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Anyone been to Cuba?

The easist way for americans to go to cuba is cancum there are a lot of cheap flights there
from mex its currently about 225 round trip to havana
true they will not stamp your passport and theoricy no knows you went
the standard visa waver is given to you on the plane to fill out and is kept with your passport. though i have heard reports of the airlines giving the am authories passager lists to try and cauch am traveling to cuba

you need cash or a forign credit card not american they will not work. the exchange rate has become a real screw.earlier this year they imposed a 10% charge on am dollars and none on euros and none on credit cards
now there is a standard 12% on credit cards and any forigen currancey except the dollor which still has an extra 10% so you change a 100$ bill and get 78$ cuban convertable curency

i think fidel is trying to kill the tourst business

the europeans are screming about it

in my case i travel by boat under license and can spend 160$ a day per person,can bring back unlimited art, two boxes of cigars and two bottles of rum
go figure
 
I thought the use of the dollar was heavy over there, kinda like in the big tourist areas in South America.

This whole Cuban "NO you didn't!!!" thing from the '60s is getting old and busted.

New hotness: Invading countries who piss us off.
 
vitasea said:
The easist way for americans to go to cuba is cancum there are a lot of cheap flights there
from mex its currently about 225 round trip to havana
true they will not stamp your passport and theoricy no knows you went
the standard visa waver is given to you on the plane to fill out and is kept with your passport. though i have heard reports of the airlines giving the am authories passager lists to try and cauch am traveling to cuba

you need cash or a forign credit card not american they will not work. the exchange rate has become a real screw.earlier this year they imposed a 10% charge on am dollars and none on euros and none on credit cards
now there is a standard 12% on credit cards and any forigen currancey except the dollor which still has an extra 10% so you change a 100$ bill and get 78$ cuban convertable curency

i think fidel is trying to kill the tourst business

the europeans are screming about it

in my case i travel by boat under license and can spend 160$ a day per person,can bring back unlimited art, two boxes of cigars and two bottles of rum
go figure
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Welcome back!!
I would love to hear some of your stories!!!

I hope you were able to help alot of people over there!!!
 
totally revised by my wife.:)

Arriving in Cuba by boat is an interesting task. When you arrive into the harbor you dock at the arrival/departure dock. The first person to come on your boat is the doctor to check all your food supplies and your general health, any medications your taking etc. No fresh meat or poultry is allowed into Cuba and most of all no fresh eggs. It is believed that the American CIA infected fresh eggs with viruses a few years back and would throw them around the county side and wiped out the all the pigs with a swine virus and they also tried to destroy the sugar cane and tobacco crops, so no fresh eggs from America!!! He also serves as a vet and examines your pets. We have a 9 lb Jack Russell terrier who thinks she’s a Doberman pincher . (Basil, aka Albahaca has been to Cuba four times and likes it very much). Anyway, five dollars later everything is fine health wise.

The next person is the dog guy and that didn’t work as Basil would not let the search dog on her boat. After a brief discussion with about 10 people in various color of uniforms on the dock, it was decided to skip the dog search.

Next: Immigration
They come on board and take your passports back to their office to do something. The few computers they have in Cuba either don’t work or are incredibly slow so it is difficult for them to keep records on everyone, so this takes time to process.

Next: The Harbor Master
With volumes of paperwork they come on board; Cubans love forms and stamps and seals. They examine your boat papers and documentation .

Next: Customs
The Aguanas search the boat and you give them a complete list of all forbidden item not allowed in Cuba but are okay on your boat. VCR, DVD players, computers, VHF radios, Single Side Band, GPS, TV’s, and so on.


Next: Coasta Guardia

The Gestapo. The Coast Guardia are incorruptible young boys from the country side. They will and can spend hours searching every nook and cranny on the boat. They could give the U S Coast Guard lessons on boat searches, except they have no tools or flashlights.

I always put gift packages together in a plastic bag, tooth brush tooth paste, razors, shaving cream, lotion, comb you know all the small travel stuff. It has to be small so everyone can put it under their shirt and hide it. Never try to give anything to someone while another service is around.

Last but not least: the Dock Master

The dock master welcomes you and gives you your slip number. For the past three years we have been in slip 206. If there is another boat in 206 they insist that they will move another boat for us even if we insist it’s not necessary. Another group of marina people and friends await at the slip to hook up everything and welcome us back. For some reason people know that we are arriving at 6:00am and we are overcome by visitors throughout the day.

It’s been all rather tiring as we have spent about 45 hours traveling and three hours of checking in, a bit sleep deprived and we just want to mix a drink and kick back.

Then we had an unexpected visitor, he was with Cuban Intelligence, (C I). Dressed in jeans and a tee shirt he showed us his impressive identification card. He wanted to know what we were doing in Cuba. The boat was only full of about 60 boxes of donations. He looked at all of our forms and permits and licenses and finally was satisfied that we were legit. Most Cubans are a little confused as to why an American couple would come to Cuba and bring donations to give freely with no financial benefit. The donation thing is another whole story.
 
Interesting, sounds like an adventure everytime you go there. :)
 
bfreebern said:
vitasea said:
ree ree robusto said:
Here we go again...
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you really don't have to read my posts
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I want to see your boat and Basil the dog.
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WTF? Why do you wanna see Basil the dog?

Do they have to be together... :sign:
 
It was a joke Peekay. Sheesh. Just want to be showed evidence of his Homer type voyages.
 
bfreebern said:
vitasea said:
ree ree robusto said:
Here we go again...
[snapback]197353[/snapback]​
Click to expand...
you really don't have to read my posts
[snapback]197366[/snapback]​
Click to expand...

I want to see your boat and Basil the dog.
[snapback]197387[/snapback]​
Click to expand...

minnow.jpg


alan_hale_jr_1.jpg


:whistling:
 
edited by christina she made me promise not to post anything till she corrected it probbly right

Trying to give away something for nothing in Cuba……….can be down right frustrating. We arrived in Cuba with about 50 boxes of medical supplies, drugs and equipment, and an unexpected 14 large boxes of softball equipment. The medical stuff I am usually able to donate to my friend, Dr Gilberto’s hospital in Havana. I send my list by email and he makes application through a Cuban organization called ECAP. This trip it seems that ECAP no longer have the authority to accept medical stuff and we had to go through the Dept of Health. After a couple weeks we realized that no one in the Dept of Health was yet authorized to accept donations as this was a whole new deal. It seems that too many drugs are being brought to Cuba by relatives and tourists that sales in government stores are declining. I managed to remove most of the important medical equipment and supplies a few boxes at a time to the trunk of my car and to the doctor’s house. Customs insisted that the prescription drugs must stay on my boat, unless properly released.

The sports equipment was a whole other story. It was sent to my boat in Fl by a couch from Chicago at the last minute; two shipping pallets full including. 500 softballs, 50 aluminum bats. five complete catcher pads and masks, numerous batter helmets and boxes of assorted helmets, gloves you name it. We loaded it last and barely had room for Basil our dog. It’s a long overnighter to Havana from the Tampa, Fl area. We leave late evening sailing all night the next day and night and arrive in Marina Hemmingway in the morning, its about a 40 - 44 hour cruse depending on weather and wind conditions.

Customs were very accommodating and stored the sports equipped in a store room for us after opening each box and counting, and listing every item for 4 hours…………….!!! I had a contact number of the head of the Cuban softball association, who showed up a week later. A mountain of a man about 6’ 6” and 350 lbs and black as night. He thanked me, said he’d take care of everything and I never saw him again !!!!
When we left Cuba 5 weeks later half the meds and all the soft ball equipment went with us, I have it stored in Fl for another attempt in the fall. I made an attempt to get help from the American Interests in Havana, another great story….later
 
That reminds me...softball starts back up for me next week.

Vitasea, while you're at it, I need a bat.

Thanks in advance!

Ree
 
Well at least you were able to help a little, I know they need it!
 
Interesting stuff, I just wish they would get rid of the damn embargo, the trade would be for us.
 
this was revised by my wife before i posted it...........i'm learning...:)

I’m an American in Havana and I got a problem donating my cargo, right so lets go to our friends at the American Embassy to see if they can help . My first stop was the Swiss Embassy a beautiful colonial house on 5th Ave in embassy row. There was no receptionist at the desk but I noticed a door mark American Interests, which I opened and found out it was nothing more then a cleaning supply closet , the receptionist who had just returned quickly closed the closet door said that was just a temporary situation as the were remolding a more permanent area. She directed me the the American Embassy building down town on the Malecon.
The Malecon is one of the most beautiful streets in the world. It runs along the ocean to one side and a very imposing row of three to four story colonial turn of the century building on the other. The American Embassy sits on the western edge of the Malecon, it’s a 6 or 7 story ugly brick and colored glass tower that looks so out of place, its an offence to the eyes. It has a 12 or 14 foot black steel fence that is total surrounded by Cuban soldiers every 20 feet 24 \ 7. Not sure if it is to keep people in or out, though no one is allowed to use the side walk anywhere around it. Now its pouring down rain in literally buckets, I pull in to the parking lot full of the American staff cars, they are all painted white and the majority are the most gas guzzling SUV made in America the huge Ford Explorer. All diplomatic vehicles in Cuba have black license plates and a special starting number, ours is 201. Several guards trounced on me telling me there was no way I could park in the parking lot, now the streets were literally rivers running water mid knee high. I parked a block away rolled up my slacks to my knees and took out my trusty Go Big Red Nebraska golf umbrella and waded back to the embassy. I had dressed up for the occasion even had a collared shirt on, normal garb on the boat is t-shirts and shorts.
I was rudely directed to a guard post and showed them my passport and said I had business in the Embassy. They directed me to a side entrance through the fence and a small building were I was nearly strip searched and ran through an x ray machine then directed to side entrance of the building. Now up till now all contacts were with surly Cuban soldiers and guards. Inside there was a man and woman behind a three inch thick bullet proof plastic window and you had to talk thru like a bank slot at the counter and it was difficult to hear what any one was saying, of course up until now everyone spoke Spanish. Anyway I must of pissed off the guy trying to talk to me, even with my ear down around the slot. He said if I did not do what I was told he was going to “kick my ass out of the building”. After a few minutes of very rude conversation, I asked him is name and he replied “it was none of my ****ing business” and he still wanted to kick my ass out of the building. After another search I was allowed to enter a large room mostly full of Cuban people, applying for Visa’s I assumed. The receptionist gave me a two page double sided questioner that started out with my grade school education and more personal questions that neither of my previous two wives knew.
I showed her my passport and said that all she needed to know and refused to fill out the form, she replied that no one would talk to me if I did not. I said that’s ok it was still pouring down rain, I had no plans and would just hang out here, 15 min later a nice woman (first that I’ve encountered) directed me to a door which led into like a prison holding room with more bullet proof plastic windows. This relatively friendly Cuban guy took a copy of my passport and wanted to know what I wanted. I said to start with how about an American speaking American. He said that would be difficult as all 250 (my estimate) people who worked there were probably busy. Yes, I said driving their SUV”s around Havana with there 18 year old girl friends, which I had seen plenty do. I noticed they had a computer in my holding cell and I asked if I could check my email, ya no problem, thing was it was like 300 baud (you old guys remember that) took 15 min to load yahoo and another 15 min to get to my account, meanwhile and American speaking American showed up behind the bullet proof glass and rudely demanded what I wanted. To start with could we sit down in an office and talk like in a civilized manner?? I was beginning to get a crank in my neck trying to talk though the bank slot, impossible I was told, security. Now I could understand that, but I’m 65 and had been searched three times and could offer no threat to him, there were only a million and a half Cubans demonstrating the week before outside this building, which would probably make any fat balding middle aged American nervous wondering how he would be able to get home to his 18 year old girl friend. I told him my problem with giving the donations and thought one of people stationed here ( no one works they all have Cuban staff for that) might know a Cuban government official who could help me out. Absolutely unthinkable I was told, we have no direct contact with Cuban officials it all has to go through diplomatic channels Washington DC then Switzerland . Interesting I said what do you all do here other then drive around in your SUV’s with your 18 year old girl friends??? I could see I was beginning to piss him off. We process VISA’s !! a very important job as everyone has to be thoroughly checked out, we don’t want to let in any undesirables into our country. Well I was pretty fed up by now and I told him he was lucky he was born in the US because I doubted any one would give him a VISA, as he was heading to the door to kick my ass out of the building; I exited stage right. Through the room full of Cubans and out into the still pouring rain, was immediately directed to the other side of the water filled street.
The Cuban people are extremely friendly and nice and I realized that they were rude and nasty in the American Interests building because they were simply acting like their American counter -parts. Very sad state of affairs, we could save a lot of money if we just closed the place down.
 
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