equipped to add meaningful information to your experiences. We have a team of local guides to provide specialty day tours in Havana, Viñales, Trinidad, and Santiago de Cuba. Their role is to enhance your understanding and appreciation of the places you're discovering to help you engage on a deeper level.
How We Support You on Tour
The tour leader will suggest and organise group activities such as a BBQ at the beach or by the river, group nights-out, house parties, and excursions to neighbourhoods. They organise optional activities for individuals, introduce you to the local people in Cuba, and give you an insight into the Cuban culture, its history, its unique way of life, and explain to you Cuba's complex and hard-to-understand society.
The leader is there to help you explore your particular interests in Cuba, introduce you to their local friends, and take you to out-of-the-way places that you won't find in any guidebook about Cuba. Because we limit the size of most of our tour groups to a maximum of 16 travellers, the tour leader can take you to areas that a larger group would not be able to visit. They may take you to their own house or neighbourhood and to meet their family. At times they may work with a local guide who has specialist knowledge, for example, in a particular destination or for a particular activity, such as birding.
On our classic style tours, freedom and flexibility are fundamental components, so if you would rather explore on your own, you can use the tour leader for suggestions, and they can point you in the right direction. Alternatively, you can stick closely to your tour leader and hang out with the group. The choice is yours!
You will more likely end up seeing your tour leader as your friend who knows all the locals, organises all the logistics for you, and makes your experience on the tour hassle-free.
Why We Employ Only Locals in Cuba
We use primarily native Cuban leaders and guides because, apart from having a deep knowledge about Cuba - its society, culture, and history, they help make the tours a rich cultural experience. It also means that Cubans are benefitting from employment opportunities and valuable income rather than foreigners.
We Don’t Take Commissions
Our tour leaders and guides don't take commissions.
Our tour leaders in Cuba are closely monitored and also paid a daily wage for their valuable services. Therefore, they have no need (and are not permitted) to take commissions from shops, restaurants, or anyone offering local excursions or services to our travellers.
Taking commissions of this kind is a regular practice in group tours all over the world, and especially common in Cuba. We believe that this practice seriously compromises professional integrity and adversely affects the delivery of an honest and transparent, value-for-money service to the traveller. We take all measures possible to stop this from happening on our tours in Cuba.
Tipping Your Tour Guide
One of the measures we use to ensure an optimised service is to encourage you to tip your tour team appropriately at the end of the tour of Cuba. We suggest you do this commensurate with your level of satisfaction of the tour team’s services (of course there is no obligation for you to tip at all!). If the tour leader/guide is motivated by making money and is aware that they will be tipped according to their performance, instead of looking for commissions, kick-backs or money on the side, they will make all efforts to maximise your enjoyment of the tour at the best possible value for money for you. They won't be taking you to a tourist shop with elevated prices, to take a cut from the sales, or to a restaurant that will overcharge you so that they can fill their pockets.
It is up to you how much you tip the tour team, and remember there is no obligation to tip at all. However, if you want a guideline as to how much would be a suitable reward, we suggest from 5USD-10USD per person per day, depending on your level of satisfaction and financial situation. You can do this in a personal way with an envelope and a thank you note, or you can contribute to a group tip, as many groups have done, or any way in which you feel comfortable.
Tour Guide Bonuses and our Evaluation Form
In addition to this, the tour leaders work on a bonus system, whereby they are paid a significant increase to their daily wage if they reach certain targets for each tour. The leader's performance is evaluated mainly by the results of an online evaluation form, which we ask each of our travellers to fill out after their tour. This bonus system further ensures that the tour leaders will strive to provide the best service possible during your tour of Cuba.
We send the link to the evaluation form to our travellers via email at the end of their tour in Cuba. The evaluation form is very important to us, as it helps us to:
- Identify areas we need to improve
- Reinforce to us what things we are doing right
- Reward our leaders and guides when they provide outstanding service