Time for clearing customs and changing money

[CountessP]

I don't see any recent thread regarding time to complete Cuba immigration and exchanging money.

 

I'm envisioning 1000 people getting off the cruise ship at the same time. I'm sure they've gotten efficient at doing it quickly, but can anyone give me an idea of how long this takes?

 

Our cruise ship gets in at 8AM. If we get off pretty quickly, should we be ready to tour by 10AM?

[QueenOfZoom]

Was wondering the same, our tour is supposed to start at 9:30am.

[316tarheel]

I don't see any recent thread regarding time to complete Cuba immigration and exchanging money.

 

 

 

I'm envisioning 1000 people getting off the cruise ship at the same time. I'm sure they've gotten efficient at doing it quickly, but can anyone give me an idea of how long this takes?

 

 

 

Our cruise ship gets in at 8AM. If we get off pretty quickly, should we be ready to tour by 10AM?

 

 

 

It doesn’t take that long. We arrived on the Norwegian Sun in May and were on the streets of Havana by 8:30. Took very little time to get through immigration and customs.

 

 

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[IsaSweden69]

It took us only 30 minutes to get off the ship.

We preferred to exchange money during our tour in a hotel lobby as the bank branch outside the termin was very crowded.

[Flia]

We were just there a little over a week ago. We took Royal Caribbean, and they let the people who were doing one of their excursions off first. Our tour wasn’t through them, so we didn’t get off until about 8:45 (we docked a little after 7, but it took them awhile to get cleared and start letting people off). It took us about 45 minutes to get through immigration and exchange our money, but the money exchange took less than 5 minutes. We were in a slow line, though; the other lines seemed to move faster.

 

We were supposed to meet for our tour at 9 and ended up being about 30 minutes late, but our guide was understanding and accommodated us.

[Wateron]

We were just there a little over a week ago. We took Royal Caribbean, and they let the people who were doing one of their excursions off first. Our tour wasn’t through them, so we didn’t get off until about 8:45 (we docked a little after 7, but it took them awhile to get cleared and start letting people off). It took us about 45 minutes to get through immigration and exchange our money, but the money exchange took less than 5 minutes. We were in a slow line, though; the other lines seemed to move faster.

 

We were supposed to meet for our tour at 9 and ended up being about 30 minutes late, but our guide was understanding and accommodated us.

 

 

 

Did you check SFTCP & if so did RC hassle you?

[Pitzel]

If you have an independent tour, aim to get off of the ship as soon as you can. We were off around 8:15 and it took all of 15 minutes to clear immigration (3 people in line), customs (no one in line ahead of us) and money exchange (walked right up to an open teller).

 

People who got off at the same time as the RCL tours had HUGE lines for each of these.

 

Note that there will likely be 2 ships in port, so you may also have to contend with the passengers from the second ship who are also trying to get off and start their day. We ran into this on day 2 — it was remarkably quick to get through immigration once we had our passports stamped from day 1 (just waive our passports at the agent), but the line for money exchange on day 2 was quite long with all of the “new” passengers from another ship that had arrived that morning. We opted to exchange our money on day 2 at a cambio/cadeca just off of San Francisco square rather than wait in line at the cruise terminal.

[RiverBlues]

It took us only 30 minutes to get off the ship.

We preferred to exchange money during our tour in a hotel lobby as the bank branch outside the termin was very crowded.

 

Just note that a bank or cadeca exchanges US dollars at the official rate of U$100=87 CUC, but a hotel is free to exchange at whatever rate they like. There are cadecas and banks scattered over the Vieja neighborhood adjoining the pier.

[cruisegirl1]

Exchange had a LONG line but it went quickly. We were to meet our private tour guide across the street from the dock at 10:00am. During the Cuba talk, we were instructed to give at least an hour . We left the private excursion waiting area at 8:45 and were at the meeting point by 9:15.

 

That means it took us just 30 minutes to walk off, go through customs, go through security, exchange money and walk across the street.

 

enjoy

M

[wwinfl91]

Going to Cuba for the first time in November on Azamara's Journey, a smaller ship, 650 or so passengers. What site has how many ships will be in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos? I had read the exchange rate was better if you were exchanging Canadian currency rather than US dollars. Does anyone know if this is true? Thanks

[FredZiffle]

Going to Cuba for the first time in November on Azamara's Journey, a smaller ship, 650 or so passengers. What site has how many ships will be in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos? I had read the exchange rate was better if you were exchanging Canadian currency rather than US dollars. Does anyone know if this is true? Thanks

There are several sites that show port schedules. I like this one: http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/

 

Unless you can buy CAN $ with no fees, it's usually not worth the effort to exchange your US $ ahead of time.

[cbradley1209]

Going to Cuba for the first time in November on Azamara's Journey, a smaller ship, 650 or so passengers. What site has how many ships will be in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos? I had read the exchange rate was better if you were exchanging Canadian currency rather than US dollars. Does anyone know if this is true? Thanks

But, if you have the Canadian dollars (or Euros), yes, the exchange rate is better. They aren't charged the 10% surcharge. For those currencies, you get 97 cents on the dollar. For USD, it is 87.

chris

[RiverBlues]

But, if you have the Canadian dollars (or Euros), yes, the exchange rate is better. They aren't charged the 10% surcharge. For those currencies, you get 97 cents on the dollar. For USD, it is 87.

chris

 

For those currencies, the exchange rate varies, daily, so what you get depends on when you travel.

The USD to CUC rate is fixed, officially by the Cuban gov't.

[cbradley1209]

For those currencies, the exchange rate varies, daily, so what you get depends on when you travel.

The USD to CUC rate is fixed, officially by the Cuban gov't.

I have never read that. Thanks for the info.

[Savllen]

How many people did money exchange before there cruise?

[rederob]

Today CAD$131.70 buys US$100.00 (excludes any bank fees)

Today CAD$131.70 buys 95.6CUC at a Cuban bank

Whereas US$100.00 buys 87CUC at a Cuban Bank

It gets a bit tricky when you add the bank fees:

Let's assume a 3% bank fee, and an American exchanges into CAD$, so that :-

US$103 buys CAD$131.70, which we know buys 95.6CUC

And at a Cuban Bank US$103 buys 90CUC

So today Canadians, or those changing into CAD$ will come out ahead on such money exchanges in Cuba.