Kstofflet

The beach day ended up being a bust and we were all back to the ship by 3:00pm. I will say my guess for the average cruising age on our voyage was mid to upper 50's. There were very few young adults and hardly any children. I'm guessing due to the cost. I will say that we never had to wait to get a drink. It was very easy and the bars were never overcrowded. Not even the pool bar. We loved our trip to Cuba and we hope to get the opportunity to go back next year. Also, the disembarkation process was the very best we've ever had in 24+ cruises. Literally, we just walked off at 7:30am the next day. No lines at all. The port of Miami no longer requires the custom declaration form so that really sped up the process. We were in our car in less than ten minutes.

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On the last day, we went to great stirrup cay. Again, you have to go get tender tickets to get off. We arrived at the island at 11:00 and by the time our group was called it was near 1:00. They offer a full buffet on the island with tons of food starting at 1:00pm. Unfortunately, they only had 1 tender going to and from the ship which took forever to get on the island. Once we got there, it poured rain and everyone got soaked waiting for the one tender.

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NCL website states hair dryers in balcony rooms on Sky. Sometimes they are in a drawer? I haven't packed a dryer in decades. ugh OP did you ask room steward for one?

There were no drawers near the tv nor the bed. Maybe one would be supplied upon request. I did bother asking.we were in the room very little

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I did not ask for a hair dryer. I just wore a hat or let it dry naturally. Also, There are only two outlets available in the room. 1 near the tv and 1 in the bathroom for those looking to recharge cell phones, etc. Havana offers free wifi in many areas. However, you will need. To purchase a $4 wifi card. Folks sell them on the street for anyone interested.

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Next, we took a taxi ride back near the port so we could go to plaza vieja. They have a local craft brewery there and my husband wanted to have a taste.

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Day 2: we didn't have any scheduled tours for today and the plan was to find a restaurant that we saw on diners, drive ins and dives called El Figaro located in barbers alley. However, we walked and walked and walked (not like we could use google maps on our phone). Sadly, We never found it and we were disappointed. I did find a local art shop and I purchased a piece for 5 cuc.

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Looking forward to hearing more about your overnight stay.

We are book for 3 stops in Cuba with 2 overnights in Sept 2018.

This assuming our government doesn't remove our access.

 

 

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We loved it so much that we want to go back next May 2018. I'll wait until the end of summer to book to see what our government does.

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Looks like fun. Was Leo the Filipino guitar player on the Sky?

I do not recall. We didn't attend any of the nightly shows. We were just too tired each night from the heat of the day.

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After hotel ambos munos we headed back to the ship. It was hot and we needed water. We did buy bottled water from the hotel and my son purchased a sprite. We didn't book the Tropicana show because my son is only 13 and it's for adults only. Therefore, we headed back to the ship and ate il adagio.

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This cafe was beautiful and offered a lobster dinner for $12.50

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We wondered into this hotel which had a great roof top bar and fantastic views of the entire city. They provided a fun elevator ride up and had very clean restrooms. Hotel Ambos mundos

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We continued to bar hop and window shop at different locations

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After our first stop and our first $1 mojito and Cuba libre we moved on to the next location

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The floridita bar was so crowded that we couldn't enter the bar. The line was out the door. We decided to keep walking back towards the cruise terminal and we would stop in other local bars.

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When our tour concluded, we decided to walk to the floridita bar from the terminal

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Here are some more photos from our car tour

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Our tour took us around 4 neighborhoods and provided us the history of each

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Our group was called at 9:30. I was very concerned we would not make it by 10:00 as we had to go through the immigrations and still exchange the currency. We were out on the street by 9:40am. The old Havana car tour had a sign with our name on it and off we went.

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Our tour was scheduled to begin at 10:00am day 1 in Havana. The ship arrived in port at 8:00. NCL was providing boarding groups to exit the ship because everyone had to go through the Cuban immigrant process. At 7:00am folks not scheduled on a ship purchased excursion could got to the outrigger bar to pick up a ticket. We arrived at 7:05 and received group 6.

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We arranged the old Havana cars tour excursion on our own. We chose to have an English speaking tour Guide and the $ was 40 CUC per person. This was a 4 hour tour in a classic convertible. It was easy to book online and much cheaper than the ship rate. I believe they wanted $800 for 3.

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Also, there is not as much closet drawer space than we are used to on the more modern ships. We went ahead and arranged for NCL to obtain our visas. They were given to us at check in

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There are many reviews on the SKY for anyone interested in the ship, so I will limit my comments related to the ship. For the most part, we chose the sky because it offered an overnight stay in Havana and the ship offered balconies. I found the ship to be adequate and we viewed it as transportation only. It's not one to be compared to the Escape or harmony of the seas. I was disappointed that I did not know there wasn't a hair dryer in the cabin. This is something I wished I would have researched ahead of time

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Hello, we just returned from our Havana, Cuba cruise. I am available for any questions you may have. We booked this cruise as a family Christmas present and have been anticipating it for 5 months.

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It's a 7 day cruise... you'll be fine. The 3 & 4 day cruises have the party /booze atmosphere. That goes for Royal, NCL and carnival. I've cruised all three and the same applies to any short Caribbean / Bahamas cruise. I would say for you to try Holland America if you want to avoid the younger crowd / drinking folks.

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We received an NCL gift card as a Christmas present and used it to book a cruise to Cuba. We could apply the gift card immediately online similar to Carnival. RCCL seems to be Way behind the curve.

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