How much spending money for Havana?

We'll be taking the rum factory and cigar store excursion, and I assume we'll want to make purchases to bring home. Whatever the allowed limit is that day....

We'd also like to have a small meal at a café or bar.

How much money should we plan on converting?

Thanks for advising! Carla

The stop we made in Havana the continuously told

Us that CUCs is the only thing the Cubans would accept...the locals said they would take dollars and euros.

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The stop we made in Havana the continuously told

Us that CUCs is the only thing the Cubans would accept...the locals said they would take dollars and euros.

If you want to go to places with locals (as compared to tour agencies or hotels), they rarely take foreign currency. And you'd be making the locals have to go exchange your money. Would you like to be paid in foreign money?

If you want to go to places with locals (as compared to tour agencies or hotels), they rarely take foreign currency. And you'd be making the locals have to go exchange your money. Would you like to be paid in foreign money?

Nonsense.

There's a huge black market in Cuba and USD/Euro are happily traded.

No Cuban ever had difficulty exchanging USD/Euro for goods he wanted.

The stop we made in Havana the continuously told us that CUCs is the only thing the Cubans would accept...the locals said they would take dollars and euros.

Don't assume that because some/many locals will take dollars and Euros, that all locals will do so. The problem is how to plan to deal with both possibilities since US credit cards will not work.

I have the answer to the question for the Partagas cigar factory. I've been to Cuba on a People to People Land Tour. At the Partagas store, several members of our group bought more cigars than they could afford. They covered their purchase price by borrowing CUCs from the rest of us. Lots of IOUs but everyone walked away with as many cigars as he/she wanted.

If I had to guess, a private tour guide will accept dollars and Euros. A very small Mom and Pop restaurant might do the same. A sidewalk vendor of crafts might also accept dollars and Euros.

I don't know about the shop at the end of the Havana Club Rum factory tour. Our tour company gave us each a gift of Havana Club 7-year old Anjeo so no money changed hands there.

As of August 2016, (FOR U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY) from the US CBP (Customs website) OFAC removed the previous monetary value limits, (merchandise for personal use that had a value of $400 or less, with no more than $100 of such merchandise consisting of alcohol and tobacco products).

Therefore, buying cigars should not be a free for all, as described above for US residents.

As of August 2016, (FOR U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY) from the US CBP (Customs website) OFAC removed the previous monetary value limits, (merchandise for personal use that had a value of $400 or less, with no more than $100 of such merchandise consisting of alcohol and tobacco products).

Therefore, buying cigars should not be a free for all, as described above for US residents.

The fact that folks didn't have enough case to buy their cigars was due to the fact that they didn't put enough in their wallets as they left the hotel that morning. It had nothing to do with customs or any legality.

In Havana, unless you are willing to carry to always around all the CUCs you've exchanged, you'll need to estimate what you'll be doing that day and how much you anticipate spending. The cigar store was another in a string of places where folks discovered their shopping spree exceeded what they had put in their wallet that day.

Any time we visited a gallery, there was lots of art impulse buying with the same results. Lots of borrowing. A stop at the gallery of the more internationally known artists sometimes offered a convenient solution. If an artist had representation with a gallery in the US, the Cuban gallery could ship the purchase to the US gallery. Then, our tour members were able to buy it in the US with a credit card,

As of August 2016, (FOR U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY) from the US CBP (Customs website) OFAC removed the previous monetary value limits, (merchandise for personal use that had a value of $400 or less, with no more than $100 of such merchandise consisting of alcohol and tobacco products).

Therefore, buying cigars should not be a free for all, as described above for US residents.

In reality, US customs didn't ask or check for anything we brought back from Cuba. Others have said the same.

Remember you can easily exchange CUCs back into dollars/euros etc. when you return to the ship at the same place you get them.

Unless Cuba is very different than everywhere else in the world, changing currency back is always a losing proposition. I wouldn't bring USA $$s to use at all since I understand there is a 10% fee attached to changing them.

I will do the math as time gets closer to see if I should bring euros or perhaps Mexican pesos which are very easy for me to get since I am not far from the border here in San Diego.

Thanks, all!

I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear. We absolutely plan to convert our money to CUC, I'm just curious as to how much money I should bring ashore to have converted. We have no intention of trying to use US dollars in Cuba.

Thanks! Carla

Thanks, all!

 

I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear. We absolutely plan to convert our money to CUC, I'm just curious as to how much money I should bring ashore to have converted. We have no intention of trying to use US dollars in Cuba.

 

Thanks! Carla

If you're lucky, by the time you travel to Cuba, one of the US credit cards may have worked out an arrangement for US citizens to use their cards in Cuba. At least American Express and Mastercard have proudly announced an upcoming deal for US citizens carrying those credit cards. Unfortunately, each proud announcement has gone nowhere.

I know the replies haven't really answered your question, but I don't see how we can unless you tell us more about your typical spending.

Do you plan to eat lunch ashore? If so, ask people directly how much they spent on lunch.

Do you plan to buy art? We didn't.

Do you plan to buy cigars? We spent the equivalent of $120 on cigars. (There were a lots of gifts included in that total.)

I bought two embroidered dresses for my granddaughter. Each one was about $25. Those were my only souvenirs.

As I've written our run was given to us as a gift. We didn't buy the delicious Cuban coffee, but many among our group did.

Thanks, all!

 

 

 

I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear. We absolutely plan to convert our money to CUC, I'm just curious as to how much money I should bring ashore to have converted. We have no intention of trying to use US dollars in Cuba.

 

 

 

Thanks! Carla

Convert to CUC on an as needed basis in increments. We did a 3 day land tour last year and brought $3000 US cash into the country as we didn’t want to be limited. Converted it over in increments of $500 as needed to avoid changing too much over and paying the 10% fee unnecessarily. Eating and drinking out is incredibly inexpensive (not just by our New York standards but pretty much any)- a glass of rum is literally less expensive than a bottle of water. Buying cigars, at least the good ones, can still be very expensive and we spent nearly a grand bringing back what we wanted.

We were on a land trip- if you’re on a cruise ship you have the option of using the onboard ATM daily before you disembark so you can limit how much cash is actually on your person vs a trip in by airplane where you have to carry all you’ll need with you.

We stopped for a day in Havana in December. We took some leftover Euros we had to use in the exchange to avoid the 10% penalty for USD. We ended up getting what would have been about $100 worth which we used for rum, cigars, souvenirs and tips. We had a few left over. It will depend upon the quality of cigars/rum you buy. FYI, converting at the pier in Havana was easy.

Excellent! I really appreciate the input. Ooooh, an embroidered dress for my granddaughter sounds lovely! I'm sure they'll have something appropriate for the grandsons, too. Add in a few cigars for our sons, a bottle or two of rum, and lunch at a café, and resisting art purchases, I'm hoping $350 will be enough.

Many thanks, Carla

We took $100 worth of CUC and had plenty

On my last 2 cruises we didn't go thru customs, only immigration and just showed our passports, no questions but wonder if they treat Cuba cruises differently.

On my last 2 cruises we didn't go thru customs, only immigration and just showed our passports, no questions but wonder if they treat Cuba cruises differently.

If you are talking about coming back into Miami, no, we just walked through as normal, no difference.

When we went to Cuba last year we had changed our US dollars for Canadian pre cruise to avoid the extra 10% exchange rate for US dollars. It was easy enough to exchange the Canadian dollars at the port terminal.

While food and drinks are cheaper than resort prices, you can still expect at least a $2.50 beer or $4.00 mojito in the places around the dock (boy those mojitos are good though).

Rum was ridiculously cheap compared to the US, with 750ml bottles being less than $7. Cigars are a bit more of an issue since they are government controlled and not that much different than US (they know we all want some). It really pays to google Cuban Cigars to get current pricing to know what is right. Maybe think $6-$10 each per for something decent for ballpark prices. You can get them for less (3_5), if that is what you want to give, of course.

The people of Cuba are very inviting, proud and friendly. It was a great visit.

Off subject, but Oceania changed our time in Havana on 5/7 from 8-6 to 9-3.

whats the going rate to pay off the secret police ?