Americans traveling to Cuba

Thats crazy. Doesnt seem right for the government to say "You can't visit there since you're an American" 

you aren't actually allowed to bring any money in or out of cuba.......travellers cheque they will take...and change for local currency......and there are several credit cards they will take but I actually saw they won't take things like switch......and hsbc....

i was quoting for a holiday in Varadero the other day.......

Thats crazy. Doesnt seem right for the government to say "You can't visit there since you're an American" 

Hope you weren't planning to visit Albania, either. 

DH went to Cuba a few years ago.  We were living in San Diego at the time and he booked his flights through Tijuana. He could only pay for the flight at the airport before boarding so there was no real evidence of him travelling to Cuba. They put a visa in his passport upon entry and removed it when he exited.  There was no evidence of him being in the country in his passport.  As far as immigration was concerned, he was travelling in Mexico.  There was a case around the same time that he went, of a woman who went on a bike trip through Cuba.  she flew through Canada and when asked by US immigration if she visited any other countries, she said Cuba (dumb!).  Of course she was arrested and fined.  You are not allowed to spend any American cash in Cuba.

Cuba is trying to switch to Euros, at least they were when DH was there.  The cuban rum was especially yummy!  So were the cigars!

Hope you weren't planning to visit Albania, either. 

Or North Korea but not sure if it is only an advisory.

Someone told me Iran but again not sure if that is only an advsory.

Regarding the Cuban ban, there are pages of exceptions, of which none apply to the average Joe/Jane. I do know that Carter somehow let the ban lapse or something and that good old Reagan brought it back in.

Would it not be better for the Cubans to see Americans there with money and freedom etc etc so that the people can see what they don't have? Seems sort of dumb that all these other countries can travel there on holiday, do business with them. Who is really losing out?

Friends who have been to Cuba tell me it's full of gorgeous unspoilt beaches ... but that a lot of the land is owned by big US hotel chains. As soon as the embargo is lifted, no more natural beauty. It'll be wall-to-wall Holiday Inns, etc.

. but that a lot of the land is owned by big US hotel chains.

So,its okay for the "business man" to set up properties and gain money from cuba, but an average joe can't visit in holiday?

So,its okay for the "business man" to set up properties and gain money from cuba, but an average joe can't visit in holiday?

No, they're not making any money. Not yet, anyway. They own a lot of land in Cuba, but are not permitted to develop it under the embargo. I really hope I can make a visit there before that happens!

My dad got a Mexican passport expressly so he could go to Cuba w/no hassles.  Well, it came in handy for working abroad and buying property in Mexico as well.  And, well, he qualified to have one, too, as his parents were both Mexican.

He likes Cuba and has visited many times and made friends.

But I've known several Americans who went via Mexico and others who used their British passports.

My sister's ex is Cuban-American.  I'll tell him to come here first before visiting his family.  He is always saying what trouble he has.

If you did go on an American passport, would they really prosecute? What are the penalties?

Do you think nowadays you would be 'observed' (read surveilanced) as being a US traveler to Cuba, regardless of how you did it?

The hotels have made money before they even start by virtue they have purchased land and if they sell it no doubt would make an immediate killing.

I'd love to visit Cuba sometime- my university actually runs one of the few US government-approved study abroad programs to Cuba but I came to England instead   I do have 2 passports, though, so I probably wouldn't have much trouble going if I really wanted to.

It's an interesting topic. I have a UK passport, so would have no problem going to Cuba ... if I could just convince the BF to take a holiday for once in his life! But that's another story.

Anyway, I found this site:  http://mediastudy.com/articles/bdcuba2.html

... which includes the following info:

The regulations, cold-war era dinosaurs enacted over 40 years ago, effectively curtail tourism by prohibiting American citizens from spending money in Cuba. Still, about 60,000 Americans a year, including hundreds of wealthy Floridian yachters who pack Havana’s Hemingway Marina, exercising what they call their “right to freely travel,” ignore the edict.  Put bluntly, Cuba is chic.  It all started about three years ago when The Washington Post published a travel piece puffing Cuba, turning blowing off the embargo into a jet set sport.  More recently, the June 2001 issue of Cigar Aficionado devoted a full 85 pages to, as their cover promises, stories about how to “travel” and “invest” in Cuba, sponsored by the likes of Dewers, Hennessy, Lincoln and Netjets, a personal aircraft broker.  If you expected Cuba’s hotels to be populated by bohemians and communists, you will be sorely disappointed.   The presence of so many wealthy conservative tourists in Cuba, however, has so far kept the State Department, for political reasons, from aggressively enforcing its tourist spending ban.

If civil disobedience isn’t your game, however, another 80,000 or so Americans travel to Cuba legally each year under State Department sanction.  Currently full time journalists and researchers, Cuban-Americans visiting relatives under “self-defined” circumstances of humanitarian aid, students enrolled in licensed Cuban Studies programs such as the one at UB (645-3912) or Americans traveling on “fully hosted” trips paid for by foreign nationals such a Canadians, can all travel to Cuba without applying for a specific State Department license.  Other Americans who wish to perform or lecture in Cuba, attend a religious or cultural event, engage in athletic competition, work on a humanitarian project or study or independently conduct research for a book can apply for a specific State Department license to travel in Cuba.  For more information see http://www.treas.gov/ofac or http://www.cubatrade.org/visit.htm. 

The State Department also licenses a number of travel agencies to provide legal tourist travel to Cuba.  It works like this: built into your package tour is a tuition or membership fee which makes you a “student” or “member” of a licensed “educational” or “humanitarian” group.  These trips, which usually depart from New York City or Miami, usually cost three or four times the price of a Canadian tourist package departing Toronto, but include a full itinary of guided tours.  Global Exchange (800-497-1994), Cross Cultural Solutions (800-380-4777) and Marazul Tours (www.marazultours.com) all have good reputations and a long history of arranging legal travel to Cuba.

WOW, thanks Belindaloo. That is an eye-opener. I knew about the 80K but not those rich 60K.

Don't we patrol these waters? I know the DEA track nearly everything but I suppose the rich aren't likely to be smuggling drugs so no one's really interested in them.

Still seems the most ridiculous ban/restriction, let alone so UN-AMERICAN to tell a US citizen they are not FREE to travel where they want. You think there would be an outcry for curtailing a constituational right (something in the preamble about pursuit of happiness- ie you and I are not limited how many times we travel to see our families, why should citizens of Cuban descent be limited?).