bwrCT

We were on the cruise last week. We arrived early because of medical emergency and we were allowed off as soon as the ship cleared - about 11:00.

Thank you so much for your detailed review. We are about to take our first cruise on Riviera and your details helped so much!

We were in Cuba Jan 29 & 30. This is from my review of the Veendam cruise:

Monday about 1:30, we began entry to Havana. You have to wait at entry for other ship toleave the port and then the pilot takes you into the channel. We were told the Italian ship leaving wasoften late and sure enough, they were. Our excursions were set for 3:00 but we did not get out of the portuntil about 4:30. Many people upsetbecause HAL apparently knew this, but set up excursions anyway that they knewwe would not start on time. Ours stillended at 7:00 and the order of the excursion was actually the opposite of thedescription. We did an Afternoon Strollthrough old Havana, which was to be a walking tour, then a dance performance,followed by a light dinner at a local restaurant. Instead, we were taken by bus directly to theOriginal Sloppy Joe’s Bar, where we were served a Cubano sandwich and coke,then taken back to port by bus. Then wewalked to dance studio for performance and finally began walking tour in thedark. Much is made about the requiredpeople to people interaction, but we didn’t actually have the opportunity forinteraction with the locals. Our guidewas a young girl who walked very quickly and would begin talking even beforeeveryone had arrived.

Tuesday morning we were in port until 11:30. We went outside on our own about 8:30 (nolines or problem) and flagged down a classic car to take an hour ride aroundHavana. The cost was $60 USD which wesplit with another couple. We were in a55 Buick convertible and our driver Victor spoke excellent English. He had been a mechanical engineering teacher,but he quit to drive tourists because he made more money. This was a perfect morning – he showed usmany sites, spoke with us at length – a true people to people interaction. Then he dropped us at an indoor shopping market(which you would never have guessed was a market from the outside – it was aformer train station. Rows and rows oftourist/souvenir type objects – many identical to others. We then walked back to the ship.

What I wish I had know in advance about visiting Cuba:

1. Ship provides Visa for $75 on ship

2. Ship’s excursions are pricey and probably notnecessary. US regs require a people topeople exchange which supposedly the ship’s excursion qualifies for. But no one actually ever asked us what we didin Cuba. We are supposed to keepreceipts for 5 years in case Big Brother ever decides down the road to ask uswhat we did – really???

3. It’s not necessary to change money – the USdollar is accepted at a value of $.87. The stall keepers in the market even had calculators! If you do change money, do in small amount.

4. You can set up your own site seeing by simplyflagging a taxi (classic car, regular taxi, horse drawn carriage or 3 wheeledbicycle carriage) outside of the terminal for much less than the ship’s tourprices.