Which line will offer Cuba first

[Lionesss]

Which cruise lines currently go there???

 

I saw a special on tv last night that did show tourist, but, it was government sanctioned groups.

 

Thanks.

 

Safe travels.

[boscobeans]

Which cruise lines currently go there???

 

Safe travels.

 

I know of two:

 

The Louis Cristal and the Thompson Dream.

 

bosco

[Lionesss]

I know of two:

 

The Louis Cristal and the Thompson Dream.

 

bosco

 

 

 

Thank you.

 

Of course two more questions.

 

Can US citizens sail on these ships? Since we cannot fly there.

And

Where do they sail out of?

 

Safe travels.

[boscobeans]

Thank you.

 

Of course two more questions.

 

Can US citizens sail on these ships? Since we cannot fly there.

And

Where do they sail out of?

 

Safe travels.

 

 

 

Not legally, however people do manage to take advantage of these cruises using other legal countries as gateways.

 

 

Some sail out of Havana and for others Cuba is a port of call.

 

bosco

[scottbee]

Awesome if more cruises start using Cuba for ports. It's so much easier to fly to Cuba (which has non-stop flights) vs Florida (which doesn't)

[jamessemaj]

I would predict that the first cruises to Cuba will be at a premium price, and I won't be there, including the overpriced tours that are already available. Those who think that infrastructure is a major impediment have no faith in capitalism which has been the basis of the whole embargo, ha ha.

[sail7seas]

Check with Diamonds International. If they don't know, nobody does.

 

LOL.... :D Made me laugh but sadly you are probably right.

 

[jocap]

Thank you.

 

Of course two more questions.

 

Can US citizens sail on these ships? Since we cannot fly there.

And

Where do they sail out of?

 

Safe travels.

Thomson Dream sails from Jamaica. I don't know if your laws prevent you, but I shouldn't think the cruise line has any problems with other nationalities....but it is very much a UK experience (food, entertainment etc).

[sail7seas]

David Muir of ABC News is reporting right now from Havana and showed the spot where cruise ships tie up. There is a Russian spy boat there at the moment. :D Seems it arrived yesterday or today as did U.S. Diplomats working on restoring Diplomatic Relations with Cuba.

 

[sail7seas]

Thomson Dream sails from Jamaica. I don't know if your laws prevent you, but I shouldn't think the cruise line has any problems with other nationalities....but it is very much a UK experience (food, entertainment etc).

 

Doesn't Thomson sail two of former HAL ships? Noordam III and the old Nieuw Amsterdam?

 

[jocap]

Doesn't Thomson sail two of former HAL ships? Noordam III and the old Nieuw Amsterdam?

 

Yes, Celebration and Spirit.

Plus Costa Europa, which is Dream (possibly because it seemed they were going to buy NCL Dream, but it fell through), and Majesty, the old NCL Majesty.

[John Bull]

David Muir of ABC News is reporting right now from Havana and showed the spot where cruise ships tie up. There is a Russian spy boat there at the moment. :D Seems it arrived yesterday or today as did U.S. Diplomats working on restoring Diplomatic Relations with Cuba.

 

 

Purely by co-incidence of course :D

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

We were there last week on Thomson Dream.

45 hours in Havana doesn’t make me an expert, but here’s my impressions.

 

An interesting sail-in past enormous Forteleza San Carlos on one bank & modern waterfront hotels on the city's outskirts on the other, to the cruise terminal in the old part of the city. The terminal is combined with a ferry terminal which occupies the other side of the pier. Our ship was 800ft, 55,000 tonnes, 21ft draught, 1500 passengers. She took up most of the pier, but the approach is wide and longer ships can probably be accommodated at the pier & there’s plenty of turning space. Unless the ferry is re-located there’s only room for one cruise ship, & I doubt whether further cruise ships can moor in the harbour (& transfer by tender) without hindering other shipping.

 

The Cuban govt loves its paperwork – as do all communist states that I’ve visited. Immigration officers boarded with the pilot & distributed visa applications. We weren’t charged for our visas – not by the officers or by the ship – but we were told to be very careful in filling out the forms cos a blank replacement form would cost £15 !! There were immigration & customs forms too. And very careful scrutiny of all forms, a health check (for ebola) and tight security.

 

USD used to be widely accepted, but that’s now all changed - at the terminal we exchanged our sterling or USD for the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC). Value about 1:1 with the USD.

nb not to be confused with the lowly Cuban National Peso (CUP), which is worth about 1/24th of a CUC. Shops which sell basic foodstuffs etc to locals only accept CUP, but we had no problem in the outlets we visited.

In theory we were supposed to convert back unused CUC when we left, but most folk simply spent left-over currency in the nearby craft market.

Larger outlets (shops, restaurants, etc) also accept plastic.

 

I visited Havana some 15 years ago, when I described the city centre as “decayed Spanish colonial decadence”, and that still holds good. The architecture in the old city is superb – all the buildings, not just the important landmarks. Some have been restored, some (including the Capitolio) are undergoing restoration, only a few have been demolished, but the vast majority are in need of a lot of tlc - some are just empty shells. Sidewalks are very uneven & pot-holed – if I were blind I wouldn’t want to walk in Havana . A number of streets are currently being dug-up to renew utilities, so some progress is being made, but full restoration of the city centre will be a long & expensive process.

One positive aspect of the US embargo & consequent lack of investment in the centre is that the time-warp means no ugly modern buildings, no Starbucks, no McDonalds, no malls, no department stores, no advertising hoardings. In this respect, central Havana is unique in the western hemisphere. It’d be great if the place were restored true to its former glory, but I fear that might be too expensive without investment from those with more interest in turning a fast buck than in preserving old Havana. I do urge non-Americans to visit before American money is poured into Cuba, and Americans to try to get there before Colonel Sanders & Ronald McDonald.

We did speak to a number of American tourists, we were told that they have itineraries which they have to follow during the day but they can do their own thing in their generous free time.

 

The general population in Havana are friendly and happy. Yes, happy – doubters on this forum take note. The city buzzes with music from bars and dancing that overflows into the street.

 

English is reasonably widely-spoken, even outside the tourist trade.

 

The ban on private ownership of cars (and real estate) was completely lifted a couple of years ago, so there are now many more modern cars on the road – a lot of eastern bloc Ladas & such, with barely a modern American or European car to be seen. But still too expensive for the average resident.

The ban on private cars is the reason why there are so many classic American cars of the ‘fifties in Cuba - if you had a car when Castro came to power you could keep it, and you could hand it down to relatives, but you couldn’t buy or sell. So Havana is heaven for those interested in classic cars ! I guess around 20% of cars in Havana are classics though it’s difficult to judge because the proportion varies in different parts of the city. Many of those in the centre are used as taxis, some plying for general taxi trade, others offering tours. Convertibles are especially popular with visitors.

Public transport is much better than it used to be, now using standard modern Chinese-built buses instead of the old “camels”, and they're not over-crowded – the clip on this website is a very extreme example of how things used to be http://www.havana-guide.com/camel-bus.html

But we didn’t use the public buses – most of the city is easy to walk and more distant parts are on the ho-ho route. There’s a ho-ho stop at the cruise terminal, the full circuit takes 3 hours & a day ticket (that’s a day, not 24 hours) costs about $5. We used two ho-ho buses – one quite up-together, the other with a lot of broken seats but perhaps that’s because every available ho-ho was on the road to cope with the influx.

 

Havana is great value. A good fast-food meal at around $8 to $10, a good lunch at around $12 to $18. In the evening we gorged on enormous lobster with rice & salad for $20 at Dos Hermanos, a Hemingway bar close to the cruise terminal. And an up-market lunch in a swish restaurant opposite the cathedral for a little less. A mojito at Hemingway's Bodeguita del Medio was poorer value at about $5 but hey, that's tourism. Souvenir trinkets were cheap, though the variety was limited – and I suspect most were made in China. ;)

 

A truly unique & amazing port – fingers crossed it stays that way.

 

JB :)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Of cruises that sail from the US?

 

Carnival.

I agree..

[DirtyDawg]

Does it really matter?

 

Whoever is first to sail to Cuba from the U.S, just book with them.

 

I'm heading down there next month to an AI before all you Yanks overrun the place!:D

[marco]

Just got an e-blast from some on-line agency stating that US TA's can now book cruises on Thompson and Louis to Cuba. I believe the ships sail out of Jamaica.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It will be fun to go ...

[DirtyDawg]

Just got back from Cuba this past weekend. Lots of cruise ships passing by Cayo Coco where we were. Lots of new resorts being built too. When the Cruise Lines show them the money there will be lots of new cruise ship ports-of-call built too.:(

 

It's :( because too many cruisers might spoil the place.

[OCruisers]

While we would like to go to Cuba on a cruise, it's unlikely we will until either Princess or HAL offers a cruise there.

LuLu

[DirtyDawg]

While we would like to go to Cuba on a cruise, it's unlikely we will until either Princess or HAL offers a cruise there.

LuLu

 

You don't have to wait for Princess or HAL, the Louis Cristal does a Cuba cruise as we speak. You can embark from either Havana or Montego Bay, Jamaica for a 7 day around the island.

[chengkp75]

You don't have to wait for Princess or HAL, the Louis Cristal does a Cuba cruise as we speak. You can embark from either Havana or Montego Bay, Jamaica for a 7 day around the island.

 

This is the old NCL Leeward.

 

I read some of the older posts where folks were discussing the port drafts. It isn't simply that a berth may be 29', and the ship draws 28', so everything is good, right? First off, the ship's draft changes with the salinity of the water, and from an operational and insurance standpoint, there is a thing called "under keel clearance", which usually dictates 3-5' between the hull bottom and the harbor bottom.

 

Anyway, if you're going to cruise from Havana, be sure to bring your nose plugs, as this is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world, especially from a raw sewage standpoint.

[OCruisers]

For us it not the FIRST cruise line that offers a cruise stop in Cuba ... it's more of when either Princess or HAL will offer one there. ;)

LuLu

[zqvol]

The luxury lines will be the first to go to Cuba on a regular basis.

Edited February 25, 2015 by zqvol

[DirtyDawg]

For us it not the FIRST cruise line that offers a cruise stop in Cuba ... it's more of when either Princess or HAL will offer one there. ;)

LuLu

 

LuLu, take a chance - think outside the box- do Cuba as a European or Canadian - go semi local.:D

 

Boat, food, booze, beaches, what more do you want?;)

[Ocean Boy]

This is the old NCL Leeward.

 

I read some of the older posts where folks were discussing the port drafts. It isn't simply that a berth may be 29', and the ship draws 28', so everything is good, right? First off, the ship's draft changes with the salinity of the water, and from an operational and insurance standpoint, there is a thing called "under keel clearance", which usually dictates 3-5' between the hull bottom and the harbor bottom.

 

Anyway, if you're going to cruise from Havana, be sure to bring your nose plugs, as this is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world, especially from a raw sewage standpoint.

 

Wow, I never would have thought that.

[Aquahound]

Anyway, if you're going to cruise from Havana, be sure to bring your nose plugs, as this is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world, especially from a raw sewage standpoint.

 

Yep. It's pretty nasty. They're hoping the more normalized relations will help fund a clean-up but until that happens, the harbor will remain a cesspool.