Netopr

Try her email duramis@nauta.cu

I created a post with my experience you should check it out.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2651514

I would not risk it TBH.. the show starts at 10pm and ends at 12... even if you cut short the show by 1 hour, it takes about 20-30 minutes to go back. and you would still need to go through inspections and all that.

You get a visa for your entire stay. This applies to air/ground travelers as well as cruise passengers (even with multiple port stops) from any country, with any passport.

This tourist card/visa is emitted by thee Cuban government. They expect that anyone holding a TOURIST CARD is going to be a tourist. In reality, the cruise line is serving as a middle-man for these visas, as a "convenience" to might be another option.passengers. IF it weren't so unwieldy (Staff has been reduced by order of the US government, and the staff wasn't too efficient beforehand anyway.) to get them through the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, that might be another option.

The cruise line is confusing Cuban government requirements with US OFAC requirements, to the advantage of the cruise line and their expensive excursions.

Exacly!!! I did my homework and told the RCI manager that what they where doing was illegal, according to OFAC we dont need prior approval to go under the "Support for the Cuban People Category" and I showed them the FAQ from OFAC. I even requested a written letter from the port manager stating that they where not going to let us board because we are selecting this license, they obviously did not wanted to give us the letter and eventually they let us go. The Cuban government doesn't care about these licenses, they think you are a tourist and thats it.

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_new.pdf

7. Do travelers who fall within the scope of a general license need to submit a written requestto OFAC for permission to travel or conduct transactions?No. No further permission from OFAC is required to engage in transactions by a person whomeets all criteria in a general license. Individuals wishing to engage in activities that may fallwithin the scope of a general license should review the relevant general licenses contained in theCACR to determine whether their travel-related transactions are covered by such general licenses.Persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction who wish to engage in any travel within the 12 categories ofactivities specified in the CACR that does not meet the requirements of a general license willneed to apply for a specific license from OFAC.

We are taking the overnight trip to Havana on RCI. Royal does not offer any shore excursions on the second day, leaving by 1 PM on the second day. We want to go off the ship on the second day and booked a Walking tour for three hours. Do you think because it is only for 3 hours that we wont be able to get a visa for that day and will have to stay on the ship. We booked a tour on Day 1 and will apply for the $75 visa.. is that just for the one day ? Do we have to pay for another Visa for Day 2? HELP? RCI has not been able to answer any of these questions after so any emails getting ...

You dont have to pay for an additional visa for the second day, one visa is sufficient. You can also get your visa elsewhere, not necesarily with RCI. Its a pink piece of paper you fill on both sides with the same information, your first name, last name, passport number, birth date and your country. Cuba doesnt care what you do on the island, the US is the one that requires you to go under certain licenses and you dont need pre-approval from OFAC unless you require a special license.

Places like El Morro, the Capital, and the cigar factory are property of the Cuban government. You could argue that going there with a private tour guide fulfills the Support for the Cuban People category, but still......not completely accurate IMO to state that the tour "meets this category"., especially when any entry fees go directly to the Cuban government. (Luckily, it is very unlikely to ever matter.)

Yes, you are correct and even the private restaurants owned by the cuban people buy food from the state so even if you want to do a 100% of the money to go to cuban people on your visit, it will be impossible. In my opinion, in case of an audit, proving box #4 and "support for the cuban" people activities will be easier than box #2 (people to people) and not taking a tour provided by a US sponsored company. Who knows, maybe the government will prevent travel to Havana soon and will start reviewing these visits.

No. I take it that you haven't either.

I had good success with the @nauta.cu related email from one tour guide 2 days ago.

This is what I've been reading, time and time again, on different sites. The info has been consistently the same. A good thing! And Thanks!

We went with the support for the cuban people category (box 4) and RCI gave us a hard time but at the end we ended up winning our arguments. If you select whatever box they want you, just pray that within 5 years the us doesnt audit you, but if it does, if you selected people to people category you need to provide proof of a US sponsored tour.

<<If anyone wants her information (email) send me a message.>>

I'm not sure how to message you. Would you please message me with hr email?

Thanks-chris

I am not sure how to send messages either and i dont think i can advertise her email. I guess you can email me and i can get you the info. jimenezcandelario@live.com is my email.

We just came back from the cruise and we had an amazing time, specially in Cuba, its so different than anything else. We took a tour operated by a cuban young woman (Duramis) and she spoke english very well. She knew about the “Support for the Cuban People” category and she designed our two day tour to meet this category. If anyone wants her information (email) send me a message. Just by taking her tour, we are supporting the cuban people and not the state.

We visited fusterlandia, 2 private paladares for lunch (1 ea day), old havana, the cuban Christ, el morro, house of cuban people, the capitol, revolucion plaza and a tabaco factory. All in old vehicles from the 50’s that had Air Conditioning.

Dont let RCI scare you that you cant use the support for the cuban people category, that is illegal, by law you can go with this category with no pre approval. We didnt have to provide an itinerary anywhere.

Carnival does this too. It doesn't matter; just switch to P2P on the travel affidavit, get your visa, and don't sweat it. Do make a note in your records. (We went with no tours or itineraries booked and were fine.)

The problem with that is that if you get audited by the us government within 5 years of your visit to Cuba, you have to proove that you took a tour with a US sponsored organization if you chose this category and you either had to arrange this tour before your trip or get an 8 hour tour/day with the cruise ship and thats about $200 per person per day, even children.

so im taking a cruise today and i just finished the boarding process. I had the section 4 with “Support for the Cuban people” category selected and RCI gave a big hard time with it. At first they said that i needed prior approval to go under this license, then later after many back and forth words they let me go with it, after about 20 minutes. I had to let them know that i have a full itinerary with things to do to support this category and they still tried to force me to take people to people category. My recomendation is for you to have a full itinerary to support the cuban people and be prepared to show proof just jn case. You dont need prior approval to travel under this license, you just need to document all your activities as much as possible, keep receipts and be ready to provide proof if OFAC audits you within 5 years of your trip. From all the people goong through check in, we where the only ones battling with RCI to go with this license.

Be prepared to be stressed and be strong, they cannot hold you on it!!!

I consider any travel I do outside US borders to be international, including the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico... I got my first passport in 1971 on the suggestion that I might go to Europe. I didn’t on the lifetime of that passport, although I did do four cruises, a Caribbean vacation and a Mexico vacation. When I got orders to Germany in 1976 I renewed it, even though I didn’t need one. I didn’t actually need it until my trip to China in 1983. I have never let it expire. EM

Good for you! Unfortunately we are not experienced travelers and we made a mistake not noticing that one of our passports expired until the last minute and thats why we decided to go with plan b. We are human and make mistakes. After this experience, we have identified many mistakes we made. Some are:

- not renewing passport one week prior our cruise

- not verifying passport expiration date earlier

- trusting RCI customer service, website and policy

- not doing research on birth certificates expirations

- trusting Puerto Rico birth certificates in general...

I think the best thing the US could do for traveling is to enforce passports everywhere you go, including domestic flights.

OP, Have you or your DH sent application for new B/C and /or sent in the passport to be renewed? I'm curious how long each will take.

Nop, i requested her BC over the PR government website but it will arrive to our home in MD. We might also swing by the government office to get another official copy here just in case right? Maybe we cant leave the island without that on January 1st.. We are still spending time with family now that they are back but in about a week, we will request passports for her, me (expires in June 2018 and my 1 year old son)

I just read your post and haven’t anyone else’s yet, so not sure anyone has said this, but although I feel terrible for you, why on earth did you wait so long to do check in and make sure your documentation was in order?? I am such a huge planner,I do my check in when I book, which is usually one year in advance. When you check in, it asks for your document info, passport info, etc. If done in a timely matter this could have been resolved.

 

 

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Check in one year advance? I am not sure what cruises are you doing this...

I️ know, right? I’m totally baffled why someone would not make sure their documentation was in order long before that! And then to blame the cruise line???? Sorry, buddy, but it’s nobody’s fault but your own! Cruise line doesn’t owe you anything! Get some passports.

 

 

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Sounds like you didnt read this thread at all and you need to do that before judging people. According to RC website i did have valid documentation. My wife had a valid id and a original government issued birth certificate and there was no mention of this 2010 issue with PR birth certificates either in the RCI website or CBP.

As pointed out, Royal Caribbean (or any other cruise line) is not the final decider in these things. It's the government. Royal Caribbean can only provide guidance. That's why they tell you it's on you to find out (from the proper official sources) what's required.

 

From your link:

Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the required travel documents. The requirements described below are required by government regulations and policies. They are subject to change without notice.

 

Royal Caribbean International strongly recommends that all guests travel with a passport that is valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of the cruise.

 

 

It is the sole responsibility of the guest to identify and obtain all required travel documents for the entire cruise vacation and have them available when necessary. These appropriate, valid travel documents - passports, visas, family legal documents and inoculation certificates - are required for boarding and re-entry into the United States and other countries.

 

 

Guests who do not possess the proper documentation may be prevented from boarding their flight or ship or from entering a country and may be subject to fines.

 

 

No refunds will be given to individuals who fail to bring proper documentation.

They are subject to change without notice.

And where do we go to verify the latest requirements? In the RCI website? Or where?

It is the sole responsibility of the guest to identify and obtain all required travel documents for the entire cruise vacation and have them available when necessary.

We did identify and obtained required travel documents based off the RCI guidance. CBP doesnt even mention this issue with PR BC.

You would be wasting your time and money.

You think so? According to their website and policy my wide did meet their travel documentation requirements and yet they denied her boarding.

United States citizens on cruises that begin and end at the same port in the United States can use a original government-issued picture ID (i.e. driver's license) AND an original government-issued birth certificate or original Naturalization Certificate

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/travelDocumentation.do?cS=NAVBAR&pnav=4&snav=5#usport

When you do your online check in and select passport as your identification, you must put in your document number and issue/expiration dates. That would be a clue.

What are you talking about? What clue? My issue is BC related not passport related. For the check in, for my wife i only selected birth certificate and issuing state (Puerto Rico).

A lot of companies take this approach until escalated into the multimedia type forums.

You mean like YouTube, Facebook, etc? Do those companies hang around here?

A telephone call isn't going to do the trick, it will take a letter or several and maybe even one from an attorney to make them realize it might be best to just refund your fare. Every other cruise line would be acting the same way so it's not just RCI.

Thanks for your help, its very helpful

I think at least from a customer service perspective they might get a refund because RCI doesn't mention this exclusion at all on their website and other cruise lines do. I have no idea if that would be pertinent in an arbitration hearing but I would at least run it by an attorney.

I already tried to get a refund using their customer service department. I even had to explain the issue of Puerto Rico BC to them because they didnt knew and a little later they mentioned that they had this noted on their policy. I did challenge them to find it and they didnt. I spoke with a manager after this and nothing positive came out of that discussion.

RCI doesn't care, it makes me want to do a review on YouTube honestly

I feel so badly for you that you missed your family reunion vacation as well as your money invested in your trip. It's difficult to even imagine the heartache when we fellow CCer's count the months, weeks and then days until our next cruise. By you sharing your misfortune you have probably saved (or will) someone else from this unfortunate situation.

 

One thing I would like to share: There are ways to get a passport on the same day. You just have to go to the closest city that processes them. Of course the cost is higher, but it is possible for those who realize too late that their passports have expired or if they can't find it (two days before the cruise, like my DH:().

If i would have known about the issues that i faced, trust me i would have taken other actions such as renewing wife's passport, ordering a new BC, etc.... heck even if i have to spend $1k for an overnight passport i would have done that to spend quality time with family. I already spent $4.5k in the cruise and airline tickets, whats another $1k?

Knowing how important BCs are, I'm surprised that your family that still lives there never mentioned it.

Yeah, im not sure and i dont think i would gain anything by asking them..

Very interesting. Were this to be a court case, plaintiff council might cite thatas example where RCI could (shoiuld?) haeve added the same information to their check in process. That couldhelp in what until you posted that,I personally saw as dismal failure by the travelers. I did not see failure by cruise line, but I now do.

Would my experience be enough to be a court case even though RCI mentions on their website that the customer is responsible for travel documents? I really don't understand why they provide travel documentation guidance but yet say that on their policy. Looks they just want to clean their hands if something happens. Do they want customers to follow what they say or what the us customs says???