Just back from Havana on the Sky. Questions?

[MDTrip]

Just returned from Havana on the Norwegian Sky. Happy to try to answer questions.

 

[trstr]

what was the best thing you did in each stop in cuba

 

[Cary Cruiser]

I think this cruise only has one stop in Cuba - Havana.

[cruisinlibrarian]

How long did it take to get off the ship the first day?  What is the process - take number for a time or just head to gangplank?  Not doing NCL organized tour the first day but need to meet private tour guide at 10 am.  Thanks for any info.

 

[MDTrip]

2 hours ago, cruisinlibrarian said:

How long did it take to get off the ship the first day?  What is the process - take number for a time or just head to gangplank?  Not doing NCL organized tour the first day but need to meet private tour guide at 10 am.  Thanks for any info.

 

So sorry I can't be helpful about getting off in Havana. We had suite services which gave us priority disembarking. From what I heard, you need to get your tickets for disembarking very early in the morning. I heard some people did not make it off until after 12 noon. 

[cruisinlibrarian]

Thanks for responding.  While we are not in a suite, we are platinum latitude members so maybe we can get priority disembarkation in port.  Will need to check it out once we board.  

 

Jane

[MDTrip]

On 10/29/2018 at 12:40 PM, trstr said:

what was the best thing you did in each stop in cuba

 

Only stopped in Havana. Best daytime: I liked going to Hotel Nationale (where the US Embassy personnel got "hearing problems.")  It is a beautiful hotel, with many iconic photos on display, and mostly because it was featured in several books I read and movies I watched before the trip. Best nighttime: Hands down it was having a drink and listening to music after dark on the rooftop of Hotel Ingleterra. It had beautiful views of other buildings that were all lit up.  Most memorable thing was talking to our guide about Cuba and how cloistered they are from news of outside. These conversations only occurred after we gained her trust.  One thing I wish I had done was go to the Malecon after dark -- in a convertible -- and interact with the locals playing music.

[jogehanna]

We are going on this cruise on Monday, Nov 5. I have booked an all day tour with that starts at 9:00 until midnight. Any must sees? I am thinking about Hemingway's house which I want to do and possibly Fusterlandia as well as the major sights. I am also planning on a show that evening at either the Tropicana or the Buena Vista Social Club. The second day is going to be on our own and doing a lot of walking. Does this sound reasonable? Also how was the island visit in the Bahamas? 

Thanks for your help.

[MDTrip]

Are you on the Sky? You may have trouble getting off the ship by 9.  We didn't do Hemingway's house as I had watched the movie "Papa" which was filmed in the house. I heard that you cannot enter the house, but can only look in the windows. We did Fursterlandia. It was interesting. We spent about 30 min there. A show would be nice. We did a pub crawl in old Havana and listened to music in several places. The rooftop bar of Hotel Ingleterra was fantastic. Just beautiful after dark. Walking around on your own will be great for the second day. There is a lot to see. If you are on a private tour on day 1, tell them to concentrate on the things that you cannot walk to on day 2. It was a wonderful trip. 

The visit to GSC was very nice. A typical private island. If you are the only ship there that day it will not feel at all crowded. They had the bars very organized -- separate lines for pre-poured frozen drinks, etc so things moved very quickly.

[FredZiffle]

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 7:17 PM, cruisinlibrarian said:

Thanks for responding.  While we are not in a suite, we are platinum latitude members so maybe we can get priority disembarkation in port.  Will need to check it out once we board.  

 

Jane

Assuming debarkation works the same on the Sky as it did on the Sun, you will not need a ticket if you are Platinum.  We had a 10 AM private tour and walked off at 9 AM with no lines at all.  After passing through Customs and exchanging money, we were on dry land by 9:15.

[jogehanna]

Thanks for your helpful information. I have added the rooftop bar at Hotel Ingleterra to my itinerary. We are on the Sky and haven't sailed with NCL since 2001. We tend to sail on smaller ships so not sure how embarkation works on the larger ones. We can disembark pretty much any time while in port.  I am going to contact NCL to verify times so I can contact our tour company. I have also never been to a private island so was not sure what to expect.

[MDTrip]

Re the private island, you need to get tender tickets for this. If you sit on the bottom deck, keep your belongings off the floor as sometimes the waves will get the floor wet. There are several beaches, plenty of chairs, food that starts about 10:30 and open bars, just like on the ship. there are a few rocks in the sand but not bad. If you look up GSC on Cruise Critic you can get a lot of info. Last Tender returns to the ship at 1:30.

[cruisinlibrarian]

On November 1, 2018 at 8:57 AM, FredZiffle said:

Assuming debarkation works the same on the Sky as it did on the Sun, you will not need a ticket if you are Platinum.  We had a 10 AM private tour and walked off at 9 AM with no lines at all.  After passing through Customs and exchanging money, we were on dry land by 9:15.

Thanks - this is how it has worked at other ports but wasn't sure about Havana.  Do you still just show your keycard to verify platinum status?  Our private tour is at 10 am so didn't want to be late.  

 

[newcruiser1956]

I went to Cuba on the sky earlier this year,  I was one of the first ones off of the ship and had more than an hour before meeting the guide..  You really should not have much problems so long as you get an early ticket.   We were lucky Oceania was in port with us but they did not start getting off ship until after us so clearing customs and the money exchange did not take much time at all.    After you get your cash exchanged etc you will come out of the building and walk across the street to a huge courtyard,  you will see lots of guides holding up signs.  If you have time to wait for your guide, go to the church to your left of the guides .  They have some really cool artwork and a plaque to Princess Di.  

[FredZiffle]

27 minutes ago, cruisinlibrarian said:

Thanks - this is how it has worked at other ports but wasn't sure about Havana.  Do you still just show your keycard to verify platinum status?  Our private tour is at 10 am so didn't want to be late.  

 

We didn't even need to show our card because there was no line at all.  I had verified earlier with staff that Platinum did have priority though, because the info in the Daily did not mention it and just directed everyone to get a ticket.