Cuban Cruise Review - May 1st, 2017 - The very FIRST Norwegian sailing!!!

[CTCruiser001]

CTCruiser001, can you believe your thread is still alive and kicking? I am loving this. I can't thank you enough for all the info.. you provided. How in the world could you afford and get good connections to upload everything you did? I am really amazed.

It was a pleasure to share our travels. I'm glad to have been able to help others out, especially since Cuba was a great unknown for many folks.

 

Thanks for all your great questions!

 

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[NMLady]

If you Google 'Havana Tours by Blexie' his website will have an email address you can reach him with. I don't want to put his address on the boards because that can be frowned upon.

 

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If you're giving tour address in response to a question, it is allowed. You just can't start a thread with tour info.

[chiapet]

For those just off the Sky. Do they supply bath robes in the cabins? Thanks

 

 

We did have robes in our ocean view (cat. OH) cabin on deck 8.

 

 

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[stars0921]

CTCruiser

Two quick questions. Were you able to use restaurant bathrooms without a purchase or are there public bathrooms in the Havana area?

Also would you be able to see the cannon demonstration at 9:00 pm from the ship? Thanks for your review.

 

 

 

Not sure if answered but we were on the May 15 sailing. We went to deck 11 forward and def heard the cannon demo and saw a flash. But you cannot see the changing of the guard and all that.

 

 

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[stars0921]

If any one is interested in buying Cuban rum... We learned a few lessons... UPS will not ship alcohol unless you have a commercial account. Lol. So we had to buy another suit case and 200feet of bubble wrap to get it home! Lol

 

 

 

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[NYRsHOCKEY]

Hello! We booked this cabin for our girls trip! we are leaving July 24th! i will post a review :)

 

 

I'll be sailing on July 24th also! :D

[Deval]

We're going with a group April 9, 2018. Way out there but we've got like 3-4 trips between now and then. Too many places to go, not enough time! [emoji23]

 

 

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[yatemde]

So, as for the rest of the review, do you remember the day we got on the ship and made a beeline to the excursions desk? That was to try and book any cabana’s left on the island. Since they were sold out, we added our names to the wait list – at the top of the list! – but never received a call from the excursions desk that they had a cancellation.

Since we had been to GSC so many times before, we decided not to bother with getting off the island and take the last day of our cruise to get some R&R from all the walking in the sun we did the previous two days. Four days really goes by pretty quick!

As for the Sky, she is an older ship and doesn’t have all those bells and whistles that some people like. For us, that is OKAY! – We much prefer smaller ships, which are becoming more a rarity these days of the huge ships being built by cruise lines.

Overall, our time in Cuba was great. We were very happy to be a part of the 1st sailing to this new destination and are already talking about when we might return. I want to wait in hope that Norwegian will add new ports around Cuba so we can see more of the island itself. We really had zero issues with customs or getting money exchanged which was our worry. We were also worried about finding safe food to eat, but it was really no different as if we visited another major city.

If you are still thinking about going, stop thinking and book your cruise right now! Cuba is changing rapidly and I anticipate things are going to start moving at a more rapid pace as the old generation gives way to the youth of Cuba who yearn for change.

Don’t miss your window to step back in time and see how things used to be…This trip and some of the things we saw and did will stay with me for a lifetime.

 

Thanks for staying with this review and waiting for me to finish it. I will go back to the beginning to read through and try to answer any questions not already answered. I know there is a lot of confusing information about Cuba, and a lot of unknown – I went through the same feelings and am happy to try and share what we experienced. I am thankful for all other others who have taking the time to comment and answer questions as well – Thank you all! Happy sailings!

 

This has been a wonderful review and commentary of a unique trip!

 

Thank you! I believe I will be seeing you next year on Norwegian Bliss! I can't wait for that trip!

 

Diane

[CTCruiser001]

This has been a wonderful review and commentary of a unique trip!

 

Thank you! I believe I will be seeing you next year on Norwegian Bliss! I can't wait for that trip!

 

Diane

I'm excited for the Bliss. We still have the Escape between now and then. Won't stop us from making plans though!

 

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[Sea_Legs38]

Did the Sky offer a specialty coffee such a Starbucks or something similar?

 

 

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[CTCruiser001]

http://cnn.it/2qEzu0k

 

Is Trump going to reverse the Executive Order by Obama allowing Americans to visit Cuba? Those of you who haven't visited Cuba yet, start paying attention!!!

 

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[darienill]

Did the Sky offer a specialty coffee such a Starbucks or something similar?

 

 

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There's a coffee bar on deck 7 .

for 1.

[corley05]

It's more than 90 miles. We arrived as scheduled in the morning. It's more like 250 miles from miami to Havana by boat.

 

 

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[Peacemkr59]

I am curious about the timeline for the Miami to Havana leg of this cruise. It's only about 90 miles from Miami to Havana, so I'm wondering if the ship takes a very indirect course to prolong the underway time, heads straight for Havana and waits off the Cuban coast till morning, or if the ship goes straight to the port of Havana and spends the first night at the dock.

 

 

It's 90 miles from Key West.

 

 

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[LHT28]

it is approx 200 nautical miles from Miami to Havana

not the same as air miles

 

ship speeds vary so can take 10 hrs or more

[Mr. Muster]

Toot-toot, you dearies! This thread has so many expert cruisers to help clarify and answer the question about distance and travel time to Cuba! Our Roll Call (the 6/19/17 sailing) isn't half as lively! Hope you all can make it there before the Port of Havana is forced to close her doors to the USA!!

 

 

Ole!

[Always Cruising]

For anyone who has been on the Sky to Cuba - was your daily service charge $21.99/person? I've booked for November, and that's the price shown. Wondering why it's so much higher than the per day charge on other sailings. We are (yay!) in a suite.

[Peacemkr59]

For anyone who has been on the Sky to Cuba - was your daily service charge $21.99/person? I've booked for November, and that's the price shown. Wondering why it's so much higher than the per day charge on other sailings. We are (yay!) in a suite.

 

 

I think it's because you're in a suite. Service charge is definitely more in a suite.

 

 

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[whtbearfan]

For anyone who has been on the Sky to Cuba - was your daily service charge $21.99/person? I've booked for November, and that's the price shown. Wondering why it's so much higher than the per day charge on other sailings. We are (yay!) in a suite.

 

This is the change they made back in March. All other cruises went up about $.50 a day, but the Sky jumped $5.49 a day on both category of rooms.

 

From a letter sent to us:

 

 

Norwegian Cruise Line is making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1, 2017. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for guests to provide gratuities to key onboard staff who provide superior guest service during the cruise, including their room steward, restaurant servers and behind-the-scenes support staff.

 

To better address the demands of the enormously successful all-inclusive product aboard Norwegian Sky, the new rates are:

$18.99 per person per day for any category up to a mini-suite stateroom

$21.99 per person per day for any suite category

 

Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2017 will have the option of prepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date. Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid their service charges at the current rate are not affected.

 

Service charges can be prepaid on My NCL or by contacting our Reservations Department at 800-327-7030.

 

Sincerely,

Norwegian Cruise Line[emoji768]

 

 

Please do not reply to this email.

For additional questions or concerns, please contact our Reservations Department at 800-327-7030 for further assistance.

 

 

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[Mr. Muster]

Why are suite service charges more expensive? Do they clean your room better than the other rooms? Fancier chocolates on your pillow at night? Privilege sure has its price!

 

Toot-Toot!

 

Ole!

[Sea_Legs38]

Does anyone know if we are allowed to bring distilled water on board for the CPAC sleep apnea breathing machine?

 

 

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[Mr. Muster]

Does anyone know if we are allowed to bring distilled water on board for the CPAC sleep apnea breathing machine?

 

 

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Contact NCL. They will provide distilled water to your stateroom upon request. Make certain you follow up with them right before your sailing to confirm that the request was actually sent and received by the guest services agent responsible. This is what we did.

 

Toot-Toot, Dearie!

 

Ole!

[Sea_Legs38]

Thank you very much for that answer

 

 

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[whtbearfan]

Here's a question, to those that have been to GSC in the past few weeks, what areas of the beach are not accessible? On another thread someone mentioned that the beach in front of the large cabanas was roped off. Is this true? What about the beach at the small cabanas? Any information would be great.

 

 

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[Always Cruising]

Does anyone know of cruise insurance that would cover a change of port? With the rumblings about change in US' Cuba policy, I'm worried about a November Sky cruise. As much as I like Nassau, the price for this cruise is about 3 times what a Nassau one would be, and we'd cancel, if we could - if Havana was axed as our port. Final payment is first week of July, so we'd have 4 months to sweat it out as to whether we said to Cuba or Nassau. Thanks for any advice.