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Our August Day in Havana (Carnival Paradise)


esanders64
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Hello Cruise Critic folks - we are just returning from our Carnival Paradise cruise, including a full day and overnight stop in Havana. We're happy to share our experiences, which are very positive! I'll try to keep the post at a summary, and I'm happy to answer questions in more detail if anybody wishes to post in the thread.

 

ARRIVAL IN HAVANA

 

As some have already posted, don't pass up a 6 am wake-up call to see the ship sailing into Havana harbor. It's a truly majestic view as the ship slowly navigates through the narrow harbor toward the ship terminal. If you are lucky, you will get a chance for a beautiful sunrise view over the Jesus statue on the side of the harbor opposite Old Havana.

 

DISEMBARKING

 

The process to get off the ship was well-organized, and only took about 10-15 minutes once our group was called. Carnival was giving disembarking priority to those who booked tours through them. We were worried about our situation, as we had booked a private tour. However, we just needed to show Carnival screen shot proof of our private and they let us off with one of the first groups, around 8:15 am.

 

Passport control in Havana was a pretty quick process. We already had received our visa forms from Carnival, and we had those filled out in advance. We were not asked any questions at passport control. Money exchange was right down the hall from passport control, and again, it was a short line and simple to exchange. The rate is about 1 CUC per 1 USD. After fees, we got back about 87 CUC for 100 USD.

 

Once we left the arrival hall, we just had to walk across the street to St. Francis of Assisi Square, where most tour groups meet. Be aware of roving photographers and sketchers in the square, offering to take your photo or draw your picture for a small fee. There are many people there offering private tours. Since we had already booked our own tour in advance, we didn't ask about the details or prices of those tours.

 

PRIVATE TOUR

 

The highlight of the day was our nearly full-day tour, booked through FerTours, whom I believe is a local Havana company. Our tour guide Yanelis speaks fluent English and was an encyclopedia of knowledge about Havana and Cuba. With just 3 of us in the group, we felt like we were getting a personalized experience, and she was very nice for times that we asked to go down a certain street or into certain buildings. It would take another several posts to list all the sites we saw. I'll just say we felt we got a good variety of Old Havana, newer buildings, residential areas, and tourist locations.

 

The tour was set up for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of walking in the morning, followed by lunch in Old Havana, and then an hour-plus driving tour around Havana in the afternoon. We were done by about 3 pm, allowing us time later in the afternoon and evening for more people to people interaction. The tour cost was 120 CUC for our group of four (one could not go but we did not ask for a reduced price), not including lunch or gratuities. We paid in cash upon tour conclusion. We happily recommend FerTours, who were easy to contact via their website with an email link. We exchanged several emails in the days prior to the cruise, where we confirmed the tour time, length, and lunch location.

 

LUNCH

 

Our lunch was at a small restaurant, Habana 61, in Old Havana. Like many of the small restaurants in Havana, this one is privately operated on the ground floor of an apartment building. The interior looks more like a hip cafe than someone's house. For 3 of us, lunch came to about 20 CUC each, including drinks, 2 appetizers, 1 side dish, dessert, and 2 coffees. The food was good, comparable to what you may see in other Caribbean islands. We had appetizers of ceviche and Spanish ham with pineapple, followed by main courses of ropa vieja (shredded beef with Cuban seasoning), grilled snapper, and shrimp with a flavorful tomato sauce. Main courses include rice and black beans.

 

After asking our waiter, we were impressed to find out that all the food they serve is local to Cuba, with the exception of the Spanish ham and beef for steaks. They are able to purchase the fish directly from the fishermen.

 

If you choose to go here, reservations are a good idea, as it is a small place with about 6-8 tables.

 

LATE AFTERNOON P2P, STROLLING AND SHOPPING

 

We went back out on our own following our tour, and spent a few more hours interacting with people while walking through Old Havana. We bought multiple of what appeared to be local souvenirs in small shops on the ground floors of several apartment buildings. We are told that these shops are often set up as private businesses by the people who live in the upper floor apartments. I found the better deals on souvenirs are for items that are unlike your typical tourist fare. For example, hand-carved wooden cars were about 3 CUC, while the t-shirt my wife bought was 13 CUC. Apparently, Cuba does not yet have a big tourism infrastructure, and things like shot glasses, t-shirts, etc. tend to cost about the same as what you pay in the US. The shopkeepers were friendly. Unlike other islands, they don't seem as agreeable about bargaining for a lower price. I tried to bargain a couple of times, and was just met with stares of "this is the price".

 

We also did the obligatory stop in a Cuban cigar shop, bringing back several for post-cruise enjoyment. I'm not a big cigar smoker, so I really don't know much about quality or price differences among the selection. The variety of available cigars seemed large, with pricing anywhere from 2 or 3 CUC per cigar to several hundred CUC per box.

 

In the early evening, we sat out by a local brewpub in the Plaza Vieja, actually referred to locally as the "new square". 4 beers came to 12 CUC, and they had live music outdoors along with many people dancing in the square. It was impressive to see that the mix of people sitting out looked like both locals and tourists.

 

GETTING BACK ON THE SHIP

 

Getting back on the ship was straightforward. We didn't try to exchange our leftover CUC to dollars, figuring we will keep them as memories or maybe use them should we ever return. We needed to pass through metal detectors twice, once for Cuban immigration control, and again on the Carnival ship. For passport control, it took all of about a minute for our passports to be scanned and for us to be let through.

 

All in all, a very enjoyable day in a country we never thought we would be able to visit. We highly recommend the experience, and we are happy to answer questions.

 

I'll try to post a few photos later in the thread, once all the shots sync up on our mobile devices.

 

 

 

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Hello esanders, thank you for posting your experience. I am going there next week on the same ship and I have a question about the P2P requirement. Carnival is saying you absolutely have to book one of their full day excursions to meet the requirement. Is this true? I have talked to many people that fly there and they say they have not had to provide any sort of proof of what they did. Can I just spend the day in Havana and document everything myself?

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Hello JR2017PDI - I can safely say you do NOT need to book through Carnival for your excursions. To do things on your own, you will want to keep a record of what you did and with whom you interacted. This was easy for us, as we had a record of our private tour as well as a short list of the places we then visited on our own afterward. Nobody asked us to produce this post-visit documentation; we were advised to keep it somehow on file in case the US Government ever checks. You should be fine with arranging your visit outside of the official Carnival tours.

 

 

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Thank you!

 

Hello JR2017PDI - I can safely say you do NOT need to book through Carnival for your excursions. To do things on your own, you will want to keep a record of what you did and with whom you interacted. This was easy for us, as we had a record of our private tour as well as a short list of the places we then visited on our own afterward. Nobody asked us to produce this post-visit documentation; we were advised to keep it somehow on file in case the US Government ever checks. You should be fine with arranging your visit outside of the official Carnival tours.

 

 

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Hi NMG318 - uh-oh, I may not be much help here. It was a small store just labeled "Cigar Shop", with photos of many famous cigar smokers on the balcony before you entered, including Fidel, Ike Eisenhower, Winston Churchill. I believe this was a different store than the cigar factory that is a stop on several of the tours.

 

esanders64...What Cuban cigar shop did you stop at?
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Thanks for the review! Our itinerary is scheduled to arrive at 11:30, but it's the same ship - was your scheduled arrival later than your actual?

 

 

 

Hi Hrwi - we arrived on schedule at about 6:30 am that day, allowed to disembark by about 8 am. With your schedule, I'm guessing you'll want to start with lunch somewhere, and then arrange a late afternoon or evening activity. Have fun!

 

 

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Hi, was your ship scheduled to arrive that early? We are on the same ship in Sept and ours is due to arrive at 11:30 and I was wondering if were scheduled at 11:30 or you docked early. If you had to do it again would you do the walking tour yourself or still with a guide? Thanks for your great review it was very helpful.

 

 

 

Hello Cruise Critic folks - we are just returning from our Carnival Paradise cruise, including a full day and overnight stop in Havana. We're happy to share our experiences, which are very positive! I'll try to keep the post at a summary, and I'm happy to answer questions in more detail if anybody wishes to post in the thread.

 

ARRIVAL IN HAVANA

 

As some have already posted, don't pass up a 6 am wake-up call to see the ship sailing into Havana harbor. It's a truly majestic view as the ship slowly navigates through the narrow harbor toward the ship terminal. If you are lucky, you will get a chance for a beautiful sunrise view over the Jesus statue on the side of the harbor opposite Old Havana.

 

DISEMBARKING

 

The process to get off the ship was well-organized, and only took about 10-15 minutes once our group was called. Carnival was giving disembarking priority to those who booked tours through them. We were worried about our situation, as we had booked a private tour. However, we just needed to show Carnival screen shot proof of our private and they let us off with one of the first groups, around 8:15 am.

 

Passport control in Havana was a pretty quick process. We already had received our visa forms from Carnival, and we had those filled out in advance. We were not asked any questions at passport control. Money exchange was right down the hall from passport control, and again, it was a short line and simple to exchange. The rate is about 1 CUC per 1 USD. After fees, we got back about 87 CUC for 100 USD.

 

Once we left the arrival hall, we just had to walk across the street to St. Francis of Assisi Square, where most tour groups meet. Be aware of roving photographers and sketchers in the square, offering to take your photo or draw your picture for a small fee. There are many people there offering private tours. Since we had already booked our own tour in advance, we didn't ask about the details or prices of those tours.

 

PRIVATE TOUR

 

The highlight of the day was our nearly full-day tour, booked through FerTours, whom I believe is a local Havana company. Our tour guide Yanelis speaks fluent English and was an encyclopedia of knowledge about Havana and Cuba. With just 3 of us in the group, we felt like we were getting a personalized experience, and she was very nice for times that we asked to go down a certain street or into certain buildings. It would take another several posts to list all the sites we saw. I'll just say we felt we got a good variety of Old Havana, newer buildings, residential areas, and tourist locations.

 

The tour was set up for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of walking in the morning, followed by lunch in Old Havana, and then an hour-plus driving tour around Havana in the afternoon. We were done by about 3 pm, allowing us time later in the afternoon and evening for more people to people interaction. The tour cost was 120 CUC for our group of four (one could not go but we did not ask for a reduced price), not including lunch or gratuities. We paid in cash upon tour conclusion. We happily recommend FerTours, who were easy to contact via their website with an email link. We exchanged several emails in the days prior to the cruise, where we confirmed the tour time, length, and lunch location.

 

LUNCH

 

Our lunch was at a small restaurant, Habana 61, in Old Havana. Like many of the small restaurants in Havana, this one is privately operated on the ground floor of an apartment building. The interior looks more like a hip cafe than someone's house. For 3 of us, lunch came to about 20 CUC each, including drinks, 2 appetizers, 1 side dish, dessert, and 2 coffees. The food was good, comparable to what you may see in other Caribbean islands. We had appetizers of ceviche and Spanish ham with pineapple, followed by main courses of ropa vieja (shredded beef with Cuban seasoning), grilled snapper, and shrimp with a flavorful tomato sauce. Main courses include rice and black beans.

 

After asking our waiter, we were impressed to find out that all the food they serve is local to Cuba, with the exception of the Spanish ham and beef for steaks. They are able to purchase the fish directly from the fishermen.

 

If you choose to go here, reservations are a good idea, as it is a small place with about 6-8 tables.

 

LATE AFTERNOON P2P, STROLLING AND SHOPPING

 

We went back out on our own following our tour, and spent a few more hours interacting with people while walking through Old Havana. We bought multiple of what appeared to be local souvenirs in small shops on the ground floors of several apartment buildings. We are told that these shops are often set up as private businesses by the people who live in the upper floor apartments. I found the better deals on souvenirs are for items that are unlike your typical tourist fare. For example, hand-carved wooden cars were about 3 CUC, while the t-shirt my wife bought was 13 CUC. Apparently, Cuba does not yet have a big tourism infrastructure, and things like shot glasses, t-shirts, etc. tend to cost about the same as what you pay in the US. The shopkeepers were friendly. Unlike other islands, they don't seem as agreeable about bargaining for a lower price. I tried to bargain a couple of times, and was just met with stares of "this is the price".

 

We also did the obligatory stop in a Cuban cigar shop, bringing back several for post-cruise enjoyment. I'm not a big cigar smoker, so I really don't know much about quality or price differences among the selection. The variety of available cigars seemed large, with pricing anywhere from 2 or 3 CUC per cigar to several hundred CUC per box.

 

In the early evening, we sat out by a local brewpub in the Plaza Vieja, actually referred to locally as the "new square". 4 beers came to 12 CUC, and they had live music outdoors along with many people dancing in the square. It was impressive to see that the mix of people sitting out looked like both locals and tourists.

 

GETTING BACK ON THE SHIP

 

Getting back on the ship was straightforward. We didn't try to exchange our leftover CUC to dollars, figuring we will keep them as memories or maybe use them should we ever return. We needed to pass through metal detectors twice, once for Cuban immigration control, and again on the Carnival ship. For passport control, it took all of about a minute for our passports to be scanned and for us to be let through.

 

All in all, a very enjoyable day in a country we never thought we would be able to visit. We highly recommend the experience, and we are happy to answer questions.

 

I'll try to post a few photos later in the thread, once all the shots sync up on our mobile devices.

 

 

 

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Hi, was your ship scheduled to arrive that early? We are on the same ship in Sept and ours is due to arrive at 11:30 and I was wondering if were scheduled at 11:30 or you docked early. If you had to do it again would you do the walking tour yourself or still with a guide? Thanks for your great review it was very helpful.

 

 

 

Hi - we were scheduled to be in port by 8 am that morning, and we were told in advance that the ship would be pulling into Havana Harbor by about 6:30 am, which turned out to be accurate. They started letting people off right about 8 am.

 

The walking tour was definitely a good idea. We actually did get to walk around on our own for over an hour, since we got through passport control by around 8:30 and our tour was at 10. Even though it was fun walking around on our own, we had no context about what were seeing until we met with the tour guide.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

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Thank you for the helpful review and for all the great information I learn through the Cruise Critic boards!

 

I had the same question about the scheduled arrival time in Cuba since our September 7-11 itinerary for the Paradise (and other itineraries that I see online for the Paradise) all say arrival at 11:30. Was the 8 am arrival time only for some of the first Carnival cruises into Cuba or have they adjusted the arrival time to 8 am and just not changed the itinerary information? This time difference for arrival can affect the tours/activities we have planned for Cuba.

Do any cruisers who have been on the Paradise to Cuba know the arrival time that was stated on their original documents/itineraries?

 

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

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Thank you for the helpful review and for all the great information I learn through the Cruise Critic boards!

 

I had the same question about the scheduled arrival time in Cuba since our September 7-11 itinerary for the Paradise (and other itineraries that I see online for the Paradise) all say arrival at 11:30. Was the 8 am arrival time only for some of the first Carnival cruises into Cuba or have they adjusted the arrival time to 8 am and just not changed the itinerary information? This time difference for arrival can affect the tours/activities we have planned for Cuba.

Do any cruisers who have been on the Paradise to Cuba know the arrival time that was stated on their original documents/itineraries?

 

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

 

 

 

Hi Namracmom - our cruise on the Carnival Paradise was indeed scheduled for 8 am arrival in Havana, and it had done a stop in Key West the day before. It looks like the difference for your cruise is that the ship is going directly from Tampa to Havana, and probably can't be assured of arriving first thing in the morning. I see that departure from Havana is noon the next day for yours, so that may allow for something like a walking tour on your arrival day and a 1-2 hour driving tour the following morning.

 

 

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Thanks for the interesting rehash of your trip. We are going 10/5 and are booked for the 10 best of Havana tour which take 7 hours. Do you know of anyone who has taken the tour or if any one else has taken it I would appreciate comments.

 

Gracias

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Thanks for the interesting rehash of your trip. We are going 10/5 and are booked for the 10 best of Havana tour which take 7 hours. Do you know of anyone who has taken the tour or if any one else has taken it I would appreciate comments.

 

 

 

Gracias

 

 

 

Hi Maine76 - how nice that you'll be visiting Cuba in October. We did speak with a couple who we think did the 10 Best Of Havana Tour. They seemed to like it, although they acknowledged that it was a long day, and they only were able to get off the bus for some of the stops. Good luck and have fun!

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

We were on the Sept 7 cruise and had a wonderful time. Cuba was very hot! They did stamp our passports. We used a private tour which we had a fabulous time. Jesse was our guide his email is jesse.aguilar1979 at nauta.cu use the @ sign where the word at is, did not want him getting spam. The ship docked at 1130 we were off soon after and met him at 1230 for our tour, the tour was 6 hours for $240 for 6 of us and he did have shorter tours. We had an air conditioned van. If you email him you can tell him Keith recommended him. He also had cars but we wanted to all ride together. He spoke English very well. I have to add that Carnival was absolutely amazing during this time and gave us free phone calls to home, two free cruise days and a future credit for cruising with them during hurricane Irma. The weather and seas were calm and we would not have guessed there was a hurricane in the gulf, they kept us informed and safe.

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Which side of ship (port or starboard) has the view of the Christ statue going into Havanna Harbor in the morning? Thanks. Getting ready to book and want to be on the side to see it! Your review is awesome and a great help!

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Which side of ship (port or starboard) has the view of the Christ statue going into Havanna Harbor in the morning? Thanks. Getting ready to book and want to be on the side to see it! Your review is awesome and a great help!

 

When sailing into the harbor/port, the Morro fort and the Christ statue will be on your left (port) side. You cannot miss them.

 

The pier you dock at is on your right (starboard) side, around a little corner

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So you are able to convert any leftover CUC back to USD?

 

I was told you could. I didn't get the chance as our ship pulled out early due to Irma.

 

For whatever reason, when I was converting USD to CUC, they wanted as many of my USD $1 bills as I would give them.

 

 

 

Also, has anyone experienced shops, restaurant's or any tours that actually accepted US dollars?

 

Yes, I bought rum & cigars with USD. But it is hard to predict exactly who or where USD are accepted. By USD, I mean cold hard cash. I haven't heard of anyplace predictable that accepts US-based debit or credit cards.

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