MOTS -- Cuba

[mdsgu]

Going to Cuba in a few weeks on Majesty.

 

Any idea how much $$ we should take? I know we have to convert to CUC, and I was planning on getting Euros from my bank to avoid the 10% "fee" Cuba charges on American dollars. Has anyone done that? The only thing I am worried about is would it look strange to have a US passport and exchange Euros instead of dollars? Or do they really care?

[cruisinfromtampa]

Going to Cuba in a few weeks on Majesty.

 

Any idea how much $$ we should take? I know we have to convert to CUC, and I was planning on getting Euros from my bank to avoid the 10% "fee" Cuba charges on American dollars. Has anyone done that? The only thing I am worried about is would it look strange to have a US passport and exchange Euros instead of dollars? Or do they really care?

 

We took a tour through the ship, and everywhere they took us accepted USD. That definitely won't be true everywhere, but we did fine without exchangning money. At one of the places we stopped, I bought 5 cigars, a bottle of 7-year Havanna Club Rum, and a small package of coffee, and it ran me roughly $80 (most of it was the cigars), just to give you an idea of what things cost.

 

 

They won't ask to see your passport when you exchange money...they won't care.

[CruiseGal999]

Going to Cuba in a few weeks on Majesty.

 

Any idea how much $$ we should take? I know we have to convert to CUC, and I was planning on getting Euros from my bank to avoid the 10% "fee" Cuba charges on American dollars. Has anyone done that? The only thing I am worried about is would it look strange to have a US passport and exchange Euros instead of dollars? Or do they really care?

 

Where you show your passport and where you exchange money are in the same building but 2 different locations. They don't know if you're American or not. Also, they don't care about the money exchange. I did that also in 2017. It was fine. As to how much ... that's up to you. I don't know what you plan to do or how much shopping you enjoy.

[alfaeric]

Before you do the euro or even CDN$ conversion, do the math to see if it’s really worth it. Some banks don’t like to convert that back into US$.

 

As for the cash, much of that depends on how you pay for tours. If you pre pay them, that greatly reduces what you need.

 

To be safe, figure 25CUC pp for lunch on top of tours and stuff, also. Some places are cheaper, but others are more.

 

 

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[Jds83210]

Talk to your bank about getting foreign currency before you go. My bank was glad to exchange some dollars for both Euros and Pounds and the exchange rate is much better than you will get overseas.

[danp]

We took the Cuba cruise last year it was a five night cruise with over night in Havana,The first day we took the ships tour. The guide that we had was very good. The second day we walked around the square which is just across the road from the dock.'

As for the money exchange we went to a local exchange here in New Jersey, to exchange, in Cuba it was very easy .We only took $40 USD worth. While waiting for the bus tour they talked to us about when we come back to the ship if you don't want to cash your cuc it would be ok to give it to any of the crew,we gave ours to our room steward,the reason was because they are there every week.It would be like an extra tip.

 

 

Enjoy your cruise,we did

[danv3]

Very easy to convert Euros to CUC and then CUC back to USD at the end of the day. They will not even bat an eye.

[Biker19]

My bank was glad to exchange some dollars for both Euros and Pounds and the exchange rate is much better than you will get overseas.

^ that would be very unusual - anyone exchanging $ for Euros (or Pounds) in the US is bound to get a worse rate than at an ATM in Europe.

[Jds83210]

^ that would be very unusual - anyone exchanging $ for Euros (or Pounds) in the US is bound to get a worse rate than at an ATM in Europe.

 

My bank is a very unusual bank. I got the standard going rate at the time.