Paradise to Cuba

[RWolver672]

Just booked a cruise on the Paradise to Cuba and Cozumel. What a shock. You are each charged $75 for a Visa. You have to take a Carnival excursion, then you can come back and go out on your own. It's considered educational and that's why they are letting us come there. There is a nine page Travel Affidavit that has to be filled out. And you have to have a passport. (Luckily for us, we already have them.)

 

Not as easy as going to any of the other ports by any means.

[wemjam]

This is for any travel to Cuba, via cruise or not. They have "lightened" the travel requirements to Cuba, but they have not lifted them completely. You can only travel for certain reasons - and educational - cultural exchange is one of them (that is how they are getting away with cruising there at all)

 

The travel affidavit requirements, etc. that you have to do is for the US Customs and Border Protection, the US government requires this to demonstrate you meet the requirements as outlined in the travel restrictions (this is NOT Carnival).

 

These requirements are all outlined on the Carnival website.

 

I was excited at first too to see the new openings, and then realized what all was involved, and decided to hold off on cruising there for now. While not overly difficult, more effort than I want to exert.

[goofycruiser]

We booked a cruise to Cuba too. It was much more complicated than we expected. You can't use a U.S. credit card and have to have pesos to buy anything. I also heard that you can't use the internet and your cell phone won't work. Still it is an amazing opportunity to see a place that has been unavailable for so long. We booked a back to back joining two 5 day cruises. The Cuba part cost a lot more than the other half.

[sandij]

But you get to see Cuba before it becomes commercialized, before Diamonds International and Starbucks are on every corner and before the current government changes the rules.

[DavyJoneses]

We wish to visit Cuba, but are waiting for prices to drop a bit...after the "newness" wears off.

[lizardhowson]

Carnival makes the "visiting Cuba restrictions" quite obvious before you can complete your booking (at least online).

 

Just as a note, the "demand" for travel to Cuba has fallen way off - at least 3 airlines have cancelled all their US to Cuba flights due to reduced demand. Personally, I anticipate the demand will continue to fall due to the restrictions.

We considered a Cuba cruise, but I do not want to be restricted to being lead around by a government representative who determines what I can or cannot visit. No thanks.

[elainmir]

I wanted to go so badly but I'd have to go alone...anyone with any kind of security clearance in government is prohibited from going there.