Azamara Cruise typically once per cruise has an event call Azamazing Evening when they arrange a free evening event not generally open to the public.  They changed the original cruise itinerary so that we arrived in Santiago de Cuba the evening before rather than the next morning to accomodate this event. They rented Santiago’s Heredia Theater so that all passengers could attend.  At the performance, local performers put on a wonderful program of Cuban music. 

Santiago de Cuba is Cuba’s second largest city with about 550,000 population. The following day, we toured the central city with its very attractive main square. Later, we visited the Moncada Barracks site of an early battle of the Revolution and then went to San Juan Hill of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders fame. Then, it was on to lunch at a Paladar, a private restaurant in a Cuban home.

Our day concluded with a visit to Cementerio Santa Ifigenia, where Fidel Castro is buried.  The cemetery was the most well kept area we saw in Cuba.  Then it was off to the cruise ship, leaving Cuba and arriving in Miami two days later.  Shortly after we left Santiago, we passed the Guantanamo Naval Base, on the southeastern coast of Cuba.