Trump's changes to Cuba travel from US

The more people I talk to about their trips to Cuba, the more I see how the P2P is being abused. No wonder they're tightening things up. The easiest way for OFAC to control the situation would be to not let folks off the ship unless they have a voucher from an approved guide. That would be similar to using a tourist visa in St. Petersburg.

The more informed we become, the better choices we can make. I doubt people are setting out to abuse P2P contact. They may not even know the "Support Cuban People" part that may be far more applicable. But the simple fact that our government- one that supposedly takes pride in our freedoms, restricts us from being free, sucks.

Maybe in light of numerous people at the U.S. embassy in Havana reporting medical symptoms, having to stay away from state run restaurants and venues wouldn't be a bad thing for cruisers to do!

Maybe in light of numerous people at the U.S. embassy in Havana reporting medical symptoms, having to stay away from state run restaurants and venues wouldn't be a bad thing for cruisers to do!

Well, the latest rumors are that it* was the Russians, so maybe the only restaurant to stay away from is Nazdarovie. LOL

(* US diplomats have apparently suffered hearing loss,supposedly from some device, somewhere.)

The more informed we become, the better choices we can make. I doubt people are setting out to abuse P2P contact. They may not even know the "Support Cuban People" part that may be far more applicable..

The information is all over the internet, not hard to find.

People did not do their due diligence, so did not bother to even find out if they were within the law or not.

The watching and herding around would be on Cuba's part

Cuba issues you a TOURIST CARD, You are a TOURIST in Cuba, just like most of the other foreign visitors.

Cuba isn’t going to "herd" any tourists anywhere.

You really have some odd notions of how things are there.

But the "support Cuban people" part may be left relatively unchanged. Which does allow some freedom to do more than big group tours.

The "support for the Cuban people" category is probably not applicable to cruise ship passengers. Likely they will be part of a group P2P specific license.

The watching and herding around would be on Cuba's part- which I didn't notice what so ever when we were there. Certainly used to be there, as we were told there were specific laws outlining who could be with tourists and who could not. But those rules were lifted a long time ago.

 

OTOH, what we are allowed to do WRT the US government remains to be seen. But the "support Cuban people" part may be left relatively unchanged. Which does allow some freedom to do more than big group tours.

(bold is mine) I have to agree with Vida on this (and several other comments above). If the US wants to restrict our activities while we're in Cuba, they can't force Cuba to impose those restrictions. The Cuban government has no reason to act as an agent of the US or tell people "no, no, you can't go to that restaurant, it's controlled by us."

If our government really wants to restrict our activities, I think they'll make the cruise lines do that by limiting how/when we can leave the ship. I hope it doesn't come to that, but that's my worst-case scenario. If all goes as planned, we should know the new rules in about a month. Until then, it's all tea leaves.

 

Cuba issues you a TOURIST CARD, You are a TOURIST in Cuba, just like most of the other foreign visitors.

Cuba isn’t going to "herd" any tourists anywhere.

You really have some odd notions of how things are there.

?? I was answering someone else who brought up the herding idea around Havana. Just pointing out that if there would be any herding, it would have to be from Cuba, which isn't happening.

It's not my odd notion... I don't understand why you think I brought that up.

The "support for the Cuban people" category is probably not applicable to cruise ship passengers. Likely they will be part of a group P2P specific license.

We will see. It is an option for the license when we cruise. So it appears that the cruise ship lawyers think its an option.

And I'm not sure why it would not be applicable. If you go and support local businesses, you are supporting Cuban people. It's a very loose definition. It only explicitly prohibits a few state fun things.

(bold is mine) I have to agree with Vida on this (and several other comments above). If the US wants to restrict our activities while we're in Cuba, they can't force Cuba to impose those restrictions. The Cuban government has no reason to act as an agent of the US or tell people "no, no, you can't go to that restaurant, it's controlled by us."

One thing that we should realize- it was only 5 years ago that Cuban citizens were allowed to interact with tourists, legally. So it's not as if the close watch of tourists never happened.

But, as of now, it's over, and not happening. Hopefully, it will stay that way on Cuba's part. Right now, the Cuban government has no reason to act to watch tourists. We want our relations to stay good enough to stay that way.

I do agree that Cuba will never act on a tourist based on our laws. Ever.

I appreciate this thread is largely concerning US citizens, however my concerns are from the viewpoint of two Brits who will be flying to Cuba from Miami via a stopover in Nassau to join an MSC ship (presumably flagged in Italy), then after cruising flying home from Cuba to GB either directly or via Europe. Is there any indication that President Trump's new policies will affect us in any way?

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[quote=harz99;53805979 my concerns are from the viewpoint of two Brits who will be flying to Cuba from Miami via a stopover in Nassau to join an MSC ship (presumably flagged in Italy),

Unless the United Kingdom or Italy have become colonies of the US (news being so weird now days), nothing done by the US government should concern your friends.

I'd like to think that would be true, however I was led to believe that under the previous adminstration if Brits or any other non US citizens wished to fly from Miami direct to Cuba they would be subject to the same restrictions and requirements as US citizens are - has that changed?

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If you are in the US, you are subject to the same laws as anyone that lives in the US - driving on the right, speed limits, and so forth. You may be required to fill out the same forms as we do WHILE ON US SOIL.

When you leave the USA and land on foreign soil, you observe the only the laws of that country. It should be noted that if you fly out of the US on a US carrier (i.e. Delta, United etc) you are technically on US soil until you physically get off the plane onto foreign soil.

If the ship is a foreign-registered ship, I venture to guess that you are subject to US jurisdiction until you are outside the US waters (12-miles, if memory serves).

So, under your theorical, if your friends are solely UK citizens/residents, when. they leave the USA's jurisdiction, they follow ONLY the laws of the country where they have landed.

MSC cruises to Cuba appear to embark and disembark in Havana and not visit any US ports (Key West, San Juan, etc.) The new US rules on cruises, if and when they arrive, would have no effect whatsoever. The only US connection here seems to be the flight from Miami, but it appears that there is a stop in Nassau. If those are two separate flights I don't see any US involvement there either.

Thank you both, as you may have worked out the proposed stopover in Nassau would be taken simply to avoid any problems with taking a direct flight MIA to HAV. No real difference in spending two nights there as opposed to two extra nights in Miami before flying direct.

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Take a look at this new Executive Order from trump: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/09/13/2017-19522/continuation-of-the-exercise-of-certain-authorities-under-the-trading-with-the-enemy-act

Does this mean the old Cuba visitation regulations for U.S. citizens apply for a year, or are there other regulations I don't know about?

I'm an outsider, but I'd consider that to mean a one year extension of what is in place now.

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