Can we talk Cuba.

[Twinprincesses]

what are you excited about? Currency? Documents?

 

We are booked on Oct 16th.

[woocruiser3]

I just can't wait to have my family see how "frozen in time" Cuba is in so many ways. I'm also excited about taking them to El Ajibe--a great restaurant on the outskirts of Havana.

 

I'm still trying to figure out a good strategy for handling currency...whether to just suck up the extra exchange rate fees for exchanging U.S. Dollars to CUC or to exchange US to Canadian ahead of time and then have a lower feee exchange rate in Cuba. This is more of a guessing game as to how much money we'll need to take with us.

[victory2020]

I just can't wait to have my family see how "frozen in time" Cuba is in so many ways. I'm also excited about taking them to El Ajibe--a great restaurant on the outskirts of Havana.

 

I'm still trying to figure out a good strategy for handling currency...whether to just suck up the extra exchange rate fees for exchanging U.S. Dollars to CUC or to exchange US to Canadian ahead of time and then have a lower feee exchange rate in Cuba. This is more of a guessing game as to how much money we'll need to take with us.

Have you been there before? What can you tell us about it?

[nancydow]

Change to Euros. Easy to change back when you return.

 

Bring toilet paper with you. Can't flush toilet paper in their toilets.

 

Such nice people! Just don't expect them to speak English!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

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[terry&mike]

I just took my Mom. We went independently, rather than on a cruise or a tour. Flew Delta from US and back very cheaply, stayed in a casa particular (like a B&B) in the Vedado neighborhood, about 10 minutes outside Old Town Havana. We both liked it a lot, stayed 4 days in Havana. Change money from USD to CUC. Yes, there is a 10% penalty for USD, but with changing from USD to another currency, money will be lost also. I changed $500 usd, so for the $50 penalty, I decided not to overthink it. We found most things to be ridiculously cheap, so it was a non-issue.

The vintage cars are everywhere, we expected to see some, but were surprised at how many there were. The architecture is beautiful, many buildings from the 1930's to 1950's that are is some form of crumbling beauty. Lots of construction going on everywhere. The Museum of the Revolucion was very interesting. The flea market is a good place for souvenier shopping. We ate lots of good food. Have a drink on the back porch of the Hotel Nacional if you can, very old world elegance.

[Taylor D]

I'm thinking about going on a 4 day Cuba cruise July 24th. My wife and I are meeting up with are grown kids and taking a Celebrity Cruise that ends on the 23rd, everyone needs to get back to the Northwest right a way except me so leaving the next day to Cuba looks very interesting just to see Cuba. I know it's poor and suppressed but I love the idea of seeing the cars, buildings and people and the food.. I'm not even thinking of it as a vacation just a real one time learning experience. Problem is i have to go alone and pay double for my cabin so if anyone has done it please give me your opinion. Also I have been on a number of cruises but never Norwegian.

[Debbie1029]

Twinprincesses - we are booked for September and plan to bring Euros to convert. I am interested in hearing from the first groups of passengers about reviews on excursions. There seem to be many educational and cultural choices. We have paid the $75 fee for NCL to secure our visas.

 

 

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