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Cuba Cruise on Veendam


algriff
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We are booked on a Cuba cruise on Veendam in April 2018. Has anyone been on this cruise and if so do you have any advice on shore excursions in Havana, can you go on your own or do you have to book a tour ahead of time? Any other insights on this cruise would be appreciated. Thank You

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We are going in January 2019. According the new rules on Cuba, you must be on a tour to leave the ship. You have to do at least 4 hours of a “people to people” activity in order to be out on your own. The US is making sure no tourist money goes to the Cuban government or military because of human rights violations. The US government wants the people of Cuba to benefit from the tourism. However, I did read on a thread here, that no one checked a tour status when they left the ship. The pier is not in Havana and I have no idea what is around the port

 

 

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Just went on their maiden voyage, did ship's excursions only. We did the Modern Havana-Classic Cars tour - the city is large, begs for exploring on foot and private tour experiences can be tailored to a better combination than what the ship's tours were offering.

 

However, the city is large and sprawling and everything was new so anyway you do this city will be an interesting experience. The drawbacks for our HAL tour were too much time spent at lunch and later the crafts center, and not enough free time to explore even the streets around the port in Old Havana. I did the Cafe Parisienne show at night and could not recommend doing this unless you have zero other options for the evening. I would not let a moment go to waste while you are there.

 

In Cienfuegos we also did a long-distance HAL tour to the UNESCO town of Trinidad, but those who wandered around on their own were pleased with what it had to offer.

 

If you are a US citizen, you need to still work within the Dept of Treasury requirements if you choose to do a private tour route. Whether they ever bother to ask for your documentation five years later is the risk of the game. Your call.

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Just got off the Veendam last week and you DO NOT need a ship's tour. You can easily walk on and off by yourself and it is very easy to do. We did the "Taste of Havana" tour the day we got there and I would not recommend this tour at all. Won't go into the specifics. The next day we just walked off the ship and walked around by ourselves.

 

The day you arrive the ship even has a special time where if you do it yourself, you can get off. You DO NOT need to do a ship's tour.

 

Maybe that's how it was at one time but as for now, you do not need a tour.

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In Cienfuegos we also did a long-distance HAL tour to the UNESCO town of Trinidad, but those who wandered around on their own were pleased with what it had to offer.

 

How was your HAL tour from Cienfuegos to Trinidad? We are debating on this HAL tour or a private tour to Trinidad.

Thanks!

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How was your HAL tour from Cienfuegos to Trinidad? We are debating on this HAL tour or a private tour to Trinidad.

Thanks!

 

The town itself is a little touristy but historic. The "renowned" family run pottery exhibition was pretty tacky. The drive itself through the countryside was very interesting. Not doing a canned tour of this area would be better and avoiding that "famous" stop at the bar in Trinidad would make it even better, as well as avoiding the hotel buffet waste of time.

 

Be sure you get a guide who can speak English adequately so you can ask hundreds of questions about life in Cuba and what you see along the way.

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We have only one day in Cuba. We have signed up for the excursion to Trinidad. It is early enough so that if something better comes along, we would switch. We would rather be on a 4 hour tour and then have time to wander. Ship is in port for only 8 hours, which makes it difficult to see everything

 

 

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We, too, have booked the HAL tour to Trinidad on our March 17th sailing. There are many amazing photos on line of Trinidad that make it an appealing excursion. I hope there will be time to visit some of the museums around the main plaza. I am not interested in going to the bar for the "local drink." It is what it is, and I am excited to be going, though DH is not.... he is along for the ride!

Hi BlackJack2 remember our great Antarctica cruise? Still one of the best ever!

 

Karen

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We, too, have booked the HAL tour to Trinidad on our March 17th sailing. There are many amazing photos on line of Trinidad that make it an appealing excursion. I hope there will be time to visit some of the museums around the main plaza. I am not interested in going to the bar for the "local drink." It is what it is, and I am excited to be going, though DH is not.... he is along for the ride!

Hi BlackJack2 remember our great Antarctica cruise? Still one of the best ever!

 

Karen

 

Yes, the Trinidad tour included some old sugar mansion museums around the main square. Find out where the group meets later, and then ditch it when it goes to the bar - crowded, long waits and apparently a cheezy little drink - I left and wandered around the back streets - not much, but at least I got away from the tourist crush. There were other large tour groups on the same day we were there. It is a hilly city with heavy cobbled streets so have good walking shoes and pay attention.

 

The town now has that artificial feeling of being something only for tourists now. And the only place we saw people "begging" aggressively at the main tourist spots. But it does have lovely architecture and its history cannot be topped on the island. The buffet at the hotel was a mad house - overrun with too many tour groups.

 

Again, see if you can wander around the hotel a bit to see more of daily life instead of waiting in line for the typical western style food the buffet was offering. You paid for it, but it does represent lost time. Do you really need to wait 20 minutes to go to a pasta bar exactly like the one on the ship and stand behind each person who is geting their pasta choice custom made. Food was fine, but nothing "Cuban" whatever that is in their chronic food and import shortages.

 

Seeing banks of public phones in the nearby squares close to the hotel was a reminder that while some have cell phones in Cuba, this is not the ubiquitous feature of Cuban life yet. Nor are houses wired for a public phone system so you still see lots of public phone booths.

 

Cuba is clean, litter free, grafitti free and feels a lot safer than 99% of the other Caribbean Islands, which allows a lot more freedom when wandering on your own. Not sure if tourist crime has yet become part of the new Cuba package, so always "be aware of your surroundings".

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I have a quick question on disembarking in Havana on a private tour. When could you get off and how soon after docking?

 

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When we arrived in Havana 2 weeks ago, the ship was delayed about an hour due to MSC ship leaving the dock late. Once we docked, people going on their own had to get a ticket w/ a group #. They started passing out tickets around 2:00pm, I got there around 2:20 , my ticket # was 17 and had to wait about an hour before called to disembark.Everyone getting off needs to go through Cuba immigration($75 visa) so the first day took some time for the groups to be processed.Ships tours (depending on excursion time) were called first, but on your own groups were also called 5 group #s at a time.I would allow at least 2 hours after ships arrival time to meet your guide assuming you are one of the first group #s to be called.

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Another delay to consider, particulry if you are going out on your own is the currency change line. It was no problem when we went through it, being on a HAL tour, but we had been warned this might take some time too. There is a shop inside the cruise terminal where you can purchase Cuban items - cigars, coffee and other souvenir trinkets stuff.

 

And of course the reminder about the 10% surcharge if you are changing US dollars. No surcharge on other currencies, so if you any left over Euros or use Canadian dollars you are in good shape.. Even though they also tell you no one will take US dollars, they are very good at calculating their value if/when they do take them - don't expect it to be a fair exchange but they do take them.

 

At the last stop at the Cienfuegos port, I was able to take the last of my Cuban currency along with some US dollars and make my last Cuban purchase. There was a fellow selling wooden models of the famous US cars - a bit crude but very nostalgic souvenirs at this point for about US $5.00. So save some of your money to for the very end if this interests you. I had not seen them anywhere else.

 

We only spent a little time shopping - various wood souvenir items were easy to find as that would be an ample raw material to work with, and recycled plastic bottle shopping and cosmetic bags , along with the tourist standard mugs, shot glasses, key chains, refrigerator magnets etc. (Probably from China) Ship store also has Cuban items, but they were very expensive.

 

For tips (three tours) for our two days in Cuba and a few souvenirs, I cashed 40 euros for the Cuban currency and used them all.

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Thank you Old Salt and nsw104 for the timely information you provided! What was the hotel where the buffet was? Sounds like a waste of time. I am thinking about getting Euros to exchange, but don't want to get too much. I totaled up tips (being generous) for the 2 days to around $70. Before you board the ship in Cienfuegos (tenders?) is there a place to change Cuban currency back to Euros?

Thanks again!

Karen

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were in Cuba Jan 29 & 30. This is from my review of the Veendam cruise:

 

 

Monday about 1:30, we began entry to Havana. You have to wait at entry for other ship toleave the port and then the pilot takes you into the channel. We were told the Italian ship leaving wasoften late and sure enough, they were. Our excursions were set for 3:00 but we did not get out of the portuntil about 4:30. Many people upsetbecause HAL apparently knew this, but set up excursions anyway that they knewwe would not start on time. Ours stillended at 7:00 and the order of the excursion was actually the opposite of thedescription. We did an Afternoon Strollthrough old Havana, which was to be a walking tour, then a dance performance,followed by a light dinner at a local restaurant. Instead, we were taken by bus directly to theOriginal Sloppy Joe’s Bar, where we were served a Cubano sandwich and coke,then taken back to port by bus. Then wewalked to dance studio for performance and finally began walking tour in thedark. Much is made about the requiredpeople to people interaction, but we didn’t actually have the opportunity forinteraction with the locals. Our guidewas a young girl who walked very quickly and would begin talking even beforeeveryone had arrived.

 

Tuesday morning we were in port until 11:30. We went outside on our own about 8:30 (nolines or problem) and flagged down a classic car to take an hour ride aroundHavana. The cost was $60 USD which wesplit with another couple. We were in a55 Buick convertible and our driver Victor spoke excellent English. He had been a mechanical engineering teacher,but he quit to drive tourists because he made more money. This was a perfect morning – he showed usmany sites, spoke with us at length – a true people to people interaction. Then he dropped us at an indoor shopping market(which you would never have guessed was a market from the outside – it was aformer train station. Rows and rows oftourist/souvenir type objects – many identical to others. We then walked back to the ship.

 

What I wish I had know in advance about visiting Cuba:

1. Ship provides Visa for $75 on ship

2. Ship’s excursions are pricey and probably notnecessary. US regs require a people topeople exchange which supposedly the ship’s excursion qualifies for. But no one actually ever asked us what we didin Cuba. We are supposed to keepreceipts for 5 years in case Big Brother ever decides down the road to ask uswhat we did – really???

3. It’s not necessary to change money – the USdollar is accepted at a value of $.87. The stall keepers in the market even had calculators! If you do change money, do in small amount.

4. You can set up your own site seeing by simplyflagging a taxi (classic car, regular taxi, horse drawn carriage or 3 wheeledbicycle carriage) outside of the terminal for much less than the ship’s tourprices.

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We will be doing the Cuba cruise in January 2019. Reading about Cuba and learning around the people to people requirement before being allowed to explore on your own, should I be wary of not doing a ship tour in case they adhere to the requirement and then we would not be allowed off the ship? That is my concern

 

 

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We will be doing the Cuba cruise in January 2019. Reading about Cuba and learning around the people to people requirement before being allowed to explore on your own, should I be wary of not doing a ship tour in case they adhere to the requirement and then we would not be allowed off the ship? That is my concern

 

 

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We will be going to Havana on the Veendam in April. We just booked, rather spontaneously. We were told adamantly that we must do an eight hour people to people tour. We were told this by multiple people at Holland America. I am not going to take chances with my trip, so we booked an eight hour excursion. For this once-in-a-lifetime event, better safe than sorry, I believe.

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We will be going to Havana on the Veendam in April. We just booked, rather spontaneously. We were told adamantly that we must do an eight hour people to people tour. We were told this by multiple people at Holland America. I am not going to take chances with my trip, so we booked an eight hour excursion. For this once-in-a-lifetime event, better safe than sorry, I believe.

 

 

why do you call it a once in a life time event? If you wish, can you not return to Cuba at a later date?

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Just got off the Veendam last week and you DO NOT need a ship's tour. You can easily walk on and off by yourself and it is very easy to do. We did the "Taste of Havana" tour the day we got there and I would not recommend this tour at all. Won't go into the specifics. The next day we just walked off the ship and walked around by ourselves.

 

The day you arrive the ship even has a special time where if you do it yourself, you can get off. You DO NOT need to do a ship's tour.

 

Maybe that's how it was at one time but as for now, you do not need a tour.

 

With all respect, I am going to disagree with you.

 

If you booked in a specific time frame, you can do independent tours.

 

But if you booked after that date, you are caught in a new rule. My friends were on HAL and sent me the email they got after final payment telling them that since they booked after x date, they had to do a shore excursion or they would not be able to get off the ship.

 

They were understandably not happy, but did what they had to do. They confirmed that was the way it was when they returned.

 

I can't swear on the date but I think it was book by October 15th or 17th, 2017.

 

Otherwise you were subject to the new rules.

 

So, word to the wise, everyone check for themselves - what worked in the past might not work now and, in the reverse, what my friends encountered might not be your situation. And, for the record they sailed in February this year.

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Just got off the Veendam last week and you DO NOT need a ship's tour. You can easily walk on and off by yourself and it is very easy to do. We did the "Taste of Havana" tour the day we got there and I would not recommend this tour at all. Won't go into the specifics. The next day we just walked off the ship and walked around by ourselves.

 

The day you arrive the ship even has a special time where if you do it yourself, you can get off. You DO NOT need to do a ship's tour.

 

Maybe that's how it was at one time but as for now, you do not need a tour.

Thank you for the information. I've heard from several sources that you do not need to book a hal tour regardless of when you booked. It's nice to get information first hand from people that have been there.

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I would hate to not believe HAL’s information, not book an approved tour, and then be prevented from leaving the ship. The US government information is that you need an approved US government tour. Who do I believe, HAL, the government site on Cuba, or someone here on a blog?

 

 

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With all respect, I am going to disagree with you.

 

If you booked in a specific time frame, you can do independent tours.

 

But if you booked after that date, you are caught in a new rule. My friends were on HAL and sent me the email they got after final payment telling them that since they booked after x date, they had to do a shore excursion or they would not be able to get off the ship.

 

They were understandably not happy, but did what they had to do. They confirmed that was the way it was when they returned.

 

I can't swear on the date but I think it was book by October 15th or 17th, 2017.

 

Otherwise you were subject to the new rules.

 

So, word to the wise, everyone check for themselves - what worked in the past might not work now and, in the reverse, what my friends encountered might not be your situation. And, for the record they sailed in February this year.

 

Good advice, Kazu. The actual date that makes the difference in what you can or cannot do once the HAL ship gets to Havana is whether you booked prior to June 16, 2017.

 

We booked the cruise last week and had to print out a nine page affidavit "identifying the category of travel under which you are visiting Cuba".

 

"Regulations require all persons traveling to Cuba under the educational exemption for People to People (P2P) programs to participate in a full-time schedule of activities.

 

1. 1st box under Paragraph 1 515-565(b) titled People-to-People Exchange Arranged by a Sponsoring Organization. This section means that you are planning on participating FULLY (their caps, not mine) in Holland America Line-guided group programs arranged and sponsored by Holland American Line OR (again, their emphasis) in a third-party guided group program arranged and sponsored by a third party U.S. sponsoring organization that is not Holland America Line. Note: If you check off only the 1st box, you will need to sign a new affidavit if you deviate from the Holland America Line-guided or third-party guided P2P programs. Note: this is the only non-academic P2P exemption available to you if you reserved or purchased your cruise on or after June 16, 2017 (my emphasis)

 

2. 2nd box under Paragraph 1 515-565(b) titled Self-Guided People-to-People Exchanges. This section means that you are planning on doing your own P2P exchanges and will NOT (their emphasis) participate in any Holland America Line-guided or third-party programs. Notes: The Self-guided P2P exemption (the 2nd box) is available to you only if you booked this cruise prior to June 16, 2017 (my emphasis). If you check off only the 2nd box, you will need to sign a new affidavit if you wish to participate in a Holland America line-guided or a third-party guided P2P program."

 

It also says: By signing my name at the bottom of this Affidavit, I declare that I fall under the category for licensed travel to Cuba that I have checked below and that I will comply with statements below and all the applicable regulatory requirements and restrictions related to my travel to Cuba.

 

 

There are eight more pages of information/instruction, but HAL spells it out here that you MUST do a 7 or 8 hour excursion (4 hour excursions do NOT qualify for the P2P program) either with HAL or with a U.S. sponsored organization.

 

This is why we decided to book the 8 hour HAL excursion instead of waiting until we get to Havana to "wing it". This 9 page affidavit must be presented when you first board the ship (in our case, FLL).

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I would hate to not believe HAL’s information, not book an approved tour, and then be prevented from leaving the ship. The US government information is that you need an approved US government tour. Who do I believe, HAL, the government site on Cuba, or someone here on a blog?

 

 

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Hal has a vested interest in getting you to book their tours. Everyone has to do what feels right to them based on their research. If it were me I wouldn't take random advise from a cruise discussion board without doing my own research.

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As mentioned above, HAL makes you sign an affidavit stating that you do or do NOT meet the U.S. government's requirements for not taking a U.S. sponsored tour. HAL offers U.S. sponsored tours. We booked after June, 2017 -- that tells me what I need to know.
That does sound like HAL is trying to keep everyone compliant. I agree, if it were me traveling to Cuba, I would stick with the guidelines handed out. If I didn't comply, it would be me paying the fine or in jail, not HAL.
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