mac1_131
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Posts posted by mac1_131
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I love Oasis and plenty of Uber or cabs to zip you over to cruise terminal.
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I was glad I did. One less thing to fool with during the cruise. I prefer doing it online before the cruise and then don't have to wait in any lines or make any phone calls.
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It is hit or miss in my experience. Some times you luck out.Is this something new? I could have sworn my last Royal Cruise (Oasis, a few years ago) - they had done away with the corkage fee. Did they bring it back? -
Havana has an elevator to get to street level so shouldn't be an issue there.
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There are premium tables for a few bucks more. Not worth it imho all seats are pretty good.
Tables of 8, 4 facing 4, sideways facing.
Get there a little early you will get better seats. They open at 8 (you can order drinks and food I think) and show is at 9:30.
They also have a dinner ticket those people get seated together usually closer to the front.
But it steps down like a theater so like I say really not any bad seats.
Gentleman get issued a cigar on the way in, and there are bottles of rum, Cokes, ice bucket and limes on the tables at show time so you can make your own Cuba libres.
We liked it a lot. We also left a hair early to avoid massive rush to get out. That was a good move our cab driver was right outside waiting for us with his '41 Chevy [emoji41]
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Not to much rain yet in May. Hot, occasional tropical showers.
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I just was on a ship at Port Everglades that was having some difficulty getting cleared. And LOTS of people in the self-departure line. Some had a similar flight you are describing and they were freaking.
Ship didn't get cleared till 8am.
Myself I would not risk it. -
I guess I'm a cheapie. I bring the couple bottles of my (better) wine plus a Chef's table or two (includes wine) and dang most of my dinners covered right there. I still do the Britta filter to fill drinking water (although ship water is always fine).
Then I just buy my poolside drinks and I feel I drink less (my Doctor likes that) and don't spend as much.
I had one Coke the whole cruise [emoji41] and maybe 4 beers.
YMMV, just my .02 -
I guess I am in trouble because my ship arrives at 8 pm and I have a tour the next morning at 8 am. I won't be able to get tip money. Does anyone have any suggestions?
No worries just use US will be fine. Break your 20s before you come in to 10s 5s and 1s that will help. -
1 hour ago, mac1_131 said:
Officially people-to-people has ended
Sorry meant to say individual P2P has ended. Group P2P still available, be it an official shore excursion or an acceptable private activity.
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I did Tropicana on my own bought tickets online using credit card (uses payment provider in Spain) and used voucher on my iphone and took a cab.
If you buy while still at home print out voucher. I bought on ship at sea so just showed them voucher on my iPhone
Everything went fine. Cab driver will offer to pick you up I recommend that and he will be waiting for you outside
Leave a few moments early to avoid the rush
They give you a bottle of rum, ice, Coke’s and limes to make your own Cuba libres during show so drinks essentially included
Gentlemen are issued a cigar on the way in [emoji41]
Tropicana is a well run class act -
Not true no problem taking US but if not there is a cadeca right there in the vendors mall. Sometimes they want 10% more for US, but you pay 13% to change it at a cadeca so no issue there.
There is also a cadeca right as you get off ship. Takes seconds to change money. -
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There are some cigars at the market but our tour guide told us to beware of counterfeit cigars there.
The market was so-so, a thousand people trying to sell you the same tee shirt and local art.
We bought our cigars and rum at the gift shops in the two forts during our tours. -
Officially people-to-people has ended, but they seem to take it anyway on the form. We used the organized category to be 100% legit (we wanted the cruise line excursions anyway) but once you get there no one checks anything (March 2019) and the reality is you can still do whatever you want.
Might be good to have some shore excursion receipts with your OFAC form but the likelihood anyone ever checks is zero.
Any almost everywhere took USD so change some money but we used USD a lot too. A couple places took it at .9 rate because when they change it back to CUC (kook) they are going to get taxed but many took it straight up 1:1 as CUC.
So no worries here all good!
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On 3/29/2019 at 4:23 PM, mexico8 said:
Have any Canadians gone on a cruise to Havana? We keep reading all about US citizens needing a Visa etc. but I'm not sure if we need to get a visa through the ship or if we can get it at a Cuban Embassy near where we live in Canada. It's cheaper for us to get it ourselves but not sure if it will be allowed. Any info appreciated.
We just got back and were with some Canadians. If you embarked from USA they will treat you same as US citizens. That means $75 red visa and fill out USA OFAC certification form.
No big deal just go with the flow and fill out the form, which being Canadian you can trash when you get home. We have to keep ours 5 years, and of course no one will ever ask to see it. It is more to protect the cruise line that they are following the rules.
No one checks anything and you can do whatever you want when you get there.
We had a great time!
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Anyone who is on an overnight cruise and wants to go to Tropicana cabaret, wanted to let you know the online tickets using credit card worked. I actually bought mine on the ship and used the voucher on my iPhone it worked fine.
They use a payment provider in Spain so your USA credit card can work although initially it may trigger some fraud alerts at your bank which you can approve and it goes through.
You get an email attachment with a voucher print it out or just show them your phone. They are all computerized they just look you up to verify worked great for us.
Cab ride is about 30 minutes from ship and is around $25 or $50 for a convertible.
I had to do this because ships excursion was already full so this is a workable option to have a go on your own.
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Yes they are nice fairly new coaches with AC and a bathroom
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They just use the stamp. Eventually they give up and don’t check any more but obviously keep your passport with you.
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I believe 8am to 6pm are the hours.
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I guess that is what I hope to find out, what is free time that is consistent with a full time schedule.
If I do an 8 hour (full time) activity and have a few hours to do my own thing that would probably be ok.
If you get herded off and on and guarded like prisoners then I am afraid cruising to Cuba is doomed.
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I think they were $28 for 5 if I remember correctly. Price will vary depending where you are for tax purposes.
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Just got back on Grandeur. Ship is in best shape in several years. New decking on deck 10, the "crack" is fixed, new paint everywhere, lots of new carpet, new laundry, engine overhaul. Not sure what else. One scrubber working, they are working on the others while at Sea so some intrusion on deck 10 near the shuffleboard area.
A few things still not working, I don't think the solarium roof opens any more.
WiFi worked great BTW.
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Just booked a 2019 cruise on empress, so clearly I'll be under the new rules.
Plenty of time for me to cancel if things don't work out.
I just hope they don't herd you off and on the ship as a controlled group. I don't mind participating in their full time activities if there would be a little free time ashore.
If there is no free time at all and they herd you on and off the ship I'll probably cancel.
So will be monitoring things later this year and next year too see what the cruise lines do.
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Disembarkation to Cuba
in Cuba
Posted
Plenty of time. The ship usually arrives early and may get cleared as soon as 7am.
If that happens, they let the private excursions get off first.