Hello from Armonia LIVE

[Valentina84]

Please do not worry about being in the room to 'catch' your stewardess for the Cuba visas. The stewardess will clean your room twice a day. Morning and evening. Which means MOST OF THE DAY he/she will be on your floor so much that you will get tired of seeing them. lol. Sometimes I just wanted them to go away. lol And if you know they are about to come and have you sign for the visas, and you miss them, JUST CALL 99 (Guest services, and ask them to send the steward) Easy Peasy. Really NOTHING to worry about. They also know to come and find you before dinner even starts. And they start this process days before you arrive in Cuba. 

[Valentina84]

As far as exchanging money, i ran out of CUC's and of Euro. And had a $50 bill on my in USD. I asked a taxi driver if he can exchange cash on the spot and he was so happy (they love the dollar) we did a quick calculations in our phone calculators and boom, I had CUC's in an instant. And i didn't have to pay the extra exchange rate fee for when you exchange from USD to CUC. By the way, I felt like i was getting ripped off when i paid with EURO while shopping, restaurants and taxis. Never again!!!!!! The best option is definitely use CUC's in Cuba. 

 

We also went to Mojito the restaurant btw. It was SUPERB! and the Paladar Los Mercaderes! OH MY. The vibe, the music, the food, the coffee and the Rum! My highlight was this restaurant. Just 8 min walking from the ship. 

Edited March 25, 2019 by Valentina84
adding info about Paladar Los Mercaderes

[EngIceDave]

My wife and I went to CS desk, said they’d call the room steward, never did, and wife walked our deck, the small 12th deck, for an hour, no bueno

Not that “easy peasy” the way they made it out to be on this cruise...maybe it changed, maybe it will, but it wasn’t that simple. Not a rookie at cruises. 

[CruisingFox27]

8 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

 

Opposite?

The Miami, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba sailing.

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

1 hour ago, CruisingFox27 said:

The Miami, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba sailing.

That is the one we are doing as well. July 1st.

[Dream1]

On 3/18/2019 at 5:07 PM, EngIceDave said:

Someone asked about the hook ups on the TV

 

 

Thank you I would not have thought to ask but did want to know.

 

[Dream1]

Thank you for all your post and pictures, we are going August 19th.

Hope you enjoyed.

[Dream1]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:13 PM, EngIceDave said:

Not in room 

They did show latest Jurassic Park movie in the business center last night. 

 

Tonight, is this

Maybe I'll see my first ever Star Wars movie (I doubt it).

[Europe Cruiser 05]

11 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

and forest, made a stop at the Cuba National Hotel, even made a cool shopping stop at a store right across from the Capitol Building. 

EngIceDave, can you elaborate a little on the "cool shopping stop"? What did you buy or what was sold there? 

[Dream1]

On 3/23/2019 at 10:20 AM, EngIceDave said:

Oh yeah, I have ATT for mobile service, and apparently it will be very expensive to use. I mistakenly left my cellular data on, and got a text from ATT saying data is $2.00mb, phone is $3.00 a minute, texting was .50 per and $1.50 per on photo/video texts

 

Other news, we already got our disembark info, and as Aurea, we are “Black” luggage tags and off at 7:45am

 

Here’s the disembark timelines.

 

 

I also have AT&T and when we were in Israel they had a plan where you would just pay $10 per day if you used your phone. You had to request it before you leave if you didn't have this added for your trip then of you turned your phone on you would get the text that you received.

[EngIceDave]

It was a small store, a government store (you could tell) right across from capitol and we got four 70ml bottles Havana Club, a couple t shirts, a guayabera shirt and a shower curtain that’s a painting by a Cuban artist

She’d have taken us to anywhere we wanted

[EngIceDave]

ATT doesn’t have an agreement to do that in Cuba, why the rates are so much more. I have ATT’s international plan of $10 a day when traveling. 

[EngIceDave]

Message from ATT

 

AT&T Free Msg:  Welcome to Cuba! Your international rates in Cuba are: data $2.05/MB, talk $3.00/min, text $0.50/text msg sent, $1.30/photo or video msg sent. Please note international roaming packages do not apply in Cuba. You may turn off data in your device Settings.  For questions, please call +1.214.547.2300 (a free call from this phone).

[EngIceDave]

Back home in Central FL

 

We walked off Armonia this morning and barely stopped.

CBP officer glanced at my and my wife's passport and we were gone...not even 2 seconds each

No customs forms, no checks, no nothing, just pretty much walked on by with little more than a glance at our passports

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Just now, EngIceDave said:

Back home in Central FL

 

We walked off Armonia this morning and barely stopped.

CBP officer glanced at my and my wife's passport and we were gone...not even 2 seconds each

No customs forms, no checks, no nothing, just pretty much walked on by with little more than a glance at our passports

Did they ask about alcohol? The last cruise I did, they only asked about food. They didn't seem to care how much booze I had and same thing. Barely looked stopped. That was port Canaveral though...

[EngIceDave]

Nope, didn't ask and technically, we were illegal.

You're allowed 1 liter per adult.

We bought four (4) 70 ML....making us 40ML over (70+70=140ML / 1 LTR is 100 ML)

Our plan, if asked, was to claim ignorance of the metric system

 

and didn't even ask about food

[Valentina84]

I brought back 4 bottles of Havana club rum plus legendario elixir. ( A MUST TRY). OH MY GOODNESS. And no one asked. I regret not bringing back more. 

[LaCal]

3 hours ago, Valentina84 said:

I brought back 4 bottles of Havana club rum plus legendario elixir. ( A MUST TRY). OH MY GOODNESS. And no one asked. I regret not bringing back more. 

What is that Elixir and how much was it??

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

11 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

Nope, didn't ask and technically, we were illegal.

You're allowed 1 liter per adult.

We bought four (4) 70 ML....making us 40ML over (70+70=140ML / 1 LTR is 100 ML)

Our plan, if asked, was to claim ignorance of the metric system

 

and didn't even ask about food

I like that. I'm going with that... it used to be 2 liters pp... Some time ago...

[sandy999]

Hi Dave,  I thought you received 2 free people to people tours on the Armonia for Havana?  Are these optional and you can book your own tours?  Cheers

[EngIceDave]

Not sure I understand the question.

A free shore excursion in Havana?

 

I booked my own shore excursions in Havana through Foodtourshavana.com

 

[CruisingFox27]

1 hour ago, sandy999 said:

Hi Dave,  I thought you received 2 free people to people tours on the Armonia for Havana?  Are these optional and you can book your own tours?  Cheers

Correct. As I understand it and from other reviews, Armonia Havana cruises include 2 MSC excursions in your booking. Ours certainly does.  Other reviews have stated you can cancel the included tours and receive $50 credit towards an alternative MSC excursion. If you do not take an alternative MSC option and arrange your own I'd assume you don't receive the credit. 

[EngIceDave]

I didn't get one or offered one

[CruisingFox27]

Clearly not offered on every sailing then. From, the admittedly, limited threads on here, it seemed they were.

[Beamafar]

37 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

Clearly not offered on every sailing then. From, the admittedly, limited threads on here, it seemed they were.

 

I think it was a promotion only on UK and Ireland bookings, CF.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Beamafar