Hey up

Can anybody out there tell me the what we will get to the pound in Cuba.

regards

Geoff

Hi, at Xmas we were getting around 1.71 CUC to 1 GBP

Hey up durhamlass

Thanks for your quick response. The boss has got the calculator out allready working out what she can spend

Hi, Im off to Cayo Coco in four weeks. It was recently my birthday and i asked everyone for travellers cheques in GBP as gifts. However most of them are from the P.O and are American Express, i have the sinking feeling these are no use to me in Cuba, would that be right? Also we were intending taking our credit cards to pay for our excursions with the travel rep, will this be ok? Both of us have Bank of Scotland mastercards, the other half also has a Clydesdale bank Mastercard. As for cash, will we need to go to the bank and specify English notes only or are Scottish ones ok? One last thing, i will get paid halfway through the holiday and would like to be able to access my wages with my Visa (formerly switch) card, will i be able to do this anywhere?
Many thanks in advance for your help.
Katie.

I came back from Cuba just over a week ago, you will not be able to cash your American Express Travellers Cheques, cash them now and get some Sterling ones(not scottish) I didn't stay at any of the main holiday resorts so I don't know if there are ATM machines there but ones at a Bank in Havana wouldn't take my Halifax Visa debit card. I was told that I could go into the bank and obtain cash using my credit card, didn't try as my travelling companion had plenty of pounds left so we changed them.
I think the reps in hotels will take credit cards for trips out but you might want to check further back on this site, I'm pretty sure I have seen something somewhere about credit cards for trips. I was getting 1.72CUC for 1GBP.

I'm getting really quite worried about this as I dont want to be stranded with no money. I have an Alliance & Leicester Mastercard, as well as a Lloyds TSB Visa Debit. Will these be ok?

To be safe whats the best way of obtaining local currency? I dont want to be carrying £400 in notes around if I can help it.

Mr Parsons
In the past year I have used my Lloyds/TSB Visa Debit at the Paradisus Rio de Oro hotel without problem, you get charged commission (15% I think) but then transaction is converted to US dollars and both times the money works out about the same or a little better than what we were getting in CUC's.

If you are staying in a hotel you will have an in room safe and in my experience of 9 visits to Cuba have had no problems carrying that amount of cash.

Any card transactions in Cuba are subject to minimum 11% commission charge, this includes cash withdrawals from ATM's but hotels may add their own commission on top of this. Cards affiliated with an American bank will not be accepted anywhere in Cuba, neither will American Express travellers cheques. The easiest method is to bring sterling cash (English notes) and exchange this in the Cadeca (exchange desk) in the airport on arrival. In Varadero airport this can be found in the area where you collect your bags. If you do have problems getting access to your cash, speak to one of the UK holiday reps as the Tour Operators will have the facility to get money to you providing you have a credit or debit card (regardless of American affiliation) but this will be subject to a charge - this might be less than the 11% charged by the ATM depending in the amount of money you require so its a good idea to check first.

Is the Airport the only place you can change up your money?

You can change money at most hotel reception desks and there are often branches of banks in the hotels(Cadeca), also there are banks in the towns where you can change your cash.

Hi,
Ive been trying to locate non-american travellers cheques, was told by my travel agent (first choice) that thomas cook did them but having a look at their on line purchasing page it seems they use american express also, ive looked at travelex and cant see any reference to their bank location, ie american or european. Please help!

Hi again, Have managed to talk to someone at travelex and have been told that their TC's are Visa and they are acceptable in Cuba, Has anyone used these?
Thanks.

Hi
Has anybody used Saga Visa Card or Halifax debit cards?

Regards

Geoff

Can anyone confirm that the First Choice Reps can accept credit cards for any bank, regardless of American affiliation? I'll be in trouble with the missus if i get this wrong and we cant go on the Havana trip!

Credit cards must not have any affiliation to any American Bank even if paying for trips to an English based tour operator as they still bank in Cuba.

We are now just getting ready for our third trip to Cuba and in the past have used any card underwritten by Royal Bank of Scotland so Tesco is ok, we have also used Barclaycard and Egg, though I think that Egg may now have been bought out by an American company.

We were told by the Thomas Cook rep that you can not use a Thomas Cook credit card or Travellers cheques as they are part of an American company some where along the line, though I have now received a credit card application from Thomas Cook saying they are changing who they are underwritten by so they may now be ok.

In Cuba cash is always the best way to go - we have been advised by some friends who came back recently that Cuba was having problems recognising the new £20 notes - I would advise until this is sorted take new £10 and £50 notes and only change small small amounts at a time.

surprised nobody has asked this question
i've not been to cuba for 3 years at that time us dollar was ok just wondering if the canadian dollar is ok ( i presume it is )as the exchange rate is 2.25 to the sterling so you may increase the value of your £ and incase any newbies to cuba dont know cuba is like benidorm for canadians just a quick hop on a plane (i dont mean there alike )

If you're travelling from the UK the there is no point in taking anything other than Sterling in either cash or travellers cheques. If you take anything else you'll be paying commission twice over - once here into eg Canadian dollars and once there from Canadian Dollars into Convertible Pesos. In the past US dollars where acepted everywhere without you necessarily having to change them into local currency but now all tourists have to change their money into CUCs regardless of the currency they bring with them.

SM

any idea of the exchange rate for pesos ?

I got 1.72 pesos to the pound last month.