Because of the worthlessness of Cuban pesos, the price of your dinner for one in Cuba > the monthly salary of your waiter/waitress. If you go, bring lots of US $1 bills for tipping. Tips written on a credit card slip will end up in Castro's treasury for all intents.

------------------
Play the travel game 3 vacations into the future!

Has anyone been to Cuba recently via Cancun or one of the Caribbean islands? I am trying to decide where to go forvacation this summer and Cuba is on my list.

------------------
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

Does it bother anyone else that as "free" citizens of the USA we are denied the right to travel some where we might like to go by our own government? Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

All I've know who have traveled to Cuba did so via Canada and Air Canada. They said it was cheaper than Mexico or any of the islands.

This is NOT true. I have seen the Cuban stamp in a NY friend's passport, who did a puddle jump from Cancun.

At Customs, the agent laughed when she asked about NOT having her passport stamped, and promptly put one in both her and her travelling companion's passport.

She gets nervous every time she goes through customs now...

Not saying that someone shouldn't go b/c of this - just don't expect that this is automatic.

Easy solution for this. Just lose the passport and get a new one.

It's not necessary to change the passport. I know someone who had their's stamped in Cuba and has crossed the US border many times with no questions.

The stamp doesn't say "Cuba". It just this wierd little green stamp.

Hers is an orange stamp, in the shape of a triangle, which says "Cuba" in it.

Apparently (I have been informed) the Cuban customs officials have many different stamps. I've seen one in the shape of an elephant in a friend's passport from Australia, who visited there in May.

Re: Gaucho100K's advice - she apparently did exactly that at the beginning of the summer.

[This message has been edited by jrk1998 (edited 07-29-2003).]

May I suggest, if you're an American citizen and want to visit Cuba, that you do it legally. That's what I did in April 2001 through an organization named "Ambassadors for Children", based in Indianapolis. This is a humanitarian group whose trips to Cuba are sanctioned by the U.S. government - at least for now, as I read recently that our government may soon be further tightening the laws for travel to Cuba. Their address is 7337 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46231 and phone number (317) 826-7929. I hope the contact info is still correct, as I haven't contacted them since my trip.

We flew on an ATA charter from Indy to Havana and stayed in one of the nicer large hotels in Havana - "Melia Cohiba", with a waterfront view - basic but nice enough. We spent mornings visiting schools and distributing personal (e.g., school, hygiene) supplies in both Havana and the countryside with Cuban guides (read: government employees) and had afternoons to explore on our own. There were several physicians in our group who took medical supplies and spent time with doctors in the hospitals. It was the most interesting, and at the same time, unsettling, trip of my life. It would take lots of time to post the details of my trip, and not knowing if anyone is interested, I won't. But, please do check into this or other sanctioned organizations (I suspect there are some in S. FL); you will have plenty of time to go off on your own, and you will leave feeling that you have helped, in some small way, to make someone's life better, as well as enrich your own.

Edited for typos

[This message has been edited by joie_de_vie (edited Jan 18, 2004).]

I am personally interested in your experiences. Not so much the arrangement through the agency, but more about the actual visit. You will have at least one reader if you are interested in writing about them.

This is true, I have two stamps (entry/exit) from my visit there. The stamps are 3/4 inch square, one is green and one is blue, they both have the word "Bank" on them.

There were lots of Canadians and South Americans on holiday in Cuba, the Canadians were having a particularly good laugh at the way Americans weren't allowed in there.

I also had stamps from Israel in my passport, some people this this is not possible but I did it. I needed a visa to enter Egypt and got one while I was in Tel Aviv, unfortunately it had "Tel Aviv" in big letters stamped on it.

I got the second stamp as I left Israel via Rafah where the Egyptians stamped my passport with a stamp saying Rafah in Arabic.

A few immigration officals noticed this and commented that the only way I could have crossed the border at Rafah is if I had been to Israel. It didn't cause a problem though.

Lets just say that goin gto Cuba is risky - very risky and if you so happen to get caught - you will not want to face the consequences.

Best

A Cuban

Would love to read details, should you ever have the time to post.

And thanks for the info. I'll definitely look into it. I've been dying to go, ever since friends on the US Waterpolo team came back. They loved the experience...

I would definitely go -- I'm going in October (legally), but have done a ton of research. Not to hate on our beloved flyertalk site, but there's a great Cuba site at http://www.cubamania.com/cgi-bin/cubaforums/YaBB.pl -- try the DO Cuba! forum and do some searches on american. They have good, reassuring advice as well as good advice on places to stay.

I'm not affiliated with the site whatsoever and am an avid Flyertalk fan, but their cuba forum is replete with info!

Che Guevara is actually Argentinian by birth ---and "Che" is an Argentinian form of address - means something like "hey buddy" or "hey dude". I sure don't understand the "guerilla chic" surrounding him, and he died unsuccessfully trying to start a rebellion in Bolivia.

I would also say that the rationale for isolating Cuba because of its human rights record is kind of hollow given that we have a lot of trade and exchanges with countries that are just as bad if not worse.