Sano Monte

I don't know if this helps:

On another forum someone posted a photo of RC's Visa Certification form (signed at embarkation). One of the options is, "have secured my own visa". And travelers from some enumerated countries do not need visas at all.

Visas are really between travelers and Cuba. Cruise lines are not agents of Cuba and are only really just providing visas for $25 markups. In fact travlers can go to some US airports and get Cuban tourist visas for $50 each. Maybe NCL is different somehow.

That having been said, I am getting mine from the cruise line.

From RC's website

• A Cuba tourist visa, sometimes called a visitor card or entry card. For your convenience, Royal Caribbean can facilitate your Cuban tourist visa at the embarkation terminal for a cost of $75 per person, which will be charged to your onboard account on Day 1 of the cruise. You will complete a simple form at the terminal, be handed your visa, and you will be responsible for presenting it to Cuban authorities upon arrival in Cuba. Should you lose your visa, a new one can be purchased onboard at an additional cost of $75. If you prefer to secure a Cuban tourist visa by other means, please be sure to do so prior to the cruise. Then at the embarkation terminal, simply decline to have Royal Caribbean facilitate the visa for you. You will mark that you decline on your form, and you will not be charged. If you intend to remain onboard the ship while in Cuba, no visa is required.
  

For what it is worth: There are a couple of websites reporting that major banks in Mexico (including Citibanamex & BBVA) have been having recent issues with ATMs withdrawals and credit card payments. Rumor is that the Bank of Mexico’s SPEI interbank transfer system was hacked, but this is being denied. Either way it is something to keep in mind.

This is not correct. There are certain brands that Americans are not supposed to buy because they are owned by companies with ties to the Cuban military. Whether anyone will enforce this, however, is another question.

 

http://amp.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article183888081.html

Also, as per the US Department of State, “Entities or sub-entities owned or controlled by another entity or sub-entity on [the restricted] list are not treated as restricted unless also specified by name on the list.”

My backup plan: Hire a classic car taxi to dive around some at $40 per hour. To help I have printed out a small map of Havana with a route and stops marked to help with communications. After the drive I plan to walk around Habana Vieja, again added by a printed out map I have marked.

On the other hand, if my guide does show up I just plan to just follow his lead.

My best understanding from reading other sites:

$100 is the old now defunct U.S. limit. (It was really all rum + cigars < $100).

You can now bring back into the U.S. as many cigars as you want, so long as they are brought back in personal baggage and intended for personal use. The rub is that you may have to pay duty on anything over certain amounts ($800 or 100 sticks).

50 is the reported limit of loose cigars you can take out though Cuban Customs.

BlexieCuba <blexie100588@gmail.com>

People can actually go to the U.S. Department of the Treasury Civil Penalties and Enforcement Information online Resource Center and look though the OFAC Enforcement Actions By Year. This may take a little while but other say there is nothing about personal unauthorized visits to Cuba in the past 12 years.

Not sure that this is something the typical tourist can readily find, but according to the Miami Herald (04-04-2018), “These days [unofficially]money changers [in Cuba] are offering in the range of .93 to .95 CUCs for adollar.” This in opposition to the .87 CUCthat a dollar normally realizes.

The apprehension of a rumored impending currency unification(CUC & CUP) is making the USD attractive. Cubans are reportedly shying away from the retiring CUCs and hoardingUSDs as a safe haven.

Example 3 to 31 CFR § 515.574:

An individual plans to travel to Cuba, rent a bicycle to explore the neighborhoods and beaches, and engage in brief exchanges with local beach vendors. The individual intends to stay at a hotel that does not appear on the Cuba Restricted List (see § 515.209). The traveler's trip does not qualify for this general license because none of these activities promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba.

Thanks for the replies.

Awhile back I booked a tour with Blexie, and he asked me if there was anything specific I would like to see or do. To be honest I don't know, and I think I will be very happy leaving it up to his discretion. But there must be something I would later feel bad about if I missed (especially if we drove or walked right past it ).

You do not have to leave the ship. And if you do not get off the ship you do not have to purchase a visa.

I don't know if is cruise lines’ SOP or more formal, but…

The RCI Cuba FAQ says, “In order to travel to Cuba, all guests, including children, will be required to have a passport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will not allow U.S. guests to travel to Cuba with a driver’s license and birth certificate. Guest passports must be valid for six months after their travel to Cuba.”

The HAL Cuba Q&A says, “Yes, all guests (including international guests) will be required to have a passport. Guests cannot travel to Cuba with a driver’s license, birth certificate, or passport card. Passports must be valid for six months a er their travel to Cuba.”

Both claim “all guest” need visas to leave the ship—-but if you do not get off the ship you are not required to purchase a visa.

Both also say “all guests (including children)” traveling to Cuba will be required to complete a travel certification identifying the category of travel under which they are visiting.

A couple of travel forums also suggest grandparents get notarized letters from the parents stating that they have permission to take the children through Cuban customs. Just in case the grandparents and toddler want to go back to the ship for a nap, or something happens to the parents.

Hope this helps.

Dialogue Opening, Chapter 1: “You know how it is there early in the morning in Havana, before even the ice wagons come by with ice for the bars? Well, we came across the square from the dock to the Pearl of San Francisco Cafe to get coffee and there was only one beggar awake in the square and he was getting a drink out of the fountain. But when we got inside the cafe and sat down…” (Hemingway, To Have and Have Not, 1937).

Thanks to the above excerpt, leaving the dock and walking across the Plaza de San Francisco will be a little more interesting. The Pearl is now long closed but I will still be looking.

For those that have toured Havana, what were they 3 best places you visited, what was the 1 place you visited that you liked the least, and the 1 place you did not visit and most regret missing.

Thanks