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US Citizen trying to travel to Cuba?

sammydavis206

sammydavis206

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Me and a buddy are trying to take a trip to Cuba. I'm having trouble finding out just how hard it is to get into as an american. All I can find so far is that you are supposed to have a "guide" of some sort at all times and have to travel with a group? We're not really into that. We're just trying to go down there and meet locals and sight see and sleep on the beach and drink beers, like we would in any other country.

Does anyone have any experience in this? Can we break off from one of those guided groups for a week or two pretty easily? Any idea how much trouble we're looking at if we get caught doing that? Do we even have to go with a group? Maybe fly from Mexico or fly to the Dominican Republic or Haiti and try to take a boat or a plane to cuba from there?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
 
sure.. if you want to get blown up by a missle
 
seriously though cuba just seems like one of those places you just shouldnt go as an american by yourself. i could be completely wrong of course it could be perfectly safe.
 
canadians go to cuba all the time for vacation

my friends say they run into americans on occasion
 
I looked into this about two years ago when I was working in Haiti. I wanted to take a few months off to take Spanish courses in Havana while maybe working out with the judo team.

Getting passage into Cuba is easy from (as you mentioned) Haiti and the Dominican. I suggest you stay away fro Haiti and just fly in from Santo Domingo or Santiago if you go that route.

Cuba is not North Korea. You can travel quite a bit on your own and not with a minder. Once you are in a major city you are free to move around the city as much as you want.
 
Fuckin canadians can go anywere they want!
 
How did Michael Moore's fat ass get over there?
 
Fly to Mexico City. From there, fly to Cuba. Twenty bucks for their Customs officals, and you're good. Really.

Don't bring cigars back. Doing so is actually a more serious crime than most people thing. While it's seldom prosecuted criminally, it is a violation of the Trading With the Enemy Act. You can get ten years for it, if the local AUSA wants to be a dick.

Just be sure to have your passport and birth certificate. Those can always help in a problem.
 
Charles Brown said:
Fly to Mexico City. From there, fly to Cuba. Twenty bucks for their Customs officals, and you're good. Really.

Don't bring cigars back. Doing so is actually a more serious crime than most people thing. While it's seldom prosecuted criminally, it is a violation of the Trading With the Enemy Act. You can get ten years for it, if the local AUSA wants to be a dick.

Just be sure to have your passport and birth certificate. Those can always help in a problem.
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Or just take the label rings and bring back the cigars...If you are coming back through Mexico, there is no way someone can tell whether they are Mexican or Cuban cigars :-)
 
Either apply legally (If you are Cuban descent or have familt there) or fly to a nieghboring island and hop over.

Watch out though -Americans are robbery targets when you get out from the tourist areas.

I have several friends that have experienced that.

Getting caught at US customs on the way back is just a slap on the wrist.
 
My friend was on MSG (Marine Security Guard) there for about a year. He said there are a ton of tourists from a lot of countries, especially the Scandinavian countries. He couldn't do whatever he wanted since he was a representative of the US, but he still had a good time and a lot of people vacation there.

That being said, I would watch out. They will know you are an American, and you will be the target for cons. That could mean anything from getting ripped of on things you buy, to cab drivers holding your bags hostage for massive tips, to getting swindled on exchange rates. In extreme cases, foreigners encounter kidnapping/ransom situations. I've been to a lot of countries and experienced everything short of the kidnapping.

And why Cuba? There are plenty of countries that could offer a similar experience for close to the same price and be a whole lot safer.
 
SevenSamurai said:
Either apply legally (If you are Cuban descent or have familt there) or fly to a nieghboring island and hop over.

Watch out though -Americans are robbery targets when you get out from the tourist areas.

I have several friends that have experienced that.

Getting caught at US customs on the way back is just a slap on the wrist.
Click to expand...

Do you mean for cigars or just going there? What kind of slap on the wrist?
 
Jing said:
Do you mean for cigars or just going there? What kind of slap on the wrist?
Click to expand...

Busted for having Cuban goods which then follows interoggation on your whereabouts which my friends conceded they had been to Cuban then.

A bunch of tough talk at customs and some dirty letters and they were let off.
 
PoundForPound said:
Dude, just go to Puerto Rico.

Saves you a shitton of trouble.
Click to expand...

Horrible advice. This is the reason you don't ask advice in Sherdog. You get a bunch of boring asswipes with no sense of adventure and who don't know their ass from their elbow giving you "advice" mostly based on their own fears.

Cuba is a totally different place compared to Puerto Rico in every sense. Their only similarity is that they both speak Spanish and that they are both islands in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico is not only overpriced but is not as culturally rich nor as interesting as Cuba is. Cuba can give you an experience that no other country will mostly due to its history and isolation. Cuba has unique old-town architecture, world class beaches, scuba diving spots and kitesurfing spots and THE BEST- beautiful women who give themselves to any foreigner just for being a foreigner. Tell me, where else in the world can you chill in a gorgeous beach with turquoise waters, drinking a mojito, smoking a AAA quality cigar with two or three beautiful women at your side treating you like a God?
 
GHVA226 said:
Or just take the label rings and bring back the cigars...If you are coming back through Mexico, there is no way someone can tell whether they are Mexican or Cuban cigars :-)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that is completely untrue. Customs actually has labs and technicians who do exactly that; they determine whether or not cigars are Cubans. No shit.
 
I really think the embargo will be lifted in the next 10 years.

The people that were ran off bt Castro are dying off and I don't think the right really have as much invested in the fight anymore now that communism hasn't been a threat for a while
 
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