Tour ops share updates as Cuba restores power

This story was updated on Monday, March 17 at 9:48 a.m. EST

Cuba is once again grappling with electricity issues after a transmission line at a substation in Havana shorted Friday evening (March 14), sparking a chain reaction that cut power across the island, officials said.

According to reports, Cuba’s capital was without power through Saturday, despite efforts to restore the grid, leaving millions across the country without electricity.

By Saturday night, neither of Cuba's two largest power plants – Felton, in Holguin province, and Antonio Guiteras, in Matanzas – was generating electricity, leaving most homes in the dark.

READ MORE: Cuba Tourist Board talks recovery, island improvements at Única night

However, according to an update from Reuters on Sunday (March 16), pockets of Havana have now begun to see the lights turn back on. But many in Cuba are still face rolling blackouts, the report says.   

Havana´s electric company said on social media that roughly 19 per cent of its clients in the city had seen power restored, but gave no estimate for a full recovery.

Cuba in the dark

It’s the latest in a string of high-profile power outages in Cuba that have taken place over the past five months.

Cuba was without power for nearly a week in October – its worst energy outage in decade – and that event was later amplified by extreme weather events.

Hurricane Oscar struck the far eastern end of the island that same month, while November saw the passage of Hurricane Rafael.

Another widespread outage occurred in December just as the winter holiday season was getting started.

Cuban officials have blamed the energy failures on various things, from increased U.S. economic sanctions to disruptions caused by hurricanes to the deteriorating state of the island’s infrastructure.

Updated travel advice

In the wake of last year’s grid failures, the Government of Canada has since updated its travel advice page for Cuba.

“Cuba has been experiencing nationwide power outages since October 18, 2024. The electrical system is vulnerable and additional outages can occur suddenly. Previous outages persist in some places and scheduled power cuts regularly take place to conserve power,” a notice reads.

READ MORE: Sunwing releases framework for Cuban hotels to “set clear expectations”

The Canadian government reminds travellers that most large hotels and resorts use generators when outages hit.

“However, they may not be able to maintain their services should an extended outage occur,” Ottawa’s notice reads.

Tour operators share updates

As noted in previous reports, it’s common for resorts in Cuba to use generators in situations like this.  

During the blackouts of late 2024, most hotels sold by Sunwing, for example, were not affected because more than 90 per cent of properties were on generators, said Samantha Taylor, chief marketing officer at Sunwing Vacations Group, in an interview with PAX last November.  

Guests staying at Sunwing-approved hotels that had no power were moved to hotels that did, Taylor said.

In a statement sent to PAX on Sunday, Sunwing said it has been advised that power has been restored in Holguin, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. 

"Several hotels in Varadero and Havana have also been reconnected to the power grid, while others continue to operate on backup generators until Cuban authorities can reconnect those impacted hotels to the national power supply," the company wrote in an email. 

Sunwing added that it proactively implemented flexible options for customers travelling to Varadero and Holguin this weekend (March 15-16, 2025), including the option to change their destination and/or departure date to commence travel on or before June 20, 2025.

"We continue to monitor the situation in Cuba and thank our customers for their patience as the Cuban authorities work to restore full access to the national power supply," the company wrote. 

Transat also got back to us on Sunday, confirming that all of its properties in Holguin and Varadero “are back to normal,” with only Havana still running on generators.

Cuba Tourist Board shares update

The Cuba Tourist Board shared an update with PAX on Monday (March 17), saying that Friday's outage affected the entire island except all the cayos, which operate independently from the national grid.

During the weekend, hotels in Varadero, Holguin and Havana operated with generators, and as of today (Monday), the power has been restored to all these areas and its business as usual, the tourist board said. 

"Most of the population has the service restored except few pockets outside Havana city centre," the tourist board said.

All of Cuba's airports were operational during the outage, and flights were not impacted, as there were generators and "micro electric systems" working to ensure no disruption of air travel and other essential services, the tourist board said. 

In a message to PAX on Monday, Air Canada Vacations said that as of 1:00 am Monday morning, "all power has been restored." 

"Fortunately, most hotels are on generators," a company statement read. "As always, we will continue to monitor the situation." 

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