Cuba Cruise - What happens?

[garycarla]

Castro is dead and has been since last year.

 

Mr Castro is alive and well as the President of Cuba.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Cuba

[ballarinamom]

Yes it is true. Do some research.

 

Anyway, very happy for the other people in this thread. Bon voyage to you all.

As someone who works for the government, if you are an American citizen who does not have family or business in Cuba, your "freedoms" are no different based on the cruse line you take. You are still required to fill out the same travel affidavit and retain it for five years. You must also be doing things directly related to the citizens of Cuba-i.e. Tours and educational activities. No going off to the beach by yourself. And less you have some type a diplomatic immunity

[zqvol]

In a nut shell.........

 

Is authorized travel by cruise ship or passenger vessel to Cuba impacted by the new Cuba policy?

Persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction will still be able to engage in authorized travel to Cuba by cruise ship or passenger vessel.

 

Following the issuance of OFAC’s regulatory changes, travel-related transactions with prohibited entities identified by the State Department generally will not be permitted. Guidance will accompany the issuance of the new regulations.

.

 

Want to define authorized travel?

[pitt2phila]

Want to define authorized travel?

It's the same as it was before. Has to fit into one of the 12 categories. Only difference is that educational people-to-people can no longer be done individually. So if on a cruise ship, it's looking like you'll either need to take the shore excursions through the boat (if self certifying p2p) or declare a different category that you are traveling under.

[jenidallas]

Want to define authorized travel?

 

If you don't know what "authorized travel" is and are a US passport holder, is then hopefully you have not been purchasing cruises to Cuba (even before yesterday's announcement) and signing the visa form.

 

Basically "authorized travel" is for one of the allowed purposes of which tourism is not (and was never) one.

 

Most folks are traveling under "people to people" visas. The US government can at any time in the FIVE years ask you to produce detailed documentation for how you spent any/all of your time off the ship while in Havana. Sightseeing, drinking daquiris, buying cigars, or hanging out by the beach may not as a description satisfy a Federal agent (particularly if we get into a period of more aggressive or selective enforcement). It's a smart move to keep a detailed journal of your exact activities with an emphasis on the interactions (conversations, etc.)

 

NCL represents their tours as compliant but I still would not personally shift the burden onto them to document for me. If the Feds came knocking on my door four years from now, I would not want to be trying to call NCL corporate and hoping they'd somehow come to my defense. ;)

[pmd98052]

If you don't know what "authorized travel" is and are a US passport holder, is then hopefully you have not been purchasing cruises to Cuba (even before yesterday's announcement) and signing the visa form.

 

Basically "authorized travel" is for one of the allowed purposes of which tourism is not (and was never) one.

 

Most folks are traveling under "people to people" visas. The US government can at any time in the FIVE years ask you to produce detailed documentation for how you spent any/all of your time off the ship while in Havana. Sightseeing, drinking daquiris, buying cigars, or hanging out by the beach may not as a description satisfy a Federal agent (particularly if we get into a period of more aggressive or selective enforcement). It's a smart move to keep a detailed journal of your exact activities with an emphasis on the interactions (conversations, etc.)

 

NCL represents their tours as compliant but I still would not personally shift the burden onto them to document for me. If the Feds came knocking on my door four years from now, I would not want to be trying to call NCL corporate and hoping they'd somehow come to my defense. ;)

 

I wouldn't worry about it these days. Even the Attorney General and National Security Adviser of the USA "forget" to document meeting Russian agents on Federal Security Clearance forms so something trivial like the above won't be an issue. :)

[fshagan]

Castro is dead and has been since last year.

 

There were three leading mass murderers as the guiding lights of the Cuban revolution, all atheists. Two know for sure whether they were right about the afterlife. One is still very much alive. He needs to find out if his belief about the afterlife is true too before I will consider going to Cuba.

[zqvol]

If you don't know what "authorized travel" is and are a US passport holder, is then hopefully you have not been purchasing cruises to Cuba (even before yesterday's announcement) and signing the visa form.

 

Basically "authorized travel" is for one of the allowed purposes of which tourism is not (and was never) one.

 

Most folks are traveling under "people to people" visas. The US government can at any time in the FIVE years ask you to produce detailed documentation for how you spent any/all of your time off the ship while in Havana. Sightseeing, drinking daquiris, buying cigars, or hanging out by the beach may not as a description satisfy a Federal agent (particularly if we get into a period of more aggressive or selective enforcement). It's a smart move to keep a detailed journal of your exact activities with an emphasis on the interactions (conversations, etc.)

 

NCL represents their tours as compliant but I still would not personally shift the burden onto them to document for me. If the Feds came knocking on my door four years from now, I would not want to be trying to call NCL corporate and hoping they'd somehow come to my defense. ;)

 

Read what is proposed and you will see that people to people is going away.

[pitt2phila]

Read what is proposed and you will see that people to people is going away.

People to people is actually staying, but it no longer can be done Indic y'all up (must be part of a group).

 

Probably a win for the cruise lines, as now people will be forced to take cruise line excursions if they go under people to people.

[bigguy1]

What constitutes a group?