Cruises to Cuba

Anyone else having trouble trying to book one of these new cruises? Supposed to be able to start booking today but, I cannot get the page to open

Works fine for me.

We're booked, but I use our TA.

Use plan your cruise search rather than the link in the page header.

Thanks all. I was hoping to see an April 10 cruise to tag onto our season in FL. No such luck.

We booked as well using our TA.

Does anyone have any idea how to go about getting a Visa for Cuba & the cost of the Visa..Do all passports have to be sent to the embassy in DCA..

Our Friends might be interested - One has a U.S. Passport & his spouse has a Norwegian Passport..

Thanks

HAL has a general Question/answer for Cuba tied into the info page on

the website home page.

Cost of visa is $75.00 will be billed to onboard acct and all guests require a passport valid for 6 months beyond end of cruise.

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If I were able to cruise -- I would have booked a Cuba cruise a couple of days ago when I first heard that HAL was returning to Havana -- via our TA.

HAL has a general Question/answer for Cuba tied into the info page on

the website home page.

Cost of visa is $75.00 will be billed to onboard acct and all guests require a passport valid for 6 months beyond end of cruise.

 

 

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Thank you.. Will give our Friends this info..

Unfortunately they don't have a computer or Iphone, so I'm their looker upper..LOL :cool:

They also keep asking about taking a HAL cruise with us after they get back from Norway this summer..

I gave them 1/2 doz great & different cruises to Alaska & also Canada/New England, but they still want to go to the Carib, which to me is getting boring since we've been there so often..

If they actually consider the Cuba one, we might consider going along with them..

I'll print out HAL's Question/Answer page for them..

thanks again..

Thank you.. Will give our Friends this info..

 

 

 

Unfortunately they don't have a computer or Iphone, so I'm their looker upper..LOL :cool:

 

 

 

They also keep asking about taking a HAL cruise with us after they get back from Norway this summer..

 

 

 

I gave them 1/2 doz great & different cruises to Alaska & also Canada/New England, but they still want to go to the Carib, which to me is getting boring since we've been there so often..

 

 

 

If they actually consider the Cuba one, we might consider going along with them..

 

 

 

I'll print out HAL's Question/Answer page for them..

 

 

 

thanks again..

You are welcome.

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Is it just travelers from the US who require a visa for this cruise or does everyone need one? The last time I went to Cuba it was a land vacation and I think the visa was built into the airfare.

Is it just travelers from the US who require a visa for this cruise or does everyone need one? The last time I went to Cuba it was a land vacation and I think the visa was built into the airfare.

Check out the Q&A page on this link.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=cuba_cruises&showHeader=true&showFooter=true&ICID=H_CubaDLP_US

Is it just travelers from the US who require a visa for this cruise or does everyone need one? The last time I went to Cuba it was a land vacation and I think the visa was built into the airfare.

Everyone requires the visa, which HAL will probably take care of and hand out on the ship. It's important for non-US citizens to understand that they are bound by the US restrictions on what you may do because you will be on a ship that left from the US. There's a list of a dozen categories of purposes for visiting Cuba.

Is it just travelers from the US who require a visa for this cruise or does everyone need one? The last time I went to Cuba it was a land vacation and I think the visa was built into the airfare.

Because the ship departs from the USA you would be treated the same as a US citizen. I decided the restrictions were not for me, I don't like having to account for how I spent all my time ashore, and not being allowed to go to a beach!

I don't like having to account for how I spent all my time ashore, and not being allowed to go to a beach!

This is a myth, according to all recently returning cruise passengers. You are free to depart the ship and go about your day as you choose. No one asks, no one cares.

You can also go to a beach, but why on earth would you? You would be paying a premium price to go to a unique, newly available (to Americans, anyway) city filled with history and things to see and do.

Beaches are a dime a dozen on any other cruise to the Caribbean.

Everyone requires the visa, which HAL will probably take care of and hand out on the ship. It's important for non-US citizens to understand that they are bound by the US restrictions on what you may do because you will be on a ship that left from the US. There's a list of a dozen categories of purposes for visiting Cuba.

That's very informative and a big WOW. We have been able to go to Cuba for years (if we wanted to) and no Visa was required.

Thanks for that very important point that applies to everyone.

This is a myth, according to all recently returning cruise passengers. You are free to depart the ship and go about your day as you choose. No one asks, no one cares.

 

You can also go to a beach, but why on earth would you? You would be paying a premium price to go to a unique, newly available (to Americans, anyway) city filled with history and things to see and do.

Beaches are a dime a dozen on any other cruise to the Caribbean.

I wouldn't want to go to a beach all day, but I want want to for a couple of hours, as well as seeing other things.

Some people do bend the rules by doing that, but as I have a UK passport I would just rather not be restricted by rules that would not apply to me if I wasn't on a cruise from the USA.

This is a myth, according to all recently returning cruise passengers. You are free to depart the ship and go about your day as you choose. No one asks, no one cares.

 

You can also go to a beach, but why on earth would you? You would be paying a premium price to go to a unique, newly available (to Americans, anyway) city filled with history and things to see and do.

Beaches are a dime a dozen on any other cruise to the Caribbean.

According to the US Treasury Department, the requirements that all the cruise lines have published, are real. Here's the relevant link on their website:

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_new.pdf

Note point #7:

7. Is travel to Cuba for tourist activities permitted ?

No. Consistent with the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA), travel-related transactions involving Cuba are only permitted for the 12 categories of activities identified in the CACR. Travel-related transactions for other purposes remain prohibited.

Call me skeptical, but I'm inclined to believe the Treasury Dept. documents and all the cruise lines' Cuba FAQs. How did you find this information from all the returning Cuba passengers, anyway?

I called HAL today asking about the visa. We were rescheduled to the 12-day on Dec 22 (originally 14-day Caribbean). We are Canadians and no visa is required for visiting Cuba as tourists. The HAL agent told me that "Visa required" on every booking confirmation is by default, and non-US citizens should contact Cuban embassy to clarify whether a visa is needed.

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This is a myth, according to all recently returning cruise passengers. You are free to depart the ship and go about your day as you choose. No one asks, no one cares.

 

You can also go to a beach, but why on earth would you? You would be paying a premium price to go to a unique, newly available (to Americans, anyway) city filled with history and things to see and do.

Beaches are a dime a dozen on any other cruise to the Caribbean.

I don't know how HAL will handle it, but Azamara says they require you to fill out an affidavit saying what category your independent time fits. Whether they follow through on that is unknown. I have seen posters say they were free to go anywhere on their own, but what I don't know is whether the cruise in question came from the US or a non-US port. Because that's the big difference. The lines are saying that if the ship sails from a US port, everyone must follow the US restrictions.

I know that some companies are taking the rules seriously. When I tried to do travel insurance online, the company I use wouldn't let me do it. I had to print out and complete that affidavit and fax or mail it in with the insurance application. Their take on it is that I'm doing business with Cuba, so by insuring me, they're doing business with Cuba, too. And they want to make sure that their "business partner" is following the rules. I realize that most of this is a just CYA, but they did require it.

According to the US Treasury Department, the requirements that all the cruise lines have published, are real. Here's the relevant link on their website:

 

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_new.pdf

 

Note point #7:

 

7. Is travel to Cuba for tourist activities permitted ?

 

No. Consistent with the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA), travel-related transactions involving Cuba are only permitted for the 12 categories of activities identified in the CACR. Travel-related transactions for other purposes remain prohibited.

 

 

Call me skeptical, but I'm inclined to believe the Treasury Dept. documents and all the cruise lines' Cuba FAQs. How did you find this information from all the returning Cuba passengers, anyway?

I did a little more research on the education person-to-person license, which is the one the cruise lines and tours use. "Tourist activities" that are not allowed seem to include museums, which I find very disappointing. This is from the very long Treasury dept document that goes into detail for all the categories.

© Transactions related to activities that are primarily tourist–oriented, including self-directed educational activities that are intended only for personal enrichment, are not authorized by this section.

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Documents/31cfr515.pdf

Call me skeptical, but I'm inclined to believe the Treasury Dept. documents and all the cruise lines' Cuba FAQs. How did you find this information from all the returning Cuba passengers, anyway?

All who reported back.

If you can step off the HAL board for a bit, you will find numerous first person reports on the NCL, RCCL and Cuba Port of Call boards from recently returning US based passengers.

Yes, you fill out the certification document for one of the 13 reasons to visit. RCCL collects a copy at embarkation in Tampa, NCL requires you to email it back to them 30 days prior to departure. The RCCL form has a choice for "self guided people to people exchange"; I suppose all cruise lines have a similar choice on their documentation.

The form is for the US Gov't, and there is a recommendation that you keep your activity notes for 5 years.

With the mess going on today in the Government today, I find it laughable to think that 3 years from now I would get a call from the Treasury Department questioning where I was in Havana between the hours of noon and 5 PM on May 28th, 2017.

Additionally, no one in Havana cares. It is not 1942 "show me your papers" Germany.