DarwinMaya

To correct and clarify my original post, Oceania has finally sent us the online affidavit we needed to complete to obtain a Cuba visa from them. Their $75 pp charge also includes the medical insurance Cuba requires, so this is a plus. They now also tell us they will give us our visas when we check onto the ship, not just before we leave on our Oceania tour.

Oceania gave us no instructions with the affidavit form as to which reason or category of visit we should check. There was a box one could check for Group People to People travel specifically with Oceania but this box was not pre-checked by Oceania and we were not required to, or even instructed to, check it. There was a box for Support for the Cuban People, so we both checked that. The affidavit form was a non-changeable .pdf that we could not fill out online, so we completed our forms by hand, scanned them, and emailed them off to Oceania yesterday afternoon.

We will be interested to see whether Oceania gets back to us asking for a correction, if they issue the visas with Support for the Cuban People we have checked, or issue the visas with Group People to People with Oceania. Unless they get back to us indicating a problem, I guess we won't really know until we check in for the cruise and receive our visas.

We sincerely appreciate knowing from others that Oceania should allow us to walk off the ship without a designated group and that Cuba should have no problem with our walking around Old Town on our own. Also, that the US won't care unless we visit one or more of the prohibited government-owned sites, which we will not.

Thanks to all. Hope this is helpful to someone else.

Thanks so much for all the info. It's extremely helpful and encouraging! I have one question: You mention changing Euros to CUCs on arrival in Havana. Are you US citizens or from Europe? If you travel on a European passport, the rules might differ? Thanks again.

We are booked on an Oceania cruise on Sirena that visits Havana for two nights in early June. We arrive at1:00 in the afternoon the first day there. We have booked an Oceania tour for the morning of the second day. Oceania is providing the Cuba visas at a cost of $75 per person.

We asked our Oceania phone rep when we would get the visas. We wanted them as we arrived in port so we could go out to explore the Old City on our own that first afternoon. The rep told us we would not get the visas until our group tour left, that we could not leave the ship except with our group due to new US sanctions.

I contacted Oceania's Special Services to ask about this and they sent the following response: (sorry this is long but I think it's important for travelers other than ourselves,too.)

"

Thank You for contacting the Special Services Department, Oceania Cruises will offer a variety of shore excursions in Cuba. Guests are not required to participate in these excursions to meet their group people-to-people travel requirements so long as they use another U.S. sponsoring organization to meet those requirements and are, otherwise, free to move about Cuba as long as their activities comply with the general license they are travelling under. Entry to some government buildings may be restricted; it's best to ask your guide about the building’s specific entry protocol before trying to enter on your own. What is a group people-to-people exchange? This general license authorizes persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to engage in certain educational exchanges in Cuba under the auspices of an organization that is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction and sponsors such exchanges to promote people-to-people contact. Guests using this general license must ensure they maintain a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities intended to enhance contact with the Cuban people and that will result in meaningful interaction between the passenger and individuals in Cuba. What if I booked my voyage on or after June 16, 2017? Guests who booked their voyage on or after June 16, 2017 can travel to Cuba under the group people-to-people general license and participate in OFAC-compliant people-to-people exchanges through Oceania or a third party U.S. sponsoring organization accompanied by a U.S. individual of the sponsoring organization to ensure a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities intended to enhance contact with the Cuban people and that will result in meaningful interaction between the passenger and individuals in Cuba."

This is a lot of hooey. We know that group people to people criteria are not the only criteria with which one can get a visa. We are told by other reliable soruces that all we have to check on the application is "Support for the Cuban People" and we can come and go as we please. Anyone have advice or other input. We have told Oceania we are upset about this and are awaiting another reply.:mad: