Travel to Havana, Cuban visa

[kpc]

Next year I'm attending a conference in Puerto Rico (SJU). After this, I would like to go to Havana, Cuba.

I see that Copa allows me to book flights (cash or points) on its website via Panama: SJU-PTY-HAV return on one ticket. I'm not a US citizen, and assuming SJU is an US port, is this OK / legal to purchase on the one ticket?

Also, I read that one can get a Cuban visa at the Copa checkin desk but would this be at SJU? or PTY? If PTY can this be done airside without the need to clear immigration at PTY? (PS: I note Alanslegal got his Cuban visa from Canberra for around $60 and this may make life a little easier)

Thanks in advance!

 

[infinity]

Don't you ever work Kev??

Chilling from Nha Trang Vietnam

 

[divvy_l]

kpc did you by any chance ever figure this out? I've booked a flight for BOS-IAD-PTY-HAV (on UA and CM via Avianca LifeMiles, thanks AFF) and I'm a bit worried on a few counts:

- Will the United check-in desk in BOS check my luggage right through to HAV? If not, I'm guessing I'm going to have to use my 80 minute layover in PTY to collect my luggage and check back in to HAV. I've done a 90 minute turnaround from SQ to Skymark (a new budget Japanese airline) and back for domestic to international at NRT and HND before but I fear that doing it (a) international to international (b) in Panama (c) not involving SQ might make it slightly more difficult! Or might there be some luggage collection and transfer arrangement airside?
- Is this ticket even legal? I'm not a US citizen but I'd say that IAD is pretty solidly considered a US port.
- Love to know what the answer to the Cuban visa waiver at check in answer is as well. I'm guessing that if it is possible it might be able to do be done at a transfer desk at PTY? Or is this newbie being a little naive? If not then maybe safer to send off to Canberra for the visa...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers in advance

 

[divvy_l]

kpc have just seen your FT post with the Lonely Planet link - hope #13 is right (can't post link because have an insufficient post count).

Still nervous though!

 

[kpc]

kpc have just seen your FT post with the Lonely Planet link - hope #13 is right (can't post link because have an insufficient post count).

Still nervous though!

Yes, this link: Flying from the US to Cuba - Lonely Planet travel forum will be of interest; my intended flights are not til April / May next year, so if you do travel before then, pls report back here

 

[knightman7]

I have flown the LAS-PTY-HAV on Copa and can confirm they check luggage all the way through. Have a great trip!! Make sure you visit the Cohiba factory

 

[kpc]

I have flown the LAS-PTY-HAV on Copa and can confirm they check luggage all the way through. Have a great trip!! Make sure you visit the Cohiba factory

Great to know! Where did you pick up your Cuba visa? Could you pick it up in transit (airside) at PTY?

 

[Alanslegal]

Make sure you don't get ripped off by a local Cubans are friendly and all, but a handful of them just like to take it a step further and milk some EUR or USDs off you. I know as I was ripped off on my first day there hahhahaa My friends had dropped me off at my hotel, they went back to their apartment, I took a shower and then decided to wonder around the hotel. Cut a long story short .... I ended up buying this local guy two mojitos (cost 20EUR including tip!) and with a roll of cheap cigars (cost 60EUR for 20 I think). [I didn't have any USD at that time, so EUR was perfectly acceptable!!] Friend met up with me and knew I got scammed LOL .... later during my stay, my friend who lives there then got me two dozen Cohibas in an original wooden box cost USD$55.

 

[knightman7]

I organised my visa prior to leaving Australia. My TA handled everything for us.

 

[knightman7]

FYI, all the flights were on one PNR. You may have problems if you book each leg separately.

 

[divvy_l]

Thanks for the tips knightman7 and Alanslegal! Thankfully I'm on the same PNR for the whole trip, the first leg of that particular booking is on UA BOS-IAD though so I hope that the UA domestic check-in counter can still do that!

Think I'll get the visa before I go just to eliminate any risk, unless anyone's heard otherwise? Any chance Copa will just hand out the tourist on the aircraft itself?

 

[kpc]

FYI: I bought the cuba Visa online for £15 (plus £5 handling and postage to anywhere in the world) from this travel agency:cuba visas .com - Buy Tourist Visa Card for only £15.

Much cheaper than the AUD$110 the Cuban embassy in Australia wanted to charge and only a small premium compared to the USD$25 if bought at Panama airport (only have 1 hour transit at PTY so didn't want to worry about buying it then)

 

[RooFlyer]

Just seeking an update / reconfirmation about entry to Cuba.

All formal advice in Australia is that you need a visa, issued at a cost of abt $60/$100+ from the embassy in person/via courier; this is impractical given I'm in Canada at the moment.

However lots of indications that you can get a 4 week tarjeta de turista from the airline flying you to Cuba (at the departure airport). Includes this post by admin http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/destination-guide/a-question-two-about-cuba-44638.html#post707392.

Any comments about this? Personally, I'm pretty confident about the tarjeta, and will call the airline (Air Bahamas) during the week, but there's nothing like advice from people have "been there" so to speak.

(ps I found notzac's trip report .. very handy, thanks )

 

[kpc]

Just seeking an update / reconfirmation about entry to Cuba.

All formal advice in Australia is that you need a visa, issued at a cost of abt $60/$100+ from the embassy in person/via courier; this is impractical given I'm in Canada at the moment.

However lots of indications that you can get a 4 week tarjeta de turista from the airline flying you to Cuba (at the departure airport). Includes this post by admin http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/destination-guide/a-question-two-about-cuba-44638.html#post707392.

Any comments about this? Personally, I'm pretty confident about the tarjeta, and will call the airline (Air Bahamas) during the week, but there's nothing like advice from people have "been there" so to speak.

(ps I found notzac's trip report .. very handy, thanks )

You should be able to get the tourist card at Nassau airport but you might order it (like I did) from the agency below for £20 which is very reasonable . Just order it a little ahead of time
http://www.cubavisas.com/index.php
Ps...happy to provide you any info /tips you need...I was in Hav in May for 5 nights..

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks kpc If I go, it'll probably be in a week, so no time for the on-line application.

I was going to PM you, but others will benefit from your current experience if we post it here:

* Arrival
Any tips/tricks at the airport (queues to avoid, lengthy delays or other immigration hassles)?
Exchange cash at the airport - as good as any other place? (I'll be exchanging C$)
A big one for me: taxis from the airport to hotel / downtown - is it a scrum / orderly / fixed price? (getting ripped off at airport taxis is one of my biggest phobias)

* Credit cards /ATM cards
Can you say Visa / MasterCard (on Aussie bank) are accepted 'generally'?
ATMs - again, Aussie bank ATM cards working OK?; the machines themselves working OK (Havana downtown)?
Known no-nos or good things?

* Cell phone
Any problems working (I know the bands used vary in models, but as a rule ...) ?

* Day tours ex Havana
Did you use any? I'd like to do one to Trinidad (Cuba), but it looks a long way.

* Departure
Again, any tips/tricks? Need to arrive >>2 hrs before flight?
I think there is departure tax - cash only? Any other out-of-the-ordinary hassles? (eg multiple security?)
What's the airport like for whiling away a few hours?

You must be close to your trip to Russia Of course, any queries pls post in the Trip Report or PM me and I'll be straight onto it.

 

[kpc]

* Arrival
Any tips/tricks at the airport (queues to avoid, lengthy delays or other immigration hassles)?
Exchange cash at the airport - as good as any other place? (I'll be exchanging C$)
A big one for me: taxis from the airport to hotel / downtown - is it a scrum / orderly / fixed price? (getting ripped off at airport taxis is one of my biggest phobias)

Bring Ca$ or Euro to change; there is a 10% surcharge for USD. The Fx rate at airport is similar to elsewhere (I think it is relatively fixed). Official rate is here: http://www.bc.gob.cu/Espanol/tipo_cambio_METROPOLITANO.asp The exchange booth is outside the arrivals hall to your left IIRC...ask for directions if you can't find it. You will need cash for the taxi which is a fixed rate to the city (30mins), CUC25 from memory. Where are you staying? I stayed here:hotel parque central .com

* Credit cards /ATM cards
Can you say Visa / MasterCard (on Aussie bank) are accepted 'generally'?
ATMs - again, Aussie bank ATM cards working OK?; the machines themselves working OK (Havana downtown)?
Known no-nos or good things?

I wouldn't rely on credit cards / ATMs. I did not try them as I brought plenty of Euro cash to exchange but the hotel's machine would not accept my 28 Degrees card MC, AMEX (!!), or Diners, but finally accepted by WOW MC! None of the restaurants I ate at accepted credit cards. BTW, I would recommend all the top 3 restaurants on TA: Havana, Cuba Restaurants: See 447 restaurants with 19,630 reviews - TripAdvisor San Cristobal is a little outside the city so you need a 10 min taxi ride. Lobster is CHEAP in Havana!! my favourite was the Lobster tail at 304 OReilly.

* Cell phone
Any problems working (I know the bands used vary in models, but as a rule ...) ?

My phone on Telstra roaming would not allow me to connect to the local network. I didn't buy a local SIM card when I saw the long Q at the Telco shop. PS internet is slow and expensive in Havana. At the hotel I stayed at, WiFi was slow and expensive at USD$10 per hour.

* Day tours ex Havana
Did you use any? I'd like to do one to Trinidad (Cuba), but it looks a long way.

We hired a vintage 1952 Chevrolet convertible (+ driver) for 3 hours, including a visit to Ernest Hemingway's house (recommended - he wrote "the Old Man and the Sea" whilst living in Havana) just outside Havana. We used a local guide and am happy to PM his email if you are interested (he unfortunately does not check his email often as internet is expensive for him). Also took a day trip to Vinales, to see a Cigar factory amongst other things. Did not got to Trinidad.

* Departure
Again, any tips/tricks? Need to arrive >>2 hrs before flight?
I think there is departure tax - cash only? Any other out-of-the-ordinary hassles? (eg multiple security?)
What's the airport like for whiling away a few hours?

Departure Tax is CUC25 cash only (google to check it hasn't gone up). No airport lounge at Hav but the usual souvenir and coffee shops to get rid of your last CUCs....no wiFi that I could find! Not the worst airport per se to spend a couple of hours waiting for your flight tho. My flight left at 8am and it was not that busy then; not sure about other times tho.

You will have a blast in Havana as you are transported back 50 years in time...with no American influences!! Feel free to ask any other Qs!

 

[RooFlyer]

Great, thanks for the comprehensive reply

Lobster? 304 O'Reillys? I'm there!!

Think I'm going to stay at Accor's Hotel Sevilla; pretty central and has great architecture, apparently. Bit of a 'fading gem' though. Wi-Fi is supposed to be good.

Everything sounds OK .. thanks

 

[docjames]

2008 dated info so take it for what it's worth

- no ATMs (I think I saw one that was out of action the whole week we were there). Credit cards werent really used anywhere. I'm guessing there may be more otpins in Valpairiso but we didnt got there.
- trinidad is too far for a day trip
- we did a small amount of cash change at the airport and a bit more in town (havana) - we took Euros to be changed but there were listed prices for C$.
- airport was shambolic inbound when we were there but we werte second flight in after curfew post cyclone - we still had no toruble getting a taxi although we had booked a transfer (but it sxcrewed up due to cyclone / delayed arrival)
- departure yes in cash (CUC) only. Two hours is heaps (we still had ~45 minute wait past security)
- group of 4 adults - we had to pass immigration separately (not together like in Aus / elsewhere)

- i'd have to dredge up any info re: tours but it's probably so far out of date as to be useless
- beware - we had toiletries and other odds and sods stolen from our hotel room (even in a "decent" hotel) in Havana. Lock up everything and check before you leave the hotel.

- cellphone didn't work

- airport was relatively easy (similar to others really) - nothing too spectacularly bad. Queues were better than CDG....

- we travelled via CUN. I think we sorted visas before we left Aus although I cant recall exactly, it may have been at CUN. It was all a bit screwed up as we flew JFK-CUN then got stuck for 36hrs due to the hurricane.

Loved Cuba.

Edit: kpc beat me, but we've said pretty much the same thing

 

[BVT]

I recently applied for a received my Cuba visa in about four days, by post, from the Consul General of Cuba in Canberra. Obviously, an express fee was paid. ($=110 all up)

One tip that may be useful: that they are happy with a colour photocopy of the front page of your passport. You do not need to send the actual passport. I did and it was returned in four days, as set out above. Not so my travelling companion; we are still waiting for Australia Post to deliver the passport!

As a result, Cuba is now next year!

Looking forward to the TR's.

 

[Alanslegal]

Stay at the Hotel Nacional, it's not central but at least its on the Malacon and has a great vibe drinking mojitos at sunset. Also you can use your credit card to withdraw cash from their hotel .... ie they basically process say $x which is treated as a purchase (not cash advance) and then they give you cash. It is for a % fee though. Take coco-taxis to/from the old town square, its less than 10minutes and will cost US$5 each way (and that's tourist prices). Our friend lives there as a party planner so knew all the places to visit. I definitely recommend you going to 1830, go just before sunset so you can walk around the little backyard playground on the waters edge. Drink Rum (USD$5 per bottle mind you ) and salsa your night away! I was the worst salsa dancer there, in fact, probably the worst in Cuba but the fun I had was 1000%.