Travel to Cuba (hotel, reservations, price, flight)

[joe from dayton]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

you may have to look in to it as far as restrictions for US citizens being in cuba ....the same restrictions likely apply as far as why you are going .

americans are no allowed to do all the things that other nationals can do like go to the beaches or clubbing ...when we were there , the treasury levied a 10k fine if you got caught .... don't think cuban customs wont go through your pictures looking for stuff you should not do and threaten to turn you in to the treasury here unless you pay them off

That is only very partially correct. Here is the restricted list:

https://www.state.gov/cuba-sanctions...april-24-2019/

As long as you are an authorized visitor to the island, you can go to clubs and beaches. If you are an authorized visitor, you will have an itinerary that documents your activities, which should be substantial enough to keep you from lounging on the beach all day. You can certainly go to a beach or club when you have some down time. People who get fined are unauthorized travelers who go with the intention of being tourists, and who leave the US to fly to Cuba from another country. These folks also tend not to declare that they have been to Cuba when reentering the United States.

Go to Cuba with a licensed Cuban trip broker and you will not have any issues. In addition, if you go with one of these groups, they are required by law to keep a copy of your itinerary for five years (if you go by yourself, you are required by law to keep the itinerary for five years).

[cebuan]

Originally Posted by evening sun

I agree with those who posted you can travel to Mexico or Canada & then fly to Cuba.

This has been easy for 30 years or more. Canada, you needed to buy a package, but just a scheduled flight from Cancun. No questions asked.

[kokonutty]

The license for traveling "In support for the Cuban people" continues to exist; whether or not this mode will incur deeper scrutiny in the future is yet to be seen. Since 2017 there has been a requirement under this title to maintain records of where you stayed and what you did for five years but it is unknown if anyone was ever audited; if so, it was not at all common. Spending money in hotels and restaurants run by the Cuban military has been forbidden for a while but many other options are on the table (and most of the time the food is better.) Independent travel under this section without using a broker is not very challenging.

Nonstop flights from a number of American cities to a handful of places in Cuba continue to exist, for now. What is yet to be seen is how the loss of volume due to the cancelled group tours will affect aircraft loading and profitability which could result in reduced flight options. However on a trip two months ago the vast majority of passengers between JFK and Havana appeared to be native speakers of Spanish, probably Cuban or of Cuban descent, a category not affected by recent announcements if traveling to visit family.

Hopefully, this meaningless edict will be short lived and the Cuban people will continue to get the badly needed support of the American people and many Americans will be able to discover the amazing place just a hundred miles from our shores.

[kokonutty]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

you may have to look in to it as far as restrictions for US citizens being in cuba ....the same restrictions likely apply as far as why you are going .

americans are no allowed to do all the things that other nationals can do like go to the beaches or clubbing ...when we were there , the treasury levied a 10k fine if you got caught .... don't think cuban customs wont go through your pictures looking for stuff you should not do and threaten to turn you in to the treasury here unless you pay them off

I'm not sure when you were in Cuba or where you're coming from with this post but be assured that on a trip to Cuba in April of this year there was nothing to keep this American from going to a beach or a club, an artist's cooperative or a youth boxing venue, the Bay of Pigs Museum or a handful of good restaurants.

I traveled the countryside by bus and stayed in a couple of cities and a couple of small towns and was surprised to see a near total absence of police or other government officials. Never did I see anyone in a black suit and dark glasses furtively watching the crowds. My second or third day in Havana it dawned on me how quiet a city it was with the near absence of sirens and police presence.

I had no, and heard of no instances, where Americans were subject to inspection of their phones or cameras by any Cuban government officials for any purpose. There was a very nice elderly woman at the airport who assessed a small export license for the art work I had purchased and then supplied tape and assisted me in rewrapping it to keep it from being damaged.

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by kokonutty

I'm not sure when you were in Cuba or where you're coming from with this post but be assured that on a trip to Cuba in April of this year there was nothing to keep this American from going to a beach or a club, an artist's cooperative or a youth boxing venue, the Bay of Pigs Museum or a handful of good restaurants.

I traveled the countryside by bus and stayed in a couple of cities and a couple of small towns and was surprised to see a near total absence of police or other government officials. Never did I see anyone in a black suit and dark glasses furtively watching the crowds. My second or third day in Havana it dawned on me how quiet a city it was with the near absence of sirens and police presence.

I had no, and heard of no instances, where Americans were subject to inspection of their phones or cameras by any Cuban government officials for any purpose. There was a very nice elderly woman at the airport who assessed a small export license for the art work I had purchased and then supplied tape and assisted me in rewrapping it to keep it from being damaged.

Great post. I think Americans are confused by the sort of scrutiny their own governments may place on them, rather, how restrictive their own governments are, and assume that it is also the same from the other side. It is not. The Cuban government couldn't care any less about who is visiting their sites.

I am decent in my Spanish. When I was in Cuba in March, I told some people that I was from Canada and others that I was from the United States to gauge their reactions. No one much cared and all were friendly and accommodating just the same.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by kokonutty

Nonstop flights from a number of American cities to a handful of places in Cuba continue to exist, for now.

Yes, there are still 30 flights per day to Cuba. You just cannot cruise there anymore. :-(
Of course, anything can change in a moment's notice, as we've seen.

[joee5]

Those had any intention of going, would have.
Those that really wanna go, will find a way.

[markg91359]

Originally Posted by michgc

Yes, there are still 30 flights per day to Cuba. You just cannot cruise there anymore. :-(
Of course, anything can change in a moment's notice, as we've seen.

That's a huge difference though. Its impossible to find a decent priced hotel in Cuba. There are too few of them and they are full. If you travel there you are reduced to staying in the equivalent of an "Air B n B". I think the Spanish name for it is "casa particulara". My wife and I wanted a cruise ship for those reasons. We knew at the end of the day we could go back to our ship and have a decent dependable place to stay.

I won't get started on politics. I will say that I am just fed up with the fact that the sole goal of the current administration is no larger than to reverse every decision made by the last administration. The mentality of certain people in government is about on par with a three year old child.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by llowllevellowll

First, vote for leaders who aren't dictators. I don't support politicians that restrict our freedom of travel.

John F Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H W Bush
Bill Clinton
George W Bush
75% of Barack Obama's term


And, PERHAPS Dwight Eisenhower.


Those are all the presidents who kept Cuba travel restrictions were in place.

Now.. That being said.. I disagree with the change as well. I find it pretty hypocritical that the US turns a blind eye to China or Saudi human rights abuses but tries to crush tiny little Cuba which is basically stuck as a 1950's society. and that whole list above is guilty of it.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by markg91359

That's a huge difference though. Its impossible to find a decent priced hotel in Cuba. There are too few of them and they are full. If you travel there you are reduced to staying in the equivalent of an "Air B n B". I think the Spanish name for it is "casa particulara". My wife and I wanted a cruise ship for those reasons. We knew at the end of the day we could go back to our ship and have a decent dependable place to stay.

I won't get started on politics. I will say that I am just fed up with the fact that the sole goal of the current administration is no larger than to reverse every decision made by the last administration. The mentality of certain people in government is about on par with a three year old child.

We did a cruise there back in 2017, and it was great. My husband flew there again this past April. I booked his AirBandB, and there were a ton of very nice ones to choose from. I wouldn't let that stop you from going. I, unfortunately, don't like to fly so the cruise option was much better for me! I really want to go back.