Havana on a budget

[milliesimmons]

Hello, we are on the Thomson dream for Christmas and new year and have already book a number of tours which has worked out to be very expensive. As a result, we don't want to spend much money when visiting Havana. We are a family of three (2 parents and one 16 year old daughter). Do you have any reccomendations on what we could do whilst in Havana? (We are here for a full day)

[tring]

You will not get much response here because this forum is hardly used, (look at the dates on the threads), but there is plenty on the internet to search - try the hotel based review site forums such as TA where there are a lot of postings and a great deal of advice re cuba. Cuba is quite different to the rest of the Carribbean, so you need to know things like you cannot rely on card payments and don't take US$ because there is an extra 10% charge on exchange rates from US$.

 

Do your homework and you will love it because you will know what to expect. There is so much there you need to make your own decision on what to do/see. We had 3 nights in The National, Havana and 11 nts in Varadero a couple of years back. We are returning in Feb for 10 nights in Havana, 7 night Cuba Cruise and 11 nights Varadero. We will be travelling around from the hotels, including the odd overnight stay elsewhere as well. A land stay has a lot of advantages, so you should think of returning before the country becomes just like the rest of the Caribbean, now that it is likely opening up to US citizens.

 

There is a lot to do by just walking off the ship. To get you started try these links.

 

port review page in this site:-

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ports/newport.cfm?ID=474

 

and this which has lots of links:-

 

http://www.cuba-junky.com/havana/havana-city.htm

 

Worth reading a good guide book - possibly from a library, but purchasing something more up to date would be better as things are changing a lot since Roal took over from Fidel.

 

Enjoy your research,

 

Barbara

Edited July 29, 2015 by tring

[Di Princess]

I have an 8-day land trip booked for March 2016. I just bought an expensive Time Cuba magazine for $14 USD. Ralphs grocery store only had one so I bought it because everything is very current. Fascinating reading. ;)

 

There are lots of ideas for places to eat, museums, dancing & entertainment, jazz clubs, etc. I hope you can find this magazine. :D

[Pet Nit Noy]

... you need to know things like you cannot rely on card payments and don't take US$ because there is an extra 10% charge on exchange rates from US$.

 

The part of tring's answer that I have underlined is a very odd recommendation for anyone who is a US citizen. Yes, the exchange rate is somewhat better for people exchanging Canadian dollars or Euro or Pounds Sterling. But the difference is not an additional 10%. Instead it's closer to an extra 5%. For a US citizen who has GBP or Euro already in the house from previous trips, it's a good idea to bring that money to Cuba and use it early in the visit when converting to Cuban Convertiable Pesos (CUC). It certainly does not pay to take USD to your local American bank, exchanging that for foreign currency, and then converting the foreign currency into CUC.

 

US citizens will only be able to spend the money you bring onto the island. Your US credit cards won't work. (Although non-US issued credit cards will work.) You won't be able to use your cash card at a bank. If you don't bring enough money into Cuba to convert to CUC, you won't have enough money. It's that simple!

 

Exchanging money is done at the same rate everywhere: a hotel, airport/port money exchange desk, or bank. It is so easily exchanged that we were advised to exchange only small amounts of money at a time.

 

When you leave Cuba, you must convert amounts of CUC back to the original currency with one exception. No official money changer will bother converting amounts less than 20 CUC. (We left Cuba with nine CUC and we simply gave this our to a neighbor who will be visiting soon.)

[Donsyb]

The part of tring's answer that I have underlined is a very odd recommendation for anyone who is a US citizen.

 

The OP is from the UK, so tring's advice was relevant for them

[Pet Nit Noy]

Yes, the exchange rate is somewhat better for people exchanging Canadian dollars or Euro or Pounds Sterling. But the difference is not an additional 10%. Instead it's closer to an extra 5%. For a US citizen who has GBP or Euro already in the house from previous trips, it's a good idea to bring that money to Cuba and use it early in the visit when converting to Cuban Convertiable Pesos (CUC). It certainly does not pay to take USD to your local American bank, exchanging that for foreign currency, and then converting the foreign currency into CUC.

 

I want to clarify the way I expressed my recommendation to make the point more clearly.

 

If you exchange 100 USD in Cuba, you'll receive 87 CUC, a hit of 13%. When converting Euro, GBP, Canadian Dollars, etc, into CUC, everyone pays a 3% exchange fee but those currencies don't pay the 10% penalty US citizens pay. That makes it tempting to consider converting USD to some other currency to bring into Cuba. But that would mean two exchanges -- two sets of fees -- for US citizens: USD to some other currency and, then, that other currency into CUC.

 

Bottom line: If you're thinking about converting your money twice, make sure you check the rates at which you can convert your USD in your hometown. Depending on your relationship with your bank, on the amount of money you'll be converting, different people may be offered different exchange rates. Get a good rate and it MAY make sense to go through this double conversion process.

 

Bottom line: If you're a US citizen visiting Cuba, only you can determine whether it makes sense to get a different currency before you arrive in Cuba. If you already have other currencies from past travels, then the scenario changes.

 

There's one final detail I haven't seen discussed: the condition of the paper money brought into Cuba. If we're talking about USD, the bills must be crisp and in good condition. The newest US bills have holograms and other counterfeiting devices as part of the printing process. New bills are easily accepted for exchange whether at banks or hotel cashiers or money changing kiosks. I don't know if this also applies to the condition of bills in other currencies, but your US bank may/may not be able to get crisp new Canadian dollars/Euros/GBP so it pays to get the answer to that question. You wouldn't want to show up in Cuba with non-US currency that the Cubans won't accept. A US citizen going to Cuba for the moment, has access only to as much money as he/she brings into the country.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Pet Nit Noy

[Donsyb]

I want to clarify the way I expressed my recommendation to make the point more clearly.

 

If you exchange 100 USD in Cuba, you'll receive 87 CUC, a hit of 13%. When converting Euro, GBP, Canadian Dollars, etc, into CUC, everyone pays a 3% exchange fee but those currencies don't pay the 10% penalty US citizens pay. That makes it tempting to consider converting USD to some other currency to bring into Cuba. But that would mean two exchanges -- two sets of fees -- for US citizens: USD to some other currency and, then, that other currency into CUC.

 

Bottom line: If you're thinking about converting your money twice, make sure you check the rates at which you can convert your USD in your hometown. Depending on your relationship with your bank, on the amount of money you'll be converting, different people may be offered different exchange rates. Get a good rate and it MAY make sense to go through this double conversion process.

 

Bottom line: If you're a US citizen visiting Cuba, only you can determine whether it makes sense to get a different currency before you arrive in Cuba. If you already have other currencies from past travels, then the scenario changes.

 

There's one final detail I haven't seen discussed: the condition of the paper money brought into Cuba. If we're talking about USD, the bills must be crisp and in good condition. The newest US bills have holograms and other counterfeiting devices as part of the printing process. New bills are easily accepted for exchange whether at banks or hotel cashiers or money changing kiosks. I don't know if this also applies to the condition of bills in other currencies, but your US bank may/may not be able to get crisp new Canadian dollars/Euros/GBP so it pays to get the answer to that question. You wouldn't want to show up in Cuba with non-US currency that the Cubans won't accept. A US citizen going to Cuba for the moment, has access only to as much money as he/she brings into the country.

 

I think your first post was clear, I was just highlighting that tring's advise wasn't aimed at Americans - it was aimed at Brits, which the OP is :confused:

[Pet Nit Noy]

I think your first post was clear, I was just highlighting that tring's advise wasn't aimed at Americans - it was aimed at Brits, which the OP is :confused:

 

Glad you thought I was clear. On a non-cruise web site, I wrote a similar message. One particular poster didn't understand and posted a couple of adversarial replies. Eventually, others elaborated on my message, and the kerfuffle settled down, although I never did hear back from Mr. Adversarial. Based that experience, I decided to elaborate and wrote this most recent post.

 

Since you're a UK poster, do you have the answer to my question about crisp new GBP notes the way we're warned about crisp, new US dollars?

Edited December 30, 2015 by Pet Nit Noy

[worldspan]

Just returned from a long weekend in Havana. You have so very much to look forward to!

[Donsyb]

Glad you thought I was clear. On a non-cruise web site, I wrote a similar message. One particular poster didn't understand and posted a couple of adversarial replies. Eventually, others elaborated on my message, and the kerfuffle settled down, although I never did hear back from Mr. Adversarial. Based that experience, I decided to elaborate and wrote this most recent post.

 

Since you're a UK poster, do you have the answer to my question about crisp new GBP notes the way we're warned about crisp, new US dollars?

 

We're also advised to take crisp new notes - obviously those are a bit easier to get from the bank here than it would be to get new GBP in the US I imagine! Although whenever I order dollars from my bank in the UK they're normally pretty clean and crisp.

[tring]

Glad you thought I was clear. On a non-cruise web site, I wrote a similar message. One particular poster didn't understand and posted a couple of adversarial replies. Eventually, others elaborated on my message, and the kerfuffle settled down, although I never did hear back from Mr. Adversarial. Based that experience, I decided to elaborate and wrote this most recent post.

 

Since you're a UK poster, do you have the answer to my question about crisp new GBP notes the way we're warned about crisp, new US dollars?

 

It does seem strange that you have chosen to make this thread into an argument, (including one with yourself), over my post which was sound advice! I note your second post does acknowledge that there is a 10% surcharge in addition to any loss from exchange rate, if US dollars are exchanged when in Cuba, which you denied in your first post. I can quite see why a "kerfuffle" arose on another site if you chose to use the same argumentative stance as you did here. Although I find most people use forums in a mature manner, allowing others to give their own opinions.

 

My original post did say that Cuba is very different to other Caribbean Islands, so it will pay to do some homework regarding that. I only gave a couple of examples of those differences, (of which there are many), and suggested possible sources of information about Cuba, which I suspect some people would have found very useful.

 

You will find the condition of notes is well documented elsewhere as well as other information about Cuba. For US citizens, I suspect their agents will also be keen to assist with important information. Regarding card payments, the payment systems tend to go down quite often in Cuba, so even cards from non US based banks cannot be relied upon entirely.

Edited January 9, 2016 by tring

[Pet Nit Noy]

It does seem strange that you have chosen to make this thread into an argument, (including one with yourself)....

 

In post two you wrote "don't take US$ because there is an extra 10% charge on exchange rates from US$." As it turns out, you were writing as UK resident to what you recognized as UK location. However, the OP's location is only listed as Barnsley. No country. People from many countries are reading this thread and your advice, if acted upon by a US citizen, is not necessarily the best approach.

 

As for the rest of your comments about me, notice that I criticized what you wrote not you as a person. Whatever moral high ground you think you have got completely wiped out by your ad hominem attack in post #11.

 

I can only repeat, each US traveler needs to find out the cost of converting US currency to another currency before re-converting that to Cuban Convertible Pesos. The scary-sounding 10% surcharge may get whittled down very quickly if the price of all that first conversion is unfavorable. I've made all the points I choose to make in this conversation.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Pet Nit Noy

[tring]

In post two you wrote "don't take US$ because there is an extra 10% charge on exchange rates from US$." As it turns out, you were writing as UK resident to what you recognized as UK location/QUOTE]

 

Exactly and that was previously pointed out twice by another poster after your first attack on me. The OP also said they would be on a ship which is run by a British holiday company. So you attack on my post was, as I said, "strange".

 

I did try to search Google Earth for a Barnsley in the USA, but none came up. Perhaps you know differently though, as I do not have a detailed knowledge of US Geography.

[VidaNaPraia]

In post two you wrote "don't take US$ because there is an extra 10% charge on exchange rates from US$."

I can only repeat, each US traveler needs to find out the cost of converting US currency to another currency before re-converting that to Cuban Convertible Pesos. The scary-sounding 10% surcharge may get whittled down very quickly if the price of all that first conversion is unfavorable. I've made all the points I choose to make in this conversation.

 

 

The dollar (last week 9-17-2016) when I went to Cuba) was:

U$1=0.88 Euro

 

The dollar got me:

U$1=0.87 CUC (at any cadeca, bank, hotel in Cuba)

 

IMO Not worth changing from dollars to another non-Cuban currency for a fee and then to Cuban CUC.