anyone been to Cuba?

[red321]

Anyone been to Cuba? After the administration tightened up the travel policy? Some friends of ours from Paris are heading there in late Spring and have offered to put us up at their Air bnb.

[Taylor]

Expected this to be a nother thread.

[Brandon]

Expected this to be a Cals racist joke thread

[Vegas Halo Fan]

If anyone goes, I want a box of real Cohibas - not the Dominican red dot crap that is sold here.

[ten ocho recon scout]

I have.

It was cool....but nothing spectacular. And I dont mean that in a bad way. Ive just been kind of spoiled, so if something doesnt really stand out...

Its more expensive than youd think. The exchange rate kills us...

Its like a 24 hour car show, though. Gives it a pretty cool vibe. The people were really cool. Some nice architecture. 

I wouldnt at all say dont go there.go anywhere you get a free room! I just didnt see a huge difference between it and cancun.

[red321]

really? That's surprising, I would have thought it rated higher than just Cancun. What parts of the island did you visit? I think we are talking about splitting time between Havana and Trinidad.

What category did you pick for type of travel?

I did read the exchange rate sucked, but for Europeans it is much better...so we will probably use them to do most financial transactions and just give them money before and after. We aren't allowed to use any US based credit or debit cards, so it's going to be all cash.

[Thomas]

Fine, since no one else will do it.

Gee @red321, you're sure living up to your name!!!

/not proud

[red321]

[NJHalo]

My friend used Casaparticular.com and loved it. 

Had a great time and loved the level of hospitality he got. http://www.casaparticular.com/

 

[Tank]

my mens' chorus has been considering an evangelistic trip to cuba. we were originally talking about going next march, but we haven't talked about it in a while and i'm guessing the idea has faded away.

bummer, as i would've liked going there.

[Homebrewer]

Always wanted to go there back when it was "forbidden". Got as close as having a flight booked from Mexico City back in the day, but the flight was cancelled and there wasn't another one for a couple days, so wound up hopping a flight to Jamaica Mon..  instead. That was in the late 70's.

Now that it's opened up it hasn't been as attractive to me.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 10/29/2018 at 10:40 AM, red321 said:

really? That's surprising, I would have thought it rated higher than just Cancun. What parts of the island did you visit? I think we are talking about splitting time between Havana and Trinidad.

What category did you pick for type of travel?

I did read the exchange rate sucked, but for Europeans it is much better...so we will probably use them to do most financial transactions and just give them money before and after. We aren't allowed to use any US based credit or debit cards, so it's going to be all cash.

I was only in Havana.

It was cool, i didnt dislike it at all. It just didnt jump out. (Keep in mind, ive been spoiled and been to some crazy places, so im kind of a snob these days i guess).

And correct on the local cash only. And thats where they get you. They take like 20 percent out of whatever you exchange.

I also remember not being able to book a hotel online...even though they have some really nice hotels. Our cards are totally blocked there.

Youll have fun though. It was a great time. Just for me, felt like i was in cancun (i flew in from cancun) but more expensive.

 

[ten ocho recon scout]

23 hours ago, Homebrewer said:

Always wanted to go there back when it was "forbidden". Got as close as having a flight booked from Mexico City back in the day, but the flight was cancelled and there wasn't another one for a couple days, so wound up hopping a flight to Jamaica Mon..  instead. That was in the late 70's.

Now that it's opened up it hasn't been as attractive to me.

Definitely a bragging right back then. 

They still offer to stamp your paper visa instead of passport, so you dont have problems coming back to the US

Also red, be prepared for the slowest airport in history. And your bag over inspected... i also remember there being nurses at the airport, ready to quarantine HIV positive people. 

Communists countries are a trip. Ive been to a few. We all have propaganda. But until you go to a communist country, you dont realize just how much bitching were allowed to do here.

[red321]

8 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I was only in Havana.

It was cool, i didnt dislike it at all. It just didnt jump out. (Keep in mind, ive been spoiled and been to some crazy places, so im kind of a snob these days i guess).

And correct on the local cash only. And thats where they get you. They take like 20 percent out of whatever you exchange.

I also remember not being able to book a hotel online...even though they have some really nice hotels. Our cards are totally blocked there.

Youll have fun though. It was a great time. Just for me, felt like i was in cancun (i flew in from cancun) but more expensive.

 

If you are going to Cancun...head to Tulum. Stayed at La Zebra hotel down there....right on the beach. Slept (passed out) on hammocks one night yards from the ocean.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Yeah, love Tulum. Was down there last year. May not have been the exact same spot...but i remember hammocks everywhere. 

That whole area is pretty great. Cancun/tulum is way better than Cabo, IMO. Nice warm water, more to do, etc.

If anyone ever heads down there, make sure to do the xenotes....pretty cool experience.

[red321]

Tulum was so much more enjoyable than Cancun. At least when we were there no building could be taller than two stories and they didn't allow electricity to be run along the beach so each place had to generate their own power...which limited their growth. The ruins in Tulum are pretty amazing as well.

We met some newlyweds from Texas, the guy was a member of the Mexican Olympic swim team. He hired a personal driver for all of us and we spent the day touring the pyramids (Chichen Itza before the tour buses showed up), local towns, ceynotes...awesome friggen day. 

[Taylor]

13 hours ago, Havinch said:

I booked 2 weeks in Cuba for August 2913. Anyone been.?

I see that @Vladdylonglegs invited his time-travelling friend to AngelsWin.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 11/4/2018 at 6:24 AM, Vladdylonglegs said:

Wife and I are planning on going to Riviera Maya next month with our 8 month old. Hoping the Cancún area isn’t as dangerous as the media has been hyping it up to be lately. 

It is....just stick to the resort areas and youll be fine.

If youre with the wife and kids, you wont be going to any of the places you might get messed with anyway.

For the most part, the cartels leave the tourist areas out of their bullshit. They make money off of the resorts and businesses, so they pretty much police themselves to keep it clean.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 10/30/2018 at 4:11 PM, red321 said:

If you are going to Cancun...head to Tulum. Stayed at La Zebra hotel down there....right on the beach. Slept (passed out) on hammocks one night yards from the ocean.

I stayed at Tulum, at an all-inclusive called Dreams Tulum. Great food, rooms were nice, the old Mayan city of Tulum was about two minutes from the hotel. Great tour. It has the distinction of being the only Mayan city built on the coast. The resort has two large pools, and you can walk from the check-in desk right into the Gulf of Mexico within about 100 feet. You're also about 60 miles south of Cancun, so you won't have to deal with the non-stop party atmosphere.