Cienfuegos to Santo Domingo

Cienfuegos, whose name literally translates as "Hundred fires," is also known as the Pearl of the South. The city owes its grand, romantic architecture to the French colonists who first settled there. The beautiful old town of Trinidad de Cuba is a true gem, with lovingly restored colonial facades, sleepy lanes and a turquoise sea. This friendly town, with its important past as the center of sugar cane cultivation, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for many years, along with the cultivated landscape of the Valle de Los Ingenios, or "Valley of the Sugarmills." Explore this city before boarding your ship to spend the night. 

Spend another day exploring Cienfuegos before boarding your ship and setting sail on your cruise. 

Today relax aboard your ship as you cruise to the next destination.

The El Morro fortress - once almost completely destroyed by the pirate Henry Morgan - towers high above the bay of Santiago de Cuba. This city is an architectural gem, and proud not only of its reputation as the birthplace of the revolution, but also of its musicality. If you go for a walk, sooner or later you will find yourself in an authentic Salsa bar. The whole city has music in its blood, and nowhere else do people make so much music or dance so much. The rhythms of the Salsa, Son and Rumba are just as thrilling in clubs, bars and schools as they are in the famous Buena Vista Social Club.

Port Antonio was once the world's banana capital, but has since been discovered and rebranded as a relaxing destination, with vacation properties found near the clear deep waters of the Blue Lagoon. The pretty little town, surrounded by sugar cane fields and banana plantations, impresses with its delightful beaches. The Rio Grande is the island's largest river and channels its course over 60 kilometers in green solitude through the jungle and into the sea. Historically, bananas and other fruit were carefully transported on bamboo rafts along the waterway to the port. Today the rafts have been equipped with bench seats and are used for excursions.

Today relax aboard your ship as you cruise to the next destination.

During the sugar boom of the late 19th century, La Romana developed into a lively working-class city and eastern sugar center. The third largest city in the Dominican Republic now has many faces. The streets are laid out in a grid formation with colorfully painted houses. Between these and the golf courses and luxury villas of the prominent Casa de Campo flows the Rio Dulce, which runs into the sea. Native Taino art plays a large role, both in the city's archaeological museum and in what is perhaps the country's most beautiful cave, Maravillas, which was a cult site for the native Taino people and lies 25 meters (82 ft)  below ground. The numerous cave paintings are more than 1,000 years old and have been exceptionally well preserved.

After breakfast, disembark the ship to explore Santo Domingo before continuing on your independent travels or heading home. On the island of Hispaniola, Columbus founded the first Spanish colony in America. Santo Domingo, the present capital of the Dominican Republic, is the oldest European-founded city in the New World. "Old" in the New World still means relatively young - it corresponds to Renaissance visions of the ideal, and was the model for many cities in Latin America. A visit to the historic old city is like a journey through time: the splendid stone buildings are remnants of the era of colonial conquests, and have been protected as UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites.