Just off the Armonia (Cuba/Christmas)

[Beamafar]

Here's what it says on the MSC cruise tickets we've just received



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[FGJones]

1 hour ago, lmfinney said:

We didn't bring any, so I have no information.

 

Thank you for all the information you have shared!

 

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

Here's what it says on the MSC cruise tickets we've just received



Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 

 

I wish they’d just put it in writing like the UK site. 🙄.   Thank you

[Beamafar]

You're welcome!  That's actually from our tickets for our cruise on Armonia!  

 

I've managed (finally) to log-in to the CruiseCritic app on Tapatalk so I should be able to post photos of menus, etc from our sailing.

[FGJones]

5 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

You're welcome!  That's actually from our tickets for our cruise on Armonia!  

 

I've managed (finally) to log-in to the CruiseCritic app on Tapatalk so I should be able to post photos of menus, etc from our sailing.

 

Great news! Enjoy your trip.  Feel free to sample all the gelato flavors and report back 😀

[lowdown]

I was wondering whether you could bring bottled water on board MSC armonia we typically bring a case of water just because we like the bottled water better than the tap water you get on cruises. From what I've seen it looks like that may be a problem did you happen to bring water or notice anyone bringing water onboard

[Reds4life]

3 hours ago, Beamafar said:

You're welcome!  That's actually from our tickets for our cruise on Armonia!  

 

I've managed (finally) to log-in to the CruiseCritic app on Tapatalk so I should be able to post photos of menus, etc from our sailing.

Looking forward to it Beamafar! Thanks

[lmfinney]

5 hours ago, lowdown said:

I was wondering whether you could bring bottled water on board MSC armonia we typically bring a case of water just because we like the bottled water better than the tap water you get on cruises. From what I've seen it looks like that may be a problem did you happen to bring water or notice anyone bringing water onboard

No idea. Sorry.

[FTLcruisers]

imfinney - thanks for your review.  we're leaving on Monday (Jan 7th) so got lots of good info from this post right before our departure

[Beamafar]

Bon Voyage, FTLcruisers ... hope you have a wonderful cruise.  We board the week after you debark.

[abbeytravelstheworld]

Great summary of your trip! We are doing a back to back two week on Armonia in June, the first week including Roatan and the 2nd Cayman Islands.

Do you recall what the free Havana excursions were? We get 4 free as we hit the port twice. 

Also how did you find the ferry en route to Tulum? Was it incredibly rough??

 

Thanks so much!

[lmfinney]

44 minutes ago, abbeytravelstheworld said:

Great summary of your trip! We are doing a back to back two week on Armonia in June, the first week including Roatan and the 2nd Cayman Islands.

Do you recall what the free Havana excursions were? We get 4 free as we hit the port twice. 

Also how did you find the ferry en route to Tulum? Was it incredibly rough??

 

Thanks so much!

 

Our deal didn't include the free Havana excursions, so I don't know what they were.

 

The ferry bounced a bit, but it wasn't horrible. I don't get seasick, but my wife does, and she was fine on the ferry. It's a nice, modern boat.

[GateGuardian]

Thanks for the review! Did you exchange any currency in Cuba?

[lmfinney]

15 minutes ago, GateGuardian said:

Thanks for the review! Did you exchange any currency in Cuba?

 

Yes, we did. There's an exchange office in the cruise terminal, and there are also a few others around town. We used the one in the cruise terminal.

 

We got some Euros from our local bank to exchange, getting 1.11 CUC for each Euro in Havana. I don't remember what the exchange rate on Dollars was, but Cuba imposes a 13% tax on that exchange rate (and only on US Dollars). So, if you have non-US currency, use that. If you can get Euros (or whatever) from your local bank without paying more than 13% of commissions, that'll get you ahead.

 

AFAIK, there's no way to use American credit or debit cards in Cuba.

 

During the cruise director's talk about going to Cuba, someone asked about converting Dollars to Mexican Pesos in Cozumel, and then using the Mexican Pesos to buy CUCs. He thought it was a novel idea worth considering, but I don't know how much the commissions would eat up the savings.

 

We saw some tours, restaurants, etc. that let tourists use euros at even rate to CUCs, but that's a bad deal - you'll save money by exchanging the Euros to CUCs and spending CUCs. I didn't ask their dollar rate.

[GateGuardian]

39 minutes ago, lmfinney said:

 

Yes, we did. There's an exchange office in the cruise terminal, and there are also a few others around town. We used the one in the cruise terminal.

 

We got some Euros from our local bank to exchange, getting 1.11 CUC for each Euro in Havana. I don't remember what the exchange rate on Dollars was, but Cuba imposes a 13% tax on that exchange rate (and only on US Dollars). So, if you have non-US currency, use that. If you can get Euros (or whatever) from your local bank without paying more than 13% of commissions, that'll get you ahead.

 

AFAIK, there's no way to use American credit or debit cards in Cuba.

 

During the cruise director's talk about going to Cuba, someone asked about converting Dollars to Mexican Pesos in Cozumel, and then using the Mexican Pesos to buy CUCs. He thought it was a novel idea worth considering, but I don't know how much the commissions would eat up the savings.

 

We saw some tours, restaurants, etc. that let tourists use euros at even rate to CUCs, but that's a bad deal - you'll save money by exchanging the Euros to CUCs and spending CUCs. I didn't ask their dollar rate.

 

I'm trying to figure out how much CUC I should be converting. Are prices similar to other tourist traps in the Caribbean? Was there a long line up converting the CUC back?

[lmfinney]

18 minutes ago, GateGuardian said:

 

I'm trying to figure out how much CUC I should be converting. Are prices similar to other tourist traps in the Caribbean? Was there a long line up converting the CUC back?

 

AKAIK, it's not possible to convert CUCs back.

 

In terms of how much to convert, it'll depend on what you do, of course. We spent about 120 CUCs for a tour, and we bought about 40 CUCs worth of rum, and about 15 CUC worth of other souvenirs. I don't know what to tell you about comparisons to other tourist traps - a t-shirt in the flea market was about 10 CUCs, if that helps.

[FTLcruisers]

22 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Bon Voyage, FTLcruisers ... hope you have a wonderful cruise.  We board the week after you debark.

we'll try to keep the ship in good shape for you!  

[FTLcruisers]

14 hours ago, lmfinney said:

 

AKAIK, it's not possible to convert CUCs back.

 

In terms of how much to convert, it'll depend on what you do, of course. We spent about 120 CUCs for a tour, and we bought about 40 CUCs worth of rum, and about 15 CUC worth of other souvenirs. I don't know what to tell you about comparisons to other tourist traps - a t-shirt in the flea market was about 10 CUCs, if that helps.

I thought we could convert CUCs back so...basically if we convert too much money, we're stuck with the CUCs???

[Beamafar]

I'm pretty sure that I read over on the Ports of Call boards that they'll exchange them back for the same rate they charged you (I think they were referring to the exchange place at the terminal).

[Maya57]

We took a cruise to Cuba a few years ago on a RCCL ship,  First tip is LEAVE YOUR CREDIT/DEBIT card home or on the ship.  It is not accepted anywhere in Cuba.  Getting off the ship was time consuming.  The computers were very slow and took turns in crashing require rebooting. But after about a half hour or more we were cleared to go in.  Then we had to go to money exchange.  The exchange rate is different (additional fee for U.S. money then other currency.  The exchange currency is called CUC.  They say that only CUC can be used by tourist, Cuban's use their  own currency.  I think its illegal but many, not all of the vendors will take U.S. currency but at a terrible exchange rate.,
Once off the ship and money exchanged your on you own. We walked all over the Plaza and back streets. No problems in fact the people were friendly and happy to Americans (spending money).  The next day we took a tour, which is government controlled but very interesting
We were told that are not permitted to travel to the beaches and resort areas   Taking a tours was not requied
Another tip is do not exchange too much monru no place to excange it back.

We will be  going again Feb 18 sailing.

ENJOY THE CRUISE.
 

 

[lmfinney]

I've just posted a bunch of labeled pictures from the trip to a public album on Facebook. Enjoy!

 

I have more (unlabeled) pictures on Shutterfly. FYI, the "Highlights" folder has the same pictures as Facebook.

 

Note: we drove to Miami and stopped in Montgomery, AL along the way to the cruise to visit civil rights sites and museums, so the beginning of the album is unrelated to the cruise.

[GateGuardian]

I booked the Vintage Car tour as well. On MSC's website, it says it's up to 3 guests. Do they make you share the car with someone if you don't fill up the car?

[lmfinney]

12 hours ago, GateGuardian said:

I booked the Vintage Car tour as well. On MSC's website, it says it's up to 3 guests. Do they make you share the car with someone if you don't fill up the car?

I didn't go with the MSC tour, so I don't know, but I would guess not. Could be wrong.

[lovetoholiday]

I'm just back off the New Year cruise and I'm sorry I don't have any photos but here are my observations and thoughts.

This was my 4th cruise with MSC and the Armonia is smaller and obviously older than the other ships I've been on but it's still a nice ship, just without the glitz of the newer ones.

The layout takes a bit of getting used to as the middle lifts only go up to deck 9 and the stairs stop at deck 10, and one of the sets of stairs at deck 6 is in the middle of the 2 sections of the Marco Polo Restaurant.  But it's fun trying to remember which to use to go where you want.

I had an Aurea Suite on deck 10 and although it's more a larger than normal cabin it has plenty space and loads of cupboard and drawer space.  It had a walk in wardrobe which contained a tall drawer unit and a feature I liked was that when you opened the doors a light came on so you weren't just relying on the cabin lights.

The bathroom had a bath with a shower overhead with a partial glass partition and a curtain, also lots of storage space.

The Balcony was roomy and had 2 low back chairs and a footstool. The partitions between the balconies were a bit shaky and rattled when it was windy.

The food in the main dining room was very good and I felt there was plenty choice in the buffet for breakfast and lunch.

The staff were lovely and friendly.

The new Surf and Turf has been made by taking a small part of the La Pergola restaurant, I think it only seats 38.  The food in there was also great and well worth the price.

 

The niggles:-

 

The free gelato is not the great selection that you get on the other ships but is 2 or 3 flavours of sorbet and some soft stuff from a machine.

 

The new Rum Bar used to be the Red Bar (according to the map) and they advertise Bacardi everywhere including the cushions, but they will not serve you a Bacardi as a spirit only as part of a cocktail. Crazy!  My friend drinks Bacardi and asked for one with coke and was told they didn't serve that was asked for her card (we had the classic package code of 431) she was told that it was a Premium Bar and her card didn't cover it.  The basic cocktails were priced at $9.50 so should have been. We gave up arguing with the barman and went elsewhere.  This was the only issue we had getting any drinks.  I think perhaps he was confused about the new packages.

 

The My Time dining wanted us to book for the next night, and the Al Fresco dining doesn't exist, there is an outside space at the back but with no tables or chairs, - perhaps still a work in progress?

 

We booked with MSC as a flight/hotel package and read on their information page about Cuban Visas that if you booked as part of a flight package the visa cost was included in this fare, but we were charged for the visa ($50 for UK guests) we queried this with guest services who said it hadn't been prepaid and when I tried to get onto the website to find the wording the page was not being displayed!

 

Talking about internet, I had bought the basic package but it only worked when we were in a port.

 

We swapped one of our 2 Cuban tours for a different one and were refunded $50 each.

 

The queue to get off in Havana was dreadful, it took about an hour and a half. After the first time we just walked off with hardly a glance at the passports.

 

The Meet and Greet invitation said 9.30 but the daily planner said 9am we went at 9.15 and it was already in full swing.  I think quite a lot of people who had signed up didn't go which was a shame. They had a CC cake, nibbles, and drinks.  We also had photos taken which were supposed to be delivered to the cabins but we ended up having to ask at the photo shop for them.

 

One last thing we thought was odd was the 'Welcome Back' party, we spoke to 2 couples - there could have been more, who were on their first cruise with MSC but had received invitations to the party - strange and a bit unfair!

 

Overall I had a great time as usual, but I think I prefer the bigger ships, but that's just me. 

 

[Reds4life]

Thanks for even more info. This thread has been excellent! 

[travelwide]

Cuc's can be converted back to USD. You go back to the exchange Booth where you purchased them  originally, in the terminal.